Reasons to be Thankful

Thanksgiving.

A vision of family gathered around a table loaded with delectable foods most certainly comes to mind at that word. Family and fun times are very good reasons indeed to be thankful. Many other things have occured over the months since I last blogged that I'm thankful for and below is a brief overview. 

(Sorry it's been so long since last post!)

•         I am thankful for the family and friends God has blessed me with and the fantastic times I always have with them.
•        I'm thankful for the opportunity I had recently serving at an organization called Voice of the Martyrs.
•       While studying philosophy this year in World View 3, I've realized how there's no struggle for the Christian to find answers to the questions philosophers have failed to answer on their own. I'm most thankful that Christ gives value and purpose to our lives!
•        I'm very thankful that I'm doing a science this year that I enjoy learning about- Anatomy and Physiology.
•        I'm oh-so-thankful that I can now have sugar again! :D
•       I'm thankful for the fun times I have with my sister Madison, staying up late talking and laughing and reading Sherlock Holmes stories aloud in British accents.
•      I'm thankful for all the blessings, large and small, God has poured into my life this year. 
•    And lastly, I'm thankful for you, who took the time out of your day to read a tad about my life. :)

          Hope you and yours have a very blessed Thanksgiving this year!

Pearly Whites

I believe most girls, whether secretly or openly, want pearly whites. And I recently bought bright red lipstick, and just letting you know, that is not a flattering color when your teeth happen to be a little less than snow-white… So when I saw we had run out of the Crest whiteners, I slightly freaked out. Instead of waiting until the next time we went to the store, I took matters into my own hands and looked up a natural way of whitening my teeth.

Sidenote: Personally, I’m sick of the chemical route of whitening my teeth, since it always results in me barely being able to breathe because my gums are that sensitive afterwards. And when I accidentally and inevitably swallow while the whitening strips are in, it burns my throat terribly. Surely that isn’t healthy… Alright, I’m down from my pulpit. ;)

In my search, I found this somewhat delicious and, I believe, darling way of whitening your teeth. (Yes, I just used the word darling to describe whitening teeth…) It’s a fast, cheap, easy and natural way of whitening teeth.
What you shall need:
~3 ripe strawberries (the real recipe calls for 3 to 6 strawberries. I used 4 and had an overabundance of puree…How big do they think our teeth are?! Sheesh…)

~ A blender

~ A bowl

~ Baking soda

~ Cream of tartar

~ Water

INSTRUCTIONS:
1. Puree 3 ripe strawberries in a blender then place in a small bowl.

2. Apply puree to your teeth with a toothbrush or a cosmetic brush. The puree should be painted on rather than brushed on. (personally I think they only said paint it on because it makes it seem more artsy and fun sounding.)

3. Make a mixture of 1 tsp. of baking soda, 1 tsp. of cream of tartar, and 1 cup of water. Swish the mixture around in your mouth and then spit it out.

4. Brush your teeth with 1 tsp. of baking soda on a toothbrush.

5. Rinse thoroughly with cold water.

Then it came with a wonderful WARNING sign that always worries you and makes you wonder how safe it really was….

WARNING: Brush your teeth well after each strawberry treatment. The whitening ingredient- malic acid- in the strawberries along with the sugar can cause cavities if left on for too long. Limit the treatment to once per week. (So watch out.)
While doing this, I was slap happy because of the beautiful color the pureed strawberries were, and it was fairly fun “painting” my teeth with strawberries, and my teeth really were whiter afterwards.

I have a few extra warnings for you.

Be prepared about the mixture of cream of tartar and baking soda…it scared me nearly half to death when it began to fizz like some science experiment. I really questioned how safe this whitening endeavor was. But I plowed ahead and I made it out alright.

Be sure you shut your mouth when you’re brushing your teeth with the baking soda. Slobber goes everywhere. You can thank me in advance because no one warned me, so you can imagine how unglamorous THAT was.

Baking soda tastes a lot worse then you think it will. For reals.

And my last warning: you might consider setting aside the rest of that strawberry puree and saving it for after brushing your teeth with that baking soda. Helps to get rid of that horrid taste if you eat some, or so I thought. And who could resist such pink loveliness that tastes good! ;)
After all said and done, I found this to be an effective and unique way of whitening your teeth and thought it would be fun to share.

The Importance of being Earnest

My time has not really been my own during July and thus far into August. This summer has been the busiest I have yet lived, and I truly believe that. The JOY Drama Group was together again most of this summer to put on a benefit play for the storm-leveled Stained Glass Theater in Joplin, Mo. All proceeds and donations went to the theater group and their ministry.

All throughout July were the rehearsals for The Importance of being Earnest, between which family were staying over at our house different weekends, we were trying to visit family and friends before the school year begins, not to mention trying to squeeze in math and French and a few other school subjects that still need finishing up…The first week in August was tech week.

Friday, the fifth, was our first performance.

Saturday was a farewell party to some friends of mine who are heading off to college. Sunday was another performance at the Artisan Theater, which is “in the round”. We had never performed in the round before, neither have we used microphones before, so it was a very new experience.

This is our cast, crew and director.

Tuesday last, our drama group headed up to Joplin, Missouri, where we volunteered at a Mt. Hope church. On the way there we had a memorable time, one of our friends had a 5-hour energy, so you can imagine he was a bit hyper. It was altogether a hilarious time!

There, we helped clean the church since they’ve had thousands of volunteers staying at the church all throughout summer. After cleaning the church, we helped them organize the sheds and trailers containing supplies donated to the distribution center. It was such fun, because we got pretty close to the other volunteers at the church. They would joke around with us, and us with them. It was a blast! Rebecca and I were given charge over organizing the baby supplies.

It was a mess -to be sure- but between us and the amazing assistance of our other wonderful friends, we were able to get it perfectly organized. At some points before it was organized, we thought we were going to drown in baby diapers…I even had dreams about baby diapers if that tells you anything about how many there were.

Here's our group with a few other volunteers we became friends with.

Every evening after working all day, we would meet the STGJ group and do something fun. We went for a frozen yogurt run, one night we watched some cartoons on a big reel movie projector, and we bowling. Since we all got on so well, it was as if we had known them for ages! We made wonderful friends, and were very loath to part with them Friday.

Last Friday was our final performance of The Importance of Being Earnest, and before the show we got our usual prayer circle, but this time, some of the SGTJ people prayed with us. It was a very … I really cannot find the right word to describe it. Humbling? Aw-inspiring? These people that we had been praying for all throughout summer, and for whom we had been putting on this production for, were praying with us, and for us. And we all had such a strong common bond; a love for Jesus, and love for the arts.
The play was a success. Beforehand we presented the SGTJ with a check for the money which had been raised for them. It was a joy bringing laughter to the audience. To hear these people, whose lives had been altered by the May 22nd tornado, laughing was the completion of all we had worked for over the past month. Backstage, we were slap-happy. It was a blast and a very neat experience.
After the play, we loaded up our set and costumes for the last time and socialized briefly with our new-found friends before we had to leave. Once they rebuild their theater, we are going to get our drama group together to watch their first production in the new location! They even mentioned coming down here to watch one of our plays!
The whole thing was a very unique experience and I loved every minute of it, even the sweaty exhausting work. Lol. I felt like I could have stayed for a month in Joplin, and almost wish we could have. Although it felt like we had been gone from home for a month, when we were there in Joplin the time went by so quickly. Good friends, hard work, funny happenings, and helping out is very satisfying. This was my first mission trip and I loved it so much I'm now looking forward to a next mission trip!
On the morning of our performance, one of the volunteers at the church came up with a Bible and showed us a verse he had found.

Jeremiah 29:13 (NLT)

“If you look for me in earnest, you will find me when you seek me.”

How awesome is that?! So that’s the importance of being earnest, folks; looking for the Lord in earnest!

The Caveman Diet and Attempts at Cookery

I cannot believe I have not yet blogged about something very big in my life that happened a few months ago! Well, to spare you boredom, I will be brief. I had my blood tested for food allergies, and found out I'm allergic to 32 foods. Yes, you read that right. The big allergies are wheat, gluten, eggs, yeast, and sugar (which eliminates almost everything delicious since I'm pretty much addicted to bready things and sugary things). The other things are superfluous, except for blueberries and citrus fruits. Hopefully it's only temporary and I'll gradually be able to eat real food again. These food allergies make finding "easy" dinners next to impossible.

  By now I mostly know what I can have for all my meals, its just coming up with ideas for snacks and sweet things that stump me. So I have been trying allergy-free recipes every now and then. Looking online for gluten-free, sugar-free, egg-free recipes, I came across what is called "the Caveman Diet". Apparently that is what my kind of diet is called. Its more formally called the Paleo diet, but I'm sticking with Caveman diet as it makes me laugh.

   The first Caveman recipe I tried was called something like Caramel Cinnamon Walnut Clusters. There wasn't anything caramel-like about it. When you first popped it in your mouth, it tasted really good, but when you swallowed it, it was like a freight train of cinnamon hitting your mouth. They really should have called it Cinnamon Explosion. 

     Next thing I tried was Banana-Nut ice cream, sweetened with honey and maple syrup. Surprisingly, it was pretty good. After that was the caramel attempt, which ended up in burnt caramel which tastes utterly disgusting...

    The best thing I've made so far are the Pumpkin Cookies. Oh heavens! You have to try it! The recipe is originally gluten free, but I replaced the eggs and sugar with what I can have.

Gluten Free Pumpkin Cookies

-3/4 cup shortening

-2 eggs (replace with flax gel) 

{to make flax gel, stir 1tablespoon flax meal into 3tablespoons warm water; let sit for 10 minutes or until thickened, enough to replace 1 egg}

-1 cup canned pumpkin

-1 tsp vanilla

- 1 cup sugar(or 3/4 cup grade B maple syrup)

- 1 1/2 tsp baking soda

- 1 1/2 tsp baking power

- 1 tsp pumpkin pie spice

- 1 1/4 cup rice flour

- 3/4 cup potato starch

Preparation:

Preheat oven to 325 degree f. Cream together shortening, eggs, pumpkin, vanilla and sugar. Add baking soda, baking powder, pumpkin pie spice, rice flour, and potato starch. Mix well. Spoon out on cookie sheet (greased lightly) about the size of a walnut. Bake for about 15 minutes.

   And oh my goodness, prepare yourself for happiness.

When making these I didn't realize that it's best to use grade b maple syrup instead of grade a, since grade b is sweeter. Thus, they weren't very sweet and ended up more like pumpkin biscuits instead of cookies. Despite that, they were really scrumptious!

Oh, and fair warning- do not eat or smell the dough. You will become disappointed in your work of art and become nauseated. Trust me.

Happy Summer Day

Yesterday was my 17th Birthday. It was the perfect lazy summer day/Birthday. We had waffles with blackberries for breakfast, and we made a fruit pizza for dessert later that evening. While the crust was baking, we sang enthusiastically and I taught my Mother how to swing dance. My sister joined us then and we were all swing dancing together. Afterwards, Mother and I looked through a fun magazine. Once my Dad got home from work, we went out to eat at Uncle Julio's (the BEST Mexian resturant ever!), then came back home and watched the movie Beastly. It was such a fabulous day!

A Camping We Will Go!

Just got back from my first, yes, FIRST camping trip! Sad that I'm nearly 17 and this was my first time to REALLY camp. I don't call sleeping out in a tent in a backyard real camping...

Anyways, our amazing friends the Archers invited me and Maddy to Lake Mineral Wells, and we jumped at the chance! All 11 of us crammed into their car and headed off. Once there, we swam nearly 2 miles (who can believe it) altogether by swimming to and from the other side of the lake. When Katie, Maddy and I were about to head off back to our camp site as we were on the opposite side of the lake, I saw a snake head sticking up out of the water. It was WAY too close for comfort. We yelled to the boys to defend themselves or follow us as we fled in terror. Later, we figured out that it was a water moccasin. Talk about FRIGHTENING!

When we got back, we were all exhausted, in an energetic sort of way, if that makes any sense at all. After supper we sat around the fire and enjoyed each other's company. We sang a few songs, listened to the guys play their guitars, and Katie and Maddy play their ukuleles. A friendly raccoon came up every now and then around the edges of the firelight. When I first saw it, I nearly freaked out, but calmed down when I saw it wasn't leaping at me to eat me. We all dubbed the raccoon Sir (yes, we knighted it) Maximilian Arthur Rupert III. As we girls attempted to star gaze, we were rudely interrupted by a "wild animal" thrashing about in the bushes. It SCARED the living daylights out of us but it turned out to be the younger guys trying to scare us. It worked.
Today we tried to wake up early to see the sunrise...yeah, that didn't work out like we planned. After a late breakfast and packing up camp, we headed off to a different part of the lake where they were renting canoes and kayaks. Between the 9 kids, we split 2 canoes and 1 kayak. We had so much fun! We rowed over to a darling little island in the lake, explored that, found a nest with a huge egg in it, a teeny-tiny turtle, and another snake. After four hours of canoeing, swimming and the like, we packed up and headed home.

 A most delightful first camping experience, wouldn't you think? 

    

Photos from Paradise

 Ft. Walton, Florida

 Vicksburg National Military Park, Mississippi