This week's menu

So often I get asked:  so, what CAN you guys eat????  Today, I will attempt to give a snapshot of what our week's menu looks like. 

We are embarking on new territory:  a budget (beyond paper and in real practice).  An area that I can greatly contribute financially is in the grocery department.  Yes, healthy food is "expensive" if you compare it to a box of generic Mac & Cheese, but if you compare the nutrient density to the price (how much you are actually paying in regards to ACTUAL nutrients per calorie and not just fillers and/or empty..as in ZERO nutritional content...calories) you will find that healthy food is actually VERY affordable.  Since changing my family's diet four years ago, we have gone from seeing our family doctor monthly to annually, and truly several of those visits have only been for our "well child" updates.  Factor in co-payments and medication and all the other added expenses to being sick and it's easy to ascertain that eating healthy is one of the biggest bangs for one's bucks available.

I tend to gravitate towards favorite blogs of the moment.  Most of my meals this week revolve around one blog.  I am in love and adore the flexibility and flavor her recipes offer:  Against All Grain .

"cheese" chips...J ate about 8 of these!

Monday:  crock-pot-mexican-chicken-soup-with-cheddar-cheese-chips (I used Daiya's Pepper jack cheese shreds and they worked beautifully), black beans, and Spanish cauliflower "rice" (wasn't a huge fan)

Tuesday:  chili-lime-chicken-burgers (I am subbing turkey as that's what we have), corn on the cob, and leftover black beans

Wednesday:  Meatloaf, sweet potato french fries, and "fried" squash  (my own concoctions)

NOTE:  I am trying a very NEW recipe for Thursday and always try to ensure that I have a suitable "leftover" for J-Bob in case it's too much for his sensory issues.  We have come a long way and he will have to try at least 8 bites of our *new* thing, but it isn't enough to fill him up completely...babysteps...so proud of how far he's come!

Thursday:  chile-verde-chicken-enchiladas-scd-primal (this is my Hero's first day off in 7!!  Tonight will be a fun feast), more black beans, and a big green salad and probably a dessert of some sort.

Friday:  battered-gluten-free-chicken-strips (note this is a different blog...LOVE her, too), green beans, and another big green salad

NOTE:  I try to make sure I sandwich a very new recipe with two tried and true recipes so as not to create any unnecessary anxiety around dinner.  No reason to come this far only to be counter-productive.

Saturday:  Grill, grill, grill.  I HEART the grill.  I try to pile up plenty of meat and veggies for us to snack on, and on the weekends the kids each get to get a bag of chips of choice.

Sunday:  honestly, I am too fickle to plan THIS far. 

I usually try to hit Kroger's manager specials during J-bob's therapy to find Organic and/or humanely raised meat on sale.  If you notice, I am trying to have a type of bean several times a week in an effort to desensitize my family to the texture so that maybe in a few  years we can have several meatless days.  I am not against eating meat; we have come to appreciate all the nutrients it provides our hypoallergenic bodies.  I am against factory farming and the over-indulgent-over-consumption of meat...and I'm on a strict budget...which means this family better learn to like some beans, baby.  I wish I could mesh the awareness of Vegans with the awareness of the Paleo community in an effort to show that healthy diets lifestyles MUST involve fruits and veggies and unprocessed foods...the rest is just personal needs and preferences.

I keep our breakfast super easy.  I have found a Gluten-free bread, Rudi's, that is very good and reasonably priced.  The kiddos have a piece of toast and a glass of Bolthouse Farm's Green juice. 

I have a cup of coffee with a splash of So Delicious Coconut Creamer (french vanilla) and a banana.

We snack on fruit, almonds & raisins, and chocolate almond milk unless J-man has his chips still and then he enjoys chips and hummus (we add chili powder and cumin to make it taste more cheese dip-ish).  I also make smoothies and Popsicles and have organic suckers on hand. 

Our lunch is usually leftovers or a spinach salad with baby carrots, celery, and sweet potato french fries or a grilled "cheese" sandwich for the kids (we try to keep lunch veggie focused in an effort to get enough in our daily diet). 

Mermaid and I gladly ate this again for lunch!

I get a lot of personal emails and FB requests about how/where to start and what to eat; I hope this little snapshot into our week's menu has helped.  I try to remind everyone that it all starts with a first step.  I think we should all begin by simply adding our needed 8-10 glasses of water a day and slowly go from there..one meal, day, week, and year at a time.  Babysteps.

They that wait...

...shall go insane?

...shall grow impatient and take the "bull by the horns"

...shall fill their time with other distractions in an effort to make time pass more quickly

...shall renew their strength????

Really, waiting is supposed to be renewing?  What's the catch??

The other day the OA and I gathered up our sweet kiddos and our stack of DHS paperwork on his very first day off in many and very last day off for seven after...a now or never kind of mentality pushing us out the door.  I offered to continue to wait (they only do finger printing one day a week from 8am to noon) but his schedule has taken an off-road-crazy-kinda-turn and he felt if we waited again, it may never happen.

We went to two wrong places before locating the right place (County jail #2...yowza...note to self...don't bring kids with you to get your FP's taken) and then we didn't have exact change and subsequently had to go up the road to a gas station which (of course) we passed and had to turn around...feeling my pain yet?

Exhausted, angry, and completely void of all "warm & fuzzies" one would envision that a day of humbly following God's plan should provide (HA!), I looked at my Hero and said:  it sure is a lot more fun MAKING a baby than it is trying to foster or adopt one.

He only half chuckled...this was the third time we'd gotten into the truck already...and was not even close to being the last.

OA went in first.  I sat in the County jail's waiting room with my children and watched jaw-on-lap-eyes-wide-open as a man scraped an almost empty (yeah the glass was NOT half full that day) jar of peanut butter with a FORK????  His baby watched his father with the same expression as I.  Of course J-bob is allergic to peanuts and I didn't want the man to think me rude, but all I could think of was as many ways to put as much room in between my son and that man.  He finally put the jar away and I was able to relax enough to see him as a human.  I wondered who he was waiting for; I think it was the baby's Mom who was being released from jail.

After half an hour, the OA comes out and it's my turn to go back.  I couldn't take my cell phone.  I had to wait for what felt like FOREVER with absolutely nothing to do.  It's been 7 weeks since my last run (stress fracture and that's an important aside as any who know me well enough understands what running does for my mental well-being) and my "dream" of finally beginning the adoption process was being shattered by wrong turns, wrong change, fork-eaten-peanut-butter, and murmured discussion by the jail officers detailing the rape of an 87 year old woman.  I wanted to run on my broken foot through the shatter-proof windowed security locked doors and scream:  NEVER MIND...this isn't worth it.  It's already too painful.  I want my now-happy world where my worst fears for my children are food allergies, autism, and staying away from bullies on the playground.  I simply cannot do THIS.  So I prayed and confessed and waited some more.

Finally, I was escorted through more doors.  I had to walk on a certain side of a red line.  It was cold, bare, and eerily silent save the rape conversation still pulsing through my mind.  My officer was extremely serious and didn't even make eye contact.  After a few minutes, I managed to make her laugh.  I know she loves Coke and has a 15 month old.  I love watching someone go through the motions of their job and then the surprise on their face as I inevitably say something that disarms them...if even just for the moment.  A friend of mine calls it my "gift".   I think it's more of a curse...my constant weirdness spilling onto those around me allowing them to feel quite-comfortable as themselves knowing full well they are not as odd as I.  Either way, it's fun touching a life.  It makes that one eternal moment of waiting worth it when I finally get to connect again.  I'm so glad our God is a personal God.

It took us over an hour just to get our fingerprints made...a ten minute process at best.  We left there and got our paperwork notarized.  It all still sits on my counter...another day just to find an appropriate envelope and now two more has passed while I try to remember to copy the BACK of my husband's driver's license.  More waiting.

All of my urgency...my need to get things done...it's waiting, too.  My personality's biggest flaw (well, one of many) is rushing.  I realized about the time my children reached "childhood" stage that I desperately need to slow things down...breathe them in...because as soon as I exhale...it will all be passed.  I am learning the value of TODAY.  I don't want to miss out on a second of what is in front of me TODAY, who He wants me to love TODAY, what He wants me to learn TODAY...not one single bit.

There's a bit more to this story of waiting...some big decisions that have been made that I will share later...in the mean time...I must rest in the promise that "they who wait on the LORD shall renew their strength".  If I  only allow it to be so.

Isaiah 40:31

King James Version (KJV)

³¹ But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.

Quiet strength & family

My last post was about the bit of wisdom handed to my children during their belt promotion ceremony.  I couldn't wait to hear what my OA's words of wisdom would include.  It's a very interesting thing to hear a man's interpretation of another man; it is something I think more men need to experience more often.

Why it shocked me, I will never know.  Maybe because it's something that I feel every single day.  Something that I have written about and acknowledged and know in my inner most core to be every bit true:  quiet strength.  It almost felt odd to have it spoken in a room full of people.  Like a hidden treasure was being exposed for all to see.  Again, tears swelled high and threatened to spill over onto my cheeks.  And then another word family mentioned:  family...a man with quiet strength investing in his family.

That's my man.  That's what I have the privilege of seeing every single day.  I was watching him sleep the other evening, and I realized that he makes me want to be a better person, a better wife, a better mother, a better homemaker, a better home educator, just better.  I don't think that I have recognized that until recently.  My Hero has changed.  He's always been remarkable, but something still and small has overcome him.  He credits reading his Bible.  We both credit God.  I don't even hold my breath waiting in anxious anticipation for the good to disappear anymore.

My precious, amazing God---so overwhelmingly gracious to give me everything my heart could ask for and desire:  a man with a strength loud enough to calm my crazy ways yet soft enough to wait as my fragile and bruised heart mended and slowly exposed itself to his.  What a beautiful picture of His love for us.

Deep-thankful-sigh 

Patience

Tonight my children were promoted to yellow belts in their Martial Arts class.  It was a proud moment.  I am the ever present Mom in the corner pinching herself willing the tears NOT to flow...sheesh...such a SAP!?

Their "Master" gave them a little speech before tying their new belts on.


For my Mermaid, he spoke to her of bravery.  How she got to where she was because she chose to be brave and how she will get to where she wants to be in the future by continuing to be brave.  Such wise words; so applicable to my soft-spoken-don't-notice-me precious little girl who is blossoming into this soft-spoken-louder-YES SIRS-you-better-look-at-me-because-I-can-kick-hard brave and confident little girl. 

What Mama could resist moist cheeks watching her baby girl get her first yellow belt knowing the painful shyness and fear she had to overcome in just two short months!?

For my Ninja, he spoke to him of patience.  How J-bob trains so hard and is so immensely excited to get to the next level.  He spoke to him of his gift of seeing the future goal and not quitting until he reaches it, but he reminded him that with good goals comes much work requiring the ability to be patient...embrace and enjoy the "now".  (Yes, moist cheeks and the ability to not snot bubble in public is highly overrated).  I watched my son patiently listen to every word spoken until that blessed moment that the sacred yellow belt was tied around his waist.  I almost burst with thankfulness for how blessed we were to find such an amazing establishment. 

Signature sigh

As we got home and I rushed around to make dinner:  fish with green beans, apple slices, and a salad.  All those tears I had been holding back finally found their place on my face.

Patience.  If only I could explain to each person present tonight how patience has a whole new meaning in our family.  Patience is learning to how to speak so that "more than 50% of those with unfamiliar ears" can understand you.  Patience is looking to your mother to help you interpret yourself and the confusing world around your first 6 years of life.  Patience is learning to eat more than three things without extreme anxiety or aversion.  Patience is starting off by licking a chicken breast (totally worth the read) and having your Dad be so excited that he videos it and texts it to your Mom then 4 years later being able to negotiate 8 bites of fish and all the rest of your plate for television and doing so without a single tear.  Patience is waiting until you are almost 9 years old to finally do an extra curricular activity that doesn't include therapy while all your friends started soccer or baseball when they were 4 and 5.

Tonight my Ninja was just another boy in another belt tying ceremony who eagerly waited his very first accomplishment that didn't require anything more than working hard and listening.  And then he came home and ate just another healthy dinner and bargained just another hour of television with his mom.

Talk about enjoying the now. 

I celebrate that patience is his hardest virtue...I love that his eagerness and excitement that consume him are a combination of his Mama's passion and his Daddy's focus rolled into the fact that he has some serious catching up to do...he has waited this long...and has worked this hard...patience be damned...that boy's got some LIFE to LIVE.

Tonight was a great night.  I serve a great and mighty God who gives me exceedingly more than I could ever ask for or deserve.  And teaches me through my perfectly imperfect children how to be brave and be patient in these very early steps of our adoption journey.