One year Later...

We celebrate life!

One year ago, our life was disrupted when Mr D was diagnosed with Colon cancer. Mr D and I were generally healthy, aside of a few glitches now and then, so hearing that was a shock! God favored us with His blessings and today he is doing very well.

After Mr D's cancer, we chose to be under the care of a nutritionist who is a godly, compassionate woman. She explained to us that Mr D had a fungus in his body that is caused by a white sugar/white flour diet. We both went on a no sugars/no grains food plan. I had been eliminating sugar for myself but Mr D? At first, it felt impossible for him but we took it a step at a time and today I'm very proud to tell you he does very well with it!

Thank God, I had started this journey several years for myself before we really did need to do it for life or death reasons. I was introduced to Elana's Pantry by a friend and discovered the wonderful world of almond meal and agava nectar (yes, I know there are pros and cons on agava nectar). Almond meal is used instead of flour and makes absolutely the BEST cookies! Several months ago I stumbled (I use 'stumbled' very lightly because I believe there is no 'stumbling' but God-ordained steps!) on Gluten Free Fix, another WONDERFUL site. She uses honey and/or maple syrup as a sweetener and her recipes are absolutely delicious! Having said all this, sweets was the biggest hurdle to cross in our new food plan and this was an answer to an unspoken prayer for us. Being able to eat delicious sweets that is so full of nutrition that one cookie or several bites of yummy pecan pie is sufficient is amazing!  

Replacing sweets really wasn't that difficult when we had such a good replacement but giving up ALL grains was much harder! I love shredded wheat and grape nuts and we miss the 'eating-cereal-for-a-quick-breakfast' mode. Mr D isn't one to cook eggs/pancakes for himself when I'm not there to fix breakfast for him, which thankfully, doesn't happen very often. One favorite breakfast is almond meal pancakes that are packed with nutrition!

Mix with fork:

3 eggs

3 TB water

2 TB agava nectar or rice syrup

1 tsp vanilla

Add and mix to wet ingredients:

1 1/2 cup almond meal

1/4 tsp each of salt and baking soda

Cook on medium to low heat and watch carefully - they burn easily!Leftovers can be refrigerated. It does get thicker sitting in the frig but I'll add another tablespoon of water if needed.

I also add a tablespoon or two of ground flax meal to the batter for added nutrition, cook it with blue berries,  top it with Greek yogurt and either maple syrup or agava. This makes a fabulous breakfast that keeps the tummy full til lunch...super, super good!

Go to this post for a few more more delicious receipes.

Eat, Ate, Tea

I 'shopped til I dropped' - well, not really, but I did shop around a lot for three black letters, but in the end, I just couldn't pay the $'s for it (I'm a penny-pincher!). I knew Mr. D could make me some. He used some scrap wood from his supply and cut the letters out for me and I spray painted them. That part was easier than getting them hung!

The wood has an intriguing texture to it.

The letters are above the kitchen window and are worth the work it took to put them there!

I thought I'd switch the letters around depending on the occasion but I think they'll just stay like they are now! I like the 'oomph' these three letters add to my kitchen.

Link Parties:
Frugal Friday
Feathered Nest Friday
Vintage Inspiration

Yummy Lemon Aid

Lemon aid is simplicity itself - I mean, what's complicated about a simple drink like this? This one is different in that the whole lemon is used, giving it a different flavor and it. is. good!

Take one lemon, cut both ends off and quarter it.

Blend it. I use the shred button.

Immediately strain and add enough water to make two quarts.

I use stevia to sweeten it to taste. I've discovered there is stevia and then there is stevia! The stevia I use is potent so I use a quarter teaspoon to make two quarts. This is also best used the same day.

ENJOY!

Sunday Worship

Several months ago Pastor Mark spoke on taking the time to 'sit at the feet of Jesus.' Out of this message, he birthed the idea to come early and do just this in the sanctuary. The soft music and soft lighting is very conducive to prepare for worship, a time to pray, a time to look inside at self.

Yesterday, a friend and I did a prayer walk around the room, praying for ourselves, praying for the hurting, praying for loved ones who are going through a hard time. I don't know what it did for my friend but I do know what it did for me!

- Message from the pulpit -

Seeing the Glory of God

Exodus 33

- do I desire to reflect it?

- is my spiritual growth reflective on how I see the glory of God?

- do I nibble too much at the wrong things so that I am too 'stuffed' to see it?

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It rained! It rained in steady drumbeats all. day. long. Just the kind of rain we were needing! Today is more than chilly but not cold, cold...in Pennsylvania Dutch, we have a very fitting word for it - it's 'lepp-ish'' and that describes the weather today perfectly!

Today, I will be inside in recovery from several weeks of working outdoor in wonderful weather!

Yesterday...

It rained! Enough to fill my three rain barrels and claw foot tub!

We had small group at our house and these two are loving their snack.

Today...

Pink dogwood in the house...

and the wisteria is beginning to bloom outside our front door!

All is well and all is right!

Lead Like Jesus

Our church hosted a Lead Like Jesus Encounter taught by Luke Kuepher over the week end - it was thought-provoking-out-of-my-comfort zone stuff, not so much of my daily walk with Jesus as it was in being 'missional' and intentional in missions church life. It was good, good stuff! A few points of interest...

Successful Leadership has...

- vision

- motivates

- is a servant

- leads change

- develops people

- thinks strategically

- has the wisdom of teams

Successful Level Five Leaders have...

- total humility

- resoluteness of will

Leaders will...

- often have a secret in their lives that hinders

- great leaders often self-destruct because of success

In times past, church (especially conservative church) has operated out of this expectation...

- behave

- believe

- belong.

Are we willing to create a place to...

- belong

- believe

- behave

- and to allow 'fail forward' in the Jesus way?

More good stuff...

Are we okay with new Christians 'journeying' to Jesus?

Shadow pastoring is a successful tool in church planting.

Always point questions to Scripture to help find the answer.

When church becomes institutional it begins to break down.

It is important to see people not as they are but for what they can become.

A small church gives a 'go and serve' mentality rather than 'come and hear.'

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Did you know...

- there are 1700 churches planted every week, world-wide?

All of us are leaders somewhere and these same principles can be used wherever we serve.

It was a challenging, challenging day!

Garden Glory

We've had three days of chilly, windy days but today is glorious with a promise of warm days ahead...yea! This is what's blooming in it's glory now.

Peony tulips, hellebore in the background, creeping phlox.

 Yellow creeping (?) and sea thrift...with stone? What's not to love?

 Old fashioned blue iris' with cat mint.



Enjoy the week end!

Linking to:
Time Travel Thursday
Flaunt your Flowers

Today I Baked...

We're eating gluten-free and these are a few of our favorites.

I call this one our crustless pecan pie - sooo super good!

Chocolate cake cupcakes to which I added a cream cheese center and skip the icing...also very good! In the background are almond meal raisin cookies - super, super good!

The cookie recipe is found here, though I've tweaked it a bit and use the same basic recipe and add raisins, chocolate chips or coconut and nuts together.

Fiercely delish! :)

Easter and Gardening Help

THE POWER OF THE RESURRECTION!

From The Pulpit

When Satan reminds us of our many failures,

remind him of his greatest failure - The Cross!

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Because of an extended Easter vacation, two grands, P and J, were here all day on Thursday 'helping Grandma' and a grand help it was! We got a lot done and having four extra hands around to help with gardening was wonderful!

 There was a mountain of wood chips that needs to be wheeled to the right places. Mr.D helped on Saturday by dumping it in place for me on this project as well. The wood chip pile, different than bark mulch, is part of my new way of gardening (more on that later).

S and T were here for an hour, found these hats in the playhouse and I caught them trying to 'touch the fish.' Precious!

The boys washing the front porch down...

and taking an apple snack break.

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The wonderful warm weather we had earlier pushed everything ahead but many things are now feeling the threat of frost. The roses look nipped and the strawberries need to be covered at night. But the old-fashioned blue iris started blooming, the peony tree is full of buds and the peony plants are pushing buds.

Oh, I LOVE this time of the year!

Thrift and Free Finds

Our local fire company held their annual spring mud sale last week end. This year I remembered to do the 'unclaimed and for free' hunt on Friday, then went back for a door, a chair and two end tables Saturday morning. Sometimes I don't know what to do with my yen and vision for 'stuff!' {SIGH!}  The demands of a shop or even Etsy is more than I want to spend time on! :)

Anyhoo, here my finds...

The writing on the wooden mitre box was the reason this was picked up! This, the plate and the wooden frame peeking in the background are the freebies. The note and soap was a thank you gift from DIL M and the dried roses from MR D for valentines. I'll be scattering the pink lark spur on the flower bed.

I found two green-tinted jugs at our local thrift shop as well as the pussy-willow and twisted stems that was sold as a bouquet. I added the burlap (another thrift find) and buttons to this one. 

My heart goes pitter-pat when I find another piece of ironstone at a steal!

This is my spring display on the cupboard by the third wall in our kitchen.

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Have you seen what Picasa has done? Love the stuff they've added to their menu!

Run...check it out!

*happy sigh*

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- From the pulpit -

Do you want the touch of God on your life?

1. We need to admit we have a problem.

2. We must be willing to do something about it.

3. We must be willing to do whatever it takes.

4. We need to look for the unexpected. 

These points were a conclusion from the story of the healing of Naaman the leper, fround in II Kings 5.