Apple Muffin Bread Surprise !!!

Hey friends, Happy Spring to all !!!  My mission as a health conscious mom and wife has always been to provide tasty food choices without all the other added junk. I haven't been faithful in sharing my recipes with many of you as I had promised I would, so here's a start. These muffins are super easy to make and super tasty as well. I have to give credit to the cook book Deceptively Delicious by Jessica Seinfeld for the idea of implementing veggies into my baking recipes. This creation how ever was definitely my own.  I'm happy to say my experimentation wasn't a muffin disaster and everyone will be enjoying these as a grab and go in the morning, especially hubby !! OK ready ? So here are the ingredients I hope y'all enjoy.

• Nonstick cooking spray
• 1/2 cup peanut butter, or nut butter of choice
• 1 cup zucchini and yellow squash puree ( equals to half a piece each )
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 2 tbsp smart balance spread
• 1/2 cup nonfat plain yogurt or yogurt of choice
• 1 large egg white
• 1 cup King Arthur Whole Wheat flour or Gluten free
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 2 organic gala apples

 

Mix all the wet ingredients first, then add dry ingredients without over mixing. Bake at 350 degrees, cool  at room temperature and enjoy !!!!!!



Jesus is my schedule.....

Hey guys, it's been a minute since I've posted but I wanted to share a realization that came to me today.  If you don't know me personally, let me be the first to tell you that I love Schedules, lists and anything highlighted ! Seriously it's a bit much.  Our home school runs on a pretty predictable schedule and I try my best to treat it with respect so that my kids and others will as well. Well last nights bed time was beyond rough,  for some reason both my kids woke up about four times and not in a quiet way. The mommy that got out of the bed this morning was a train wreck ! I literally stayed in my pajamas till half past noon, which is very unlike me. After breakfast my kids lost the privilege of all toys, for a considerable amount of time due to some very unwise choices. It's a long story that doesn't need to be told, needless to say the mood in our house was a bit dry. Even though I had already finished my morning devotions something just didn't seem right. I told the Lord how I felt and after the Holy Spirits prompting I decided to say goodbye to my organized agenda for the day.  The kids and I were gonna have church !!!! And that's what we did for a few hours, and let me tell you don't underestimate your children, they long to be in God's presence as much as we adults do. We worshipped, Got on our knees and prayed  a while, then ended in Praise songs and did a scripture reading on Peace. Jesus surely brought order His way to our day, after that the kids willingly asked to do some handwriting practice and play a math game. Those are the only two educational things we did for the day, but I think we learned a much more valuable lesson.  We as humans all have our schedules and so many things fight for our time and energy. Yet we must learn to put Jesus back in charge of our day in every aspect. He alone must be our agenda, our schedule then all things will begin to make sense again. I pray that Jesus is the center of your life today.  If you don't have a relationship with Him, my hope is that you would come to know His love. 



Reside in His peace today.
Blessings on this journey, Aletheia

Why We Home School and The Misconceptions Part 1...

My home school journey began many years before I was ever married with kids.  I went to public school from kindergarten through fifth grade when my mom being a teacher at the school I was attending, made the bold decision to withdraw me from Public School. I will write this post in two parts so I can go a bit more in depth. I have to attribute my love for Education to my mother, who took my sister and I out of day care when she realized we were truly having a miserable time. My mother was finishing up her teaching degree at the time while trying to juggle motherhood,marriage, and home life so our schedule was rather hectic. Everyday after teaching part time at a school and going to college classes my mom would start making dinner and try to finish up her school work. Somehow in the midst of all that she always made sure to encourage every day learning with my sister and I through household chores and tasks. Many times we would beg her to play with us and became restless, especially since we didn't grow up watching any TV. I can clearly remember the five toys I did play with and though they were used toys I felt so lucky to have them and would make up imaginary stories with them. My mother realizing my vast interest and curiosity to learn new things would give me what she called busy work to do.  I saw busy work as fun time, so it worked out on both sides. My mom would cook, do chores and finish her school assignments. Meanwhile I would happily cut out words and pictures from newspapers, play with multiplication cards, make up shows with my stuffed animals and pretend to know how to read novels out loud to my mom. Every time I stumbled across an unfamiliar word, my mom would explain the meaning even if she was busy or slightly annoyed :).  One day I shocked my mom by reading a few sentences from an old classic!  After that day, at the age of 4 my mom started bringing me to the library every week and I would get 10 to 30 books and just read, read,and read. One day while we were at the library browsing I spotted a set of old tattered books in a golden cardboard box for sale. The pictures on the box really fascinated me so I begged my mom to get them for me. The price wasn't bad but the money my mom had on her that day was just enough for bus fare. I felt beyond upset but knew better than to whine and I really didn't want my mom to feel bad. The librarian must have apparently witnessed my expression because out of the blue she said, "Oh they really aren't even in the best condition and sold the set to my mom for 10 cents !!! I was so thankful that God had heard my little hearts desire. The beloved book set that we purchased was a vintage Little House On The Prairie book collection, which I now know was worth so much more that 10 cents !  After that my love for reading and good classic literature really soared. I loved learning so much, that is.... until I entered elementary school for the very first time. I was very unhappy and didn't feel excited or challenged anymore. Playing in school and doing ABC's was almost painful for me and I was always first to finish my school work. In 2nd through 4th grade I wrote reports and did narratives as I was assigned to, but the teachers began to question me to see if I was receiving  help from my mother, who also taught at the school. My mother fought hard for me but things never ended up changing for the better. Seeing my discouragement my mother withdrew me from public school in the middle of fifth grade and registered me for homeschooling, which was a new concept in education at the time. My mom tried her best to home school us while working full time, but we spent most of our time doing assignments while helping out my dad at his bookstore. After seventh grade I really thought of home school as a big fat joke and begged for my mom to give me a chance to go back to public school. My Mom probably should have stuck to her guns because from 8th grade to my senior year of high school I had so many ups and downs. I was advanced in some of my subjects and remedial in others. I didn't care for anything except partying and trying new things that I knew went against the Christian morals I was raised with. Fast forwarding to some years later I settled down with my husband and two children. I started working on and off at preschools while also keeping my kids with me at work. I always had a love for teaching but after messing up my education I only felt fit to work with preschoolers. When my son turned five we came across a wonderful private school that was highly accredited. Though we were struggling in finances we were determined to try. After what I had gone through in the past I was very nervous about the idea of my kids being in public school. We felt we had our answer from the Lord and were headed in the right direction. My son passed the academic entrance exam with flying colors and we couldn't have been more proud ! This was the beginning of our sons future and also the beginning of a monumental change in our life.

Part two of this post to be written soon....

Please leave your comments below, thank you.

Rolling with Change

Throughout the course of my life. I have always been able to accept new things. The people in my life that know me well can testify that I am not one to stay in a box , or one that is stuck to any one place or thing. That being said if someone were to have told me that I would move to a new location, cut my locks of five years off my head and become a home school mom all in this past year, I would have had to sit down and have a good laugh !!  Many other changes occurred as well and lets just say I began experiencing a number of feelings. Excitement for the change but also discomfort in the unknown. I adapted well to some of our changes quite smoothly, but the home school part ummmmm... sorry didn't see myself heading there anytime soon ! I will go more into depth on that story and how my family is adapting to this new lifestyle in future posts. For now I want to put the focus on the positive things that I've learned thus far. The number one lesson in my life this year has been to heed The Lords voice. You might not hear Him speak audibly, but He is. It may be that steady nudge you feel on the inside,or a sermon at church but most times I find it's in His Word. Friends if GOD says DO IT !!!!!  Please make the wise choice of instant obedience. Though the journey may be new and unfamiliar to you, God promises to be the light on our path.  Deuteronomy 1:30-33 says , 'The Lord your God, who goes before you , He will fight for you, according to all He did for you in Egypt before your eyes, and in the wilderness where you saw how the Lord your God carried you, as a man carries his son, in all the way that you went until you came to this place.' Yet for all that, you did not believe the Lord your God, "who went in the way before you to search out a place  for you to pitch your tents, to show you the way you should go, in the fire by night and in the cloud by day.  As I often remind my kids "To obey is better than sacrifice" and boy do some of us grownups need to learn that lesson. So the next time we feel we are being led in a new direction and things begin to feel a bit beyond our own control, I challenge you to choose to be content in the discomfort, knowing that the situation you are in is creating an open door for intimate communication with our Heavenly Father. Trust in Him and He will never lead you astray.

Be encouraged today and feel free to leave comments below...

Growing together in the Journey !