Another milestone...

Do you know what this is??? What could it be??? Anyone....

You are right, it's mayonnaise and yes I made it. The color is a bit richer- I am guessing that is due to the farm fresh nature of the eggs, and let me tell you it is delicious!!!! Oh man, another thing I don't think I will be purchasing at the store anymore.

Here is a quick recount of what went into it :)
3 egg yolks- fresh from the backyard if possible- at room temperature
1 tablespoon brown spicy mustard
place into the bowl of the food processor with the regular blade and start it up-
next, very slowly drizzle in 300ml of canola oil or any other very mild flavored oil- seriously do this one slow or it won't come together right.
Once it's all combined it will have the consistency of mayo, although like mentioned above, mine was seriously yellow :)
Now I started with the juice of 1 fresh lemon, coarse salt and fresh black pepper, add it and pulse to combine. My mayo needed more salt and acid, so I added the juice of another lemon and more salt and pepper- only pulsing to combine.

And voila!! Deliciousness!!!!
It made about 1.5 of those little pint size canning jars :)

Now off to experimenting with some flavors....

Living homemade

What a treat- I am sitting outside with the sun warming my face, listening to the chickens cluck and enjoying the rare moment of silence as the boys are taking their rest.
Along with the serenity I am enjoying my latest accomplishment in the quest for a simpler, more homemade life: my own ricotta cheese drizzled with honey. Yep, I took my first venture into cheese making and thought that ricotta might be the best place to start.
Well, it turned out delicious!!!! It is firm yet incredibly creamy, which after eating ricotta from the store  I did not know was possible :)
I found my recipe here: Homemade Ricotta - this version uses the simplest ingredients, which is what I was after.

I hope you too will give this a try, but be warned I don't think you will ever want to buy the gummy, grainy stuff from the store again.

Oh and as to how to eat it or in what, here are some suggestions: in a bowl with some honey and fresh fruit, drizzled with olive oil and pepper on some good crackers, as cheese blintzes or of course in lasagna or ravioli.

Blessings to you from my little slice of heaven.

Adventures ahead

Here we are in the middle of May, still waiting on the weather to turn friendly and that sense of summer to come along.
In the middle of it all something interesting occurred this last week. I was updating my Facebook status to the following: "Our life will look vastly different come September-exciting!!!"
Most of the responses to this comment were directed at the fact that we are expecting our third baby on September 4th (or sometime around then :), but truth be told that was not at all on my mind when I wrote that simple phrase.

This past week we have set the wheels in motion for a lot of things to change come September- first the decision to move ahead with our homeschooling plans for Zander. He is excited to be a Kindergartner and to start school, but due to his age he is to young for any formal kind of kindergarten. So we moving ahead with a practice year,in a way, to start homeschooling and to learn and grow together. We have many reasons why we desire to school our kids at home, for now at least, but with that comes such responsibility :) and I feel that this upcoming year will reveal a lot of things to us as well as calm my nerves about this decision.

Secondly I have switched bible study groups, which really isn't that big of a deal, but for some reason it is to me. In addition, our family life and planning has also led to the decision that this upcoming (school) year will be my last year with MOPS. This makes me sad, as I have come to enjoy the women and the fellowship, but it is something that needed to happen. I will surely enjoy every last meeting we will have.

An then lastly of course we ARE expecting another baby!!! I am not dismissing that fact at all. I am completely filled with anticipation as waiting to find out the gender is not as easy as I had imagined. In all truth not knowing goes against every grain in my body :) How am I supposed to plan anything??? Which clothes do I prepare (we were blessed with some girl attire ), I don't want to have to deal with clothes and such once the baby is here :), and then there is the task of picking a name. My hubby and I seem to struggle a bit this time around- to my amusement I am preparing myself to have a baby girl or baby boy for a couple of days ;)

I am eagerly anticipating all the adventures and changes that are awaiting us at the end of this summer and I feel a deep sense of blessing over our life. Thank you Lord for all that we have to look forward to.

Heart desires

We have had the desire to move to a homestead, and we are working on fulfilling that dream in every way that we can.
As our home is listed for sale we have been waiting on moving forward with some of the smaller things that make a homestead what it is.

Well a couple of weeks ago we had a change of heart. Waiting just did not seem like fun anymore.
It all started when I connected with a lady who needed a new home for some of her chickens. Eric had enough left over building materials laying around to build them a home and the excitement started to build.

Well, the enthusiasm was dampened a bit, by a hurt back and piles of snow, both of which halted construction. Then the flu decided to take up residence in our home and make the rounds, which halted ALL activities. Finally, the hurdles where overcome and construction on the home for our new family members was complete!!

I was blown away by how beautiful it turned out, and am very grateful for my husbands craftsmanship.

Now that we had a house it was time to bring our 5 girls home. The move-in went without a hitch and it seems that our new family members like it here. 

Our black Wyandottes were quickly claimed by Zander and their names are now Harriet and Phillis. The remaining three Australourps were divided between Ethan, Eric and myself. Ethan named his chicken Lulu, Eric came up with Gloria and mine was named Daisy.

We love watching our chickens and their antics and have even received reward for housing and feeding them- 4 eggs every day- perfect and delicious :) 

Now as we are enjoying our first farm animals, the desires of cats, goats, ducks, pigs and maybe even a dairy cow are starting to swirl around and intensify. 

One day we may sit on our front porch overlooking our homestead and taking it all in- God willing :) but for now we are loving the start of our little homestead and the joy that it brings to everyone. 

Thank you Lord for placing desires into our hearts and for providing opportunities to follow our dreams. 

Early pregnancy and all that it intales

Here I am in the middle of march and look where my keyboard has led me?? You guessed right :)- back to the blog, I know- finally!!
The last couple of months have been exciting and exhausting.
On December 30th 2010, we returned from a wonderful day of skiing at Snoqualmie Pass to get the news we had been waiting for- baby Matthews #3 is on its way!!!!! Excited does not even begin to scratch the surface of the emotions that went around.
The next couple of weeks went by pretty uneventful and then it happened in about mid January- morning sickness, which in my case is all-day sickness, decided to hit full force. It was overwhelming and incredibly humbling. My two guys were more than troopers putting up with such a sick mommy who had the hardest time getting anything accomplished. I was blessed beyond means when friends came together for support and I do not know how to thank them all enough.

Here is a review of some of the remedies that I tried with mixed results:
1: frequent snacks consisting of some type of carb - not effective at all
2: frequent snacks consisting of some type of protein- much better when I could stomach it
3: anti-nausea pressure bracelets- seemed to lessen the effects to make it bearable
4: hard licorice candy- worked unexpectedly well
5: additional B12 vitamins- not sure if it made a difference
6: extra sleep- feeling rested made everything else more bearable
7: holding babies- put how I felt in the moment into perspective :)

Today marks week 16 in this pregnancy, hard to believe it has been 4 months already, but let me take a look down on the belly and oh, I believe it :)
The last 2 weeks have done wonders in the way that I feel, and for the most part I am feeling great, although I seem to wear out just a tad faster running after my active youngens :)

This time we are sticking to our guns and we will not find out the gender of this baby, and I look forward to the moment when my husband tells me wether it's a boy or a girl. :) It will be a priceless moment for both of us. Of course this means that we need to have some name ideas for both possibilities, which seems to be difficult for us. We are not agreeing on many at the moment, see there is a reason it takes 9 months to have a baby :)

We had our last prenatal appointment on the 9th of March and all was well. The "single" heartbeat was easily found and beating at 140bpm.

I will keep you posted on the progress and maybe soon we will sneak in a few photos.

Making your own laundry soap

Something that I have started enjoying immensely is caring for my family and cutting costs by making products where I can from scratch. My family has very sensitive skin and most commercial laundry detergent caused itchy skin and breakouts, in addition I am washing clothes for little ones which again calls for "clean" detergent. I was searching high and low as many soaps for sensitive skin did not get our clothes clean and those that got our clothes clean where astronomical in cost.

I have found a recipe for this liquid laundry detergent and it works wonderful. No more breakouts and itchy skin and our clothes get nice and clean. You can make the detergent scented simply by adding approximately 10 drops of your favorite essential oil.

In addition to working for my family it also works for my budget. One batch of this soap makes about 2 gallons and the cost is around $2 if not less :)

The ingredients are simple-

6 cups of water

1/4 bar Felts Naptha Soap- grated

1/2 bar Dr. Bronners Bar Soap- grated

1/2 cup Borax

3/4 cup Washing Soda

4 cups hot water

3 to 5 gallon bucket

1.5 gallons water

Heat 6 cups of water over medium heat in a large pot. Add the grated soap and let it melt together. Once melted add the borax and washing soda. Stir until it dissolves and starts to thicken. Turn off heat and add 4 cups of hot water and stir together. Pour the contents of the pot into the large bucket filled with 1.5 gallons of water. Stir and let sit over night. Once set up either stir together by hand or mix with an immersion blender. The soap is now ready to use.

This soap works great for HE washers as it is low-suddsing. I use about 1/2 to 3/4 cup of soap for a very full load of laundry.

I hope you give this a try - enjoy!!

Welcome 2011!!!!!!

Here is to another year, another opportunity and so many more memories!

What a year 2010 has been to us. Many things have changed yet stayed the same and many dreams have been placed in my heart. I believe that these passions and desires will only grow in the coming year and I am excited to see what will evolve out of my hearts desires.

2010 will go down in my books as a year of hidden treasures, as I never really felt that the year brought many awe inspiring moments yet managed to bring many blessings and revelations that might have gone amiss in those big moments that we sometimes yearn after.
I am truly grateful for the lessons that have been learned and the growth we have experienced as a family.

As we are looking upon 2011 I am convinced that this will be a wonderful year, filled with God's love and grace and abundant moments of awe inspiring beauty.
So buckle up and let's get ready for the ride!!!!!!!!!!!

Bananas, bananas, bananas!!!!!!!!!

Today I came home with a wonderful find- 30lbs of bananas!!!! Yep 30lbs, which come to find out is only half a box :) and I only paid $1.50 for all of them. Quickly do the math and that is only half a penny per pound. I am super excited and hard at work already. These are blemished, bruised and pretty ripe bananas, but those are perfect for my intentions.
I have started with my first batch of banana chips, I sure wish I had a few more trays for my dehydrator. The chips make a wonderful snack for little ones- we like our banana chips a bit chewy so even the little guy can enjoy them. I do not treat my bananas prior to dehydrating so the process to get them on the tray is fairly quick and Zander is a great helper.
Secondly, I took a whole bunch of bananas, peeled them and laid them out on a baking sheet. Those I will freeze and use for smoothies.
Next I will make some banana bread but need to get some eggs in the morning :)
I have also thought on making a double batch of banana waffles and freezing the extras for a quick breakfast when we are on the run.

So, I am very excited to have found this great deal on bananas and will continue to buy them periodically, but I wanted to ask you all for help. What are some of your favorite recipes that call for bananas??? Please share so that I can use up my whole batch and continue to buy these gems at such a great price.

Cloth everywhere!!!!

Since we made the switch to cloth diapers we have encountered an interesting annoyance -wipes. What to do with the disposable wipes now that there is no diaper to wrap them in?? Well, the answer is cloth wipes:)
We had already been using cloth wipes intermittently, but not on a regular basis before switching to cloth diapers.
Everything was readily available -as we already had a massive amount of washcloths I purposed some of them to wipes. I keep them in a wiper warmer and pre-moisten them in my homemade solution.

I take 2 cups of warm water, add 1 drop tea tree oil, 1 drop lavender or lemongrass oil and about 2 tsp olive  or jojoba oil. Whisk it all up, wet the wipes and place them in the warmer.

In addition I have a spray bottle with a solution of water and Dr. Bronner's baby soap for extra messy jobs.
The second solution I also carry in a small spray bottle in the diaper bag along with dry washcloths.
When I remember I take some of the pre-moistened washcloths in a little wipe bag.
The soiled washcloths go into the pail -or special dirty diaper bag while on the road, and are then washed along with the cloth diapers.
We are excited to no longer purchase disposable wipes and feel at ease knowing exactly what touches our children's skin:)

Washing cloth diapers

Here is a quick look at how I wash my cloth diapers.

We keep our dirty diapers in a dry pail -a medium sized garbage can lined with a washable pail liner that is waterproof. The wet diapers just go straight in there, the soiled ones get rinsed off and then get placed in the pail.
Every evening -or every other:) I just take the liner with the diapers and place it in the washer. I do take the inserts out of the pocket diapers, but that is my personal preference. I have a frontloading HE washer and since they are so water efficient I place a wet towel in the wash along with the diapers to trick the machine into using a bit more water :)
I decided to use Country Save detergent for my diapers as I am not sure how my homemade detergent might affect the diapers' performance.
First, I run a quick cold wash cycle with 1/2 tbs of detergent or baking soda and no or low spin (about 30 min) then I run a full wash cycle on hot with 1 tbs of detergent and an extra rinse and full spin. Due to the high spin my diapers come out almost dry :)
I always hang dry my covers, line dry in the sun (if there is any) or dry the inserts in the dryer. That's it :) Once everything is dry I stuff my diapers and place them in the diaper hamper -ready for the next change!

Cloth Diapering

We have done it-we switched 100% to cloth diapers!!!!
The question that comes to mind is most likely why- we are on kiddo # 2 and he is 16 months old, so why now???
Well, the answer really has nothing to do with being more green, saving money or reducing trash, but rather with the convenience of cloth diapering. Huh-convenient?? Yes, I find cloth diapering very convenient, along with the fact that I do feel good about putting something less harsh agains my little ones tush.
We have been using cloth for about 3 weeks now; 2 of those were more part time while we were using up disposables that we could not return, as well as while we were building our stash of fluff.
I gathered our fluff (cloth diapers and supplies) from various sources-Simple Cloth-a local shop here in town, Kelly's Closet.com -a wonderful online retailer of all things cloth and Ebay.
I even bought a diaper sprayer for easy clean up. I wash my diapers every night most of the time, but have enough to wash every other night, and I do not find it to be a hassle at all.
I felt the satisfaction of our decision this past weekend while passing up a $6 off coupon for diapers, realizing I never have to buy diapers again or pay attention to "how many are left, is it time to buy more?"  :)  We will never run the risk of running out again.

So here are the diapers we are currently using with a couple of comments on which we like for what and how they perform:
Flip Hybrid diaper system-we have two of the outer shells, 6 stay dry inserts and we just recently bought some disposable inserts to try out. This system works great for being out and about as it is less bulky than some of the other types. The inserts hold a lot without feeling wet and this diaper adjusts as baby grows.
FuzziBunz perfect size- this is a pocket diaper and we started with a medium sized one, loved it so much and bought a whole bunch more. This diaper has a fleece liner sewn onto the shell with a pocket for the insert. We love using this diaper at night with an additional hemp insert- so that our pee-master stays dry until morning :)
SunBaby- I bought this one diaper on Ebay for about $4-cheap I know. This is a one-size diaper with snaps, though it does run a bit small. The cover is not bad, yet the insert that came with it feels a bit flimsy compared to the FuzziBunz or Flip inserts. We typically only use this diaper at home during the day. Not horrible, but not a diaper I will buy more of.
We just received a bumGenius 4.0 and Kawaii pocket diaper to try- these two have hook-loop closures, which I wanted to try as all others have snaps. We have not tried them yet, but will as soon as they are washed and prepped. I do like how the bumGenius insert has snaps to adjust it for the different sizes.

So far all diapers have fit Ethan great and we have not had a single leaking issue other than due to user error :)  Ethan loves the diapers and they are super cute on top of it all. Zander loves picking out the color for the next diaper.
We are glad we made the switch and do wonder why we did not give this a try sooner.
I will put together a You Tube video to show some of the diapers in more detail-so watch out for that :)

Such profound truth...

Zander and I were having a conversation the other day about being scared to try new things and here is what my little guy told me in his 4 year old wisdom :"Mom, I should not have to be scared to do things right, since God is always with me!" All I could do was give him a smile along with a big hug and a THOSE words :" you are absolutely right bug". Thank you Lord for giving my son a tender heart toward your spirit.

4 years ago....

I remember that day as if it was yesterday, and I have to give in to the cliche that you just never forget the day your child was born. It was the first day of the great unknown, nothing can prepare you for what lies ahead; birthing classes, parenting classes-none of it measures up. The moment they laid my son into my arms was the scariest yet most exciting day of my life. Now fast forward 4 years and we have reached the moment that Zander has turned 4 years old:) To be honest I still have a hard time wrapping my mind around that sometimes. 4 years old is still so little yet the accomplishments are astronomical, all that he has learned already, and all the things he continues to literally absorb into his being. I am grateful as I watch in amazement, grateful to have been given this little human person to raise and teach, to impart wisdom and traditions on, to giggle and cry with, to hug and to kiss. He is my big-little guy. This year he had asked for a Batman party and I was happy to oblige; invitations and banners were created, party colors chosen, special confetti cut for the table and just the right cake created (vanilla!!!-total surprise, as he is my little chocolate man:)

Zander was one excited 4 year old on the morning off, seeing his gifts on the table and it was a delight to watch as he ripped open each gift and fell in love with all that he received. He eagerly awaited his guests to arrive and played his little heart out when they were all here. It was a great party and Zander loved every moment of it. A big shout out to all who participated to make this day special for my special guy. Happy Birthday Zander 

Switching gears

I wanted to update this blog with some news relevant to this blog-wow that is a bit redundant:)
I have decided to switch gears a bit as to what I want this blog to be and to become. First change I have changed the name of this blog to "Our life homemade", please update this if you are following me. New spot on the web is http://www.ourlifehomemade.blogspot.com/  I have found that I am passionate about being a stay at home mom as well as all things basic and homemade. Therefor I decided to change the title of this blog along with the postings you can all expect in the future. Yes it will of course continue to be about my family, but in addition I will be blogging about things like recipes, products, finds, crafts; I will be posting tutorials about some of the things I do as well. In addition, I have created a You Tube channel and will be uploading videos in the near future- as soon as I figure all that editing stuff out :) My You Tube name is "cmatty25". 
I hope you will come and enjoy this blog and please feel free to leave questions, comments or even request about something you might want to hear or see about.


Love & Blessings

Tulips tulips tulips tulips

I could not leave out a quick post about the weekend before last. Eric and I celebrated our 7th wedding anniversary and I finally got to go to the tulip festical up in Mount Vernon. It only took us 7 years to finally make it up there-jeesh:)

We had the whole weekend to bask in the sun, take in the georgous scenery of farming land and enjoy our family away from home. We had a wonderful time and we can document it well considering we took 243 pictures at the tulip fields alone ( a bit obsessinve don't you think?), but the wonderful invetion that is digital photography, especially since not all of them turned out well.

Useless to say, we will be making this into an annual tradition for our family as it is just a very simple reminder of God's beauty and a great time to make wonderful memories.
And did I mention, we got to see triplet lambs and have a chicken lay an egg right in front of us-way cool ;)

Love & blessings

Frogs, buses and balloons

Oh so much to write about but so little time. Being a mom of two busy little guys has taught me how precious time really is. But after a very lengthy absence here I am again. First of all to report that taxes are all filed and done-phew what a relief :)
We have been staying busy as a family as well. Spring has arrived and being outside is one of Zanders top priorities along with his newest favorite phrase: "what are we doing today???" One question filled with so much excitement, wonder, anticipation and yes sometimes dreadfulness; the last one being on my part when I do not have a planned out gameplan. But I do enjoy the challenge and this past Saturday we took it head on. The farmers market in Olympia has finally openend its doors once again and Zander knows it. Rain or shine that was our destination, of course it rained, we live in WA after all :)
We had a wonderful memory making sort of day. Browsing through the market with lots of stops by the stage, can't go to the market without listening to the band, breaking for a yummy treat and of course a bus ride to round it out. After the initial and planned part of our excursion we wondered to the pond by the tasting room and Zander tried his hand at frog catching for the first time. We found a little green guy and our little guy even held him, aaah the joys of mothering boys are starting to become evident-frogs, bugs....
In the end, we got a doggie shaped balloon and needed to call it a day-the rain won in the end.
Just to mention our little Ethan was along for the whole ride, but ended up sleeping through a lot of the excitement. I wonder how cosy one of those strollers is-must be quite the ride:)

We love being outside out and about again and look forward to many more exciting excursions.

Love & Blessings

Baby!!!!

Wow it has been a very long time since I have updated this blog- oops- but I am here now with many news to report. First the most important news of all, our nephew Makai Andrew Marinig was born on March 8th 2010. He is one healthy long guy- measuring 21.25 inches. We are excited for Mark and Sarah and can't wait to see him this upcoming weekend.

In the meantime our family has completed a 14 day Daniel fast from 02.22.10 through 03.07.10. We were only eating fruits, vegetables, whole grains, nuts and legumes and our beverage of choice was water with lemon. Zander participated as well by not eating any sort of sugary treats. It was a great time of reflection for our family and a chance to slow down, be aware and draw closer to the Lord.
I am not saying by any means that this was easy, but surprisingly it was not hard either. Besides the occasional grumpyness, we did not have any immense cravings for sugar or our biggest vice, coffee! Of course we stayed away from places that would have enticed us with their sweet smelling aromas but it was a great experience.

Since my last post in February I also completed my first sewing project- a pillow case for Zander. He picked the fabric all by himself, can you guess what it is?? Of course, fabric with the "Cars" characters. I know it is a very easy project, but you have to start somewhere on your journey. 

Additional exciting news for the last month are: Ethan has had two teeth come in, his bottom chompers, and it was a much more difficult journey for him than it ever was for Zander. I absolutely adore how different my two little guys are. Ethan has become quite the conversationalist and is seriously on the move, he is even extremely close to perfecting his crawling move. Something else has occurred to me this past week; I had been wondering how I balanced the feedings, naps and playtimes with Zander, as I am all over the place and struggling to keep up with structure and then it occurred to me- I never had to find this balance before. When Zander was 7 months old, I had to return to work fulltime and he was at daycare. I am deeply grateful for the opportunity I have been given to be home and watch my boys grow and to learn how to balance it all out. It is something I would not want to trade for any other career on the planet. Thank you Lord for the opportunity and in May of this year I will get to celebrate being a stay at home mom for 2 years. Wow!!!

So for today I am leaving this update encouraged to post a bit more than just once per month and determined to keep up just a bit better.

Love & Blessings

Update

So here I am again after a long absence from this wonderful blog with an update on some of those "Resolutions" I have set for 2010.
Let's start from the top, expecting the supernatural from the Lord- oh yes we are, every day and even more so now that we have put our "house for sale" sign out, and wouldn't you know it selling our house is on the list as well :)
Trying to grow my hair out is in full swing, although one very slow swing I must say. The next three on the list, sewing, new recipes and the handwritten notes, need some serious attention as I have not made much progress at all, I did try some very tasty desert recipes for the first time, but that is not what my I had in mind for my resolution.
We are very creative with family activities, trying to use what we have, and it has been very fun! I am making a point to be healthy by excercising, trying to eat well and even kicking the coffee habit, I must admit I did drink some coffee yesterday, but who is perfect???
The business dream is alive and well and steps towards it are being made very slowly, but all with time.
I already mentioned that the house is for sale and I am working on getting fit but no news yet on the expansion of the family I guess you will just have to stay tuned in ;)
I have been making time to read quite a bit more and I am really enjoying the opportunities that I am able to find, such a blessing. Unfortunately I have not been doing that great in being a month agead on my special occasions, something I am really going for this month- wish me luck!
So lastly an update on keeping on writing this wonderful blog-well I have not done fantastic but you know I have not done completely horrible either, room for improvement for sure just nothing to beat myself up about.
So there, my update on those resolutions, which are only about 1 month old, and it could look worse so I am very excited.
We are well and expecting our encounter!!!

Love & Blessings

God is good

Last night I was invited to a prophetic card party. I had no idea what to expect, only for the Lord to show up and he did in a big way. We were a group of about 16 women and each one of us was given some words for 2010. How amazing to sit and ponder the fact that God knows us, knows our thoughts, our stuggles and dreams. We were all encouraged and blessed beyond comprehension by a faithful father. Thank you Jesus for showing up and letting me know that I am your beloved daughter.
Zander had his second night of Awana Cubbies, and our little man memorized 4 verses to recite, wow we were blown away by his capacity to treasure scripture in his heart. He received his stickers from his teacher and was one happy camper by the end of the night.
Praise the Lord!!!!

Receiving Gifts

Gifts are such wonderful things but my heart was touched this last week after I watched Zander receive a gift from his daddy. Eric returned from working in Idaho and he bought Zander a "Peterbuilt" truck. Oh how Zander has been wanting this particular truck, and on Wednesday morning there it was. His joy and excitement were so pure and so wonderful to watch and then I wondered is that how I receive gifts?? I realized that once an adult alot of the magic that surrounds gifts is lost, after all we know how much it costs, or we picked it out ourselves, or we ask for "useful" gifts, those needed items. But what about those gifts that we receive from our heavenly father, how do we receive those?? With a sense of responsibility, or that air of questioning is this really from you Lord? Or do we sit and ask "did I truly deserve this?" ?
Our God extends gifts to us in much the same manner, if not so much more, as Eric did to Zander, out of pure love and excitement to see his kids face. God wants this from me, that pure untainted joy of receiving a gift from my God. Hold our your arms and open them wide and with a heart of a little child receive all the gifts that God is giving you.

Love & Blessings