Happiness & Appreciation

Plexus P96 Protein Powder

With my last order of Plexus, I got some of the P96 Vanilla Protein Powder to try. I have had a hard time finding a protein powder that works well with my body that is also affordable. I have to say that so far I am highly satisfied with P96!

I have created two smoothies with P96 so far. One was made with unsweetened greek yogurt, milk, a little bit of coconut sugar, and berries. The other, I used some milk kefir instead of the greek yogurt, but everything else was the same. Both were equally tasty and filling.

Have you ever used P96 Protein Powder? What are your thoughts? Care to share any of your recipes with me so I can try new things?

If you are interested in learning more about P96 or any other Plexus product, let me know! You can message me through the contact link on the right of this page or go to my facebook page and message me on there.

Be Like Nehemiah

Nehemiah 7:5-40 KJV

5 And my God put into mine heart to gather together the nobles, and the rulers, and the people, that they might be reckoned by genealogy. And I found a register of the genealogy of them which came up at the first, and found written therein, 6 These are the children of the province, that went up out of the captivity, of those that had been carried away, whom Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon had carried away, and came again to Jerusalem and to Judah, every one unto his city; 7 Who came with Zerubbabel, Jeshua, Nehemiah, Azariah, Raamiah, Nahamani, Mordecai, Bilshan, Mispereth, Bigvai, Nehum, Baanah. The number, I say, of the men of the people of Israel was this; 8 The children of Parosh, two thousand an hundred seventy and two. 9 The children of Shephatiah, three hundred seventy and two. 10 The children of Arah, six hundred fifty and two. 11 The children of Pahathmoab, of the children of Jeshua and Joab, two thousand and eight hundred and eighteen. 12 The children of Elam, a thousand two hundred fifty and four. 13 The children of Zattu, eight hundred forty and five. 14 The children of Zaccai, seven hundred and threescore. 15 The children of Binnui, six hundred forty and eight. 16 The children of Bebai, six hundred twenty and eight. 17 The children of Azgad, two thousand three hundred twenty and two. 18 The children of Adonikam, six hundred threescore and seven. 19 The children of Bigvai, two thousand threescore and seven. 20 The children of Adin, six hundred fifty and five. 21 The children of Ater of Hezekiah, ninety and eight. 22 The children of Hashum, three hundred twenty and eight. 23 The children of Bezai, three hundred twenty and four. 24 The children of Hariph, an hundred and twelve. 25 The children of Gibeon, ninety and five. 26 The men of Bethlehem and Netophah, an hundred fourscore and eight. 27 The men of Anathoth, an hundred twenty and eight. 28 The men of Bethazmaveth, forty and two. 29 The men of Kirjathjearim, Chephirah, and Beeroth, seven hundred forty and three. 30 The men of Ramah and Geba, six hundred twenty and one. 31 The men of Michmas, an hundred and twenty and two. 32 The men of Bethel and Ai, an hundred twenty and three. 33 The men of the other Nebo, fifty and two. 34 The children of the other Elam, a thousand two hundred fifty and four. 35 The children of Harim, three hundred and twenty. 36 The children of Jericho, three hundred forty and five. 37 The children of Lod, Hadid, and Ono, seven hundred twenty and one. 38 The children of Senaah, three thousand nine hundred and thirty. 39 The priests: the children of Jedaiah, of the house of Jeshua, nine hundred seventy and three. 40 The children of Immer, a thousand fifty and two.

When the wall was complete, Nehemiah still wasn't done with his work. God called him to check the genealogy of the people.

He went according to the genealogy from before the Israelites were sent away as captives and found the people/descendants and brought them back. This could not have been an easy job!

Nehemiah did not just go looking for the people, but he verified that they were truly of Israel. In the end, the genealogy shows over 40,000 people and "the children of Israel were in the cities."

Again, Nehemiah accomplished a great task because God called him to complete it. He did not complain that it was too hard or that it was impossible because he knew that "with God, all things are possible." (Mark 10:27b)

When God calls me to do something difficult, I often come up with excuses as to why I can't do it. Sometimes God keeps working on me and I comply, but unfortunately, sometimes I miss out on the blessing of being a part of His work because I shirk from my responsibility to do as He has called.

Don't be like me-be like Nehemiah!

Words of Wisdom Wednesdays

Proverbs 16:24

Pleasant words are as an honeycomb, sweet to the soul, and health to the bones.

While I have known this to be true, it was made very evident to me not too long ago. Someone said some very hurtful things to me; however, I was blessed with a friend who spoke pleasant words to me which helped heal my soul. I was able to move on and deal with the situation with new strength and clarity. Speak pleasant words!

Thriving in Humility

7/15/18 Sermon

Restocked and Trying Something New!

I had posted last week how I had run out of Plexus Slim and ProBio5 and how being out of those, I really saw the benefits that I had been experiencing. I'm so excited to say that I received a shipment today so I am back in business! I've also been wanting to try the P96 protein powder so I got one package to try.

Again, I would love to chat with anyone who has questions about Plexus because I would love to help others experience health benefits!

Marriage Moment Monday

1 Peter 2:16

As free, and not using your liberty for a cloke of maliciousness, but as the servants of God.

In our world, so many people are so caught up in "what I deserve" that they forget that we are called to serve others. Christ sets us free not to demand or even expect others to serve us, but for us to go and serve others without the premise that they will give back.

Even though we may think it is "right" for our spouse to share in the duties at home or for our spouse to get their own food/drink, we are called to serve. People are often shocked that I will make my husband's plate of food when we are out and about or that if he asks for a drink that I will get up and get it for him. These are small things, small ways to serve, but they speak so much love to the receiver. I never see it as a way my husband is trying to "control" me, but as an opportunity to show him how much I love him.

Spend some time thinking about how you may use your freedom in Christ to serve your spouse today. I would love if you shared your thoughts on this and/or the ways you serve your spouse.

Why I've Been Scarce

As you have noticed, I haven't posted much in the past two weeks and there is a good reason for that!

Of course, we celebrated Independence Day on July 4th. Our family attended the local parade and then just enjoyed family time together for the remainder of the day. Some of our girls had to work the next day (as well as my husband) so we decided to forgo the fireworks that night.

Our oldest graduated from our home school last weekend so we spent the week preparing things around the house, setting up shade tents, making food, etc. for her graduation and open house.

The very next day was our annual Carmichael family reunion so we then had to clean up from the open house and prepare for the reunion. After the reunion, it has become a tradition to go to my sister-in-law's house on the river for some fun in the sun.

The day after the reunion was the start of our three day Bible Bee camp. Our local Bible Bee gets together every summer for three days to have fun, work on learning verses, understanding the scripture passages, etc. While it is very fun, it is also very tiring (especially for this pregnant mama in this heat!). The younger children and I came home every night to do evening chores and then morning chores before heading back to camp. It was pretty rough on the youngest children as well since they either missed naps or had shorter naps than normal as well as getting to bed late every night. It took (is taking) a few days to get back to a normal routine.

Once we returned home from camp, not only did the older girls return to their jobs, but we had to start preparing for our son's 5th birthday! His birthday is today and we will be celebrating with family today and then he will have some friends over tomorrow to have some fun with a Thomas the Train celebration.We also have another graduation open house to attend after our son's party.

After that, we have a "normal" busy week filled with shuttling girls to jobs, tending the garden, midwife appointments, continuing in our Bible Bee studies, etc. before I will be taking my oldest on a girls' getaway for a few days. I have also recently agreed to be a mentor mom for our local MOPS group and the leadership is having a planning weekend that I will try to attend at least for a little while.

Through all this busyness, I have realized how beneficial Plexus has been to my life. You see, I actually ran out of my Plexus Slim last month and due to financial strain, couldn't order more. I went back to needing naps, getting charlie horses in the middle of the night, not sleeping well, not having regular bowel movements, etc. I also noticed that it had been keeping the negative side effects of our neighbors spraying chemicals on their trees at bay. In less than a week of being off Plexus Slim (and the neighbors spraying again), I started having an allergic reaction where my entire body itched as well as the normal sinus drainage that happens every year when they spray (which I hadn't actually experienced this year yet). Those effects made it even harder to sleep and pretty much made life miserable for a while. I did start on some herbal supplements to help combat those effects and started seeing improvements in just a few days. Through all this, I now know how much Plexus had changed my life and I know my gut needs much more healing for me to continue to see improvements.

I truly believe that Plexus can help so many people with their health issues. I have heard story after story of how Plexus has changed the lives of friends and others that I have never met and it is interesting to see how it seems to help everyone a little bit differently. It has also been amazing as I have been learning more and more about gut health, how many different health problems actually stem from poor gut health. 

I would love to discuss Plexus with anyone who has questions. Please just contact me through the form on the right side of the blog!

Here are a few pictures from the past two weeks so you can see what we've been up to!

Can you see what it says?!

 

Sunday Psalms

Psalms 127:1-5 KJV 

A Song of degrees for Solomon.

1 Except the LORD build the house, they labour in vain that build it: except the LORD keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain. 

2 It is vain for you to rise up early, to sit up late, to eat the bread of sorrows: for so he giveth his beloved sleep. 

3 Lo, children are an heritage of the LORD: and the fruit of the womb is his reward. 

4 As arrows are in the hand of a mighty man; so are children of the youth. 

5 Happy is the man that hath his quiver full of them: they shall not be ashamed, but they shall speak with the enemies in the gate.

Life

I apologize for not posting all week. Today we celebrate our oldest daughter's graduation from high school. We've been busy preparing for the graduation and open house all week. Since we home school, we had many decisions to make about how we wanted the ceremony and celebration to look. I'm sure I'll share about it all after the fact, but I wanted to share a thought that I will be sharing with my daughter later today.