Three years ago I would have told you we ate healthier than most American families. I never bought sugar cereal, my kids ate their veggies, I had them get apples with their Happy Meals and we only bought Cheetos on special occasions.

Two years ago (-ish) I went to hang out with a few local bloggers who I hadn’t met before at a new restaurant I had been wanting to try out. What I didn’t know is that it was a farm to table restaurant. Heck. I didn’t even know what that meant. And when they started talking about grass fed meat and cage free chickens and raw milk I was lost (and a little scared).

I had no idea what road I would head down pulling on the thread of what I learned. I started purging my house of all things with HFCS. Then came baking my own bread. Next getting all our eggs from a house next to my church with a cooler out front and chickens running about. Then visiting a few local farms to discuss purchasing grass fed cows and free range chickens.

More and more our diet changed. We stopped buying cereal (CEREAL!), started canning and freezing and joined a CSA. We get a small percentage of our food from a grocery store. I buy chickens with HEADS on them and save their bones to make broth. I make my own yogurt, granola, vanilla, and peanut butter. It all fits right in with my lack of shaving during the winter…..

It is the new normal and really feels normal. But I realize it isn’t. My kids frequently remind me that it isn’t. And I hope I haven’t become one of those preachy people. I just feel good, my family is way healthier than we have ever been and I like being able to pronounce the ingredients when we eat.

Today I listened to Joel Salatin speak on the connection between food and God and family. It was amazing. And here are a few of my favorite quotes:

We’re eating things you can’t pronounce, you can’t make in your kitchen, that won’t rot. If it won’t rot, it won’t digest.

Most people are far more concerned about the quality of the gasoline in their car than the food they put in their body.

Everything is eating and being eaten. And those who think we can have life without death have cheapened life.

Want to get started eating “clean”? It isn’t as intimidating as I may have made it sound. I started really small. Really, really small and things have just grown from there. I still don’t drink raw milk, ferment food or eat organ meat (all things true real foodies do). I still eat out at normal restaurants, buy candy bars in the grocery store line, and occasionally grab that bag of Cheetos. I live by the 80/20 rule.

Anyway, I have the greatest resource to get you started. My friend Tricia over at Once a Month Mom (seriously “real food” or not, you should be reading her) has launched a year long program to help you “Get Real”. She is working with some of the best bloggers around to take you through baby steps to eat clean in 2012. Give it a shot!

How “clean” do you eat?

This post will be linked up to We Are That Family’s Works For Me Wednesday.

Am I beginning to sound like a broken record with my laments about doing more giving this holiday season? Sorry, it is just where my heart is at this Christmas.

Actually I think we do a pretty good job of giving as a family throughout the year, but it is often hard to involve our children it. A lot of the giving we do involves writing a check and they just aren’t a part of that.

Last year, we tackled the World Vision catalog as a family and my girls (Silas was a baby) took their task very seriously. Lily has been asking this year if we will be doing it again. It made a really big impression on her. I can’t wait to see what they pick out this year.

But I want to do more.

I know I have been doing a lot of sponsored type posts this month (tis the season) but I want you to know I have tried to be VERY selective about what I say yes to. I say yes when I already love the product or know I will love the product. And most importantly when it is something I want my readers to know about.

So when Razoo reached out to me about their innovative way to give back during the holidays I was intrigued. When they told me they could help encourage generosity with my kids I was sold.

At Razoo you can buy gift cards for Christmas. But these gift cards aren’t to be used to buy things for yourself. They are used to give back to your recipients favorite charity. And it is super easy to do.

Razoo provided me a few gift cards to use with my kids. We sat down and talked about how we felt like it was important to give back at Christmas and this year we were going to let them pick where they gave to.

Lily was very intentional when I asked her who she wanted to give to. She immediately said “someone who is helping girls go to school.” We found a wonderful charity providing education to young girls from the street in Ethiopia. Lily is a little too young to have a “cause” yet, but she was excited to give her money to a local charity that our family is already very involved in.

They both LOVED having an actual gift card that was all theirs to spend. You can send people a virtual cards or print it out and give them a physical copy. You can choose any amount. Buying a gift card is very simple with no registration required.

If you are raising money for a cause you can also use Razoo as a fundraising tool. Simply register your fundraiser and people can contribute in one easy spot.

Razoo takes a small 2.9% of the donations they collect. I think that is incredibly reasonable. You know when those fundraisers call you on the phone and ask you to give to the police or veterans or whoever? They usually take about 80% of the money for themselves. Razoo has actually provided information about how they stack up with other fundraising sites.

Overall I had a really great experience using Razoo and feel like it gave me a great option for gift giving in the future. I would love to have a birthday celebration that used Razoo to donate to a great cause instead of getting gifts. Or simply provide someone who is hard to buy for a chance to give to a charity that means a lot to them. Really there are a lot of great ways to use Razoo!!

Razoo provided me with gift cards for our children and ourselves, but all the money was donated to our favorite causes. Including The Mercy House founded by Kristen who is hosting Works For Me Wednesday.