Baruch Korman Cancelled

Hey ramblers! This is a quick post to get the word out that, sadly, Baruch Korman will not be in GJ tomorrow. His flights were cancelled and he is stuck in Dallas! So if you were planning on going, I hope this caught you in time! Blessings and Shabbat shalom!!

Emma: Fingerless Mitts!

They are finished! I'm looking forward to (Yahweh willing) selling these at Family Week in April! I'm also in the process of making up my own pattern to sell, and hopefully those will be finished soon, also, so that I can post pictures of those for you to see! This a fairly simple and quick knit for the knitters out there who are looking just a fun project. I could make these over and over again and never get bored! 

~Emma~

Sophie

Hey, guys, Shining Starts is doing a rather large giveaway for baby blankets and multiple coupons of 15 dollars off... Awesome!  Y'all should check it out!  :) 

Emma: Freckled Lemonade (the healthy version)

How many of you have had Red Robin's Strawberry Freckled Lemonade? Amazing! Before I cared about eating healthy whole foods, I told everyone whenever I drank a glass of it that I could live on it for the rest of my life and that I didn't' care if it it was hurting my body. 

About a year ago I stopped drinking it because I felt guilty when my parents didn't get it and I still did. I'll admit it... I was kind of sad that it was so toxic because it tasted so darn good! And then we went on the Gaps diet. It really wasn't a loud, then! 

During our first week on Gaps I was desperately hungry for something to satisfy the sudden need for sugar that I didn't realize was there. Apparently I really needed a sugar detox because I don't think I've ever wanted so many sweets in one week before! (I think I made an average of 6-7 desserts that week)  My search took me to Pinterest and many of the health food blogs that my Mom follows. While I was looking I found a recipe for strawberry lemonade. It looked good, and it was Gaps legal, since the only ingredients were strawberries, lemon, honey, and water. Why not? I started following the directions. They were a little complicated, so I changed it up a bit. I was amazed at my result. It turned into the best good for you Freckled Lemonade EVER!!! It tastes exactly like Red Robin, only without the added junk and made with healthy foods and hardly any ingredients. Yum!

You can make this and a slushie/smoothie or actual lemonade, depending on how you like it. I hope that you enjoy!

Freckled Lemonade

For slushie

4 cups frozen strawberries

Two lemons, juiced

1/2 cup honey

2 cups water

Blend all ingredients together.

For lemonade

4 cups frozen strawberries

2 lemons, juiced

1/2 cup honey

6 cups water

Blend all ingredients together.

This recipe makes about 6-8 glasses. I haven't tried it, but I'll bet it would be really yummy no more realistic if you sliced partially thawed frozen strawberries and put them in each individual glass. Yum!

Try them out and let me know what you think!

Emma Frei

 This is a neat Maccabeats song that we found in their Out of the Box album. It's one of my favorites! Click here to listen to it. I'll post the translation below...

Yavo

Original Artist: Miami Boys Choir
Lyrics: the Siddur (“Tzur Mishelo”, part of the Friday night liturgy)

יִבָּנֶה הַמִּקְדָּשׁ
עִיר צִיּוֹן תְּמַלֵּא
וְשָׁם נָשִׁיר שִׁיר חָדָשׁ וּבִרְנָנָה נַעֲלֶה
הָרַחֲמָן הַנִּקְדָּשׁ     יִתְבָּרַךְ וְיִתְעַלֶּה
‘עַל כּוֹס יַֽיִן מָלֵא     כְּבִרְכַּת ה
בֶּן דָּוִד עַבְדֶּֽךָ  יָבוֹא וְיִגְאָלֵֽנוּ
‘רֽוּחַ אַפֵּֽינוּ
מְשִֽׁיחַ ה
Verse:
May the Temple be rebuilt, Zion’s city full again,
There we will sing a new song as we go up in joy,
To the Compassionate, the Holy One- may he be blessed and reaised on high-
With a full cup of wine, sign of the blessing of the Lord (Hashem).
Chorus:
The son of David Your servant: may he come and redeem us,
Breath of our life, anointed of the Lord.
(Rabbi Sacks Siddur)

Emma: Gaps Cookies

Yum! These are almost just like oat meal cookies, only grain-free and GAPS! I've made four batches so far in two days... They go fast in a family of nine, especially since they taste so good! These ones technically aren't all the way Gaps because of the chocolate chips, but if you get super dark chocolate chips that are like, 85 percent cocao, you should be good!

Cookies

1 1/4 cup almond flour

1 tsp coconut flour

1/4 tsp baking soda

1/8 tsp salt

1/4 cup honey

1 tsp vanilla extract

2 tbsp softened butter

2 tbsp coconut oil

1 3/4 tsp cinnamon

1/2 cup shredded coconut

1/2 cup chocolate chips (or as many as you like)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a small bowl, combine the almond flour, coconut flour, baking soda and salt. Set aside. In a larger bowl, mix the honey, vanilla, butter, coconut oil, and cinnamon with a hand mixer until smooth. Mix in the dry ingredients until well incorporated, then add the shredded coconut and the chocolate chips. Place smallish balls on a parchment lined cookie sheet and press down slightly to flatten. The grow a little bit, so make sure they're about two inches apart. Bake for 8-12 minutes, depending on your oven. Cookies should be golden brown on edges and bottom. Let cool completely on cookie sheet, so that you don't scorch your tongue, because the chocolate chips are very, very hot when they are finished! These would be really good with a glass of cold milk, I bet! Someone should try it out and let me know! A single batch makes about 18 cookies.

Emma Frei: For the Love of Writing

I love letters. I have written letters since I knew how to read and write. My very first pen-pal was my cousin Megan, who is the same age as me. The people who delivered the mail were my Dad and my Aunt Lori. I wrote letters to her up until I was nine or ten years old. We both loved it, me especially. For as long as I can remember I have loved to read. I remember sitting in my room when we lived in Rifle at ten pm. reading one of my favorite series, Little House on the Prairie.  Often Mama would come in and find me asleep with my nose in an open book. I loved to read so much that I decided that I was going to be a writer when I grew up. And I was serious about it. I have so many notebooks filled with stories, actual books, that I wrote when I was seven years old. Not kidding! In fact, I have read so many novels that I already knew everything about writing by the time I got to that in language arts! I knew from reading where to put comas, quotation marks, proper grammar, the basics if writing. The very first chapter book I wrote was a holacaust story, where most of the characters died and the whole thing was very tragic. A few years ago I re-wrote it, this time into a story about a Jewish girl who marrys someone and escapes with him out of the Warsaw Ghetto and into Britain. I am now changing it a little bit again, adding more drama as I see fit. So far it is my master piece. It will probably continue to change and grow over the years, as most of my stories have. In 2013 I started blogging. 

As I've grown and matured I have turned again to letters. I'm now writing to my cousins Megan AND Lily, who live in Yuma, AZ, a pen-pal named Alexandra and a friend who I met at Family Week in Kentucky back in 2013. And I'll tell you what: There is something very special about getting a letter in the mail with your name on it. It's different than getting an email or a text. It's something you can hold in your hand, something you can feel. Somebody put time and effort into that letter, even if it's just a simple note asking how you're doing. Somebody sat down and thought about you. That makes me feel special. 

So write a letter. Take time to think about who you should write to, whether it's a friend and a relative, or both. Write it with a pen on paper, not on your computer or phone. It'll mean that much more to whoever you write to.

Emma Frei

Hey every one! How are you all doing? 

I just wanted to take a moment and throw this prayer request out there, if you don't mind. :)

Back in 2014, my Aunt's retina began to detach. This was really scary for all of us, and she immediately went and had surgery to fix it before it came off entirely. Her eye was just barely saved.

Now, only a few months later, she has developed cataracts in her eye, as well. Again, a few days ago, she went and had another surgery. :( No fun! 

Please pray that she will heal well from the surgery and that nothing will go wrong with her eyes or any other part of her body! Her name is Roseanna.

Yahweh willing, she wants to try to cme out here to visit us as soon as it's safe for  her to drive over Vail Pass. We are very excited and hopeful!

Thank you all for your prayers!