I. Bought. A. Car.

A 2000, Audi Quattro.

The Lord worked out this amazing car in ways ONLY HE could have made possible.

I never thought my first car would be this amazing.
Ok Lydia, now we really do need to take that road trip!

"The Lord will open to you His good treasure, the heavens, to give the rain to your land in its season, and to bless the work of your hands." ~ Deuteronomy 28:12

"Bless the Lord O my soul, and forget not His benefits." ~ Psalm 103:2

P.S. on last post...

So I went through a Woods Coffee drive through in Bellingham last week, and the lady saw my very green juice in the cup holder. You should have SEEN her face!

Nice Barista: (horrified expression) "UGH! Are you drinking that?!"

Me: (Laughs out loud) "Yes, I call it my swamp water!"

Nice Barista" (Nervous laugh) "ok, uh, here's your coffee. Have a, um, nice day." (Slides window shut)

Me: ROFL!!!

Can't you totally picture her after shutting the window, like, 'girls, you won't believe what just went through the drive up....'

I wonder what she thought I meant. Maybe I should have clarified a bit and told what it actually was, but she seemed to be in such a hurry....

Juicing for the Faint of Stomach.

(Yeah Caroline, I know. It's been longer than a week since I posted. So sorry Dear!)

So. As the title of this post might have suggested, I have been juicing. What is juicing?

Glad you asked.

Basically it's a (don't say diet. It's not a diet. Diet is a bad word.) fast, or cleanse for health reasons. You may have heard of/seen the documentary, Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead, which exposes the dangerous habits of eating our society has fallen into.

Fast food, processed foods, and the general degeneration of the things we are putting into our bodies. The documentary recommends a "juice fast" as a way to get yourself back on track, to rid your body of any thing (and everything) labeled as "toxic". (i.e. processed foods, chemicals that food industries are putting in our food etc.) These juice cleanses are different for everyone. Some people go strictly juice, some go mostly juice, some go 1/2

and 1/2. As for me, I fall under the mostly juice category. I'm an active little bugger, and if I strictly juice (I did for 4 days) I end up with massive headaches, and simply couldn't function

Juicing also goes for different lengths of time. Some are 3 days, 10 days or even 30 days.

(The man the documentary was about was really, "fat, sick and nearly dead" and did his fast for 60 DAYS!)

I'm going for 30 days of mostly juicing. By "mostly" I mean all but one meal a day. Usually dinner, and that meal is wheat free. (i.e. no pasta, no bread, no grains etc.)

Is it hard? Uh, YES! Especially since I do the cooking 3 days a week! Grrr. So hard to make some of my favorite meals and not eat them. But, for your enjoyment and my records, I've

photo documented, a step by step juicing so you can see what's what.

So first... Arm yourself with fresh veggies and fruit. I have 3 large stalks of kale, 2 big handfuls of spinach, 2 apples, (one tart, one sweet. ) a cucumber and a handful of strawberries.

Start choppin'.

Apples...

Kale...

Cukes...

All ready!

This is my juicer. His name is Slim. (Yeah, I know I said it's not a diet, whatever.)

Start crammin' veggies.

The juice comes out the bottom, and the..."leftovers" come out the end.

After it's done, pour into a container of your choice. I like a tall quart jar.

Ahhh....Look at that layer of foam on top!

Everything is better with foam on top. Lattes, mattresses, bubble baths....anyways.

I always put mine in the fridge for an hour or so. I think it's kinda gross at room-temperature.

Wash your juicer thoroughly, and right after you're done! Believe me, it's worth it.

(Haha, hi Samantha!)

So whaddaya think? Have you ever tried juicing? For long time, a short time? Or maybe just once?

Should we have a juicing party? (I vote yes!) =)

Cheers!

Embarrased chuckle...

So life gets kinda busy! Does life ever happen to you guys? Or is it just me? =)

Real post coming later this week. (Really.)

Don't give up on me!

Blessings,

Emily

I'm an idealist. I don't know where I'm going, but I'm on my way.
~Carl Sandburg

Sigh.

“I suppose if we couldn't laugh at things that don't make sense, we couldn't react to a lot of life.”

― Bill Watterson, Author of Calvin and Hobbes.

Man, life is going by too quickly. BUT!

This weekend, we're going to CHC Conference in Redmond. I'm really looking forward to it. Two days of teaching, fellowship, and of course, fun!

I'm so excited to hear both....

S.M. Davis speak,

As well as, Dr. Voddie Bauchum.

It will surely be a weekend of exhortation and encouragement. Are you coming?

Hope to see you all there! =)

A couple of my favorite things about my birthday.

New shelf for my room.

Adorable new summer shoes from grandma.<3 love <3

20 of my favorite daisies, (Delivered to my front door, fun!) from my sweet friend Nancy.

Awesome square balloon from Ali. <3

Aww Hooey...

I hab a code and by node id all stuffed up....

Really though, after all my bragging about how healthy I usually am! How I never get sick, no colds, no flus... an occasional headache is the most I ever have to put up with. I'm a healthy person.

But do I credit my health to a gracious, sovereign God? The Great Physician?

Not usually. I take my health for granted, and even when everyone else in my family get's sick except for me, I credit my good health to a daily dose of exercise, vitamin C, mom's homemade organic bread, and preposterous amounts of good coffee.

Then, suddenly and without warning, the common cold hits me like a ton of bricks, right at the beginning of my first week back to teaching violin.

Is it just me, or do I smell a hint of Divine Justice?

Well, I can think of one gal who will most certainly try to remember to praise God for my health, and remember that 'every good and perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of Lights.' (James 1:17)

Now in the mean while, time to play Pollyanna, and look at the bright side of things:

The Lord could have used the stomach flu to teach me my lesson! =)

Good Grief!!!

Has it really been over a month since I last posted???

Shame on me. But what can I say? Life happens. BUT, I'm going to try and conjure up a blog post after I teach 2 students and make dinner, and maybe, just maybe I'll get done posted this week.

(In between 14 other students, Practicing for the Nutcracker Ballet, and 2 choir rehearsals of course! =) So thank you my dear readers for faithfully checking for my unfaithful posting, and I'll try and get it done asap!

I promise! And just to show you I really mean it, here are a few pictures we took over the summer.

Love in Christ,

Emily

No Excuses...

Just busy! I know I haven't blogged lately, but I've been busy doing the usual, and some unusual, which is what makes life fun. (or not so fun if you count falling down the basement stairs and coming down with an eye infection. bleh.)




A few examples:





1. Ali got new roller blades, so I'm getting my exercise, since she can't go alone.
Just smile and wave at the folks in their cars that gawk and point at the funny girls in skates and long skirts.

2. Bradley has a new enthusiams for basketball and if Ali's busy (probably rollerblading) next best option? You guessed it, me! But I enjoy it, and he's helping me get better and we've been playing almost every day!

3. Teaching Violin! I have 5 students, and I like teaching them all, and they're not the only ones learning. Me too!

4. Orchestra in Bellingham on Monday nights with Ali. We're both enjoying this so much, and we love our director, and the music we're learning is amazing.

5. Studying. But it's not as bad as it sounds. I'm enjoying what I'm studying. Mainly consumer math and theology. Lots of theology, which I especially love.


Please forgive my sporadic blogging, but it's one of those things for spare time. A scarce commodity!
Thanks for reading all, I'm enjoying your blogs.

PS,
Kate, you should really start a blog!

Pussy Willow.

My very favorite sign that spring is on its way!

Tired of long, rainy winter days? Try putting some pussy willow cuttings in a cheerful bud vase and placing it on your desk, brew some peppermint tea (or your favorite) and sit down and name five things you're thankful for. Then praise the Lord for His loving kindness.

That's how I brighten up my day! What are some ways you make your home cheerful on days like this?

My "thankful" list.

1. Sibling to go on walks with me.

2. Good books.

3. A car with a heating system.

4. Like-minded friends.

5. The merganzer duck I saw on Wiser Lake yesterday.
(Call me weird, but I was so excited, I'm a crazy bird person.) :)
What's on your list? Please share!

While the earth remains, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, winter and summer, and day and night, shall not cease. ~Genesis 8:22

I hope you're all enjoying the last few weeks of winter, and looking forward to spring!

Precious Treasure from a Priceless Friend

My dear friend and neighbor gave me four quilt blocks on my grauduation day, and told me she was making me a quilt. When she had the top almost finished she let me see it, and it was in my some of my favorite colors, blue and brown! I was so excited, and then, just last night, she brought over my finished quilt! It is beautiful; and it is one of the most wonderful gifts I have ever received.

She even made a matching pillow with some left over blocks! She is amazing.

It has a coffee cup patch on the back (we're calling it the coffee quilt because of the cream and coffee colored pieces in it)

with the date and my name on it. We're both coffee lovers, and it is so fun that she brought that out in my personalized quilt.

Isn't it cool how it looks like it's been woven?

The coffee cup patch.

Beautiful leaf design quilting on the edges and on the back.

Thank you SO much dear Nancy for the wonderful gift!

Fender Bender

Yesterday on her way to Bellingham, mama was in a little fender bender (in one of those ridiculous roundabouts of course!) Everyone is fine, and it wasn't her fault, but it caused us all to be so very thankful that it wasn't worse! The Lord is so good!

Our poor little Jetta car suffered the most, and we now drive a silver car with a bashed left corner and no hubcap on the left front wheel. Eeew. But it will be fixed when all the insurance companies calm down and decide who has to pay for what.

Oh, and they made it on the Bellingham Herald! :) I can't even find the article. It must be buried somewhere in local news, but mom read it, and said that they don't mention names or anything.
And there's only one really bad picture from a roundabout.

So that's been the buzz in the Clarkie house! I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas, and stays safe during the left over holiday traffic!

The Titleless Post

I'm so sorry it's been so long since I posted, but with planning the bridal shower and practicing music I've pretty busy, but it's all fun stuff!

I finished all the center pieces for the tables at the shower, dried and pressed fall leaves in canning jars tied with raffia.

(shhh, don't tell Kelsie! :)

I sprayed every other leaf or so with gold glitter paint to make them really shimmer and stand out.

In the list of my favorite fall things, I said Pumpkin Spice lattes from Woods, like this one....

But to my delight, Coffee Mate came out with their own Pumpkin Spice coffee flavoring. While it isn't quite as good, it does the job, and it is O, so yummy! It's like insta-latte! And it smells heavenly, just like punkin pie. :)

Behind every successful woman is a substantial amount of coffee. ~Piro