Field Trip to the Zoo

 "It's over there, Mama."

Getting Crafty Again

Things are finally settling down with the new diet. I am not spending the entire day in the kitchen anymore, Praise God. It is much more "normal" now. A few hours here and there to make meals and prep for the next day. So much nicer. And the food is so yummy. That's one thing about the GAPS diet, the food is really good!  Although, even my nutritionist commented when I told her what I was doing: "That's a hard one to follow!"  Yes, it is, but we are doing it, and it is proving to be worth it.

Anyway, with the reduced time in the kitchen, I am finding time to do more fun things! Like sewing. And knitting. And playing Monopoly with my kids!  Daisy got a Monopoly game for her birthday a couple weeks ago (I now have an 11 year old!!! As well as a 9 year old, 7 year old, and 3 year old. Time flys....), and it is now set up on the card table in the Family Room and left there for when we have time 1 or 2 evenings per week to play together. It is so fun!

And as for knitting, well, I am frantically trying to finish my final book contract. I have one more pattern to knit, and 3 more to write up. (I've been slacking on the writing part- it takes time and privacy, both of which have been in short supply in recent months.)  I'm knitting the last sweater- and loving it.

While I am doing this in cotton/linen/bamboo blends, I think it would be more fun to knit in wool. Unfortunately, I have issues with animal fibers next to my skin, and since I would like to wear this sweater at some point, cotton/linen/bamboo it is. It just means I can't knit for long periods at a time, as my hands start to ache with the color work. When I get to the single color section, it will go faster, as it won't strain my hands so much. But this is where I am now. :)

And in the meantime, since I have to take breaks from the knitting, and I don't HAVE to be in the kitchen every minute- I have started doing something I haven't done in years!!
I actually started using my sewing machine to sew patterns.

Honestly, I don't think I've done this since I was 6.

I've done mending. A few years ago I free-handed a purse for myself- but I don't think I've sewn complete garments from a pattern since I was 6 years old.

And it turned out alright! I know I messed up in a few places, but no one can see it but me...
Certainly, the recipient was pleased with how her nightgown turned out:

And I am so happy to be able to be crafty again. :)

Another Letter from my Husband

I thank my God upon every remembrance of you, always in every prayer of mine making request for you all with joy, for your fellowship in the gospel from the first day until now, being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ

Phil 1:3-6

In my last letter to you I spelled out the troubles and needs my family was facing. I let you know that financially I couldn’t provide for the diet Laurel needed to be on to keep her from having allergic reactions and relying on epinephrine shots to survive. I let you know that our support had dwindled to low that I believed that if I didn’t hear from you that I would have to walk away from volunteering at Skatechurch in order to take on a second job.

            I am very happy to report that many of you stepped up to help us. Through your giving, the giving of our home church (Door of Hope), and our friends and family, Laurel has been able to go on a very healthy diet that has allowed her to heal and not rely on Epi-pens. This diet has also helped Daisy heal from some of her allergies; and Milo’s asthma to improve enough that we are no longer afraid the Dr. will put him on steroid inhalers as well.

            Because of this outpouring of support and the Lord’s provision in our lives, I am currently praying for more opportunity to volunteer at Skatechurch. Only God knows if this will work out for my family and my employer, as I would be asking for time off from work to be more involved at Skatechurch.  So, pray for me as I pray and seek wisdom as to the Lord’s leading in this area.

            In other news, we have seen a handful of kids in the last month profess faith in Jesus. We are so excited to see this continued fruit grow out of this ministry. Please pray for these young men that they would hold fast to Jesus and that they would get hooked up with a close mentoring relationship with one of the skate staff so that they might persevere in the faith.

            It is so exciting to see these young men profess faith and then grow in grace to minister to others and bring more people to Christ Jesus. This last summer, we were able to be a part of an amazing circle of growth in the Lord as we watched our daughter be baptized by our pastor, Tim Mackie, who came to know Jesus at Skatechurch when he was in Jr. High. What an amazing thing it is to be able to see God using Skatechurch to raise up men of God that bring others to Him.

All donations to Skatechurch are tax deductible. You can give by check or money order by mailing to:

            Skatechurch

            11954 NE Glisan St. PMB #516

            Portland, OR. 97220

Or by visiting the Skatechurch website at www.skatechurch.net and donating with your debit or credit card using Paypal. 

Love in Christ,

Joel, Laurel, Daisy, Ian, Asher, & Milo.

Good Accidents

So yesterday, I had my first foray into solitary canning endeavors. And it was entirely by accident.

I was having the kids help me peel pears to dry them while trying to make dinner and snacks.  I didn't realize until I was slicing them and placing them just how many pears we had peeled....  The dehydrator was full, and I still had a huge bowl full of peeled pears. So I made pear sauce. On the fly, like I usually do my cooking. I had none of the things I needed to follow a recipe, so I made one up. Fortunately, it turned out super good. And fortunately, my mom had blessed me by leaving her canning pot here.

So I canned 3 quarts of pear sauce yesterday. Entirely by accident.  There are some accidents that are good....

Today, my dehydrator is working on Kiwi Fruit roll-ups, banana chips, and pineapple chips. Tonight, it will become a yogurt maker.

I was so excited about the success of the pear sauce, that I might put the canning pot to use again tomorrow... Maybe some apples this time?

The End of One Year, the Beginning of Another

Looking back at the year seems to be a common way to end it. It somehow helps close the year to be able to categorize it. Was it a good year? A bad year?

It's hard to say what kind of year I had. It was both good and bad. It brought endings and beginnings. There was a lot of change, but it was mostly good change.  I've learned a lot, done a lot, been very busy.

We've now been at Door of Hope for a full year. What a blessing this church has been to our family! I am so thankful the Lord brought us here; even though the road to get here was difficult and even painful, it was worth it.

We moved (again) this year. Again, a blessing from the Lord. As our family grows, He provides the perfect home for us.

I had my third sock book published; and am almost done with a big book of patterns- stepping away from socks at last. (You can get the sock book here, if you're interested....)

But the biggest thing the Lord has brought into this year is healing.

Through much prayer from friends, family, and our amazing church; the Lord led us to the GAPS diet. (Well, it's more than a diet, really, it's a lifestyle- but the diet is our current focus. The rest is coming about.)  And from this diet, my body has drastically changed. I have energy again. I can eat without wondering if I have to go the ER this time. It's been so wonderful. A lot of hard work, but truly wonderful.   And my daughter is feeling better too. I think the boys are as well, but it's hard to tell with all the winter colds hitting us at the same time as they are going through the beginning stages of this. ;)

Now we're starting a New Year, and I'm excited about it. I'm looking forward to seeing with the Lord has in store for us this year. More endings, more beginnings, more change- because those are what life is made of. But I am excited. I have energy to face the year, and that makes it so much more fun to look ahead and anticipate.

I don't have any New Year's Resolutions, really. I'm just going into this year with a desire to learn, to grow, to do. And I think I've started already....

My loving husband worked 2 60 hour weeks and a few 12 hr weekends to get me my Christmas present this year.
And this is what he got me:

A 16cup Breville food processor.  (The king of food processors. Have I mentioned that my husband loves me? 'Cause he does.)

And I have been LOVING it. I am learning all kinds of new things!! In 4 days, I have taken this:

raw almonds

to this:

almond meal (flour)

to this:

almond butter (which looks awful, but it's good)

And raw coconuts (which I don't have a picture of, but you can figure it out) to this:

And then this:

homemade coconut milk from raw coconuts

And the remnant is currently in my dehydrator becoming coconut flour. 

That's just the stuff I have pictures of. I've made sauerkraut, grated ginger, pickles, hash browns from turnips, chopped my dried fruit to add to my new GAPS version of homemade granola:

One version with nuts and one without for my Daisy that can't have nuts.

(which I have to say is fantastically yummy and addicting, and I can't get enough of- and now I get to eat it with homemade coconut milk, which is just so incredibly good- you have no idea how jealous you should be. ;))

And all kinds of other things I've done with it already, and that food processor is making my kitchen time less, and my play time more, and I can actually look ahead at doing school and GAPS without dread anymore. So we enter the new year with excitement, ready to learn and do- and be healthy. 

Happy New Year!!! I hope your year is full of blessings and rich with evidence of the love of Jesus Christ our Lord! 

What My Saturdays Look Like

This was after 6hrs in the kitchen with both Joel and all the kids helping. This doesn't show the box of apples waiting to be peeled, chopped and turned to applesauce, nor the 25lbs of carrots at the end of the counter, nor the pickling cucumbers and 'kraut cabbage- nor the 4 large pots on the stove full of broth and soups. Just to give you an idea....
One thing I have to say: today is my birthday, and I knew I was going to have to do this- I didn't know my family was going to jump into helping me so much so fast. What we did in these pictures would have taken me 2 days all by myself. :)
I have the best family ever. :)

Food

It seems like all I think about about, all I do, all I talk about, all my kids talk about anymore is food. I'm even dreaming of it. It's exhausting. I feel like I'm obsessed. Well, I am, in a way. I have to be. I wish I didn't.

We're about 10 days into the adventure of the GAPS diet with the whole family, and at the moment, our lives pretty much revolve around food. It's getting better- but it's still the main topic, the main job, the main thing we do.

It won't always be like this, but jumping in to a new dietary routine- especially one so specific- is going to take a lot of adjusting to. And there doesn't seem to be any time to adjust, as right now, we add something new to the routine daily. That's why it's called an "Intro" diet......because you are constantly "introducing" something new....

So for now, we have to eat almost every 2 hrs. (It sounds ridiculous, but it's mostly soup, so believe me, you want to eat every 2 hrs.)  The first 5 days with the kids on it were so hard! I only have one that ever really liked soup to begin with, and they missed all the yummy treats like bread and cereal and pancakes, and and and.... But they are awesome kids. 10 days into it, and my difficulty is not in getting them to eat- it's in making enough food to keep up with all their eating!

I'm not kidding. I have to get up at 5:30 with Joel because I'm the one that's done all the studying and knows the schedule and what we're adding today and what he needs to have in his lunch- plus I have to get up early enough to get breakfast ready for the kids- half of which typically get up around 6 anyway, and they are hungry!  So I cook, pack food, clean the dishes, cook more food, wash the pots and refill them, cook more food, chop veggies, make tea, grate ginger, and all that jazz from about 5:30 until it's done-ish. Which usually means I sit down long enough in the morning to eat and feed the 3 year old (who refuses to feed himself this odd food- he'll eat it, but his usual comment is "Ah, dang it!"), then work until the next time I need to feed the 3 year old; then repeat. This is not an exaggeration. I'm spending over 6hrs in the kitchen on any given day at this point- and Saturdays are twice as bad because Friday is grocery day.  On Saturday, I have to peel, chop, and freeze the mountain of vegetables I brought home so we have enough for the whole week.

Is it any wonder that I'm dreaming of cooking and of food?

But really, with all that, things are going pretty well. After all, I have the ability to BE spending this much time in the kitchen! Six weeks ago, I could not have done this. So, no matter how hard it is, I am thankful. Thankful that I am healthy enough to help my family get healthy. Thankful that I haven't had a major allergic reaction for over 5 weeks. Thankful that for the first time in 19 years, today, I ate a dairy product with no reaction. Yes, I had ghee. And I was/am fine.

As much as I dislike being so obsessed with food, it's temporary (I will get the hang of this, and after the intro is done, it won't be quite so much work)- and it's working. God is using this to heal us, and I am nothing but thankfulness, no matter how tired I might be.