Today Andrea and I read some older posts and she wanted to know how she could have her own blog.

Andrea is a special little girl. Born the eleventh child to parents who are frequently taken for her grandparents makes her a very special child!

Andrea came into the world on a beautiful day in April. My labor began to be intense around noon so we crossed the street to the hospital in South Haven, Michigan.

I remember one incident when Andrea was small where she was showing us her stubborn side when she was out on the breezeway standing knee deep in her toys. I asked her to clean them up. She proceeded to plant her little fists on hip and saucily respond, “No!”

We eventually had to get a little stick we called the switch and have it out! It is so hard to believe that she was such a firey little one.

Her brother Andrew had just turned two when she was born and could not say baby so he called her “B”. We eventually turned it to “Beepere” and it stuck.

Beeper is a fun mix of her older siblings. She has some of the wild and crazy Tomboy ways of her sister Chelsie. She has a love for pretty things like her sister Lois and a love for babies like her sister
Hillary.

Beeper had a little trouble learning to ride a bike. It happened, but she was older than her siblings when they learned. Reading was just as much of a challenge but she loves reading now and much like Chelsie, she reads everything she can get her hands on. I remember a few years ago coming home from the library and a couple of hours later not being able to find her. She was still sitting in the car reading!
I think we will all really enjoy Beeper’s Blog. She has always had such a funny way of expressing herself. She has her own vocabulary. She called seaguls – beach eagles and she would tell people she was burnt toast intolerant!
Well, it is a scary thing that my baby is getting ready to start her own blog. Go for it Beeper!

2 small zucchini sliced real thin

some of your favorite herbs

1/2 cup olive oil

some minced onion

minced fresh garlic

sea salt

1/4 – 1/2 cup nutritional yeast flakes

2T. spike

1/2 C. ground flax seeds

Mix it all together and then enjoy or chill for later.

We could hardly stay out of it till lunch time.

This is how it works-

Crust

1 cup almonds, soaked and dried

1 1/2 cup Medjool dates, pitted

1 cup pecans, soaked and dried

1 cup walnuts, soaked and dried

1/2 tsp. sea salt

1 tsp. vanilla

Process almonds in food processor or grind to flour consistency in a coffee grinder. Add the salt and vanilla to the almond flour. Place pecans and walnuts and dates in processor and mix slightly to get a crumbly texture similar to graham cracker crust. Now mix it all together and press into a pie pan.

Filling

4-5 cups sweet potatoes, peeled and shredded

20 Medjool dates pitted

1 tsp. vanilla

1 cup chopped pecans

2 tsp. pumpkin pie spice

2 Tbsp. unrefined coconut butter

3 cups water

1 Tbsp. psyllium powder

1 tsp. sea salt

Place dates, vanilla, p.pie spice, salt, coconut butter and water in blender and blend till smooth. Add sweet potatoes and blend until smooth. Add psyllium and blend. Let sit 5-10 min. Blend again till smooth. Pour in your pie crust and top with pecans. Now try to keep your fingers out of it and let it chill for a few hours in the fridge or freezer.

So yummy and no regrets.

Hillary and Terry and Wyatt went to the emergency room Sunday night for Wyatt’s little nose bleeding constantly. Lois was helping watch the kids, so I am hoping she gets some R&R. Hillary watches the Wipple kids this week while their daddy is on vacation. Pray for her strength and healing from thrush. (Not fun!)

Tim, Seth, Andy and Andrea are a little sunburned after their day yesterday.

Glad to be home and now to catch up on my laundry.

Yesterday a gentleman looked Jesse up and came and talked to him in the dinning hall. He shared that he believed that God was going to use Jesse and Rebecca in a place of ministry with YWAM as it moved to a place in South Carolina. He described certain events that had led him to this point. He later looked Jesse up and talked to him at their home about how things were really coming together. The timing was perfect with what they had been praying about.

Of course, Rebecca is very happy that they will be so close to her family. Jesse is already thinking about his next garden. It makes me so happy to see God working in the details of our kids lives. We had a great growth group Bible study tonight as well.

You might be thinking – hmm, wonder who she thinks she is? Well, a couple of years ago I didn’t even know how to pronounce the word vegan.

I have for the last 20 years or so had a real curiosity about health and how nutrition plays a part. I began grinding our own grain and making our own bread and tried hard to serve a healthy diet to my growing family. We tried to eat less prepared cereals, knowing they were largely sugar. Instead, we would have whole wheat pancakes sweetened with raw honey or fruit jams or homemade granola with only oats, honey, olive oil and some dried fruit or nuts. We made other attempts to eat better but often we would fall back into some not so healthy eating.

Well,  about two and a half years ago my husband and I had checkups to determine if we were eligible for life insurance. My husband was accepted but I was rejected. The reason was I had recently had a small spot taken off my face that was cancer and that my triglycerides and cholesterol were off the charts. We were both about 40-50 pounds over weight.

I took this as a wake up call and began to think earnestly about a book I had read a year earlier. The book was “The Hallelujah Diet” and I knew that it was going to change my life. I guess that was part of the reason I had shelved it the first time I read it.

Me? A vegetarian? No way! One of the first things I did after re-reading my book was to pull out the Jack LaLanne juicer that I had ordered myself for a Christmas present. I guess I was afraid to use that too. Then we started juicing carrots like crazy. That was the first big change for me. I had always enjoyed a pretty heavy breakfast of toast, bagels, french toast, pancakes….you get the idea. Now my breakfast was all in a glass. This was not the only change for me. Then I really did give up meat. It was really not such a big thing. I think it was actually harder to give up cheese. Before long I was eating salad like crazy and eating lots of new kinds of vegetables that I had never tried before. Another change came when I started exercising regularly. First, just a half hour doing a workout video. Later, that stretched into an hour of walking every morning.

A year after I started the Hallelujah Diet I had my blood work done again and everything came back perfect! In only a few months I was able to get off my blood pressure medication and I had lost 40 pounds.

I use to think a lot about what I would be giving up but now I am just rejoicing in all that has happened.

I have bushels of energy where once I was a real couch potato. I am thinking so much clearer these days and looking forward to the future and each new day with such hope and joy. I sleep all night and wake refreshed and energized. I never have heartburn or indigestion. I rarely get a cold or sniffle or even a headache. I can buy cute little clothes (at Goodwill of course) and feel comfortable in them. I can run up a flight of stairs and not have to stop and catch my breath.

I rarely tell people that I am a vegan who chooses to eat 85% raw (uncooked) diet of veggies, fruits, nuts, seeds and a little grain.  Instead, I fix great big veggie salads and fruit salads for church and family dinners. I try to make yummy snack mixes ( I call them “Mommy Mixes”) and give them as gifts. I try to encourage sick friends and relatives to read the book that has so helped me and pray that God will make me a blessing to someone. Now, if I can just work on my narrow, impatient and skeptic ways.  Thanks for praying for me!

I love working in the garden, sewing by the big open windows, sitting on the front porch among the flowers reading my Bible. It pains me that the warm days of summer will give way to the not too horrible cooler days of fall and then, (yikes!) those chilling days of winter.

Well, back to the warm and cosy thoughts! I will put in some pics of my favorite spots around here.Here’s a pic of the snow peas.Look, real tomatoes.My little herb garden.My favorite reading spot.Where I like to sew.My most recent project. (Reversible napkins)