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The Benefits of Juicing and the Healthy Effect for Your Family

The Benefits of Juicing and the Healthy Effect for Your Family


I recently took a trip to the local Bed Bath and Beyond and purchased a juicer. I was promised a juicer for Christmas, by a close family member and told it was in the mail. I waited 4 months and after much deliberation and a little of shopping around settled on a The Bullet Express Juicer.

The Bullet Express Juicer is well worth the hundred dollars and change, equipped with a food processor, dicer, blender and juicer. The juicer works great and the food processor a little difficult to use. It has a tendency to over heat with thick items in place. Hummus is something my family loves to eat, with my husband recent trip to the Middle East he came home with a love of Lebanese cuisine. So he has become an expert hummus and Lebanese flat bread maker.

Back to the juice extractor. I decided after a 20 lb weight gain since leaving the city of Atlanta two years ago to reside in a small town outside Augusta, that I needed alternative measures for dealing with an incredible sweet tooth. So I began the journey of juicing food. Apples, carrots, spinach, papayas, mangos, oranges and blending things like bananas, strawberries, blueberries and pineapple. I have a desire to learn a bit more about the use of wheat grass and the growing process, which I am sure, is not that hard, but I know the least bit about.

The juicing has become a favorite of my children who I can squeeze all kinds of foods in that I am sure, they would not eat other wise. I can only imagine the vitamin content is grossly higher than cooked vegetables. Ok, not grossly, but significantly higher.

My research has shown after now having two aunts, both God mothers to my children, have recently been diagnosed with incurable Cancers that a raw diet is mandatory for healing, regeneration of cells and building of the immune system in the body. I know there has been much Holistic research done and debated about, these above issues. I am sure these things are all quite over my head but who could possible go wrong with a daily weekly fast of juicing. I try the fast once a week from lunch to lunch on Thursday and Fridays and stick to a juice diet. Disclaimer: I of course have not enforced this on my children, I’m sure it would be good for them but think they need the daily calories of wide variety of carbs, fibers, proteins and vegetables.

I love the rush or spike of energy from a great juice drink. My favorite being the afternoon Carrot, Spinach and apple juice, sounds a bit gross but is actually very tasty. What is a little gross, is the likely hood that it will clean you out a bit. Try for yourselves and let me know what you think! ; )

You never know when your needed.........

A wonderful story.......

I spent the week before my daughter's June wedding running last-minute trips to the caterer, florist, tuxedo shop, and the church about forty miles away. As happy as I was that Patsy was marrying a good Christian young man, I felt laden with responsibilities as I watched my budget dwindle . . . so many details, so many bills, and so little time. My son Jack was away at college, but he said he would be there to walk his younger sister down the aisle, taking the place of his dad who had died a few years before. He teased Patsy, saying he'd wanted to give her away since she was about three years old!

To save money, I gathered blossoms from several friends who had large magnolia trees. Their luscious, creamy-white blooms and slick green leaves would make beautiful arrangements against the rich dark wood inside the church.... See More

After the rehearsal dinner the night before the wedding, we banked the podium area and choir loft with magnolias. As we left just before midnight, I felt tired but satisfied this would be the best wedding any bride had ever had! The music, the ceremony, the reception - and especially the flowers - would be remembered for years.

The big day arrived - the busiest day of my life - and while her bridesmaids helped Patsy to dress, her fiancee Tim, walked with me to the sanctuary to do a final check. When we opened the door and felt a rush of hot air, I almost fainted; and then I saw them - all the beautiful white flowers were black. Funeral black. An electrical storm during the night had knocked out the air conditioning system, and on that hot summer day, the flowers had wilted and died.

I panicked, knowing I didn't have time to drive back to our hometown, gather more flowers, and return in time for the wedding.

Tim turned to me. "Edna, can you get more flowers? I'll throw away these dead ones and put fresh flowers in these arrangements."

I mumbled, "Sure," as he be-bopped down the hall to put on his cuff links.

Alone in the large sanctuary, I looked up at the dark wooden beams in the arched ceiling. "Lord," I prayed, "please help me. I don't know anyone in this town. Help me find someone willing to give me flowers - in a hurry!" I scurried out praying for four things: the blessing of white magnolias, courage to find them in an unfamiliar yard, safety from any dog that may bite my leg, and a nice person who would not get out a shotgun when I asked to cut his tree to shreds.

As I left the church, I saw magnolia trees in the distance. I approached a house . . . no dog in sight. I knocked on the door and an older man answered. So far so good . . . no shotgun. When I stated my plea the man beamed, "I'd be happy to!"

He climbed a stepladder and cut large boughs and handed them down to me. Minutes later, as I lifted the last armload into my car trunk, I said, "Sir, you've made the mother of a bride happy today."

"No, Ma'am," he said. "You don't understand what's happening here."

"What?" I asked."You see, my wife of sixty-seven years died on Monday. On Tuesday I received friends at the funeral home, and on Wednesday . . . He paused. I saw tears welling up in his eyes. "On Wednesday I buried her." He looked away. "On Thursday most of my out-of-town relatives went back home, and on Friday - yesterday - my children left.

I nodded."This morning," he continued, "I was sitting in my den crying out loud. I miss her so much. For the last sixteen years, as her health got worse, she needed me. But now nobody needs me. This morning I cried, 'Who needs an eighty-six-year-old wore-out man? Nobody! I began to cry louder. 'Nobody needs me!' About that time, you knocked, and said, "Sir, I need you."

I stood with my mouth open. He asked, "Are you an angel? The way the light shone around your head into my dark living room . . . "

I assured him I was no angel. He smiled. "Do you know what I was thinking when I handed you those magnolias?"

"No."

"I decided I'm needed. My flowers are needed. Why, I might have a flower ministry! I could give them to everyone! Some caskets at the funeral home have no flowers. People need flowers at times like that and I have lots of them. They're all over the backyard! I can give them to hospitals, churches - all sorts of places. You know what I'm going to do? I'm going to serve the Lord until the day He calls me home!"

I drove back to the church, filled with wonder. On Patsy's wedding day, if anyone had asked me to encourage someone who was hurting, I would have said, "Forget it! It's my only daughter's wedding, for goodness' sake! There is no way I can minister to anyone today."

But God found a way. Through dead flowers."

Life is not the way it's supposed to be. It's the way it is. The way you cope with it is what makes the difference.

I don't know who wrote that story, but I love it. I love it because recently someone needed me and let me help them through a difficult time. It was such a privilege, such a gift--it helped heal me. Angels come in many forms, shapes and sizes. Thanks be to God!

It is has been so long since my last post, I couldn't remember how to navigate Google! Honestly! Thank God for bookmarks. Whoever came up with that should be kissed ; )

I have been very busy with CheerSport Nationals, my husbands trip to a Middle Eastern Country, don't know how I really feel about that, and from my last post a Pageant.

Well, the CheerSport was a lot of fun. I spent the weekend meddling in my teen years because after all, that is about all their is at a Cheerleading Competition of that size. Wow!! Can I just say, I've had enough break it down music for a life time. O.K not really, I really like break it down music. Especially when I think I can dance.

The kids had a great time and we came home exhausted! Two day's of competing, 9 stages of cheer and dance, enough lights and music to make the largest dance club look mini, 869 teams from around the world with about an average of 5 to 6 divisions per team(don't ask me to add that up, ok...... 4345 and about 15 girls & boys per division, 65175 girls and boys, not counting parents, coaches, and event staff.) Let's just say it was big and took up a large portion of the GA World Congress Center!

Girls acting like cheerleaders.....

Here was the cheer section.......

The whole event was a lot of fun and some how, I can't wait to till next year!

Pageant Mom, Ah Not Me!!

If you told me a few years ago, that I would be a Pageant mom, I would have laughed hysterically!! Ah me! No Way!

Your talking about a person who lost Little Miss Gatorette Several years in a row. A girl who loved Athletic Sports so much, I turned down a Modeling Contact with Elite, because it would mess up my sports program. I spent time at the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs. I had Olympic dreams!!!!

Then my daughter Ellie was born. She is a child who loves attention. Lots of attention, so much I thought I would never make it another night, when she was a baby. Little did I know she would grow up to love fashion, singing, dancing and anything else she saw her older sisters doing, that she thought was cool. I had too insist she stop using the word Hot and change it to CUTE!! NO, we are not weird, she just picked it up somewhere! I suspect older teenage sisters had something to do with it.

Anyway, when the local pageant was approaching I thought maybe Ellie would like to participate.  After all its local, I have a dress and the fees were cheap. But the crazy thing is, the first time on stage she looked like a poor, helpless soul who, I don't know, was no way my daughter!! Shy, bashful and stumbled down the stage with her hands in her pockets.

Needless to say we brought her home, practiced the walk and learned a little stage presence.........

Now, this is more like the child I know!!

 

And this......this child I recognize.

That's Ellie, for ya!!

Oh and she won the overall crown.......

Everyone kept asking are you sure this is her first pageant?!!

Yes, I swear it is! 

I'm afraid.......This may Not be my last one!!

Don't even mention the words........Modeling!!! Aww! I might cringe and run away screaming!

Avenging Angels

When God wants something great done in this world, He doesn't dispatch a legion of avenging angels;

Neither does He call forth a whirlwind nor ignite the fuse of volcanic fireworks;

No commandering of troops into battle nor discharging zealous' crusaders to holy causes;

He does not orchestate the burst and boom of thunder nor display His fiery arrows majesty across the sky to bring His purpose to pass.

When God wants something great done in this world........

He sends a baby & then ...... He waits!

Tears and Fears......

I wanted to share a little something I read today because it has been such a reality in my life lately and in the past 2 years. I can only imagine how many others are effected in the same way.

Me and the Devil Dog

When I was a teenager, I was involved in a lot of activities at school. Some of these activities took place after school. Late buses were provided to get us home after these activities. The trouble was that the late bus didn't take you all the way home. There were 50 or so buses at 3:00 p.m., but only a half dozen at 4:00 or 5:00p.m. So they did a Reader's Digest condensed version of the bus routes, causing many of us to have to walk the rest of the way home or have a parent or sibling pick us up.I guess I was lucky. I didn't have far to walk. The late bus dropped me off at the bottom of our hill. I just had to walk halfway up the hill. There were two ways to do that: walk up the road and around a blind curve, or walk up through the neighbors' yards and into ours.
My parents didn't want me walking up the road because of the traffic. I really didn't want to go that way either. I was afraid of the traffic. One wacky driver, and I'd be history.
But there was a problem with walking up through the neighbors' yards.
A dog.
Just one.
But he was a big German shepherd.
And I was afraid of dogs. Any kind of dog. If it barked, it was scary. Especially big, dark barking dogs. And this one barked and barked and barked.
And he was in the middle of my path home.
There was no way around his yard. I had to go through it to get into mine. And I couldn't get through it without him running out and barking at me. And he was relentless.
So were my tears and fears.
I would stand on the edge of his yard watching him in his yard barking at me-and I'd never know what to door how to get around him. To this day, I don't remember how I got past him and into my yard-though I did it often. I do remember standing there and being afraid. Sometimes I would stand there crying.

Not alone in the rain

One afternoon in particular stands out. It was pouring down rain. As I rode the bus home, I thought that maybe someone in my family would love me enough to drive to the bottom of the hill and pick me up so I wouldn't have to walk home in the rain-and past the barking dog. But no car awaited me as I got off the bus. I watched other students jump into waiting cars and ride off. But not me. I had to walk up the hill in the pouring rain past the dog.

On that day it was too much, and I just stood at the edge of his yard crying and crying because I didn't know how to get past him-and all the while he stood there barking and barking at me. He didn't seem to mind the rain.

Now while some of you are feeling sorry for me standing there in the rain afraid of a dog and may even understand my fears (and others of you are thinking that I was a pretty big wimp), I need to tell you something else about the dog.

He was chained.

Yep. Chained to his doghouse.
He could go only so far. There was an evident circle of just how far that was. And I didn't have to walk into it. I could walk around and get home without ever getting close to him.

And I knew it.
I saw the chain.
I saw the circle.
I saw the path home.

But fear kept me from moving forward.
I knew the truth, but I didn't live like it.
I stood frozen in fear, feeling sorry for myself and angry at my family for not caring enough to rescue me and provide a safe (and dry) way around the dog.

Real fear

Looking back, I realize how incredibly silly the whole thing was. The dog couldn't hurt me. I could walk home with confidence. I don't know why it seemed like such an insurmountable obstacle and drove me to such fear and froze my feet.

However, sometimes I still do the same thing.
Not with dogs. They don't scare me much anymore.
But there are other truths that I sometimes have a hard time living up to.

The devil barks at me that I'm worthless, hopeless, a failure. That God can't possibly forgive me again. That my life has no purpose and makes no difference.

I know the truth.
The devil is lying.

Because of God and the price He has paid for me, I am valuable. I have hope. I fail and sin, but I am forgiven. God gives me purpose and uses me in ways that I'm not even aware of.

But sometimes the barking is so loud that I forget the truth.

I allow the devil's lies to cause me not to move forward-not to walk the path God wants me to. To stand frozen in fear that the barking is really true even though I know differently.

I've watched others allow the "barking dog" to keep them from fully living like God wants.
In small groups I've heard women say, "I can't pray aloud. I stumble over my words and don't make any sense. I just can't do it."
The truth is that no matter how your words come out, when you are praying for someone else, it sounds like beauty to them. They don't hear the faltering-they hear the love.

It's the devil who barks that you can't pray, keeping you from praying aloud for others who need it.

I've watched women who were asked to do something that would stretch them say "No, I can't," when with God's grace and help, they can. (All His callings are enablings.) And the experience would cause them to know God more and be used by Him more powerfully. The devil knows this. That's why he barks so loudly, "You can't. You don't have what it takes. You can't make a difference in anyone's life. Look how badly you handle your own."

A barking dog.

Standing in the path God has for you.
Keeping you from moving forward.

When I was asked to be the Women's Ministries director for the Pennsylvania Conference, I said no. The dog was barking very loudly. I knew me. I was too shy. I didn't know anyone. I was more comfortable in the background than up front. I knew that there was no way I could do the job. But circumstances forced me to say yes. And the role has changed me so much and has become one of the things I enjoy doing most. I am a different person as a result of saying yes.
That's what the devil is afraid of.
He's afraid that if you move forward on God's path for you, you will become all He's created you to be. And that scares him.

So he stands in the path and barks.

But the Bible promises that he's chained. He can't separate us from God's love. He can't prevent God from accomplishing His work in and through us. He can't keep us from getting home.

Tamyra Horst works for the Pennsylvania Conference assistant to the president for communications. Her favorite roles are a wife to Tim, a mom to Josh and Zach, and a child of God, growing, stumbling, and longing to know Him more