Favorite Stretches/Yoga Poses

Good morning!

It's rainy and yucky here today, which made waking up hard, but my nails are painted (finally) and the flowers on my desk are beautiful, so it's a happy day, nonetheless. God is so very good to us!

I have a new blog in my list of 'favorites.' Primally Inspired.

When I started looking into cooking gluten free dinners, Kelly's website was one of the first I came across and I have drooled over every single recipe of hers that I've tried. I'll have to do a whole post of my favorite recipes she has posted.

But today, I want to share with you some posts she did about stretching for good posture.

-Stretches for Low Back Pain and Posture: Sitting at my desk all day and wearing heels most days, I tend to have a little low back pain. Truly, if you do these stretches the way she describes in sequence, you'll feel stronger and more open. I even mind myself more aware of my posture the next day.

-Stretches for Rolled Shoulders and Posture: Again, sitting at my desk and working at a computer or reading and typing papers, you will notice that your shoulders will roll forward. The first few times I did this, the next day, my muscules were a little sore. Just goes to show that I needed to strengthen the back muscles to hold the shoulders in better posture. I have found these so very helpful.

I usually do both of these routines back to back, at least every other day. They are very helpful and easy to do! You should try them and also check out Kelly's blog. She's great!

Happy Monday, friends. Have a great week!

A few homemade snacks...

So, how about a proper blog post?

Earlier this year, in an attempt to save money and better control the ingredients we eat, I started making our snacks. Ethan and I both eat 3 small meals per day, with small healthy snacks in between. Since we started enjoying these homemade snacks, we've never gone back! I'm not a huge Pinterest user, but here is a link to the board for the healthy food: Healthy & Yummy. Here are a few that we use regularly...

No Bake Energy Bites : I make mine a little differently. I double the recipe, which lasts Ethan and I one week. I don't use the flax seed. I used unsweetened coconut, all natural peanut butter, and sometimes I don't add the vanilla. We have tried it with cinnamon chips instead of chocolate and it is amazing! You can change this up in so many ways, but they are delicious and I highly recommend them.

Frozen Granola Bars : We keep these in the freezer for an evening snack/dessert substitute. They are easy to make and delicious. We don't always add dried fruit and I have used honey instead of maple syrup and I think we liked that better!

Homemade Lara Bars: I don't have a recipe to link for you, but here it is: 4 cups pitted dates, 2 cups raw almonds, 1 cup chocolate chips, 2 Tbsp peanut butter.  Put half the almonds in a food processor and chop. Add chocolate chips and pulse until combined and chopped. Put in a bowl. Put half the dates in food processor and pulse until it forms a combined ball. Add half the peanut butter and pulse until combined. Put the almond/chocolate chip mixture in the processor with the dates and pulse until combined. Put in a 9x13 in pan. Repeat with remaining ingredients. Press both batches in the same 9x13 pan until stuck together. Cover and refrigerate until set (a few hours) and cut into 16 bars. Wrap individually or keep in the pan and remove as needed. They don't have to be kept cool during the day, so feel free to sick on in a bag in your purse to munch on during the day. These are YUMMY!

KIND bars: Do yourself a favor and make these IMMEDIATELY! They are crunchy, sweet, salty, and fabulous. You have no idea. I don't make it all organic, for the record, and I used peanut butter instead of sunbutter. But these will quite possibly change your life. Wow.

Happy snacking!

A Quick Update

It's been a while since I've posted. It's not for a lack of happenings in the Jones world, but because I just feel like everyone will be bored by what I have to say. But here's what we've been up to:

• This summer we moved into a rental house. Actually, it's more than that. We are taking care of our friends' house because they are living in Germany for one year. It's been nice to be off campus and our of an apartment for the first time in our 7 years of marriage.
• Ethan began teaching at the seminary as a teaching assistant. He is doing this in conjunction with his job at the church. He is talented and smart and absolutely loving it.
• Ethan is in year 2 of his PhD and is reading like crazy. He enjoys school very much and I'm glad that God has called him to it.
• I hosted 2, one day girls' retreats at church for our ministry. They were both a lot of fun, totally different, and allowed me to have one of my best friends come in to speak. She nailed it and I'm so proud of her. Read her blog here: www.elissawroberts.com
• We went on vacation to see our friend on the coast. We had 3 days of rest, eating, and beach walking, but mostly a lot of talking. We love and miss Michelle too much.
• We said "see you later" to our precious friend, Sarah, who is following God's call to Asia. She has been a crucial part of our ministry for 3 years. We miss her but are so proud of her.
• We said "see you later" to some of our best friends, Lauren and Kevin, who are following God's call to Asia, also. If I write too much, I'll start bawling my eyes out, but let me just say that Ethan and I are so blessed to call these two friends.
• We have visits from both our families, which we always love.
• We have entered the 'season of weddings' at church. One of the joys of working with college and young adult age people is watching so many sweet relationships form. We've had 2 and have at least 3 more coming up.
• We are looking forward to Thanksgiving break when we'll head to New Orleans for a few days with my parents!

See, what did I tell you? Super exciting, right? No. But we are happy, loving life, and so thankful for what God has blessed us with and what he's doing in our lives.

Hopefully, I'll update more quickly next time!

It's a new year...

2013.

I feel like it came quickly. Over the last few days, I've been going over all that happened in 2012 and it was quite a packed year.

As a way to remember the high points, I'll share some photos:

My sweet friend Michelle came home after 2 years abroad.

I learned to quilt.

We had a baby shower for DeAnna.

And then got to meet one of DeAnna's baby girls.

Went to Catalyst Dallas.

Went to weddings and graduations.

Especially Kirby's, my brother in law.

hung out with these girls a lot.

Went on vacation with friends...

...in New Orleans.

celebrated our 6th wedding anniversary.

spent a lot of time with our students.

Fancy Ketchup and French Mustard for Halloween.

fun parties with our students.

Moved apartments.

Sis and bro in law moved to TX.

made a lot of journals.

Had a great Christmas.

saw my BFFs.

But mostly, had a lot of fun just hanging out with this guy.

Praying 2013 is a great year, full of joy and laughter, lessons and learning.