Adversary or Advocate? Reaching the heart of your child and a giveaway!

Adversary or Advocate? Reaching the heart of your child and a giveaway!

A few weeks ago I  discovered this author, her name is Sally Clarkson ( if you click on the title above you can link to her website) . Recently the Lord has been really working on my heart about how I view myself. This has been through a bible study I have been doing with a group of friends, but also it has been reinforced to me through the things I have read on this blog and in another book I am reading currently!  I realized that my view is often shaped by lies I believe about myself. Those lies have come from things that may have happened in the past or things that others have said to me or have been done to me!

As I read through Sally's blogs I am just overwhelmed by her wisdom as a mother. I have also been made aware that those lies we believe can also carry over into our parenting. Those lies leave us feeling exhausted, disappointed and frustrated with ourselves.
Her blog is so encouraging and I think any woman would be blessed by it. I appreciate her no guilt approach and the understanding of we are all in this together and lets encourage each other!

She is doing a give away right now for one of her books, so if your interested hop on over to her blog and leave a comment :) The link above should take you to it!

Blessings

The song I have posted below on this Blog post  is one of my new favorite songs! A few weeks ago I was folding laundry in my living room and I heard this song playing on the radio, it really caught my attention! As I listened I was aware I had wet cheeks, this song spoke right to my heart!  It talks about how the difficult times in our lives can also yield many blessings. Our blessings don't just come from the good things that happen in our lives. I had never really thought and processed that concept before and yet as I thought more about it, I could see different situations in my own life where that was very true!

There are some things that happen in our lives that are often very hard for us to understand  why they would happen? Or even why God would allow them to happen?  As I listened to this song it made me realize that even in our very difficult times, that God is working out His purposes in our lives &  hardships can also have blessings.

When E was diagnosed with Autism, I most definitely would not have said "oh my isn't that a wonderful blessing my son has Autism"! Yet 4 years in advance I can look back over the last few years and  see now the blessings that have come from having a child diagnosed with Autism. I have met some beautiful families and made wonderful friends. I have also been able to understand and learn about something I otherwise would never have maybe thought about! Also when we built our house I remember feeling a little resentful in some ways that we had to work so much and sacrifice a lot during that time to get a house for our family, but now I can truly see the blessing in why God had us do the project. We are blessed with great friends in our neighborhood ! I pray that as you watch and listen to this song you will be able to see the blessings in your life that have come from the good and the bad situations.
 My favorite line  is  " what if the trials of this life are your mercies in disguise" .

Friendship

five minute Challenge

This is one of the blogs I like to read
http://thegypsymama.com/2011/02/five-minute-friday-prompt-five-years-ago/
Today on her blog she was having a challenge so I am going to give it a try :)
Here is my challenge:
On Fridays around these parts we have a little tradition. We throw caution (editing, revising, and worrying) to the winds and just write.
For five minutes flat.
You’re welcome to play along. The rules are easy.
1. Write your heart out for five minutes and then show us what you’ve got.
2. Tell your readers you’re linking up here and invite them to play along.
3. And most importantly, go visit, read, and encourage the fellow five-minuter who linked up right before you. 

This time 5 years ago, my family and I were living in  a small town in No. california, where my hubby was working as a youth pastor. I actually had just had a our 2nd son about 6 or 7 weeks prior :) I have to say that time in my life was a bit of a blur, I was still recovering from a c- section and adjusting to being a mommy to 2 little boys. Our oldest son was 2 years and 8 months old. At that time I was feeling some concern over E's development, we were going through some steps at that time to figure out reasons for his speech and development delays. Thinking back I was actually pretty stressed out and I think and  I cried a lot. It is amazing to think that sitting here 5 years onward that E who was later diagnosed with Autism, is doing amazingly well and M just celebrated his 5th birthday.  My days were full of taking care of my 2 boys and also supporting my hubby in his ministry at that time too. I wish I had more exciting things to share with you, but that is pretty much what I remember right now along with remembering I watched American Idol as the new season had just started and that was something that brightened my day.........ooops times up :)

Lighthouses

During the storm
or in the darkness…
follow me…
to a safe harbor.
~~~
From far away…
A friendly light.
~~~
Lighthouses:  Guides to friendly harbors.
~~~
Lighting up the night so bright…
For all those who sail by night.
~~~
Lighthouses blow no horns;
they only shine.
(D.L. Moody)

Our fun, crazy day at the beach

The beach has to be one of our boys favorite places to go. We packed up our van this morning with a picnic,  rubber boots, coats and a change of clothing for the boys as we know our boys well and we never go to a beach without a spare change of clothing. We  headed over to the coast, it was windy & misty, but the fresh cool air felt refreshing, we certainly got the cobwebs blown out today :) 

 

The boys had fun exploring with dad on the beach 

but for some reason the water seemed more appealing, at first they were pretty cautious. But as time went on they became more adventurous

Much more adventurous!!!  Boy was I glad I had packed extra clothing. As you can see we have 2 boys who are very full of life.

 

We had a great day, but it wasn't without it's excitement, either! E lost one of his rubber boots, it got washed out to sea :( He was very sad, he was crying in the car and he said "I am not super cute, I lost my boot!"  I guess we need to find a new set of rainboots for him!

After getting some fresh clean, dry  clothing on  and some welcome food in their belly it was time to go home. Just another day of memories in the making for the G family.

Peanut Butter Cookies- a new recipe which we loved

At Christmas a dear friend of mine bought me a cook book called "The Cake mix doctor bakes Gluten Free" by Anne Byrn.
Today I decided to try out a recipe and we were very pleasantly surprised, they had good flavor, texture and looked like a peanut butter cookie.


Here is the recipe

• 1 package (15 ounces) yellow gluten-free cake mix
• 2/3 cup creamy peanut butter
• 6 tablespoons (3/4 stick) butter, at room temperature
• 1 large egg
• 2 tablespoons milk
• 2 tablespoons pure vanilla extract
• 1/4 cup granulated sugar

1. Place a rack in the center of the oven and preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Set aside 2 ungreased baking sheets.
2. Place the cake mix, peanut butter, butter, egg, milk, and vanilla in a large mixing bowl and beat with an electric mixer on low speed until the ingredients just come together and the cookie dough is smooth, 45 seconds. The dough will be stiff. Place the sugar in a shallow bowl. Form the dough into 1-inch balls. Roll each ball of dough in the sugar and arrange 12 balls on each baking sheet 2 to 3 inches apart. If desired, press down on the balls of dough twice with a fork to make the classic cross-hatch pattern.
3. Place the baking sheets in the oven and bake the cookies until golden brown, 10 to 12 minutes. Using a metal spatula, immediately transfer the cookies to wire racks to cool completely, 15 minutes. Repeat with the remaining dough. 

http://www.cakemixdoctor.com/recipe/gluten-free-peanut-butter-cookies/

I made some adjustments to the recipe to make sure it was Gluten and casein free

This is what E thought of the cookies, we will definitely be baking these again. Dad didn't even notice that they were GF.