Still Pregnant

37 weeks!! Officially Full Term!! Rockin the Bon Jovi hair unintentionally

I'm still pregnant. Not surprising. I went overdue with my first child so I am not expecting to go into labor anytime soon. 

God only knows.

I'm so excited to meet this son of mine. 

BUT...I think he should wait a couple weeks to come out, as I am actually sick with a nasty cold right now.

The timing is not right.

Date Night with the husband: We ate borritos by a man made pond. A recipe for romance?

I was just starting to feel sick in this picture and am so ready for bed at like 7pm
Oh yes...Do you like my Shirt? My mommy made it for me. :)

I love this kid

I am also savoring the time left with my daughter as an only child. Soon my attention and love will be divided between the new baby and her and things will never quite be the same. I'm hoping that I will be able to love and attend to them both equally. This is something that God will have to help me with.

Massive Vitamin C consumption in attempt  to aid my failing immune system, Lemon  honey tea with added lemon... take that rhino virus!

Linking up with these lovelies

Tasty Tuesday: How to Fight a Cold

Ok, I'm sick!

who gets a cold in the summer?

I do, apparently.

Being super pregnant has obviously caused my immune system to fail me.

I can't really taste things properly as I can't breath through my nose.

I havn't really been cooking or baking as a result.

I am eating a lot of fruit in liquified and solid form.

I made a strawberry lemon ice smoothie sweetened with honey... I think it tasted good, but it was hard to tell.

I'm going to try a mango pineapple version today.

This is a glimpes into my fridge.

Apparently I can't get enough of watermelon.

It has also been really hot here and humid and chilled watermelon on the rind is one of the most refreshing things to eat.

Hopefully all the vitamin C and fluids will pay off.

Weeds

Matthew 13:24-30 NIV

"Jesus told them another parable: "The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field. But while everyone was sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat, and went away. When the wheat sprouted and formed heads, then the weeds also appeared. "The owner's servants came to him and said, 'Sir, didn't you sow good seed in your field? Where then did the weeds come from?' "'An enemy did this,' he replied. "The servants asked him, 'Do you want us to go and pull them up?' "'No,' he answered, 'because while you are pulling the weeds, you may uproot the wheat with them. Let both grow together until the harvest. At that time I will tell the harvesters: First collect the weeds and tie them in bundles to be burned; then gather the wheat and bring it into my barn."

My mom mentioned to me about weeds in her garden. She said, They come out of nowhere and they grow up really fast. They are sneaky and grow next to legitimate plants. Weeds have an uncanny ability to even slightly mimic how that garden plant looks and grows. You may be fooled at first glace that you are even looking at a weed. My mom noted that if you pull out a weed you usually find that it's roots are quite shallow and it is easily up heaved.

We related it to the wheat and weeds parable.

Of course soon after my mother gave me this illustration I saw an example of it in my own garden. Almost smothering my lilies were tall weeds that  looked like counterfeit versions of my lilies.

I found it amusing. 

I pulled on one of the weeds and with ease it's shallow roots plucked out of the soil.

It gave me a new visual appreciation of  " the harvest".

I have to admit I find the concept of the harvest kind of unsettling. The prospect of the weeds getting thrown into the fire disturbing. It is beyond my comprehension. It is one of those things I just accept in faith. His ways are greater than my ways

I"m not going to get into who is a weed and who is not. The only thing preventing me from being a weed is the pure grace of God through Christ.

This parable taught me to be discerning but to focus on my own growth in God. Focus on my own salvation with fear and trembling. I'm happy God has a similar gardening style as  myself in that He lets the weeds get overgrown. Unlike me though God actually gets around to pulling the weeds out and disposing of them.  I take strange comfort in that He will dispose of the weeds in His perfect timing and way to reveal His glory and purpose. When that day comes I know I will rejoice and be in awe of Him. Ultimately God is the one who will take care of the harvest. The battle is the Lord's. Thankfully not mine.

Tiny harvesters? Interesting fact: dandelions have really, really deep roots 

Linking up with these lovely sites:

Faithful Friday- Being in the Word, Prayer & Fellowship: The Recipe for Spiritual Growth?

1 Corinthians 3:1, 2 ESV

"But I, brothers, could not address you as spiritual people, but as people of the flesh, as infants in Christ. I fed you with milk, not solid food, for you were not ready for it. And even now you are not yet ready,"

I remember an aspect of  my friend Victor's baptism testimony well. He told of how around the time he came to Christ he happened to meet a christian woman while on vacation and she shared some wise instruction for him.

I think they were on a beach or in an airport or something but he wrote down what she said and he shared it years later when he was baptized. 

She told him how to thrive and grow as a Christian and how not to lose faith. 

her three instructions were to consistently: 

1. Read the Word of God

2. Pray

3 Have Christian Fellowship

I keep coming back to these three practices as it seems if any one of these areas is lacking our relationship with God will also suffer. I know the least fruitful times of my christian life were when I was practicing few or none of these things. If we are cut off from His word how can we gain his wisdom and guidance? If we do not pray, how else will we talk with God and hear his voice? If we lack in christian fellowship where will we gain accountability, encouragement, and wise counsel? Without fellowship how do we build a community and serve others for the cause of Christ?

my Prayer

Lord help me in these three areas. Thank you for your word, thank you for Christ.

Amen

Reflections of Mother's Day

My Daughter's footprint

On Mother's day we went for an afternoon stroll around downtown Ottawa. We looked at the remainder of the tulips that have survived the tulip festival. I also indulged in a Caramel, white chocolate,Orea coated apple... it was Happiness on a stick.

My mother was out of town but she got flowers delivered our house. My mom is sweet that way.

Linking up with these lovely sites:

Tasty Tuesday- Possibly the Laziest Butternut Squash Soup Ever

I always fail at butternut squash soup recipes. I am left disappointed by the wasted effort, time and money. 

This time it dawned on me to just keep it simple.

So I microwaved a squash for about 20 minutes. Cut it up, put it in the blender with 

.5 Tbs butter

1Tbs. ( low fat)sourcream

1\2 cup boiling water

salt & pepper to taste

It had cooled down from blending so I microwaved it again for 30 seconds and It turned out great! and took a fraction of the time the conventional way takes ( around 35 minutes). I for one dislike cutting up fresh squash ( you almost need an axe), so precooking it in the microwave was the laziest  alternative.

I added a little bit of hot sauce, cheddar cheese, and premium plus crackers and it was delicious!

You can read more about the nutritional benefits of butternut squash Here

What it looked like in the blender

Taming the Tongue

Likewise, the tongue is a small part of the body, but it makes great boasts. Consider what a great forest is set on fire by a small spark. The tongue also is a fire, a world of evil among the parts of the body. It corrupts the whole body, sets the whole course of one's life on fire, and is itself set on fire by hell. (James 3:5, 6 NIV)

Taming my tongue is a constant battle for me. At times I reflect on things I have said and am very disappointed in myself. I struggle with being gracious. At times I want to lash back at what I think is an offence. I want to make a witty or funny remark despite the fact that it could be seen as hurtful. I want to be sarcastic or passive aggressive.

Nor should there be obscenity, foolish talk or coarse joking, which are out of place, but rather thanksgiving. (Ephesians 5:4 NIV)

I think marriage and parenthood are the the ultimate test of self control when it comes to choosing your words. We know exactly what to say to trigger a negative or positive reaction from our spouse or child. Sometimes in moments of weakness it seems so easy and tempting to push those buttons. Part of our nature thrives on the drama it creates. This is possibly why Jersey Shore has so many viewers.

Cousin L

This weekend we took our daughter to probably the least child appropriate restaurant possible. We knew it would be a recipe for disaster with a two year old with anaphylaxtic food allergies. I generally try to avoid bringing her to restaurants as it is more anxiety inducing than enjoyable. 

We tried to make the best of it but by the time we got our food it had been an hour and a half and our toddler was no longer interested in sitting at the table and playing nice, she was in tantrum mode. I think I had a few bites of our expensive meal before we were at our wits end. My husband got the bill and we left our friends to enjoy their meals in peace.

When we walked out of the restaurant my husband chose  the worst time possible  to confront me on our child's discipline issues. It's a real soft spot and I swore at him and broke down crying in the car..I already felt like a failure as a mother and now I felt like he was rubbing my nose in it. '' I am so out of control and ridiculous?'' I thought. I wish I could have just stayed cool but in my weak moment I lost control. I could see how my tongue is like a fire threatening to burn down the entire course of my life! 

I could imagine what I must have looked and sounded like and was very ashamed, but just could not seem to control my outburst. 

But the things that come out of a person's mouth come from the heart, and these defile them. (Matthew 15:18 NIV)

Cousin E

Thankfully, we have the model of Christ's grace in our marriage. So, despite me being pretty ungracious, my husband extended grace to me and we recovered from our fight. Did I mention that I love my husband! He is a wonderful & brilliant man. We learned some new insights into each other from the fight. We learned a better way to communicate to avoid such arguments using tact, timing and tone.

Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone. (Colossians 4:6 NIV)

I want to be a blessing to those around me, especially my family. I don`t want my home personae and my public personae to be contradictions. i.e. polite and perky to strangers but grumpy and rude to family. I want to be like the pictures of my daughter and her cousins : innocent and offering words that are received as pure beautiful flowers, a welcome gift. I want to reflect the grace of Christ to others in my words and encourage and build them up. I want to be an example of God's grace to my daughter with my words. I know that I am human and flawed and I have to gracious with myself too to move on. I can only pray for self control and that when I do slip up with my tongue and say something careless or unwholesome that people are gracious enough to forgive me.

My Daughter

  Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for

 building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen. (Ephesians 4:29 NIV) 

Linking up with Gracelaced Mondays!