Simple...But Good

Sometimes the best things are the simple things.

  Not to far back I was watching a friend's kids, one of them said he was hungry.  Me, not knowing what he likes to eat, was trying to come up with ideas.  But he just walked to the fridge, pulled out a little glass container and some maple syrup.  He pulled out the toaster and from the little glass container- pops in some mini pancakes.  I thought "Wow! simple, but brilliant!"  You might know by now . . . I'm excited by new ideas.  Why had I never thought of this?  It's easy, healthy, economical, and pancakes-they can really fill a kid up.  

 My kids... I think that food just falls into their mouth and dissipates into thin air.  They are always hungry.  Remember the days when you heard your parents say, "You guys are going to eat us out of house & home,"?  I guess I never really considered that was possible.  Till now.  They eat a ton.  So hear is the recipe for: Cute Fluffy Pancakes.

A little aside, I often don't do many pictures, cause a huge part of my blogging is to try and just be real.  And really...I don't have much time for photos, even though I love taking them.  Also, photos can create an unreal snap shot of the truth.  Cause a picture may look cute, quaint, inspiring ...awesome...and more.  But if we all just had snapshots or our life. . .we'd all look perfect.  And "computer life" can quite easily promote a false image.  

Back to fun simple things.

A mango.  Thats fun, . . simple & yummy!  I love to eat them, and hate to peal them.  It usually ends up a slimy mess in my hands by the time I'm done.  But, there's a new way!  Well new to me: 

A mango is so simple to slice like this then enjoy!

One more, simple- but good thing.   Lunch.  If you came to my house during lunch you may think it's a bit odd at first.  Yet, it's healthy (usually) and it works!  When you teach your children during the day it becomes exceedingly important that they eat well.  When my kids eat unhealthy things during the school day. .. I usually want to pull my hair out.  It's just not good.  I see how food so intricately effects their behavior and mood.  So, quite often our lunches look something like this:

It's so simple, & better yet, they love it.

So often in the bustle of everyday life, we sort of... let life happen to us, instead of thinking things through.  If you have kids, their needs are so... There...always in need of something. Right in front of us.   Especially true with little children.  Quite easily our spouse can be put on the back burner-so to speak, because it's not urgent.  Your marriage relationship is so important, because when it is healthy--the rest of the family will tend to be healthy also.

With that, I wanted you to see this below.  (Clicking on the title will take you to the page.)  Very thought out observations on this topic.  I read it a few weeks back on the Family Life website and wanted to pass it along.  

Improve Your Marriage by Being Worse Parents 

by Jim Keller

Here's a snippet:

Parenting is a great responsibility and a great joy, but it can also be a great distracter. Our lives are so inextricably linked with our children that it sometimes can be overwhelming emotionally. My most emotional moments and the majority of my tears were engendered by my kids. But my children eventually left home—can you imagine?! And my wife and I were the ones that remained. And the really interesting thing to me is that our relationship is still the backbone of our now-extended family. Don't focus so much on your parenting that you forget that the most important relationship in your family is your marriage to your spouse.