Wordless Wednesday - The Little One Making Frozen Energy Treats

She helped mash the bananas, chocolate
protein powder, and Grape Nuts together.  

In go the peanuts.

Stir it up.

Clean up, Clean up, Everybody, Everywhere

Oops! Did that bite fall to the floor?

Mmmmm
Note: the recipe is on yesterday's blog.

Recipe: Frozen Energy Treats

A summer favorite with my family, these healthy frozen treats are one of the few snacks I'll freely give my kids when they come begging for "sweets"!

These are very easy to make.  Check back tomorrow for Wordless Wednesday to see pictures of little Christine making them.

Frozen Energy Treats

Combine all these ingredients in a bowl:

2 mashed, ripe bananas
1 tsp vanilla
1/4 cup peanut butter
2 pouches (or servings) of chocolate protein powder or meal replacement shake powder
1/2 cup Grape Nuts
1/2 cup peanuts, optional

Stir until all the ingredients have become thoroughly combined.  It will have a slimy texture for now. Line a muffin tin with paper muffin cups.  Ladle about 1/4 cup mixture into each cup. Depending on the size of the bananas, you'll end up with 8-12 treats.  They will have a hard, creamy, crunchy consistency when frozen.

Note:  This is a forgiving recipe.  It's easily doubled, halved and stretched with extra bananas. It's a great way to get rid of those pesky overripe bananas that seem to multiply in the summer time.

Enjoy!

Stephanie Ray
New Life Balance for Women

Find New Life Balance for Women on facebook at http://www.facebook.com/pages/New-Life-Balance-for-Women

Parenting with Balance, Retro-style!

Ok, so I learned a new term today from Dr. Daisy Sutherland, also known as DrMommy:  Retro Parenting.  It's "practical parenting with a twist...bringing back the good from the past and incorporating it into our families today." Intrigued, I started thinking about the way I parent naturally, and I think I've morphed into a Retro Parent without knowing it.

Let me explain. Much of parenting today revolves around entertaining, scheduling, and pacifying children, making sure they have plenty to keep them busy and developing properly. I have to admit, I once thought this was best.  I seriously tried to parent this way, but as our brood grew and our family continued in ministry, we found ourselves with less time and money to enroll our kids in ballet, soccer, art classes, etc. We said "no" to the latest video games. We felt bad for awhile, but you know what? They haven't missed a thing.

What do my children do? They look for bugs outside, build forts with the couch cushions, draw enthusiastically, and play Winnie the Pooh Candyland.  The older ones read to the "littles". They help each other clean their rooms and earn quarters by doing chores for mommy. Yesterday the 8 and 5 year-olds learned to sort, wash, dry, fold, and put away their own clothes; the 16 year-old has done this for a long time. Even the 2 year-old helps with laundry, and loves it. Perhaps my favorite bonding time with the children, aside from bedtime reading, is preparing for dinner.  Everyone helps as they can, even though I'm sure it takes longer than it should and often makes a real mess!

There was a time when I worried my kids wouldn't be adequately prepared for life because they aren't experiencing many of the "foundational" activities some suburban families embrace. In pondering what's truly important to adulthood and real life, my eyes are opening to a new truth - that they're getting just the foundation they need.

Here's to Retro Parenting!

Blessings,
Stephanie

For more information about Retro Parenting, visit DrMommyonline.com or find Retro Parenting on facebook.

Is Life Balance a myth?

Some people have said to me that Life Balance is a myth, not possible.  I think it all depends on one's definition of life balance.

Can we achieve high levels of performance in every area of our lives, keeping faith, family, self, work, finances, and health balanced in terms of proper time and attention? If so, it's probably not often.  In my world, a porcine creature might just be flying overhead.  In fact, it sounds like a lot of work for naught. I'm not interested in that.

Definition matters.

I believe Life Balance means being one with God as we go about our day, putting into practice what we've learned about faith, family, self, etc., along the way. This is a restful place to be, as Jesus said, "My yoke is easy and my burden is light." (Matthew 11:30)  Rather than fretting when my world starts to tip on it's head, I'm learning to open my mind to accept a greater truth...I only have to listen to what the Holy Spirit is saying in this moment and take a step in that direction."Whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear a voice behind you saying, 'This is the way; walk in it.' " (Isaiah 30:21)

More and more, I'm finding that listening gets easier as I align my attitudes and internal dialogue with who he is.

Some might say that my definition is harder than the first, but I would say nothing is impossible with God.  (Luke 1:37)

Here's a video on balance that proves great things are possible if we stick with the process.




Thanks for reading.
Love you all!
Steph

Life Balance is a Juggling Act

Tim Sanders—former chief solutions officer at Yahoo! and author of Love Is the Killer App—shares the following thought about establishing priorities: 

Take your life and all the things that you think are important, and put them in one of three categories. These three categories are represented by three items: glass, metal, and rubber.

The things that are made of rubber, when you drop them, will bounce back. Nothing really happens when these kinds of things get dropped. Things that are made of metal, when they get dropped, create a lot of noise. But you can recover from the drop. Then there are things made of glass. And when you drop one of these, it will shatter into pieces and never be the same. Even though you can piece it back together, it will still be missing some pieces – Glass issues ultimately are your marriage, your family, your friends…God.

I love this illustration. It's one of my favorite stories shared by a pastor friend, and it's written in the back of my Bible for reference. You see, there have been times in my life when juggling the metal items...those that make the most noise when dropped...were the ones that took priority in my life, even if it meant I was in danger of dropping a glass one. Over and over, there was a direct correlation between the number of people potentially affected by my possible failure and how hard I worked to ensure success. If asked, I'm sure I'd have said that my children, my husband and my own self-expectations were far more important, but my actions spoke differently. Glass issues dropped in private didn't hold the same fear for me as the noisy public metals ones.

I'm glad for the heart check, as uncomfortable as it was.  Looking at oneself in the mirror isn't always easy, but to walk away transformed makes it worth the effort.  

So, what are the rubber, metal, and glass objects in your life? If you were forced to choose between catching a noisy metal issue and a glass one, what would happen? Take a moment to look in the mirror. I'd love to hear your feedback on this subject.

To Better Life Balance,

Steph

(Catch Tim's fascinating blog at http://www.sanderssays.typepad.com.)

A special thanks to pastor Bruce Smilie at CrossPointe Church for researching the source of this illustration.