Wheat Free cooking!

Tanya (my amazing chiropractor) suggested to me that I go off of all wheat and white sugar in order to help my body heal. Wheat is a pain trigger, and just not that great for your body (well to the extent that we North Americans consume it that is!) and could help leaps and bounds with my healing process. So immediately I went through our cupboards and got rid of everything that has wheat in it. This was no small job. Do you realize that EVERYTHING has wheat, or a wheat product in it? Well now you know. It does! I became a tad overwhelmed, so I do what I always do when I'm overwhelmed by something - I do as much research as possible, and inform myself on what I need to know! I talked to a friend who is allergic to Gluten, and she was able to give me tons of tips. I also did extensive research on the internet (including printing off a huge list of what I "can" and "can't" have - such as Smarties. They have wheat flour in them, so they are on the bad list. That was a low blow! So sad) and read a couple books. I also went out and bought a wheat free cookbook, as well as borrowed some from the library! So armed with information, Jon and I set out on our very first wheat-free shopping trip. It was a pretty funny trip for the most part (Gorilla munch is all I need to say to that eh Jon?!). But at a few different points I could feel myself getting worked up, and Jon just gently took my arm and cracked some jokes, and led me through. We came home with our arms loaded with all sorts of things we have never heard of before, but that our new recipe books called for! This started the wheat-free eating. Since then, in the past month, I have become quite the little cook! I still don't overly enjoy cooking, but it has been fun trying out new recipes! We even bought a breadmaker, so that I could homemake wheat-free bread (yes, yes it is possible). Our meals have actually been better than ever, experimenting with new tastes, and all sorts of delicious foods! I have been so proud that I was eager to show off what I have done!

I made homemade tortilla shells, and with those, I made these taco bowls! They were sooo good (right Sharon!) and they looked so cute! If only we looked so cute eating them... they were a tad difficult!

Banana Chocolate Chip muffins - no wheat or white sugar in them! They stayed moist for days, and I took great delight in feeding them to people without telling them about the no wheat/butter/sugar part! Everyone who ate one thought they were delicious! This will probably become a staple in our house, seeing as how Jon thinks banana bread/muffins are the best thing ever. Yay!

Overall, I thought going wheat-free would be much harder than it actually is. I mean, I need to be careful, and read the ingredients on EVERYTHING, which is a tad annoying! But everything (for the most part) has tasted really good, and not that much different. And we are getting used to what are good substitutes and what we can/can't have. I say "we" because even though I am the only one not supposed to be eating wheat, my always loving and supportive husband has given it up to! He said if I have to do it, so will he. He still eats wheat products when we are around other people, or out for dinner, but at home he just eats what I eat and does it happily, without any sort of complaint. Once again, I look at him and wonder "how the heck did I get so lucky?!!"

Long time, no blog!

Usually when it's been a long time since I posted anything on here is because life is crazy busy. But for the first time, that is not the case! March has been a month of crazy, but not busy. I haven't spent much time blogging, because I haven't felt as though I had much to say (weird, I know!!). Or maybe that I was just at a loss of words? I'm not too sure. All I know is that I needed a few weeks to really process what has been going on, and spend time searching my heart, before I was ready to share it. My back pain is driving me nuts! I am tired of being in pain all the time, and Jon is tired of seeing me hurt! The chiropractor is helping me, and I am soooo grateful for her!! But I still walk around, feeling like an old woman. Kind of like this: We are moving ahead with the knowledge that I more than likely have a condition called Fibromyalgia. When I first heard this, it hit me like a ton of bricks. A chronic pain condition that I will ALWAYS have? A constant and horrible daily reminder of things I only want to forget? Nice. But after giving myself an attitude check, and realizing that chiro is really helping me immensely, it no longer seems so bad. I also have recently read the book "Choosing to See" by Mary Beth Chapman, and oh boy did that book ever help with perspective! The Chapman's lost their 5 year daughter in a horrific accident, and this is Mary Beth's story of Choosing to See God even through incredible darkness and suffering. The Chapman's never-ending courage and faith was so encouraging to read about, despite being a heartbreaking story. The book gave me a new outlook, and some new insights. The Lord is faithful, and He has all of our days numbered, before we even lived one of them. He has "entrusted" me with the life I have, and I am blessed beyond all measure. I was created to worship the King, and I plan on doing that to the best of my ability. Jon and I are making our way through this crazy path called life, and we are doing it together. To say the least, although the above picture may show I look to the world, this picture best shows how I feel on the inside:

Life has been bumpy, but it is also incredible. It is also the "dress rehearsal" to what comes after (I recently read that in an article and thought it was a brilliant analogy!). That's our March in a nutshell.

Camp Night

March 4th was Imadene's big Camp Night down in Victoria. We got about 150 people out for it, and it was a really fun night. It was full of games, music, a birthday party (Imadene's 85th!), singing and food. Jon, Chris and I spent weeks before hand planning and getting it all ready, so it was really exciting to finally have the night arrive!

Jon and I MC'ed the night together - the very first time we have ever done something like this together! Everytime one of us is involved in something, it is either me upfront, or Jon upfront, with the other being a sideline player! It has been so long since I have done anything like that, and it was really fun. We laughed a lot on stage, and had a great time doing it together. It was a nice reminder that we work well together and are equal players.

Our final thing of the night - giving away a free week of camp! Chris came up front to pick the names of the kids who would participate and win the big prize!

Jon is spinning the wheel to see which color it landed one, and who would be the lucky winner! It ended being a girl who has been to camp before (Teen Camp) and actually just registered for her free week last night!
The ending of the night: a balloon drop! Look at all the kids scrambling for a balloon. I love knowing that something so simple is still awesome and gets them all excited.

This crowd had all those balloon popped so fast, I was amazed! But they had fun, and that was the whole point. Nights like this fill my heart so full, and is such a good reminder of why we love what we do. How amazing that the Lord is allowing us to be a part of nights like this, and to be actively involved in so many kids' lives. Overwhelming.

Scarily Similar Brothers

Funny story about tonight.
I was skyping with Care tonight, laughing and talking like we always do.
All of a sudden Jon, who is sitting on the other couch, lets out a loud crazy little boy laugh.
I look up all startled, and ask him what the heck he is laughing at.
Care and Jon both then say these two things at the EXACT same time!:
Care - "That's the same laugh Luke has when he's watching America's Funniest Home Videos"
Jon - "I'm watching America's Funniest Home Videos, and this dog totally just wiped out!"

It was so funny to hear them at the same time, and then to have them realize what the other one just said! Guess when your brothers, you are bound to laugh at the same things, with the same silly laugh that is reserved for truly funny things!

Kudos to Aimee...

... for buying Jon this amazing game as a birthday present:

In the week that we have owned it, we have already played it more times than what is probably a healthy amount. Jon likes it because here is finally a game he can consistently beat me at, much to my frusteration! And I like it because it requires thinking, it's super fun, AND I know that as soon as I get ahold of a good strategy he won't stand a chance ;) Well done Aimee!

(the only problem is that we don't know how to pronounce it! Any helpful hints out there so that we can stop calling it "The New Game"?!)

My Desire

While Jon and I work in our office, I always have my iTunes open and playing music. Today, this song by Jeremy Camp came on, and I was struck by the truth in these words in how they describe exactly how I feel in life right now. So I stopped what I was doing in order to write this post, because I was so impacted by it that I was eager to write it down to remember this moment. You can listen to the song on YouTube by clicking on this link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sMatSkZrygk&feature=related

Here are the words of the song:

You want to be real, you want to be empty inside
You want to be someone laying down your pride
You want to be someone someday
Then lay it all down before the King

You want to be whole, you want to have purpose inside
You want to have virtue and purify your mind

You want to be set free today
Then lay it all down before the King

This is my desire, this is my return
This is my desire to be used by you

You want to be real, you want to be empty inside
All I know my heart is too feel you near
All I know my life, it's to do your will
It's to do your will

All my life I have seen
Where you've taken me
Beyond all I have hoped
And there's more left unseen

There's not much I can do to repay all you've done
So I give my hands to use.

So those are the lyrics. And even as I write them out here, I am just so blown away. I have been searching for purpose, for meaning, trying to figure out just what exactly is my role and part to play in life right now. But my desire is to do good work, to purify my mind, let go of my pride, and just give everything I am to the King. I want my work to matter, so that one day He will look at me and be pleased with what I have done with the life He gave me. And that is my purpose. So why is it so easy to lose sight of that? Getting lost along the way is just part of the journey I guess, but all I know is that I want my life to be a living sacrifice to the One who sacrificed his life for me. My life was redeemed, and He has given me more that I could have ever dreamed, and I am so incredibly thankful for that. I want to be someone someday, but I want to be someone who is handing her life over, knowing that I am not working for me, but for Him. This moment is my return.

Beautiful day

When we woke up today the sun was shining and it and looked sooo beautiful outside! So we went outside and walked around camp and played for a bit. It was such a fun afternoon, and we even discovered a new setting on our camera that we tried out! The pictures turned out pretty good, and I was happy to have some good pictures to remember a really good afternoon.

Look at how crazy handsome my husband is. Those blue eyes are my very favorite!

We were having fun, throwing the stick for him, despite the fact that it looks like I am stabbing him in the mouth. He was being a crazy dog!
The place that we call home - how lucky are we! Sooo beautiful.

Happy!

Jon having the time of his life just looking at the lake and loving the nature we live in

My two boys :)

The lake was so calm today, and I thought it was so pretty! I am also a walking advertisement for Lulu Lemon today with my pants, tank top, and sweater

Being the true rock star that I am

I love being married and having fun days like this with my husband!

Happy 24th Birthday Jon

Yesterday was one of my very favorite days of the year - Jon's day of birth! I am so glad he was born, because if he wasn't, my life sure would be different, and not nearly as awesome! I love birthdays because they are special, the day that the Lord picked for you to grace the world with your presence. Life is messy and hard sometimes, and I think that each year we spend here, happy and whole should be celebrated! So for Jon's birthday this year, I invited some of our family and good friends up to camp to spend the evening with us! We ate chili for dinner (Jon made one pot that was SPIIICCCCY and I made one pot that was nice and tame!) and angel food cake for dinner (courtesy of the beautiful Sharon Burdge!). I was really happy that so many people made the drive up just for the evening, and that we were all able together to make Jon feel special. He spends everyday making people's lives happier by being his loving silly self, and it felt good to be able to honor him a little bit! We have had quite the year since his last birthday - the owl center debatacle that was horrible, surviving Youth Quake 2010 when I was the intern, my graduation, saying goodbye to all our friends, moving to BC with exactly 13 dollars that had to last us an entire month (we actually made that happen!), the craziness of last summer, the slowness of the fall, a trip to Mexico, the excitment of being told we have the go ahead to start a brand new outdoor program, rocking the face off Fall Teen Retreat 2010, getting a kitten, christmas with both our families (always a whirlwind with our crazy busy families), and just going through one huge transition to the next! Since last February, we have had some of our highest highs, and lowest lows, and here we are, stronger and better than ever! So here's to Jon being 24, and I hope it is the BEST year of his life so far!

It was time for cake, and I realized I had no birthday candles, so this was how I improvised:

Makenna helping Jon blow out his candles
Two incredibly beautiful girls, inside and out! Look at their smiles! We love both you ladies so much!

Look who also made the drive out! Nicole, Katrina, and Jason. We had a great time visiting with them, and kicking their butts at Dutch Blitz (we played teams)

My fabulous sister in law!

Even Ed and Val drove all the way up here - so special!!

Jon taking a picture of his "full time party planner"

I love you Jon, even if you are getting old and grey!

Jake with his favorite person in the whole world. He is not allowed to jump up on people like that, but with Tim anything goes, and Jake sure loves him!

Jon and his "soulmate" Ryan - Court and Ry gave Jon a present wrapped in a re-usable baby diaper! So funny! And it was full of great things for Jon's hiking backpack and even had movie bucks! YAY, I LOVE the movies!!

SO CUTE!!! Makenna and her awesome Daddy having fun.

What a good looking pair we are! Sharon's drinking our trademark drink - a Chai Latte!

This picture makes a laugh A LOT. Look at my SPOILED SPOILED pets!

Courtney and Maelle - the Denninger's spent the night when everyone else left, and hanging out with them is always so much fun!

What a super fun night! Looking forward to many, many more birthdays, and birthday parties!