Thursday, December 19, 2019

Last Day to Save $200 on Berkey Water Filter

When I'm helping people clean up there home and lifestyle, the very first investment I encourage them to make is CLEANING UP the water! This is one of the very FIRST things I did for our family and is also what I would recommend to others. We all know drinking lots of water is crucial for optimal health, but it really needs to be clean water. Municipal water has so many things in it you do NOT want to be consuming- from heavy metals, to fluoride, to birth control, Benadryl, & even Prozac. (Yep, most pharmaceuticals people are consuming and peeing out/ flushing are coming back into our water supply & even soil.) We have a whole house water filtration system (which for me is 100% worth the investment considering I soak/rinse my produce, wash dishes, bathe my kids, etc. in the water, but it's also a few thousand dollars) so a Berkey is an extremely AFFORDABLE option for drinking water. We've had ours for over 5 years and absolutely love it! It's one of the BEST & you can really taste the difference, and right now they are having the biggest sale that I've ever seen. There is a $200 savings plus tons of extras on the Royal Berkey (which I recommend for families so you don't have to constantly refill it) & over $180 on travel Berkey system. **The holiday sale ends tonight. I personally think this would make an excellent Christmas gift for the whole fam!

Your water really, really MATTERS, especially when trying to conceive!! It is critical to stay well hydrated, but unfortunately if you’re not consuming clean water, it can be doing almost as much harm as it is good. There is a local town where the fish are not even reproducing at the same rate because of all of the birth control in the water supply. If it’s affecting fish at that level, what do you think it’s doing to us?

Check this out:
Tap Water Toxicity

**This also means being cautious with bottled water. I only choose this option when there is nothing else available, but typically I bring our own water from home with us everywhere we go. Looking into adding a travel Berkey, especially since they have a $180 savings right now!! 

If you DO have to buy a bottle, I prefer Fiji or San Pellegrino.
Bottled Water Risks

To see the holiday special, enter your email here & it will take you to the deals! (Ends tonight at midnight.)

Tuesday, December 10, 2019

Grace.

I think we’ve all finally come to the conclusion & realization that you can’t compare your real life with anyone else’s social media life, right? I mean, we can keep talking about it because I know we sometimes need the reminder to stay in own own lane, but I think we’ve brought enough attention to the “highlight reel” that it’s pretty much understood now. So this isn’t a post about the comparison trap.
It’s about grace.
Jonathan & I have had some tough life stuff happen.
Jon’s very best friend was killed in a car accident right before our wedding. My big brother passed away unexpectedly just a few years later. The next year we lost Jon’s mom, 2 weeks before I was due with our second son. Three unexpected calls you never want to get. Three people we fully expected to be here today.
Then it was a close family member getting a cancer diagnosis. And this time last year I had a miscarriage. In May, we lost a six figure income when our business restructured, right before we were about to have our 4th baby.
It’s life. Life is hard sometimes, isn’t it? Unpredictable.
But we are seriously SO.VERY.BLESSED. The blessings we’ve experienced over that same span of time are too numerous to count. So we choose to focus on that, even in the hard.
And ya know what I’ve learned? ALL of my friends & family...the people I know best and am closest to...they could all rattle off their “lists” too. They all have their hard stuff they’ve dealt with. They may or may not put it out there, but they’re having to navigate losses, struggles, and trials in the midst of their beautiful lives. And my guess is you have too.
So I understand now, even more as I’ve grown older, that we just really need to just give everyone a lot more GRACE. Because everyone you meet is probably carrying around some heavy stuff, just like you are and just like I am. And chances are, even if they are open & transparent about it, & even if everything looks beautiful & happy in all their posts (because there probably really is a lot of beautiful & happy too, even in the hard), we still have no idea their whole story.
So can we just be happy for people when they’re experiencing victories? Cheer them on? And pray for them when they need prayers & are hurting? And not place expectations on others? And be quicker to forgive & assume the best in someone’s intentions? Goodness, our world could sure use a lot more of that!! Less worrying about things we can’t control, and way more intentionally choosing grace. Staying in our own lane, but with a whole lot more thinking about others and a whole lot less thinking about ourselves.
GRACE.
And just in case you’re reading this and don’t have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, do you know who was/is my rock during all of that? My husband is beyond incredible, smart, talented, & hard working, but it wasn’t him. My children bring me so much joy & are my world, but it wasn’t them. My parents and family are so helpful & generous, but it wasn’t them. My friends are some of the best & so encouraging and supportive, but it wasn’t them either. That’s too much weight to put on any person, or even your village. But it’s never too much for God.
“On Christ the solid ROCK I stand, all other ground is sinking sand.” 
He knows. He cares. He’ll never leave you nor forsake you. He’ll give you a peace that passes all understanding. He’s a good, good Father. And I’m so grateful for his good GRACE.
Let’s pass that same grace on to others today...

Monday, December 9, 2019

Emmie Kate's Newborn Photos

We took our sweet girl's newborn photos when she was 10 days old.

Brittany always does such a great job with the babies...she has a gift! We call her the baby whisperer, and I love that she has been able to capture all of our sweet Butler babies!

It is a LOT of work & feels stressful trying to get everyone ready, but it's always SO worth it and I always cherish these photos. I didn't have time to get the boys anything to wear since two of them just had major growth spurts, so I just let them wear their big bro shirts.

The newborn shoots usually take a few hours because you have to nurse the baby, etc. to get them to sleep. Jonathan was ready to go after about an hour & a half, so I didn't get quite as many of just EK as I wanted (since we did all the family pics first), but the ones we did get were so precious!

So thankful for these sweet babies!

 

 





 

 

 















Thank you, Lord, for this sweet girl!!

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And here is her birth announcement...