14): Staying Positive, Restore & Trusting God’s Plan

By bobbi
March 17, 2014
5 Comments

I’m linking up my Daybook with Jenny and I am also linking up with a blog I just found – A Mama Collective.com for their Currently Link-up. Go check them out!

AND

Moments of Gratitude…

Today I am especially thankful for

For the dirty dishes in my sink – it means we have plenty of food to eat.
For the piles of dirty laundry – it means we have plenty of clothes to wear.
For the bathrooms and toilets that need to be scrubbed – it means we have running water.
For the beds that need to be made – it mean we have a place to rest our head at night.
For the Legos and Star Wars figures… the sketch pads and nail polish bottles scattered around the the house – it means we have three little boys and a tween girl who fill our home with sweet smiles, warm hugs and joyful giggles.
For the inconvenience of cooking from scratch and carefully checking ingredient labels so I am aware of what we put into our bodies – it means my husband is alive and that I can do something to help him beat this cancer.
For the grace to let go of the frustration and see the blessings amidst the mess – it means God is working within me.

(I’m trying to be more positive these days. Can you tell?) 😉

DISCLAIMER: After I posted this, the kids got in trouble and I yelled at them so don’t think that it’s all Pollyanna around here. I am a work in (slow) progress. LOL.

Beauty in the Ordinary…

Our weather has been weird – in the 70’s one day and the 50’s the next but there are flowers blossoming everywhere!

In the Kitchen…

M – Turkey Enchiladas with Green Guacamole (to make it a bit more Irish.) 😉

T – Minestrone Soup and homemade wheat bread.

W – Sneaky Spaghetti Sauce: Pureed zucchini, carrots, celery and peppers.

Th – Chicken, Baked Potato and Veggies.

F – Quesadillas & Low-Fat Broccoli Slaw

S – Homemade Veggie Pizza & Greek Salad

S – Leftovers

Praying…

For Brian’s continued recovery from cancer and for the chemo treatments that start March 24.*
For all those who are fighting cancer and for their families.
For all those who have lost loved ones and for the repose of the souls that have died.
For those who are alone and feel unloved or contemplating suicide.
For the who are spiritual leaders, that God will strengthen them and help them to live humble and unselfish lives.
For each of us to be faithful to God and live his love throughout his day.
For the conversion of sinners and the souls in purgatory.
For some special intentions.

*Originally Brian was supposed to start his chemo on March 10 but it was pushed back because the port they put in his chest wasn’t fully healed yet. So his first round will start this Monday the 24th instead. I’ll keep you posted and I appreciate all the prayers, especially from those of you have have commented and shared your own cancer survival stories!! I shared those with Brian and he asked me to send you a big thanks. The encouragement means a lot! 🙂

Pondering…

Last week I shared about my Lenten journey and how I was working on regaining my happiness in daily life. I still struggle to remember to take care of myself – like drinking my water, ugh! – but God must have dumped out buckets of grace to get me started because it seems like there is much more peace in our house. Well, there is still chaos at times but I think I am dealing with it better.

Turning my heart to God throughout the day is helping and spending more time doing things as a family (or at least me and the kids) has helped. When the kids were much younger I longed for the days when they could play by themselves so I could wash dishes or put a load of laundry or even shower. With Matthew almost three, I have much more free time than before but now I have to remember that they still need “play time” with me – to read them a book or take them to the park or blow bubbles outside with them. I think these little things have made us happier.

Plus I’ve been trying to talk to Brian more. I mean, more than the usual small talk. He is not exactly Mr. Chit Chat so this takes a little work but asking his questions and allowing him to share without me interrupting has been beneficial and made us happier together.

Continuing this theme of finding joy, I decided to join Elizabeth Foss‘ online workshop Restore.

The Restore Workshop is a six week online course geared towards adult women who have struggled or are struggling with or want to avoid burnout. It is for any woman who wants to nurture joy within her life and the lives of those around her.

Around the house…

The house is actually straightened up since my in laws came over for dinner last night. Whenever the house gets too messy I just invite people over to ensure I get it cleaned up pronto. 😉

Reading…

This morning I was reading this article A former MLS player lost his battle with cancer today, but he won so much more. Elizabeth Foss had the link on her website. (Her son that wrote the article.) The article was beautiful and moved me to tears. Here is an excerpt:

As I sit in the dark, I find myself wondering about the end. Was Shawn right to believe what he believed? Did it “work”? After all that pain and suffering, was faith in something he couldn’t see or even fully comprehend worth it?

The answer to that question is the greatest victory of Shawn Kuykendall’s short life.

I remember sitting on the couch with Shawn on a Saturday morning last November, watching an English Premier League game. Out of seemingly nowhere (though thinking about it now, he had probably been working on this thought for the first 60 minutes of the game), Shawn looked over at me and spoke these words, which I imagine will follow me until my end.

“I’m not really worried about death or dying, I’m not. Because here’s the thing – you know – we’re all dying. I mean, right? We’re all dying. So whether it’s tomorrow or 90 years from now, the end is going to be the same. We’re going to die.”

I hit pause on the DVR at this point because I knew he would want to come back to the game and Liverpool’s buildup play once he finished his thought.

“We are all given this great gift of life and we have this finite time to do whatever we want. So we live the best we can, and for me, that means living the way I think God wants me to live. I need God more than ever now.”

There was a pause as he rubbed his head, once full of dark flowing hair, now bald from the chemo.

So praise be to God. I’m not going to waste time being sad or worried or scared. I have to fight. If I trust in him and fight, everything else will take care of itself.

That is what I am trying to do. Trust. Fight. And know that God has a plan and purpose.

Listening to…

The trees rustling as the breeze flows through them… and Matthew “fixing” my chair with his Thor hammer.

Watching on my DVR…

When Calls the Heart (I love that show!!), The Walking Dead (Last night’s episode was insane) and a St. Patrick cartoon to watch with the kids tonight.

On the blog…

This week I want to finish my post on Baby Names. I think Kathryn’s link-up is there until Friday.

Posts I’ve Liked on my Bloglovin

I have 300 unread posts in my reader. I’ve been a negligent blog reader. Sorry about that, my fellow bloggers.

Pinned…

I saw Vani (aka The Food Babe.com) on TV the other day and she as talking a lot about diet and eating whole foods without additive, preservatives and GMO‘s etc. That is what we are trying to do with Brian (and all of us.) I pinned a number of her articles and these recipes are next in line for upcoming Pinterest Parties. 😉

Cauliflower Lentil Taco Salad

Cinnamon Raisin French Toast Crunch (Using Ezekiel cinnamon raisin sprouted bread.)

Do Your Favorite Snack Brands Contain GMOs

How To Eat Organic On A Budget (Over 75 Tips!)

Plans for the Week…

Lots of the ordinary stuff plus a movie night on Thursday to see Divergent (woohoo) and it’s the school’s end of the quarter Family Fun Night this week. The kids dress in their pj’s and bring sleeping bags and watch a movie in the gym. This time it’s Frozen so there will be a of of singing too. 😉

Captured…

This is my photo from yesterday’s #holylens photo challenge. The theme was “Mercy.”

PS – You can follow RoL on Bloglovin, Feedly or another news feed. If you are a social media fan like me, we can stay in touch through Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, GoodReads or Instagram. 😉

Theme Thursday: Answer & {pretty, happy, funny, real} vol. 85: Beautiful Hikes, Happy Days & Superheroes

By bobbi
March 14, 2014
6 Comments

I’m a day late but I am linking up with Cari for Theme Thursday: Answer (scroll down to the very last photo for that one) and Like Mother, Like Daughter for {pretty, happy, funny, real}.

{pretty}

In an earlier post I shared that during Lent I wanted to regain my happiness in daily mommy life. One of the ways to work on that was to get outside more and spend time with the family doing fun things. We started it off with a hike at Point Lobos. We haven’t been there since last summer so we were due for a visit.

If you visit the Monterey Peninsula, you simply must come visit it here. It is breathtaking. We like to park in the picnic area parking lot and then follow the trail to our favorite scenic spot…

…which you can see once you get to the top of this hill. You can see the tiny people at the very top. (I took the previous photo at the top of that hill.)

We spotted some lounging harbor seals on the way up.

Then once you get to the top, you keep going a bit until you reach the other side of the hill and you look down at this. The colors are gorgeous. One day we will then hike down to the sandy beach below but there isn’t a designated trail that way so it is a bit hard with all the kids.

The hike would seem a lot harder but it was easy enough for all the kids (and this out of shape mama) to handle. If you continue along the trail you can go to the another section of forest.

{happy}

“Because I’m happy…Clap along if you know what happiness is to you…”

How can I not be happy looking at these smiling faces. 🙂

{funny}

I think the kids’ favorite moment was spotting this little guy. 😉

{real}

Matthew has been on a superhero kick, wearing his Thor cape and Spiderman shirt for days. (I have to secretly wash them while he sleeps.)

Shopping with his mama.

Scoring a free banana and kids cliff bar snack at Whole Foods from a child friendly cashier. (I was a little shocked. It’s usually the pooches that get the royal treatment around here.) 😉

And finally….

I’m linking up this photo with Theme Thursday: Answer

The answer to where a superhero gets his real power…humbling himself before the Lord. 😉

Thanks to Cari and LMLD for hosting! 🙂

Five Favorites (Vol 16): Skirts, Handbags & New Tunes

By bobbi
March 11, 2014
4 Comments

I am linking up with Hallie for my Five Favorites this week.

~ 1 ~

Tranquility by Colorado Clothing Ladies’ Skirt – Black Mini Stripe

I am not really into skirts but sometimes I find one so cute it makes me want to wear it. I found this cute knit black and grey striped Tranquility skirt by Colorado Clothing. I picked it up at Costco for only $12. I look nothing like the girl in the photo so luckily it comes in size Small to XXLarge. 😉 I like it so much that I may go back and get the aqua one too.

~ 2 ~

Red Handbags

I love red handbags and the one I had was falling apart. For Christmas my mother-in-law said she’d buy me a new one. I found this Marc Fisher Kensington Satchel at Macy’s on sale and with my coupon I got it for less than half the price. It’s three months later and I still love it!

~ 3 ~

The Art of Flor Larios

I’ve posted about Flor before but I love these new pieces that she has. So sweet.

Saint Bernadette Shepherdess

Saint Bernadette Nun

~ 4 ~

Late July Organic Snacks

When Costco started carrying Late July chips I gave them a try and they are so good. My favorite is definitely the lime flavored chips. To quote the website:

Late July is proud to be an independent, family owned company dedicated to making delicious organic, NON-GMO snacks! It’s our mission to ensure that future generations of families always have access to delicious food free from GMOs, toxic persistent pesticides and antibiotics.

~ 5 ~
The Walker by Fitz and the Tantrums

I was looking for some new songs to add to my walking/exercise playlist and came across this song and I’m addicted to it. It really gets me moving.

Okay, times up and I need to get to bed. Have a great Wed! 🙂

Pinterest Party & Link-up (Vol 20): Gluten Free Black Bean Brownies

By bobbi
March 10, 2014
4 Comments

Welcome to the RoL Pinterest Party. Join me every 2nd and 4th Tuesday as we link up and share how we made, cooked, baked, crafted, planned, organized, followed or created one of the pins on our Pinterest boards OR share something original that others can pin onto their boards.

* * * * *

THE PIN: Gluten Free Black Bean Brownies

I first saw this recipe on my sister-in-law Maria’s Facebook page and I was less than enthused. Black beans?? Sounds gross. But I couldn’t help but wonder how something that looks so yummy be that bad.Curiosity got he best of me and I decided to make a batch for the kids’ Sunday treat. I didn’t want to use a recipe with regular sugar but I figured I had better follow it the first time then I could experiment the second time. So for the sugar I used 1/2 the amount white sugar and 1/2 the amount unrefined coconut sugar.

The original recipe appeared on Hip2Save.com.

Ingredients

1 (15.5 ounce) can black beans, rinsed and drained
3 eggs
3 tablespoons coconut oil or vegetable oil
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
3/4 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 pinch salt
1/2 cup chocolate chips

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and grease an 8×8 pan. Place beans in food processor and process until mashed. Add eggs, vanilla, cocoa powder, baking powder, salt, sugar and oil. Process until smooth. Pour into pan and sprinkle chocolate chips on top. Bake for 30-35 minutes.

The recipe is really easy but unfortunately I do not have a food processor. I tried using my blender but it wasn’t strong enough. I landed out mashing the heck out the beans with a fork. It worked fairly well, except that there were a few small pieces of bean skin that I had to pick out. As far as taste, they were actually really good. The texture was different from a normal brownie, it was more crumbly, best eaten with a fork.

However, the kids had no issues with them and gobbled them up! 🙂

* * * * *

Now it’s your turn.

1. Choose your creation, share about it and snap a photo if you can.

2. In your post, link back the original blogger/idea, rather than your Pinterest pin. That way credit goes to the proper person. 🙂 (But feel free to add your Pinterest profile link so we can follow you!)

3. Add a link back here so others can play along.

4. If you want to use it, here is the html code for the logo:

5. Link up below. Make sure you’re sending us to your actual post, and not to your general blog address.

The link up will be active for 10 days. Have fun!

Lastly, you can follow me on Pinterest here: http://pinterest.com/rol_bobbi/. 🙂

An InLinkz Link-up

Lenten Journey 2014: Part 1

By bobbi
March 9, 2014
6 Comments

Happy first Sunday of Lent! Since I shared with you what we are doing for Lent as a family, I thought I’d also share what I’m working on in my own Lenten journey.

I was reading Erring on the Side of Love/Amanda’s blog post Lent: My Little Fat Tuesday and I swear I could have copied word for word what she wrote and signed my name to it. Listen to this:

Joy. Somewhere between marriage and having babies I feel that I’ve lost the sense of joy in my little day-to-day happenings. Or, if I am in a joyful spirit it can go from laughs and fun to a lost temper real quick. I really want to work on that. I want to keep joy in our home not only for myself but also for my boys and husband.

Diligence. I know I desire it, but I struggle with it. It’s very easy for me to get caught up in my tendency to feel frazzled if things don’t go according to the little plans I have in my head. I want to try to overcome that and be more diligent in my daily duties as a wife, mother, and CEO of our little home. I want to be diligent in not only making our home a home, but also in readings and meeting with my Lord. I want to be diligent in making time for him daily. Even if it’s reading just one verse from scripture so that I can grow to know Him more. And, I pray that I am able to share this daily with my husband and the boys.

Omg, yes. I feel like Gru from Despicable Me when he was falling in love. He was so happy making the girls their meal and being playful with them. He walked down the street and his happiness was contagious. Then when his romance was thwarted he was a mean grouch. These days I am too much like that. I have a harder time holding onto my happiness. The slightest thing can just set me off and Mrs. Nasty is back. It’s not really a new fault. It’s been there as long as I can remember. Once, many years ago, I went to confession and told the priest that I get so bent out of shape when things don’t go how I want them. The kind priest asks me, “What makes you so special that you shouldn’t have little crosses pop up throughout your day.” Ouch. But it was just what I needed to hear. Two decades later, I am still thinking of that comment.”

So I want to work on getting that happiness back. I want to be a good mom but one that also knows how to be playful. It’s one of the things I love the most about my mom. She is wise and prayerful but she can be playful and laugh in life. That always brings joy to my heart. I want my kids to see that in me. Not the grumpy mom that blows up at the slightest mishap. I want to be a mom that is flexible enough to roll with the punches and find the humor in the inevitable craziness that comes with the territory.

This is going to be my Lenten soundtrack. 😉

There are a couple of things I am doing to help me achieve that.

1. Morning prayer and little talks with God. Lately, I have been doing my short prayer reflections at the end of the day but I don’t like the timing of it. I think I am better when I start the day off with my prayer time and get that grace I need to get me through the day. Since my saint of the year is St. Benedict, I found this book of Lenten reflections – Lent and Easter Wisdom From St. Benedict.

It has been good for me and helping me to keep my focus on Christ. I have also been trying to turn my mind to Our Lord and Our Lady throughout the day…to ask for their help…to guide me in my work. That way when I feel my temper rising or when I am about to get frazzled, I can turn to them to put out the fire before it starts.;-)

2. Spend more time doing fun things outside the house. We live in a ridiculously gorgeous part of the earth and there is no excuse not to go out and enjoy it. This afternoon we went hiking at Point Lobos Preserve and it was rejuvenating to get outside and be physical. We all had so much fun and I could taste that happiness once again. Sure when we got home there were some meltdowns and mishaps but I was able to keep my cool and just deal with it.

3. Remember that it’s more than just giving up treats. On Thursday the kids were off school so I took them to the library, which a a HUGE treat for them. They love the library! Then we came home and made smoothies and popcorn and watched one of the DVD’s they borrowed from the library. Afterwards we read books together. They asked me why they were allowed to have these treats during a Lenten day. I told them that although we got to do something special, we are also learning to love one another and to be kind to one another. I pointed out how Bella and Andrew helped the younger ones at the library, John-Paul shared his book with Matthew and each of them were speaking kindly to one another. Plus Mommy was spending time with them instead of being too busy in the kitchen or the laundry room or on the computer. I told them that is really what lent is about. Learning to love God more and to love one another more. That is what we had been practicing that day. They smiled and put a their beans in the sacrifice jar for the acts of kindness and love they displayed. (That bean jar has been a huge hit in the house!)

Frankly, I was a little shocked myself that they were acting so well. For one brief moment I felt like one of those holy mom bloggers that I envy that have the six kids in matching outfits as they sit quietly at the dinner table and do math problems for fun. That proud feeling was gone once Matthew hit John-Paul on the head with his light saber but it was nice to know than in between the chaos we can have moments of peace and harmony. 😉

4. Take better care of myself. When my mom was visiting us two weeks ago, I asked her, since she has been watching me interact with Brian and the kids, what would be the one thing she thinks I need to work on in my mommy life during Lent. I thought she would say something like – you need to discipline the kids more or don’t get so grouchy or be a little more patient with Brian and caring for him etc. Instead she said, “I think you need to get more sleep.” Ugh. I knew she was right. The problem is that I am a night owl. I HATE waking up early and I LOVE staying up late but with the kids’ school schedule I have to be up around 6:15 AM. That is fine but when I don’t get to bed until 11:30…12:00…12:30…that makes for one grouchy mama. She pointed out that I needed a good night’s rest in order to take care of my rambunctious boys and do all the things I need to do each day.

I told Brian what my mom said and he replied, “It’s true. You go to bed too late. And you know, I think you also need to drink more water… and eat more fruit… and be more consistent about taking your vitamins.” Whoa, whoa, whoa. What is this? Gang up on Bobbi Day? But, dang it, he’s right. Then he hugged me and says, “I need you, love. I need you to be healthy to help me. I can’t get though this cancer without you by my side helping me and taking care of the kids. What would we do if you weren’t here?” OMG, hand me a kleenex (and my bottle of water and an apple and my multivitamin while you are at it.) Okay, God. I get your message loud and clear.

So, that is what I have been working on for Lent. I actually had a few other things on my mind that I was going to work on too but as I am typing here I feel like God is telling me not to make my plans too ambitious. There is already enough here to keep me busy. Besides, I know what my tendency is…I run strong and fast at the beginning but I have very poor follow through. I am not diligent. I am more of a “is it time for recess yet?” gal. Hopefully, blogging here about my progress will help me be accountable. (Cue my mom’s phone call saying, “So I read what you wrote on the blog…”) 😉

Have a good night. I’ll be in bed early. I promise.