I'm in Shape, Round is a Shape

Hello again friends.

Let me tell ya something....IT'S HOT!

Ok so it probably isn't as hot as it could be but it is a very muggy, sticky, humid 90 degrees here today.

We have the air conditioners on and they are working hard!!

I've been working pretty hard too.

You see, around a month ago as I was having a chat with God, I told Him I wanted to get in shape.

I have a dream of running in a 5k and working my way up to marathons.

My problem is that I don't have anyone but me to keep me accountable.

I'm not very good at disciplining myself in that way so I told God I would love to have some like minded friends who could help hold me accountable and make my journey enjoyable.

Boy did my prayers get answered!!

I was asked 2 Sundays ago at church by my friend Rhonda if I wanted to start walking with her and a friend of hers. She said they walk 3 evenings a week. They are training to "do" a half marathon!!

I was blown away!! 

I mean, this is a direct answer to a prayer!

So now, every Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday evening the kiddos and I lace up our sneakers and head to the school track. (if it is in use by school sports we walk around town)

We do 16 laps on the track which equals 4 miles.

Sometimes we jog the straight parts of the track, sometimes we just walk fast.

We sweat and chat all the time.

Now the coolest thing is that our little group is really growing.

Last night we were joined by two other people who go to our church. Both are avid runners.

One of them has even ran the Boston Marathon!!

How's that for answered prayers?!?

So, on top of walking, I am trying to keep up with doing yoga.

(Honestly, I am failing miserably)

I am trying to eat better. Smaller portions and better quality of foods.

(Most of the time I do pretty good)

I'm just taking care of myself.

Now, I don't know if I will be walking the half marathon in August.

BUT

I really would like to either run or walk the 5k at the Flying Pig next year.

I would love to do some local walks and runs for charities.

We are even talking about hosting a 5k to try to earn money for Karen's Kids...

Its a program at our church that raises money and accepts donations throughout the year to buy Christmas gifts for needy kids in our and the surrounding towns.

I hope this takes all of us where we would like to be..

It's getting me off the couch!!!

I'm happy about that!

Be Blessed,

Erin

Check Your Facts

My friends, I am really annoyed at the moment.

I get really annoyed with ignorance and stupidity.

Some people can't see past the nose on their faces when it comes to matters!

Hey maybe I'm one of them BUT I must vent here.

As you all know, and if you don't you will soon :), I am a Christian.  I have a very strong, a very firm belief in God, His son Jesus, and the Holy Spirit. 

Now, I am not a pushy Christian. I will mention my faith and what I believe but if the person I talk to isn't interested, I will not force my beliefs on them. I believe "to each his own".

Now I do minister to people. I do spread the word of God. But I don't expect people to believe as I do.

It takes all kinds to make this wonderful world go round...it really does.

I am a very accepting person. I accept everyone as they are. I do my best not to judge people.

My Bible tells me not too. 

"Judge not lest you be judged in the same manner"

Now to what has my panties in a bunch.

I have all kinds of friends on Facebook. Most are people I knew from school and family.

Some are new friends, some church friends, others are friends I haven't even met but we share many of the same past times like crocheting. Not all of my friends are Christians. I accept that.

Well, some of my friends are Atheists. They will post Atheist materials on Facebook.

Most I can overlook but there is some that just doesn't have their facts straight.

The one I am talking about in particular is a person talking to God asking Him why He hates Gays. 

God replies that He doesn't hate gays and goes on to say that He (God) has to clear his name because He didn't write the Bible.

Well, This one got to me. I didn't comment because this is this person's beliefs.

BUT

This thing just isn't true.

For one, NO God Himself didn't write the Bible.

The people who wrote the books of the Bible were inspired to do so.

By God Himself

Most of the Bible is an account of history.

It is one of the Greatest stories.

Full of love, wars, miracles.

It is a book of hope.

The words in that book get me through every day of my life.

Secondly, the Bible doesn't say that God HATES gay people.

It says it is a sin, an abomination.

This was in the old testament when the ground rules were set.

As a matter of fact, the Bible, Jesus says the greatest of the commandments is to love one another.

He doesn't say to love only straight people, white people,  rich people, only people who do things for you.

It says to love EVERYONE!

Now I know that I may get some grief over what I have posted here and you know what...that is okay.

Everyone has a system of beliefs.

Not everyone believes the same things.

I read my Bible. I believe it. I don't believe extras man may put in. I believe my Bible.

I love everyone. I even love those who have wronged me. I pray for them. I may not like them too much but I love them. 

Now just one more thing.

I don't understand Atheists! I honestly and truly don't.

You see, their beliefs are that there is not a higher power. There isn't a God.

Well, how can a person be against something if it doesn't exist. Why call yourself an atheist and say you are against God if in your eyes, He doesn't exist. 

A person would have to believe that He exists in some form in order to be against Him.

I dunno. It confuses me.

Okay, my rantings are over.

I hope you all are having a great day/evening.

I had a blast today and there should be a blog post pretty soon with some pics.

I love each of you who happen to read this post/blog.

Be Blessed, 

Erin

Cabbages and Oranges and Bananas...Oh my

Hello friends. 

I hope all of you are having a great day/evening.

Today was a pretty interesting day for us.

You see, our local community action gives free lunches to school aged kids on weekdays and on Fridays they send "weekend packs" of foods home with the kids that show up to these free lunches.

My kids take advantage of these lunches. They enjoy it because they get a break from mom and they get to see their friends. I like it because I know they will be getting a nutritional lunch every day.

Well, today, like every normal weekday I sent my kiddos to the school (a block away) for lunch.

When it was time for them to come home I received a phone call asking if I could pick them up because they  had extras they were bringing home.

Well, the community action was giving each child several bags of produce to take home.

Between the four of my children, we ended up with 16 bags of produce.

Wanna see?

 That is a lot of produce huh?

We ended up with:

7 cucumbers

3 watermelons

8 heads of cabbage

45 Valencia oranges

12 bunches of bananas

I was left with "what in the world do I do with all of this"

So I shucked and blanched all the ears of corn.

After they cooled I wrapped each ear of corn in waxed paper and placed in freezer bags for later use.

I also placed 20 bananas,peel on, in freezer bags to freeze for use in breads, ice cream, and smoothies.

I gave my next door neighbor: 

20 oranges

4 bunches of bananas

2 heads of cabbage

1 watermelon

I took my mom:

10 oranges

2 bunches of bananas 

2 cabbages

1 pack of corn for freezing.

I kept the rest.

We have 2 watermelons chilling in our fridge, 3 bunches of bananas in a basket and 15 oranges in a bowl in the kitchen for the kiddos to munch on at their leisure!

Along the same topic lines, my garden is doing really good! We have picked kale and spinach for use in our juicer. 

I also made Kale chips.

I have baby tomatoes and baby cucumbers on my plants. I have picked a few pods of peas and I have used some of my herbs. I cannot wait to make some salsa and some pickles. 

That's gonna be all for tonight. 

Be Blessed

Erin

Summer '13 So far.

Hello again friends. 

I know I am a slacker when it comes to blogging. I really want to make it a regular thing but I get writer's block so bad! I have a running list of blog posts I would love to do but you know I can never get the words to come out the way I want. I really would love this blog to be a real representation of me...I guess at this point as lazy as I am being with it...represents me.

Basically, I have been trying to occupy my kiddos, keep my house clean, and perk myself up.

I have tons of pics to show some of the things we have been doing so lets get right into it.

Bike Riding:

We have been riding bikes around town. We have a favorite spot off the bike trail.

I absolutely love this picture. So calming and serene.

My boys are trying to catch tadpoles.

Hope came up with this picture and pose. I just love all the green from the leaves and moss on the trees.

Looking at minnows and tadpoles.

I think tadpoles are the neatest things ever! We didn't bring any home to watch grow but it was fun trying to catch them.

They were devising a plan to catch them all.

Faith just couldn't grab one.

Random pics around the creek.

This rock looks like a shark head.

Eeek...snake skin

Memorial Day.

We met the hubby at work and ate lunch in the park.

I love the pond with all the ducks.

I love his mohawk.

Look at those babies...too stinking cute.

After eating lunch we took hubby back to work. Lowe's had cornhole games and a bounce house set up for people to play. They also had hot dogs for customers.

Sj was having a hard time climbing up the bounce house with his socks on.

I have been waiting all spring for the strawberry fields to ripen. I have always wanted to take the kids to pick strawberries. We went to Barrett's Farm in Leesburg.

The farm was so well kept. They had 3 varieties of strawberries. Everyone was so friendly.

We picked over 20 lbs of strawberries. We only had to pay $22.00.

I ended up freezing 5 quarts of hulled whole strawberries.

I gave a huge bowl away 

AND

I made Old Fashioned Strawberry Jam 

Isn't that a beautiful color.

Recipe:

Old Fashioned Jam

8 cups of hulled and crushed strawberries

6 cups of sugar. 

Boil mixture until it reaches gel stage (220 degrees F on a candy thermometer).

Put in prepared jars and process in a water bath canner for 10 minutes.

Easy peasy...and beautiful.

I just love the deep color the jam turned.

So that is mostly what we have done so far.

We still want to take the kiddos to the Columbus Zoo and Zoombezi Bay. We want that to be a few day trip. We would like to go up to Columbus and get a room..Visit Zoombezi Bay water park one day and then walk the zoo the next and come home.

We want to go back to Newport, Kentucky to Newport on the Levee and to the Newport Aquarium.

We would love to take the kids to Kings Island BUT it is so expensive and I am still apprehensive about taking them to a place that big! So we may be taking them to the Coney Island.

We also want to go camping and find more free things to do.

Here's to a busy summer and Hopefully more blog posts coming soon.

Be Blessed,

Erin