Ready for Routine!

What an incredible summer 2012 has been!!! We have enjoyed much sunshine and adventure together as a family. We had so many fun quality experiences together, I am truthly thankful for the joy and rejuvenation that this season has brought. We celebrated our little Atirah’s first birthday, in our backyard, (which was a treat because she is our only summer baby) it was a sweet time for a sweet little girl!

We went on our first family mission trip this summer to Mexico, it was an incredible time of serving and loving on the children at the orphanage. Our kids thrived and made lots of new little friends and Jim and I marveled at the heart of compassion and service that our team brought. It was a life changing adventure!

We had fun with our CSA veggie share this summer, trying lots of new recipes and vegetarian dishes! Judah played another summer of soccer which is a fun family event once a week and Mercy took blallet. We travelled to the States to attend a Christian festival called Kingdom Bound, it was a wonderful time; we were blessed by the speakers, worship and time spent with family and friends!

God did a lot in our marriage this summer. It was a time of unifying our hearts and consecrating them to His plans and purposes for our lives. We have had so many incredible conversation that have sparked a deeper level of friendship. We have encountered many trials and challenges that have refined us and caused to to come into a deeper level of surrender. We celebrated our 8th wedding anniversary in August. We watched our wedding video with the kids and they giggled and laughed as they watched us kiss for the first time during our ceremony:) Shortly after, our sweet Mercy asked me one morning “mommy can you find me a husband?” my heart melted, I said “sure honey when the time is right daddy and I will help you find the best husband, I promise!” “ok” she said “Maybe Judah would be the best husband” lol… That was a powerful moment in our relationship, one that I will never forget and one that I will testify at on her wedding day! Jim and I pray for our children’s future spouses and now I feel even more compelled to pray!

We are now getting back into somewhat of a routine in our home. With homeschooling Judah & Mercy this year I am dependent on the Lord to show me what routine he has for our family and how it all plays out. It feel good to be home again, to slow down and rest. I love seasons of summer, adventures, exploration and I do find that they are encouraging but only for a time and then my soul longs for rest and routine. The verse we read for our first homeschool class was Ecc 3 – A Season for Everything!

I have been horrible at blogging this summer but I am looking forward to getting into it more, the new website is almost ready just a few tweaks to go! I hope and pray that you and your families had a wonderful summer as well. I pray that you will find rest and peace as you enter into this new season. May you embrace a deeper passion and love for your family this fall!

Healthy Banana Coconut Loaf

Banana Coconut Loaf

For some strange reason lately, I am in love with coconut. I add it to smoothies, loafs, cookies, granola, date balls, cereal, curry…basically everything I make. I decided to try this recipe and add coconut as well and it turned out AMAZING! I picture above does not do justice to this loaf. I made a couple loaves then froze them so I can take them out for snacks and desserts.

Ingredients:

2 eggs

1 cup coconut sugar

1/2 cup butter melted

3 medium ripe mashed bananas

1/2 tsp vanilla

1 1/2 cup whole wheat flour

1/2 cup shredded unsweetened coconut

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp sea salt

1/2 cup mini chocolate chips (my kiddos love these!!)

Directions:

Beat eggs in a mixing bowl until frothy. Add sugar and melted butter. Stir in mashed bananas and vanilla. Mix dry ingredients into another bowl until combine. Add the wet ingredients to the dry and mix together well. Pour into a greased loaf pan 9x5x3. Bake at 350F in over for 1 hour. Remove from oven, let it cool for 10 minutes and then remove from the pan. Makes 1 loaf.

Enjoy! (My kids love to eat it with a glass of rice milk:)

Organic Coconut Sugar

I got really excited when I found this product! I was in the health food store the other day and noticed that they had Coconut Sugar!! It is cheaper than maple sugar, it isn’t refined, it’s granulated so it is great for baking and cooking and it tastes amazing!! I’m really looking forward to using this, just wanted to share it with all of you!! They said it was new in the stores but it had been a while since I was in there so this may come as old news to some of you;)

Blessings!

Simple is Beautiful!

Atirah enjoying some summer sun:)

I have been finding more and more that keeping things simple can be the most enjoyable for our family in this season in life. There are days when I try to overcomplicate and overplan activities. I believe the lie that a full timetable equals fun for my kids. Time and time again I see the negative outcome that this has on my kids and my ability to lovingly mother them. When I try to create lots of activity I find myself tense and stressed out, I am tired and really unable to spend quality time with the family – NOT WORTH IT IN THE END! Lately we have been trying to do activities that are close to home and have little preparation and clean up. We go for short walks, meet friends at the park, water the gardens, have a snack picnic, read books together outside, run in the sprinkler and work on puzzles. It has been refreashing for me and for the kids to give up my “busyness mentality” and embrace a more simplictic outlook on life. I find I am able to enjoy my children and their cute-little-selves when I am relaxed. We speak kindly to one another and I sense a deep joy that wells in their hearts for eachother.

May you be encouraged in knowing that striving and accomplishing tasks for your kids does not increase your value as a mother. I would liken it to this example; many times I try to get my kids to eat more nutricious food. Judah will tell me that we wants a hummus wrap but I feel the need to add veggies. So I will cup up lettuce, tomatoes, cucumbers, make a side dish of carrot sticks and offer it to him as a more complete meal. While it definitely fills up the plate, I he will still end up only eating the hummus and the wrap, leaving all my hard work behind. I feel frustrated and disappointed when all the while he only asked for hummus and a wrap, I am the one who tried to complicate things! Your children want YOU not all the activities. Yes, adding does enrich their lives and there are times for that but remember the most important thing you can do as a mother is be present in their lives:)

May you embrace the simplicity that each day bring. May you take in the sweet moments of beauty! This season is so short lived, enjoy every minute!!!

A Passion for Family!

I am so excited to finally be writing a blog! It seems like ages since I have been able to have enough time to gather my thoughts and express them through the keyboard on this computer. Life with 3 little ones can, at times, be a blurr. Someone is always needing mommy and I have felt the need to take some time away from the blog in order to refocus and realign myself with the purpose behind it. I am currently working on switching over this wordpress blog to a website called Passion for Family. Let me explain:)

Our Children – the fruit of our labour!

The Lord has been really impressing on my heart the importance of having vision and purpose for everything I do. Initially, I had started this blog to honor mothers as they pursue the important calling of motherhood/homemaking. Over the past year I have felt God nudging me to make it more about family. I felt like he has been showing me that the family is the fabric of society. Because there is such a breakdown of family in our culture we are loosing touch with God’s orignial intent for the family unit. As a result we are seeing a breakdown in society. I desire to help bring clarity and refreashing to families through these words.

Our Family – the greatest gift on earth!

Through much prayer, I have decided to change the name of the blog to PASSION FOR FAMILY. This is my heart for the site. PASSION is defined as the object of an intense desire, affection or enthusiasm, a powerful or compelling emotion, strong affection or enthusiams towards a concept. I AM PASSIONATE about families!! I feel like there is so much that has been stolen from the family and I believe that it is God’s heart to see families healed and restored!

After being married for the past 8 years and having 3 children I now realize that the family is the training ground of everything in life. As I raise and nurture my children in our family I am instilling in them all of the skills that they will need for their lives as adults. I desire to bless and encourage families across the world. Whether you are single or married, dreaming of having a family or already have a large family, whether you homeschool or not, whether you work or stay home, this blog is desired to enrouage you.

My husband and I are going to blog as much a possible to share wisdom and insight from what we have learned through our experience and from others. We do not have it all together, we are on a journey and we are learning lots along the way. We want to build community and learn with eachother. I will continue to blog recipes, homemaking tips and fun activities for children but the main thrust will be encouragement for parents. Our heart is that you will gain a greater understanding into God’s orginial plan and purpose for the family unit. May you seek to honor, love and encourage your family members; (mothers, fathers, husbands, wives, children, grandchildren, aunts, uncles, cousins) SO THAT you too will cultivate a PASSION FOR FAMILY!

Fresh Garden Herbs!

Mercy helping mommy pot the herbs

This summer year we I decided to do a couple pots of herbs with the kids. I love pots because they are simple, small and easy to maintain. As long as you have good soil and water often your herbs will grow wonderfully. The kids loved to plant the seeds and watch them grow! We planted peppermint, cilantro, and basil (the basil was from seed which we grew inside first then transplated). We are also going to do one pot of curry, chives, oregano and rosemary.

The pots are always well watered:)

Gardening with kids is a simple activity that can be done outside; it is mess free and lots of fun! In the past, I have done pots that are specific to making different recipes. For example, you can do a Salsa Pot; cherry tomatoes, basil, peppers and chives or a Pesto pot; basil, parsely and garlic. This year however, I decided to keep it simple. It has been fun to watch and water our mini-garden and enjoy the fruit of our labour:) I am looking forward to making my homemade pesto once we get enough basil!

May you be blessed today, may you enjoy the simple and beautiful art of gardening!

Reflections on Motherhood!

Playing at the beach in Naples!

Motherhood – it is a simple and a beautiful life in Him!

I have such vivid memories of my babes coming into this world, the intense and overwhelming emotions of feeling them kick within my womb, feeling them emerg for the first time, nursing them, kissing their sweet little faces, sticky hands, smelly feet, the first “I love you mommie”, falling asleep in my arms, crying on my shoulder, birthday parties, skinned knees, bike rides, swimming pools, sandy beaches, their first steps, belly laughs and funny words…temper tantums, asking for forgiveness, sweet prayers, reading books together, holding my hand, soccar games, pulling my hair, dirty diapers, bubbles in the bath, first day of homeschool, road trip in the van, boat rides, bug nets, sandboxes playing catch. Dressing up like princesses, playing dolls, braiding hair, dressing up for weddings, opening presents, shabbat dinners, running through the sprinkler and potty training. These memories evoke emotion in my heart that I cannot supress, words cannot explain the joy I feel as I recall these events and I remember them so well in each of my children.

Thank you God for sweet moments and beautiful memories!

My little Atirah only 6 hours old.

Today is the day after Mother’s Day and I am finally able to sit down and reflect on being a mom. I think that becoming a mother has been the most drastic change in my entire lifetime. Although Jim and I had planned to start having children I was not completely prepared for what was about to happen. Now as I look back I think, how can anyone be prepared or trained to be 100% selfless without having the oppotunity to try it. I have endured many challenging life situations; but nothing has been more physically, emotionally, mentally and spiritually challenging than motherhood.

Mercy wearing her favority dress (at the time, it has now changed to a different dress:)

I am constantly faced with choices each day; choices concerning urgency, constant physical demand, timing issues, unexpected sickness, homeschooing classesand questions, case sensitive issues, sibling rivalry and more. No one prepared me for this, no one told me it would be this difficult, all the while making these choices under high volume stress, crying and running on little to no sleep. It seems like insanity!! I didn’t think anyone prepared me for this…but actually I believe I have been preparing for this my entire life and just didn’t know it!

Out for an afternoon walk

Every season of life is full of choices. We can all decided to choose what is best for us or we can put others first. I have, on many occassions put myself first and that is why I believe motherhood was so hard for me. I went from living for myself and my agenda to living for my children and meeting their needs. I have learned that the only way to be the best mom that I can is stay connected to the One who ultimately gave life to my kids. When I connect with the Father and pray for wisdom, strength, insight, grace, mercy and love for my kids it changes everything!

Family photoshoot when Atirah was 4 weeks old.

I definitely could not be the mom that I am without Him. There are days when I try to do it on my own and the end of my day usually ends by me asking my kids for forgiveness for being impatient amd selfish. I am thankful that His MERCY is new EVERY morning and that he loves my kids even more than I do. Before I used to look at motherhood as a chore and something that was going to be hard no matter what, now I look at it as a blessing, something that I need to cherish because all too soon it will be over and my little birds will leave my nest. I know that I will one day stand before the Lord and give account for what I did during these years. I want to boast that in Him I was able to love and raise up a generation who serves Him! That my children are being trained to honor, trust in and love the Lord with all their heart, soul, mind and strength. I pray that they will be arrows that hit their mark!

Playing hockey on our ice rink

Motherhood is a challenge but what a gift it is. Remember to hold your little ones close today and tell them how much you love them! See them as a picture of the Father and you, He loves you too, He is pleased with you and He longs to reveal Himself to you. They are soil that we need to sow many seeds into. They are worth our all and every amount that we can invest.

My little Mercy loved playing in the toilet! It’s more funny now than it was then:)

May you feel His embrace today, may you remember that every day to Him is Mother’s Day, He wants you to rest in Him and allow Him the job and teaching you how to love and nuture your children. Let us redefine motherhood in this generation. We are training up our little ones to serve the King, we are preparing them to live their lives to the fullest and to embrace everything that the Father has for them!! Happy Mother’s Day!

Spring is Here!!

The beautiful weather this past week has been a tell tale sign that spring is finally here! (That and the fact that my children need baths at the end of the day because they are so dirty from playing outside:)

Playing in the sand!

We have been having a blast outdoors, SO many things to be thankful for; the buds on the trees, long walks, biking, running through the grass, playing in the sandbox, lunch picnics, parks, wearing summer hats, sandals and shorts, hiking in the bush, clothes drying on the clothesline, tulips poking their heads out of the ground, birds bombarding the feeders and sunlight that warms our skin!

Judah was trying to feed this deer, he actually got really close, but then we just threw the apple at him and he ran away. lol

It’s amazing and I am so thankful for this beautiful season. Spring is one of my favorite seasons. I love the new expectation that it brings. I love how you can see the physical changes in the environment and people seems to be excited to get out! There is a joy that rises up in our hearts of what is to come.

Mercy flying her kite:)

Living out of town it is fun to watch the forest change and the animals come out of their hiding. We have been going on many nature hikes, finding acrons, moss and giant pinecones. We have lots of deer in our backyard, many of them now have little fauwns with them, they are so cute!

This past week we had Shabbat outside on our back deck, we don’t have any deck furniture yet, so we set up the table on the ground, it was so fun! I am so thankful for the sun and the excitement of new things to come. I am amazed at how much a little vitamin D from the sun can do for my emotions and physical alertness. I love making fun memories with the kids in these days.

In the next couple weeks we are going to begin our small garden in the yard. I am looking forward to teaching the children about gardening and allowing them the oppotunity to watch the seeds grow! May to experience the joy and excitement that comes with this season! May you enjoy the longer days with more light and sun! May the winter that is past serve as a reminder of how great our God is and that His desire is to reward those who persevere until the end! Bless your family!

Veggie Delight

I had a question from one of my readers: “how do you get your kids to eat veggies?”. My first response is that it can be hard at times, but I think that parents example has a huge influence on their eating habits. My kids definitely like raw veggies more than cooked ones. I think it is helpful to find out what your kids like and then organize and cater accordingly. Something that I have found helpful lately is cutting up veggies and storing them in the fridge so they are ready for snack and meals. I got this tupperware tray and have loaded it up with all different kinds of veggies that my kids like. It works great for snacks or meal prep.

I don’t know about you but for me lunch and dinner times can be stressful if I am trying to cut up veggies and make things when all three kids are tired and hungry. This little trick of have things already cut up has helped me tremendously. For example last night I decided last minute to make homemade pizza and all I had to do was make the dough, I then spread sauce on the pizzas and allowed the kids to put their own veggies on their pizzas. We also use them for veggie wraps, subs, spaghetti sauce, lasagna and stir-fry, etc.

My kids also like colour, the more colourful the veggies the more likely they are to eat them:) For snacks I always take theis tray out as well as a container of hummus or pesto. The kids eat the veggies sub consciously just because they are out, which is awsome! The more veggies they eat the better. Vegetables are full of all sorts of vitamins, minerals and healthy fats that our bodies need. Make sure that you clean the veggies before you eat them as there can also be a lot of dirt on them.

May you delight in today, enjoying the grace that God pours out on us and our families. May we walk blameless before Him!

Homemade Veggie Stock

Soup stock – we all use it, and most recipes call for it! Whether you add meat or not you can use this recipe as a base for any soup stock. I have been making my own stock for months now and I love it for two reasons:

1. It is cost effective

2. You avoid adding unessessary chemicals and additives

I usually make a few mason jars every couple months to ensure that we have enough onhand. You can make it, jar it and freeze it! (Just be sure that it is completely cooled and allow an inch or so at the top of the jar so that it doesn’t crack – I speak from experience:) I typically use a variety of veggies that I have on hand, make sure you use at least one onion, carrot, celery stalk and bay leaf.

Ingredients:

2 Carrots

1/2 Cabbage

2 Onions

Handful of Kelp

1 Sweet potatos

1/2 Eggplant

3 Celery stalks

1/2 butternut Squash

1 bay leaf

Directions:

Clean the mason jars and allow to dry. Roughly chop all your veggies, throw them in a stock pot with water, bring water to a boil and then simmer for 20 minutes. Do not over cook the veggies or you will loose all the nutrients from the veggies. Remember you just want to simmer them long enough to get the flavors out of the veggies. Once they are done, strain and jar. Depending how cooked your veggies are, I will sometimes add another pot of water to the already boiled veggies and simmer them again for 20 minutes. (just to make a little extra)

Enjoy! I use these in currys, stir-frys, and soups. May you be blessed as you hear his voice and obey his ways!

Passion for Family

Family life lived on purpose!

Author Archives: Emma