He is finally back home!!!!

Most of you didn't know that I have spent the past 6 weeks without my husband. He had a work training and had to be away from me and Perla. Missed him? Immensely!! This was the first time, since we have been married, that we have been away from each other for so long. I am grateful for friends and family who have been close to us to help us make this time more bearable.

Sadly, this month was our third anniversary, and we weren't together to celebrate it. But here is to a lifetime and eternity together!!!! CHEERS!!!!

Well, enough said about me and him. Something else I have realized during this time I was without my husband is that I have gained a lot of sympathy for singles, single moms, and moms whose husbands are in the Army and away from home.
I feel sympathy for singles because they haven't found the person they want to share their life with. That person is a special one, he or she loves you more than any other person in this world, understands you better than anyone, cares for you and trusts you with all his or her life (Don't get me wrong, parents are very special too, but in a different way from a wife or a husband). I feel privileged to have found that person.( Keep in mind he didn't fall from the sky, God put us in each others paths, but we had to do the rest ;-))
I feel sympathy for single moms. I look at myself and I get to stay home with my baby and do the things I love the most, taking care of my family, and raising my child. A single mom has to be the man and the woman in the house, she has to be the husband and the wife, the mother and the father, and that is a lot of responsibility.
I feel sympathy for the wives of the solders. Not only are their husbands away from them, but they live with the fear that something bad may happen to their husbands.

All these thoughts made me be more grateful for my husband and the life we have. We shouldn't take our spouses for granted. God has given them to us, He has entrusted them to us, we need to show Him that we value His gift to us.

My favorite moment was to see Perla's reaction when she saw Miri after 6 weeks. She didn't show almost any emotion, she just hugged him and hugged him.

Don't mind Perla's face, she had just eaten some of the treats daddy had brought home. Don't you love her dress, it has her name engraved in front.

Thanks for stopping by!

Warmly,

Juliana

Healthy summer treat

Hello all!

I know summer is almost over but I only discovered these treats a couple of weeks ago. I found these Pop Molds on Amazon for $1. Can you believe it? I found a coupon online, in the beginning, I was skeptical, but I thought even if it wasn't true $1 wasn't a big deal. But they came in the mail! I was so excited and decided to try them immediately. I had some frozen berries in the freezer. I threw them in the blender with some almond milk and honey and filled up the pop molds. After 4 hours, these beautiful treats were ready. Not only are they healthy, but my baby loves them. She always asked for Popsicle when she would see other children eating them. Now I am happy to give her one per day. I am excited to try different recipes and tastes. Do you have a favorite recipe? I would love to have it! I hope you enjoy the rest of the summer.

Thanks for stopping by!

Warmly,

Juliana

When I get crafty

Many of you know that I am not a crafty person. I don't like to spend money on craft supplies, I feel like the result won't be worth the time, etc. I also don't like to spend money on decorations for our apartment (unless it's a not a very expensive art piece of a temple, or Jesus Christ, then yes I would buy it). If you come to our apartment, you'll see plain white walls, nothing on them. I found some easy craft ideas on Pinterest that I could do, and that would be very affordable because I had everything that was needed. So, now we have two art pieces in our apartment, one in our bedroom wall and the other on Perla's room wall. Here are a few pictures, in case you want to use the ideas. I think they turned out pretty well. I hope you don't think they are junk. ;-) Be nice please!

Can you see what it is made off? TOILET PAPER EMPTY ROLLS!!!

I am sad because you can't see the colors very well. After painting them in red, orange, yellow and grey, I painted the pieces with a glitter paint. I wanted it to sparkle when the sun would come in. Well, the sun doesn't come in our bedroom a lot, so in the end it was a waste of time painting the pieces twice. :-(

As you can imagine the "P" stands for Perla. Initially I wanted to do the whole name, but I did the letter from scratch using a cardboard box and it took me a lot of time. It is not perfect as you can see, oh well!! The butterflies are origami butterflies made out of colorful paper.

Oh and it is taped on the wall. I have been forgetting to get some nails every time I go to the store. But it works for us like this! ;-)

Thanks for stopping by!

Warmly,

Juliana

A lesson on Empathy...from the Savior!

This was the lesson we had today in Relief Society, at Church. It really made me think.

First of all there is a difference between empathy and sympathy.

em·pa·thyˈempəTHē/
nounthe ability to understand and share the feelings of another.

sym·pa·thyˈsimpəTHē/
noun
feelings of pity and sorrow for someone else's misfortune.

Sympathy is to feel sorry for someone who is having a hard time, instead empathy is to feel pain when you see someone else feeling pain. Empathy is what we as disciples of Christ need to develop. And the ultimate example of empathy is our Savior Jesus Christ. The reason why, is because of what he went through in Gethsemane. WHY? Because he felt everything we feel when we have sinned, when we feel sick, sad etc. Not only has he felt everything and can relate with us, and has the ultimate power to know how to help us, but he also has overcome everything. And because He has, we can too.

Consider the situation when you are going through something hard, and a person you know has gone through the same situation and he or she tells you, "I know how you feel, I have been there too", and then they tell you how they overcame and how everything is going to be fine.
It is the same with Jesus, only that he is mighty and powerful and perfect, and he knows how to comfort us, and how to help us overcome in the best way possible.

But how did he develop this empathy? We know that Jesus started to preach only the last three years of his mortal life. What did He do before? We know that He lived in Nazareth for about 20 years (from the time he was brought back from Egypt to when he started His ministry). He studied the gospel and got to know the people that lived in that small area. He knew the people personally, he interacted with them in the temple, or as he worked as a carpenter with his father etc.

Then what, how did he practice empathy? I will share some stories from the life of Jesus Christ.

When Peter saw Him walking on water, he wanted to go to Him. He started walking on water too, but he started having doubts and was drowning. The Savior asked him "O thou of little faith, wherefore didst thou doubt?" Mathew 14:24-33
Jesus was asked to come and bring back to life Lazarus who was the brother of Martha and Mary, who was dead. When He arrived in their house, He found them weeping. He asked "Said I not unto thee, that, if thou wouldest believe, thou shouldest see the glory of God? John 11:40.
When Mary went to the tomb only to find it empty, she went to tell the apostles, and after that she stayed at the sepulcher weeping. The resurrected Savior approached her and asked, "Woman, why weepest thou? whom seekest thou?" John 20:15

Can you see a pattern? He uses questions to redirect people's feelings to the things that they know to be true and which would help them go through their trials. (There are other ways He shows empathy, for example when He weeps. I am focusing only on one aspect).
In the first story, He asked Peter why did he doubt and why did he show so little faith. The Savior was right there for Him and He had previously told him to "Come".
In the second story, He is reminding those ladies about what he had previously told them.
In the third story, He is asking Mary why is she crying. She knew that Jesus was going to die and be resurrected the third day.

He does the same thing with us today, only not in person. But through prayer, scripture studying, revelation, or other people. He asks us questions to redirect our thoughts to the things we know to be true.

Now, this is not doctrine and is not specifically mentioned in the scriptures, so I will leave it up to you to do your own study upon this matter. Let me know what you find. Also, the topic is broader than what I have talked about, but I think it's good just to give you a starting point. ;-)
If you agree with the explanation above, I hope you will start to practice this lesson in your lives.
Thanks for stopping by!
Warmly,
Juliana

Healthy Alfredo Sauce

I hope everyone is doing great! This healthy lifestyle that I have been pursuing lately is very addictive. Let me make it clear, I don't eat 100% clean, but now I am more aware of the food that I eat. When I think of cooking lunch or dinner I try to have some protein and vegetables, mainly, and some carbs too.
Now, the sauce is not really an Alfredo sauce, but I like to call it Alfredo because it can be very easily replaced for it, and it is white just like the Alfredo sauce. ;-)
The sauce is made out of cauliflower. You will find the recipe for the cauliflower sauce here.
Usually when I make pasta with Alfredo sauce, I saute some garlic and some onion and then add some chicken. So, I did the same with this sauce. I feel like garlic and onion make everything taste better. And I wanted to add some protein so I added chicken.
I can guarantee you, you will love this! You can thank me later! ;-)
P.S Also, this dish is child approved. My baby loved it. If you are trying to incorporate veggies in your children's diet, this is a great recipe.

Thanks for stopping by!

Warmly,

Juliana 

Traditional Albanian Food

Hi all, I hope you are all doing well, and staying cool these hot summer days.

Most of my American friends have asked me what is an Albanian traditional food. One of the many I mention (I am not sure if we have only one specific traditional dish) is byrek. Many of my friends have tried this from me, and have witnessed as I have become better and better at it. When I first came to US, I didn't know how to make the whole thing from scratch (the filo dough), and I used to make it with store bought filo dough. Now, I feel I have gotten better at it and can actually make my own fresh filo dough.

As per request to a dear friend of mine here is a recipe for byrek.

Ingredients for homemade filo dough (If you are brave enough and want to try to make them from scratch)

4 cups of flour

2 cups of water

2 tablespoon olive oil

1 tablespoon salt

After making it into dough, cover it and let it sit for about 1 hour. After that take the dough and separate it into about one inch balls. You will end up with about 16-19 balls.

I use a rolling pin to make the filo dough, some people use only their hands. It depends how you feel more comfortable working with the dough.

Ingredients if you don't want to worry about making your own filo dough

This is what I used to buy. You can find it in the frozen section next to the pies. It has two rolls of filo dough, each roll has 20 pieces. Depending how thick you want your byrek to be, you can use one or both rolls for one byrek.

For the filling there are endless options. Well, maybe not endless but many. This time I used these ingredients:

1 stick of butter melted

1/2 lb ground beef

2 yellow onions diced

1 can whole tomatoes

Seasonings of choice

Sometime I do spinach, egg, cheese, and yogurt, or just yogurt, egg, cheese etc.

Preheat oven to 400 F. Place 7 layers of filo dough in the bottom of a 9x13 pan (you want your bottom to be thick so that the mixture doesn't get through), then pour half of the mixture, then you place 5 more layers, and pour the other half of the mixture. Top it with 3 more layers. After every two layers of filo dough sprinkle some butter. This way after they bake they will be fluffy. Also, sprinkle some butter on top, especially on the edges but also in the middle, this will give it a brown color after it's baked. Bake for 20 minutes or until brown.

Here are some pictures from the most recent one I have made. Notice that my dough looks brown because I use whole wheat flour. Also, if you use store bought filo dough, yours will probably look better than mine, my dough came out a little bigger than the pan, however, mine is much tastier than yours. ;-)

Let me know if you try it or if you have any questions. 

Warmly,

Juliana

What we eat!

I hope you all had a fabulous Independence Day and weekend. We had an awesome time with friends! We spent time with some of our dearest friends who unfortunately moved out of the state. We are happy for them as they start their new life, but we will miss them so so much! Fourth of July lunch was amazing!! I wish I could have a meal like that every day! It was made from the hands of three great chefs that we have the pleasure to know. We were treated like kings and queens. No burgers, barbecue or anything junkie. We made it through the holiday and we stayed on track by eating delicious healthy food. Too bad I didn't take any pictures! I was too busy eating apparently.

Anyway, since we are talking about food and since we went shopping during the weekend, I am going to share with you what we bought.

These are groceries for about a month. We went to three stores Walmart, Costco and Sprouts. I bought most of the stuff from the first picture at Walmart and I did a lot of price matching for the fruits and veggies. Most of our produce, if not all of it, is not organic. I know that organic is healthier and better, but for the moment we can't afford it. My idea is as long as we are eating lots of fruits and veggies, we will be fine. I may be wrong, but this is what works for us. I love price matching, I find everything ready on this website pricematchwithrachel.com. So I am not actually looking at all the ads.

Next we went to Costco (second picture). I froze most of the bananas and most of the spinach we got there and I am going to use it in smoothies together with the berries.

Lastly, we went to Sprouts to buys some stuff in bulk like oatmeal, quinoa, nuts and dried fruits. Sorry I didn't take a picture of those.

Now the most important part, the cost of all this food. We paid about $200 for everything (2 adults and one infant). And as I said most of this will last for the entire month if not longer. The pictures don't show everything we got, but it gives a basic idea. Let me know if you have any questions or any tips for us to save money or eat healthier.

Thanks for stopping by!

Warmly,
Juliana