Good News and Great Joy

1. I am so happy to be working again. I love going to sleep at the end of the day knowing I accomplished something and I contributed to my family. 

1. I have gotten to spend some time with great friends and family since I’ve been home. I’m not all caught up with everyone, but it’s a start. 

1. I think I need to get some more aprons. I just love cooking in an apron. Mmmmm especially Anthropologie aprons... yes please! 

I mean come on… 

1. My birthday is just over a month away and I’ll get my hubby home for 10 days all to myself! Best birthday present ever! Now what to do...

1. I love seeing pictures of everyone’s new babies and baby bellies on Facebook and Instagram. Can’t wait to join the mommy club! (Haven’t gotten there quite yet...) 

1. I have loved this series we have just finished up at church. “The Imperfect Family” is a great description for every family. Each sermon has been dedicated to something different including men, women, raising children, and resolving conflict. If you haven’t checked it out yet, definitely do! www.northwood.tv

1. Last but not least, my hubby comes home on Tuesday! Hooray for weekends, not matter what day they’re on! Our plans include lots of kisses and snuggling, really good dinner my parents are going to make, fancy pants breakfast (I looooove me some breakfast), and just great quality time together. I haven’t seen him in about a month so I can’t wait to get my hands on him on Tuesday! 

Have a great rest of your weekend and start of your week friends!

XOXO

Em

The Imperfect Family

One of the biggest things I’ve missed about Mississippi (apart from our beautiful house... *tear*) is our church. But luckily for us, they’ve got technology down pat so I can watch live and past services all the way from sunny San Diego! 

The series they are in the middle of is called “The Imperfect Family” and it has included some of the best sermons I have ever watched. It has been wonderful and pertinent timing, being a newlywed and wanting to eventually grow our family. 

One thing I love about Northwood Church in Gulfport, MS is the music! Worship is led by the pastor’s son and usually includes one of both of his daughters as well. I always love worship, and it is evident that when these people sing, the entire room feels it. I’ve been in churches during worship before where everyone stands and stares at the band playing. Now you don’t have to go crazy, but have some joy! Rejoice! Praise your Father! 

Anyway, here is the link for the latest services at Northwood. I highly recommend the Imperfect Family series, but honestly, I’ve never seen a sermon there that I didn’t enjoy or get something meaningful out of. 

http://vimeo.com/86435462

Here is the link for all the past services at Northwood.

http://www.northwood.tv/Media/Services.aspx

Happy worship my friends!

God Bless,

Em.

With This Ring

Last night was just a normal evening. I talked to my hubby on the phone, just chatting and recounting our day. He tends to get sleepy towards the end of our talk and we say goodnight, then I usually get up and hit my bedtime routine and then get some shuteye myself. After our talk, I got up and washed my face and brushed my teeth and took my vitamins. 

On my walk back to my bedroom, I just caught a glimpse of my engagement and wedding rings sparkling on my hand. How much I had always wanted someone to put that ring on my finger. But it couldn’t be just anyone, it had to be the person who was my best friend and my soul mate, forever and ever. That little glimpse just made me so thankful for that and so thankful for my husband.

My rings are so unique and I think it represents our marriage well. We have been so fortunate to find “our person” so young and to have grown so strong through everything we’ve been through. They are my most prized material possession. 

They are beautiful, but most importantly they remind me of the blessed marriage we get to share for the rest of our lives. 

How lovely that one split second, one little glimpse, can make me so thankful and remind me what a beautiful thing my marriage is. 

XOXO

E.S.W.

5 Paleo foods I love most... at the moment.

This week my great-grandmother passed away. She was very old and led a wonderful life, but nonetheless, she was the matriarch of our family and loved immensely by family and friends alike. 

In my family, like most families, part of the grieving process is eating, and lots of it. And of course, it’s not eating things that are particularly good for you. For the first time in a very good while I ate lasagna, rolls, cookies, rolled tacos, chocolate cake, macaroni and cheese, a pulled pork sandwich, uhhh.... get the picture? It’s been a pretty awful week for Em’s guts. A few nights ago, my insides finally just had enough and I am back on the wagon of good, nutritious foods. 

I thought I’d give a list, just off the top of my head, of my favorite paleo/real food items that I will be eating in great quantities the next few weeks to heal and nourish my body after this time of poor eating!

1. Bone broth. I just made this for the first time last week and it’s hugely hugely healthy. You cook beef marrow bones in the crock pot for at least 24 hours (I did mine for about 30 hours) with some hunks of carrot, celery, hunks or garlic, apple cider vinegar, and water. Cooking it low and slow like this helps extract all the wonderful vitamins and minerals and collagen from the bones. The collagen is wonderful for your skin and gut health (just what I need), and the amino acids that are extracted from the bones help the body detoxify. Can’t beat it!
2. Coconut yogurt. I don’t handle dairy very well. In fact I never have. However, I feel very fortunate to have discovered coconut yogurt. It is delicious and you still get the benefits of the live, active cultures that good-quality yogurt contains, without any of the adverse effects that dairy may bring.
3. Kombucha. My hubs thinks I’m crazy for this one but I love love love kombucha and it has awesome gut-healing properties. It is a fermented beverage, which I don’t think we consume enough of. Kombucha is essentially a tea, which is converted into a fizzy bottle of goodness by a SCOBY (symbiotic colony of bacteria and yeast). It’s delicious and fun to drink!
4. Almond butter. This one can get tricky. It is a great source of healthy fats but should be eaten in great moderation. You can go overboard with mindless almond butter eating very quickly! One of my favorite little snacks is a small bowl of frozen berries with a dollop of almond butter on the top and a sprinkle of chia seeds over the top of that, then microwaved for approximately a minute and a half. Stir that gooey mess together and oooohhh goodness... holy yum. 
5. Turmeric tea. Kind of misleading because this doesn’t actually use a tea bag but it’s so yummy an comforting. All it takes is a mug full of steamed almond milk, a dash of turmeric, a dash of cinnamon, a dash of ginger, a splash of maple syrup and you have yourself a wonderful comforting drink to end your day with! Turmeric is packed with vitamins and minerals and has great anti-inflammatory properties. 
   

Eat well my friends! 

XOXO

Em

A Grateful Heart and Self-Control

Life, especially this military life my husband and I live, throws us curveballs constantly. God likes to keep us on our toes and sometimes plans don't go our way. 

For example, my husband's phone got turned off by the cell phone company, leaving me with no way to contact him because his computer was dead and the charger was in my car. We went in before deployment, setting a date for them to hold his number. We realized we needed a little more time to get our ducks in a row and tried several times to stop his phone being turned off, but nonetheless, it happened. When we tried to get his phone turned back on, the company's whole system was down. Did I get frustrated at first? Yes. Do I realize this is a spoiled problem to have during a deployment? Yes. A lot of spouses get to talk to their service member very very sparingly during a deployment.

It would be so easy to get angry about these inconvenient little plan changes. You know that angry, bitter feeling where all your insides just seem to be in knots? We have to fight that. I know I do. and I feel so much better when I let those things go. 

1 Thessalonians 5:18 teaches us to "give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus." Keeping a grateful heart is so important. It allows us to see more clearly and hold on to that self-control that God instructs us to have. 

I love watching 19 Kids and Counting and I think Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar's example of self-control is something everyone can learn from. In an old episode I caught the other day, their area in Arkansas was hit by a devastating ice storm. When Jim Bob was outside assessing the damage, he acknowledged that the children were watching to see what his reaction was going to be. His display of self-control was crucial in keeping his family calm and secure, but also thinking through a solution for the problem. Michelle's patience and self-control in raising so many little ones always inspires me. It is something I hope to come close to (even remotely on the same spectrum would be glorious) when I have our own little one. 

Displaying these characteristics takes a lifetime of learning and adjusting, but our God is a loving and merciful God. He knows we make mistakes, and is waiting with open arms to grant us forgiveness. The sooner we learn that fact, the more at peace we will be. 

Have a blessed week! 

Lots of love,

Em