Happy St. Patrick's Day!

As he snuggled up to me, all I felt was fear that he would vomit on me!

There was no celebrating for us. No sweet green table settings. And absolutely NO pinching. After a long couple nights of vomiting and fainting children, we were all wiped out. 

After art class and cleaning the salon on Monday, Kurtis vomited as soon as we arrived home, right outside the car on the sidewalk. I'm not sure how he survived art class. Liberty started feeling a bit funky too and by evening, took her own turn. She tried to stay in denial about it and that cost her the blanket and pillow she was lying on. 

Eggs of natural blue, pink, tan, and deep rust colors.

I felt exhausted and overwhelmed but you know--no rest for the weary--especially if that 'weary' is a momma! I headed to work and was greeted with this cute jar of the most beautiful fresh eggs I have ever seen from one of my students. His family has six chickens and they brought me a jar of naturally colorful eggs as a 'Thank You' for working with him. That brightened my day unbelievably. His chicken laid the blue eggs. Since these are fresh, they can remain unrefrigerated for up to 5 weeks unless I wash them. Amazing!

Getting my green on for work!

Since there was no St. Paddy's day indulgence happening at my house, I got a little green on for work at least. I painted my nails green, wore green earrings, sweater and rubber bands along with this green sparkly foam tiara, that's obviously seen better days.
Sleepless nights that include sick vomiting children are just the worst for me. Besides being exhausted, they take a major toll on me emotionally as they magnify the reality and feelings of being left alone in this parenting journey. The worry, the decision making and feeling like the weight of the world is on my shoulders alone...pushes me to my limits. Limits of faith and trust in God in the mess, in the loads of laundry, towels and underwear, like the vomit in the corners, splattered on every surface, is how far reaching is my need for Christ's grace in my own life.
Once again, He was there with me. He sustained me and led me into moments of beauty and gratefulness in an otherwise dehydrated barf-O-rama desert! 

Fit for Life AND Death

It's not a new trend, ever since America began to pursue luxury time, fitness has taken a front page in our lives. Different fitness trends like jazzercise, aerobics, various types of yoga, pilates, weight lifting, cross-fit and many, many more attracted our attention. Along with fitness routines there are diets galore that promise to eliminate allergies, emotional instability, cancer and pretty much everything else that ails you; the zone diet, blood type diet, vegetarianism, veganism, paleo, GAPS, and other 'free' elimination type diets. Magazines, books, blogs, documentaries and radio shows are promoting new dietary and fitness lifestyles every day.

Being active, fit and eating healthy, over all is a great thing. It's proven that good physical health improves your quality of life, reduces stress and improves mental and emotional stability in general. Everyone knows this. (don't they?)

I see facebook posts every day, which I have also been guilty of, highlighting the latest physical feat and accomplishment, how many miles ran, weight lifted, and special meals created. Many of us are seeking a long life free from cancer, mainly.

The thing is, none of this matters if we are not pursuing a life of spiritual health. You can eat the best foods and work those muscles every day but unless we are striving to please God, it won't matter how long you live.

We will all die and it will matter more how we lived within our hearts, than what size we wore, what we ate and what we weighed. Our bodies were created to work together in every aspect; mental, physical, emotional and spiritual. If any of of those aspects are neglected or out of balance, our entire life will be out of balance. Your outside can look great that won't change your insides if they are a wreck. What does it really matter if you have the stamina of a leopard but you don't have love, you neglect your family, you harbor bitterness? Those are the things that will really count in the end.

True freedom is not in avoiding death but being ready when it comes.
A long life will be useless if we are not prepared to to face what happens after we die.