Blind Contour Sketching

Have you tried Blind Contour Sketching? I had not... until today. And it was fun! 

✒️ How freeing to know it won't turn out much like the subject but to enjoy the process anyway! 

✒️ How clearing of a full mind to sit and stare at interesting shapes for 30-120 seconds without glancing away!

✒️ How therapeutic for an injured brain to make connections straight between eyes and hand!

✒️ And how healing to finally look down at the paper and laugh!

Activated Charcoal for Detoxing

Did you know charcoal is good for health?! 

I don't mean the kind used in grills... but Activated Charcoal made from natural sources such as coconut hulls.

Why take Charcoal internally? Because Activated Charcoal is a "Binder"!

According to Dr. Josh Axe: "The porous surface of activated charcoal has a negative electric charge that causes positive-charged toxins and gas to bond with it. These nooks and crannies that enhance toxin elimination inside the body are the result of a heating process, which is what allows the charcoal’s 'activation.'" *

This means that a good quality capsule taken daily can help attract and carry out toxins from our bodies. This includes a wide variety of mycotoxins which come from toxic molds in our homes, foods and environments.

"In addition, activated charcoal can be used in cases of food poisoning when nausea and diarrhea are present." *

G.I. Detox (the charcoal capsule I take) also contains Zeolite Clay - another binder effective for a variety of toxins. And at the same time I take Chlorella Pyrenoidosa to bind yet more toxins.

The main tips to keep in mind when taking binders is to drink lots of water, keep them at least an hour away from any foods and three hours away from medications. 

Foods waste the binders, and binders waste the medications!

Why bind anyway? Well, my family has a genetic detoxification issue (and many of you likely do as well). When our crippling symptoms prompted integrative MDs to run mold tests - mycotoxins were at very toxic levels in our bodies.

But we were unable to handle the prescription drugs used as binders as they made us so much more ill. Instead we take natural binders as many days as possible.

In treating chronic illnesses, the old adage rings true: Slow but steady wins the race!

Have you taken binders? What for? Chime in below!

*https://draxe.com/nutrition/activated-charcoal-uses/

Charcoal Photo by Adrien Olichon on Unsplash

Winter Garden: Composting

Why [& What] do we compost?

WHY?
To add nutrients back to our garden
Bonus Perk = so much less (& less smelly) trash to collect for pick-up every 2 weeks

WHAT?
Veggie/Fruit peels/cores/stems/waste
Food scrapings
Used tea leaves & coffee grounds
Plant waste/dead leaves
Autumn leaves and loads of garden-clearing

Do you compost? If so, do you use a pile, barrel, bin, other? Comment below!

See this YouTube Short showing our winter gardens and compost piles.

Winter Garden: Composting

The Lamb Shall Overcome

Near the end of December, I came to this entry in the daily devotional "Edges of His Ways" compiled from notes written by Amy Carmichael:

These shall war against the Lamb, and the Lamb shall overcome them, for He is Lord of lords, and King of kings; and they also shall overcome that are with Him.
(Revelation 17:14, RV)

These last nine words have been truly spirit and life to me. Sometimes it seems as if the war were against us, but it never is. It is against the Lamb, and the Lamb shall overcome. It is impossible to imagine anything else but victory for "the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world" (13:8). So all that matters is that we should be with Him, "called and chosen and faithful."

O God of peace, strong is the enemy,
     But Thou art nigh;
And he must fall beneath our feet,
     Because of Calvary.

~ Amy Carmichael



For another excerpt from this book and a free book list including several of my family's favorite devotional books, see the caption of this YouTube Short: https://youtu.be/ZTHYmEvwRNY

Reading Log

Do you keep a list of what books you've read? Here are some reasons I do:

- Makes a good list from which to recommend books to others

- A place to rate how good [or bad] books are

- Easy resource for choosing a book to re-read

- Provides an overview to gauge your mental diet and what should be added or cut back

- Brings back memories years later

- The yearly totals are fun to track!

In 2021 I read a total of 99 books, 40 of which were new to me.

In 2022 I read only 82 books, but more than half (48) were first-time reads.

The only way I can read this much in a year is by enjoying audiobooks while knitting 43 pairs of mittens, cleaning, washing dishes, doing laundry, etc.

And if these numbers still look high, realize that several are little books for kids and a bunch more were written for youth - such as the YWAM biographies which are 5-6 hour audiobooks. Besides enjoying literature for the young myself, I am always on the lookout for good books to recommend to families.

No matter how many or few books you read this year, try writing down and rating each one!

Shut In – Day 319: A Birthday with a View

If you have been following along since last February 17^th, you may remember how I used that date to start tracking with Noah on the Ark – all because of this verse found in the history of Genesis 7:11:

“In the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, on the seventeenth day of the second month…” And thus began the global flood, signs of which are still clearly seen by scientists the world over.

Well, today’s date has special significance in this journey as well.

“By the first day of the first month of Noah’s six hundred and first year, the water had dried up from the earth.” – Genesis 8:13

Now I obviously know that our calendar was not in existence at the time of the flood. Nor do I think Noah was likely a “New Year’s Baby.” But I am grateful for how specific this historical account is when laying out the timeline – even if it can only allow us to count within the days of the life of one specific man. After all, he was the ancestor of every human being on earth since then, so I’d say his life was rather important!

So, how did Noah celebrate this monumental birthday? Not with a special cake and candles.

Instead: “Noah then removed the covering from the ark and saw that the surface of the ground was dry.”

And that is all we know until nearly 2 months later!

If we had been Noah, mightn’t we have been tempted to get out of that ark? After being shut in for 319 days, the sight of dry land coming weeks after the dove brought back a fresh, green leaf seems like it's about time, right?

But Noah knew God better than that. God had shut him in, and He could wait for God to let Him out.

So how about the things that “shut us in”? Can we trust that God’s timing is perfect? That even if we could possibly “get out” from our circumstances, we would not be satisfied or safe “out there” until the time is right?

Instant relief from trouble or instant healing is not God’s plan for everyone. [See the apostle Paul’s account in 2 Corinthians chapter 12, for example.]

God is working all the while. Wait on Him.

 

photo from last February while we were shut out of our home more than a week, waiting for professional mold remediation to be completed

See previous posts in series here:

Part I: The Lord Shut Him In
Part II: Day 10: The Animals
Part III: Day 20: The Man Noah
Part IV: Day 30: The Walls
Part V: Day 40: What God Says... He Does
Part VI: Day 70: After the Crisis
Part VII: Day 100: When Waiting Turns to Years
Part VIII: Day 150: Touch Down!
Part IX: Day 181: Survival Mode while Shut In
Part X: Day 227: Land, Ho!
Part XI: Day 267: Testing the Waters
Part XII: Day 281: Giving Thanks for Signs of Hope