Hard Truths About Water & Sport Berkey Water Bottles Giveaway ($50 value!)

As missionaries, filtered water is vital for our health and survival in a third world country where natural water sources are questionable and usually unsafe to drink.


Water is so necessary for life, but is being treated with much disregard... especially in third world countries. Black water and human waste are being dumped in the rivers and lakes, factory farms dump their manure waste close to water sources where antibiotics and parasites can contaminate surrounding water wells, chemical runoff from farms overusing pesticides & herbidcides, industrial wastes, pollution and garbage dumps from the cities always end up leaching all sorts of metals, arsenic, poisons and petrochemicals into the water.


Thankfully, there are resources available to provide clean, healthy water... but they aren't all easily accessible or affordable for most people in the world! It all seems depressing when I think how far we've come to cause so much damage through simply being wasteful, unthoughtful and unwise. Our actions are causing others to not be able to have access to clean water that is safe to drink.


That is a problem that we are actually excited to tackle in a small way this month with our local community. We will keep you posted through RO4Y's website (and probably here) about our BioSand water filters that we are gathering for the local people to help build for themselves and their families! Prayerfully it will happen soon. Stay tuned!

Traveling With the Berkey
Whenever my family and I travel we never leave the house without our Sport Berkey Water Bottles which contains portable water filters inside. We can safely fill our bottles with tap water wherever we are. The Sport Portable Water Purifier eliminates or reduces up to 99.9% of:

• Unpleasant taste and odors, cloudiness, silt, sediment and chlorine.

• Toxic chemicals: Trihalomethanes, VOCs, detergents, pesticides, etc.

• Harmful microscopic pathogens: Cryptosporidium, Giardia, E-coli 99.99999% and other pathogenic bacteria.

• Heavy metals: Aluminum, Cadmium, Chromium, Copper, Lead, and Mercury.

• Radiologicals: Radon 222

Most people wonder why we even bother to do that when we can just buy bottled water. Some even think we are crazy for doing such a thing like that!


Unfortunately, bottled water isn't even the best option when searching for safe, clean water to drink. I trust my Berkey water bottle way more than I trust a bottle of RO (Reverse Osmosis) water. 

The Hard Truth About Bottled Water
In third world countries, bottled water is heavily used by foreigners & locals alike and most never question the companies who produce the filtered bottled water. Most people believe that bottle water is perfectly safe & healthy to drink. I am sorry to say that this is far from the truth. Besides it being expensive and harmful to our environment, it is also dead water.


I've learned to question where my source of water is coming from. With bottled water there are two questions you should be asking... Where do they get their water and how are they filtering it?


To answer the first question, a majority of companies simply use regular tap water and filter it. Right there, you should be concern. Why? Because not everything gets filtered out. Most water sources in third world countries are already coming from contaminated rivers and lakes that go through a questionable process of being cleaned & "treated". Independent studies have found that contents of bottled water contains chemicals from the plastic containing the water, caffeine, pharmaceuticals, heavy metals and minerals including arsenic & radioactive isotopes, fertilizer residue (nitrate and ammonia) and a broad range of industrial chemicals used as solvents, plasticizers, viscosity, degreasing agents and propellants.


Now, I know the article linked up there is mostly talking about bottled water in the USA (which is scary and wrong), but if they are finding contamination in US bottled water... how much more can be found in bottled water in third world countries where corruption, greed, lack of care and lack of sanitation is so common?!


Yeah, think about that for a minute.


I could go on and on about how bad bottled water is with all the information I've found through my research (did you know that water companies are taking water from other countries to bottle and sell in the USA?!), but maybe another time  :o)


The Risks of Drinking Dead Water 
Now, my second question... how do most of these companies filter their water sources? Most likely with a reverse osmosis (RO) system which is supposed to filter out everything, but in the process all the good stuff that needs to be in the water to make it living, reviving, refreshing and life-giving also gets filtered out. Naturally, water contains calcium, potassium and magnesium that is vital for our bodies to absorb the water. Without them the pure water is basically dead and acid.

"...devices like R.O. purifiers remove everything from the water, harmful bacteria ( if any ) as well as beneficial minerals. This mineral-stripped water cannot sustain life even in a fish bowl. Like humans all fish require minerals to prosper, and if allowed to live in R. O. types of waters they will all perish. If this type of water is consumed for long periods of time, it will certainly result in acute deficiency of essential mineral elements like calcium ( Ca ), magnesium ( Mg ), and the precious mineral---silica ( SiO2 ). Hence, mineralized water is needed for all cellular functions of the body, and if there are no minerals in your drinking water your body will try to rob the minerals from some other parts of your body system to satisfy its needs. Mostly the bones and teeth are the worst victims to lose calcium, magnesium, etc. Although we can take mineral supplements to replace them, but it is not easy to replace the minerals in our body with the same speed with which we have lost them." source

So, when you drink a bottle of water... do you find yourself enjoying the water and being satisfied? Does it taste good and refreshing? Make you feel energized? Or do you feel more thirsty and the taste is unappealing? Do you often suffer from headaches? Bone pain? Constant fatigue? Even feel dehydrated even though you drink a lot of water? Those are symptoms of your body lacking vital minerals needed to properly absorb the water you are drinking. In order for the body to absorb the pure (dead) water, it has to pull minerals from your bones and that is not good for women who have or are at risk of osteoporosis.

"Water is called the universal solvent for a very good reason.  Plain H2O is very good at dissolving a wide variety of substances.  Natural water is very rich in minerals because of this, and much of the minerals vital to our good health come from natural water.  Think of plain H2O like a sponge, needing to soak up minerals.  It will do this from your own body, making this an unhealthy long term choice to drink. It is especially bad for women with or at risk of getting osteoporosis." source

My Experience With RO Water
I lived on RO bottled water for almost a year when we first moved to Honduras and hated it. I felt like I was drinking plastic water and it was hard to even get my girls to drink it! I struggled mostly with fatigue and dehydration even though I drank several glasses a day. I also had headaches and hardly ever had them before I started drinking RO water! Through research I learned to put in a pinch of unrefined sea salt in my glass of water to put back the vital minerals needed to make the water taste & absorb better. It helped a lot, but the water was still "dead" and possibly "dirty" with contaminates... I knew we needed to find a better alternative for filtered water.


Thankfully, we were given a Royal Berkey System as a gift from our home church. We LOVE it and  are so grateful that we have it, but I will need to share more about this system in another post in the near future!

Travel Solution: The Sport Berkey Water Bottle
For those who travel a lot or have, ahem, a bad habit of buying bottled water. A Sport Berkey Water Bottle would be a smart buy for you. Not only will these bottles help put less plastic bottles in the garbage dumps, but it will also help you save $$ on bottled water filled with dead, worthless water and possibly "dirty".


We love our Berkey Water Bottles! My only complaint is that it is made of plastic, even though it is BPA-free plastic. For a while we were using the Ecousable Filter Water Bottles, but it seems they went out of business. I liked their bottles because it was made of stainless steel, but it was a little difficult sucking the water through the filter they provided in their bottles. Honestly, it was a pain and my husband was really annoyed with his Ecousable water bottle. He rarely used it unless he absolutely had to, but I am glad to say he loves his new Sport Berkey water bottle and takes it everywhere with him! It is so much easier to suck the water through the filter that even my young kids don't have a problem with it.


The only thing we have to remember about these bottles is that they don't filter out fluoride or arsenic like the standing Berkey Systems do when you purchase their fluoride/arsenic filters. It would be nice if they could create a filter that can do that, but it would take up too much room in the bottle. So, if you are really concern about these two poisons, then it would be a good idea to purchase a standing Berkey System and fill up a big water bottle to take around with you instead. You can even purchase a small travel Berkey System, we have one and used it for our travels when we were stateside last fall. It was great having it!!


For those who enjoy hiking... this is a great water bottle for you to carry along with you. You can easily fill your bottle from a river, lake or pond. Just remember that it can shorten the life of your filter and if you are concern that there might be sewage contamination... a few drops of chlorine or iodine will kill the bacteria and as you drink the water, the filter will clean out the few drops of chlorine or iodine so you will not have to worry about drinking those few drops.


All around, this is a great bottle to have on the run and for traveling!!


Now, the Giveaway!
Thanks to the generosity of LPC Survival, they not only gave me 3 bottles for my family to use (all my thoughts and opinions are my own), but they are going to give you a chance to win TWO Sport Berkey Water Bottles (valued $49.98)!!

How to Enter...

For this giveaway I am going to try out using the Rafflecopter. Simply follow through the list of options to enter and increase your chances of winning by how many points you collect.

Hope this goes well for our first try! Giveaway starts now and ends on May 31st. Thanks for participating and spreading the word about the giveaway.  Hugs!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

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VitaClay Winner & GREAT DISCOUNT!

Here's the moment you all have been waiting for!!


But first, I must say a big thank you to Vitaclay for generously giving away one VitaClay 2-in-1 Rice N' Slow Cooker - 8 cups to one of my readers! So, Thank you!


I really love this cooker. I just made Chicken Tortilla Soup yesterday and my chicken wasn't fully thawed, but I went ahead and threw it in along with some fresh carrots (my first from our garden!), onions, cilantro, garlic, spices, water and tomato paste. I turned it on to the "Soup" mode and added on 30 more minutes to make sure the chicken cooked thoroughly. It came out DEElicious! The meat was very tender and melting off the bones. The veggies was just right and the flavor was superb! The best part was that it only took 10 minutes tops to throw it all in there. I am totally making it again!

 

So, the winner of this fabulous machine is...........

Ann Pettenaude!!!

Star_2000_shineat@------------

"Hi Mare, how cool is that cooker? I've wanted a rice cooker for a long time but I try to avoid nonstick at all costs. If I won I would make simple brown rice for my first meal, I just can't get it right on the stove. "   - Ann P 

This is so fun! Ann is actually a good friend of ours and we worked together several years back at Rancho Sordo Mudo. So cool that she got randomly chosen to win this giveaway!

Congratulations Ann! I know you are gonna love it once you see how perfect the brown rice comes out! Hope you will have many more good meals coming out of that fabulous machine and that your hubby will be impress  ;o)   -Your Friend, Mare.

Now, for the rest of you mamas... VitaClay is giving the first 100 shoppers a nice 20% discount for the VitaClay 2-in-1 Rice N' Slow Cooker - 8 cups. That's $18 off the already reduced price on their website! The original price is $129.99, but on sale for $89.99 ($40 off!) & the first 100 shoppers can get it for $71.99 ($58 off!).


VitaClay said you won't be able to find a nice deal like that anywhere. So, if I were you, I could take this code: EW20 and buy that sweet cooker!! I promise you that you will be so glad you did! Think about it... you are getting two things for a good price, a rice cooker & slow cooker made in a non-toxic clay pot. I looked and saw that many of the upscale rice cookers sell anywhere from $100 to $300 on Amazon and that's not including a slow cooker mode.


Alright, I know I said enough... now, go talk to the hubby or just buy it!  ;o)


Thank you everyone for participating in the giveaway and I have another one coming up very soon, keep a lookout for it! Have a great week.

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Mother's Day Review & Giveaway: Vitaclay Rice Cooker & Slow Cooker ($129 Value)

This giveaway is now over. A big thanks to Vitaclay for their generosity and to all of you who entered! Winner will soon be announced!!


With Mother's Day coming up quickly, I knew I had to post a giveaway for all you mamas out there who would love to have one of these. Thanks to the generosity of VitaClay, I have a cooker to giveaway to one blessed mama!


First, I must share my review and how I came across this amazing dual cooker that now sits in my kitchen.

Finding the VitaClay Cooker
Several months back I started doing research on rice cookers to see if they were really worth having in the kitchen. I've been able to make nearly perfect rice, both white and brown, on my stovetop consistently. It never really cross my mind to get a rice cooker... just one less thing to have in the kitchen, right?


Well, my husband made a comment how maybe a rice cooker would be nice to have to give me more space on my stovetop. He had a good point. I often wish my stovetop was a better build (it is Latin American made, not recommended!) so that the heating is even and there is enough space for me to put in my big pots next to each other when I am cooking for large groups.


...But I am not here to complain  :o)  It is what I have and I make the best of it as much as I can. LOL!


Anyway, while doing research and not finding anything good... I came across the VitaClay Rice Cooker & Slow Cooker. I was thrilled to find out that the company had developed a rice cooker and slow cooker dual that uses a natural clay pot, rather than aluminum or non-stick. The clay pot is made from unglazed Chinese Zisha Clay!


Of course, I knew I had to try it out and send off an email to the company. They wrote back and generously offered me the VitaClay Chef Gourmet Rice N' Slow Cooker Pro - 8 Cup (makes 16 cups of rice and has a 4.2 quart size capacity) to review. I couldn't wait to get my hands on this cooker!

This cooker is so unique! The outside is all high techy and fancy looking, but then you open it up... there in that fancy machine is a traditional clay pot! It is surprisingly very light-wieghted and easy to work with. VitaClay combines all the rich flavor of traditional clay cooking with the convenience of a slow cooker. Now that's my kinda cooker!


Not only does it help make the food moist and very flavorful, the unglazed clay is toxic-free... making it a much better choice over the usual non-stick or aluminum that pretty much all rice cookers use.


10 Features That Made the VitaClay Cooker a Winner:

• The all-natural clay enriches the flavor and texture of your food
• Free of aluminum, added lead and Teflon... no chemicals touches your food
• Clay is naturally non-stick
• Heats up considerably faster than a slow cooker
• Cooks twice as fast as a slow cooker and keeps the food warm until you are ready to eat
• Saves up to 50% more energy then a slow cooker and gives 60% more cooking efficiency
• Makes perfect rice
• Multi-program functions (VitaClay Chef Gourmet Rice N' Slow Cooker Pro - 8 Cup) for savory stews, porridge, soups, fluffy rice, brown rice and sticky rice.
• Has a delayed timer and automatically keeps warm for up to 20 hours
• Push-buttons controls and an easy-to-read LCD display / clock

I only have 3 complaints so far in my testing... the first is to make sure I have enough liquid to cover the food or it will boil down and burn the bottom. I've had that happen only twice because I wasn't paying attention to how much liquid I needed to add in. The second thing is the lid on the clay pot has a small handle that sometimes makes it difficult to pick up without feeling like I might drop it. Don't know if that can be changed or not. The third thing is that I would love the cooker to be larger... it works great for my family plus another person or two, but I would love to be able to have a large enough pot of stew to feed up to 10 people or more.

Overall, I have really enjoyed my VitaClay cooker and excited to keep trying different recipes. Below are what I've tested so far in my cooker... the first 2 meals I got out of the recipe book that came with the cooker:

Thai Curry Chicken 

This was the first recipe I made and it was delicious! I am making a batch this in the VitaClay cooker right now as I type... yeah, its that good!

Greek Beef Stew
I was very surprised by how tender the beef came out in such a short time! Beef here are usually tough because the cows mostly roam on grass and whatever else they can find to eat. The recipe for this Greek Beef stew was simply delicious and rich with spices!

Morrocan Beef Stew
I love this stew and have made it several times in my crockpot, but I made several adjustments and was able to try it out in the VitaClay cooker. It was delicious and the flavors seemed more intense than they did coming out of my crockpot. Great served over wholegrain couscous! Remind me to share the recipe with you later!!

Brown Rice, Jasmine Rice and Basmatic Rice
I was VERY surprised by how perfect the rice came out each time I used it. Not too wet, not too dry and not sticky whatsoever... with just the right amount of chewiness, tenderness & firmness. I know, its hard to believe that rice would come out that perfect... but each one of them have over and over! It is amazing how I can scoop out the rice easily and they crumble apart so nicely into a bowl. I've had NO problems with the rice sticking or browning at the bottom. Its amazing! I am kicking myself for not taking any pictures! The pictures of the bowls above are rice I cooked on my stovetop because the cookers were being used for the stews.


I would like to try other grains and see how they come out. I also want to try making some desserts in the cooker... you know me and my sweet tooth! LOL!


Now, the Giveaway!
Thanks to the generosity of VitaClay, you have a chance to win a VitaClay 2-in-1 Rice N' Slow Cooker - 8 cup (makes 16 cups of rice and has 4.2 quart size capacity).

How to Enter...

Simply leave a comment below what your first meal would be if you won this cooker. That's one entry... please read on for more entries to increase your chance of winning!

Extra Entries...

You must do the main entry above first before doing the extra entries. Remember that each entry is a separate comment! Thanks and have fun!

1. Subscribe to receive my posts via email (1 entry)
2. "Like" Just Making Noise on Facebook and share giveaway on your wall. (1 entry)
3. Follow me on Pinterest and pin this giveaway! (1 entry)

Remember, if you are already subscribed, liked on facebook and follow me on pinterest... you automatically get those entries. Please post a separate comment for EACH entry. You can have a total of 4 entries!

The Rules...

Every comment must have an email address. The giveaway ends May 16th, 2012 and is open to those who live in the USA. The winner will be chosen via random.org

I will contact the winner and the winner will have 48 hours to reply with his/her contact information. If there is no reply, then the winner will be disqualified and a new winner will be chosen.

Thanks for participating and spreading the word about the giveaway.  Hugs!

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Catching Up & News!

I'm finally getting back into the world of blogging, but...


I have to be honest...


I did not miss blogging.


Not one bit.


Believe me, blogging the way I do is a lot of work!


Being a mama and wife is a lot more work. Combine those two and you've got an overworked mama that needs to back off once in a while.


Anyway, it was a much needed break with my body going through the cycle of making our baby #4... yep, you read that right! That's the news! If you haven't heard via Facebook or through friends, I am about 3 months along with our surprise baby #4.


Yeah, we weren't planning (well, we didn't even plan the other 3! LOL!) to have any more babies... at least not for a few years so I can have a break and enjoy my other growing kids! But, obviously, God had other plans and I've learned that it is better to go with the flow.


Now I really need to get on the ball with writing up my side of the story with Tobi's birth. It was the best of the 3 and I pray that the fourth will be just as great if not better in some ways!

Life here at Rancho Oasis is going amazingly well. We are in awe of how God is using this place and us to reach out to the community of families and kids. If you haven't, please take some time to look through the last few weeks of weekly pictures that my hubby has been putting together to give you all a good look at what goes on here and around us.


Now, I want to thank all my noisy followers for staying around when I basically disappeared for a while without much warning. But that's how a blog should be... I shouldn't have to feel like I need to keep posting regularly to keep you guys around! You guys can come and go as you please  :o)


Now, enjoy the new month ahead of you and keep your eyes open for future posts and giveaways!

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Carrot Cake Ice Cream (Heat Wave Special!)

UPDATE: The discount code is now working and I've moved the expiration date to the 30th of April! Sorry about the hold up and hope many of you will enjoy the ebook. Thank you for supporting Rancho Oasis for Youth with your purchase of Just Making Ice Cream!

With the heat wave blazing through the midwest... I thought I share with you an unusual ice cream treat that you can either love or hate.


Crunchy candied walnuts, rich candied carrots and a buttery tart ice cream base... it tastes pretty close to a Carrot Cake if you ask me, but with a different texture.


Next time around, I would use less grated carrots... but some might like it with the amount called for in my ebook.


Want the recipe? Well, you will need to buy the ebook and I promise you... you won't regret it! This is a book for every ice cream lover  :o)

HEAT WAVE SPECIAL!

Buy the Just Making Ice Cream eBook for just $6.00 and that's 50% off the original suggested donation! Don't miss out on this special sale... it will be over on April 28th. Spread the word and let your friends know about the Heat Wave Special here!

Love ice cream? Wish you could make ice cream at home, but don't have an ice cream maker? Can't decide what ice cream maker to buy? Have food allergies? Trying to watch your sugar-intake? Want to make something more than just vanilla, chocolate or strawberry? This is the book for you!

113 pages and over 70 recipes to choose through all 4 seasons of the year... who says ice cream is only for the summer?! The book starts off with 25 pages about everything you need to know to make delicious, nourishing frozen desserts...

• 10 reasons why you should make your own ice cream
• Ice cream 101: ingredients, tips and equipment
• How to choose an ice cream maker
• 5 ways to make ice cream without a maker
• Know your frozen desserts
• and MORE!

You will also enjoy over 30 ice cream & gelato recipes, 9 cultured milk recipes, 10 sherbet recipes and 10 sorbet recipes!

Your purchase of this book will go 100% to support our ministry at RO4Y! Thank you!

The special heat wave sale is good through April 28th 30th and the discount code is: HEATWAVEJMN

Shopping Cart by E-junkie

Thank you for supporting our ministry through your purchase of Just Making Ice Cream eBook!

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Tyndale Book Review & Giveaway: Miracle For Jen

Miracle for Jen is an amazing testimony to the fact that God truly wants to be intimately
involved in our lives and really does work the bad things out into good things if we choose
with everything we are to believe and trust Him.


I am reminded, as I read about this family's extreme trails, that this world is just for a moment and then Eternity. Jen Barrick’s greatest desire was for every aspect of her to be surrendered to God for His purpose and use. She meant it when she prayed it and God took her at her words and answered her prayers in a way that might look crazy and awful to most of us, but to Jen Barrick, it was the answer she had prayed for.


Written from her mother’s perspective, who was also devastated by the automobile
accident, she does not hold anything back as she describes her own bitterness and anger
toward God and the man who drunkenly crashed into their van changing their lives forever.


However, the impact that Jen ultimately has on every person she comes in contact with,
including her own family, cannot be denied. However you may feel about God, Jen’s testimony cannot be taken from her or negated. If you have ever asked God “why”, this is a book you must read! As I closed the book on the last page, I realized how selfish I get in my own little world and how much more God wants for me and from me.


Life is not about me!






I truly believe that many, if not every person, should read this extraordinary, inspirational and thought-provoking book. It will cause you to want to desire what Jen desired, but don't walk away and forget about it! Be the miracle God wants you to be!


Giveaway
Tyndale has given me one gift certificate to giveaway! Simply follow my blog and leave a comment below stating that you are you following or already following.


PLEASE include your email address for me to contact you!


Winner will be chosen April 3rd via random.org and will be contacted (if there's an email address). The winner will be required to give me their address for me to send the certificate.


I am not being paid or commissioned for this review. Just given a copy of this book for review and personal use.

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My Missionary Life Story: The Unexpected Journey of Faith, Trust & Simplicity

Everybody has a role model in their life that they look up to, learn from and follow in their steps. if I asked you who your role model is for what living simply is all about… what would be your answer? Your local farmer? Joel Salatin? Michael Pollan? Mother Teresa? The Amish?

Want to know my answer? Jesus Christ.

Jesus, God, came into this world as a babe in a humble, dirty stable through a simple girl named Mary. His birth celebrated by the shepherds and 3 wise men. He grew up loving the Laws of God. He was the carpenter’s son. Learned to make a honest wage to provide food for the family. He was described as simple in looks and attire. He raised up 12 uneducated men to walk alongside Him and learn from Him. He purposed daily to get away and spend time alone in prayer. He taught with all wisdom and authority. He showed power & strength through humility before His enemies. He kept His promises.

He lived simply… yet His life speaks powerfully to us today. His life is teaching you and me to choose to live a simple life not caught up in the world.

Through Him, I am learning that a simple life is accepting what I have and making the best of it rather then wishing for what I don’t have or can’t have.

Through Him, I am learning that a simple life is holding loosely to my plans and allowing God to make the final changes and direct my steps.

Through Him, I am learning that a simple life is living now, in the moment, with my family and living joyfully in all circumstances.

Through Him, I am learning that a simple life means to be humble and righteous in all that I do.

Through Him, I am learning that a simple life involves hardships, persecution and suffering.

Through Him, it means to take up the cross… sacrifice my life, my plans, my comforts, my stuff…  and follow Him.

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The Unexpected Journey

It has been over four years since we boarded the airplane in Chicago, bound for Costa Rica, with only 21 pieces of luggage & trunks that carried what was left of everything we had. We sold everything that would not fit in those trunks and suitcases.

That was the start of learning to let go of “stuff” and have less. I struggled going through all our possessions and deciding what we didn’t need to take with us. Now, I don’t even remember what those things were. I look back and remember how freeing it was to get rid of it all!

"I know how to live on almost nothing or with everything. I have learned the secret of living in every situation, whether it is with a full stomach or empty, with plenty or little. For I can do everything through Christ, who gives me strength." Philippians 4:12-13

We arrived thinking the vision for RO4Y would begin in Costa Rica, but it was just a time for God to prep us for Honduras. At the time we didn’t know that, but now we do. Honestly, if the Lord brought us straight to Honduras… I don’t think we would’ve stayed long. He knew that. He knew what we could and couldn’t handle at the time.

Now, It has been two years since we once again thinned down our possessions, loaded to the max our bus & my dad’s F-250, drove across two borders from Costa Rica to Honduras and began the wild journey of learning to trust, believe and live by faith simply in God’s hands.

If God sent an angel four years ago to tell me that my husband & I will be missionaries in a rural area of Honduras, with 3 kids and this angel gave me the details of everything that was going to happen to us in the past 4 year span...

My response would have been nothing like Mary’s.

"I am the Lord's servant. May everything you have said about me come true" Luke 1:38

My response would have been more like…

“Lord, I am never doing that! Can you find someone else? I can’t do that, I’m just a deaf mama. I don’t want to do that… I just want to have a simple life with a nice little house in New Mexico, a car that will get us around, a church where we can fellowship and the comforts of living in USA.”

Yeah, I am ashamed to say that would’ve been my response.

Since we moved to Honduras… God has brought us through fire to refine us, increase our faith in Him and make our life simpler so we can serve Him freely.

I was pulling ticks off my family everyday; showering with a garden hose outside; using a poorly built outhouse as a toilet; sharing a very small 3 bedroom Honduran mud-brick house with my parents; dealing with: animals coming through the roof & eating our food, a leaking roof and regular power outages; fighting against the termite swarms; killing 30+ flies a day; worrying about the health of my family; adjusting to difficult cultural changes and dealing with the cultural shock lasted through the first year of our life in Honduras.

Through it all… I learned to accept it, but I wearily wondered why God chose me for this role. Wondered if this simple life was really going to work for us. Wondered how I could handle all of it. God promised never to give me anything I couldn’t handle but I sure felt like I couldn’t handle this.

Why did He trust me so much?

I am learning to understand that it is not about how much He trusts me. It was about how much He trusts the work He has done in me. Preparing me for this simple life in rural Honduras.

I probably had more emotional breakdowns & tears that year than in my whole life. Through that dark and lonely time in my life… the Lord spoke to me through these verses:

“Have you never heard? Have you never understood? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of all the earth. He never grows weak or weary. No one can measure the depths of his understanding. He gives power to the weak and strength to the powerless. Even youths will become weak and tired, and young men will fall in exhaustion. But those who trust in the Lord will find new strength. They will soar high on wings like eagles. They will run and not grow weary. They will walk and not faint” Isaiah 40:28-31

“My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” 2 Corinthians 12:9

“Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives, Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.” John 14:27

What really threw me into a turmoil was going from having access to a beautiful, huge farmer’s market in Costa Rica where the rich, organic bounty came from local farmers to an ugly, tiny spot on the ground they called a market in Honduras where the chemical-laden produce come in mass quantities from the city, not from local farmers.

Health is important to me. We truly believe that taking care of our bodies is essential to living life to the fullest for the Lord. How can we if we are distracted by sickness from eating bad food all the time? For me to go from buying 90% organic or clean food to less than 5% was a shock, but I learned to accept it… with tears and despair.

Why did God ask me to sacrifice so much?

So that He will get all the glory. God knows our situation and our heart’s desire to be healthy, live simple and fully… he has blessed that desire above and beyond what I thought was possible. No, we did not find organic or clean food, but He gave me a deep peace that helped me accept what I couldn’t have.

“So don’t worry about these things, saying, ‘what will we eat? What will we drink? What will we wear?’ These things dominate the thoughts of unbelievers, but your heavenly Father already knows all your needs. Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and He will give you everything you need. So don’t worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring its own worries. Today’s trouble is enough for today.” Matthew 6:31-34

"Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything." James 1:2-4

Embracing my Life

Into the second year, one beautiful morning, the Lord spoke to me. Not with thunder, but with soft breeze of a whisper.

My child, embrace the life I’ve given you!

That was the turning point for me. Not just to accept my life, but to embrace it with joy and victory. Embrace the hardships & simple life as a missionary alongside my Man and raising my 3 kids in rural Honduras.

I love that word… embrace!

Walking in Thankfulness

Next, came the realization that I needed to have the attitude of thankfulness.

To be thankful for the things that I most often complain about… the house we live in, the hardships and the discomforts of life as a missionary.

"Be thankful in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you who belong to Christ Jesus." 1 Thessalonians 5:18

"Let your roots grow down into him, and let your lives be built on him. Then your faith will grow strong in the truth you were taught, and you will overflow with thankfulness." Colossians 2:7

Instead of wasting energy fighting against God with my complaints, lack of contentment and trying to make things happen the way I want it to happen. I am now choosing to look through eyes of thankfulness. It isn’t always easy, but it is easier than fighting!

Well Done

It has been my heart’s desire that when I bow before the throne of the Lord, I will hear the words richly flow over me and into my healed ears, “Well done, my good and faithful servant”.

That alone will make everything I’ve gone through in this life worth it.

Is that your heart's desire too?

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