Vitamin B6 - Pyridoxine

Our vitamin today is B6 or Pyridoxine. I hardly know where to start describing all this vitamin does for us. It is necessary for hormonal balance. All of our cells need it. We need it to metabolize protein and produce stomach acid. We also need to help in the absorption of B12. It is also used in immune function and red cell production. Like the other B vitamins it works for the health of our nervous system. A pretty vital vitamin, wouldn't you agree?

So how do we get this vitamin into our diet? The biggest supplier of B6 is bran - the kind found in unrefined rice and wheat. Yeah for whole grains. There is also dried herbs and spices, pistachios, raw garlic and liver (ewww ☺), fish (like tuna, salmon and cod), sunflower and sesame seeds, pork tenderloin, molasses, hazelnuts or filberts. Wow! It looks like there are a whole lot of delicious ways to work this into our menu (with the exception of the liver, of course). Check out the details at healthaliciousness.com.

What would be your favourite way to add more B6 into your diet? I'm voting for the hazelnuts.

The information about Vitamin B6 comes from the Encyclopedia of Natural Healing, Alive Publishing Group, 1997.

Trusting Like a Baby

The other day I woke up with this song going through my head...

Anywhere With Jesus

Anywhere with Jesus I can safely go,

Anywhere He leads me in this world below;

Anywhere without Him dearest joys would fade;

Anywhere with Jesus I am not afraid. 

 

Refrain: 

Anywhere, anywhere! Fear I cannot know;

Anywhere with Jesus I can safely go.

 

Anywhere with Jesus I am not alone;

Other friends may fail me, He is still my own;

Though His hand may lead me over drearest ways,

Anywhere with Jesus is a house of praise.

 

Anywhere with Jesus, over land and sea,

Telling souls in darkness of salvation free;

Ready as He summons me to go or stay,

Anywhere with Jesus when He points the way.

 

Anywhere with Jesus I can go to sleep,

When the dark’ning shadows round about me creep,

Knowing I shall waken nevermore to roam;

Anywhere with Jesus will be home, sweet home. 

 

Jessie B. Pounds

 

As usually happen when I wake up with a song in my head, I thought about it quite a bit and it's message. I was also thinking about our baby and how life must be one big surprise to him. 

 

Think about it. We can't get up in the morning and tell him we're going to the zoo and he understands. So from his perspective breakfast is normal although with some added excited tension in the air. After breakfast instead of putting him down for his nap, he gets his coat on. Okay, now what? We get in the car. Now he knows we're going somewhere but he's totally clueless as to where - Grandma's? church? a store? What makes baby's okay with all of this? I think a big factor is knowing they're with Mommy (or Daddy). The important constants don't change.

Sometimes I feel like a baby in that sense. Life feels like I'm in a tunnel with no idea where it's going to come out. The only thing that keeps me sane is knowing that Jesus is with me on this journey. Not just with me but making sure I come out at the right place. I trust Him to take care of the details and guide me just like my baby trusts me to care for him. Being able to have this trust has certainly made life easier.

Who or what is the constant security in your life?                           

Remembering

I was all set to write about something else today when I started thinking about Remembrance Day. I thought about the many who sacrificed so much so that we can sit in the comfort of our homes free from fear and want.

I thought about my husband's paternal grandfather who was a German soldier (ok, he wasn't fighting for our freedom, but he did serve his country). He was taken prisoner by the Russians and it was only in the last several years that his wife was able to learn more details about his death.

My paternal grandfather helped to liberate the Philippines with the navy as an engineer in the Seabees. My uncle also enlisted in the military  My mom had an uncle who served in World War II and brought a bride home from Germany an absolutely beautiful woman who was a joy to know.

In this generation my husband's brother-in-law has served in the Canadian army for more than twenty years. He is currently deployed in Haiti. My sister's husband joined the Army Reserves a little less than a year ago fulfilling a lifelong dream to be a soldier.

I'm also thinking about a dear family friend who served in the Vietnam War. The stories he used to tell us when we visited their family. They're just flooding my mind right now leaving me in awe and wonder at what has happened for our freedom and the freedom of other nations.

But I don't want to forget those who support their men. My sister and sister-in-law both sacrifice as well as their husbands serve. They both have children that they have to parent alone while their husbands are deployed. My prayers and heart go out to them. Their children sacrifice time with Daddy without always understanding why Daddy is not there.

I've been thinking about the poem In Flanders Field. It was written by a Canadian - yeah! - who sadly died before the end of World War I and had no idea how popular and enduring his poem became. Years ago I read a response to In Flanders Field. Today, thanks to the wonders of the internet, I went in search of it. To my surprise several people have written responses or sequels. I think I found the one I remember and here it is.

Oh ! sleep in peace where poppies grow ;
The torch your falling hands let go,
Was caught by us, again held high,
A beacon light in Flander's sky,
That dims the stars to those below,
You are our dead, you held the foe,
And 'ere the poppies cease to blow,
We'll prove our faith in you who lie,
In Flanders field.

Oh ! rest in peace, we quickly go,
To you who bravely died, and know,
In other fields was heard the cry,
For freedom's cause of you who lie,
So still asleep where poppies grow,
In Flanders field.

As in rumbling sound, to and fro,
The lightning flashes, sky aglow,
The mighty hosts appear, and high,
Above the din of battle cry,
Scarce heard amidst the guns below,
Are fearless hearts who fight the foe,
And guard the place where poppies grow,
Oh ! sleep in peace, all you who lie,
In Flanders field.

And still the poppies gently blow,
Between the crosses, row on row,
The larks, still soaring bravely high,
Are singing now their lullaby,
To you who sleep where poppies grow,
In Flanders field. John Mitchell 

So on this Remembrance Day I am thankful for all those in my family and out who have served their country so faithfully. I am resolved to be worthy of their sacrifice, to not squander freedoms so dearly won. Words are not adequate to express my thanks for such sacrifice. Thank you to all who "are fearless hearts who fight the foe".

Do you have a vet in your family or circle of friends?

Sickness, Sewing and Sweet

This week has gone by in a blur - a husband recovering from a minor back injury, sick children, sewing projects, etc. It has been hard for me to stay focused with so much sickness in the house so I'm glad I had sewing projects to keep me going.

I promised my youngest daughter a new dress for church this Sunday. I just have the zipper and hem left. It was fun to work on - dark blue plaid with Scottie dogs. I also sewed two "anywhere" chairs. Basically it's something to turn any chair into a high chair for your baby. It rolls up very small for fitting into the diaper bag. I made one last Saturday for my baby. A friend saw it at church on Sunday, and I could tell she really liked it. So I had to make one for her baby. Don't kid yourself - it's kind of selfish when I sew for others because I enjoy it so much. I will look for any excuse I can find to sew. Oh, and I also sewed a curtain for a window at our church. It was a very simple one so only took about an hour start to finish.

I also managed to get some scrapbooking done this week, but I'm so behind. Sometimes I feel like I'll never catch up. My mom is almost all caught up though so I feel hopeful. ☺

I was wanting to get some Pinterest projects done but just never quite got around to them. Oh, yes, I was going to tell you last week that we harvested our stevia so we now have our own liquid stevia. Basically you clean the leaves, put them in a pot of water that's almost at a boil, take it off the heat and let it steep for a couple of hours. I got one and half large glass jars. I have been freezing the liquid in mini-muffin cups so we can thaw as we need it. It's not as sweet as commercially produced liquid stevia so I may do a different water to leaves ratio next year.

our stevia plant - tall, eh?

taking the leaves off

the finished product - it's green :)

That's all for now. Did you feel productive this week or like you were just muddling through somehow?

What I Watch

I thought I'd share my list of channels I'm subscribed to on YouTube with a short reason why I did. So in no particular order here they are...

Bored Shorts TV - This is seriously funny. They are short clips from two to three minutes, and if you need a laugh head here. Basically they have two children describe an adult situation. Then they have adult actors lip sync and act out what the children have said. I. always. laugh. To date this is my favourite - Math Class. You have to watch this. Every homeschooling mom will so feel the teachers stress as he deals with a student who just doesn't get it.

Rosanna Pansino - This girl has a lot on her channel that I don't watch, but she has some interesting/fun cake decorating ideas which my daughter and I have done.

LEGO - enough said

Hoops and Yoyo - my favourite cartoon characters after Snoopy. These guys always make me laugh.

CakeBossVEVO - We like watching Buddy and his crew create impossibly fantastic cakes. We also like watching the family dynamics.

Homestead Blessings - This is a mom and her three daughters who have done a series of videos (for purchase or from your library) about various homesteading activities - sewing, quilting, baking, soap and candle making, canning, etc. On their channel they give little hints on short videos.

GNOWFGLINS - a channel dealing with natural ways of cooking and living

TheTHMchannel - There aren't many videos up on this channel. It's for the Trim Healthy Mama diet.

TerrapinStation - Again, I don't watch much from this channel, but they have a fabulous playlist for Baby Einstein videos which are kind of essential viewing for our toddler. The link should take you directly to the playlist.

 Eva Joy - My daughter's channel...a lot of A Tale of Two Cities concert, Sue Thomas clips and a few family videos.

So, what are your favourite YouTube channels?

Accomplishing Something

The last few days have not been easy. Over a week ago my husband had what he thought was a minor muscle pull in his back. He teaches security every other week, and wouldn't you know it last week was his teaching week. He couldn't rest his back much and by Saturday he basically couldn't get out of bed.

I wanted to take him to the hospital on Sunday, but he declined saying he thought he was getting better. By this morning he was just as bad if not a little worse so he finally let me take him to the hospital. Between dropping him off, picking him up, waiting for him to get a prescription filled my day was pretty much shot. The one thing I was thankful for was that the children could go forward with their school work because I had filled out their assignment books.

By tonight I was feeling a little depressed. I just feel like I haven't been able to accomplish much of anything since Saturday morning. It's been overcast where we live which doesn't help one to feel upbeat. Instead of making supper I ended up playing computer games in a futile attempt to escape reality. However, when you have eight children there isn't much room for escape. So we ended up with a menu change which may have involved Kraft Dinner. Not the greatest choice, but sometimes you have to cut yourself some slack.

So I put on some upbeat instrumental music, got my children to tidy up and made supper. It's funny how accomplishing something - anything - can lift your spirits. 

I was also able to fix up this collage frame for my bathroom. I have one bathroom that is decorated with Norman Rockwell pictures. About two months ago I bought a book of Norman Rockwell art at a used book store with the intention of cutting it up to use in decorating. I will admit to feeling a little (okay a lot) guilty about cutting up a book, but I'll deal with it because I like the end result.

When you're feeling down and have things you have to do, what do you do to get yourself moving?

Celebrating

It's hard to believe, but we have completed - successfully I might add - the first quarter of our school year. It has gone by so quickly and for the most part easily. The children are all doing great. My kindergartener is finally having reading "click" for him which is so exciting to see.

Today is my husband's and my 16th wedding anniversary. In some ways it feels so short, yet in other ways it feels like I've always been married. We both waited for so long to find the right person. Then we've been busy packing as much living as possible into the last sixteen years not the least of which has been adding eight children to our family. It's been an exciting, wonderful and, yes, sometimes difficult journey which I would not exchange for anything.

my favourite picture

I've been able to do a lot of sewing this week. I finished a dress for my middle daughter and cut out the fabric for a dress for my youngest daughter. We're getting geared up for everyone to make gifts over the next few weeks. It's an exciting time of year.

I just noticed that I used the word "exciting" a bit too much in this post. ☺ I guess I'm feeling rather upbeat today. ☺

My daughter has an exciting ☺ week planed for her blog - Ramblings of a Janeite. She's doing a week of posts, including some guest posts, about Robin Hood in all its various forms - book, movie, tv, etc. She also has a nice giveaway going on with some Robin Hood themed prizes. You should check it out because I'm telling you that a couple of the prizes I wouldn't mind winning.

If you're married - how long? Did you accomplish any goals this week?

A Stress-busting Vitamin

It's been way too long since I did a vitamin post. Sorry about that. I have to say that we have been eating a lot more paprika because of how many times it kept turning up in the "Top Ten" lists. Even my teenage daughter has started adding it to things she makes.

 

Today's vitamin is B5. I cannot believe how important it is. "Pantothenic"  comes from the Greek word panthos which means "everywhere". As you may guess this vitamin is found in every living cell - pretty important I'd say. B5 helps our adrenal glands in the formation of hormones and we need it for the producing healthy red blood cells. Since it's so closely related to our adrenal glands this vitamin is a real stress-buster.

 

Our intestinal bacteria can manufacture this vitamin, but if you want to supplement here are some tasty ways to work it into your diet. Top of the list is organ meats - I just have to say we won't be going this route. Then there are egg yolks, nuts, vegetables like broccoli and cauliflower, bran and milk. It's nice that such an important vitamin is easy to work into our diet. It looks like our diet has this pretty much covered thankfully (except for the organ meat ☺).

 

How about a breakfast for supper meal with some vegies thrown into the eggs?

 

The information about Vitamin B3 comes from the Encyclopedia of Natural Healing, Alive Publishing Group, 1997.

A Wraparound Braid

 

Today we want to show you one of our easiest, most versatile hair styles. We call this a wraparound braid because it's a French braid that we wrap around the head instead of going down the middle. I actually do Dutch braids which are the opposite of French braids. Instead of moving the strands over each other you move them under. It took me a little practice to get used to, but now I do it this way exclusively. I love the way it makes the braid stand out from the head.

Start your braid - French or Dutch - with a small bit of hair on one side of the head.

Continue around the side and across the back.

You can end it by braiding all the way down or...

making a ponytail.

This side of the head is smooth.

You can also pick up hair only with your bottom strand which makes the top part of the braid stand out more.

You can braid the other side and join the two braids into one.

As you can see this style is very versatile and easy if you know how to do a French/Dutch braid. It really is a skill worth learning because it opens up so many more hairstyles.

What is your go-to hairstyle for yourself or your daughter? We always enjoy trying something new. ☺

Singing and Grace

I woke up this morning with this song going through my head...

I can go directly to my Lord in prayer.

He has told me I may boldly enter there,

And He listens as His promises I plead.

I find grace to help and strength for every need.

I grew up in a family where we listened to lots of hymns and classical music. I'm so glad for all the hymns I have memorized because of this. They are such a comfort and encouragement to me. I like waking up with a song in my head (if it's a good one ☺), because I think about it all day. It helps to set the tone for the day. This one was so good for reminding me that I don't have to do this day on my own. The Lord will help and give grace for whatever my needs. 

I have been so thankful that this school year is going so much smoother than last year. I posted earlier about how burned out I was last year. Honestly, I was trudging through school every morning, taking a long nap in the afternoon and then somehow muddling through the rest of the afternoon until supper. 

I know one thing that has helped is my toddler growing up just a little more so that he is more easily occupied while we do school instead of crying because there is no one to entertain him. I'm going to do a post soon on the activities we've been doing with him. 

But I also know that I have learned to pray more - to ask the Lord to help me. Being a mom is hard work - having help is essential. I'm thankful that it is so easy to say a quick prayer when situations arise in my parenting and trust God to send the answer. Sometimes it's something as simple as me stepping back, taking a deep breath and starting over. It's not always that easy, but I'm not as easily overwhelmed these days. 

So life has been good this fall by God's grace. "Grace" - the word leads me to another song - one of my favourites...

Oh to grace how great a debtor daily I'm constrained to be

Let Thy goodness like a fetter bind my wandering soul to Thee.

Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it.

Prone to leave the God I love.

Here's my heart, oh, take and seal it.

Seal it for Thy courts above.

Do you have a favourite song that can really lift your spirit? You can check out my daughter's favourite songs on her blog - Ramblings of a Janeite.