Lucas John

Seven years ago today, I was in labor for the first time in my life. It was a long, hard day. 20+ hours long and hard. But at 9:47pm on Friday, November 12, 2004, my heart loved in a way that it never had before. I had crossed over into the world of motherhood, never to go back to a life where I only was responsible for my own life.

I trusted my body that day. I trusted that my Saviour had created me to birth this child all on my own. I trusted my husband and his support. I trusted my midwife. And when sweet little Lucas John joined our family, our lives were changed forever. I can still remember, as I lay in bed exausted, hearing Gil's voice rising above a newborn cry with a strong but tender tone, "Lucas...It's Daddy." Although I had been up for nearly 24 hours, I didn't sleep a wink that night. I remember just lying there all night in the soft light, running my fingers along the back of my precious little man's neck and stroking his long, dark hair. How could I sleep? I had just completed the most difficult thing I had ever done. And the reward was the biggest prize ever. The Peace Corps has nothing on motherhood. THIS is the toughest job you'll ever love. And love it, I do.

No one celebrates a birthday like mothers. Not our own birthday, certainly, but the birth of our precious children. I am so blessed to be called "Mommy". So today, little man, I wish you a wonderful day as we celebrate you and your seventh year of life. Thank you for blessing your daddy and me. We love you so much!

sweet boys

It's time for an update on our happenings and a few photos of the boys. They both seem to grow so quickly and I don't know where the time goes. So here's kind of a mish-mash of our time together inside as we have Ethan has developed quite a fascination for pigs. "Piggies", as he calls them. This little piggie was actually a decoration at a baby shower last fall for our friend, Jaimbea. Along with trusty 'ol blankie, this has become Ethan's very best friend. I helped him make his very own sling for Piggie. Here he's giving Piggie her vitamin. I guess he wants her to stay well! Just a little finger painting. Lucas had a school project to complete and we didn't have the recommended supplies, to we just improvised and painted! Ethan had paint all over the place.

Can't paint without Piggie there watching!

Finally getting around to posting a photo of our toothless guy! I love it! What a precious stage in this little man's life!

And we continue to be amazed by his creativity and ability to learn in school. Here are a couple of his assignments where he had to draw the word that he completed. Just love his little drawings!

Lucas continues to make us so proud with his giving heart. I explained one day that I was going to the Pregnancy Resource Center to volunteer and he couldn't believe that they didn't pay me. I told him how they need money for the services they provide to pregnant moms and he immediately went and got his savings envelope. He counted out 4 twenty dollar bills and told me he wanted to give his money to them. He received a sweet thank you from Jan at the PRC and a beautiful video for his donation. He has since pulled aside another $100 to give to Lift Up. We are so proud of your giving heart, little man.

Catching up from another paint project with Ethan. We get these great little craft projects from Michael's for a dollar.

Most of it actually ended up on the tractor.

Duh. Mommy finally put on his apron. So, why did I let him paint in a white shirt?

My precious little guy is actually asleep. Just got comfy and sacked out.

Oh, we are all so ready for spring. This was another one of those so-why-am-I-letting-them-do-this? projects. Huge mess. But when there's snow on the ground, boys gotta have dirt.

Happy spring! Hope it actually gets here one of these days.

Catching up

I'm terrible at keeping up with blogging, and every time I post I apologize for not posting in forever. Well, no more apologizing. I just blog when I can and that's all there is to it. So I'll attempt to catch up with a few random things.

All of our new is, of course, centered around the kids, but that's ok. Lucas continues to thrive and grow daily from his home schooling. He has memorized no less than 15 bible verses, in addition to the entire Psalm 100 and Psalm 23. He asked me this morning if he could take a stool outside and stand on it so he could preach. To whoever may be listening. His heart is pure and he wants to share the Gospel every chance he gets.

We were very proud of him a month or so ago when he decided he wanted to give some of his savings to Lift Up. I told him the flyer said $15 would help feed 3 families. So he decided that he was going to give $60 because helping 3 families just wasn't enough. I think he would have given all of his money, but I wasn't sure if I should let him. I guess I need to trust his little conscience.

Ethan continues to amaze us daily. His vocabulary is that of a 4 or 5 year old. He knows more about excavators, combine harvesters and fire trucks than most adults. He has started calling me endearing names like sweetheart, sweetie, sweet pea, and if he really wants something, sweetieheart. I guess he hears his daddy calling me by those names, so why not use them?

As for the rest of us, just trodding through the cold winter months, looking forward to spring. Hope you are all staying warm!

December discount

We're feeling the giving spirit move us, so we are offering a 25% off discount on all enlargements! Better hurry, though - the sale ends December 7th, so orders must be placed by then. Discount does not apply to canvas prints, albums, or any other specialty items and cannot be combined with any other offer. Hurry, hurry, hurry!!

thankful

Raw food class

In conjunction with my cleanse and changing diet, my sister Michelle came over a few weekends ago and taught a raw food class to me and Gil's mom, Eva (blogging had to take a back seat while we were rounding out the state soccer tournament - more on that soon!). You can check out her website here. We had a full day of chatting, chopping, mixing and blending yummy creations. We get stuck in such a rut eating the same things over and over, and I really want to diversify our diet so we are sure to get well-rounded, nutritious meals. So we jam-packed a handful of recipes into a day in the kitchen. Keep in mind that everything we made is raw. Yup, raw! Rah-rah-rawsome!

So, our day began grabbing a few things from the garden that we would need for the day's recipes. Ethan, armed with his Monkey Scissors, is ready for action.

Not all of this came from our garden - I sure wish we had a mango tree!

Chopping a mango for the mango pudding...

Seeds, beans and grains soaking for sprouting.

This is a kale salad with miso dressing. We also added some pine nuts and raisins for a little twist.

Corn chowder soup...

Here we are using a spiral slicer a zucchini, a beet and a carrot.

Zucchini "spaghetti"...

Wouldn't that look cool on top of a salad?!

Mung beans to sprout...

This was one of the favs from the day - berry cobbler. This was blueberry cobbler and we put it into the dehydrator for a while so it was warm when we ate it. Yum!

And this is a raw taco, with "beans", savory filling, and homemade guac and salsa on a corn tortilla made in the dehydrator.

Ethan approved the berry cobbler (and no, he didn't eat those other two portions!).

What a fun day! We made so many things that I didn't photograph, but we had a blast and sure learned a lot. We have been making so many raw things and the boys are getting into it. Just the change I was looking for!

Changes

Things are a changin' here at the Villarreal household. Some of you know, some of you don't know the big changes that we have decided on for our family. As of a few weeks ago, we have decided that I am going to step away from our photography business for an indefinite period of time. Things are just too crazy for me trying to be a mom (a home schooling mom, at that), a wife and a home-based business owner. Way too much. Tired. Impatient. Fried. Not gonna do it anymore. Nope. My boys' childhoods were flashing by at the speed of light before me and I didn't have time to see much of the show, let alone be an active participant. And the stress level in my life was off the chart and I know that had to be a factor in my recent miscarriages. So it was the I'm-at-my-whit's-end-crying-session that produced our decision. And I'm thrilled. Of course, I literally grieved for a day because photography has been a major part of my life for almost 20 years (yes, I am that old). So it was like letting go of an old friend. BUT, I feel so free and I am hopeful for what the future has in store for me as a person because of this decision. And I know I will be able to do it again when I am ready.

So, on with the story. I will now be doing more blogging about my family than about other people's families. And that excites me. So whether you like it or not, you are going to get a little deeper glimpse into our little home here on El Diente Way. Hopefully accompanied by photos, but it does take a ton of work to get photos up based on my work flow (once a professional photographer, always a professional photographer).

Oh yeah, on with the story. I am on a new journey for the way that I eat and inevitably I am dragging my family along with me. No one is kicking and screaming yet, so that is a good start. I have been doing some consulting with a nutritionist from Boulder (check out her website here) who is helping me fill some wholes in my diet so that I can gain some weight and better prepare my body for any future pregnancies that God may have in store for us. I also just started a three week liver cleanse with Dr. Benson from Two Rivers Natural Health and I am excited to see what that can do for me as well. So I've decided to chronicle my three week journey here on my blog. That's my intention, anyway. I won't blog everyday, and I certainly won't always accompany my posts with photos, but the first day I will.

I wanted to throw in a few photos of Ethan playing with these great gel cling leaves that we found. That's how our day started. And he loves to help me make my smoothie in the morning. He loves to grind up the flax seeds in the coffee grinder, and he reminds me "coconut oil" if I haven't put that in yet. And then it's "Go get kale, Mom". So it's off to the garden we go.

My sweet little Bub in his apron. He is such a little kitchen guru already. I love that about my boys.

Armed with his monkey scissors, he's ready to grab us some kale.

So here's our creation. Banana, peaches, mangoes, blueberries, kale, coconut oil, flax seeds, hemp seeds, chia seeds, goat milk kefir, usually a packet of Emergen-C and some olive leaf extract. Yowza, that's good for you.

And fast forward to lunch. Yummy salad with wild caught salmon, cucumbers, celery, hemp seeds, and a little avocado with lemon for dressing.

Wild rice with sauteed zucchini, asparagus and mushrooms for dinner. I'm full.