Food for Thought...

So this is kind of a random post...I don't tend to talk about home remedies and such (though I am a big believer in natural practices).  But I thought I would share how great Manuka Honey is.

When John and I went to Australia, Fiji, and New Zealand for our Honeymoon (10 years ago) we were exposed to Active Manuka Honey in New Zealand.  We were young and didn't really care about it, but we brought back 2 large jars of the honey.  Needless to say I gave one to my mom who didn't know too much about it then.  Fast forward 10 years later and my mom now swears by it (my sister too).

In these months that we have been living with my parents Manuka Honey has been our go to remedy.  We use it for indigestion, sore throats, cold sores, small cuts, and in my mother's case preventing cancer from coming back.

Here are a couple of websites if you want to read for yourself:
http://www.manukahoney.com/
http://www.livestrong.com/article/187830-the-health-benefits-of-new-zealand-manuka-honey/
 http://www.manukahoney.org.nz/

A couple of weeks ago I had really bad indigestion and my mom asked me to take a teaspoon full of the honey, and in about 20 minutes I felt so much better!  It just got rid of the grossness.

So there's my 2 cents for today.  I'm no doctor but with the research I've read and the results I've received I think it's definitely worth taking a look into.  My personal opinion is if I can heal something without chemicals then why not??

The House Before

So I had said that I would begin to show some photos of our home as we transform it.  But before I do that I thought I would put some of the original real estate photos of what the house looked like before.  It was nice, but I am the type of person who needs to make a home mine.  It needs the Tanya touch :)  So its a great house and I'm really excited to move in.

So remember these are all the 'Before' photos

The Master Bedroom

The boys room

The Family/Dining Room

The Kitchen

Family Room

So hopefully, in a week or so I will post photos of the progress :)  We decided to paint, put new floors in, and update the kitchen.  

It's a really cute house and I am so excited for the boys because our neighborhood is filled with kids their age.

Spending Time With Mom

For those of you who didn't know we have been living with our parents for the past 6 months. Many of you may be thinking how on earth can you handle that? Others can even imagine one night with their parents let alone 6 months. Well in all honestly it hasn't been terrible. Just like any family dynamic it has its challenges. Privacy is at a minimum and my children have gotten spoiled, but the positives have outweighed the negatives.
For one, Caleb has been my challenge. He just doesn't like to sleep, he averages only 6 hours and still wakes up every 3 hours or so, so in the morning my mom lets me sleep an extra half hour or so and she takes him in the morning. And it does make it possible for John and I to get a date night in every so often.
But I think what has really been amazing for me is the quality time with my mother. Now that I myself, am a mother I feel as though I have a much different connection with my mom. And she feels the same way. We talk about her life as a child in Iran and as a teenager. We talk about why she chose certain parenting techniques over others. We talk about my children's futures and life may be like for them when they grow up. And we talk about faith and religion.

Some of you may know that my mom was born a Muslim, but never really a devout Muslim, she married a Christian for one thing. And when I became a Christian in high school, she was actually really happy for me. We never talked about it a whole lot but she would go to Easter and Christmas service with me. But ever since Soren (our miracle baby) came home she knew that my faith in Christ was much more strong. I now attended church every week and John and I joined a small group (which my mom sat in a few times) and we became very close without Pastor and his wife. We were quote unquote Practicing Christians. And if that weren't enough I also started working at our Church as their Office Manager/Design Consultant. You would think that there would be difficult to have conversations with my mom at this point about God; but I have to say that there was a reason that God sold our home so quickly and had to stay with my parents. I think it was to have the deep conversations we have been having about God and Christianity.

These past months have allowed us as mother and daughter to really talk about some deep issues. To really open up and talk about God. My prayer would be for my mom to make the decision to ask Christ into her heart and maybe this is just the beginning...

Though it hasn't always been easy I am thankful to God for this time to gain a much more special relationship with my mother.

So thank you God!