What ARE Essential Oils, Anyway??

This is a guest post written by Stacy McDonald. It gives good information about what essential oils are. If you'd like to know more, I am happy to send a FREE information booklet for those who follow my blog. Just leave a note in the comments that you're following now or e-mail me with your address. Do you already follow my blog, and would like the booklet anyway? Let me know - I'll send one your way. Head here if you'd like to see more about what Young Living can do for your health and well-being, or to order (as a customer or for wholesale discounts), go here. I'm happy to walk you thrugh the process!

Therapeutic grade essential oils are much more than some sort of glorified perfume. They are healing, soothing, stress-reducing, health inducing, and downright powerful gift from God. Many oils have properties that are anti-bacterial, anti-viral, anti-fungal, anti-microbial, and the list goes on. Some are known to help coagulate blood, stimulate circulation, relieve congestion, constrict blood vessels, calm nerves, balance hormones, or reduce nausea.

“His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue…” (2 Peter 1:3)

Why Do You Believe What You Do?

I watched a documentary a while back about Mecca. The video followed three Muslims who were going on Hajj. It explained much about Islamic belief and Mecca that I did not know. To that end, it was an interesting video. The part that I found most interesting, though, was the American woman who had converted from Roman Catholicism. She had an Irish last name and hurt her family badly (she said) when she converted. They did not dwell much on that aspect of her conversion, but her conversion story was interesting to me.

Little seeds planted along the way help form our beliefs
 over time - what seeds are you planting?

Growing up, my parents took me to church each Sunday. As a very young child, my mother took us to many different churches, trying to find the right one. She was raised in the understanding that "All churches have something, and no church has everything." Under a philosophy such as that one, presumably, almost any Christian worship place would be acceptable. However, clearly not all were within her acceptance levels, because we continued our search.

Good Snacks for Growing Kids

With four boys and the girlie, keeping good healthy, filling snacks on hand is essential. I don't buy the granola bars or pre-packaged snacks because they are expensive, have a lot of junky ingredients, way too much sugar and they don't keep my kids satisfied for very long. In fact, Maestro can easily munch his way through an entire box of fiber one bars and still look for "something more to eat."

The other night dinner was going to be more than just an hour in the making so with a little rummaging around, we came up with this:

Slices of french bread (left over from the night before), peanut butter, apple slices from lunch, golden raisins and dried currants. It was a hit (and gave Buttercup and her friend a nice little tea party snack!)

Because of all the munchies going on, I try to keep certain things in the pantry and am sharing my go-to snacks today.

Ahhh... The TAX Return

I'm a nerd. I admit it. I have always looked forward to doing my taxes. I love plugging in the numbers and seeing what the outcome will be and how much I'll be getting back. But this year... This year I didn't want to dive in. I was afraid. 

PART of the Motivation

I've tried to say little on the politics on my blog. I know I have friends who disagree with me and I am not always as educated as I'd like to be before getting into such a discussion. So without getting too political, I would be happy if I got even $100 back, or (worse yet) if I didn't owe money on my taxes this year! With five children it would have taken some serious conjuring to make that happen, but it is our first year as landlords, and I wasn't sure how that would affect things. It was impossible to say how things would come out.

Spicy Red Bean Soup Recipe

I've been pretty lazy about going to the grocery store lately. This method of kitchen-maintenance can be a little dicy. Sometimes the recipes are a flop, and we have to debate whether to eat it anyway or to order out for pizza (a costly proposition in a large family!) So far, we have only flopped a few times in our marriage and I'm grateful that the Spicy Red Bean Soup that I threw together became a winner that even had requests the next day!

There are several benefits to this recipe:

• it's easy, 
• most of the ingredients can be kept in the pantry, 
• it freezes well, 
• it's cheap to make a LOT of it, 
• it can be made ahead of time in the crock pot, 
• it's versatile - don't have a can of chili peppers? No trouble, leave them out. Want to throw in some corn? Go for it! Add a can of diced tomatoes and reduce the liquid for a thicker chili. Kids eating too? Reduce the cayenne pepper some.
• it can be left in the crock pot all day for teenage boys and their friends to grab as a healthy, filling "snack" while they're on the go!
• it can be made in one pot, meaning less work for Mom!

Comparing Two Winters

Within reason, we are snow lovers in our family. I am not as fond of playing in the snow, but love to work in it and to watch everyone else enjoy the brisk weather. Jeff is my compliment - he likes to play in it, and working in the snow is ... eh... "okay." Last fall, we moved 4.5 hours' drive south of Baltimore to the far eastern reaches of Virginia, and what a difference it makes in the winter weather! From that, we're doing a bit of a winter weather study lately (and praying for more snow!)

Shoveling 28-inches of snow out so the car could be used.

About every 4 or 5 years we got close to 3 feet of snow to play - and work - in. Outside of piled up on the side of the road going up the Washington (state) mountains, I have never seen that much snow in one place, at one time, in  my lifetime! That is all to say that it was truly impressive being in that amount of snow and a lot of fun. 

sliding down the snow "mountain" made by the parents

Aaaaannnnddd then we moved slightly south to the east Virginan coastline. Right on the water, just about. I thought - foolishly perhaps - that we would maybe get more snow here. In hindsight that is silly since we're further south. After listening to our northern friends go on about the snow they were getting (whether in positive or negative vein didn't matter much), we finally got our little bit of snow on the ground. That allowed us to make our first (only?) little Virginia snowman (who is holding hands with the even smaller snowchild.)

No snow to shovel, barely enough to play in
but we had fun anyway!

 So which are you? Are you a snow-lover, or a snow-hater? What is your favorite part of winter?

Weekly Menu - January 8

I've often been interested in what others are buying and making for meals when it's closer to the end of a pay period and things are a little tighter. As part of our efforts to become debt free in 2013, I am looking closely at our grocery list and our grocery bills, but in lowering how much we spend, my goal is two-fold: to make meals my family enjoys (most of them anyway) and not to cut back so much that people are going hungry (with teen boys in the house that can be difficult!)

Lunch: peanut butter sandwich with apple slices,
golden raisins and currants