 Mother's Day 2014 has officially passed...well, in 36 minutes, it will have ended. If you are a mother, how was your Mother's Day? Glorious? Disappointing? Ho-hum? When my girls were little, they were sweetly guided by Daddy to pick out a card and a small gift for me. Mother's Day was a special day for me. As the girls grew a bit older, I found myself having bigger and better expectations of what Mother's Day would be like for me. You know, breakfast in bed...(yeah, right; it's a busy Sunday morning!)...lots of gifts...everyone picking up after themselves and putting all of the dirty dishes into the dishwasher...lunch or dinner made for me...me sitting on the couch and eating bon bons...and on and on. You've been there, right? Unfortunately, the girls didn't have the same expectation for themselves. They would forget to make a card...or be so busy in their childhood "busyness" that they didn't get around to making it seem like a very special day for me. There were even a few Mother's Days where I found myself making my own breakfast while we all rushed to get out the door to go to church. And I found myself resenting the day a little bit, because I "expected" a lot more than that. A couple of years ago, I began to think about the rewards of motherhood. I have loved being a mom to our two daughters. They are a joy in my life - every day! But if I set "Mother's Day" too high on a pedestal, as a day to be worshiping me as a mother and meeting my every need and expectation, I am going to be brutally disappointed. Instead, I look forward to Mother's Day because I know that some sort of recognition and love will be shown to me. And I treasure the thought of that, though I know that my girls honor and show love to me almost every day. :) I am truly blessed. And I know that even if my family doesn't recognize my efforts, God does. Serving my family is an incredible gift I am giving to them. Nurturing and raising our children is a huge ministry that I don't take for granted. This Mothers' Day, the girls put some time into planning a special day for me. ☺  I woke up to a beautiful bouquet of freshly cut flowers from our backyard, and two delightful homemade cards. I also love these homemade Low-Carb Quick & Healthy Waffles. But we didn't plan ahead really well, and were out of cottage cheese, so Kelsi and I drove down to the nearby grocery store and bought some cottage cheese this morning so she could make these for us all to enjoy.  My parents attend the same church as my family, so I was able to sneak into my mom's adult Bible study class this morning and give her a little orchid corsage. I love surprising her with pretty things like that. She deserves it! We were blessed with a convicting and God-honoring message from our pastor at church this morning, focusing on the first chapter of the book of Ruth. I love that part of the Bible!
After visiting with different friends after church, my parents and my family set out to find lunch. Our first choice, a local Greek restaurant, was closed for Mother's Day. While we were disappointed, I'm glad that their employees were able to enjoy a nice day away from work so they could spend time with their moms and wives. ☺ We settled on eating at a gourmet hamburger restaurant and enjoyed taking our time to sit and visit with each other. After lunch, we did a couple of little errands around town, and then my husband and girls surprised me with this!  If you haven't seen "Moms' Night Out", it is a hilariously funny movie - yet is so poignant that it will make some of you cry. It's totally worth going to see this in the theaters! Here's a preview of the movie, if you haven't heard of it or haven't seen it yet: We had fun watching the movie. The girls laughed so hard! But after the movie, one of them said to me, "Mom, has being a mommy been that difficult? Because if it is going to be like that, I'm scared!" I giggled. "Sure, there were some moments like that, but no, our lives have not ever really looked that bad...but for some moms, it might." "Whew!" and a big sigh of relief was heard. :) After the movie ended (around 5:00 p.m.), we came home. The girls begged me to open presents and read through their cards, so I was happy to do that. Who wouldn't be? :)
But the best part of Mother's Day were the homemade cards and sentiments inside them:
After that, it was back to business for us all. ☺ Elmer needed to pay the bills, and the rest of us had some chores to do as well. Brittany cleaned out the guinea pig cage...Kelsi practiced violin for a couple of hours...and I paid some medical bills and sorted and filed the papers that had stacked up on the kitchen counter. Then, we all relaxed the rest of the evening until it was bedtime. If your Mother's Day wasn't what you had hoped it to be, please know that God sees your efforts as a mother, and He honors the service and love you provide to your family. Some day, your family will look back on how you sacrificed for them, and they will treasure you even more. How did your family help you celebrate Mother's Day this year? Also, what has been your favorite Mother's Day memory?
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 Some content includes affiliate links, which give me a small percentage of the sale without costing you any extra. You are not obligated to use these links when you make a purchase, but when you do so it helps to support this site, so thank you! I stopped eating flour-based foods and most processed foods in January 2013. While much of the transition to gluten-free, low-carb eating has worked well for my family, I've really missed eating crackers and chips. Yup. It's the simple things in life that inspire me. ☺ I used to love to nibble from a box of Wheat Thins crackers from time to time. So there were supposed to be 8 servings of crackers in a box of Wheat Thins? I guess I missed that part. Ha! Recently, I saw a recipe for Sour Cream and Chive Crackers on Low Carb So Simple.com. Could a homemade, gluten-free, low-carb cracker actually be as good as that website promised? I decided to give it a try. And I was astounded with the amazing results! I changed up the recipe a little bit, making it work better for my finicky taste buds, and here are my results: 
Preheat oven to 250° F (100° C). Holding a small bunch of green onion tops or chives, use kitchen scissors to snip them into very small pieces, or use a knife to slice them thinly. In a medium bowl, combine all ingredients with your hands or a heavy spoon. Knead dough until smooth, approximately 30-60 seconds. Divide dough into two balls. Place each ball of dough on a separate baking sheet lined with parchment paper or a Silpat silicone baking mat. Cover each dough ball with a piece of parchment paper. With a rolling pin or pastry/pizza roller, roll the dough as thin as you can - the thinner the dough, the crisper the cracker. Remove the top parchment paper. Cut the dough into 1" or 2" squares with a knife, pizza cutter, or pastry wheel. The pastry wheel does a nice job of giving the crackers that zig zag look. ☺ I use my grandmother's 80-year-old pastry wheel, but this one would work well, too.
Place baking sheets in the oven and bake for 50-60 minutes, checking several times so make sure the crackers don't get too brown or burn. Lower heat if they are getting too brown but aren't quite crispy enough yet. Cool completely and break into squares. After crackers have cooled, store them in airtight containers or ziplocks. They will stay crisp for at least 4-5 days...if they last that long! Here's the free printable version for your 3-ring binder: |
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In the interest of full disclosure, some of the links in my posts are “affiliate links.” This means if you click on the link and purchase the item, I receive an affiliate commission...without it costing you a penny more. I only recommend products I use personally. Your purchases through these links help support Joy In Our Journey. I humbly thank you for your support!
I've always wanted to be able to wear some of the amazing hair styles you see, above. But my hair doesn't look all that great in an updo or ponytail. For some reason, the shape of my face has never allowed me to wear fancy updos or other fun hair styles.
However, my daughters both have long, beautiful hair and can wear their hair in countless numbers of styles. Oh, the joy of never getting bored with how hair is done! That's something that I've personally never experienced. ☺
I'm hosting a giveaway for Lilla Rose products, so read through my comments, see which product you'd like best, and enter the giveaway, below!
 | Over the years, I've purchased lots of types of hair clips, barrettes, ponytail holders, etc., etc., etc. for my girls. Most of them either wouldn't stay in my daughters' hair, or they just didn't look attractive and were too difficult to use...or they easily broke. I started seeing the Lilla Rose Flexi Hair Clips being reviewed by lots of bloggers, but I was skeptical. They looked beautiful, but they must be shoddy or not work well all day in the hair...I thought. However, I won a blog giveaway for a Lilla Rose Flexi Hair Clip, and when it came in the mail, we were pleasantly surprised! |
If you are at an extremely busy stage of life (with babies and little ones...or at the other end of the spectrum where you are caring for elderly parents)...
...or if you are a college student who has very little time each morning to spend time on your hair, I think you are going to really enjoy the Lilla Rose hair jewelry products!
The Flexi Hair Clips are very beautiful and stylish. They are extremely well manufactured, better than anything I could buy in my local stores. There are so many styles from which to choose that it took us a long time to select the one clip that we would receive from the giveaway!
The Flexi Hair Clip comes in six sizes to accommodate different hair types and styles. Depending on the amount and type of hair, you might use a small for a ponytail, but a large for a French Twist. Here are some videos and written tips to help you determine what size(s) of Flexi you need, and also how to do 8 common hair styles to keep things fresh.
Over the last couple of years, I've ordered from Lilla Rose several times for new Flexi Clips for my girls. They've received them in their Christmas stockings, Easter baskets, and for Valentine's Day and birthdays.
 | Something new that Lilla Rose is selling are their useful You-Pins. Look how they hold hair beautifully! |
Hair sticks . . . Hair bands . . . the Flexi Oh! . . . and Lilla Rose Bobby Pins!
 Lilla Rose Hair Sticks |  Lilla Rose Hair bands |
 the Flexi-Oh! |  Lilla Rose Bobby Pins |
Time to have fun and give away Lilla Rose hair products!
Independent Lilla Rose Consultant Susan Peterson is offering TWO of Joy In Our Journey's readers anything in the Lilla Rose catalog up to $16!
In addition to being a Trim Healthy Mama, Susan Peterson is excited to be a representative for the Lilla Rose company because she and her girls use and love the products! Susan bought her first Flexi at the state fair at least ten years ago, and it is still as strong and beautiful as ever!
The star of the Lilla Rose line is the Flexi Clip. Flexis are stronger, more versatile, and more beautiful than barrettes. But Flexis are only the beginning of what Lilla Rose offers. Check out all the other great products at www.lillarose.biz/happy!
There's only one catch: this giveaway is open to brand new online Lilla Rose customers only.
That means only U.S. residents who have never purchased any products from Lilla Rose online are welcome to enter the giveaway.
If you've purchased Lilla Rose products in the past - but not online - then you are welcome to enter this giveaway provided that you are a U.S. resident.
Why is this Lilla Rose giveaway set up in this way?
The Lilla Rose web pages are set up so that customers will always return to the page of the same consultant that they have used in the past. If you have purchased any Lilla Rose products online in the past, your purchase would be credited to that consultant, and not to our giveaway consultant, Susan Peterson.
Because Susan is offering the giveaway prizes at her own cost, we want to honor that and make sure she is credited with any purchases made through this review and giveaway.
Make sense? If not, please leave your questions in the comments section below. Thanks!
Entrants must be 18 years or older; only U.S. residents are eligible to enter this giveaway.
I will select the winner of this prize using Random.org (via this Rafflecopter entry form, below).
I will be verifying the winning entrant's giveaway entry options to make sure they are valid. In the past several months, multiple potential winners were excluded from winning even though their names had been selected randomly as winners, because they said that they had signed up for email subscriptions but had not completed the process, which includes clicking on an email you will receive to confirm your subscription. An email subscription to Joy In Our Journey.com is not a requirement to enter our giveaways, but if you do use an email subscription option to enter to win, please make sure that you click on the confirmation email that you will receive. That will validate your entry. Thank you! :)
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I received two Flexi Clips for review, but was not compensated financially in any way. The opinions expressed are those of Joy In Our Journey.com and are based solely on experiences while using the Lilla Rose hair products.
In the interest of full disclosure, some of the links in my posts are “affiliate links.” This means if you click on the link and purchase the item, I receive an affiliate commission...without it costing you a penny more. I only recommend products I use personally. Your purchases through these links help support Joy In Our Journey. I humbly thank you for your support!
In the interest of full disclosure, some of the links in my posts are “affiliate links.” This means if you click on the link and purchase the item, I receive an affiliate commission...without it costing you a penny more. I only recommend products I use personally. Your purchases through these links help support Joy In Our Journey. I humbly thank you for your support!
Hi! I'm Julieanne!
You'll find me in the kitchen
trying new Trim Healthy Mama recipes, loving God, and carrying out that love as I bless my husband and teen daughters.
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