I don't know about anyone else but I feel sorry for my poor husband. Every year I load up all my hopes and dreams and wake Valentines Day morning expecting the miraculous. Somehow, even though my husband makes attempt after attempt it's never quite what I had hoped. Obviously the problem lies with me.
When my kids were in an ungrateful frame of mind earlier this year we started the "Thankful box" and they wrote post-it after post-it of things they were thankful for. It really helped their perspective even though nothing else in their life had changed.
On my mirror this morning I wrote:
"I love you because ... #1.) you are kind
Tomorrow morning I'll add one and keep adding one until I get to Feb. 14th. (I'll text him a picture of the mirror on the days he is out of town)
I'm pretty sure I can daily think of something but I always do better if I have someone to do it with! Anyone else want to join me? All you have to do is think of one nice thing to say about your husband each day and list it on your bedroom mirror. Easy!
I'v never done a give away on my blog before but if you leave a comment with your name and your promise to do this I'll hold a drawing on Feb 14th and the winner gets a free night of babysitting (up to 8 kids) and a $50 gift card to one of my favorite restaurants. This is not for locals only - I know that I have friends who vacation up here!
Wednesday, January 30, 2013
Thursday, January 24, 2013
The GAPS protocol
This Jan. 1 our family (except Phillip) embarked on the hugest New Year's resolution any of us has ever attempted - to get rid of food allergies if at all possible. We've been on a long journey with health problems as a reaction to wheat and then corn and then milk. I came to a place where I realized that things were getting slowly worse and with my children's whole life ahead of them I couldn't stand to watch their eating choices shrink so I researched a diet, tried it out on myself for 3 months, tested some basic recipes on them and on Jan 1 we eliminated : Starches, Sugars, Grains and for the most part, even Dairy on the GAPS diet. Since then these are the results
Zak: clearer thinking, able to work on school with a little more focus and attention, huge difference in his ability to understand Math
Eliot: poor Eliot does not like our diet change and has lost 1 lb in protest, we're going to keep and eye on him to make sure this doesn't become a problem. In other news he has suddenly become ... regular.
Eliannah: is pretty much on this diet because I don't want to cook her something different. She likes it the best though because she already likes her meat and veggies.
Isaac: Here is where the biggest changes have occurred. Our SUPER PICKY eater who skipped dinner after dinner after dinner, ate only cereal for breakfast and peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for lunch, whined, threw fits, refused to nap and in general didn't get enough sleep has started eating everything with gusto!!!! He talks about "when he was little" he didn't like broccoli or bell pepper or carrots but at dinner most nights he fills up on veggies and we have to remind him to eat his meat!! He also throws far fewer fits, has no problem taking his naps, fights less and is WAY more obedient. FYI I haven't changed suddenly into a better parent, this is totally a change in him.
Charissa: has pretty much always been on the Gaps diet since she has always refused any grain except rice. This whole shift is no biggie for her. She has never tolerated diary either so there is essentially no change in her diet.
Me; My allergies and asthma have gotten significantly worse over the years and have taken over my life. I would go out and spend time at a park with friends only to go home and lie on the couch for hours. I started getting headaches and phantom pains in different parts of my body for no reason, my eyes were so puffy some mornings I could barely open them before I started Gaps in October. Since then and my asthma - while still uncontrolled, is much better. I have had enough energy to clean the house on a more regular basis and drink less caffeine. I had also stopped taking a daily allergy control medicine until we got a dog but after an initial reaction my body is getting used to him and I have once again stopped taking Claritin.
.JPG)
(wow, we sure eat a lot of tuna fish, the middle row is all nuts, seeds and dry fruit for school lunches)
Over all the health and behavior of the kids has gotten so much better. Less fights, less problems. While the diet is super restrictive and I basically have to cook 3 times a day the kids have helped out and how hard is it to cook meat and veggies all the time? We haven't gotten bored of it yet because we're pretty much eating seasonal veggies and in a greater variety (rainbow chard where have you been all my life!!). Between Costco selling organic meat now and a local farmer's market selling a weekly farm box for $15 we have maintained our $250 a week food budget AND we are eating totally organic and grass fed where possible.
The benefits are well worth it even though this is what my pantry looked like when I eliminated everything with sugar, corn, and soy. ( the liquor in the top cabinet may not be on the diet, but it stays.... it stays ...)
Zak: clearer thinking, able to work on school with a little more focus and attention, huge difference in his ability to understand Math
Eliot: poor Eliot does not like our diet change and has lost 1 lb in protest, we're going to keep and eye on him to make sure this doesn't become a problem. In other news he has suddenly become ... regular.
Eliannah: is pretty much on this diet because I don't want to cook her something different. She likes it the best though because she already likes her meat and veggies.
Isaac: Here is where the biggest changes have occurred. Our SUPER PICKY eater who skipped dinner after dinner after dinner, ate only cereal for breakfast and peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for lunch, whined, threw fits, refused to nap and in general didn't get enough sleep has started eating everything with gusto!!!! He talks about "when he was little" he didn't like broccoli or bell pepper or carrots but at dinner most nights he fills up on veggies and we have to remind him to eat his meat!! He also throws far fewer fits, has no problem taking his naps, fights less and is WAY more obedient. FYI I haven't changed suddenly into a better parent, this is totally a change in him.
Charissa: has pretty much always been on the Gaps diet since she has always refused any grain except rice. This whole shift is no biggie for her. She has never tolerated diary either so there is essentially no change in her diet.
Me; My allergies and asthma have gotten significantly worse over the years and have taken over my life. I would go out and spend time at a park with friends only to go home and lie on the couch for hours. I started getting headaches and phantom pains in different parts of my body for no reason, my eyes were so puffy some mornings I could barely open them before I started Gaps in October. Since then and my asthma - while still uncontrolled, is much better. I have had enough energy to clean the house on a more regular basis and drink less caffeine. I had also stopped taking a daily allergy control medicine until we got a dog but after an initial reaction my body is getting used to him and I have once again stopped taking Claritin.
.JPG)
(wow, we sure eat a lot of tuna fish, the middle row is all nuts, seeds and dry fruit for school lunches)
Over all the health and behavior of the kids has gotten so much better. Less fights, less problems. While the diet is super restrictive and I basically have to cook 3 times a day the kids have helped out and how hard is it to cook meat and veggies all the time? We haven't gotten bored of it yet because we're pretty much eating seasonal veggies and in a greater variety (rainbow chard where have you been all my life!!). Between Costco selling organic meat now and a local farmer's market selling a weekly farm box for $15 we have maintained our $250 a week food budget AND we are eating totally organic and grass fed where possible.
The benefits are well worth it even though this is what my pantry looked like when I eliminated everything with sugar, corn, and soy. ( the liquor in the top cabinet may not be on the diet, but it stays.... it stays ...)
Thursday, January 10, 2013
The Giver
I was talking to a friend today who was in the midst of a midlife crisis.
"I want to do something big, I want to go somewhere, hug some orphans, dig wells. Anything!"
I totally feel the same way sometimes.
I want to make people see the world differently, love the beauty of nature, of motherhood, of salvation. I want them to see God as the center of all things good and lovely - with the understanding that all we see is His shadow, all we hear is his echo, that His substance is something we cannot understand and could not bear to look at. It is too great for us.
I still want to change the world. It's hard when your soul is on fire to do something great and then you reach out, take a tiny hand and change a child.
I feel like the greatest thing I will ever do is release 5 fragile little souls into the wind and weep as a dandelion must, to see them blown about until they find their place in the world and take root to blossom into sunshine for a season.
The majesty of motherhood is not in gathering up a body of work, a collection of art, nobel prizes or trophies, but in giving our selves piece by piece to our children, in planting a seed, a hope, a life.
And I struggle over this.
There is a piece of me that wants to be me - apart from being a mother, a wife, a friend. And I want to get to know that other me that wants to write and be good at it, sing until it breaks a soul open to God, speak and challenge thinkers to think their noblest thoughts.
And so I write, and sing and speak in the humble theater of my home. And I do my work of praising God through 5 little megaphones.
"I want to do something big, I want to go somewhere, hug some orphans, dig wells. Anything!"
I totally feel the same way sometimes.
I want to make people see the world differently, love the beauty of nature, of motherhood, of salvation. I want them to see God as the center of all things good and lovely - with the understanding that all we see is His shadow, all we hear is his echo, that His substance is something we cannot understand and could not bear to look at. It is too great for us.
I still want to change the world. It's hard when your soul is on fire to do something great and then you reach out, take a tiny hand and change a child.
I feel like the greatest thing I will ever do is release 5 fragile little souls into the wind and weep as a dandelion must, to see them blown about until they find their place in the world and take root to blossom into sunshine for a season.
The majesty of motherhood is not in gathering up a body of work, a collection of art, nobel prizes or trophies, but in giving our selves piece by piece to our children, in planting a seed, a hope, a life.
And I struggle over this.
There is a piece of me that wants to be me - apart from being a mother, a wife, a friend. And I want to get to know that other me that wants to write and be good at it, sing until it breaks a soul open to God, speak and challenge thinkers to think their noblest thoughts.
And so I write, and sing and speak in the humble theater of my home. And I do my work of praising God through 5 little megaphones.
When I Consider How My Light Is Spent
When I consider how my light is spent,
Ere half my days, in this dark world and wide,
And that one Talent which is death to hide
Lodged with me useless, though my Soul more bent
To serve therewith my Maker, and present
My true account, lest he returning chide;
“Doth God exact day-labour, light denied?”
I fondly ask. But patience, to prevent
That murmur, soon replies, “God doth not need
Either man’s work or his own gifts; who best
Bear his mild yoke, they serve him best. His state
Is Kingly. Thousands at his bidding speed
And post o’er Land and Ocean without rest:
They also serve who only stand and wait.”
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