This cool cat is a JUNIOR

This cool cat is a Junior this school year. High school has really been flying by. This past year, he took it upon himself that he desired to dual enroll. So he called the local university of his choice with questions about how to dual enroll, and we started the ball rolling. So in just a few weeks, the week of the wedding in fact he will attend Universtiy classes for dual credit. Because we have decided to go the dual enrollment route, his hybrid school will no longer host him as an associate student due to their new rules.  He assured us that he would rather have the dual credits than graduate with his class. We are proud of his stewardship, an drive and responsibility.

Since he will be attending classes 4 days a week, he needed a "new to him" ride. So his dad found him this cute ride...

and the good news is that even though he will be dual enrolling, he can still play tennis with NCCA, the other local hybrid school. I know this will be a fun and exciting school year for Shek.

National Cheesecake Day

Today is National Cheesecake Day. I heard about it on the news this morning. Who Knew? Of course, it's a ploy to make you want cheesecake and go buy some. But what if you are eating keto? I have the perfect answer, you make cheesecake and eat it too.

My family and I have been checking out all the keto recipe books, websites, pages, and blogs for the best recipes. We have not been disappointed with any of the recipes from Aaron Day at  fatforweightloss . My National Cheesecake Day recipe comes from Aaron's website.

New York Baked Cheesecake
ingredients
BASE
1/2cup almond flour
1/2 cup coconut flour
1/4 cup shredded coconut (unsweetened)
1/2 cup butter
FILLING
2 cups cream cheese
3/4 c sour cream
1/4 stevia (PYURE)
3 large eggs
1 T vanilla
1 t lemon juice

Directions
Add all the base ingredients into a bowl, melt the butter in the microwave for 30 seconds and mix together in a bowl. In a cake tin, line the inside with parchment paper and press the base mixture into the bottom of the of the tin. Press on the bottom only because the side will become too thin.
place the tin in the fridge and continue with the following steps. Preheat oven 320F. In a mixing bowl, add the cream cheese and sour cream together along with the vanilla and the lemon juice. add 1 egg to the bowl and begin to mix together with an electric mixer. as the mixture begins to mix slightly, add another egg and continue to mix, add the last egg and continue to mix. Take the base out of the fridge and fill the tin with the cheese mixture. put into the oven and bake 45-50 mins. Check the cheesecake by placing a knife in the middle. If it comes out clean it's done.  turn oven off and Leave the oven slightly open and leave the cake in the oven for another 30 mins to cool slowly. put in fridge for another 60 mins. enjoy.

Nutritional Info
10 slices
305 calories
5g carbs
27g fat
8g Protein

In less than a month...

In less than a month, we will be going to the chapel! That's right! Zach and Bre will be getting married.   You can read  their story on The Knot of how they met, as well as engagement photos and wedding details.

Zach has been praying for a wife for a long time, for THE wife God has for him. BUT I've been praying even longer! I've been praying for my children's spouses since before they were born, while they were in the womb, and all the time in between. There are many decisions that we must make this side of heaven but the two top ones are 1. Your relationship with JESUS, and 2. Who you will spend the rest of your life with. I thank God for hearing my prayers.

Late last year, I had been praying and I write a lot of my prayers in a prayer journal because  I love to write, writing the prayers keeps me focused. I remember praying that GOD would help Zach find the one that HE had picked especially for Zach. AND then I had this revelation, I prayed GOD, YOU know where she is, can you please bring her around? Simple as that. That's what I prayed. The. Very. Next. Day. He popped in the study on his way to work, and showed me a photo of this beautiful girl on Instagram and asked what I thought of her. I said she is beautiful, why? AND he said, she's been asking about me, saw me on the livestream of the church service and thought I was probably a nice guy. SO she asked her cousin about him (who turned out to be Zach's boss at the time)....he messaged her through social media and they planned their first date. Like I said earlier you can read their stories on how they met at The KNOT.  I prayed...Lord if this is the one, open the doors and if not shut them tight, and let them both know on this very first date if they are a match for each other....well the rest is history. She is the answer to all the prayers I've been praying for, and I thank GOD. He is awesome, He is on Time. He never Fails and He answers prayers... He accomplishes what concerns His children.

Zach and Bre at Church

Back in April, he proposed 

and she said yes.

We look forward to seeing them get married in just a few short weeks. I  can't wait to see what God has planned for them as they start their new life together.

That Keto life...

If you've know me, you know that throughout my entire life I have struggled with being overweight. I've tried everything over the years. I have had success, but I've also as the word struggle suggests, gained weight back. The constant battle, a thorn in the side, fighting that number on the scale has made me feel like a failure.


Recently, I heard on the radio about KETO and decided to give it a whirl. So I researched it and even bought the book that was suggested on the radio.  I bought Simply Keto and follow her Facebook page and checked out her website  ketokarma . She has a lot of wonderful recipes that are easy to make with easy to find ingredients. So I tried it and had some success, but kept following off the low carb wagon.

Then a friend of mine posted on Facebook that a group in town had been doing a low carb lifestyle with intermittent fasting and taking MCT oil. I had left those two pieces of the puzzle out and since adding those I've finally watched the scales move in the right direction. AND believe it or not, I've not been hungry, not always hearing the pantry call my name. It's been an answer to prayer. The entire family is enjoying my new recipes and my hubby, my mom and I have lost weight. Of course, we still take our AdvoCare supplements (Spark, clear mood, Oasis, Catalyst, Omega plex are some of our favorite go-tos, while enjoying this awesome new to us way of eating.

Looking back, in High School, I prayed that God would help me lose weight. And during that time, I at a high-fat breakfast, you know bacon and eggs, I skipped lunch because  I just didn't like the school cafeteria, went to after school band practice and then ate supper and drank about a gallon of tea when I got home, I guess I was dehydrated. I lost weight. Many people asked me then what I was doing, and I simply said I prayed it off. So God put me on a keto diet back then....over the years, the world tells you to eat low fat and no-calorie processed stuff and that just doesn't work. Yes, there is life without carbs, or at least low carbs. ;)


Some helpful websites and cookbooks that we have enjoyed are fatforweightloss ,ketodaily ,alldayidreamaboutfood

One of my favorite recipes is Lemon Cake from Fatforweightloss.

Keto lemon cake with cream cheese icing... this recipe is a keeper😋

Lemon coconut cake with cream cheese icing (recipe from Aaron Day of Fatforweightloss)
1/2 cup coconut flour
5 eggs
1/4 cup erythritol or pyre blend
1/2 cup melted butter
1/2 lemon juiced
1/2 t lemon zest
1/2 t xanthan gum
1/2 t salt
Icing
1 cup cream cheese
3 T erythritol or pyure blend
1t vanilla
1/2 t lemon zest

Separate the egg whites and yolks. Beat the egg whites until they form white peaks. Into the same bowl, place the rest of the ingredients into the bowl. Mix until combined. Pour into a parchment paper lined loaf tin 9 x 5... make icing while cake bakes. Beat the cream cheese, erythritol and vanilla extract and lemon zest together with an electric beater. Bake at 350 until a knife comes out clean. When cake is cooled, Frost it... nutritional info 10 slices, 145 calories a slice, 1 gram carb, 12 g fat 4 G protein.

Karlie graduates...

Over the past year, Karlie has been working hard at esthetician school. She has learned all kinds of beauty treatments and is super awesome at giving facials. 

She tends to put her clients to sleep because she has the touch that really relaxes her clients during her facials and other beauty treatments.

At Christmas, she was chosen to be Cindy Lou Who for her school's Christmas Float. It was a great day to showcase the school's talent for hair and makeup.

 At GCI, the students learned lots of vital information about skin care and skin treatments. 

She received her elite purple apron for being an exceptional student earlier this year.

And today after 1000 hours,  Karlie graduated from the esthetician program at  GCI.

The graduates sign the wall.

 Karlie wit her grandparents.

We are very proud of your accomplishments, Karlie.

 We look forward to seeing you go forward to the next step.

 We are thankful for this opportunity and

for your great teachers who have helped you succeed.

Surgery number 6 but who's counting?

Since Jolie's been home, she has had several surgeries for cleft palate. In fact, I had lost count, but she asked the other day and we tried to remember them all and we think she has had a total of 6. With the sixth one being last week. 

Awaiting the "loopy" drugs prior to surgery at CHOA

We have had the bone graft surgery on the calendar for a while now, and last week she had that surgery with a little nose revision and previous scar clean up. She knew that she was having the nose and scar revision but didn't realize that she would wake up with visible stitches and swelling and such. I thought she realized that, but she was shocked when she woke up to see the stitches in the mirror. 

She did great though, and even learned to swallow pills after this surgery which is an awesome accomplishment!! It has been a week and most of the swelling is gone, but the stitches are still visible so she won't allow any photos. We look forward to the stitches going away because in one month she will be a flower girl in her big brother's and soon to be sister in love's  wedding. 

It has been seven years

It's hard to believe that it has been seven years today, that our youngest was placed in our arms. We have all been changed for the better through adoption. I can't believe it's been seven years, time really flies.

This was us, eight years ago. Jolie had cried out all her tears at the point the photo was made. As you can see her back was to me and she decided Karl was A-Ok.

And by the next day, she had decided I was ok. We bonded over chocolate, chicken nuggets, toys and clothes!

Our family in 2011...

Our family now....this was taken at our domestication. We kept putting off this step, but finally completed it recently.

our first glance at Jolie was this photo....

This is Jolie now. What an awesome blessing she is to us.  Read more about our journey here.