Dreams and Motherhood

Have you ever had a dream that you thought got lost the moment you became a mother? Don't get me wrong, staring into those precious baby eyes for the first time is a dream for sure, but what about the ones we had before motherhood? As mothers, we have a unique struggle when it comes to balancing our lives. Children, Husband, Church, Community, Spiritual and Personal Needs are often at odds with eachother. None of us wants to be the mom who's children are always being cared for by someone else for our own selfish gain. But neither do we want to be the mom who is so into her children that husband, community and personal needs are pushed to the wayside. I personally believe that it is vitally important for us to actively pursue our dreams, and to constantly grow as well rounded individuals. It is important for many reasons, including for our childrens' sake. Our children will benefit from seeing us enriching our lives and the lives of others with our actions. They will see our efforts to love them, those around us and ourselves and eventually apply them to their own lives. What do we want for our own children? I want to see them go at life with gusto, with passion, and with selflessness. But selflessness doesn't mean total abandoning of your own personal gifts. God has gifted each one of us with unique talents and missions, and to ignore those callings would be to deny our Creator. The Proverbs 31 woman was active in her family, in her community, in her church and at her business. I want to be that woman.

I have always loved to write. From the time I was very young, I dreamed of living in New York, writing for a living. Carefree and creative. As I grew up(which I am still doing, by the way) I refined my dreams to include an amazing man by my side who would love my dreams and my passion, and children who would add zeal and purpose. My dreams have come true...mostly. I have an amazing man who believes in me before I even know what me is all about. And I have 4 beautiful children who have added such a depth to my life, that I cannot possibly imagine being half of the person I am without even one of their smiles. But I have more dreams to explore. I want to write. I want to share my passion with others to encourage and uplift. I am so excited, because I may get an opportunity of a lifetime to pursue my goals and dreams. Proverbs 31 Ministries is putting on an event called She Speaks. It is a conference for women speakers, writers and bloggers to learn and be encouraged. There will be publishers and speakers from every field to share their knowledge and stories with us. It is so close by, I cannot miss the opportunity! It is June 20-22, and there is a scholarship being offered here. The chance to attend this conference is one I hope I can have!

Jude is 2!

Can it be true?! No official babies in the Cardinale house?! Jude has promised me he will stay little just for me. It won't last for long, I know. Sniff......Jude is holding up his hand to say how old he is....not quite agile with the fingers!

Dinner's in the Freezer!

I just picked up this great book at my local bookstore, and LOVE it! The family favorite so far is the Chicken Pot Pie. Great to have ready in the freezer for an emergency! It would be great to get together and do this as a club once a month. Here's the

Chicken Pot Pie Recipe:

Yields 1 deep dish or 2 standard 9" pies

1-10 oz package frozen peas and carrots

1/2 cu onion, chopped

1/2 cu fresh mushrooms, chopped

1/4 cu butter or margarine

1/3 cu flour

1/2 t salt

1/4 t sage

1/8 t pepper

2 cu water

3/4 cu milk

1 T chicken bouillon

3 cu cooked chicken or turkey

1/4 cu chopped pimiento

1/4 cu snipped parsley

Serving Day: Double pie crust

Cook peas and carrots according to package directions; drain. Cook onion and mushrooms in butter or margarine until tender but not brown. Stir in flour, salt, sage and pepper. Add water, milk, and bouillon granules all at once. Cook and stir until thickened and bubbly. Cook and stir 1-2 minutes more. Stir in drained cooked vegetables, chicken or turkey, pimiento, and parsley; heat until bubbly. Cool, place in a freezer bag and flatten, put in freezer. (flattening helps to save room in your freezer) Serving day: Thaw completely, roll out bottom pie crust and place in 9 inch pie pan. Place chicken mixture in pie dish; top with upper crust. Bake in pie shell in 400 degree oven for 25-30 minutes or until golden brown.

15 pounds

Update on weight loss, 15 lbs so far! Yipee! This is especially exciting considering the weather here lately. I walk outside for my exercise, and it's been FREEZING here for 2 solid weeks, so walking has fallen to the wayside a bit. Next week is supposed to be warmer, 40s instead of 10s in the morning, so back on the trail I'll go! Plus, my diet plan just came out with Strawberry shakes and Peanut Butter Choclate Chip Meal Bars, SO GOOD!

TAG-I'm It!

I've been tagged by Liz to share some of my bookmarked sites....here goes!

http://www.amblesideonline.org/
My homeschooling site with every week planned....for free:) I visit every day

http://www.theneatfreaks.com/
Bought our closet system from here....I realized there were still a lot of home improvement links we are hopefully done with for a while!

http://www.youcanmakethis.com/
For the dream of having time to do any of these creative things!

http://www.theoutdoorbible.com/t-ourstory.aspx
Some great people we met on Trail Days who have a product we'd like to carry online one day.

http://ecofabulous.blogs.com/
I have more blog links I am going to add today, I promise!

http://www.ebcalc.com/
For the ebay business

http://www.thequiltindex.org/
Research for quilt pattern names for the ebay biz...I have sites about tractors, old bottles...you name it linked!

http://www.allrecipes.com/
Who needs cookbooks when you have this site?!

http://www.ourgreenhouse.com/
http://www.reuseablebags.com/
www.shaklee.net/mamagoesgreen

And the newest addition, an IRS info site...of course!
http://www.irs.gov/publications/p587/index.html

I am tagging Nathaniel, Beka and Carrie

Random Blog Quiz

You Are An ENTP

The Visionary You are charming, outgoing, friendly. You make a good first impression. You possess good negotiating skills and can convince anyone of anything. Happy to be the center of attention, you love to tell stories and show off. You're very clever, but not disciplined enough to do well in structured environments. In love, you see everything as a grand adventure. You enjoy taking risks for love. And if things don't work out, you're usually not too much worse for the wear! You would make a great entrepreneur, marketing executive, or actor. At work, you need a lot of freedom to pursue your own path and vision. How you see yourself: Analytical, creative, and peaceful When other people don't get you, they see you as: Detached, wishy-washy, and superficial

What's Your Personality Type?

Toby Playing Chopsticks on YouTube

10.2 pounds and counting!

Down 10.2 pounds, and counting down! Don't worry, this isn't from January 1st...a bit unhealthy! I started officially right before Thanksgiving, and cheated plenty during the holidays, so I'm excited it didn't set me back too much. Hopefully when Spring comes in May I'll have lost the next 40! Still walking 4 miles per day, and sometimes extra when we walk into town to check the mail, visit the library, and go to the store. Thanks for all the encouragement!

The Crafty Bug

I admire all things crafty, but never actually get the TIME and ENERGY together to do anything myself. I already blogged about the stockings I made, but here are some pics of my newest projects. I made these wallets, using That Darn Kat's tutorial, genius! And most recently I whipped up these burp cloths for a friend who just had a baby. I will be making a quilted changing pad to match...I'll post those pics when finished. It was SOO satisfying to start a project and finish it!

Blog Posts that stayed in my head

There are many posts I meant to put up.....but never did, so here's a quick synopsis!

Tea with "the girls" Sophia's best girlfriends Ella and Avery

Snow last week falling in Damascus....brrrrr!

And Frank's dad visited the day after Christmas. Fun Fun Fun!

Jude the Dude

This little boy is so funny! He makes me laugh every day! He loves dressing up lately, this is what he walked down with a couple of days ago....

New Year's Update

So I started the week of with a bang! Monday and Tuesday walking/jogging for 60 mins, a total of over 4 miles each day. Today it's been snowing ALL day, so I will be toning and strength training with my balance ball and hand weights. I love healthy food options, so that is not my problem as much as convenience is! When I am making the kids pb&j for lunch, it's just much easier to make one for myself! Either that or I don't have time to eat at all, so when I finally do....can we say indulge?! That's why I love my Cinch shakes so much! I already know what's for breakfast & lunch, I don't get hungry and healthy choices for dinner are much easier to make ahead of time. Tonight is Chicken Tortilla Soup, Rachael Ray's recipe. Yum-O!

One of my resolutions was to volunteer at least once a month. Well, I was just asked to teach an ebay class for the adult education program at the community college. This is not a paid class, so I'll be volunteering every Thursday for 6 weeks! Working on business ideas this weekend and next, and the kids are getting lots of healthy options every day! Good luck with your resolutions!