Only a Flesh Wound (or Not Who I Think I Am)

Today I thought to myself "I am so beat up." And then I laughed. My body hurts from lack of good exercise and carrying Elianna around on my hip. I have a 13 month old who still wakes multiple times at night to eat due to necessity. I think I tore something in my shoulder from reaching around to her in the car. Yesterday I impaled the palm of my hand when catching one of the baby rabbits I brought home for Moriah as a pet. And this morning as I was waking in bed Elianna gave me a head bunt accompanied with a large, fat lip.

Today I thought about how I felt beat up physically and then laughed because I feel beat up emotionally, too. The last several weeks have been full of my saying the phrase "I just cant do this" and then thinking "that whole line about He won't give you more than you can handle is crap; I am done." Then God spoke to me through a MFF blog. She was talking about how she was tired of the refining process and trying to be who she was designed to be. And God spoke to me. He said - 'Thats YOU. Let go of who you think you are, and allow me to shape you into who I know you can be.' It was a sobering moment. And I needed the day to process it. Along with a nap and another email from a MFF who encouraged me to visualize leaning on the Lord. I realized that I am limiting myself. That regardless of the events that the day holds, He is there, He is blessing me, and He is providing.

And then I thought about who I am, and I laughed. I often compare myself these days to the Isrealites and their journey in the desert. I find it amusing how often we want to head back to captivity when things get rough. Today I thought about how we often fight God's will for no reason, and end up missing body parts in the process (figuratively of course). Perhaps this was not divine, but I instantly had the thought 'Oh my gosh. I am the black knight!' For those of you who are unfamiliar:




God is so good. And I am so human. Sometimes I have to laugh.

Chickens Are Not Vegetarians: info for the FPIES and NON

The egg section of the supermarket makes me laugh. The variety of egg labels is insane. Organic, free range, cage free...the one that makes me laugh the most is 'vegetarian fed'. Could someone explain this one to me? First of all, chickens are not vegetarians. Sure, they eat vegetables and grains. But they also eat BUGS. In fact, left to their own devices, chickens will sometimes eat each other. Now if you are concerned about the poor bugs that are being eaten, then why are you eating eggs (which is meat by the way)? Perhaps you are concerned about omega 3 or omega 6 or omega 'whatever', and the vegetarian eggs are higher in this. These eggs break several of my personal rules on grocery buying. First, it is trendy. Second, we should be eating things how they were designed. And third, do you really know what that omega diet is?

Aside from bleaching white eggs and salmonella, the one thing that concerns me for my home is that the majority of commercial chickens are fed a diet of solely or almost all soy. The research I have seen shows that this passes on to the eggs, which really makes sense if you stop and think about it. So...

For the FPIES ~ when I get to the point that I can trial eggs for Ellie, how will I know if it is an egg fail or a soy fail if the eggs come from soy fed chickens? My mommy brain tells me that I wont!

For the non-FPIES ~ trust me when I say you have enough soy in your diet already. That is an entirely different research topic.

At the moment we do not have the ability or resources to have our own chickens, and Jason runs screaming from the room every time I mention it. The solution for my house is to find a local farm to purchase eggs from (thanks for the help finding a farm MFF!).

Here is a GREAT article on how commercial eggs are processed - quick and easy to read. If you are unable to open the link because you are not a member of Dr. Mercola's site, let me know and I will email it to you!

Are Organic Eggs Safer?

Conundrum

So. Having a sick child can be very consuming. Many moms have dedicated entire blogs to their pursuit of health for their FPIES children. I am very tempted to do that, and perhaps in the future I will, but for now, I find having a family focused blog is holding me accountable.

When I started writing I decided that I would focus on my new journey of homeschooling, as well as my passion for new information that will make my family healthier. The latter has turned into FPIES, and the first has gotten little attention.

Miracle after miracle led us to having Moriah, and once she was born, I was concerned that adding another child to our home would be difficult because he or she could never compete with or compare to her. The irony of that is that a large portion of our activities and conversations now revolve around her sister, and I want to make sure Moriah is not the one overshadowed right now.

Oh, to find that balance. On my knees I go again!

It's....A.....YES!

In record time we received word today that the insurance company has approved Elianna's formula and that there will not even be a co-pay! Thank you to everyone for your prayers!

Counter-intuitive

I knew the day was coming. It seemed a bit frightening, but I knew I would have to encounter it. Today was the first day Ellie fought me for food.

She has refused food for months now and it has been a battle to get her try new foods. She has been conditioned to associate food with pain. When she picked up a nectarine on her first birthday it was a celebratory moment. A week later we were able to declare peaches her first safe food. I began putting her in her highchair more regularly and exposing her to our mealtimes, hoping she would catch on and begin trying foods. She has a major aversion to certain textures and I have not been able to get her to feed herself. She also refuses to be fed from a spoon. About a week ago I received the God inspired idea to put her food on a stick and give it to her as a popsicle, and she ate it! She holds the dry wooden craft stick and licks the top. Too funny!

Today was not as exciting when I had to tell her no. Every mother wants to FEED their child. Give them vitamins, nutrition, sustenance, help them to grow. Not give them bottle after bottle of corn syrup solids mixed with lab altered ingredients and MSG. Today she fought me for a waffle. She fought me for Moriah's hot chocolate. She fought me for my coffee. And it all made me so sad.

It's late. I'm tired. I spend most evenings researching and wondering where the specialists are. If this is disjointed there is reason. I never ever thought I would have to tell my 13 month old no, ...that she cant eat.

I live in the richest country in the world where food is plenty and we have 'universal health care', and my daughter has a disease that keeps her from eating food and the insurance company wont pay for her liquid diet, her sole source of nutrition.

Every time we give her something that she reacts to we are set back by days and ,sometimes weeks. If we have to go back on the over the counter formula because we cant afford to purchase or cant get our hands on the prescription formula she needs we will be at a standstill for trialling new foods. Please pray that this prescription is not only processed fast but that it is APPROVED. Please, Jesus. Please, Father. Please, Creator of all who fashioned Elianna in my womb. Please.

Gross

Word to the Wise -
Rice Syrup (the sweetener) is gross. This includes baking of any kind. Nasty. Period.

Grocery Savings

Have you heard of the Coupon Mom? She has been featured on several shows over the last few years, including Opera. I have browsed her website, couponmom.com, several times but have not been successful in applying any of her tricks and tips to my personal shopping outings. This is largely due to the fact that I absorb and process information better when it is in a book. A couple of weeks ago I was at the library and stumbled upon the Coupon Mom Book on the shelf!

I thought I might share some of the beginning tips I have read so that those super busy other moms, and also those non-readers out there could benefit. But then again if you are a non-reader you most likely are not reading my blog, so better luck next time!

1. Plan a grocery budget.
2. Set measurable goals. Keep track of what you spend with an envelope on the fridge for all grocery receipts.
3. Use cash to stay on budget and carry a calculator while you shop.

4. Always check your receipt for accurate pricing.

5. Have knowledge of item price ranges so that you can know what a good deal is. (see number 22)

6. Plan shopping lists carefully and stick to your list.

7. Serve reasonable sized portions to children to save on food waste.
8. Plan a menu complete with snacks, and serve leftovers one night a week.
9. Designate one refrigerator shelf for clear containers of leftovers.
10. If you cant use leftovers within two days, freeze them for future use.
11. Eat leftovers of the previous night's dinner for lunch the next day.
12. Think creatively when reusing leftovers, and create menu plans with leftovers in mind.
13. 5-minute rule: If it takes you 5 min or less to prepare an item at home instead of buying precooked, prewashed or precut, then do it yourself.
14. Cook meals at home and steer clear of fast food.
15. Never shop when you are hungry
16. Shop alone if you can (AMEN!)
17. Do not assume every item in the store ad is a deal
18. Compare unit prices
19. Don’t fall for multiple pricing gimmicks (ie. 10 for $10 when they are $1 normally)

20. Check different departments for better pricing (ie. nuts in bakery aisle vs. nuts in produce)

21. Shop as quickly as possible

22. Make a price diary for at least 6 weeks to chart sale patterns and discover the true lowest price of items you regularly buy

If you would like more detail than this, please shoot me an email and I will gladly elaborate. Happy saving!