Where I've been

Just dropping in to let you all know I'm still alive. I've been re-evaluating a lot of things in my life and really want to focus more on school. The Lord is pushing me to do my best to bring up little ones that can take on the world for Him...(sounds big, doesn't it?)

Also, I have another cyst -this time in my left hand- and am scheduled for surgery on Friday. So, I've had to do a lot to make sure I don't get too far behind because of that as well.

My right hand has still been giving me grief and all I can say is that it doesn't work right . At least not yet. Lord willing, it will, again, someday. I was taking a pizza out of the oven, had it on the cardboard and I dropped it. I mean, my hand dropped it. It's weird but I just couldn't hold it. I wanted to cry...My hubby saw my...my...umm...disappointment? in myself and was so sweet. He helped me pick it up and now I don't even remember what he said, but I know it was sweet and I was touched by his compassion.

I don't want to whine about all my little aches and pain, but I really hope they will go away. I know when I die, I will have a new body, one that doesn't hurt and I SO look forward to that day. Until then, please pray that I have the right attitude toward these little struggles of mine.

I say little because there are people in other places in the world today that are having real struggles. Being jailed and beaten for their faith. When I read the Voices of the Martyrs letter, showing the persecutions going on today I am filled with shame. Here I am in the good ol' USA, whining about my little booboos....I want to keep my perspective right.

I read an article in the VOM letter about how a boy who was 17 walked miles to share his faith while guerrilla fire was going on around him. He could be killed accidentally by the gunfire around him or he could be killed just because he is sharing Christ when the main religion is Moslem, if I remember correctly. He walks miles in mud and gunfire...Then I think of the people who come up to me on the streets or at the airport when we are witnessing, handing out tracts, who say "you are so brave!" Makes me want to scream, "You can't be serious! This is America!"

Wow, now that was a serious rabbit trail, eh?

Is it working?

I was asked by Frazypoo if my sludge is working. I'll get to that. First I want to tell you how it does taste better purple!

I added some strawberries to the blend the first day. Yuck.
Strawberry and banana the second. Still yuck-o.
Then I added blueberries-frozen-over a cup's worth...
blue + green = purple, Praise the Lord!
Ahh, tastes much better-but still slightly yuck!

To top off the irresistible flavor, the more fruit you add, the more sludge there is to drink. I also added some vanilla rice milk rather than plain ol' milk and that seemed to help the flavor. Seriously, with the blueberries, it seems ok...

On the day that I added the banana, I also added vanilla yogurt which didn't do much for it, in my opinion. Maybe it added some priobotics or whatever they are called, but the flavor was still yuck.
I don't mind it so much with the blueberries. It is tolerable. I know it's good for me which helps me trick my brain into thinking it tastes good.
I think, too, if I take the tablespoon of flax oil separate, that'll help. I plan to try that tomorrow. I think the flavor of that stuff overpowers the rest of the shake. The oil stuff is seriously the nastiest slime I've ever tasted. I would put it up there with the time my husband had run out of gas, siphoned some into a soda bottle and then...yep, chugged it. While I may not have chugged it myself, I surely can imagine the quality of that fine beverage. This "lemonade" flavored (yeah, right) oil has got to be of the same caliper!

Ok, so does it work?

Can I say it's probably too early to tell?? But I do feel much better in an overall sort of way. Yesterday, I just thought to myself, "yeah, I feel good." I don't really know why. I even felt thin. I mean, I wasn't any thinner than the day before, but for some reason, I just felt good. I think maybe the glucosimine may be helping my knee a bit as well. It seems to grind a little less, but that very well could be my positive thinking. After all, it's only been a week.

Frazypoo also asked where my headaches come from. I think my headaches are from the car accident years ago. I've had them ever since then. They used to be 24/7 right after the accident for month and then as time went on they seemed to ease up in intensity and in frequency. If I move my neck the wrong way, or strain it lifting something heavy or use my neck during a sit-up, I start to get the headaches more frequently again. So I would say they are caused by the tightness of the muscles in my neck.

But with the latest MRI, I wonder. I think I'm allowed to wonder...

I don't know if I mentioned the other day or not that when I had my MRI they found a cyst in my neck...I found one in my left hand the other day as well. The same spot as I had one in my right hand at the base of my middle finger that they removed a few years ago. It feels like a small pea, but it hurts. I must be just susceptible to these things. They aren't liquid filled cysts that they can just stick a needle in and suck out the juice, either. (sorry for the graphics here) Instead they are filled with more sludge.

At least it's not green!

Green sludge

So after forcing myself to drink this green sludge, yesterday, I think I felt some improvement. And if I didn't really improve, I will tell myself I did anyway!
I spent a few $$ on some supplements from www.vitacost.com. This is the cheapest place to get vitamins and their shipping is only $5 no matter how much you buy!

I got a whole food shake that has every vitamin imaginable tucked in with some seaweed, tons of veggies, fruits, and some mushrooms (not the wacky kind, I don't think!). This is some power packed stuff which I mix with some milk, a scoop of Barleans greens (more seaweed! lol), a tablespoon of Barleans Omega 3-6-9 mix (flax, fish, and borage oil) and also a tablespoon of liquid glucosimine Chondroitin (praying this is God's way of healing my wrists and knees and hip and neck and...).

I also still take my Natural Calm which is magnesium in it's most easily assimilated form. I drink that disolved in hot water with some orange juice. This is some awesome stuff! It is the only supplement I have ever taken and truly felt it work! They say most everyone is deficient in magnesium and it controls over 250 functions of our bodies! Love this stuff!

As for the green drink, I have to convince myself that it is is good for me. Yesterday, I forced it all down and it was to be quite honest, disgusting. Today I blended in some frozen strawberries and it was a bit more tolerable. I thought yesterday, "If I don't throw up, I will have done well."

Barleans Greens Supplement oops

lol
This is a review for a vitamin supplement. According to this guy, I will feel the effects of him taking it and I'll stay regular to boot! HA! I can save myself the $20!!

"You can feel the surge of energy about 5 min. after i take it and you will stay regular."

Again...

Here we go again!

lol

The flight was bound for Flint. None of the 40 passengers was injured.

This was a local news story. Take out the prepositional phrase and it reads, "None was injured." That's how I teach my daughter to find the mistakes--take out the unnecessary words and phrases.
Last night I had an MRI and the tech kept saying over and over, "You're doing real good." When you're in that little tube with all that banging and then the tech keeps saying the same grammatically incorrect statement, you tend to wonder what school he went to. I hope he paid more attention for his medical exams than he did for his English exams! lol I'm glad I did really well in my exam so it only took an hour...

PS (I'm not claiming perfection here, I just notice it all the time because I am teaching these things to my daughter.)

Phineas

I wonder if anyone knows who Phineas was.

When the Israelites were marrying foreign wives, God said for the judges to kill all the men who were doing so. I think it's in Judges 25. Anyway, when one man brought his "girlfriend" before the congregation, just to...ummm...show off his sin, Phineas rose up from the congregation and slew the man and the woman.

Out of all those people, he was the one who did what God wanted. Not the judges, not the priest but young (he was a grandson of Aaron, I think) man did it.

My mind keeps going to the fact that there was a whole congregation, and he was the only one who stood up, had zeal for the Lord. I suppose some in that situation may have thought it was the judges' job to do it, not theirs, and maybe that's why no one else stood up. Some might think he was overstepping his authority, but God said it was great and held off the punishment of Israel because of him.

The whole nation was preserved because of one young person's zeal. It was reckoned to him for righteousness to all generations. Ps. 106 3:4?

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Oh, Grammar...

As a homeschooler, I always seem to see grammar mistakes in the news. Yes, if I am watching the news, I verbally correct the anchor person, not to be rude, but to make sure my kids see the error. My hubby always says "seen" instead of "saw" and "saw" instead of "have seen", or just "seen" without the "have". lol I always say "may" instead of "could" and "could" instead of "may". Could you, may I, is what I have to constantly say to myself! lol It's terrible when your 8 year old corrects you. And then my daughter always says, "Mom, you're the teacher; you know everything!" (She's joking, of course!)

Anyway, I saw this online, on our local news website. Can you find the error?

Firefighters arrived at the 8-unit building around 7 p.m. to find flames engulfing the west end of the second-floor attic area, said 5th Battalion Chief Ralph Gallow. None of the occupants was injured and had already begun evacuating the building, he said.