Marriage Moment Monday

I have been reading, Becoming the Woman of His Dreams, by Sharon Jaynes and came across this in chapter 14. So far, I am really enjoying this book and recommend it.

Have you lost that lovin' feelin'?

The Meaning of Life

Pink Isn't Only for Women

I'm here to tell you that the pink drink isn't only for women! Men can enjoy the drink and its benefits, too.

I've discovered that my little guy doesn't handle stevia very well right now so that means that I can't enjoy Plexus Slim and all it's benefits. So, since I can't take it, I started giving it to my husband.

From day one, he commented about how he couldn't eat as much as normal. For example, he went to Chinese Buffet for lunch with a coworker and he usually will go up for at least four plates, but could barely finish two.

If you have been following me for a while, you have read before that when I started my husband on the BioCleanse and the ProBio5, we saw his need for the herbs he has been taking for years go down. Well, since starting the Slim, it has gone down even more! In fact, there are a couple of herbs he doesn't need at all anymore and another that he is down to only one a day (at one point he was taking six a day!).

He is enjoying Slim so much that he asks for it before leaving for work if myself or one of the girls don't have it prepared for him when he is ready to leave!

I am so excited to see how much Plexus is helping my family!

Would you like to learn more? Just ask!

The Real Problem

20 Years!

20 years ago, I started on the journey of being a wife. So much has happened and changed in the past 20 years. Just this past week, I came across some old wedding photos that didn't make it into our wedding album for some reason (some of them were copies of photos that did make it). I thought it would be fun to share those as well as my thoughts on the past 20 years. So, in no particular order . . .

1. Love truly does grow better and deeper over the years if you commit to chose to love in those hard times.
2. I'm so thankful my husband has chosen to love me despite my many failings.
3. Learning to speak your spouse's love language is a must for a happy marriage (even if his love language is something that isn't top on your list).
4. God's ways for marriage truly do work.
5. Men need their wives to show them respect and submission is one of the best ways to do that.
6. Women need to know they are loved so #3 is key for a husband to learn.
7. My husband gets sexier with age.
8. Being a good father is more of a turn on than physical looks.
9. Praying together not only draws you closer to God, but to each other.
10. Having children helps you learn how selfish you truly are.
11. Experiencing labor with your husband by your side is one of the most intimate things that can happen in a marriage because of how vulnerable you are at that time.
12. Sex continually gets better because the more you know someone, the more intimate and pleasurable it is.
13. Never stop dating your spouse! Even if it is something as simple as putting the children to bed early or having them watch a movie in one room so you can be alone in another.
14. God knew that I needed my husband's free spirit to help me calm my anal-retentiveness. Opposites truly do attract!
15. So many blessings have come because I submitted to my husband's choices/ideas even though I didn't see how they made sense.
16. Marriage (and parenting) are all about sacrifice-sacrificial love as Christ demonstrated for us.
17. Sometimes when I think my husband is the one who needs to change, I discover it is actually I who need to change.
18. Communication is absolutely necessary for a marriage to thrive-communication not only about what is going on in your lives, but feelings and emotions, too.
19. Showing forgiveness to my husband as well as myself is necessary.
20. Making God the center of our marriage and family is the only way we have made it to 20 years and will be the only way we will continue to enjoy marriage for hopefully many, many more years!
    
    
    
    
    
    

Contentment

Bread Balls

We brushed garlic butter on these.

I recently posted pictures of Bread Balls on my personal Instagram page as well as my personal Facebook page and I had a number of people ask for the recipe. When I went to find the original link of where I found the recipe, it said the website was no longer active; therefore, the recipe is no longer available on the web. So, I decided to share the recipe here as it is one that we share often with other people.

The author of the original recipe is Linda Etherton. I will share her recipe below, but please note, that we have used it with different kinds of milk. We have used canned coconut milk, raw goat milk, raw cow milk, and even almond milk. We did have someone make them for us who used the fresh coconut milk that Linda mentioned she used as well. No matter what type of milk we have used, they have always turned out. Sometimes we will brush them with garlic butter for a different taste.

We also use this recipe for a pizza crust base-just spread out in baking sheet that has sides. One recipe fills a 11x15 baking sheet. We then bake for 15 minutes, top with sauce and toppings and then put back in the oven for 5-10 minutes. We have discovered that if it is baked on the bottom shelf, it will get crispier which some of like better and some like it softer as when it is baked on the top shelf.

Bread Balls

1/2 cup melted coconut oil or cooking oil of choice
2/3 cup coconut milk (Linda used So Delicious Unsweetened)
1 tsp salt
2 1/4 cups tapioca starch or flour
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
1/4 cup nutritional yeast

Place the tapioca starch in a large mixing bowl.

In a small saucepan, heat the oil, milk, and salt until it just starts to boil and white foam appears on top.

Immediately pour over the tapioca starch and mix with a wooden spoon (we also sometimes use a rubber spatula). Let rest about 15 minutes.

Stir in the eggs and nutritional yeast.

Drop tablespoons of dough, forming rounded mounds, on a lightly greased cookie sheet. (We usually use a cookie or muffin scoop).

Bake at 350 degrees for 15-20 minutes. The outsides will look dry and cracked.

Remove to a bread basket and serve.


After typing this all up, I decided to try once again searching for the original recipe and discovered that if I went to her website and then searched for the recipe, I could find it, even though the link I had saved before wasn't working. Linda blogs at Gluten Free Homemaker.

What I've Been Up To

You may have noticed that I've been gone for a couple of weeks. If you don't follow the Gracious Daughter of the King Facebook page, you probably have no idea what has been happening.

Gordon Carmichael holding Gordon Carmichael

First, I gave birth to our newest little one on September 24th! Gordon Carmichael was born at 1:48 pm at home. The birth went well, but he had difficulty nursing in the beginning so it was a rough couple of days.

Second, my father-in-law's health was declining (and had been for a while), so much time was spent helping him and my mother-in-law.

Thirdly, my mother-in-law ended up in the hospital herself for a couple of days. My husband spent that time with her.

Fourthly, I spoke at my local MOPS meeting. This was something new for me. Another woman and I spoke about meal planning-how we do it, how it is helpful to us, etc.

Fifthly, my father-in-law's health continued to decline and some hard decisions were made regarding his care. He went to be with his Lord and Savior on October 5th. Since we knew it was coming, we had already started planning his funeral and the visitation was held on the 6th and the funeral on the 7th. It was a rough few days for our family, but the funeral was a beautiful celebration of his life and testimony.

It will be difficult to transition to a new "normal", but we will in time. My first goal is to get back into schooling. Once we get back into that groove, I am going to try to add my writing back in. So, it may still be another week before I am back to writing and sharing consistently. I hope you bear with me during my absence.