Well I logged into my "blog" tonight only to realize it has been nearly one year since I last wrote anything! Wow! Over the past six years I have gone from avid blogger to using Facebook to communicate daily thoughts and such, to not blogging at all! I've been inspired by several friends who regularly blog, for a number of reasons, on a number of specific topics. It has been enough to make me really want to retake blogging, writing, and recording some of life's sweet and important details. In summary, I want to bring this blog back to life!
I've been thinking about doing this for the past months, really, and the question which always came to my mind was, "what will be your main theme, topic, or reason for blogging?" I read and follow several blogs that range from things like "healthy meals/recipes/food" to "exercise" to "natural child-raising/mothering" to "living frugally," to name a few. I really don't have just one area that I want to blog about. I'd like to give new life to this blog, but have it continue to be a multi-purpose page where friends, family, and others can come to read about stories and adventures from my life as mother, wife, missionary, and female follower of Christ. Sometimes I'd like to emphasize some of things that make me passionate. Right now these are a few that come to mind...
-raising children, toddlers, learning to parent, learning how God wants us to parent
-Having babies, natural child birth, breastfeeding and feeding babies/toddlers in general
-Exercise and living a more whole, healthy lifestyle
-Learning to live frugally and using the resources God has given us the best we can
-Making things, crafting things, sewing things, cooking things...all the home arts that I love and desire to do better for my family and I
-Learning to study my Bible and have a fresh desire to learn and grow daily
-Being a missionary wife and learning how to help my husband as we serve in Mexico
The list could go on and on and on...but these are a few of the topics that I spend much time thinking on!
So for starters, I'll fill you in on some of the things I was using my computer for today.
First off, I have been doing a lot of reading and preparation for the arrival of our baby girl, who is due to arrive and integrate into our family on May 10th. In preparation, I've been reading two really good books,
Natural Childbirth the Bradley Way and The Motherly Art of Breastfeeding. Anyone who knows me well or has talked to me since Tyler was born knows that I had a traumatic emergency C-section when he came into this world. This time around, we are hoping and praying God blesses us with a natural birth, with little to no interventions and a successful breastfeeding experience. I am both excited and nervous to see what may come about in the coming weeks. Every day it seems my body is letting me know that it is nearly ready to have this baby born, and I am all the more excited to see how things unfold! I am so ready to give natural child birth my best effort and hardest intent, and to let God decide how it will all play out. I can't wait to give breastfeeding a second valiant attempt and pray that this time everything will work harmoniously! :) Although I am also praying that God prepare my heart and body for whatever may happen as baby Girl makes her grand entrance.
Another topic that has my interest, and has for awhile, is eating in a more whole, natural, healthy way, coupled with exercise. After Tyler's birth, Kurt and I both committed to changing our entire lifestyle and honestly it has been amazing! When I got pregnant with #2, I attempted to keep my running/jogging up and continue to exercise as much as my body would allow. Due to a lot of nausea, extreme exhaustion, migraines, and then some contractions, I was forced to forego jogging, and more strenuous work outs and stick with simple things like floating in the pool for relaxation or walking around a mall or outside with my husband and son. I have still tried to keep up with the healthy eating changes, and most of the time we do really well, and I find it a joy and source of fun to find new, natural, whole food recipes. I hope this blog can at times be a place to share such recipes, and to share our continued progress towards a healthier, more natural lifestyle. Currently I am looking for yummy Quinoa recipes...if anyone has a good one, please share! We had some Quinoa at Trader Joe's when we went shopping a week ago, and Tyler literally gobbled it down and couldn't get enough. So I've decided it is high time to start cooking this yummy super foood and letting Tyler (and the rest of us) indulge in something yummy and super healthy. Any suggestions?? After the baby is born I also plan to start incorporating several other more natural ingredients into our diet, and slowly weeding out more of the processed or not so healthy ones. Some things I can't wait to learn how to eat and cook with are:
-Coconut Oil and Unsweetened Coconut
-Figs, Dates, and other dried fruits used as natural sweeteners in baked good and smoothies
-Green and other types of blended drinks/smoothies
-Flourless baking and/or lower amounts of Gluten in our overall diet (just trying to learn to use other grains and other flours, rather than just wheat and refined white)
-Random things that I see in whole food recipes all the time, like Chia Seeds, Flaxseed, Liquid Aminos, Tofu, etc etc...We don't desire to become vegetarian or vegan, but I do feel great when we don't eat heavy meat meals every day of the week, and opt for other non-meat protein sources more days than not.
So these are just a few of the topics that have recently been on my brain a lot. I can't wait to keep up the writing and have a place to record all sorts of things! Oh, I also want to use this space to record milestones in my children's lives. Sometimes I think of cute, important things that Tyler has recently done that I want to write down and not forget. I haven't done a paper journal in awhile either, so I figure I will use this spot to record some of his funny, memorable, or special moments. And the same for baby Girl once she is here!
Until next time....
Bethany
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