Changes Are Coming

Since I started this blog, my focus has been diverted many times, and my vision has enlarged. My family and I have gone through so many things that brought many changes. Honestly, I haven't written in so long because I just didn't know what I wanted to do with this project that I started so long ago. I have so much more I want to share and write about besides recipes and gluten free living. I know I alluded to that perhaps once or twice when writing quite awhile ago, but I struggled to figure out just what that would look like and how to work that out in a practical way.

Over the years, our whole family has encountered many challenges. We experienced health issues, relationship issues, financial issues, several moves, caring for grandparents, several deaths, etc. We have also had mountaintop experiences. My husband graduated from Davis College with two bachelors degrees, one in Pastoral Theology and one in Counseling. He has been working as an Associate Pastor at Abide in the Vine Fellowship in Owego, NY. We also had a new birth! Our youngest child will turn two years old on Sunday.

Currently our two oldest children are attending Davis College and are involved in ministry at a local Assemblies of God church. We are still homeschooling our two middle children, and I am running a local food co-op as well as ministering at Abide in the Vine alongside my husband. Life is good...and very busy!

Somewhere along the way, our children have grown up, and in the process many of them have decided not to follow the healthy diets they thrived on for several years since I started this blog. I suppose that comes with the territory of having to find their own way in the world and navigating through the difficulties of hanging out with their high school and college friends and eating with them. There is also the sense of wanting to fit in as well as wanting to eat what they want to eat, even at the expense of not feeling as well as they could.

That leaves me with questions about what to do with this blog. Do I just scrap it altogether, or do I just revamp it? I like to write, but I tend to be the type of person that when I don't have definite direction I let things sit until I have confirmation that I am supposed to do something. At last I feel that I am beginning to see what I might do.

I am planning to completely change how I was doing this blog. I have no intention of trying to keep up with all the great bloggers who take awesome pictures of their delectable dishes and awesome recipes. Rather, I am going to consider this “Gluten Free Cafe” more than just a place to find recipes, though there will be some. I have to admit that while I am an artistic person, photography is not one of my talents, so when I share recipes I will probably not have awesome pictures to accompany them. I realize the pictures are a major enticement for people when choosing what recipes they want to try. Until I have an alternative, this is the way it will have to be.

That being said, I will also be sharing words of encouragement, musings, teachings, as well as just personal life experiences we are going through. I just want to write and see where God takes things. I love to research, study, and write. I love to share the things I am learning about, whether they be natural remedies, recipes, or more about God's character and our relationship with Him.

There will be some days when I will probably write more than one article and many days when I will be too busy to write anything at all. Sometimes I might simply share some interesting articles I came across on other sites. Other times I might write a review of some kitchen appliance, restaurant, or food I have tried. I have come to a place in my life where I have become OK with that. I am not going to put myself in a box of having to write something every single day. I'm just going to “go with the flow” of what I feel I am to do, and that will be fine. I have learned to be a lot more flexible over the years, and I hope that will make writing this blog easier for me. 

God has been speaking to me about talents and gifts lately, and I am starting to realize that being interested in a lot of different things and perhaps having some "ADHD" type qualities in how I think might not be all bad. I am learning to embrace who I was created to be and know that God has a purpose for my life. I don't have to fit some mold. There is a place in the Kingdom of God for my talents and interests to shine and be used. If I don't do what I feel to do or say what I believe I should say, if I don't fill the spot that I was created to fill, God will raise someone else up to do that. I don't want that. I want to fill the shoes I was created to fill. I pray that God grows me up into maturity to be the woman that He created me to be.

     Esther 4:14--"For if you remain completely silent at this time, relief and deliverance will arise for 
     the Jews from another place, but you and your father's house will perish. Yet who knows whether
     you have come to the kingdom for such a time as this?"

I want to be like Esther who had the courage to take her place and do what she was called to do. What about you? Do you realize that God made you special just the way you are? Are you ready to embrace the unique calling on your life? What are your strengths and talents?