Olivia's Graduation Pictures

This is Olivia at 18 years old.  Who'd a thought she'd grow up?  And on top of that, she'd grow up to become so beautiful inside and out! Of course, I'm just a little partial.

It makes my heart sing to see this picture.  I can honestly say that these two really enjoy each other.  Even though Anthony is 2 1/2 years younger, he is like a big brother in a way.  He is a confident guy and isn't afraid to protect his sister if need be.  I'll never forget when he expressed his concern about her riding her bicycle alone and he decided to go with her.

This table was so much fun for me to help Olivia put together.  We decided to stick with 4 subjects that describe her the best.  Photography on the left, music in the middle, first aid (emergency stuff) on the right and thought provoking quotes throughout.  Olivia loves these 4 things a lot!

Olivia's original cake that we ordered is below.  She loves green and orange and picked chocolate for the cake and frosting.  Then we discovered that over 100 people had RSVP'd!  So I went out the day before the graduation and picked up the white cake above and had them put her name on it.

This picture is of Olivia when she was 3 months old with a stack of her favorite books.

Micah and Will played with these guns during the whole graduation in the front row!  It was a bit tricky keeping them quiet but I'm glad they had fun.

Decorations that we borrowed.  Absolutely loved these things.  They added so much to our 150 year old church dining hall.

 Sisters and the best of friends.  I'm so thankful I have two girls.  They are 4 years apart but have shared a room almost their whole lives.  Julia has a very hard time thinking about Olivia ever living away from her.  It will be interesting to see what the future holds. I have a feeling that they will always be close.

My wonderful hubby who pulled off his speech the morning of.  He never prepares much in advance. I'm so jealous that he can do that and do it well.  

Me, on the other hand, prepared what I wanted to say weeks in advance and kept revising it over and over.  Then I got up there and kind of second guessed my plans and skipped over parts of it thinking our guests weren't that interested.  Funny how a bunch of faces staring at you can influence you.

Pictures of the crowd.

 Olivia and Julia played a duet of Glorify Thy Name and I Love You, Lord.  No one was leading the singing but everyone began singing along.  This brought tears to my eyes.  I was struck with what a beautiful group of friends we have that love Jesus and were showing their love for Olivia.  It was one of those moments I will never forget.

Olivia surprised me and got up in front of everyone and shared her testimony with no notes.  She just shared her story of how God revealed himself to her and how much he has impacted her life.

Proud Mommy moment!

 Olivia wrote a song called You Are My Everything.  Sarah, who is playing piano, put it to music.  I thought it was only fitting that Olivia sing it for the first time publicly at her graduation.

Julia paid a tribute to Olivia and she didn't cry!  She is a very cute 13 year old, I must say.

These 4 sang, O the Deep, Deep Love of Jesus.

 So these two really blew me away.

Anthony wrote a funny skit giving the graduate advice.

Throughout the week leading up to her graduation, he kept running it by me.  I wasn't sure if it would turn out very funny or if the audience would get his jokes or not.

But once they got up there and started in, they were just darling together, acting out their parts and just having fun up there.  

 They really cracked themselves up which was so entertaining to watch!

Lastly, we presented Olivia with her diploma.  

These pictures are so sweet.  Michelle is a friend and co-worker of Rich's.

One of my best friend's daughter is Lydia Schulz.  She has developed a sweet friendship with Olivia.

More pictures of her table.

Olivia is really into this right now and is looking into becoming EMT certified.

She literally lights up whenever an ambulance or fire truck drives by.

You know your child has an interest in something specific when they read EMT textbooks in their spare time!

The food line.  I love the decorations hanging from the ceiling in these pictures.

More friends and guests.  Dear, dear people who have been instrumental in Olivia's life and my own, for that matter.

Little Levi and Esther getting a good look at each other.

Olivia and Faith have a love for the medical world in common not to mention they seem to have similar personalities! It will be fun to see what doors God opens for these two in the future.

I love the way Emily is hanging on her mother's shoulder.

My Mother and Father-in-law serving punch and coffee together.  What a cute pair!

You have to speak up when talking to my Father-in-law.  I can just hear him asking loudly, "Huh?  You want more?  or No?"

Levi was on his own a bit with all these people.  Looks like he was having fun looking at the people outside.

These two girls are sisters.  Hope in the picture above and Faith in the picture below.  Aren't they pretty?  Faith took all these pictures for us and I'm so grateful I have a detailed account of the whole day.

Pictures of the whole family.  It was so wonderful to have both my parents and Rich's parents fly out to be here to see Olivia graduate.  Even one of Rich's sister's was able to come!  We felt very loved and supported.

I can't imagine celebrating this special day and not having my parents attend.  I'm so glad they were able to make it.

This is Olivia's true personality!

I'm so pleased that we chose to make a big deal out of Olivia's high school graduation.  We could have celebrated in a variety of ways but this just seemed fitting.  Olivia and I had a blast planning everything that it really wasn't a big head ache.  It could have been stressful for me since I'm not a big party thrower but it wasn't.  God really showed up for this one.  Olivia will remember this forever and that is what I'd hoped for.

Olivia has begun her own blog and needs some followers.  If you are interested in it go to
servantoftheking95.blogspot.com

Kristin Lodi

New Way of Eating = New recipes!

I'm so excited to tell you that loosing weight can be fun and enjoyable.  I've just put the whole family on the Trim, Healthy Mama plan.  The book is at www.trimhealthymama.com.  I've had my eye on this book for quite awhile as many of my friends were buying it and discussing it.  I waiting until May which is Mother's day month and my birthday to ask for it. 

 Now that I'm 46 years old I'm not loosing weight like I used to.  I used to be able to skip a meal or just eat fruit for breakfast and then cut out desserts and get back to my pre-pregnancy weight pretty easily.  Two years after the birth of my 6th baby, I find myself struggling with not only an extra 10 lbs but my body shape has changed.  I no longer seem to have a waist!  All my life I've carried extra weight in my hips and thighs but not my waist or arms.  Now my arms are flabby, my stomach is bulging and so I'm feeling my age.  I do have a sluggish thyroid so I'm on Armor to give my thyroid a boost which I thought would give my metabolism a boost too.  But after 3 months of thyroid meds, I'm not able to get this weight off.  My doctor put me on the paleo diet which just means no carbs. I was allowing myself to eat fruit whenever and milk in my coffee which was probably spiking my blood sugar and at the wrong times. Never eating grains is quite a bit of work and to have little to no results is draining. This diet is different in that you can have carbs, you just have to eat them at the right time and limit your carb grams to 45 per meal.  Once you get the hang of it it's easy.  There is plenty of desserts you can play around with they just all contain Stevia instead of artificial sweeteners or even natural sugars.  I did not know that honey does the same thing in your body that sugar does as far as glucose levels go. Knowing how to combine your fats, carbs and protein is key to this diet.

I began looking at the Trim, Healthy Mama Facebook page and reading other peoples testimonies and looking at all the recipes and was hooked!   I wanted to start immediately.  So I tried my best while waiting for the book to come in the mail.  This is the dinner we were having the day I received the book.  

I knew my family would not be satisfied with barbecued beef ribs, cucumber salad and asparagus so I quickly checked the book for another side.  I made the cauliflower potato salad and it was so yummy!

This is considered a Satisfying meal or S meal for short because it has a protein, high fat and hardly any carbs.  No potatoes in that salad and no side of bread or any fruit to spike your blood sugar levels.  So you can eat all this yummy food and still loose weight.

This is an S lunch.  I'm telling you, this lunch was so tastey I could hardly contain myself.  It's a BLT salad on top of paleo flatbread.  So the bacon and mayo make it high in fat.  The flatbread is made with eggs, coconut flour, and cream.  Bacon makes everything fabulous and you can have it.  I buy the good stuff made with no nitrates and it's uncured.  Just a few pieces crumbled into your salad or casserole really makes a difference.

A side of fresh coconut is a yummy, crunchy snack or side to your lunch instead of crackers or potato chips. The benefits of coconut are amazing!

The key to making a good salad is lots of toppings.  My mother-in-law makes the best Italian salad and I noticed that she puts all the toppings in first, filling her bowl about 1/3 of the way and then adds her lettuce.  She tosses it with an Italian dressing and adds cracked pepper and salt.  My standard salad usually includes tomato, red onion, olives,  and shredded parmesan cheese.  Avocado is good on this too but not everyone in my family likes it.  So I put in on myself after I've put a large helping on my plate.  We make a delicious creamy Italian dressing  that is easy and healthy.  I've given this recipe out to many friends as it seems to be a favorite for lots of people. We make a lot so we have it on hand all week but you could cut the recipe in half if you don't want that much.

I'll list it here so you don't have to remember to ask me later:

• 1 cup of Apple Cider Vinager
• 2 clove of garlic
• 1 Tbsp of Tahini
• 1 tsp of Italian seasoning
• 1 tsp of salt
• 1/2 tsp of pepper
• a dash of Stevi
• 1 cup of Olive oil

Blend the first 7 ingredients in blender or Vita-mix and then slowly add Olive oil and blend on low till it's all nice and creamy looking.  Tahini is Sesame Seed butter, in case you are wondering and this is what makes it creamy looking. It's found in the same section as your peanut butter at the grocery store. You could make it without it but it would turn out more like an original Italian dressing.

This is the chili relleno casserole from the THM book.  It's so easy and fast to make.  Chicken, green chilis, cheese and eggs. 

Again this is an S meal with little to no carbs.  The berries don't count as carbs.  

You can have carbs on this plan but I'm still figuring out how to add them in without adding too many and you then have just a little fat. These are called Energy meals or E meals. I'm showing you all S meals in this post.

This was such a good side, I just have to share it with you!  I got the basic idea from THM but I tweaked it a bit.  It was easy and a filling side for our barbecued chicken dinner.  It's hard to know what to fix as a side if you want to eat an S-meal.  Potatoes and rice are out so this recipe was a great alternative!

• 2 1/2 yellow or green zucchinis (shredded)
• 1/2 cup of red onion
• 1 cup of shredded cheese
• 5 eggs
• 1/3 cup of cream
• Mix it all together and add salt and pepper.  Grease your muffin tins and Bake at 350* for 20 min.

Serve your mini zucchini quiches with sauteed green beans adding chopped almonds and parmesan.  Serve these sides with your barbecued chicken and you've got yourself a fat burning S meal! 

I think this plan will help me eat right for the rest of my life because now I can have a few carbs each day so I'm not denying myself so much and then feeling guilty when I cheat.  Now I understand how to combine food and keep my sugar levels down to a reasonable level which will keep me healthier and keep my body from storing glucose in my fat cells.  I've already lost 6 pounds which is encouraging.  The book is a good read and quite entertaining too.  I highly recommend it!

Blessings,

Kristin

Summer Fun

Olivia got a new camera for graduation and this picture was taken with it.  She has a nice zoom option! I love birds as long as they are not flying anywhere near me.  Flying things freak me out when they are fluttering next to my head and I have no control over what they might do!  They sure are cool to look at though, from afar.  Birds give out such a peaceful feeling.  Probably because they never seem troubled.

With two boys who fight a whole lot, I've been trying to pull tricks out of my hat to keep them occupied.  I used to live and breath "fun activities for kids" but as the years go by, I've forgotten what they love to do.  One day when I was particularly tired of trying to entertain my almost 5 year old, I saw a bucket out back and the hose and thought, "hey, who cares if he gets wet or dirty, I'll just give him a bath when he is done!"  Instant entertainment, when there is water around, right?

Then I was reminded of many summers spent in these little plastic pools and I went out to find one.  I'm still hopeful it will be just as entertaining next week as it was the first week.

We have a pair of lovebirds in our backyard and I'm pretty sure they have babies in one of our trees.  I'm a little scared to go searching since when I go to pick my tomatoes, they yell at me and fly around just like a mother bird would to protect her young.

Another summer activity that Anthony and I do every year is make soap.  This is our second batch this month.

Anthony always tries crazy stuff (his is on the left) and I decided to do my own since I really wanted a fresh green soap with a lemongrass scent.

Making stuff is so fun especially when it's useful. I love learning how to make things so that we don't have to rely so much on big companies to produce what we need to survive. I just recently learned how to make a lovely scented paste to use as a deodorant!  I don't have a picture of it here but the recipe is so easy that I have to share it with you.  It works so well that you only need to apply it in the morning and you will be good to go all day long!  And if I can say that, living in Texas, you know it's got some awesome oder power and . . . it's all natural!

Love this picture of Anthony's soap.

Ok, deodorant recipe is:

Equal amounts of Arrowroot and Baking Soda (I used 1/4 cup)

Stir together and then moisten with coconut oil until it's the consistency you like.  It doesn't take much.  I think I used maybe 2 TBSP.  I might add a little more to see If I can make it more like a lotion than a paste.  Then I used a Young Living essential oil called Thieves to scent it and for it's anti bacterial/fungal properties.  

I hope to post some pictures of Olivia's graduation once I get them.  Stay tuned!