When I first heard about Trim, Healthy Mama a few months ago, I was excited to check it out. I’ve been a fan of Serene and Pearl, their sister Evangeline and their mother Nancy Campbell’s magazine, “Above Rubies” for many years. My journey in food and nutrition has been very similar to Serene’s over the years: always on the hunt for the most health-promoting, pure and energizing ways of eating! Including all things weird and wonderful! So when I heard she was on to something “new” beyond her vegan and raw years, I was intrigued to hear what she had moved to and why. I have been so impressed with the content of this book and can’t recommend it enough! Don’t forget to enter on the right for your free copy!
Beyond the practical info and the new recipes, I mostly dug in to the Above Rubies magazines for the hefty dose of encouragement! Mail days that brought copies of this sweet magazine seemed to come at the most trying of moments. Times when I was a younger mom, with a handful of younger kids who seemed to be needing all of me, all the time. More than anything, I was hungry for the food that would nourish my soul and spirit. I’d sneak into the bathroom and devour it cover-to-cover…or put my feet up with a cup of tea in the afternoon, flipping through the stories, checking out the photos of all those big smiling families, counting kids and gleaning ideas for names. I was desperate for coaching, for practical help, for someone to understand my world, for someone to help me laugh. And desperate for someone to point me back to Him. Someone to edify the high calling of mamahood and not just reassure me that “this too shall pass”…
Flipping through an Above Rubies magazine gave me hope. Softened my heart, encouraged me in the journey, and made me grateful. These magazines still bring a smile and I still love mail days that bring my little package of 3 magazines (one for me, two to give away!)
Our lives as moms are full-on, and demand all of our resources! It’s a messy job. The training is constant, and the disappointments can be very real. Just yesterday our three year old walked off with a pair of opera glasses, a family heirloom. Gone. We’re hopeful they will be recovered, but in the meantime…we swallow the disappointment, focus less on our value of possessions and dig a little deeper to remember the value of these little lives on loan to us. There are so very many tests of our patience. We know we can’t expect perfect behaviour, and we get frustrated with messy rooms and unfinished homework or chores. The days can be exhausting and at times, and discouraging when we aren’t seeing fruit of our labour right away. I don’t know about you, but if I don’t look for sources of encouragement (which often come when I take the time to encourage another)…I can feel exhausted & disheartened pretty quickly.
I am so grateful for the people in my life that redirect my eyes and heart…that speak life, hope and encouragement over me. Isn’t this how we are to be towards our children? The power of encouragement can’t be underestimated. We need to train up our kids, but at the end of the day, I want to be known to them as their greatest fan. I want to treat them as the treasures they are. And to be an open conduit of the Father’s love and encouragement to flow through me.
Encourage your children and the mamas around you with the life-giving nourishment of words infused with hope and blessing today.
“Who can find a wife of noble character? For her value is far more than rubies.”~Proverbs 31:10
Laundry Mom~Kali ♥
