Long days and weeks...

Sometimes life seems to fly by, other moments creep. My days and weeks lately have been long! Between my body dragging these days, my work outside and inside the home, and the needs of those people around me each day life certainly can drag. I am so ready for a break! Many days it feels like the focus is difficult to take off my own little existence and its struggles.

I then look at those around me and realize that I can keep my life in perspective. A friend's child is seeing how fragile life is as she sees one of her young pals mourn the death of her mother. I watch as a child from our school battles life threatening cancer and her family faces medical bills that tower out of reach. I see so many sad faces as the world watches Japan face natural disasters and their impending tragic effect on life all over their country and potentially their impact on the world.



Many prayers going out, lighting a candle for those who need to see the Light...

Allergies

Well I got a phone call from the pediatrician recently. The little man has allergies. He had stopped eating lots of things and we were getting increasingly worried about it. In the last few weeks we have knocked a bunch of things out of our diet and are finding some new favorites. We already didn't do food dyes and some preservatives (petroleum based products) so this has been interesting. Not cheap overall either as we go through trial and error. Not cheap in general- most cheap processed foods are loaded with the first three items on or list of can't eats.

10 things that are allergy or sensitivity inducing foods...

1. wheat
2. soy
3. corn
4. peanuts
5. apples
6. oranges
7. tomatoes
8. raw pears
9. raw peaches
10. raw carrots

10 things we are now enjoying eating

1. corn, soy, wheat free bread when it is toasty hot with butter but not cold with sunbutter
2. rice mac and cheese (rice pasta)
3. baked sweet and white potatoes
4. rice in the crock pot, then served with either milk and honey or cheese
5. frozen mashed bananas
6. steak
7. soda with real cane sugar like Pepsi Throwback and Sierra Mist Natural
8. eggs
9. baked oatmeal (like a big, soft cookie)
10. cream of rice cereal

Add into this our traditional items like yogurt, oatmeal, homemade soups, fruit (cantelope, banana, pineapple, blueberries and strawberries) and veggies (squash, peas, cooked carrots, broccoli and peppers). It is hard not to just pick up something to eat while you are out. Only a few chain restaurants like Outback are able to do safe meals; they actually have a whole gluten free menu which gives us a good start. It is also hard to get used to carrying all the meds we need to have with us in case of an reaction (anaphylaxis). The good news is that he is eating again (and eating and eating) and some other little things like congestion are being positively affected. We are so blessed to be dealing with an otherwise healthy kid, allergies are something we can deal with! This is a journey I can handle...