Zook Family: "Love Month"

It's the LOVE month...

Today is another bright sunshiny day!! We have had abundant sunshine this winter!! It is so cold and we are totally frozen again!! The end is still not even in sight as we are looking for another monster storm coming up the coast bringing with it more SNOW for our area!! The most yet!?? We are excited...:)

Our week end party was so much fun to host, it was pretty much an all day affair, the guys enjoyed four long games of Acquire while us ladies looked after the kids, chatted and I prepared the food for the day...:) We had another few inches of snow during the afternoon on Sunday which made for a very cozy/game playing/coffee drinking/friends type of day.

I was expecting a two hour delay for yesterday because of the new snow fall and the canceled "Ladies Bible Study" so we did not rush off to bed, BUT the call never came, so we drug our tired selves out of bed to get ready for school on time. The roads were snow covered but I guess we are just getting used to this sort of thing, calling the delays and snow days is taken a bit more lightly now that we have so many snow days to make up!

The kids are enjoying "February Fun" This can be a long month for us with our long winters that seem to go on and on, being ready to see spring by now is normal here but I love how school makes it such a fun month for the kids!! They look forward to the many fun/unique days on the school calender!! They had the 100th day of school yesterday and Jenika got to take 100 pieces of pretzel bark! One aggressive mom made 100 tiny cupcakes!! They were so cute! They got handed out to the students!

Justin had "No Electricity Day" last week one day. They had the blinds tight and needed to use flashlights, lunches were eatin cold and he took his blanket and pillow to! Today is the "All Day Snack Day" for his class... In my opinion this day could be changed to something else because he feels ever so yucky after a day of eating mostly "unhealthy" snacks all day long!! His lunch looked great that I packed for today but I expect most of it to come home again! He does so enjoy this day though! (until he gets stomach aches...:))

Jordan had "Hot Drink Day" last week. He could not drink the hot chocolate and cappuccinos that most of the class was drinking but he was able to take some tea bags and stevia packets which he enjoyed all day...:) He said the bathroom breaks were eagerly anticipated many times through out this hot drink day!..:)

Wacky Day, Twin Day, Prayer Partner Day, Music Day, Electronic Day, Bring Sibling Day, (Javon can not wait!) Mix Up Day and many more fun things are coming up for this February Fun month yet. That is if we don't have to many more snow days!!..:)

Last evening was our quarterly PTC at school. We get to meet with each one of the kids teachers on this evening. I'm always so thankful for these times with the teachers. It's great to work together with a Christian school where there is "God's Love" between teacher and student. Jenika loves school the most! She is loving the learning and the time spent with teacher and school friends is a huge highlight in her life!!

Each morning as I drop the school children at the door (5 of them with Ashley and Martina) I see the teachers greet them at the door with a smile and hugs for the little ones. I then often whisper a prayer of "Thanksgiving" for this loving Christian school where they spend so much of there time learning and also being taught and shown "God's Love"!

We had a Chiropractor Appointment again last evening. Javon and I were the only ones not needing an adjustment. Last weeks snows and power outages had us missing a week so it had been a month since the last adjustments. I was very surprised I held my position! After falling the whole way down the basement steps on Sunday I was sure I needed the adjustment!! I went down for the food baking in the basement oven. We had a house full of guests and in my haste I stepped wrong on the top step and clunked the whole way down with my head bobbing all the way!! It has been a long time since I fell down a whole flight of stairs!! Nobody saw me and I had no time to pity myself as the biscuits were ready to come out of the oven but I did wake up a bit stiff yesterday morning!

Our church is sending groups to Nicaragua on work projects right now, Amy, Marty and family are with one of the groups there at this time. I'm sure they are enjoying the warm sunshine while we are so frozen here (I know this side of it to!) But Justin is missing the pond skating! They are the ones with the pond right next door to us, they string the lights and drive the wheeler across the pond to make sure it's all fit for skating before they allow anybody on. The weather has been skating weather for sure but we are not seeing the lights down there so Justin is not getting skating time in right now! We miss you Amy's! We are praying for you and your group in Nic! No worry's though the way this winter is going we will have time for more skating when you all return!!:)

We also heard from the Stoltzfus family in Africa!! It's always so good to get emails from Africa! Sounds like the weather in Africa is AMAZING and I can tell from pictures that the flowers are blooming! The mission there sounds busy and rewarding!! We think of you often Dave, Rose and family! We are looking forward to seeing you all this Summer!!
Here are the growing Stoltzfus Kiddos...

Mark Andrew is STILL biking!! (like 18 days now so far) They are having some stormy weather popping up and also it sounds like it's very cold at times!! They are being blessed and also being a blessing as they bike from California to Florida! Keep warm Mark Andrew... We are praying for you!

On a health note...

Did you see this??? What next?? Are you one of those that buys these maybe?? I do not want to offend you if you are but for real "watermelon oreos"!! God is probably thinking "Are you crazy"???!!

I think we are being fed more chemicals then actual "Real Food" these days! It is for real scary! I hate to think what is happening to us here in America when it comes to the poison that is being offered to us and our children these days!! Can we take control of our health with this type of food all around us?? Challenging is the word!! God did not mean for us to mess with food this way and it's already obvious we are reaping the negative affects in our country today.

I like this...:)

The "Baby Steps" we have been taking towards healthier eating habits here have taken a giant leap the past few weeks. It seems Jordan's diet has got me cooking, shopping and just looking at food in general all different! I do not buy everything organic! I'd like to but it's hardly possible! I find some things organic and I think with as many lemons Jordan juices here each week these need to be organic, but the cost difference for the amount of lemons we use is almost unrealistic to get all organic!!

Meat is something that I'm buying again to despite the grass fed steer in our freezer that we just had butchered! Jordan eats lots of chicken, fish and sometimes pork chops but these are not all organic either. I want to find a place that has all organic chicken since he eats so much of it, I know we have some places close by but I just haven't made the right connections yet.

Here is some great information I found interesting... Mercola is great! Sign up for the news letter, it's really interesting! Some stuff is off the wall but I take some and leave some...:)