Climbing my Mountain of Life

Hello dearly beloved readers!

Yes, it has been quite some time since i have written again, years to say. I forgot about my blog i started when I was living in the Twin Cities and working for Whole Foods Market. 3 years have gone by and here is an update of where the Spirit and I have journeyed together......

1. Lived in the Twin Cities and worked for Whole Foods Market in the Health and Body department for 1 year. Paid off my 1 year of student loans from BLC in Mankato. From there on I saved money and together with my sister Marcie(what a gem) :D we explored detoxification and holistic health and were fruitarians. Yes, even during the winter months we enjoyed sitting in front of the plug in heater eating frozen bananas and watching Tarzan.

Tarzan was one of our favorites and Phocahontas as we were preparing our hearts to leave the MN winters to the Big Island of HI. 1 suitcase and a one way ticket and we were off to Kona HI September 2014. Bye Bye MN winters and hello coconut and mangos for dinner!!!

2. As I began my new season in HI, I lived for 6 months on a beautiful farm in the mountains called Magic Mountain Farm. There I picked coffee and learned about sustainable living and worked for my room and board. I was so excited to try new foods the first week I ate all the fresh pink guava in my back yard breakfast lunch and let me not forget my thimbleberries. Ah! picking fruit and laying in the grass and the white little butterfly friends of mine made me feel like a princess walking around in Gods Garden of Eden.

After 6 months had gone by, I had the priveldge to be a house cleaner and helper for a lovely Pastor named Ruth Carter. I joined Shekinah Loa Ministries which was a small home church but we were close like a family and went snorkeling, night time manta ray diving, movie nights with popcorn, chicken feeding, feeding the homeless, ministering to those in need, a 2 week vacation to Jerusalem, and shepherding 8 beautiful sheep(Holly was my favorite yue that I miss and first animal I cried for when I left back to the mainland....will get to that part later).

After 1.5 years had gone by, I became a dietary aid for the elderly at an assistant living and my heart became very tender being around my new friends/and adopted grandparents. I was blessed to get hugs and very much appreciated friendships there. Was hard to say goodbye but around October 2016 was time to journey back to MN with my brand new car I had shipped to my parents doorstep.

3. October of 2016, I was helping out on the family farm back in MN, visited FL twice in December and March, and now caretaking my Grandpa and Grandma Flygares old farm home. Working full time at Daves Place of Lafayette as a bartender and cook, I enjoy every kind of person who comes in. Time flys by quickely when I am working because there are alot of interesting people I enjoy listening and visiting with. I have heard alot about dandelion wine I would like to try locally people talk about around here.

Cleaning, mowing lawn, very much excited to pay off my car next year, enjoying warm coffee and tea, still in love with frozen bananas, but I enjoy eating a well balanced diet of eggs, fresh garden produce, and experimenting in the kitchen with zucchini crisp.

One day I would like to buy a honey bee box and have fresh raw honey on tap, make my homemade soap and lotion bars again and sell them with my honey and fresh wildflower bouquets. I enjoy learning very much and exploring. My dream house would be a little cottage in the forest and pick fresh berries, produce from the garden, apple and pear trees, and have my own free ranged chickens for eggs for breakfast.



Thank you for reading my journal update. Next post is on....
My world inside my soul and spirit.
Facing my worst enemy...Fear itself
Exploring this "Whole New World" with the Spirit of God within me
Enjoying beauty, love, and heaven on earth. :)

Homemade Laundry Detergent 

Do you ever find yourself double thinking about all of the toxins in conventional laundry detergent? Maybe you struggle with the expensive prices of it in order to get those grass stains out of your kids shirts? Well there is a much safer and inexpensive way to manage these everyday; a simple recipe of homemade laundry detergent. With the ingredients below that I have, it is safe for HE washers.

What you will need:
-Borax
-Washing Soda(Arm and Hammer is the one I used)
-Bar Soap(I have used Kirks Castile Soap)

Homemade Laundry Detergent

Powder:

2 parts Borax

2 parts washing soda

1 part finely ground bar soap

You could grind the bar soap in a food processor, shred with a knife, or cheese grater. I did 2 cups of borax, 2 cups washing soda, and 1 cup finely ground bar soap. Shake together in a jar and you have a powder detergent. All you need per load is 1/8-1/4c. depending on the size of your laundry. 

Liquid:

One bar soap grated.

1 cup Borax

1 cup washing soda

5 gallons of water

Heat and stir together bar soap with 2 quarts water until soap is dissolved. Put 4.5gal. of hot tap water in a 5 gallon bucket and stir in borax and washing soda. Then mix in soap water from the stove and stir. Cover and let sit overnight and stir again in the morning. It will thicken up like jello and you only need 1/2-1c. each load. 

Keeps the money in your pocket to toss into the Salvation Army jar on your way out of the grocery store. Winter is coming everyone and looks like it could be the first snow fall tonight. God must be spilling powder sugar on us as He makes Christmas cookies to celebrate the birth of His Son next month. 

Borax- $4.99

Washing Soda- $3.49

Kirks Castile Soap- $1.49

It comes to about 8 cents a load whereas Tide conventional can cost up to 50 cents per load. What a saver in the long run! Plus; making your own products is a great learning project to enjoy and share with your children.

~Warm Pumpkin Bake~

Ok! I got another great pumpkin recipe you might want to try out. Trust me, it is soooo very nutritious and savory. It will melt in your mouth just thinking about it. I remember my grandmother baking fresh homemade bread every Saturday, and the thought of a piece straight out of the oven is so heavenly! So take a whack at this pumpkin challenge, and enjoy this delicious treat straight from the heart. 

Ingredients:

2c. oat flour/or almond meal

1tbsp. baking powder

1tbsp. cinnamon

1/2tsp. pumpkin spice

1c. unsweetened almond milk(any nut milk works great)

1/3c. melted coconut oil

1tsp. apple cider vinegar

1/2c. sweetener (honey or pure maple syrup)

1.5c. pumpkin puree

1tsp. vanilla

3tsp. ground flax seed

Preheat oven to 415 degrees. Combine flour, baking powder, and spices in a large bowl. Whip together milk, coconut oil, apple cider vinegar, sweetener, pumpkin, vanilla, and ground flax seed. After whipped to wet moist consistency, fold into dry flour mix. Mix until a smooth batter is formed. Grease bread pan with coconut oil and pour in batter. Sprinkle with a dash of cinnamon and oats on top. Bake for 20 minutes. May need to bake 5-10 minutes longer depending on your preference. I like mine not as done and a little extra moist. Serve right out of the oven and drizzle with honey, maple syrup, or coconut oil. Mmmmm......tastes like heaven from grandmas oven.

Savory tip: Apple cider vinegar has great digestive health benefits. It is known to be a great prebiotic that stimulates the digestive system and promotes regular bowl movements. Health starts in the colon :) 

~Are You Pumped, for Pumpkin Spice!!!~

The first day of fall was on October 21st, and after that the weather starts to cool down. Driving home from work last night, I ran into my first encounter with snowflakes. Watch out farmers, get those crops in as soon as possible, you never know how early the winter snow may come.

For all of you out there who love to enjoy a warm beverage on those chilly days, here is a great tasting recipe that is free of all of those unnecessary and sugary ingredients that our bodies don't need. Enjoy this steamed Cuppa Pumpkin Spice Latte on those chilly, breezy fall days. Perfect to warm and carry in your hands on those lovely walks through the crisp bright colored leaves. 

Pumpkin Spice Latte with whipped topping

1c. unsweetened vanilla almond milk (or another plant based variety)

1/2c. organic pumpkin puree

2tsp. cinnamon

1tsp. pumpkin spice

1/2tsp. stevia

Whip all ingredients except stevia together and put in pot and warm on medium high. Stirring consistently for roughly around 5-10 minutes. After it warms to the temperature you like, stir in stevia and serve in desired mug.

Whipped Topping:

1/2c. plain keifer (yogurt works too)

1/4c. flaxseed meal

1/2tsp. stevia

Whip with fork all ingredients until smooth and whipped consistency. Serve on top of latte and dash with cinnamon. Serves one person.

(Savory Tip: Stir in 1/8c. freshly ground espresso beans for a more mocha flavor.)

What does God hear from Heaven?

Ever wonder what God is hearing in heaven? Is He listening to us sing praises to Him, the birds singing their merry song in the morning, the trees blowing in the wind, or simply whales talking to each other? 

I was in church last spring and they played this video for us. I was amazed and my breath was taken away at what I had never thought about before. Take time to watch the video and reflect on all that the mighty Lord has created before us.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7zWKm-LZWm4

Just like Bugs Bunny

This is my pet rabbit Fin that my roommate and I got in our dorm room last year in college. Me a rebellious farm gal couldn't get away from my love for animals. So, we got a bunny rabbit! He is a treasure. 

So for now my parents are taking care of him. At first I thought they weren't wanting to let me keep him at the farm, but I can definitely tell he is growing on them. There is a lawn chair in his outdoor cadge....which means it is my dads chair to sit and watch him. And I can tell mom loves him because she has talked to me about how he loves her attention and loves that good back rub from her. He did just shed his autumn coat. Don't animals shed their coats in the spring time? He is an unusual little thing he is, but super cute. Can't wait to have him on my future hobby farm someday. He will be great friends with my goats, chickens, dog, cats, and the random pet pig that will be running around freely. 

Just like Bugs Bunny, he does have a sense of humor and energy as he did. He runs super fast in circles around in his cadge. He even dug a hole in the ground and climbed under his fence!!! Yes!!!! He actually did. More like a dog than a bunny you could say. 

Need a Great Life Inspiring Book to Read? 

Want to dig deeper in your relationship with Christ? 

How about learning to put Christ first in your life through a few books below?

I was watching some videos today from Dannah Gresh, a Christian author who speaks and writes on how women are beautiful and precious in the eyes of the Lord. She writes on how important it is for a woman to remain pure and to keep her virginity, you are more valuable and worthy of more than you can imagine. If you are a woman reading this post, you are your Heavenly Father's princess. He adores you and wants you to treasure and adore Him too.

For you men reading this, you are stronger than you know and can be the spiritual leader in your family that you want to be. If you love and respect your wife/girlfriend, she will be submissive to love and respect you as well.

Take a look at some of her books, you will not want to put them down.

"Get Lost: Your Guide to Finding True Love"-Have you ever ditched a friend for a guy? Filled your journal with more thoughts about guys than God? Found yourself jealous because that other girl gets all the dates? Maybe it’s time to get lost—in God.

Discover how to get so lost in God that a guy has to seek Him to find you.
 
Dannah Gresh traces God’s language of love through Scripture to help you pursue your heart’s deepest desires and seek love the way God designed it to be. Because once you identify yourtrue longings and let God answer them, you’ll know just how to respond when romantic love comes along.

With a guided ten-day Love Feast Challenge, Get Lost will help you see for yourself how getting lost in God opens the door to lifelong fulfillment. You'll want to read it, as I did and wished it was an endless book. I learned a lot of valuable information, one piece being that your relationship with your spouse should reflect your intimate relationship with your Heavenly Father. 

"And the Bride Wore White: Seven Secrets to Sexual Purity"-The greatest proof of its effect is in the lives of tens of thousands of young women who've embraced the book's proven "how-to-wait" skills. Each chapter of And the Bride Wore White begins with a narrative of Dannah Gresh's young love life, taken from her own teenage journals. She transparently shares her struggles and successes, her moments of pain followed by healing and the moments of triumph. This storyline grips the young reader while they learn statistically proven risk-reduction factors. The end result is usable "how-to-say-no" skills that can reduce the risk of a young woman's heart being broken by sexual sin.

"5 Little Questions-That Reveal the Life God Designed for You"-When the alarm clock goes off, do you dread the day—hopelessly enslaved to a schedule that strangles the life out of your passions? Take heart, you’re not alone—not even close.Five little questions. That’s all it takes. In this book, Dannah shows you how she found freedom from an over-busy, under-productive life to one that influences thousands. Her practical do-able steps will help you move from an exhausting life to an exhilarating one. Features real-life stories about Condoleeza Rice, Mary Beth Chapman, Donna VanLiere, Amy Grant and more.

"The Secret of the Lord"-Are you ready to stop playing church and begin living an authentic life in Christ? Do you put on a happy face to disguise feelings of sadness, loneliness, or depression? You’re not alone. Nearly half of all women say they are still searching for one authentic friendship in their church body. Best-selling author Dannah Gresh knows the transforming power that will turn your life into a glorious adventure with God.  Move beyond the masks of simulated perfection so often put on for Sunday morning, and discover true intimacy with God and with other believers. The Secret of the Lord takes you to a place where the lonely find intimacy, the distressed find joy, and God’s love revives entire communities.