wheat free update

First, though,  some vacation pics, since I never posted any:    

Our 20th summer at Blue Lake in eastern Washington.  The boys invited a friend  to come this year.  Dasha’s a delightful young lady and the 3 of them had a marvelous time (in case you couldn’t tell.)

We are still (mostly) wheat free around here.  The benefits are huge, so it’s a permanent thing.  Little things like losing many of Logan’s temper tantrums and big things like clear skin and significant weight gain for Ryan (example:  as of March 1, 2013, he’d been with us 7 1/2 years and had gained 21 pounds.  Between March 1 and July 19—while we were wheat free—he gained just over 4 pounds.  We LOVE that!) have been wonderful! Surprisingly, it’s not as hard as I would have expected.  I’ve found a great all purpose flour substitute and (by accident!) discovered that it generally works as a substitute in my everyday recipes.  Actually, we discovered it when I used my favorite wheat based recipe for pizza crust and grabbed the wrong flour container.  Made it up with wheat free flour and it worked quite nicely.  As a matter of fact, the general consensus that it’s BETTER with the wheat free flour!  Not bad.  Cornbread last night using my regular recipe and wheat free flour was just as delicious, and no one would know it was wheat free.   Just the way we like it to be.  Once in a while we find ourselves in a place where wheat free options aren’t doable, and it’s okay. Ryan’s got a nice little patch on the back of his neck that gets itchy when he gets too much wheat.  Fortunately, it gives plenty of warning, and we’ve not seen him return to the ‘covered with eczema’ state of our wheat eating days. 

I’ve heard from people who’ve tried wheat free for one person and talk about how hard it is.  I can’t imagine doing this for only one person!  It had to be an all or nothing thing around here.  I’m not a short order chef, and I can’t imagine trying to manage meals with and without wheat.  Fortunately, we’re not dealing with a life-or-death situation here, and if we get some wheat it’s not going to make anyone immediately ill.  That certainly makes it easier.  Nevertheless, we all eat wheat free.  In the long run, we’re feeling healthier because of it, so it’s been worth the learning curve.

Now, to tackle the ongoing issue of developmental delays.  And get started with another school year.  Another day…and another post or two. 

Celebrating!

My parents will have their 50th anniversary in December.  But because no one wants to have a fun party outdoors in December, we chose to honor them the first Saturday in August.   The weather was perfect (not too hot, not too cool, and no rain!), the location was lovely, the food was delicious, and the turn-out of people who love Mom and Dad was amazing.  

		Anniversary pictures VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

This is just a small portion of the pics from the day.  The family shots were fun…it’s the first time ever all 18 of us have been together in the same place at the same time.  To help identify the grandkids, in the picture of my mom with her granddaughters, from left to right it’s Hailey, Mom, Emily, and Tori.  All the girls are mine.    In the picture of my dad with his grandsons, from right to left it’s (back row)  Ted (Pam’s older son), Alec (Chris’ older son), Dad, and Brent (my oldest son).  Middle row:  Nick (Pam’s younger son), Logan (my middle son), and Ryan (my youngest son).  Sitting on the grass in front is Sam, Chris’ younger son.

Enjoy!!

wise words…

…from a very wise mom of many.  I hope to be as wise when I grow up!

She writes about what it might be like to be adopted as a slightly older child.   I have often wondered if some of these same thoughts have gone through Logan’s head—he was 3 1/2 when he was taken away from the familiar in his world.  You can read it here.

And this one.  This one hits hard.  Hits me where I live.  Are we doing enough?  After all, it’s only money…and God has more than enough!

Signed, the mom who is feeling a touch(!) overwhelmed with one of her own these days, and certainly has no business thinking another one is even remotely a good idea…  It’s just that the statistics I see (34% of Christians consider adopting.  Only about 1% of them actually do) and the things I know (roughly 210 million orphans worldwide; approximately 35,000 children die every day from hunger, malnutrition, and lack of someone to care for them) make my heart ache to do more.

too funny not to post

 

 

No DNA test required

 

No DNA required

I came across the first picture on the web today, and the caption underneath is how it is titled.  The second picture?  From our trip to China in May 2008.  Clearly, DNA doesn’t matter. 

real life

Once every few months, I host a ‘ladies night’ at the house.  (Jim very graciously deals with the little boys and watch action movies in the office.)   We start about 8 and go ‘til the last gal goes home—often 1 or 2 in the morning.  There’s no plan and no agenda, except to enjoy one another’s company.  Sometimes there are only 2 or 3 gals who show up; sometimes is 15 or 20.  Both are fun, in their own way. 

Tonight is ladies night.  My boys are helping out (to earn TV time tokens!)—Ryan’s vacuuming the carpets and Logan’s doing the hard floors.  The dishwasher is running, and the clothes are in the dryer.  Will everything be perfect tonight when the gals come over?  NO!  As I walked through the living room, I was struck by how much the ‘age’ is showing in our carpet.  It is, after all, more than 20 years old.  20 years, 6 children, and countless friends old.  It shows.  But something else occurred to me as I looked at the aged carpet:  my house is lived in.  Real people LIVE here.  Play here.  Get messy here.  Do life here.  Some of it can’t be vacuumed up.  And it’s okay.  (Good thing, too, since my kitchen is partially torn up as part of an unplanned plumbing project!    )

Do the gals who come to ladies night come to see a perfect home?  Nope.  They come because it’s fun.  Because it’s casual and comfortable and safe.  They know I’ll say “The glasses are in the cupboard next to the window.  Make yourself at home.”  They know it’s about people not things.  They come because we laugh and share and talk.  It’s a chance to catch up with old friends and welcome new ones into your world.  Would new carpets and a spotless home make the evening better?  Our lives better?  No.  So why waste the time to fret about it?

After lunch, I’ll do some dusting.  I’ll make sure that the boys get their toys put away, and that all the seating is uncluttered.  (I can pretty much guarantee there’ll still be fingerprints on the fridge.)  After that?  I’ll relax and enjoy and an evening with friends, both new and old.  Isn’t that what ladies night is all about??

grateful

My parents will celebrate their 50th anniversary in December.  There’s a party in August for them, since no one really needs anything ELSE to do in December but everybody loves a day in the sunshine celebrating with friends and loved ones.  Aren’t they cute?   (This was taken in Feb 2010, while they were on a cruise through the Panama Canal.)

I’ve been doing some reading recently.  Books about feeding children, of all things.  One came highly recommended by a friend, the other piqued my interest as it deals with being a detective about hidden food allergies.  The first book, French Kids Eat Everything (by Karen LeBillon), was a fascinating read.  The author and her family spent a year living abroad in her husband’s hometown in France, and she chronicles their ‘adventures’ in French dining habits and picky North American children (and adults!)   It  was hard for me to wrap my mind around some of the issues presented in the book, as growing up we simply weren’t allowed to be picky.  You ate what was put in front of you, or you went hungry.  Clearly, my sisters and I did not starve to death.    As a result, my children have been raised the same way.  Sure, there are foods they don’t like.  They’re human!  But for the most part our crew eats whatever I cook, and they do so graciously, neatly, and gratefully.  I realized, as I read this book, just how incredibly grateful I am to my parents for modeling this for me.  But my dad was born in the late 1930s.  He was the youngest of 5, and his father passed away 2 months after he was born.  My grandmother was a single mother for many years.  When she remarried, they moved to a dairy farm.  Dad knew better than to complain about food—being grateful for enough food on the table was the order of the day.  Going hungry was always a choice, should you not want to eat what was offered.  My mom was much more of a ‘princess’ in her upbringing, but I get the very distinct impression that she, too, was expected to eat what was fixed.  Jim grew up on a farm, the oldest of 5 children.  Money was often tight in his childhood, and you either ate what was served or went hungry.  So our guys didn’t stand much of a chance.  Our pickiest eater is also the child who spent time in the Marine Corps, and I promise:  now, he eats whatever is served.  With gratitude.  Because all 6 of them have this attitude, it is typically a genuine pleasure to cook for them, and I take great delight in serving individual favorites for birthdays and when the big guys come home to visit.  Brent’s coming?  Get some steak.  And some salmon!  Emily will be home?  Let’s make sure we make some lasagna!  Tori?  How about some mixed seafood or a pasta salad?  It’s good.

The other book I’ve been reading has truly captured me.  Called What’s Eating Your Child?  (by Kelly Dorfman), it’s been riveting to see th presentations of food allergies and sensitivities.  Not just physicall reactions, mind you, but emotional and behavioral.  I see some in each of the little boys.  With no idea about their prenatal or early nutrition and with the ongoing struggles in sleep, behavior, developmental delays, and other things, I often feel like a detective without many clues.  The book is set up to help recognize the clues and make dietary changes to reduce or eliminate problems.  We found that limiting/ eliminating wheat has had great effect for many of us.  Now, we’re refining that some.  I’m not finding lots of information for Ryan, but I also don’t see as many issues in him now that he’s mostly wheat free.  Logan?  Oh man.  I checked this book out from the library, but I promise a copy is coming my direction soon—I have lots of notes I want to write, things I want to pursue as we move forward, and really WANT this book on my shelf as a resource.

So, what does all that have to do with my parents?  Well, reading both books made me grateful for the modeling they did during my childhood.   It’s more than just food habits, though.  They modeled love and responsibility.  They modeled gratitude and humility.  They had high expectations, and they followed through.  They weren’t perfect, but they did a great job of balancing love and control in our home.  They are our biggest cheerleaders—all of us:  my 2 sisters and me, our husbands, and all10 of our children.  Plus, after nearly 50 years, they’re still together, loving one another.  So Mom and Dad, thank you.  You are amazing, and I am honored to be your daughter.

Gray hair is a crown of splendor; it is attained in the way of righteousness.  ~Proverbs 16:31

revelation

We’re now 2 months post wheat free trial and still mostly wheat free.   The changes for Ryan are hard to ignore, and he is enjoying being ‘itch and ache free.’  The difference for him is significant enough that HE recognizes when he’s eaten wheat, so it’s easier for him to stick with it.  Of course, there are occasions that we can’t (or don’t) choose to be wheat free, and we’re seeing clearly that it’s hard.

Surprisingly, we saw something amazing with Logan this last weekend.  Because of the way our weekend went, we didn’t do any wheat free all weekend (and some of last week either!).  Logan had two full blown meltdowns over the weekend, and both Jim and I realized that we haven’t had any since early March.  The ONLY difference?  His wheat consumption.  Fortunately, it’s fairly simple to rectify, and I rather expect that our more mild mannered young man will be back with us soon as we are being much more strict about food consumption.  It’s much easier to do now, since I NEVER need to see another meltdown like those we had this weekend.  :\

Lots going on here…more soon, I promise.  With the girls here, things are a bit chaotic trying to keep track of all the schedules, finish up school for the boys, and manage the clutter that comes when college kids move home for the summer.  Emily heads back to Pullman in the next 10 days or so for summer school, and Tori heads back at the end of July, so (sadly) the chaos and clutter is short-lived.