Processed food

So I am trying to not eat processed food. So you ask what is processed food? Everything. Everything with preservatives or chemicals. Unfortunatly the way our food is packaged and presented in the grocery is all for show. It is to give it longer life, shelf life that is. Now all those things in our food to make it last longer are ganging up on our immune systems, or hormones and our organs and causing us to have a shorter life. I know I know you will now tell me the life spand of Americans has increase steadly over the years. But so has the rate of caner, Heart failure in women, and alzhiemers.

So in order to try and get a metabolisim again I grabbed a book about getting back to basiscs. One, eat things that are grown from the ground, Two, eat things that have had a mother...mooo, cluck, oing! But dont buy packaged stuff that has added preservitaives and other yucky stuff.

Happy Halloween!

So not my favorite holiday, and really not my sons favorite holiday. When he was three some idiot jumped out at him when he went to the door for candy. Since then he know longer cares to go door to door. Which this was never a problem because our Church did a Hallaluha(sp) harvest event. We like that fun, nothing scary, bounce house, games....all good.

Well another victim of the economy, we are not having it this year. Insurance issues, funding, whatever, we are not having this festival. So, I gave B a few choices, we could go early for trick or treating so no scary stuff. He was not fond of that idea. The suspense is to great for him, you have to ring someones doorbell, whom you don't know and then except food, from again a stranger.

I don't blame him one bit for a week I have been telling him and reviewing the stranger danger speech. With the most resent abduction in Jacksonville I felt this discussion was one worth repeating. So with that being said I am going to tell him go to a lot of peoples houses, strangers houses and take candy.....!

Halloween use to be fun, and children use to be able to walk home from school with out fear of being murdered and taken to the land fill.

Sorry, got a little grime for a moment, but, back to the story, after a few more suggestions, trick or treating in Grandma's over 100 year old(the residence) community...probably not to scary, or just to peoples houses we know he has opted out. And I am okay with that. They are having a big party at school complete with a dress up character parade. He is excited about passing out candy and his dad is excited about eating it. So their, I think we will have fun none the less.

Happy Halloween to all!

Really, has it been that long!

Wow, I was reminded I had a blog yesterday so I thought I might come out at visit it and maybe send out a note or two....I can't believe the last time I Blogged was in July. Sorry the Facebook addiction is intense....

I have been thinking about blogging lately, I have longer stories to tell, that does not work on FB.

will be typing up a few soon.

Bike part 3

With a little hesitation he agreed he would walk his bike up to the top of third obstacle and ride down adding it to the other two ramps he already knew he could do. With each trip around the course he would add speed and bravery, and just as he had done in the pool, he pushed to the next level.

Each obstacle he decided to add was taller and more difficult, by this time his confidence was in the level of dangerous. He could do anything. As he raced around the track we never new which ramp he might try next. Finally he was brave enough to take the biggest ramp, we pushed his bike to the top of the 5ft plus ramp and as every good parent would do...shoved his bike down the other side(yes with him on it). Away he went down the ramp up the next ramp continuing though the course. As he built speed he headed back to the steep ramp, Shawn stood at the top an I stood at the bottom to catch him in the event of failure. As he raced toward the ramp he peddled with all he had, and with ample speed took the ramp with determination and resolution for complete success. AS his new red bike raced up the ramp with only his face was beaming.

I fought back the tears( i know a little dramatic but true)Shawn, whom at the beginning of the day all but called him a chicken was also beaming. Oh my goshs it was a family moment. We worked as a team, we had a goal and with patience and resolve we pushed past a giant hurdle. Really, we were just their, B work very hard at mentally over coming his fear and physically pushing to a limit he had never pushed before. B rode his bike in the heat of the day for four hours, up and down the ramps. I was so proud of all of us, we learned so much, Dad learned his son learns at his own pace and if not pushed he will accomplish the goal in his own time, B learned he can do anything he sets his mind to with a little work and time and I learned, first they need me to coach both of them and second their are rewarding moments in being a mom!

Bike Adventure (part2)

So, we decided to take the truck. We put the bikes in the back of the truck and were off to the ramps. When we arrived a small amt of doubt crept into B's mind. My husband with great excitement pointed to the first ramp and as the day began B did not want anything to do with it. And as the day began my husband became frustrated and again I interceded, calmed everyone down(because at this point B was about to cry and Shawn in his best dad mad voice was saying "Fine,get in the truck we going home!".

With a quick breather and a private moment with B I was able to convince him to just enter the park and ride around in circles. Not take any of the ramps, just ride. This was okay, and he felt comfortable with doing this.

On the course were a few bigger boys(late teens) who were very kind to avoid running B over and allowing him his turn on the track. We did this for about an hour. In this hour I started to see B relax, his speed increased and his comfort level sored, after all it was just riding in circles.

Once I knew he was open to going just a little further in this adventure I ask if he wanted to start at the top of a small ramp and just ride down. I would walk his bike up and he could ride down. Okay, he was fine with that. So that is what we did for about another 30 mins.

The weird thing about B is out of the blue when he is learning something he will build up some courage and just take whatever he is doing to the next level. A few weeks ago, while swimming at my sisters pool he decided he wanted to jump into the deep end. This was new he never wanted to go to the deep end, so when he said he wanted to jump in the deep end I said okay, before I could even get to the other end of the pool he had climbed up on the Jacuzzi wall and launch into the center of the deep end of the pool. Just like that! Know hesitation, NO Fear it was just time to move forward in the pool.

So after about four times starting on the top of a small ramp I could see he was getting braver and in one push of the peddle he took off from the small ramp and glided up the side of another small flat top obstacle. He was so happy. With this new found confidence he sored around the track from the first obstacle to the next obstacle. He stayed with these two ramps for about another 30 mins. so when we ask him to add another ramp he was just not sure.

A Mile Stone

Today was a mile stone for our little family. My little boy of all of his 6 years learned a great life lesson. It is so weird as a parent when you look up to your children.

At the same time you are in total admiration because, maybe, just maybe they are so wise and wonderful because you had something to do with their upbringing.

We arrived at out local outdoor skate park filled with metal ramps and steep slopes to attempt to ride THE new bicycle like a true BMX rider. I am not sure why we were going to do this but with no money and an empty Saturday why not.

My son purchased his new red hot wheels bike complete with a noise making had grip about two weeks ago. He has not been off it since. If he could sleep with it he would.

Last week my husband, in an attempt to give me some alone time(it is summer ya know we are both home 24/7 together)took our child on a long bike ride. On the long bike ride they located a make shift bike, dirt track. It was glorious they navigated all the obstacles with ease and precision. My son was elated. He burst in the front door and could not stop talking about the great trip which also included the water park and a Slurpee.

So the next day he wanted to go again, but this time with me. Shawn was working, so I agreed. Lets just say the trip was not near as successful with me as it was with his father. An extended trip,because we got a little lost, a very badly skinned knee and no Slurpee we arrived back at the house.

With this bad trip still fresh in my son's little mind when the subject came up to bike to the bike track he ws not as excited. I could see the disappointment in my husbands eyes, so with motherly love I convinced B to go to a different bike park, one that does not have gravel that will take about three layers of skin off when you fall on it. The thought of a family outing including on of our dogs was a great deal and B was on board ready to go.

(ok, because this story is a little long I will do it in parts....I promise I will blog again tomorrow and again the next day until the whole store is complete...)(really i will.......)

????

I know I need to blog, must get over my addiction to FB......hopefully soon!

Baby Sitting, Not Day Care

1. Two kids, three days a week, two days 2 1/2 hours, one day 6hours
2) Yes providing snacks and lunch.

Heres a Question for you!

What is a reasonable rate to charge someone to watch their children a few hours a day everyday?

Food addiction

The worst thing you can do to a food addict is pull a tooth.

I had a trip to the Dentist, of whom I love, very little discomfort in the chair, but now the gapping socket where the tooth was needs some time to heal.

So I ate a big lunch on the suggestion of my huband, at 2;30ish, and now at 9:30ish I am hungry. I keep thinking of all the good things to eat. BBQ, salad, popcorn, ice cream...anything I think I will just take a few aspirin and go to bed

Instant Gratification

Instant Gratification
Yes we all love it. We want what we want, when we want it, and not a second later. This is why facebook has become so habitual. So many times I can speak with someone instantly without ever hearing their voice. I am able to get up, be constantly interrupted by my child and neighbors and still con't to Facebook with family and friends. It is the most impersonal personal thing you can do.

Perhaps that is why i had a decline of post on my blog. Not sure, I still love to blog it is like venting. First, your never sure if anyone is going to read it, although you hope they do because we all love validation, but never really sure.

Second, for all the closet writers it is a great way to make yourself believe you are making a mark on the literary world and some day you could actually do this for a living, or for more then just 4 people.

All in all I will never give up my blog. When blogging you do feel if someone took the timne to stop by your page they really wanted to know what was new with you. Unlike Facebook where you can have 300 friends, none of whom you have spokent to in the last 25 years nor care to speak with you in person for the next 25 years.

Slackers

With the exception of Dave, present typiest included, we have all become Blog slackers. No doubt due to the increased interest in the Face book world for a few of us(sonja's mom excluded)(HEY, sonja's mom, you don't have a FB page yet do ya!)

I vow to become more attentive to my blog page with in the next few days. I am sure something spectacular will happen with in my world that I just have to share. Until then.......I am going to bed!

This is one of the babies at City of Refuge, he was getting over Chicken pocks.

Ms Kim is one of the missionaries who started the program. They have dedicated their lives to the mission of saving the children of Jamaica for the last twenty years.

She is an amazing women with extraordinary faith in God! You can not help but come away from spending time with her with a stronger deeper belief in God and the power of God.

MORE FACES FROM THE CITY OF REFUGE!

More

http://thecityofrefugechildrenshome.org/ContentGap/index.html Check out the site, it has a great video it is worth the time.

We had a few fund raisers to help defer the cost of the trip here are a few pictures of each event. The first one was a garage sale, people from the church brought in things for us to sell,......A LOT OF THINGS!

We sorted and tagged all the goodies and raised several thousand dollars. The first attempt at fund raising was a great success.

Next was to sell strawberry short cake on 4th of July at the local fireworks extravaganza. (mother daughter team that went on trip) I was suppose to go on vacation so I was not attending this one, but if everyone remembers this was the beginning of my mother going crazy and I was slightly detained so I didn't do either that day.

After the Strawberry short cake we had a great chicken dinner(sorry no pics on that) and when we returned we did a fashion show all in all the fund raisers paid for about 1/2 of every persons trip. We were all very great full to the congregation for stepping up and donating so much.

Our First day(city of refuge)

Just to catch you up, since I have not written about this in quite sometime, last year I went on a missions trip to Jamaica with my church(the group is pictured above) I blogged about it on and off but never had any pictures to show. I didn't take a camera thinking I would be able to purchase a disposable at the Jamaica airport(wrong) So when I last wrote we had just arrived and I just found out my one and only roommate would be the Children s Minister of which I had recently had a falling out with(God has a sense of humor) the next few blogs i will show a few
pictures of the trip and highlight a few memorable experiences.

The CM whom has perfect hair, makeup and clothes(my roommate) was up and preparing for the day. I on the other hand just wanted more sleep. I crawled out of bed and walked across the tile floor to my suit case. Ms CM had already organized her belongings, prioritized her day and was in the shower. I decided I was not quite ready for all this movement so I grabbed a cover up and stepped outside.

WOW I walked out onto the front porch and was in total amazement and a bit disoriented. As far as the eye could see was a small winding road. It was busy and every so often the blare of a truck horn would cross the mountain ridge. I for the first time could see the path we traveled so very late last evening. I also could see the large and small homes in which speckled the mountains surrounding us.

As i looked over the porch railing it was about a three story drop down into a tropical forest and at the very bottom of the drop of was a small tin shack, in which a middle aged man lived. Just to the left of that dwelling was a cement small house with a clothes line hanging. A house with a few people living in it. Neither home seemed to have electricity or plumbing.

The rest of the rooms on our side of the building housed a group from a church in Texas. A total group of about ten people. One was the pastors wife and her two children, another a member of the congregation and her son. The youth pastor and a few others. They had arrived a day or two before us. This was their first trip. Their church was just starting a missions program.

With a small sense of adventure I wondered off to see the property. Down the walk way and around the corner I was able to see the driveway we crawled up, It was amazing we were able to get up the hill at all. By this time several of my team were out and about. Most of the folks who had been to the mountain before were already perched at their favorite spot for a morning devotion.

I started the climb of about 15 steps which lead to the main hall. This is were we would eat our meals, have all group gatherings and our nightly devotions. It was a beautiful old building . The back side was an out door porch. You could see for miles in every direction from the porch. You could see back down the mountain to the city of Kingston. You could see over the rest of the property and the dorms which housed the 60 plus children from ages 6mths to 13 years old. You could see the new buildings in which we were their to help build. You could see the house where Paster Puffpaff lived, but was the original building they lived in with the first children who came to live on the mountain. But, most of all you could see the porch was on the very top of the mountain and every thing we would be doing was about (not kidding I counted) 115 steps down.

Yeah for David Rutimann!
Great Win!
First win in
NASCAR Sprint Cup race in Charlotte,
Way to represent the Z-Hill
community !

Update Going Green...Black and Blue

So less then 24 hours later my family and I decided to take a few books back to the library. It is not far so I suggested we ride our bikes. About 1/2 way to the Library we stopped our bikes to cross the busy road. As we all began to cross I pushed my pedal and nothing happened. I was starting up hill and did not have the strength in my legs to start from dead stop to a good balancing speed up hill.

As my husband said are you o.k. I found myself heading for the ground. Crash! Twice in 24 hours. At this point my husband said get up, get up traffic was coming. I jumped up and pushed my bike to the side where I could get on a pedal effectively. After this little mishap the rest of the trip was very uneventful.

Now most would be discoraged, most would give up and declaire the bike the victor. No not me darn it I will be more green. I will prevail.

I a happy to announce I rode my bike to and from my sons school about 5 times in the last week and was successful. Went tot he grocery and the fruit stand several times and Not one crash. Not one.....yeah.

After two weeks I might just have the hang of it.

Go green...black and blue!

So in an effort to erase my carbon foot print, I have decide to ride my bicycle more. I have a grocery store, a great local fruit stand, and my son's school all with in a 5 mile radius. Also, with the extra trips I will have be taking to help with my mom I need to conserve on gas.

Most people whom are familiar with Christian religions you know of the Holy Trinity. The Father, The Son and the Holy Ghost. As a practicing Pentecostal we believe the Holy Spirit lives with in you(me)(us) and is a guide or an internal voice to help you. Some may call it their conscious, others intuition, but for me it is the Holy Ghost which gives me wisdom and guidance in my daily life.

The first few days after I made the decision to be very GREEN I would take B to school in the AM as always, with the truck, and then when time to pick him up I would walk the few miles carrying his bicycle so he could ride home from school. This was not that hard, but awkward. So finally about the third day of this I decided to be smarter, more creative, make life a little easier.

As I started to place my sons 12 inch, small bike on the handle bars of my full sized mens bike I heard that voice, you call it what ever you want, for me the Holy Spirit say

" Don't do this this could be bad"! It was just a faint whisper. I of course ignored it. I had the little bike propped up on the handle bars and shoved the right peddle of my bike down to the ground and I was off. To my surprise it went very well and I was up to a good cruising speed before you knew it.

As I came to the first turn I realize this was going to be a bigger challenge then expected. When I turned the front wheel of my bike it jammed into the wheel of the little bike. Again, the little voice inside me said " Stop now, this could end badly'! Once again I was sure I could do this, I was sure I could make it the short trip to school, why not I had already gone about a third of the way. NO PROBLEM!

I crossed the busiest street, smooth sailing. I was still clipping right along and again I heard the internal voice say"Stop and walk the rest of the way, this is going to end badly, this is not smart STOP"! And yes again I new better and thought, I am almost there I will be fine.

As I made a right turn, within a block of my final destination the small bike so perfectly perched on the front handle bars of my bike slipped ever so slightly to the right. With this adjustment the front tire wedged in between the front tire of my bike making it impossible to turn or control the front of the bicycle. As I reached for my brakes the frame of the small bike had fallen in front of the hand brake control blocking me from being able to slow the bike. Realizing at this point I had know other option but to bail I leaned toward a yard and thankfully the bike followed. At a fairly good rate of speed I lifted my hands from the bike and tried to jump.....Unsuccessfully of course. As I hit the ground I braced with my fore arm, hit the ground with my side, and hip and skidded about 6 feet.

As any normal person would do after making a complete ass of herself I jumped to my feet and began to gather my bicycles. As I swung around to see if any one had witness this display of idiocy I realized I had crashed in a co-workers lawn of my husbands. With the grace of God Mr. Dave was not home at the time, nor was his wife and child.

At this point God is good, and he tells the Holy Spirit never to say "I told you so"! I myself can say, stupid why didn't you listen.

I hobbled the rest of the way about a block and finally made it to school. I was in such a hurry to get to school so B didn't wonder where I was, once I arrived I realize my arm was bleeding and I hit the ground so hard I had jolted my pony tail from the center of my head to the right side but I was not late.

So what if I walked the last quarter of a mile past all the parents who were in the car loop line waiting to pick up their child (non- greeners) with a large dirt stain down my right leg, a bloody elbow, and a very lopsided hair do(did not realize that at the time) I held my head high because I was saving the planet one crash at a time.