Out Of The Blue Clear Sky ~

You swear you've had enough,

you're ready to give up 

on that little lie they call love,

then out of the blue clear sky.

Fallin' right into your hand

like rain on the desert sand,

it's the last thing you had planned,

 out of the blue clear sky.

Here she comes a walkin' talkin' true love

Sayin' I've been lookin' for you love

Surprise your new love has arrived 

Out of the blue clear sky.

Ain't love a funny thing,

one day you're givin' up the dream,

and the next you're pickin' out a ring

out of the blue clear sky.

by the Great George Strait

Ahh George...what can I say that hasn't already been said. He's a legend. So when I heard he was going to be in concert in January, I shrugged and thought, we've already seen him in concert three times and there will always be others. Well, Tuesday I found out, as all of you probably know, this will be his Farewell Tour...hence the name "The Cowboy Rides Away Tour." Just the name of the tour makes me want to grab a tissue. 

George and I go way back; all the way back to 6th grade to be exact. I actually remember the first time George flew by my radar. It was 1984, I was 12 and at a slumber party with a bunch of girls going gaga for this young man wearing Wranglers and a cowboy hat. I know I had heard his music before because all we listened to was country, but this was the first time I recognized him as the good looking heartthrob talent that he was. :) I remember standing in the hallway at my grandmother's house when we heard George's daughter had been killed in a car accident. His daughter and I were close in age; my heart broke for his family. "Baby Blue" will go down in history as my favorite George song. I could go on and on. We found out our county stock show is the week after the concert and the concert is on a Friday night, so guess what? We're going. All four of us. This is country music history people and we're going to be a part of it!

So, why the song at the top of the post? This song is special, but I didn't remember how special until we were heading to school yesterday and it came on the radio. As the song took me back 16 years, I got to tell the kids all about it...this song was released in April 1996 just one month after R and I went out on our first date and they were still playing it on the radio that September when cupid finally hit me with his arrow. We all have songs that we feel are written just for us; this one was written for me. I'm not saying I had given up on love completely, but I was definitely taking a break from the dating scene when R came along ~ and George was right there singing all about it. :) I'll see you in January George and I will have a few tissues in my pocket just in case.

Our school library is having a fun little contest where the kids bring a picture of themselves in their favorite reading spot.

Here's K's favorite reading spot; with a friend way up high in a tree.

And here's R's. This picture is for real. He really can read while on his Ripstick. The first time he did this I was totally amazed. The kid has more coordination in his little finger that I have in my entire body. I tried riding this thing while holding on to the side of the Tahoe and couldn't do it. Somebody should video me trying to ride the Ripstick...I bet it would go viral. :)

That's it for today. I'm hoping to have some more recipes and cool blogs to share with you next week.
Have an awesome Friday and fabulous weekend!

Wellness Wednesday ~

Dun Da Da! Here it is ~ the post you've all been anxiously awaiting ~ my first official weekly post. Don't let the title fool ya. I'm not going to sit here and try to tell you that everything you're doing is bad and everything I'm doing is right. I just want to share with you what is working for me and if you want to try it, then great!

I feel like I've been on this journey my entire life. I've always (and when I say always I mean since I started running Summer Track when I was 5) been involved in sports in some fashion and even in my adult years have stayed pretty active. So that's nothing new. What is new, or what has been evolving over the last 7 years, is my interest in how nutrition plays a part in our health and how cleaning up the toxins in our home environment can keep us well.

I will not get all scientific on this blog...can you say boring? With the crazy amount of info you can find on the web, I encourage all you guys to do a little research and learn for yourselves. After all, we have to be our own advocates when it comes to our health. What I will do is point you in different directions, share recipes I have found on some pretty cool blogs and let you know when I come across a really great product or mind-blowing information.

If you are all still awake, I would love to share a fantastic chocolate chip cookie recipe. What!?! Yes, you read that right. Chocolate Chip Cookies! So the other day I was checking my email and came across the weekly recap message from one of my favorite blogs (I sometimes think that the woman who writes this blog and I were separated at birth, anyway.) The blog is called Wellness Mama and you can find her along with her cookie recipe here. 

This may sound crazy, but I was so excited about this recipe and soon found myself hoping, wishing and praying that this recipe would find me at the end of my cookie quest. I can not tell you how many recipes I have tried; how many dollars worth of ingredients I have wasted in search of THE cookie recipe. Well, the search is over. (I have Survivor's song 'The Search is Over' in my head right now. Weren't the 80's the best? If you've never heard that song, you should look it up.)

I followed her recipe precisely and they turned out perfect. The best part and what puts them on my healthy list is that they are gluten free and I'm not just talking gluten free like the junk you find at the grocery store. I'm talking 'made with almond flour gluten free.' Most gluten free products you find at the grocery store are made with white rice flour and white potato flour. These products are still high on the glycemic index and will spike your blood sugar super fast, so read your labels. It is my humble opinion that everyone has a sensitivity to wheat gluten and would benefit by cutting it out of their diet, but we all need to be careful of what we replace our wheat products with. If you have a health issue, just for fun cut gluten out of your diet for a month and see what happens.

A beautiful stack of chocolate chip cookie yumminess

 Don't they look like real cookies? It's because they are real and they are really delicious! As a side note, they do contain real sugar which I admit is not healthy at all, but I feel like if I can treat my family with a great homemade cookie that they love and is also wheat free then I have won a small victory in this battle for our health that I seem to be facing everyday.

I hope you check out the Wellness Mama blog  and try the cookie recipe. You're going to love it, I promise!

Mother's Day

I had a wonderful Mother’s Day. I had the honor of singing a very special song at church on Sunday morning. I still remember where I was the first time I heard it. I was about 7 months pregnant with R, standing in my bathroom getting ready for the day and listening to Family Life Radio. I knew as soon as I heard the words to “Hold Onto Jesus” it would be a song that would become a lifelong prayer to my children. Since that day, I have performed the song on a few special occasions; two of which being when R & K were baptized as infants. Over the years my babies have fallen asleep to the words of this song being sung to them by their mommy. I pray the message of this song follows them throughout their lives.

Hold Onto Jesus

You’re a little piece of Heaven, you’re a golden ray of light

and I wish I could protect you from the worries of this life,

but if there’s one thing I can tell you, it’s no matter what you do ~

hold to Jesus, He’s holding on to you.

The world will try to tell you that might is more than right

and beauty’s on the outside and being good’s a losing fight,

but remember what I’ve told you ‘cause the world will make you chose.

Hold to Jesus, He’s holding onto you.

Hold onto Jesus, and cling to His love.

Rest deep in His mercy whenever things get rough.

Don’t lose sight of His goodness

and don’t ever doubt this truth:

That when you hold onto Jesus,

He’s holding on to you.

Hear me dear Jesus

rock these little ones to sleep.

Keep them close when they’re scared,

give them grace when they are weak.

I know they’ll stumble, but I know they’ll make it through

if you hold on to them just like you said you’d do.

Hold them Jesus, so they’ll hold on tight to You.

She grew up on the side of the road...

K's favorite song right now is Lady A's American Honey. More times than not when we get in the car she's asking to listen to that song. I love that she knows all the words and we can sing together. This, on the other hand, drives R crazy (he's really sick of this song.) I love that the song reminds me of my childhood and it describes K's perfectly.

Last night while she was in the shower and I was brushing my teeth she busts out singing her favorite song ~ it was beautiful. When she finished, she said, "Mommy, I thought of a song but I'm embarassed to sing it." I told her not to be embarassed and that I would love to hear it. What happened next was magical. She started singing the most beautiful song I've ever heard in the sweetest little voice. I quickly ran and grabbed my journal and started scribbling the words as fast as I could (trying to remember.) I asked her to sing it again so she did, pretty much the same as the first time.

He Died on the Cross

He died on the cross

He died on the cross

For us...for us

He died for our sins

He died for our hearts

He doesn't like it when people be mean

He cries...

He  died  on  the  cross

I love this so much ~ it makes my heart sing to know that out of all the things she could have thought of to sing about, she chose our Saviour. I love you so much sweet girl and I pray you always have a song in your heart.