Perfect Pesto

Fresh Basil

Anyone looking for find a recipe to use up your fresh basil leaves?

I have an incredible recipe for pesto that can be refrigerated or frozen. You can use pesto as a dip or it can be added to spaghetti sauces or pasta dishes. It is simple and quick!

Ready to freeze!

Ingredients:

4 cups packed fresh basil

6 sprigs of parsley

1/2 cup olive oil

Pinch of coarse salt

1/4 cup of pine nuts, toasted

1/2 cup freshly grated parmesean cheese

Toasted Pine nuts…Mmmmm….

Instructions:

1. Toast pine nuts at 350C for 5 minutes until lightly browned.

2. Place all the ingredients in the food processor except the parmesean cheese.

3. Transfer to a bowl, stir in cheese, adjust with salt and serve! (It is delicious with crackers, or fresh baguette)

You can refrigerate for up to a week or store in the freezer. If you choose to freeze the pesto, do not add the cheese. When you are ready to use it, thaw and then add cheese at that time. This will allow the pesto to keep in the freezer longer. Enjoy!

Praying for Relationships

Relationships are complicated! There is NO easy way around it. Every person is different and the dynamics of relationship are delicate. I have been seeing this fleshed out in the small relationship between my two oldest children, Judah, 5, and Mercy 3. They are two completely different children. Their personalities, social tendencies, emotional abilities, and cognitive understandings are worlds apart. Their gender, their age and most of the things they enjoy to do with their time is different. As you can imagine this has caused some major conflict in our household. We have had several disagreements, yelling fests, name calling, hitting, and teasing! When this first began, I was worried. I thought that I wasn’t doing a good job as a parent and that I needed to MAKE them see eye to eye on everything. I could not have been more wrong.

I was reading in the book of 1 Samuel about the relationship between Jonathan and David, and God spoke to my heart and told me to start praying for my children (all of them) to cultivate relationships like this. I felt like there is a higher standard of love that our children can have towards one another. It doesn’t come from me forcing them to connect but a rather through a deeper spiritual connection enforced through prayer. Jonthan and David were two very different people. Jonathan was the prince of Israel, supposed to one day become king and David was a shepherd who was looked down upon by this family. Their upbringings were different, their interests and their futures. There was potential for jealous, envy, greed, bitterness and all sorts of other things to come between them. However, I believe it was God’s Spirit that united them and allowed them to engage in a relationship like no other.

1 Samuel 18:1 says “After David had finished talking with Saul, Jonathan became one in spirit with David, and he loved him as himself“. This is profound! This is Biblical. We are called to love our neighbours as ourselves. My children have the opportunity to love each other as they love themselves. My job is NOT to force that but rather to pray, guide and instruct. PRAYER is the most effective tool, I pray that God will give them this unique and divine relationship in which they would lay down their lives for one another.

Rather than feeling frustrated I am ferverent in prayer. I choose not to look at their shortcomings or get upset with their bickering, instead I declare unity and love to be the foundation of their relationship. I recognize their differences but those are no longer excuses for their relationship. I believe that God can knit their hearts together and I trust that in His time He will allow it to happen.

Do you pray for the sibling relationships in your family? Do you believe that God can give them amazing relationships?

May your children embrace one another today. May you have faith to believe for His will in their lives. May you experience the joy that comes from watching your kids grow to love one another as you pray for God to bind their little hearts together! Blessings!

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!

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!