Trim Healthy Mama Snack

I was so hungry this afternoon that I decided to do a little baking! If you have never visited Briana Thomas' website, you need to! :) She has so many yummy Trim Healthy Mama recipes it's hard to decide which one to make.  I'm really excited that she is planning on publishing a cookbook soon as well!   Today I made her chocolate chip cookie recipe.  They turned out better than I was expecting!  For my drink I make the "Singing Canary"from page 398 in the THM cookbook.  It tasted amazing!  I was looking for a good way to take my protein powder and this is the answer!   If you don't have everything on hand you can still make it, it's versatile. Next time I might use equal parts lemon and lime juice.  Here is how I made mine:

4 T. Lemon juice
3 doonks Pure Stevia Extract
1 scoop unflavoured protein powder
1 scoop Intergral Collagen
1 1/2 t. vanilla
1 1/2c. water
Ice

Mix everything but the water and ice in the bottom of a quart jar. Fill with ice to the top and then dump the water in. Stir and enjoy! :)

Note: Be sure to check out the original recipe as I left out a few ingredients I didn't have, and also changed amounts with the protein powder and Intergral Collagen.

What Have you Done Today?

"...whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God." 1 Cor. 10:3b

What HAVE you done today?

I nursed a baby ‘till he slept,
I held a toddler while he wept,
I played a game of hide and seek,
I squeezed a toy so it would squeak,
I pulled a wagon, sang a song,
Taught a child right from wrong.

What DID I do this whole day through?
Not much that shows, I guess it’s true,
Unless you think that what I’ve done
Might be important to someone
With bright blue eyes and soft blonde hair,
If that is true, I’ve done my share.
~ Anon.

The Killdeer Nest

While going on a walk through the bin yard recently I noticed two killdeer acting upset and knew they probably had a nest nearby.   After looking around the area and not seeing anything, the children and I walked closer to a small slough behind our house, almost immediately the male killdeer flew over and landed about 15 feet from us, chirping and fluffing his feathers to look bigger.  We started slowly toward the bird. He held his ground until we were around five feet from him (I was impressed by his bravery, even with five rambunctious loud children walking toward him he didn't back down.)  at which point he flew a short distance away giving a piercing loud call, and began dragging his left wing in the familiar killdeer behaviour.  I knew then that the nest was very close and I told the children to hold still for a minute while I walked forward looking closely at the surrounding ground.  There it was! Four camouflaged eggs lay tucked together right in front of where the killdeer had been standing. :)  

The iPad I was using to take these pictures doesn't do a great job, but you can kind of see the male killdeer in the middle of this picture. 

The nest! 

Getting a closer look. 

 The spotted eggs. 

After getting a few pictures, we quickly backed away and watched until the mother bird returned to the nest. 

In a few days I hope to walk back out and see if the eggs have hatched. Because killdeer chicks are precocial, we might have a tough time finding them, but I hope we will at least be able to see them even if it's from a distance.   Brave as they may be, we don't want to upset mom and dad killdeer too much. Lol 

I enjoy bird watching a lot.  Lately I've noticed a few Northern Flickers feeding on the  ground in the front yard, William called me today saying "Look Mom there's a duck!" turned out it was a Northern Flicker. :)  Humming birds have been fun to watch in the back yard, and for several days I was almost positive I was hearing the distinctive, almost annoying call of the cedar waxwing, but could never spot any. A few days later I looked out the living room window and sure enough there they were! They are beautiful birds. 

"O LORD, how manifold are thy works! in wisdom hast thou made them all: the earth is full of thy riches."  Psalm 104:24 

Pots of Flowers

Last week, I bought a bunch of flower plants to put in hanging pots for our patio.  A few of the older children and I had a nice time planting them. 

Some of the flowers.

Two of the hanging pots. 

I thought these were beautiful! 

It's been fun watching the humming birds come to the feeder as well as to all the flowers! 

The children love sidewalk chalk as you can see. :) 

Hope you all are having a happy spring so far! :) 

Random Favorite Photo #4

Abby has been wanting to try making a boat that would float in a little pool of water behind our yard. Yesterday we made a bunch of newspaper boats and here is Abby and Willy trying one of them out. Next time we go to town I hope to pick up some supplies to try making some more durable boats with the children. :) 

Our Thoughts by Nancy Campbell

"We all know that our thinking helps determine who we are and how we live. It has an effect on the atmosphere of our home. It effects how we relate to our husbands and children.

Left to ourselves, we are prone to low thoughts. Self-pitying, discouraging, despairing, doubting, and negative thoughts. It’s unbelievable how we gravitate to these kind of thoughts. But there is good news. When Jesus Christ died upon the cross, He died to not only save us from our sins, but from our debilitating thought life. If Christ dwells in our hearts, we have His mind. 

Jesus Christ does not think low, negative thoughts. His thoughts are high thoughts. Isaiah 55:8, 9 says: “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.”

And of course you know 2 Timothy 1:7 where it tells us that God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of a “sound mind.” This is God’s gift to us through the cross of Christ, through the life of Christ who lives within us...

Come on dear ladies, let’s rise up from our low, inferior thought life. Fill your mind with His Word which are God’s thoughts, His high thoughts. Do not tolerate any longer the humanistic thought patterns that seek to overcome you. 

Please be blessed as I encourage you, for this is what God tells me to do. When God tells the older women to teach the younger women in Titus 2:3-5, He emphasizes this word two times. We are to teach the younger women to be “discreet”... and to be “sober”...meaning “disciplined, self-controlled.” 

Rein in your self-defeating thoughts. Yield to the Spirit instead of the flesh. Think God’s HIGH thoughts today. Proverbs 23:7 says: “For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he.”"

 ~ Nancy Campbell