Six Months Old

I swear time is flying faster with the second child than it did with the first.

Here's Griffin's six month picture

The first meal - Yummmo!

Brown Rice Cereal (gag!)

But...he liked it!!

Now, I know some of you are thinking....six months...she waited six months to give that kid some food?!?! Well, yes, I did wait six months. Funny enough Graham started eating solids at 8 weeks. It's funny with the first you push them toward and past milestones as fast as you can. Then on the second or last (as in our case...maybe) you want it all to last forever. If I could keep him a baby longer, I probably would. But since that isn't possible I'll just enjoy each and every step as long as I can. I was also enjoying the benefits of being his only source of food - it did help me continue to drop pounds - so why not?!?

The Muffin Recipe

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Nut Muffins

5 cups ground almonds
½ cup melted butter
1 cup honey
1 tsp. baking soda
¼ tsp. salt
5 eggs
*½ cup natural peanut butter
*1 tsp. cinnamon
*½ bag mini chocolate chips
*1/4 c. ground flax seed

*these items are my addition and are approximations.

Oven Temp: 350° 20 minutes (I use a convection oven)
Yields: 24 muffins


Mix all ingredients together, spoon into muffin tins and bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes. They brown fairly easily due to the honey, so watch them. They keep forever in a tupperware container.

For those of you who might not know the history of these muffins here it is a nutshell. When Tim was diagnosed with Crohn's (before I met him) he did a lot of soul searching and research into what would best help him overcome this disease. In a nutshell he ignored what the doctors told him to do (eat a highly refined diet), trusted in God for healing and began eating fruits, vegetables, legumes and lean meats - the exact opposite of what the docs said. Some people with Crohn's live a horrible life. Tim is a great example of what trusting in God for healing can bring you. Of course with that he took the responsibility of a healthy lifestyle.

This recipe comes from a book titled "Breaking the Vicious Cycle" A book for Intestinal Health through Diet by Elaine Gottschall. These muffins really fill you up and sustain you for a long time - they should since they have 14g of Protein each. I will also add that the last four ingredients are additions to the original recipe and probably are not "legal" on the carbohydrate specific diet (the diet in the book). If you are a person with Crohn's I (and Tim too of course) would highly recommend the book and deleting the three added ingredients until your intestines are well on the road to recovery.

For the rest of you...this is an awesome breakfast and snack. They are full of fiber and really keep you "regular" if you know what I mean. There are a lot of benefits to eating the almonds too.

But "I don't know where to get ground almonds" you might be saying. If you live near a Trader Joe's you can buy Almond Meal there...but what we do is...we buy Almonds in bulk (3 lbs @ Costco), throw them in the food processor and whir them until they are ground up nice and fine. I usually buy 9 pounds at a time and store them in a Rubbermaid container in the basement.

Also, this is a double recipe. For a smaller batch just divide it in half using 2 or 3 eggs depending on the size of your eggs - I prefer my batter to be thick rather than runny.

It takes a bit of initial preparation, but is such a good and healthy food for you and your family. I hope each of you takes the initiative to make them. Please let me know when you do and if you have any questions.

Pray for Catherine

Our dear friend Catherine left yesterday for her new home in a far away place. She was called to missionary work and has anxiously awaited this day. Would you offer up a prayer for her as you read this? There are many logistical things that come in to play when you move half way around the world. We hope and pray she and all of her things make it there safely. We also pray that God richly blesses her ministry there. I'm sure she would appreciate it.

Did you just ever "know" that someone was in God's will? Well when you meet and talk with Catherine you leave knowing that she is 110% in the will of God. There is no doubt at all that she seeks and listens to God's instructions. I've never been so excited to see someone go to the mission field in my life. I know that she will bless the lives she touches beyond measure.

The last breakfast....we had one last chance to meet with her this past weekend. Here she is with Graham.

Nothing Important to Tell You

It's been over a week but I just don't feel inspired to write anything. It seems as though when I do have something to write about I've just posted something. So, maybe I should keep a working file...

We're just enjoying the nice warm weather by walking or playing on the slide or out on the back deck. The boys and I have been going to Lifetime a couple times a week - Graham adapted well after the first day and now LOVES to go there. Mommy is enjoying working out again and is thinking of joining a class.

Tim is slowly making his way back into sailing things...seminars, working on the boat....all that good stuff. Summer is just around the corner. Yeahhh!!!

I've been spending all my free time (what little there is of it) on learning the art of digital scrapping. It's much easier to comprehend now that I'm not pregnant - the preggo brain was not a benefit when trying to learn something new.

So, that's it. Nothing. Here's one of my layouts I entered in a challenge.

I'm off to make my world famous muffins (Okay, so their not world famous to everyone, but my husband thinks so!!)

Having Hope in the Wilderness

‘I remember my affliction and my wandering, the bitterness and the gall. I well remember them, and my soul is downcast within me. Yet this I call to mind and therefore I have hope: Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. I say to myself, 'The LORD is my portion;

therefore I will wait for him.'
Lamentations 3:19-24 NIV

Ever had one of those “God Moments?”

I just had one.

During my quiet time this morning,

I opened my favorite reading material and came across

Lamentations 3:22-23 and found it quite comforting

for a few things swirling around in my head.

Wanting to document and think out some

of those things swirling in my head,

I opened up the NIV site

and guess what the passage of the day was?

Lamentations 3:19-24….crazy!!

Why this passage?

Always makes me wonder if some affliction

or down time in my life is about to happen?

There is my human side, always looking for the worst in situations.

I did say there were a few things swirling in my head,

but nothing that seemed too pressing or consuming.

Maybe it’s not here to remind me of the bad,

but rather to praise my Heavenly Father

for bringing me out of the wilderness

in the past and reminding me

of the new hope He offers me every morning.

Maybe it’s not for me…maybe it’s for someone else

I’ll come across in the next few days,

so that I can be an encouragement to them.

Only time will tell.

None the less…

HE IS FAITHFUL! I do know that…

He has proved that over and over again

in my life and in those around me.

Yes, that’s it!

That’s what He wants me to know today.

I just (15 minutes ago) commented to my online friends about

spring, new beginnings, new life

(listening to Griffin in his swing chattering up a storm)…

”God’s great love, His compassion…it’s new every morning.

He is always there.

He is faithful!

I don’t have to worry about anything-

I don’t have to be consumed by it.

He wants the best for me -

I just need to wait on Him -

all in His perfect timing.”

Family Picture Day

Since I went way overboard (my accusation) last time I took the boys for pictures, I thought I'd have Tim come along. This in itself is a scheduling headache. The Market was closed on Friday which means no work for Daddy. Unfortunately, I wasn't planned well enough in advance to schedule a convenient time. But calling the night before and the morning of I was able to snatch a cancellation. So 3:45 was our appointed time. CHAOS!! Not to mention an impending snow storm. We rushed in, only to wait, but here is a small sampling of what we had to choose from. Just for the record...Daddy wanted to purchase more than Mommy would have.

Happy Easter!!

A Few Days and A Few Adventures in Mexico

So, Tim was in Mexico last week and had a very interesting stay. He wanted to try a gringo's "hotel." He thought he could spend some time with an American who has been living there for a number a years and maybe learn a thing or two from him...well. I'm not sure what he learned, but he had an interesting stay....

As many of you know Tim doesn't go anywhere without his muffins. So, we packed enough for the week all nice and neat in ziplock and stuck them in a box so they wouldn't get crushed. Did you know that ants can eat through zip lock bags? I didn't...but apparently they can. He had a few more amusing things not including this little visitor. He said he had to kill it before he could go to sleep. Then he dreamed of spiders all night. I think he'll be staying at the Fiesta Americana next time.

Quick! What's the first thing that comes to mind?

"Blessed is the man who perseveres under trial, because when he has stood the test, he will recieve the crown of life that God has promised to those who love Him."

James 1.12

Let's have a little interaction go on...and see just who

is really out there...anyone?

What does this verse say to you today?

okay, so apprently nobody wants to talk...

but I know you're out there...I can see you!

Something to Write About

I lay in bed at night when I'm trying to fall asleep and I write these wonderful, wordy and inspiring entries to post and share with you. One night I wrote something about "mean words" another time about being a "Babywise Parent - it works for us - don't make me feel guilty" another time I wrote about "how blessed I am to have Tim in my life"....but, they never make it to this point. Why? Too busy, too scared, too...what? Maybe it's too perfectionistic or maybe too much of procrastinator...it could be a little of everything mentioned every day or any given day.

At almost 38, I often feel like I really know myself. Other days I have no clue who I am or what makes me tick. I praise God each time I understand a little more about myself. We are all complex creatures - it's the very thing that makes us all unique. And better yet makes the world an interesting place to live.

So, on to my point (I've got to work on that issue - getting to the point). Back in January I wrote about my goals for the first quarter of the year and one of the harder goals was introducing the "FLY Lady" system into my home.

Well, I finally got around to it...babysteps, that's what she calls them...and I'm learning a lot about myself. One thing I really like about FLY is that it breaks tasks down in to manageable bits. This is good for me. Sometimes if I look at the whole huge project I get overwhelmed and quit before I even begin.

Today I spent 15 minutes de-cluttering my dining room table. I didn't finish. But according to FLY Lady that's okay. I can work on it again. In the past, I would have felt like a failure and would never work on it again (until my husband threatened to divorce me for a messy table - just kidding) or worse yet, I would have never started at all because I knew I couldn't possibly get everything put away in it's right place in an acceptable amount of time or before I lost interest.

Today I set my timer for 15 minutes and worked as quickly as I could. It felt good. So good, I might even go back for another 15 minutes here in a little while. Wow! At this rate, I can't wait to see what my life looks like by this summer....

So, was there a point to this? I intended there to be...let's see...what was it? Procrastination and Perfectionism. Two things I think I possess...anyone want to disagree? Two, kind of, nasty words. But, they are who I am. I know it. Now, I've identified them and it's my job to overcome them and work them to my advantage. The FLY Lady system is helping me do that.

I love the FLY Lady...where has she been my whole life?

For more info surf on over to www.FLYLady.net

It's back - sort of...

After a loooong time, I finally got my blog back, but you have to click on the month to get the text to pop up. Hopefully this really nice guy named "nitecruzur" will help me figure it out!

Hoping to post soon...I've got some neat things to share.

Major Blogger Issues

Blogger has been experiencing problems for the past few days. Looks like a lot of people have been affected, yet Blogger isn't posting any updates....thus the reason for my mess of a blog.

Sorry to those of you who have update notices...hopefully it will be resolved soon!

God Bless You, Mam!

First of all you know you're getting old when a 20 something guy calls you mam...but that's not the point.

Today I did something out of my comfort zone. I completed a purging project. Sounds like a food issue, doesn't it? Well, no it's actually a cleaning project.

I'm a teacher therefore I'm a pack-rat. I'm also a Chipman and therefore a pack-rat. I crave always having "just what I need" when doing something, whether it be cooking, decorating, crafting or just existing. I like gadgets. I like the perfect shirt for the perfect outfit. You get the idea.

Well, Tim and I have been working on re-doing our bedroom and the final project was clearing out our dressers and closet of all those items we haven't used and don't need.

But I will need everything I've acquired at SOME point. I'm just not sure if it will be tomorrow, next month, next year, or three years from now. Do you see my problem?

We gathered a huge garbage bag of stuff on Saturday and Tim loaded it into my van. Before I left this morning, he called to remind me to drop it off at the Salvation Army. The whole way there, I began to get anxious. Did I leave a piece of jewelery in a pocket? Did I stash $20 in a pocket for a rainy day (I used to do this in my poor college days)? Was there a family heir loom attached to a lapel? No probably not. I wanted so bad to go and pull everything out and re-evaluate whether or not I had been too hasty in my purging. But I didn't. I chose not to think about it on my drive.

When I arrived I quickly jumped out, opened the back and a young guy about 20'ish met me and took the bag from me. Quickly. Painlessly. No second chances for the pack-rat. As he walked away the earring studded, tattooed, safety-pin guy yelled over his shoulder, "God Bless You, Mam!" Taken off guard, cold and too quick I yelled "thank you!" and jumped back in the car.

As I pulled out this dreary morning, I wished I had been a step slower and offered the same for him. God's blessing. I was too far gone, so as I drove away I prayed that the young guy would himself not only experience God's blessing on his life in the very near future, but that he would realize that his blessings are from our living savior. God did bless me - in more ways than I can count. How has God blessed you today?

This is my life....

"Five Minutes' Peace by Jill Murphy"

You must check out this book!

Poor Mrs. Large wants five minutes' peace but Laura and her brothers have other ideas...including climbing in the bathtub with Momma. You will laugh until you cry with this book that probably closely resembles your life too.

Music to My Ears

"for da Bible tell me so"

Graham has most recently learned the love of singing. Unfortunately he wasn't blessed with the singing gene. He sings like his mother and father. No tone, no nothing...but it's still one of the sweetest sounds I could ever imagine hearing. I wish he would let me tape him so I could play it over and over and preserve such sweet memories. Next time you see him ask him to sing "Peanut, peanutl butter...jelly!" He sings the jelly part that would rival any saultry jazz singer any day.

"ABCDEFG HIJK LMNOP neck time won't you sing wif me"
"tinkle, tinkle wittle tar how I wonder what you are"

The Refiner's Fire

Malachi 3:3 says; 'He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver.'

This verse puzzled some women in a Bible study and they wondered what this statement meant about the character and nature of God. One of the women offered to find out the process of refining silver and get back to the group at their next Bible Study.

That week, the woman called a silversmith and made an appointment to watch him at work work. She didn't mention anything about the reason for her interest beyond her curiosity about the process of refining Silver. As she watched the silversmith, he held a piece of silver over the fire and let it heat up. He explained that in refining silver, one needed to hold the silver in the middle of the fire where the flames were hottest as to burn away all the impurities.

The woman thought about God holding us in such a hot spot; then she thought again about the verse that says: 'He sits as a refiner and purifier of silver.' She asked the silversmith if it was true that he had to sit there in front of the fire the whole time. The man answered that yes, he not only had to sit there holding the silver, but he had to keep his eyes on the silver the entire time it was in the fire. If the silver was left a moment too long in the flames, it would be destroyed.

The woman was silent for a moment. Then she asked the silversmith, 'How do you know when the silver is fully refined?' He smiled at her and answered, 'Oh, that's easy -- when I see my image in it.'

If today you are feeling the heat of the fire , remember that God has his eye on you and will keep watching you until He sees His image in you.

I'm Craving Chocolate....but this will do

I'm just wondering why we don't have some kind of fun cupcake store here in town. This comes from a really fun website about cupcakes...check it out.

Check! One item gone.

I can actually check one item off of my resolution list and that would be...the Griffin pounds. As of this morning I have lost a grand total of 51 pounds since the day before Griffin was born. Yes, I gained at least 49 pounds and it's possible a pound or few more at the rate I was going - 13 pounds in the last 14 days of pregnancy.

Now, I'm on to loosing the 12 Graham pounds I never lost. I can actually say that breastfeeding is helping me loose weight this time. Not sure why it is any different, but just as every pregnancy and every child is different, so must be postpartum weight loss.

Griffin greets me at every turn with the most heart melting smile a mother could ever imagine. He has the cutest little dimple on his right cheek and one on his left that only comes out occasionally. He's such a happy baby and he loves to be held and cuddle. Graham was a "put me down" kind of baby, so I'm glad that my last one will let me hugs and kiss all over him. He just melts like butter in my arms. Now, if only it was feasible to hold him all day long...and keep him a little baby forever too.

Graham has adjusted very well to "Baby, baby" as he affectionately calls him. He can be spotted most days looking him in the eyes, kissing him or pounding him with the play hammer (I pray this one will stop, I can just imagine trying to explain that one to the doctor or ER should it ever result in a bruise). I'm sure he is wondering when they can play together and I'm sure it won't be too long at all. I'm blessed to be the mom of two healthy and fun little boys!

My New Year Resolutions for the First Quarter of 2008

Isn't it funny how we think of time at different stages of our lives? As a tween or teenager we thought in "school years." As a college student we thought in "semesters" and now we just think of life in "years" as we live our adult life.

Since my adult life took me back to school, I began thinking about time once again in "semesters" or more often in "card marking/vacation" time. It's funny, I still, even though I've been out of the classroom two and a half years think of time in this way. Tim is slowly trying to change me into the business world and to think of time in "quarters." In fact that is how we organize our digital picture files, in quarters. It took me a while, in fact I had to have a cheat sheet with each quarter's months listed when I was organizing the big picture mess we had a couple of months ago.

I've learned enough about myself in the past few years to know that I am better off if I have goals in mind to make them in manageable chunks rather than the end result. If it's a lofty goal and seems too unattainable then I will never accomplish it. But, if it's broken down into bite size pieces I have a better chance of seeing it accomplished....thus the reason I've written this piece on my goals for the first quarter of 2008. (Don't you love that it took me three paragraphs to explain that?)

My Resolutions for Quarter 1 - 2008

• Use the Fly Lady's Cleaning Zones to keep my house orderly
• Loose the last couple of Griffin pounds
• Loose the Graham pounds that have been living with me since 2005
• Finish the projects I started in 2007
• Find a creative outlet for me and make it purposeful
• Begin training for a half marathon to be completed in 2008

I could list a million other things but then my list would be unattainable once again. So, I'm going to leave it at this and just know that when some of these things fall into place that everyone around me will reap the rewards of me accomplishing a few things and bettering myself. If I begin with at least some order then the other things will easily fall into place too.

Enough rambling for today...I'm off to get going on my list.

Wow!

With the guys Tim works with, they are all in competition to see who can accumulate the most miles on their cars. Tim does not hold the record, but he passed a milestone on the way home from Ohio this past week. We had to pull over on the side of the turnpike to capture this moment. Go Toyota! Check it out!