Creating a Family Motto

In the last few years Paul and I have had an increasing desire to create a family motto - a catch phrase that sums up our vision and desires.

It took us three years to find something we liked and that we thought matched our goals.

While a guest speaker at church was covering the Sunday School lesson he pointed out this quote by Anthony Norris Groves;

"Labor hard 

Consume little

Give much.

And all to the Lord."

What a challenge! 

While most may not know of Anthony Norris Groves he was the brother in law to George Muller, whom I am sure more are familiar with. 

A. N. Groves launched the first Protestant mission to Arabic-speaking Muslims, and settled in Baghdad and eventually continued his mission work in India. A. N. Groves has been referred to as 'The Father of Faith Missions.'

Prior to his overseas mission work he worked as a dentist and him and his wife committed to giving a tenth of their income to the Lord. Over the course of time they committed to giving more and more of their money away and the Lord blessed his work. 

The significance of A. N. Groves lies in his desire to simplify the task of churches and missions by returning to the methods of Christ and his apostles described in the New Testament. As a missionary, his goal was to help indigenous converts form their own churches without dependence on foreign training, authorisation or finance.

I shared the quote with Paul that Sunday evening (he works most Sundays) and he agreed that it really did sum up our hearts desire and so we decided to adopt it for ourselves. 

When I won a contest hosted by Cute As a Fox for a printed tile I only had to think for a moment before deciding on having the quote printed on it. She did a terrific job and takes custom orders if anyone is interested in getting their own tile for their home. (Mine is in the above picture!)

So what about you - do you have a Family Motto? Did it take 3 years to come up with it?! Curious minds want to know!

*information on A. N. Groves was mostly taken from Wikipedia 

*Video* Green Smoothie - Recipe #3

 

I got the boys to help me make a Green Smoothie to show you how easy and fun it can be for kids to do!
We added Teddy Grahams and a lot of  milk to the smoothie which we have never done before but I wanted to demonstrate how you can use fun, recognizable items that the kids already love and blend them up along side foods such as nutrient rich Kale and Avocado.

If you do try introducing Green Smoothies to your children by using cookies or other treats in the drink you can easily cut back the amount of sugary treat you put in the smoothie each time until you have weaned them off the treats and entirely onto the Green Smoothie.

The drink we made in this movie was not very sweet and you couldn't taste the Teddy Grahams so you might want to adjust for tolerance levels - maybe add some honey and less Kale. Or start with spinach instead of Kale. You want your kids to love Green Smoothies, not cringe at the thought of them.

Our Kid Friendly Green Smoothie in the video used:

A firetruck (just kidding!)
A few handfuls of Kale
1 avocado
1 banana
2 cups of milk
5 oz frozen strawberries
small bowl of Teddy Grahams - .5 cup maybe?!
1+ cup of ice
2 cups of milk
1 cup of water

Check out more recipes at Tasty Tuesday

Where Danger Lurks...

Before boys I didn't realize how many dragons and bad guys lived in ones house.

"Mommy, we will save you from the bad guys! Wezzy - shoot that dragon over there!"

 

*dramatic shooting sounds ensue*

Wesley: "OH NO."

Judah: "Wezzy - throw the BALL at him. THROW THE BALL AT THE DRAGON WEZZY."

*Wesley puts his entire body into a pretend hard throw with a pretend ball at a pretend dragon, causing himself to fall over on the ground.*

 

Judah: "Wezzy I WILL SAVE YOU. Hold on - I WILL SAVE YOU!"

*More dramatic shooting sounds, a bit of wrestling with a pretend dragon, some huffing and puffing*

Judah: "Mommy - we did it! We killed the dragon and bad guys."

Wesley: "YAY!!"

And then I kissed my heroes and thanked them for their brave service and for taking care of our home.

And when they wandered off in search of their next adventure I laughed a bit.

But only when they were out of hearing distance.

They take their job quite seriously.

And just because he's cute in the tub too:

 

Sharing on Chatting at the Sky and Life With My 3 Boybarians

Green Smoothie - Recipe #2

This Green Smoothie is much more the style of what we consume three times daily. We have made a basic list, which I will expound on later, of the 4 'groups' we include in each smoothie - the groups being the base, liquid, fat and special (which is something sweet, generally fruit). 

This smoothie includes items from all four groups.

I used:

about 10 ounces of mixed greens, Kale and Turnip greens

2 carrots

1/2 pear (leftover from snack time)

1 ripe avocado

 1 bag of frozen strawberries

2 cups of water

about 1 cup of ice

We've been using more and more greens lately and a trick I have picked up is to blend them with water first to make room in the blender for everything else. 

It blends right up and makes room for the fruit and ice.

I wanted to try a banana free green smoothie recipe since most of ours use bananas and Stacy mentioned that she didn't like them - you may not like avocados either if it's a texture thing but you inspired this one Stacy and we like it! 

Check out this video on Green Smoothies for kids or newbies

Green Smoothie - Recipe #1

Green Smoothies turned Purple.

This is a great Green Smoothie recipe to start with as the blueberries color it a pretty purple color, which is a bit more normal of a color for a smoothie, and the taste is rather sweet given the yogurt, blueberries and banana. This is what we call a Dessert Green Smoothie and we don't typically eat this, but I thought it would be a good one to start with!

What you need:

about 8oz of fresh spinach

 1 6oz cup blueberry yogurt

1 10oz bag frozen blueberries

1 banana

1 cup of water

1/2 cup milk

1+ cup of ice

Fill the blender with greens first - we always have just to make sure we fit them all in, but several of you commented or emailed me to let me know that it's best to put the frozen stuff in last for the sake of the motor, so we'll be more intentional about that from now on! Thanks for that tip.

Add all other ingredients and blend until everything is a smooth liquid.

We taste test as we blend - if it is too thick, add more liquid. If it's too watery or not sweet enough add a banana. You could also add a bit of honey if it's not sweet enough for your tastes.

More Green Smoothie recipes coming soon!

Green Smoothies - Fast Food for on the Road

Two weeks ago we purchased a Blendtec Blender - it was a hefty investment but Green Smoothies are such a huge part of our life and we have been through 4 blenders in the past 5 years. None of them have stood up to our daily use and when we decided to make Green Smoothies three times a day we knew we would have to purchase a blender that could keep up. After much research we chose the Blendtec and have thus far been thrilled with its performance.

We have used this blender at least 3 times a day for the past 2 weeks and it has surpassed our expectations. 

It efficiently blends everything to a drinkable consistency - full length carrots, kale, whole apples, flax seeds - we've tried many other various fruits, vegetables and seeds too and they have all been blended into a smooth, drinkable consistency.

It is so simple to clean - the Blendtec has a wide base making it a breeze to clean, unlike traditionally shaped blenders where things get caught in the narrow base. We rinse under hot water and then put a bit of water in it and pulse and it's clean - this was especially helpful over the past weekend when we took our blender with us on our trip. 

Paul blending at our campsite on Grand Isle

Paul told me he'd like to bring the blender along with us on our anniversary trip and while I initially thought it a bit weird I am so glad we had it - it helped us maintain a healthy, regular diet which made the trip so much more enjoyable!

We kept a cooler full of greens, carrots, fruit, eggs and ice. Our initial plan was to simply use our power converter in our car, but it wasn't strong enough to power the blender so our backup plan was to seek out truck stops along our way to use the outlets in the trucker lounges. 

While there are signs up saying "Truckers Only" we were welcomed into all of them, if you try this yourself I would advise making certain that you aren't disturbing or annoying anyone by your non-trucker presence. :)

Traveling with the Blendtec made for inexpensive, convenient and nutritious meals and we have decided we won't be traveling without it. While we did end up paying more for fruits and vegetables as we picked up exactly what we wanted on the go (as opposed to purchasing them in bulk and on sale) and we occasionally picked up overpriced convenience produce (pre washed greens or cored pineapple) none of the smoothies rang up at over $5 for a blender-full that was more than enough for Paul and myself to share.

That is $2.50 per person for breakfast, lunch or snack! You can't beat that price and you'd be hard pressed to beat the nutrient packed meal at any price from a restaurant.

I am working on writing down exactly what goes into our smoothies so I can share recipes - it's hard to do as Paul and I both have a tendency to throw things together, hold our breath and hope it works.

Both our boys adore these smoothies - in fact Wesley woke up hungry in the middle of the night and when I brought him into the kitchen and asked him what he'd like to eat he asked me for a smoothie. The boys have no idea that they are eating about 4oz of Kale or Spinach, 1-2 carrots and various other fruits and vegetables each day - they just love their "Smoovies".

And we love them too.

Our Fifth

 

 Grand Isle, LA

We are happy to be back home with our boys now.

Our 4 day anniversary trip isn't one we'll soon forget.

Early morning exercise

We drove 1,600 miles.

Each night sleeping in a different state.

Two nights camped out in the back of our car, mere feet from the Gulf of Mexico. 

Listening to the waves crash and feeling the wind gently swaying our car as we drifted off to sleep.

 Dauphin Island, AL

We saw things we will never forget.

Breath taking beauty of early morning sunrises over the Gulf.

And tragic remnants of hurricane flooding.

 

 Flooded truck on Grand Isle, LA

While we missed our boys they were in the best of care with my sister and the time away together was just what we needed.

Celebrating our marriage, cultivating our friendship and experiencing new things together made for the most delightful of long weekends.

 

 Oxford, AL

Friendship isn't a big thing - it's a million little things.  ~Author Unknown
 

10 Ideas to Make More Money

Looking for ways to make money for the $20 Bill Challenge? Or just so you have more money? Here are ten ideas Paul and I have successfully applied either in the past or directly to this challenge.

1. Recreate things that have no value into something valuable.
   Paul is interested in CrossFit and in an effort to create a cost efficient home gym he discovered that truck companies actually pay to dispose of the large truck tires.He called one and asked if he picked up the tires for free. The company was thrilled to comply and told him they had two available. He had no use for more than 1, but on a whim decided to list one on craigslist for $100, toting it as a great tool to use for CrossFit. He sold it. Unfortunately for him this was prior to the $20 bill challenge so it doesn't count for his total in our $20 Bill Challenge, but I think he may repeat this idea.
   We have ideas for a few other things that are considered of no value, but we haven't tested the waters yet, so I'll save those ideas for another time.
   
   
2. Sell the things you own.
   Paul has long been convicted of the idea that we should give away things that we own that we know friends of ours could use or be blessed by - whether it be cars, clothes, toys or furniture - instead of selling the items he likes to give them away. However there are items we have sold because we don't know anyone who could use it. (That iPod Paul sold for $40? He also refurbished a second ipod and gave it to a friend, in the midst of our challenge. I admire his generous heart.)
   Point 3 and 4 are details on venues I have used to sell things.
   
   
3. Craigslist.
   It really works - it is just tricky figuring out what sells in your city, when to post the deal and what price to start at. A year and a half ago I was trying to come up with $1,500 to buy my camera. It was the exact motivation I needed to get selling things on craigslist and within a matter of days I had made over $300 selling items from around the house.
   I had low prices, so I beat out the competition.
   I had well lit images.
   I made myself available anytime of day for 3 days straight to make pick up times easy for the buyer.
   
   
4. Consignment Sales.
    Consignment stores are a great way to get your clothes to a bunch of people who are specifically looking for great deals on second hand clothes (or other items, though I only have experience with clothing) - these shoppers are already in the market for second hand clothes so you just need to figure out what will appeal to the buyer!
   Make sure your items are clean, wrinkle free, in season, stylish and still look great. Consider if you would purchase the item if you saw it on the rack - if it's faded, outdated or screams "Grandma" chances are, unless you are Grandma, you wouldn't buy it. (Chances are also very high that the Consignment store won't accept such items from you - they like to maintain their image too!)
   A few weeks ago I made $56 profit at a local consignment shop- which has been added to my total for the $20 Bill Challenge.
   
   
5. Turn your artistic hobby into money.
   If you already have the supplies and equipment needed to produce something that you could sell do it! Don't hold back because you think you need bigger or better equipment. If you don't think you can make money off your creation then try bartering it. You can approach bartering one of two ways, as outlined in number 8 and 9.
   
   
6. Turn your knowledge into money.
   Figure out what area you are an expert in and use that to make money. This is a great place to apply tip number 10 - creating renewable income. Create patterns, digital tutorials and ebooks - you will put out the effort once to create these and can then continually sell the same product.
   If you are still testing the waters to see if you can actually make cash off of being a self proclaimed expert than try bartering it, as outlined in number 8 and 9.
   
   
7. Turn services into money.
   Think about what services you are capable of doing and what demographic you could market your knowledge to. To serve as a spring board of inspiration you could; do online tutoring, photo shoots, lawn care, minor car maintenance or be a personal fitness instructor.
   These are things that can also be bartered. Check number 8 and 9 for more on that.
   
   
8. BARTERING - Go for Bigger or Better.
   Did you play this game as a youth? You start with an egg and you go door to door asking people if they can offer you something bigger or better. The team that comes back with the biggest or best item wins. You can apply this principle to your money making strategies.This applies to either product based bartering, knowledge based bartering or service based bartering. Make available your offer (product, knowledge or service) - I find craigslist to be the best site for this - and state that you are looking for something in exchange for what you have available. In this situation don't be specific about what you are looking for, but do put a price value to the item you are looking for.
   Sort through the offers you are sent and determine which item will either a) enable you to trade it up for something else bigger or better b) sell for enough money to have made this effort worthwhile or c) falls into what I cover in number 9.
   
   
9. BARTERING -Go for something that is of immediate monetary value to you.
   When bartering having a specific need or want in mind will be an asset if you are looking to acquire things to simplify or better your life. I would caution against being too specific when it comes to stating what you are looking for as there might be similar options available that you aren't aware of and if you're too specific you could miss a great opportunity.
   For example I once listed under the bartering section of Craigslist that I was looking for "Outdoor toys for boys." This was in exchange for a thirty minute photoshoot. Several people contacted me and I picked the toys I thought my boys would enjoy the most. I then saved the toys and gave them to my boys for Christmas - eliminating the need to spend cash on their gift and giving them a gift that I otherwise could not have afforded.
   If you have already budgeted money to spend on gifts or household items and you figure out how to barter something you have to get those items for free I think you can pay yourself the budgeted money and add it to the $20 Bill Challenge!
   
   
10. Create Renewable Income.
    Find a way to make money without trading your time for money - selling photography on stock sites, writing article, selling ebooks or patterns.
    I probably shouldn't even mention this as I have put very little effort into this, but even my very little effort has paid off so I shall mention it - though feeling a little bit of a hypocrite! I signed up with an online how-to site a couple years ago and spent about ten minutes a day for the next two weeks submitting articles. I have occasionally submitted others since then, but with no consistency. With my half hearted effort I have made over $150 in two years. Not a lot of money stretched over two years, but considering what a pathetic effort I put into it (about 4 hours I would estimate) it is worth while!
    

The safe way to double your money is to fold it over once and put it in your pocket.  ~Frank Hubbard

Participating in the $20 Bill Challenge? I would love to hear about it!

They Make My Heart Melt

Have I said lately how much I love these two?

How much I love their imaginations.

 

And love their silly games.

 

And love that they are mine.

They are a beautiful gift.

And I am so thankful for them.

Recipe Exchange - Ladies Evening

Post has been moved to; http://www.jessicalynette.com/food/recipe-exchange-ladies-evening/

Lemon Cookies

I have shared these before too, but again wanted to share them as they are so simple and delicious! 

Ingredients
3/4 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup confectioners' sugar
1 tablespoon grated lemon peel
1 cup all purpose flour
1/2 cup cornstarch
1/4 cup colored nonpareils

Lemon Icing
1 cup confectioners' sugar
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon grated lemon peel

1. In a small mixing bowl, cream butter and confectioners' sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in lemon peel. Combine flour and cornstarch, gradually add to creamed mixture and mix well. Cover and refrigerate for one hour or until easy to handle.
2. Shape into a 1 3/4 inch diameter roll, roll in nonpareils. Wrap in plastic wrap. Refrigerate for 2-3 hours or until firm.
3. Unwrap and cut into 1/4 inch slices. Place 1 inch apart on ungreased baking sheets. Bake at 375 F for 9-11 minutes or until set and edges are slightly browned. Cool for 1 minute before removing to wire rack to cool completely.
4. In a small bowl combine icing ingredients. Spread over cookies.

Chai Tea Cookies

recipe has been moved to jessicalynette.com

Contest Winner

Wow - I can't believe 73 of you signed up for the Seeds Family Worship giveaway! I wish I had a copy to send each of you, but sadly I don't. 

I used random.org and it picked number 3, which is Sarah O. I'll be sending you an email shortly Sarah!

I'll be using more of these cds in the future as giveaways since I love them so.

In the meantime if you want to purchase your own copy don't forget the Seeds Family Worship coupon code PJMORRIS09 for a 20% discount off regular priced items.

Other contest related news -  I won a giveaway this week! I am so excited. I won a personalized tile from Cute as a Fox. I thought for awhile about what I wanted to go on the tile and finally opted for a quote by Anthony Norris Groves which we have adopted as a motto for our family:

Labor hard

Consume little

Give much.

And all to the Lord.

Shopping At Indian and Asian Markets

I am  so excited about my latest discovery - two local international food markets.

A friend had been to the Asian food market and told me about it and I set out this morning to find it and accidentally went into an Indian shop. They had a lot of food that I didn't know as well as ones I did know but either haven't seen at the regular grocery store or they are way over priced at the grocery store.

Coconut milk, mangos, spices and beans ( I didn't buy the last two today) have THE lowest prices in the area.

In the Indian Market I picked up some watermelon seeds and some dried chickpeas for snack foods. They were $2 - $3 for a bag. About the price of a bag of chips and yet much healthier and you eat less of them in a sitting so they last longer too.

I was excited to find this yogurt drink - it was a special treat in Nigeria and I haven't seen it over here so even though it was priced at $2 for the small container I indulged for memories sake. It wasn't quite the same taste I remember, but we all enjoyed it.

 

A 2lb bag of Cream of Wheat for $2.

If I had to pick one food to eat for the rest of my life I think it would be Falafel. I thoroughly enjoy this fried ball made from chickpeas. I have tried several brands and made my own and my favorite by far is the Telma brand, which is hit or miss at the grocery store. The Indian store keeps the below brand in stock so I thought I would try it out and see what I think of the flavor.

I picked up this box thinking it was Papadums, which I love, but the man working in the store told me it was more like a thin cracker. I was curious enough I picked it up and am so glad I did! These have a great taste and I think would be great served as an appetizer with hummus or maybe to accompany a cucumber and tomato salad.

The Asian market had a lot of similar items to the Indian market. Some prices were higher and others were lower. 

At the Asian market I picked up a can of Lychee. These things are so yummy! I want to figure out how to get them not canned in sugary syrup. We ate some for lunch and then I put some in a green smoothie. 

I found my beloved papadums here. They are the cheapest I have ever found papadums at $1.25 for a dozen.

The Far Far is a colored appetizer similar to papadum. There was a huge language barrier between myself and the sweet lady running the store so when I asked her what Far Far was she explained in detail and then ended with "it is like this one here" pointing at the papadums. That is all I understood out of all she said.

 

I picked up two cans of coconut milk and then a box of coconut milk powder mix - we use a lot of coconut milk and this place has the BEST prices! One can was .89 cents and the other .99 cents. I bought both to see if there is a difference in quality. The powdered mix will end up being the most cost effective but I want to research the nutrition value of it. 

The final item I picked up is my most exciting deal - 20 mangos for$10. That is .50 cents a mango! I have never seen them even close to that price at the grocery store. Occasionally they will drop to .80 cents when they are overly ripe and the store wants to get rid of them fast but usually they are $1.50 each. So these mangos were a great deal and the lady helped me pick ones that were both ready to eat now and that would slowly mature so that these will last us well over a week without getting too ripe.

Both owners told me they get produce in Thursday nights so Friday is the best day to come in if I want produce - the Indian store had almost no produce and the Asian one was well picked over so I will definitely be back there on a Friday to see what is available then. If everything is similarly priced as the mangos I will have just found our new source for produce! 

I will be buying all of our coconut milk, beans, brown rice and papadums there.

I am debating buying yogurt - the Asian market had 5lbs of plain yogurt (not the drinkable mentioned above) for $6 - that is cheap, cheap, cheap for yogurt but I am wondering about the quality of it - anyone know?