A Concoction!

I made Hair gel!

Now your suspicions are confirmed; we're strange! :D

Probably so. But we also try to be healthy and frugal! I wanted to find a natural hair gel to get away from all the the chemicals and perfumes in the regular stuff! But buying natural products can get pricey very quickly. As with most things I assumed that it was likely healthier and cheaper if we made our own. With a few minutes of research I found a recipe and ordered a pound of gelatin.

Here's the recipe:

1/4 teaspoon gelatin

1/2 cup boiling water

Dissolve gelatin in boiling water and let set til it thickens. Get it into a container and keep it in the fridge if it's not used up withing a couple of days. You can add some essential oil or extract for a scent.

It seemed like it took a while to thicken up, but that's no biggie.
And here it is after a few hours in the fridge. Very jelled.Now the real question: Does it work? When I told a dear friend that I'd made the stuff I'd told her about she quickly said, "Oh no!" Haha! With great anticipation I slathered it onto my clean wet locks and waited and watched. And... I really like it! It even did pretty well overnight! And since it's 100% natural I have no reservations about using in on our curly headed Babe!

My calculations (which do not include the price of digging our well or the cost of the electricity to pump the water or to run the stove etc.) show that this hair gel costs four cents ($0.04) per cup! Now we like that! I compared the cost to equal amounts of a similar hair gel that works well for me and learned that we could save $418.56. Now we really like that!

The gelatin has protein so it's actually good for your hair! Thank you Lord for creative ideas to be healthier and to be wiser with the money You've entrusted to us! :D

Firsts!

Lilian had her first adventure with "dress-ups" tonight! I was getting out her next size in clothes and she loved helping! She really wanted to wear the floral dress and kept putting everything else on her head! Thank you oh SO much Adina for the hand-me-downs!!!!!
Once on, she determined that the pantie-Beret was not optimal.
We are so thankful for our precious blessing! She is such a delight! It seems like she laughed a lot today and that is so wonderful! A little while after we finished sorting the clothes she was so tired and totally crashed stretched out across my lap! I love it when she sleeps on me!

She's walking now! WOOHOO! She started almost a month ago now! It's so fun having her walking! I love how when we get down on her level she comes to us and the last couple of steps she practically falls into us with a huge smile on her face! 8D

My Beloved and I were in the garden planting potatoes on Saturday and in the course of the conversation he quoted 1 John 4:7-8 to me. "Love" has been the summation of many of our conversations lately, so I'll share those verse here!

"Beloved, let us love one another:
for love is of God;
and every one that loveth is born of God,
and knoweth God.
He that loveth not knoweth not God;
for God is love."
1 John 4:7-8

Food for thought...

I recently read this blog post called "Fashion Slave" and thought it was thought provoking! Fashions are eternally changing and can often be impractical. (I recognize that practical is a relevant term and the application varies from person to person based on the dictates of their chosen lifestyle and calling.)

I am NOT saying "trendy" is inherently bad or evil (Obviously there's nothing intrinsically wrong with wearing dog tags or lime green tennis shoes!). But, constantly striving to keep up with the way the world(or Hollywood or the fashion designer...) looks wastes time and effort and can possibly feed our own vanity and self focus; at least that my imperfect opinion. :)

There is wisdom in the blogger's suggestion that we should aim for a look that doesn't age out so quickly, that is good for our body type, is modest, good colors for our skin... practical! I'm NOT against cute and pretty etc., but may I suggest practical pretty?!

The point is just to not be consumed by (anything other than loving the Lord and our neighbors) the fickle fashions and trends. Defy our current culture; don't be like everyone else; "if everybody does it we don't"; don't be a lemming! Be who God made you to be, not who everyone else is! Take our freedom in Christ and properly apply it to be free from the dictates and traditions of men! And that is definitely an area of life that I can always use the Lord's work in!

We should use some common sense and "good" taste in our clothing, but just let's not allow ourselves to be consumed and enslaved to the latest and greatest fashions and trends! Hope you enjoy and are encouraged by the blog.

Romans 12:1-3

I beseech you therefore, brethren by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.

And be not conformed to this world:

but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect will of God.

For I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you,

not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly,

according as God that dealt to every man the measure of faith.

Act for Eternity

"Whatever be your condition

and calling in life,

keep in view

the whole of your existence.

Act not for the little span of time alloted you in this world,

but act for eternity."

Unknown Wise Man

The Truth Regarding Canola Oil

While in the grocery store the other day I stood for a long time looking at the cooking oils trying to select one that I thought was fairly healthy and low priced (I know, a rare combination). I finally selected Canola oil and went on my merry way. Yet in the back of my mind I wondered.... "I'm pretty sure 'canola' is a plant but where does it come from?" Ignorant me.

Well, tonight I have become a little less ignorant and wanted to share my newfound knowledge with you in hopes that it will save you some health miseries down the road. :)

Here is an tid-bit about canola oil from from this article at www.healthwyze.org. It saddens me to see how I was misled to think that Canola oil was "good", or at least a better choice.

The Truth About Canola Oil

Many companies are selling canola oil as the "healthy" alternative, but canola oil is a *counterfeit oil made from genetically engineered rapeseed plants. Canola oil, in fact, was invented in 1976, and it wasn't merely the product of selective breeding, as its proponents contend. Its parent, rapeseed, was banned for food oils, because it attacks the heart to cause permanent degenerative lesions. Canola is not exactly the healthy choice either, and as mentioned earlier, it is officially an E.P.A. registered pesticide. What remains of canola oil (after cooking) is just another hydrogenated oil being pushed by the industry, solely for greed; and it will damage the cardiovascular system in time, like all such oils. Part of the word games used to deceive you about canola oil involve the fact that it is a healthy oil until it is actually heated. Then it undergoes a chemical transformation. So yes, canola is a healthy cooking oil provided that you do not actually cook your food in it. As long as it remains cold and inside its air-tight bottle -- it tests to be healthy! However, once heated, canola oil produces 1,3-Butadiene, benzene, acrolein, formaldehyde, and other related compounds which become infused into the foods being cooked.

Canola has been F.D.A. banned from infant formula because it stunts the growth, and there are likely other reasons not disclosed.

Canola oil is also noted to produce cancer causing toxic fumes when heated at much lower temperatures than are required to cause smoking by other oils, and of course, heating is its intended use. Rapeseed and canola oil fumes are the primary reason for the surprisingly high incidence of Asian lung cancers, despite tobacco smoking being a rarity. Canola fumes have been known to kill pet birds, and many readers will remember that pet parakeets were once used in coal mines to detect the presence of poison gases.

While we do not always see eye-to-eye with Dr. Joseph Mercola, we do respect him for having guts. He was the first to go against the collective grain to attack the deceptive canola industry, and it was right that he did. As reported by Dr. Mercola:

"Canola oil was developed from the rape seed, a member of the mustard family. Rape seed is unsuited to human consumption because it contains a very-long-chain fatty acid called erucic acid, which under some circumstances is associated with fibrotic heart lesions. It has a high sulphur content and goes rancid easily. Baked goods made with canola oil develop mold very quickly. During the deodorizing process, the omega-3 fatty acids of processed canola oil are transformed into the dangerous trans fatty acids, similar to those in margarine, and possibly more dangerous. A recent study indicates that 'heart healthy' canola oil actually creates a deficiency of vitamin E, a vitamin required for a healthy cardiovascular system. Other studies indicate that even low-erucic-acid canola oil causes heart lesions, particularly when the diet is low in saturated fat."

Which reminds me that one of the retail "vegetable" oils even boasted about having Vitamin E. Of course, it was the synthetic variant of Vitamin E, which actually does almost nothing; but in addition, becomes highly toxic whenever heated. It is important to remember that it was in a cooking oil. That made it so "healthy" after all, because the canola and soy were not healthy enough without it. I really had to wonder why they didn't simply add some paint thinner too -- which is technically very chemically similar to these oils when broken down by high heat.

To learn the painful details about the chemical engineering required to make canola oil supposedly fit for human consumption, see our previous article, The Bomb Shell Truth About Canola Oil.

Our strong recommendation is that you use cold pressed extra virgin olive oil for almost everything, or even pure butter. Cold pressed extra virgin olive oil is unchanged from God's hand. Sunflower oil (not to be confused with safflower) is a second best if it is unavailable. Use peanut oil for deep frying, because of its resistance to breaking down in high heat.

*edit, a word substitute

Hmmm. I haven't opened it yet, so I might just return my brand new bottle of an "E.P.A. registered pesticide" and get some sunflower or olive oil! :) I wonder in what other areas I've been bamboozled into thinking something is "healthier"?

Bearing Reproof

Today I was doing a little reading regarding child training and read the verse "The rod and reproof give wisdom" Provers 29:15. The article I was reading pointed out that "Reproof is delivered in words. Reproof is designed to impart wisdom and understanding. Reproof corrects the child's perspective and give him a reason to ovey that is higher than fear. " This made me wonder what exactly "reproof" means, and there with the definition was this quote from Pope:

"Those best can bear reproof, who merit praise."

I only have one young child so I don't know a whole lot, but I've been observing other parent-child relations for 20 years, so I've learned a smidgen. ;) I read once that our words of correction should be very few in comparison to the kind words of encouragement and love that we speak to our children. But I thought, "It seems I say so much in the ways of training and correction!" Well then, start talking to her more!!! When she's playing contentedly go to her, look her in the eyes and smile really big and say I love you randomly throughout the day. When we catch each other's eyes, smile, if I'm not smiling already! Increase the number of words I speak so that the majority will be joyful and encouraging words!

Picture an "older" child, say 4 years old. Think how much better he would receive reproof if it was just the sprinkles on a whole cupcake of praise and encouragement!

Just a thought that encouraged me that I thought I'd write down...

P.S. WE'VE BEEN IN THE NEW HOUSE FOR A COUPLE OF WEEKS NOW!!! WOOHOO! I'll give a more substantial update later.

A thought and a choice...

"If we're going to laugh at it later

we might as well laugh at it now."

~Enjoying lots of love & laughter & life... ;)

Blank Please!

Mrs. Ahlgren needs to find blank paper for packing things up! Obituaries etc. are way too distracting. There was one lady who was 103 years old!

The "profile pic" is my sister and me laughing REALLY hard when we were 12 and 10.

LAND!!!

Guess where we are!?!

On Monday we sold our lovely "Wedding House" and purchased a larger piece of RAW land! Praise God!!!!! We were able to buy the land with our dear friends Caleb and Daniel, so they now, after years and years of saving and praying, have their own "homestead to be"!

We took a family picture in front of our home before we sold it! Last picture of it as ours!

This is the gentleman we, (David, Caleb, Daniel and me) purchased the land from. He is 89 years old and bought the land in the 60's. Our three household will be the fourth owner(s) since the Land Run.

Unfortunately the picture of our pretty poparatzi would not upload, much to her delight, I'm sure. :(

David signing...

Daniel signing...

and Caleb signing...

Woohoo! We sold our house and bought new land!

Listening to Mr. Farrar's stories and advice...

After we finished up at the closing company all 6 of us squeezed into our Trooper to run some errands! As usual, we had a lot of fun! One of our errands was to one of our favorite stores, Lowes, and we even went down the plumbing isle! Woohoo! David went in style! :)

"I've been in this seat all day... can we go to the new land now?"

After a quick stop at our... old... house we headed out to the new land! We messed around for a little while and then my family came out to celebrate with us!

My lovely sister and sweet daughter...

My beautiful mother...

My handsome hardworking husband...

Getting ready to cook some hotdogs... and marshmallows!

Together on our new homestead! Thank you Lord! I love you my wonderful visionary husband! You're a boundless blessing and I'm privileged to be your wife! Thank you!

Lilian staying warm with Miah!

My Man builds a beautiful bonfire! This fire is from burning the brush to clear our house spot!

Dad keeping Lilian cozy while she watches the fire! It was her first camp fire!

Me, Anna, Bethany and Kris. Do not do this. Four people on a 4-wheeler may be fun(especially if it's those four) but it's not a great idea. The official limit is 2, when I asked permission for this it was thought there was only 3, but there was 4... We had a great time and made some memories, but DON'T do this yourself!

We've been out there every day since closing! We now have the entry rocked, a little more rocked yesterday and possibly, Lord willing, will have the rest of the driveway rocked this afternoon. I'll try to post updates with specific progress reports and pictures. We go out to the land in the morning and don't come back til dark, so that makes time for blogging limited!

My Man did an excellent job with the backhoe yesterday! He got the house spot macro leveled and today we are taking the tractor our there and he hopes to micro level the spot! It's looking really good! So exciting! He's such a hard diligent worker! I love him SO much!

Please pray...

• That we will bring glory to God in all that we do and say as we work together, with friends, and with people that we hire.
• For safety.
• For wisdom, speed and accuracy.
• For pleasant(i.e. warm) DRY weather.
• For David's other job to not get too busy while he's building.
• For us to get adequate rest to be efficient.

Got to go, we're heading out in a few minutes! What a blessing and wonderful opportunity! :) Adventures, here we come!

The LORD hath done great things for us;

whereof we are glad!

Ginger Snaps!

We love ginger snaps! The spices are good for you and molasses has iron in it!!! :) But everything in moderation! Well, not in everything, but probably everything food related!

I've never made ginger snaps because I typically try to sweeten with honey and it's pretty hard to get a cookie to "snap" when it's made with honey. :( But we recently bought some succanat, so I thought I'd use some and see what happened!

After searching for and comparing recipes, collecting two eggs from the chickens, and restraining myself from eating all of the dough, I took the final result to my hard working husband out on the tractor. Oh, to savor the look on his face! (I love it when I can bring him pleasure and delight and he is so good to communicate to me what he likes and to affirm and encourage me!) He definitely liked the cookie! We both thoroughly enjoy molasses and spice edibles! 

Thankfully, the Lord let them taste good to people other than us Ahlgrens, so here is the recipe for you Savannah! 

I used half white flour and half whole wheat flour, but the wheat I used was very fine, sort of like wheat pastry flour. Make sure you get everything very well mixed! In our oven, 12 minutes left them a little too moist, so using the whole 15 minutes was just right! I put a few extra cookies in a bag with some buns and they collected a lot of moisture, so those tasted like a molasses chewy cookie, which is good too! Hope you enjoy 'em if you make 'em!!!

P.S. Another belly picture has been added to the last post and there's now a poll on the sidebar so you can vote on whether Baby Ahlgren will be a son or daughter, nephew or niece,  cousin or... cousin!

From a sister...

Our dear sweet sister has recently posted some wonderful information on her family's blog and we joyously decided to share it here too! This is a subject we thoroughly enjoy discussing, particulary with some of our dearly beloved neighbors! We hope you find the information helpful, encouraging, inspiring, and informative! Enjoy!


Cloth Diaper Monologue

Cloth diapering seems to be growing as an ever-increasingly popular money-saver during these tighter times (this is a perfect example of the GOOD benefits of difficult times)

This past summer as I was looking for ways to save money, and after I noticed the savings on diapers when Elijah potty trained, I decided to take a second look at cloth diapering.

MONEY: Investment amount to begin cloth diapering can range from around $100 per child to over $500 per child (still a savings over disposables) Basically there are two methods: Cheap and Expensive. Cheap, being Indian prefolds (they give you the best run for your money) held together with Snappis instead of pins, and covers to keep the moisture in. Expensive being All-In-One diapers that are basically a cloth version of a nice disposable - all one piece and VERY easy to change. As noble as it is, our main reason for using cloth now is NOT for environmental reasons (though that is a great reason - supposedly one TON of waste is saved for every child that is cloth diapered!) but for the financial savings it brings ($1800-$2500 is saved per child over the 2-3 years before they are potty trained)

CONVENIENCE: Since the summer, I have been doing a cloth/disposable hybrid method. Basically, I use cloth when it is convenient, but use disposables at night (you have to spend money on special covers usually and often children wake up at night b/c of the wetness, so we skip that part) and when we go out when someone else might change them (church for example). Jeremy sneaks a disposable on the children at home sometimes, too. We went with prefolds with Snappis instead of pins, and Thirsties covers, after trying a lot of other covers and diapers. Dappi NYLON covers (cheap) are the best backups when I run out of my Thirsties. This has saved us a TON of money already. I buy my prefolds as seconds (meaning they supposedly have a flaw, but nothing makes them unuseful.)

TIME: After you learn the ropes, a cloth diaper doesn’t take longer than a disposable to change. I wash a load twice a week - it takes me an extra 20 minutes at THE MOST TOTAL - 10 minutes per load to load, switch to the dryer, hang covers and fold.

THE POOPIES: The old fashioned method of toilet dunking for taking care of the poopies has gone the way of records and VHS tapes. Now there are little things called “diaper showers” that hook to your toilet that allow you to spray a diaper off without you or the diaper ever touching the toilet or toilet water. I actually only use this about 20% of the time. 80% of the time the stuff will just drop off the diaper into the toilet, or for a breastfed baby, it is totally liquid and soaks out in the bucket.

THE BUCKETS: Check out the diaperpin website below for methods for this. I use a dry bucket and we have LESS smell in the house from diapers now that we are cloth diapering (NO LIE!)

WHERE TO START: There are a few good websites that I use to research diapers (what works for one family may not work for another)

www.diaperpin.com Cloth diapering reviews, options, instructions for cloth diapering

www.clothdiaper.com Their seconds on prefolds are WORTH waiting for. . .this site is the reason I got my cloth diaper set up for under $100 per child

www.nickisdiapers.com Lots of items for free shipping - Thirsties ship for free from this site, and so do wetbags (bags to have in your diaper bag to hold wet/dirty diapers) -AWESOME!

www.craigslist.org I have been able to find some All-In-One diapers for a discount on here - I got 5 Bumkins and 5 Kushies for $60 and they were barely used. These deals take some watching for, but are worth it if you find them. Jeremy likes to use these, and they are nice to have when we go out too.

The cloth diaper switch has been good for our family, but is NOT for everyone. We don’t think it’s a moral issue, no more than any other family financial decision, and we don’t think our children feel more nurtured because we cloth diaper them. There are some out there who do think that. . .be aware of that if you do chose to join this ever-growing group!

Please feel free to post what you have done/not done for cloth diapering, or questions.


from internet, Lord willing we'll have a picture of our own similar to this to post... hehehe!
Comments are welcome here, but feel free to comment directly on Adina's family blog here also! Once again, we pray that what you have read here will be of benefit to you, your family and/or your future family... especially if you are "you-know-who"!!!!! :)