Beautiful

Trim Healthy Mama Cookbook

I recently reviewed the Trim Healthy Mama Plan and now have the chance to review the cookbook. While I do have the 600+ page original book I do like how the separate books make this plan easier to research and follow.

What I especially enjoy about this updated cookbook is that the pages are glossy (perfect for in the kitchen!) and there are pictures, which I always love in a cookbook. Some new tried and true recipes from those on the plan have also been added to the book. 

While I appreciate that a lot of the recipes are thrifty the thing I dislike, and noticed years ago when I first started the plan, is some of the special foods that are included in the recipes are expensive and/or hard to find. Items like mct oil, ghee, pressed peanut flour, etc. While these items can be substituted with other items, they won't be so "on plan" then. The authors actually have a baking line for sale now and I feel they press these items a little too much, when the previous cookbook was more about finding alternative and cheaper products.

I do look forward to trying more of the recipes now that I can see photos of the food - it makes the recipes seem more appetizing so that is a good thing! :) 

This book was given to me by Blogging for Books in exchange for my honest opinion. 
 

Real

I've always loved this quote from The Velveteen Rabbit. Even more so these past few years.

Being immersed in a community of women and men who have lost a child is not something one would choose to do. It's an exclusive club which only the broken, battered, and shattered join. No one wants to be in this club. We all wish we could claw our way out but forever we will be the bereaved parents. Forever.

 The beauty in these people is real. I feel that when a piece of you is in heaven that it does radiate from within. The cracks within your heart illuminate more light than before. It's a catch 22 - we want our children back with all our hearts, but their absence has taught us so much. 

They taught us to be real.
 

Keep Searching

33 degrees means drip, drip, dripping. Nature is decorating my house today.

I love my mama and sisters. Even if one is covering herself with a coat and one seems to be seeing Jesus at the moment this picture was snapped (my sister Rachel is going to kill me!). Such a fun day with us 6 girls and Tim Hawkins.

I laughed almost two hours straight at Tim's comedy. We were only about 8 rows from the front so it was great to see him so up close and personal!

Laughter was some of the best medicine for me this month. November and December are hard months when you are missing someone, especially someone who loved the holidays so much.

  During this month of Thanksgiving, I've been searching each day for the things I'm thankful for. Some days can be harder than others to have a positive attitude. But still I search...

Glittering icicles.

A girls night out.

Laughter.

Love.

 Least you think I'm implying that it's a simple thing, I'm not. There are days when my sorrow, my struggles, my grey clouds can be overwhelming. They can be so heavy. Tiresome. Burdensome.

We all have those days, but I know you grieving mama's know even more so what I am speaking of. Keep searching...even if it's just a

Soft Kleenex.

A fluffy blanket.

One swift happy memory.

It all counts. It is the little things, after all.
 

A Beauty of Its Own

The view from my bedroom window.

 This tree is always one of the first things I see upon waking. Glorious flowers adorn it for a week in spring, green foliage with bird song in summer, browns and golds in autumn, and now the contrast of red berries against the pure white snow.

How beautiful - each season has a beauty all its own. Just like the seasons in our life.

 "He is like a tree planted by water, that sends out its roots by the stream, and does not fear when heat comes, for its leaves remain green, and is not anxious in the year of drought, for it does not cease to bear fruit.” Jeremiah 17:8

Snow? Yes, Please!

This is the weather prediction for Friday evening.

Yes, we are in that possible 10" band. The first snow fall of the season tends to freak a lot of people out, which is strange because we live in Iowa. We should be used to snow, people! 

While I will be making a run to the grocery store tomorrow, it won't be to stock up on milk and bread, but rather to do my regular grocery shopping. Which will probably be a bad thing, amiss the people who are stocking up on bread and milk (and usually toilet paper) but also the two day sale that starts tomorrow as well. Opps, bad timing.

I'll admit that I'm kind of hoping that we do get this amount of snow. Not for my hubby, who will have to move snow at work (and probably at home - I think it's time to give that job to the kids though!). But for a fun snowed in Friday night. Christmas movies with my family, popcorn and eggnog, cracker and cheese platter, fresh fruit. 

Snuggling under quilts.

The first snowfall.

Candles illuminating our space.

It truly is the little things.
 

Life, Lately

This has been our weather the last several days. Damp, chilly, grey. Gloomy is the perfect word for it.

I kind of like it. It's giving us a chance to tuck in and be. A sort of cocoon to keep us indoors and slow down. There is a chance of snow flurries later this week and the kids are excited about that.

I'm excited about a small Thanksgiving break from school next week! For holidays we typically follow the school's schedule on breaks so we will have just a two day school week next week. 

We've only missed a couple days of school so far this year, less than the school has already had with teacher in-service days so we are on track.  

But I am so ready for a small break to rest and recoup. I think I'm looking forward to it more than the kids even! Homeschooling is a full-time job when it's mixed with mothering, homemaking, and life.

Speaking of Thanksgiving break - can you believe that Thanksgiving is so near?! I'm looking forward to spending time with family and then celebrating a joyous Advent season.