It's been a really long time since I wrote an entry, but here goes. Today's topic, food for kids. Elizabeth turns 2 on November 18th, presents welcome by the way, but please no more stuffed animals! Sorry, got sidetracked already. In these almost two years of life with a baby, we've learned a lot, changed some things, and said some things we never thought we would say, like yesterday after church, we were crossing the street and my words to Elizabeth were "Don't sit down in the street" she got up before any cars came by the way. For some reason the line in the street seemed like it would be comfortable to her.
The thing I want to address today is food. Elizabeth has been a wonderful influence on our eating habits as a family. For the first little bit that Elizabeth was eating solid food, we would try to only make her only fresh food and give her the best stuff for her, but we began to question, if we don't want Elizabeth to eat it, why would we eat it? A good question to ask, and it has caused us to eat better (lower fat and calories), healthier, fresher food and much, much lessed processed foods loaded with sodium and every partially hydrodenated thing you can partially hydrogenate. It's fairly easy to control what we eat at home, but eating out is much more difficult. It is extremely difficult to find anything of a healthy variety on almost any kid's menu that I have seen. There are some exceptions. Chick-Fil-A will make your kids meal grilled chicken upon request with fruit instead of fries and McDonalds has the fruit option as well, but overall it's tough. It seems to almost always the same, a kid's size hamburger, fried chicken tenders or a hot dog. I have yet to find many healthy options for kids on the kid's menu, we usually end up ordering two things off the adult menu and sharing with Elizabeth. Can anyone tell me of a place offering a healthy meal on the kid's menu? And what is the infatuation with mac and cheese? It's like the official side item for a kid's menu. If Elizabeth was in charge of the sides, she would probably take one or a multitude of types of beans. As we think about what we consume as a family, thanks to Elizabeth for awakening us to what we are eating!

Hey everyone,

If you would like to see some updated pictures of Elizabeth as well as an album from our Canada Day Family Event last week go to the following website of mine and click on one of those two albums. Enjoy!

http://jraffini.xanga.com/albums/

Hey everbody, I'm back! Sure has been a while since I wrote an entry, but here goes. I was invited by a local radio station to be on every morning next week for 1 minute as part of their thought for the day, a time that different ministers in the community take part in. I thought I would post those here every few days and offer some insight into my thoughts. Here goes.

In the next few entries I want to expand upon famous quotes from longtime Pastor Vance Havner. Today’s quote is “If you see a Bible that is falling apart, it probably belongs to a person who isn’t.” The Bible has to be our guide to life. Good thoughts don’t do it. God has provided the resource for living an incredible life in him. That doesn’t always mean an easy life, but an incredible one none the less. The person who reads their Bible regularly will be prepared to deal with difficult situations, be able to see God acting in the good and the bad, and know how to live their life in the will of God. Neglecting this important tool often results in confusion, questions, and a host of other problems. So let today be the start of a process to wear your bible out.

Here are 3 pictures from Easter Sunday.

Here are some pictures of Elizabeth.

Some pics from the road, office, and church on Saturday and Sunday. Sunday morning temperature? -3 Farn. cold morning for church