Blessed and Then Some

Following up on my commitment at the end of the last post, I've been looking for a good way to "Baby Step" into a real foods habit.  I've been praying about it and trying to swallow my pride and listen to my husband when he tells me I'm moving too fast and taking on too much.  I get so excited about things and I want to try it all today!  The downside is that I can't keep it all up and before too long I've burnt out and dropped it all.  So what am I doing to keep myself from rushing in?  My current strategy is a combination of frank honesty here and signing up for an e-course membership at GNOWFGLINS .  I'm starting with their fundamentals e-course that walks you a step at a time into implementing real foods strategies into your lifestyle.  I'm pretty sure I won't be using all the things I learn (I'm still a little squeamish on lacto-fermenting) but I'm really intrigued by most of it and looking forward to new experiences.  They recom...

I was awfully tempted not to write this post, but a recent bible study on humility along with the hope that my fumble could save someone else the trouble prompted me to plunge ahead.  So, remember the Mother's Day yogurt tasting party?  Well, don't tell anyone who ate it, but by the next day most of the yogurt was pretty nasty.  I went to reculture it with raw milk, and the smell 'bout knocked me over.  The best way to describe it was "very yeasty."  Yogurt has a rather distinctive odor, that I've come to enjoy over the years.  This was not it.  Walking the fine line between bravery and stupidity, I took a small taste of the viili, and it reminded me alot of Fun Dip.  This was not at all the smooth taste of the day before, what had gone wrong? The first misstep I took was veering off my normal path of researching something to death before embarking upon it.  I saw a post with some information about yogurt, jumped to the website it mentione...

Never in my wildest dreams would I have pictured the way I got to spend this Mother’s Day! I woke to the kisses and good wishes of my family beckoning me to the table for a special breakfast prepared by my amazing husband who had not been in the country for even 24 hours.  They blessed me with gifts and then we got ready and headed out to church.  We visited my Mom’s church, Discovery , and had a great time worshipping and learning.  Then we were off to Chevy’s for a Fresh Mex dinner. My Mom and Brother came back to the house with us where Mom and I jumped right into trying something new, one of our favorite things to do.  First on the list was rendering lard.  Yep, you read that right!  I’ve been learning a lot lately about how lard, when taken from the leaf lard of pasture-raised pork, is a very healthy form of fat.  It’s highly recommended for pie crusts and frying chicken.  I had spent some time researching it on the internet, and I was anxi...

So in thinking about the best reason for blogging, I figured that it's a good outlet for the random, insane passions that overtake me from time to time.  People get awfully tired of listening to me, so here's one way they can listen only as much as they'd like :).  As many know, my latest interest is in "going natural".  I'm trying to bring our family back to using products and eating food that are as close as possible to the way God intended them to be.  We've switched to organic, whole foods; raw milk; natural cleaning products made at home to control ingredients; etc.  I'd like, in future notes, to include a little bit of in-depth info on each of these as the fancy takes me. 

So here I am trying out blogging.  Not sure anyone would ever be interested in my ramblings, but it can't hurt, right?  I'll start by talking about the name I chose for my blog.  Several years ago, Peter Lord came to the church I was attending.  He spoke for three days and covered alot of great information, but the one thing he said that stuck with me to this day was that he was "Blessed and then some."  People ask you how you are, as a matter of habit usually not interest, every time you say, "Hi."  And, equally out of habit, I usually reply "Fine," or, "Alright."  In my head I know I'm lying because I don't feel fine.  I'm tired, stressed, overwhelmed, anything but "Fine."  On the other hand though, I don't want to complain.  Most of the time I know that the person I'm talking to has just as much, if not more, going on in their life.  So, when Peter Lord shared this phrase with me it stuck.  No matter where...