Change the Subject

Every now and again I get the urge to splurge on to a different subject.
Today, the Lord has lain on my heart the subject of organic fruits and veggies.
I have been learning so much about this stuff, I think I'm going to bust sometimes if I can't talk about it.
I love to share information because we live in a very unhealthy world and we are getting sicker day by day.
Why are organic fruits and veggies so important? Well, for one, there is no regulation as to how many times our food can be sprayed. Tests have shown that cancerous tumors have been found with pesticides in them. Not a good thing right?
You say fruits and veggies from the organic stands are too expensive. That was my first concern! I can't go totally organic so what do I do? How can I make changes to improve the quality of food for my family? How can I improve the health of my family? Well, let me help.
First, get rid of ALL hydrogenated oils from your foods. Why do companies use it then? Because it is cheap! Hydrogenated oils, in my opinion, are the number one cause of heart disease.
Second, get rid of ALL food coloring from your children's food. You WILL notice a difference. I can help with sweet treat choices if you need alternatives.
Third, don't let your family drink artificial sweetners. That means NO diet soda's and while we are at it, don't let them drink sodas period. Re-introduce water and iced teas and lemonades sweetened with natural sweetners. Yes, there is a difference.
Fourth, get rid of all WHITE flour and sugar in your diet. Use honey, maple syrup, and raw sugar instead of the other stuff. Use unbleached, whole wheat, oat, millet, coconut, spelt, and other whole grain flours instead.
Fifth, concentrate on centering your diet on raw fruits and veggies. Organic if possible. There are 12 produce items that you do NOT have to buy organic because they aren't sprayed much or at all. This is called the "clean" list.
Onions, Avocados,frozen sweet corn,pineapples,mangoes,asparagus,frozen sweet peas,kiwi,bananas,cabbage,broccoli, and papayas. Notice many of these are tropical fruits.
Now for the dirty dozen. These are the worst foods for pesticides. They are peaches, apples, bell peppers, celery, nectarines, strawberries(the worst of all), cherries, pears, grapes, spinach, lettuce, and potatoes.
We need to pick and choose our battles and none of us are going to live on this earth forever but wouldn't it honor the Lord to have the highest quality of life we possibly can to serve him better? Our children will learn better with better nutrition as well.
Okay! Off my soapbox!

Week 5

Tweak! Tweak! Tweak! Is that a bird? Did you hear a bird? Oh, hi!
We are tweaking and still tweaking. That is okay because eventually we will be right where we all want to be and we won't have to tweak until our lives seem to change again.
I'm just having fun here! We went to John Heinz refuge for bird watching /listening and we had a blast! It is truly a beautiful place and we saw some beautiful water birds. It's a little hard to not scare off all the birds with a big group of kids but it was still great.
We have not finished our mummy/sarcophagus yet but that is the way it goes. As long as it is done for our end of unit celebration at nine weeks, we should be good. Today we made cylinder seals. Next week we will finish our cylinder seals. The kids all have their first writing assignments to be graded. Whew! The pressure is on!
We are going to the Mennonite Visitors Center in two weeks to see the Tabernacle replica.
Val is due any day now so everything with us for next week is tentative. I know the Lord's timing is always perfect.
More later.

It's Been a While

Wow! The time has flown. I can't believe we are on week 4 already! I feel like we are finally coming out of the fog.
We are starting to get more done and into a routine. The confidence level has risen a bit as well. Our dance classes have started this week so this was a good week to feel like we are okay. Thursday we will work on the sarcofagus again and measure out the Ark using string. The younger kids may be going to John Heinz Refuge at some point.
They are studying birds so this is a real good time to go. Writing class seems slow to me but I'm following the curriculum and I'm seeing it's important to go over all the steps carefully so there is no question how to write the assignments when they come up. If anyone else is wondering what to do in the mean time, I suggest they do dictation every day. Even the 9th graders will benefit from that. Until Thursday!