I Need Africa

Who Built Your House?

Last night we were reading Little House on the Praire before bed. We were reading about Pa building the Ingalls' family log cabin. Sitota asked me if Daddy built our house. When I said no, she said, "oh yeah, Jesus built our house, right?".

Well, kind of...

"For every house is built by someone, but God is the builder of everything."

Hebrews 3:4

How Erika Got Her Groove Back

Lately I've been feeling run down. Just out of energy. Achy, sore, exhausted. I know I've been feeling some anger towards God. I was back to my old theological issue- I know God doesn't cause bad things to happen, but is allowing something bad to happen any better? I mean, if my best friend saw someone punch me, and could have stopped the person from hitting me in the first place, but chose not to intervene- I'd be hurt.

That's how I've been feeling towards God. I was feeling let down by God, mad that He wasn't protecting me and family like I think He should. But today I remembered something!!!

God doesn't allow anything to happen that He won't redeem! If He lets it happen, He is going to use the thing. Okay, now I am getting excited. Here is where my energy comes back. God is the expert Redeemer! He has done it so many times in my life and He'll keep doing it until Jesus returns or I go home to Heaven.

Yup, I can do this. I'm working it out.

Overheard in the Basement...

I just caught Sitota singing, "He's Got the Whole World in His Hands" with these unique verses:

"He's got Jesus and Africa, in His Hands"

"He's got MommyDaddyCarterEveleaMimiPapaGrandmaCarterMeEveleaCarterMommy, in His Hands"

Sing it, Baby!

My Kindergartener and Third Grader

Back to School

Today Sitota and Evelea went back to school (Carter starts on Monday). We really could have used two more weeks of summer break!

This year's back- to- school preparation was cut short by an unexpected trip to the hospital for Carter. I am still processing all of that because it was truly the most frightening experience we've had with Carter to date (and that is saying a lot!!!). I'll just say it involved 2 ambulances (would have been a helicopter had the weather permitted) and lots of blood. I am praising God that Carter is alive, yet feeling a bit let down and angry with God for letting Carter suffer so much. A place I don't like to be, but trying to use it to go ever deeper with my heavenly Father.

I'll post my back to school pictures as soon as I finish downloading them from my camera (apparently I haven't downloaded any in awhile!).

My Shame

So, I have to admit something to you, and I'm not proud of this at all.

I like Red Bull. There, I said it.

I need to explain. A year ago, I took my first tentative sips of a Red Bull. Teenagers wearing jet packs were handing it out for free at Millennium Park. I only took like 3 baby sips because I was afraid of what the effect of that much caffeine would have on my body. And guess what? I liked it.

I typically scorn beverages such as Mountain Dew (yuck!), would never consider sipping Jolt, or the like. So what was I going to do with my new found hankering for Red Bull?

My first step was to consider how much caffeine was actually in a Red Bull. To my great delight, not nearly as much as I previously thought. RB contains a mere 80 milligrams. Compare that to brewed coffee which has 80- 135 milligrams. I wouldn't think twice about drinking a cup of coffee! This was getting exciting. And what other glorious results did my Google search turn up? A Starbucks tall coffee (that's the smallest size, folks) is a whopping 240 milligrams!

With the caffeine confusion cleared up, I felt much freer to enjoy my new beverage. Or was I? Soon guilt trip #2 kicked in. You know how much a Red Bull costs? Too much for me to justify! One little can costs like $2.49. 2 bucks can provide clean water for a year for two whole children. Isn't that a slightly better way to spend my 2+ dollars?!

For now, Red Bull will have to remain a very occasional drink choice for me. To read more about how you can provide clean water for people who are truly thirsty, Blood:Water Mission.

Thanks for the Prayers

We are home and Carter is doing really well! We are thrilled that everything has gone so well and we are back together under one roof.

Deep Breaths

The countdown is on until Carter's big day. We have been taking Carter twice a week for EKG's to make sure is heart is functioning well while he is off the Coumadin- so far, so good. We'll continue this for one month after surgery as well.

We had his pre-surgical lab work done yesterday- that was torture. Poor boy was screaming "don't touch me, doctor!". So unlike our mild-mannered boy. It's so much harder now that he is so aware for this surgery.

We so appreciate your prayers for our sweet boy!

Timber Creek Farms

One of my favorite things is the produce delivery I get every other week from Timber Creek Farms. Delivered to my home each week is a huge box of organic fruits and vegetables, organic milk, and eggs. I recently became of member of their "Pantry Club" where you can order anything you desire from Tree of Life, a health food wholesaler. If you don't think you can use a whole case of something, you can post a message to the Pantry Club and see if anybody would split it with you. This Pantry Club is fantastic for those of us living the gluten-free lifestyle! We also order our soy milk this way.

There is a huge selection of produce boxes available, but the one one I get (fruit and vegetable +more fruit), you cannot pick what kind of produce goes in the box. This way, they can put more of what is in season in your box for a better price. I love not only the economy of this, but also, I love the adventure. It has made me a more creative cook! Oh, today I have eggplant- what could I do with this?! And viola!- we have eggplant parmigiana for dinner. Love it.

Timber Creek delivers all over IL and parts of WI and IN, too.