Lori and I were thrilled to get to spend a few minutes with this amazing man, Nick Vujicic. Lori told him how much our family enjoys  The Butterfly Circus. She mentioned how she gasps at the same moment in the film every time that she watches it, even though she has watched it several times.

We ran into Nick at the premiere of the movie Nefarious. We were guests of our good friend Michael Gotcher and his wonderful bride. Michael served as the set physician during most of the filming.

 An overdue family pic. Our brood keeps growing and we love them all!

You're Never Too Old Too Learn!

This is such a great article! I would encourage everyone to take a few moments to read this, no matter how old or young you are!😉 This should resonate with all of us and get all of us to think about what we are doing with our time. Do we spend our time "vegging in front of the TV, or on our phones, or are we spending our time productively?" Think about it. What are you doing yourself to learn and grow? What example are you setting for your children and/or grandchildren? Since I got my Personal Trainer Certification after 50 years old, and am now working on my Health Coaching certification, this quote resonated with me: "As Vanderbilt writes in his book: 'Rather than grinding out a marathon, you are putting your brain through a variety of high-intensity interval workouts. Each time you begin to learn that new skill, you’re reshaping. You’re training your brain again to be more efficient.'” No matter what your age is, keep learning and growing, it keeps life interesting! :o) Are you letting your brain get flabby and out of shape or are you training and reshaping your brain? Don Gordoni is a "Jack of all Trades." At times, this has seemed like a curse, because from a professional standpoint, it has been hard for him to know in which area he should concentrate his focus and energies. But, this article shows that being a "Jack of all Trades" is a great thing! 😁 Don is an asset to any company or organization because the Lord has instilled in him a learning spirit and has gifted him to be able to do so many things well. 😉 It also helps that he comes from a long line of teachers in his family! 😉 As homeschooling parents, we get to relearn things we had forgotten as we learn them again to teach our children, or learn it for the first time in order to teach it to them. Also, they teach us what they are learning! 😉 So, go learn something! And, if you want to help yourself retain the info., as this article points out, teach what you learned to someone else! 😊

Here is the article:  https://www.bbc.com/worklife/article/20210222-how-a-beginners-mindset-can-help-you-learn-anything?ocid=liwl

DVD Review: Theo: Teaching Children God's Love

Our family had the pleasure of being introduced to a new-to-us animated series called Theo. There are several titles. We watched Theo: Teaching Children God's Word.

The DVD is organized into four brief videos that highlight Bible stories. Theo is a kindly old sage who interacts with two mischief making mice, Luther and Belfry, that live in his country cottage. The writing is clever and the 2D animation is well done and reminded me of the Adventures in Odyssey series.  The DVD also comes with a helpful study guide.

Our children enjoyed the DVD and were eager to watch all the episodes!

There are also some very interesting Special Features on the DVD. I enjoyed being introduced to the creator of the series and learning how the animation was done. Kids who are interested in animating can get a very informative introduction!

Theo is produced by Whitestone Media. Thanks to FishFlix.com for sending a sample of Theo Volume 1 - God's Love DVD in exchange for an honest review.  You can get this and many other Christian Movies at FishFlix.com.

To sample Theo for yourself download the free episode Good News at http://www.theopresents.com/products/good-news. There are also free coloring pages available.

Menus4Moms.com is Awesome!

  I tried Menus4Moms. I loved it! No more slaving over finding 1000's of recipes on the internet and writing down all the ingredients to buy! Menus4Moms provides tasty menus for you to fix for your family. You just print the menu you want, shop for the ingredients, then cook the food! And, each week, the menus are conveniently sent to your email. What I like best is that they take all of the work and guesswork out of dinner planning. They provide a list of menus that you can choose from, and you can pick and choose which meals you want to prepare and they provide a shopping list of all the ingredients needed for all the meals! I also liked it, because the meals were simple enough that I could change them a little to make them my own, etc. They also have all the ingredients organized, so you know what ingredient is for which meal/day.
  The other thing I really like about it is that you can choose from the "Busy Mom Menu" or the "Frugal Mom Menu." I can relate to both of those types! They also have a "Gluten and Casein free" menu. I would've liked to have tried that menu, but was too frugal to to pay the small charge for that one.;-) If it's anything like the others, it has many yummy dinner ideas on that one, too!
  All of the menus have pictures to go along with the meals. The "Frugal-Mom" menu even has the prices you can expect to spend for each item/dinner. What I really like about it, is that all of the menus, don't just have one item for each day. Most days have at least a main dish and a side dish and some days have dessert.;-)
  There are also cooking tips, menu planning tips, a blog, and much, much more! This is a great site and a wonderful deal for anyone wanting help in planning meals. This would also be a great gift idea to give someone! I encourage you to try Menus4Moms. You won't be disappointed!

Second Chances follow Failing - Whole 30

The bad news is, I failed the first day of Whole30, eating some chocolate. Granted, it was 72% dark, but it was still off limits. The good news is, I can start over!:-) Better to have to start over on the first day, than the 17th! LOL! I had a bad headache today and realized that when you go "cold turkey" off sugar (when you are used to eating a good amount everyday), your body feels like it's having a hangover! Yuck! You can have Madjool dates, but you are not supposed to use them to feed the "sugar dragon." However, after feeling sick all day and finally realizing what was going on, I are a date and felt a little relief. Then, I ate another date and felt almost back to normal.;-) So far, I've done good today. We'll see how long it takes me to conquer the first day!;-)

The reason I am doing the Whole30, is to do a healthy cleanse of my body, while nursing my 6mo. old. This program fits the bill, I just need to DO IT!!!:-)

Whole30 Adventure!

Thanks Steph! I've read your recent posts http://californiafreemans.blogspot.com/2014/03/weighty-issues-how-whole-30-am-i-doing.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+blogspot%2FziDl+%28california+freemans%29#.Uys3ntxWrnY on Whole30 and decided that this is what I need to do for my health, so I can be a healthy wife and mother...and, glorify God with my body. Essentially, Whole30 is just a basic way to rid one's body of all the bad food put in it and cleaning it out with all good food! I see it as a healthy way to cleanse my body, while still nursing Annie Grace. I have many friends who are reading and doing Trim Healthy Mama, which is a Whole Food approach to eating healthy, in general. I would like to do THM, but I think that Whole30 will give me the jump start I need first!

I've needed to do this for awhile because I've gained some weight the past couple of months following the birth of our youngest child. Plus, I've had some other issues that I know can be straightened out by eating "clean." I exercise everyday routinely, so, I knew this was not my problem. A few weeks ago, I said to my son Noah, "I know that if I just give up my 'Cream and sugar with my morning cup of Joe,' and cut back on processed food and sugar, I could lose this nagging belly "pudge." I know what I need to do, I just need to do it!"

So, after reading my cousin's post last night, I decided to do some research and find out if Whole30 is right for me. After reading about all the benefits, and finding out that the whole program is free, I determined that it is just what I need right now! So, I got my husband's blessing to do it and I told my family what I would be doing. I even invited a couple of them to participate with me (I didn't have any takers).:(

Not being one to put anything this important off, I decided to plunge in with both feet! So, today is my first day to start. My only reasoning for putting it off, would've been so I could enjoy my sweet, creamy coffee longer...but, that was part of my problem in the first place! I like all the resources available on the Whole30 website to help accomplish this program, like the forums, the daily email (there is a cost associated with that, but I felt it was important), etc.

This is what my diet has consisted of thus far, today: This morning, upon rising, I drank a big glass of water with organic 100% lemon juice. This is what I do, most mornings, as it helps detoxify my liver, kidneys, etc. Then, I exercised while the children watched Curious George on PBS. For breakfast, I had my usual...two eggs cooked in Coconut Oil (extra virgin, organic, cold-pressed). My daughter Hannah said, "YOU'RE HAVING YOUR COFFEE BLACK???" Yes, I had my coffee black. I didn't get the "warm fuzzies" I usually get with my hot, sweet, creamy drink. But, it was hot and it was coffee.;-) And, it did taste kind of good with my eggs. Okay, it was awful...but, it was HOT!!! For a mid-morning snack, I had a half a grapefruit. For lunch, I had a salad with Romaine lettuce, baby peppers Balsamic Vinegar. Now, that was yummy! The funny thing was, the peppers tasted sweeter than they normally do...huh, go figure!;-) Snack consisted of a hot drink of matcha and water, YUCK (much better with milk and sugar)! For dinner, I'm going out on a date with my hubby. Chipotle has "clean" meat, so I'm planning to have a bowl with Chicken, chopped lettuce and lots of extra Cilantro, YUM!

The reason I decided to blog about this is simple. For the accountability. I know that if I am accountable to others, it will be encouraging to me and help me stay on task. So far, it's been easy...but, I know it will get harder...much harder. Also, I titled this "Whole30 Adventure," because I like to see life as an adventure...and doing the Whole30 is part of mine.:-)

Want to go on this "adventure" with me?;-) If so, here're the link to get you started: www.whole30.com