Loved Beyond My Wildest Imagination

   Thinking today of how I view God and Jesus in a Christian biblical sense made me realize that the deep down thought I have of them is so very wrong. They are not the dictaing God-heads that demand your undying obedience but God is a loving gentle God that wants to hold and guide me through the storms of my life so that I dont only know how strong I am as a person but I know how loved I am just bc I am a child of the Universe.

   That thought is amazing to me and I still cant quite grasp the whole idea that I am loved even without doing something or proving my obedience in some way. It makes me reflect on my other relationships with friends, family, or even a strang...er or "enemy" and question do I love them unconditionally? Can I stand in the face of them hurting me and love them anyway? I do it with my kids all the time. While they scream or cry I hold them tight and say "Its ok, I love you" Its something I need to do. I need to love people even when they hurt me and say "Its ok, I love you anyway"
 Eventually that love will overcome the hurt and I will just smile as they throw their childlike fit and say "Its ok, I know the way" And by filling myself w Spirit and Love it will radiate from me and I will show others the way by leading by example. Even if the only ones who learn from my lesson is my children, they are they most important and they will go on and show love to others. What an amazing place to come to after something as simple as a reading from a friend and a message at church. ♥

Strong women start with strong girls

Oh there are so may things wrong with this shirt. I received an email this morning from a petition site requesting my signature to send a letter to the CEO of JCPenny and Forever 21 for marketing sexist t-shirts in their stores. I didn't sign it. Why you ask when the shirt itself is so infuriating.. Because while the CEO or whoever it was that designed this horrid thing might think its cute or funny the real issue is the parents that would actually buy this crap for their daughter. These are not the kind of girls we want to raise. This is not the kind of message we need to send to our kids, girl or boy. This idea while so small on the front of a shirt is why women still feel inferior to men and why men accept it. This Toddler & Tiaras, outward beauty focusing, I'm too pretty attitude of raising girls is what is creating teens with eating disorders or the "mean girl" syndrome.
    I'm very lucky in that I have a ton of nieces even though I have yet to be blessed with a girl and 1 niece in particular I thought of immediately when I saw this shirt. Not only would her parents NEVER buy this shirt because its degrading, she would laugh at it. The kind of shirts she wears says "Play like a girl, Beat the boys" She's smart, she's athletic and she does beat the boys. She will be a strong, confident, self sufficient woman one day because her parents grew that within her. Her brother will not think that girls are inferior to men because his mother is also a strong capable woman. My boys will not have that disrespect for women because their mother is a strong capable woman and if I ever do have a daughter I will make sure she is strong too. We need to get past this pretty OR smart idea. We need to get past the idea our society has built that a woman is only as good or successful as pretty as her face is. We can be strong AND gentle, beautiful AND smart, mothers AND women. And more so than bucking against "men" and standing strong we need to stand up against the ideas of this society of what beauty and perfection is and fight against raising our kids with these seemingly harmless things that send a message. WE are raising the next generation, what do we want our legacy to be? A world full of shallow, demeaning plastics or a world full of respectful, strong individuals? Its our choice.

Before you were born we dreamed of you..

..we imagined you, we prayed for you...


Yep that is an actual picture. We are pregnant! I kind of feel bad for my child like tantrum toward God but I'm sure he will understand the emotions and be ok. 


The brief but whole story behind it was I wanted to test Monday morning but J asked for us to wait until today to make sure. No visits from Aunt Flo so I went ahead and bought the tests and then yesterday N told me I had a baby in my belly he said "You're going to have a baby soon mama, the baby is in your tummy." I said "Is the baby big or little" and he said "Its small right now" and holds his fingers close together to how how small the baby is "Is it a boy baby like you, M and daddy or a girl baby like mommy" "Its a girl. Shes my baby sister" 

This morning I took a test and after many negative tests I got a positive this morning and told N "I have a baby in my belly!" He just looked at me, so I said "You knew that already didn't you?" And he just nodded his head w a smile. 
Well he was right about me being pregnant so maybe he will be right about a baby sister. 

I'm not going to turn the blog into some crazy prego blog, but I am going to do a weekly update on here as my pregnancy journal. Cant wait for the next 9 months and the experience that comes with it. <3

Farmer's Markets

I am in L-O-V-E with our farmer's market. I feel like its really important when you can to buy local especially if you cant grow your own. Even more than supporting my local farmers and in my own small attempt to help drive down gas prices and cut dependency on oil by not purchasing items that had to be shipped long distances I never expected to learn so much and be around such a sweet, loving group of people.
  Going to the farmers market is like going to church for me. A group of people with the same goals and similar ideas all walking around together, its an amazing energy. In the few months I've been going I have befriended so many vendors and get amazing gardening, food, tea, health, and baby tips. Its a great experience every week and its so much fun.  If you have the opportunity to go to your local market please do.
Here are a few tips I've learned:
Go early! I find that getting there around 9 am works best for me. The lines are calming down but they aren't out of anything just yet. If you know something rare may be there then go at at 8am and wait in line.
Everything is grown seasonally unless it can be grown in a green house. So check your local markets website and they should have a list of the fruits and veggies in season.
Shop around! I'm not kidding, in the same market there are vendors with ground beef $6 a lb and another at $3.50 a pound. Veggies range differently as well, some places go by the pound and some go per vegetable. So unless its a rare or high demand item then make your rounds first and THEN go back and purchase.
Be respectful and polite to the vendors, ask questions about HOW they grow their produce or meats and what they treat it with. Just because it says "All natural" doesn't always mean it is and some vendors label "All Natural" even though they are organic because they cant label as organic yet. The more you talk to them, make friends, get tips you can find out more information to either grow your own OR see if they have volunteering opportunities to visit their farm, work and get paid in harvest veggies. The super upside to this is you get hands on practice but if you have kids they get to see how things are grown and where they really come from.
And lastly (so far anyway, I'm sure as I go I'll learn even more) Bring your friends, family, co-workers etc! Like any other store the market can only thrive with customers. The larger the market gets the more vendors get signed, the more variety, the lower the prices and then you get more benefits from buying local. With the cooler temps coming, get outside, enjoy the weather and support your community <3

Photo credit: Top picture Greater Springfield Farmers Market
Bottom picture http://www.mnn.com/food/beverages/blogs/the-benefits-of-buying-local