Swollen

Crackers loves Nonnie's "Happy Apple"

  EGGS! Yuck!  We know this boy has an egg allergy.  He has reacted a few times to eggs in things, usually if there is egg in something he eats, he gets snotty and congested.  If he eats eggs by themselves, he gets a swollen face.

Tonight I shared my Chinese chicken salad with Crackers for dinner.  I went upstairs to take care of a potty need with Monkey (I know, don't leave your baby in the high chair).  When I came back down, Crackers had finished his dinner.  I pulled him out of the high chair to get him dressed and.... saw that his eyes were red and swollen, his face was splotchy, he had a light rash on his trunk and limbs... UGH!

Seriously?  I gave him the same food 2 nights ago for dinner.  He had no reaction to it then.  Maybe it's because somehow the egg in the mayonnaise somehow got stronger over 2 days?  I have no idea - I really hope it is not some strange new allergy.  I quickly gave him Benadryl - I wish I had gotten a picture  of his crazy redness.  He is still slightly swollen 2 hours later.  I guess that means no more products with any egg in them at all for a while.

Chinese Chicken Salad
1 can mandarin oranges, drained
1 can bamboo shoots, drained
1 can water chestnuts, drained
4 cups cooked chicken, diced or shredded
2 tsp minced onion
dash of soy sauce
a bit of mayo
5 spice seasoning, to taste

Mix everything together.  Serve over rice or noodles.

Spiritual Gifts

Every other Friday I get the privilege of getting together with some great women.  We are moms.  I seriously could not ask for a better group of women to spend 2 hours with every other week (I'd gladly meet every week if we were able, and love the weeks that we are able to throw in an extra gathering).  This week during our meeting, we talked about spiritual gifts and took an assessment.  I have taken spiritual gifts assessments before and anticipated to discover that my gifts are "teaching, service, and helps".  Not so!

Today, as I completed the 125 question assessment I was surprised to find that my gifting has changed.  I still ranked high in the areas that used to rise to the top, but somewhere along the way, as I've grown in faith and obedience, and changed as a person - administration and leadership took the places of teaching and helps.  This was not shocking to me.  I was slightly surprised that hospitality was tied with leadership. 

I am left now to examine myself.  See, I know what my gifting is and that makes me responsible to use it.  Poop!  I need to figure out what I should be doing with what I've got.  I've been sloppy and lazy recently.  As I focus on growth over the next year, I've got to kick myself in the butt and get moving.  I am now responsible to do something.  So look out... here I come.


*** What are Spiritual Gifts? ***

*** What are my spiritual gifts? ***

My Word

My sister shared a challenge with me this week.  She read something that a friend had written about choosing a word to strive for this year, instead of a goal or a resolution.  Simply a word.  It can be anything, as long as it is meaningful and you desire to achieve it.  I have thought about this for a couple of days and finally come to a decision about my word for 2011. 

GROW

It seems like I often end up in a rut, a dead place.  I look around and feel like we are back in the same mess, with the same problem, and no solution.  I frequently feel dull, unexcited, un-passionate, and lacking in areas that are so important to me.  I lack in faith, in family relationship, in kind words, in friendship, in energy, in health.  Oi!  I sometimes feel dead - like I am in the middle of winter.

In the coming year I want to focus on growing in all of those areas.  I want to grow personally, and with my family.  I am confident that I will grow in ways that I never imagined possible.  I am also certain that there will be times when I feel stuck and dead.  I hope that others will hold me accountable and ask about how I am growing.  Right now I am looking for the little bits of beauty popping up from the snow of my winter.  I am working to nurture these things with the help of my God and my family.  It is the start of a beautiful year.

My two little men, who started out so small are growing.  Crackers turns 1 on Saturday and Monkey will be 2 1/2 next week!  I look forward to helping them each grow in strength, independence, knowledge, faith, and wisdom.  I hope they grow in stature also - poor Monkey is going to be shorter than his brother by the end of the year if he doesn't hurry up and grow some.  These sweeties are a thing of beauty, a hidden nest, in the days that seem short and dark.

Now, I know that the word "grow" is not magical and that focusing on a word  is not going to make every day feel like 100%.  I also know that God is with me and guiding me.  As I grow in Him more over the next year, what some days feels like a cold, dead winter, will be a lush green forest of growth.  

Thank you, God for the opportunity to grow in you and in so many other ways.  I look forward to the coming year of growth that will bring so many surprises.  Help me to lean hard on you on the cold days and remember the beautiful things that I have seen around me.

What about you?  Do you have a word?  Do you want to grow?

My Egg-free, Peanut-free, Gluten-free, Low-carb life: Menu 2

I am getting back to sharing our weekly menu (mostly for my benefit so that I can stick with it).  I am just going to post the dinner menu, as lunches vary depending on our leftovers.

Monday - Teryaki Chicken on rice, Oranges, Green beans in soy sauce
Tuesday - Bocca Burgers with onion and ricotta, spinach salad, 1/2 apple, carrots
Wednesday - Chinese Chicken Salad, Bean String, Grapes
Thursday - Zucchini Lasagna, Spinach Salad, apples
Friday - Cheese Quesidillas, Guacamole, Salsa, oranges
Saturday - Birthday party! Meatballs, Terra Chips, fresh veggies, cheese, cupcakes
Sunday - Chili, Apples

Life Lessons from my boys

If I knew all that my boys know:

I would take a break from cleaning and cooking, and curl myself into a hideout for some play time.

Monkey and Crackers hiding out

I would play in the bathtub until my feet turn in to raisins (instead of taking a nap).

Monkey foot

I would feel proud of my accomplishments, even when others see them as insignificant.

Monkey, "I did it"

I would make up new rules to old games instead of looking for something new to catch my attention.

Big Red teaches us his new version of Sorry Sliders

I would take more pictures of my parents (this was taken by our 14 year old former foster son).

My love and I

I would be better at sharing. 

Crackers shares with Dudley

I would trust in my own strength.

Monkey poses as Buzz Lightyear

I would love on my family (especially the elders) every chance I got.

Crackers with his great-great Aunt Polly

I would remember that I am always loved and never alone.

The kids at the club

Wordless Wednesday: Puppy Love

The great Christmas-athon of 2010

Okay, so we did not have a marathon, but sometimes it felt like it.  We started our holiday week off on Christmas Eve.  This year we celebrated with Randy's family first a great lunch, family time, lots of talking and laughing, and presents for everyone.  We had a great time.  My kids were wired by the time we left (they did not get naps at all).  Grandma made fantasticly warm sweaters for all 3 of her grandsons.  What a treasure these are! 

We made a swift departure at 6 so that we could get home in time to throw the dog in the door and head to church for a beautiful candlelight service.  We really enjoyed the time of re-centering with our church family at Heartland.  Thank you to the pastoral team for putting this together.

After service, we spent time celebrating with some friends.  We chatted and laughed and ate snacks.  We stayed too late but it did not matter, the fellowship was fantastic.

Christmas morning was a fun time with just us and our boys.  We started by reading a book about the birth of Jesus.  Then relaxed by the tree while our boys enjoyed opening presents.  They each got 1 from us, and several through the generosity of a couple of wonderful women.  Crackers does not care yet about unwrapping paper, but he did enjoy his presents (and mama loves that they got some clothes along with their toys).  Monkey opened gifts with fervor - until he got to a toy that he could not resist playing with for a while.  It was so much fun to watch them. 

We had planned to go to my aunt's house for a late Christmas lunch.  Once we got done with gifts, we decided that we really needed to let the boys relax a bit instead of throwing them in the car for a long drive and a late night.  So we decided we would have lunch with Nana and Poppy.  We visited with them for a while and went out to lunch, kind of a nice change on Christmas, to Yip's Chopstick House.  After a delicious lunch that we did not have to cook or clean after, we relaxed and visited for about another hour, then headed home.

Our "next Christmas" was on Wednesday the 29th.  The boys got to play at the McDonalds play land with their cousins for a while in the afternoon.  Then we headed back to my parent's house for Christmas with Nana and Poppy, along with the Big K family.  Poppy made meatloaf for dinner.  Toward the end of dinner, little Bugs, my nephew, asked "When are we going to open presents?"  When Nana told him we would do that right after we finish eating, he said.  "I'm going to eat for another hour."  The kids LOVED their gifts.  We had a great time with the family.  Monkey was so exhausted after this fun day, that he did not argue about bed time.  Poor Crackers had a hard time sleeping.

New Year's Eve included lunch with a friend, a visit  with Big Red, our former foster son, and a late night party with cousins and some long time friends.  We had an amazing time.  The kids stayed up as late as they
could (Monkey made it until about 11, and Crackers until nearly 1). 

We woke up late on New Year's morning (I woke up at 6:30 and didn't wake up the Big K family until 7:30, oops).  Off to the Elkhart Conservation Club for a quick Christmas party with my dad's brothers and sisters (and a few of their kids), followed by the annual Billey Reunion - this was year 65 at the same place, on New Year's Day.  There was no snow, so no sledding.  We played games, sat by the fire, ate and ate and ate, chatted, caught up, chased children, went for a hike, kissed the great aunts, shared in an auction.  Whew.  By 4 I was ready to crash.  We gathered our troops, packed the van, and headed home so that Randy could get up for work at 4:30 this morning.

And why am I not at church?  I wanted to be.  I should be, but we have 1 car and it requires waking my boys up at 5 and driving with them for an hour and a half - which means less sleep and more gas used.  We're tired and need to just relax a while so that we can be healthy and rejuvenate.I think maybe next year we'll celebrate the birth of Christ on some other day.. maybe in August so it doesn't get eaten up by Christmas.