Diets and Defiance......(Repost)

I had a few people ask me about this post so instead of having them go and try to find it I figured I would repost it.  When I repost things from the archives it is usually because someone has been asking me questions.  Also the ages of my children and the length of my health quest is about 2-1/2 years longer than stated in this post.  Hope this helps................

Dearest mothers do you struggle with your child’s behavior a little too often?  Do you find your child is wild, hyper, and even out of control at times?  Does your child/children do things that leave you scratching your head one too many times?  Has any or many of your child been diagnosed with ADD?  ADHD?   Do you find your child gets sick a lot?  Do you find your babies and young ones tend to get frequent ear infections?  If you answered yes to any even just one of these questions may I tell you dearest mothers you need not despair!  There is hope and there is a good way to help your child become calmer, focused and rarely sick.

So many mothers are rarely educated on diets and how foods affect our family especially our children.   So many foods today have dyes, chemicals, sugars, preservatives and so on.  Ladies please allow me to share that these things are very harmful to our child’s pure and innocent bodies.  We have  no idea just how much we are flooding their bodies with impurities that their little bodies have a hard time getting rid of.    Mothers the most common way we see this overload is in behavior or our children getting sick frequently.  No mother wants to see her precious children sick! I know this first hand.  So will you allow me to share some things with you precious mothers?  Things that can help you nurture your family to health?

Will you allow me to share a story with you dear ladies?  Many, many years ago the Lord turned my whole world upside down and inside out.  He changed my life dramatically in so many ways!  I think the Lord knew that I was the type of person if I was going to change it would have to be 100%.  So He took me on a journey and showed me many things regarding child training, food and health.  I was inundated with so many new things but I was so inspired and renewed through it all.   My oldest ds was the typical child with frequent ear infections, sore throats, pneumonias, skin rashes, hyper, diagnosed with ADD and so on.   I just dealt with it and gave him antibiotics whenever he needed them and I just waited for the ear infection or sickness to pass until the next time. Well by my second ds I was getting a little concerned about all the things that were happening with him.  It was a replay of my first ds but some things seemed even worse.  He had frequent ear infections, strep throat was a regular occurrence about every 2 months, he had a regular eye infection, skin rashes, he was also diagnosed with ADD and the list went on.  I wanted the doctors to tell me why he was getting strep throat every 2 months but all they could do was tell me to give him antibiotics every time it infected him and to just wait for it to clear up.  I guess by this point I was not willing to accept that answer any more ladies.   Mothers can you relate to the fact that I wanted answers!  So I was on a quest.  I sought the Lord and He led me down a challenging path.  The first thing He told me was to figure out food sensitivities.  Now children will be tested for allergies and come up negative. We had my oldest ds allergy tested and everything came up negative.  But I knew he had food problems.  So the first clue I felt the Lord gave me was what did my children crave the most?  What happens to drug addicts, alcoholics and smokers when their body has something that is not good for it?  They crave their addictions.  So I took what my two ds craved the most and I decided to eliminate those things from their diets.  (It was hard on them at first ladies I will not lie and tell you otherwise but I knew it had to be done and they understood this.  Explain to your children dear ladies.  Help them understand you are doing this to help them feel better.  By doing so you are teaching them how to take hold of their own health at a very young age!)  Within weeks their rashes cleared up.  My second ds eye infections were non-existent!   Mothers I was intrigued to say the least.  I wanted to know even more.  So I began looking into foods and how to eat them in their whole form.  So we began whole food eating.  What a difference ladies!  I cannot tell you how many things changed.  The strep throat stopped occurring completely, here it is over 9 ½ years later, and it has never reoccurred again.   Even all other sickness was minimal if anything at all and the behaviors were completely mellow, calm no more wild hyper crazy behavior.  Life was completely new and different from how we knew it ladies!

So I bought a wheat grinder! There are inexpensive grinders out there ladies but if you cannot afford one you can usually buy inexpensive ground whole-wheat flour from health food stores but be sure it is fresh or it can be rancid if it has been sitting on the shelf for too long.  Or you can find a friends house to go to who has a grinder that you can go grind together that is what I did for my friends.  You can also use a coffee grinder.  This takes much longer but works wonderfully if you grind the wheat to the finest powder.  Dear ladies please do remember that where there is a will there is a way.  Remember to let the Lord help and guide you to where you will find all of what you will need to accomplish the task I believe He would want you to do.    Anyway we began grinding our own wheat to make bread, we ate whole grains instead of refined ones.  (Ladies I know this would be hard for many people who grew up on white bread. But I have some of the best recipes that you wouldn’t even know they were Whole Wheat!)   I have shared them with many women and they have all said the same thing.  They are recipes their families loved.  Dear mothers May I suggest to you that you at least try these things before deciding you won’t like them?  Go to my archives and read my posting on “Thankful or Picky Eater?”  (Posted back in 2005, if you have trouble finding it I can repost it upon request.)  It will help you understand why it is good to at least try things especially when it comes to teaching and training our children how and what to eat!  Dear ladies I think we forget at times that our bodies belong to God. I think He would want us to take care of them and to teach our children to do so also.
 

 1Co 6:19 What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?

 Anyway we stopped buying food with preservatives, we used only foods that had minimal ingredients and only had things on the label that we could pronounce LOL.  We avoided all chemicals and food dyes that were unnatural.  We incorporated a lot more fruits and veggies and bought as much organic as we possibly could.  We searched out resources to buy meats from animals that were free roaming, grass fed, free of hormones, and antibiotics (these things accumulate in our children’s body’s ladies!  Do you notice that girls are beginning to get breasts at a much younger age?  Boys are entering puberty at a younger age also!  Those hormones are not good for our children and you can find milk free of these hormones in so many stores now mothers.  It isn’t too hard to find and your family will reap the benefits.  You will feel good knowing you are serving them life.   If you live in an area where they sell Royal Crest milk, the milk is hormone free and they deliver right to your door.  If you live by farmland, that is your best choice, it is great place ladies to get fresh milk like our ancestors did and the pilgrims did which is straight from the animal!  That raw milk has amazing enzymes that are wonderful for the human body!   We searched out and found eggs that were fertile fresh from the farm from free roaming chickens. (The eggs being fertile help it turn into a type of protein form that our body is able to use much easier!)  We started drinking a lot of clean water (water is such a necessary thing in our diets!  Our bodies are over 80% water and when we don’t replenish that water we are truly causing harm to our bodies ladies!  I know that first hand too! ), Every body in my family is now required to drink half their body weight in water every day!  (We never did drink pop prior to this we just drank juice before we switched to water.)  Fresh juices are good they count as water intake so do herbal teas, smoothies, but I am sorry ladies coffee doesn’t count LOL.  We began juicing fresh fruits and veggies on a regular basis.
 

We began adding essential fatty acids to our diets like omega 3/6/9. This is so important for brain development and function of our children ladies!  You would be amazed at how depleted our children really are of these oils.  We started staying away from refined anything including oils especially the hydrogenated and the partially hydrogenated ones and we began using Cold pressed 100% virgin olive oil, unrefined coconut oils and palm oils in our diets and we went back to using butter.  These fats are good fats and did you know ladies that when we eat good fats it helps replace and flush out the bad fats from our bodies that we store and before you know it you are losing weight without even trying.  You find that the weight is just melting off your body. I am living proof ladies it is true!  I lost a total of about 50 pounds over a short period of time.  I didn't do anything special I just worked on getting my metabolism going normally again and the essential oils was one of the main keys in doing this along with small frequent meals.  We then began drinking barley green on a daily basis to help add more enzymes to our enzyme pool.  Barley green does a whole host of good things.  Do you know after having one of my babies my gums were in bad shape but the barley green reversed any gum damage I had.  The dentist told me it would stay that way but it didn’t and it was because of the barley green!  None of my children ever had cavities.  But I have recently let some bad foods into our house due to some personal reasons and believe it or not I have 3 children who suddenly went from never having a single cavity to having 19 between the 3 of them.  I think it is because their bodies were not used to that refined foods and since it is so bad it ate right through their healthy bones.  My goal is to get that stuff completely out of here again and see if their teeth go back to no cavities after these ones get filled.  That shows you how amazing their diet was and then I allowed some slack into my home and before I knew it my children are paying for it!  It goes to show you mother that a little something can truly hurt us.  We had read that adding a fiber blend to our diet would help keep our colons cleaned by being brushed out.  Our colons affect a large part of our health they can keep us healthy or make us sick.  Keeping our intestinal track swept out clean is so very important to good health ladies!  We also switched to taking a good whole food type supplement everyday.  By doing so we know we are not wasting our money and we know we are gaining much from those whole foods within the supplement along with them helping replenish our enzyme pool.   Our family is ever so healthy!  I know we, as humans who are comfortable where we are at would rather not think about these things.  Mothers may I suggest that if nothing else you at least ponder my story and decide to maybe do your own experiment.

There was a time there for 1 year that we did almost 100% raw food eating.  I did that for my family (with my dh permission and approval) so that we could completely cleanse out all bad things in our bodies.  Mothers when I did this we didn’t get even a sniffle for over a year.  It was great!  Not a single allergy showed through, no sickness whatsoever!   We now try our best to do a minimum of 60% raw and 40% cooked sometimes when possible we do 80% raw and 20% cooked.  But please dear mothers this is not about doing raw, being vegetarian or any of that. If you want to share your story with me I would more than love to hear it.  But please do not feel I am telling you that you must become a raw foodist or vegetarian.  That is not what this is about.  Ladies what this is about one mother sharing her story of how she cleaned up her family and their health in many ways and wanted to share her new found information with those who were unaware of what she learned, which of course was me. This is me, one mother, sharing on how I cleaned up our family’s diets and now serve them foods as close to the way God made them as much as possible.

Ladies did you know that our bodies have enzymes that help us digest food?  We all have an enzyme pool and we deplete that on a daily basis, every time we eat.   If we are not replacing and replenishing those enzymes in the enzyme pool on a daily basis we are literally leading ourselves into sickness.  This is so important ladies especially for young children because with each and every passing generation mothers the enzyme pool is just that much more depleted if we are not replenishing it through out the generational gene pool.  I truly believe that is a big contributor to all these childhood diseases we are seeing surfacing in today’s world. Look around you ladies and truly look at what is happening to the health of our country.  Things that children never had before they are now getting at such a young age.  That is so sad ladies don’t you agree?  What I find even sadder is to find out that all this could have probably been prevented if we were all better educated on health.  Did you know that doctors get like 1 hour of study on nutrition when they are studying to be a doctor?  I know this because my brother is a doctor and he told me. The medical field doesn’t put enough emphasis on preventive medicine.  They are great for heart attacks and broken legs but if I have a virus or a cold I am going home and treat myself with the wonderful plants God gave me!  I am going to go make some homemade chicken soup with a whole chicken and put lots of veggies and garlic and onion in it.  Did you ladies know that there are truly healing properties in real chicken soup?  Oh ladies this is so wonderful you must try it next time.  If you see your family getting sick ladies then give them a treat. Get a whole chicken (hormone and antibiotic free, and free range if possible) and make them a nice big pot of homemade chicken noodle soup.  They will love it!  You will feel so good knowing how you just blessed and nurtured your family with healthful things. Did you ladies know you don’t have to buy organic to get a good healthy product?  You pay dearly to have the organic label.  So some companies like Shelton’s they raise chickens antibiotic free and hormone free but you wouldn’t know it. You have to ask whomever you are buying from.  Many health food stores wont carry things with chemicals or hormones so ask them if that is their stand, then you don’t pay for the organic label but you get a good product that is safe for your family.  This is just some information to check out for your family’s ladies.  Another thing is to find a local farmer who sells chickens or beef and do not treat them with bad stuff like the antibiotics and hormones, there are plenty of them out there, you just have to look.   You are truly nurturing your family back to good health being the wonderful mother that you are! Here is a doctor that did a study on health and enzymes.  Dr. Frances Pottinger studied degenerative diseases and nutrition, but he was a pulmonary disease specialist. He did a famous study called Pottinger's cats.

Pottinger's cats compared in a 10-15 year study cats who were fed raw meat and raw milk that were healthy to cats fed cooked food. By the 3rd and 4th generation, the health of the second group of cats was really compromised. They had arthritis eye problems and couldn't reproduce by the 4th and 5th generation.  Now of course this study was done with raw meat and raw milk. Mothers I am not suggesting you eat raw meat but we drink fresh raw milk all the time.  As a matter of fact, after I had my twins due to circumstances I couldn’t produce enough breast milk.  So I looked into alternatives to supplement with.  I found raw goats milk was very close to mother’s milk.  That is what we did.  My little twins have more allergies than any other child and I think it is because they didn’t get all mommy breast milk and because at first I was forced to give them some formula while they were still in the hospital and I truly saw that formula do them harm and not good.  So I was forced to find some goats milk.  I know it was the best choice out of what I had to work with and I know it had the enzymes in it and I knew that was so important dear mothers.  Pottingers  main study was to show the effect of lack of enzymes from generation to generation based on what we eat.  You should look into this study it is very interesting mothers!

My twins never get sick but like I said they do have allergy issues that I am working on.   Allergies affect our children and their behaviors too.  It is beneficial to them if you can find out what they are sensitive to or allergic to and remove that item from their diets or from your home.  I know it may be difficult at first mothers but it is well worth it in the end I promise you that!  Think of how much better your child will feel if his allergies were to subside.  If you have a common cold aren’t you miserable?  Well allergies leave our children feeling similar to that and it shows in their behaviors.

 Mothers may I challenge you to try an experiment?   Serve your family whole foods for 1 month and see if you notice improvements in your children’s behaviors, your behaviors and even your mans.  See if it helps everybody feel better in all his or her behaviors.  Are you less irritable?  Are you less tired?  Less foggy?  Look for these improvements in all your family members.  Take away whatever they crave for a month. Make them drink lots of water and get rid of the pop. Do you know how much sugar is in soda pop dear mother?  With all the sugar our dear children are eating, including us, we wonder why their/our moods are so erratic.  It is from all the sugar highs and lows they are getting throughout the day.  They are going on an up and down roller coaster ride and it benefits nobody mother!

I know this will not be an easy change mothers!  I know first hand I did it myself.  But from one mother to another I can tell you my life has changed  in so many ways by incorporating Gods foods into our diet and getting man made stuff out.   When we make foods from scratch it is cheaper than packaged stuff!   I make my own refried beans!  They are 100% better than the canned stuff dear sisters!  It may take awhile for your family to adapt to the new tastes of foods but they will I promise you!  Over time people tend to acquire a taste for whatever  foods they are eating and if they are being served good wholesome foods they will begin to love that taste.  Tonight I made Whole Wheat oatmeal cookies.  It was made with unrefined sugar (sucanat) and whole-wheat pastry flour that I ground fresh in my mill (soft wheat berries) that is very similar to white flour.  Nobody eating them would know they were healthy.

We began researching herbs and the plants God gave us for healing instead of all the things in the pharmacies.  You would be amazed at the alternatives you can use instead of pharmaceuticals.  I am not saying we should never see a doctor ladies or you should never take medicine again.  Our medical world has its purpose I just think we over use it mothers.  Start being your family’s doctor and learn what you can about health and how to care for your family!  Ladies this is so much fun!  Believe me I have learned so much!  At first I couldn’t even pronounce the words of some of the herbs I was reading about but now since time has passed I now have friends who call me looking for remedies for their sick children.  Did you ladies know that if you get bit by a bug of any kind, but especially a bee, and especially if you are allergic you can grate up an onion, put the wet pulp on the area you were bit and cover it.  Leave it and change it out if necessary.  That onion will draw out the venom that the bug inserted into your  bites so they don’t itch.  May I share that once my second oldest ds was approx 2 at the time. He was outside and got bit by a wasp.  I had just read the day before, because I was on a learning quest for a dear friend who had called telling me her son was bit by a bee what did I recommend to use.  I went and got out my books and starting researching what she should do. That is when discovered onion.  So the next day my ds was also bit I was prepared, I already knew what to do, no research had to be done on my part.  My DH is allergic to bees and by the look of it my ds was too.  After I applied the onion I put him down for a nap.  After he woke up you couldn’t even tell he was bit there was nothing there but a pinhole where he was bit.  My sister had previously been bitten by that same type of wasp she said it was extremely painful and throbbed for days.  My ds never complained once.  I would of never known that if I didn’t research it ladies.  You can do it too dear mothers!  You can research health alternatives for your family.  Whether it be food, or herbs or whatever else you will find it to be so much fun to learn.  Make it a school project ladies then you are all learning together!  Did you know that nobody in my family has been on antibiotics for over 9 years now?  I have used alternatives for the last 9 years and none of my other 6 children ever got a single ear infection?  These are absolute truths ladies.  My children don’t get sick often but if they do it is with the common cold.  We rarely if ever get the flu.  I have very healthy children!  It is so very nice!  A big difference then where I started with them!

As for food you may say my man likes his hamburger helper. He will not give it up. That is okay ladies there are healthy versions out there that taste great.   If he still hates it then serve your man what he desires and get his permission to serve your children whole foods.  I am sure he will agree.  He will probably join them down the road when he gets a little braver about giving up what he is familiar with.  But he can join in whenever he chooses.  You mother can do this now if your husband gives his approval!  There are so many options mother!  I am not saying you must do this but I am challenging you to seek health for your family ladies  especially if you have health issues in your family at this time.  If you have behavior issues or problems with frequent sickness look into these things the Lord lead me to back when I was looking for answers.  Dear mothers I promise you, you will not regret doing so!  If you don’t like it, no harm done, just go back to what you were doing before and then life goes on.  But I think you will be inspired by all the changes you will see.  I think you will be pleasantly surprised and you will want to keep growing in your learning.  Mother you are amazing do all you can for your family!  Watch the results because when you see the changes I think you will want to continue on!   Know I will be routing for you!  I will be your cheerleader for I believe in you!  If you have questions or need a few recipes go ahead and contact me. I will help you however I can.  I will pray for your success. 

JoJoba Oil
Skin care has always been important to me from a very young age. My daughters, even though they too are very young, are learning how to care for their skin from now. It is never too early to be good stewards of all God has given us! Including our bodies! One of the things my husband comments a lot to me on is how soft my skin is. I enjoy keeping it soft for him. What I have learned through out my years of experimenting with different things is that Jojoba oil is a wonderful wrinkle fighter.

This oil is not like other oils. This oil is a skin food and a cleanser for your skin. You can see and feel the difference. I apply a small amount directly to my skin at night time and again in the mornings. I will also apply some if we have been out in the sun during the day. I also like to add some of this oil to my bathtub since I know my skin is soaking it in and is being moisturized in the process.

Jojoba oil has the ability to minimize fine lines and wrinkles, promoting skin suppleness while assisting with the rejuvenation of the skin and it forms a non-greasy, non-tacky layer on the surface of your skin. This also helps keep the moisture in while it soothes and restores the elasticity to your skin. Most people believe that if a little works good, than a lot will work even better, but the opposite is actually true, and this also wastes the product as well. The skin can only absorb so much of the oil and the remainder will sit on the surface of the skin and make the skin feel oily. This extra oil attracts dirt and other airborne contaminates that will sit on the skin and can enter the pores after the jojoba oil is all 'used up' by the skin.

It is an oil that will not become rancid and it is also an odorless oil. Using this oil regularly over time will dramatically change the appearance of your pore sizes on your skin. So if you have large pores you will greatly benefit from it!

Making Potpourri and Rosewater

Hello Dear Sisters,
I have decided to make some changes in my blog,  please do let me know what you think after a few posts.


Well do you often wonder what to do with those beautiful roses in your garden after they have bloomed.  They never seem to last very long once they have completely opened.  So here are some things you can do with them.  First my daughters and I always love to cut fresh roses whenever they are in bloom and we love to put them in a pretty vase to dress up our table for that day.  After a day or so the petals will begin to fall off.  What we like to do next is to either make live potpourri or we like to make rosewater. The way we make live potpourri is to take all the petals off the flowers and place them in a pretty bowl.  We also like to add any wild flowers we may find on our property at the time.   Take the wildflowers and add them to the bowl of live rose petals.  This helps to add to the beauty of the bowl.  

THE MAKING OF LIVING POTPOURRI
I mix the potpourri daily to assure that all the petals are drying out evenly.   After my live potpourri starts to dry out,   I will place the bowl on my table because it adds such beauty and color.  I will also refreshen the scent, as it is lost ,with essential oils of my choice. Whatever scent I use depends on my mood.  This is a wonderful way to save yourself some money for you no longer have purchase potpourri from the store you,can now make your very own.

Smelling the roses while still in the garden.

Picking the roses from the garden

 Smelling the wildflowers and picking them.

 These pretty wildflowers have a heavenly scent they smell just like honey.

 Enjoying the smell of the honey scented yellow wildflowers.

These clovers are lavender in color. They are so pretty. We have pink ones, white ones, lavender ones and dark purple ones so far that we have found.

 One of my favorite flowers are lilacs. I was brought lilacs everyday until the flowers died off. I loved it.

 Some flowers arrangements on our table to enjoy during meal times.

Here is the finished product of some rose petals that fell off and some wildflowers placed on top for the liveflower potpourri. This is just the beginning of what we ended up with. Enjoy!

 Bowl of dried potpourri after all our living potpourri dried out

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 Picking the roses to make the rosewater.

Pulling the petals off the roses

Proud of how much she pulled off so far.

This is what is left after you pull all the petals off the rose. The seeds are attached to this part.

Here are the seeds that come off that we throw into the garden. We either throw the whole inner part of flower with the seeds still on it or we pull them off and just throw the seeds.

Here are the packed down rose petals. I did not have enough to do a full batch. We recently made some so I only did a half batch.

Measure out your water it just needs to be approx. Enough to cover the petals.

Pour the petals into your pot and cover with the water.

Boil petals until half the water has evaporated out.

When done let the water cool then strain out the petals. Squish out all the water from the petals.



Here is what you get. You may now add your witchhazel and glycerin if you choose to do so. Also if you add a few drops of Rose Essential oil if you want to enhance the smell and benefits. Be sure your Essential oils are true oils. Wyndmere Naturals puts out a good product when it comes to Essential oils. Store it in the fridge when done.

I then put mine in a spray bottle to spritz on my face.

Here is a hot little girl who is being spritzed by the rosewater after being in the hot sun.

 
When making rosewater, we pluck all the rose petals off the roses and we scatter the seeds all over the garden area so we get more next year.  All my girls have so much fun doing this.  I wish I had pictures to share of them doing it they just have such great fun.  (Step by step pictures to follow in a few days)

2 cups of freshly packed rose petals
2 1/2 cups of distilled or reverse osmosis water (be sure petals are covered)
7- 9 drops of food grade glycerin (optional)
2/3 cups of witch hazel (optional)

5-7 drops of Rose essential oil (optional)

Fill your measuring cup with the rose petals.  We use roses of all colors, orange, red, yellow, pink and lavender or whatever you have.  Once you have petals be sure you don't have any bugs in the cup.  I had a few bees and wasps along with ewigs in my cup of petals this time around.  One time I had grabbed a bunch of petals off a rose and after I placed them in my measuring cup out flew a wasp, I was lucky I did not get bitten. So be sure you check the flower for bees or bugs before grabbing for it especially if your children are helping.  After you have gathered all your petals bring them in and put them into a pot.  Pour the water over the petals and then bring the water to a rolling boil.  After the water boils, lower the heat and let it simmer until half of the water boils out.  Once the water has evaporated out turn the heat off and  put the pot aside until the water cools down.  After the water is cooled down strain out the petals, be sure to squeeze the petals really good out to get all the rosewater out of them.  I strain them through a mesh strainer and I push down on the petals until all the liquid is completely squeezed out.  You may use cheese cloth, a paper towel or a coffee filter if you so desire.  Whatever you have on hand is fine.  Then add your water to a clean quart mason jar.  This makes a great natural facial and body astringent.  If you want it to be more astringent add 2/3 cup of witch hazel.  If you want it to be more moisturizing add a few drops of food grade glycerin approx 7-9 drops.  If you want it less astringent do not add the witchhazel.  If you want it to be less moisturizing leave out the glycerin.  Rosewater is a natural astringent but it is more effective when you add the witchhazel.  You do not have to add the Rose essential oil but it sure adds a nice smell.  That is all there is to it.  You may now store it in the fridge to keep it fresh.  You can fill a small spray bottle and keep it in the fridge and spritz your face any time of day.  This feels especially nice on hot summer days like we have been having lately.   Rosewater from the store is very expensive so this is another money saving tip.

This is also something you can make now and put in a pretty bottle later to give as a gift to friends and family.  Which again is another money saving tip for it makes a great gift and cost you pennies to make.  Well I hope you have fun picking your roses after you have enjoyed seeing them bloom in your garden and continue to make use of them long after you have picked them! 

Lord thank you so much for your beautiful creation and all the wonderful uses they have in our life!  We praise you and thank you for allowing us to enjoy such beauty in so many ways!