Easter (Yeah, I know it's late.....)

Easter was such a blessing this year! I had prayed that the Lord would give us this Sunday with everyone healthy and well, so we could worship together. And he did!!

Church was awesome (I mean, I am not surprised there!), and afterward my family and Shawn's parents joined us for an Easter egg hunt, cookout, and fabulous game of kickball (which really was hysterical!).

Here are some pics from that special day!


It really was a great day. This year we made so much more of a direct effort to teach our little ones about Easter. I pray it made its way into their minds, and one day - their hearts. Never have I felt more inadequate to teach my children than when it's about the Lord! After seeing my own meager and weak efforts at this, I am even more grounded in this - salvation is of the Lord!!! Since he is the changer of hearts, I know he is able to use my flawed and clumsy words and actions for his glory and the betterment of my wee ones' souls. So thankful that HE is the one who saves!! Amen!

Back to work!

Check out Threaded Goodness - I'm now taking custom orders again. Shoot me an email (threaded.goodness@gmail.com) or leave a blog comment if you want more info, or want to place an order. Sooo glad to get back to this!

7 Quick Takes Friday

I am amazingly exhausted right now, so I'll make this quick!

1. I'm having coffee tomorrow morning with a dear friend, and I can hardly wait!

2. I baked my first loaf of gluten-free bread tonight, and it totally flopped.

3. I love Easter!

4. Shawn and I had an amazing day today - a whole day to ourselves while Mom watched the kids! I was able to jump start spring cleaning, and we knocked out tons of errands. That was such a huge blessing!

5. Wondering how a gluten-free Easter dinner is going to work...

6. I am really hoping that Lottie does okay this weekend with teething so that I can make it to church. I really miss being able to go that often, what with sickness, teething, etc. I have learned that mothering young children (especially 4 young children!!!) really keeps you tied to the house. I love being a mommy so much! However, you really don't understand the care that they need until you are in that position.

7. I really want to get involved at Redeemer, and occasionally I feel discouraged by #6. I wonder when I'll ever be at church consistently, and the fear of man sets in something fierce at times. But I am learning, day by day, not to worry about what others think, and attend to my primary calling - which is caring for my family to the best of my ability, with the strength that God provides. At times, though, I do feel lonely. But only sometimes :)

Happy weekend!

Look!!!

Shawn decided to put up new shutters this weekend instead of painting (we just could NOT get up the gumption to tackle that room on such a gorgeous day!). It totally improved the face of our home. Here are the before photos, taken when we moved in March 2007:

Shawn graciously spent Sunday and this morning finishing it up. What a sweetheart!
I just love my handyman!! :)

Love Saturdays!

This is me, unswollen and dehived - basically, normal. We were on the way to the Community Market today, and believe me - totally worth it.

I'm at my parents now, we're about to head home with the kids so I can fix dinner, Shawn can mow, and we can have fun watching the Final Four tonight (with our new wine from Chateau Z! yay!).

Tomorrow, there'll be church, dinner with family at our place (and I'm fixing up some bison that I bought at the market). Totally local, totally hormone free, and totally awesome. I can't WAIT! I love food.

And we'll paint our bedroom tomorrow. I love weekends with my fun family!!

7 Quick Takes Friday

My new Friday thing. Bear with me, and be sure to check out the interesting blog above. Neat stuff.

1. I am sitting here, watching Bill O'Reilly, and missing my husband, who will not be home until 9:20 or so. So, I am slacking on putting the baby down, just because I like the company :)

2. I am hoping Shawn can land his 2nd job soon. So many people are without jobs right now, and I am so thankful for the one that he has. Still, we need to make ends meet.

3. This week has been full of disobedience. I am taking a long, hard look at my heart to fix it at the source. Praying hard that my children will come to know the Lord, and that they will see Him reflected through me! Although, I am nowhere near that - I know He can work miracles!

4. Shawn has been very, abnormally, sweet lately. He's a very kind person in general, and he's the quiet type - you know, just... quiet! (Ummm, verrry different from me!!) He's really stepped out of that and has blessed my heart so much in the past few days :) I love him so much!!!

5. Upon typing the last item, I suddenly heard "sometimes love, it is a river....." as the background music of my mind. Literally, every situation of conversation I'm in (okay, nearly every), I have a corresponding background music song playing in my mind. And sometimes it's funny, so I laugh and look like a moron. Now you are even more convinced of it. :D

6. I've learned this week that using food from the community market - locally grown, organic, etc. - makes me feel more informed on my food choices for the family, tastes better than store bought produce, and directly affects our local economy quicker and more efficiently than shopping at big chain stores. Now, I still do go to chain stores. Some things I need the savings. But for the most part, we are going more local. I love it.

7. I don't have a 7th quick take. Oh wait, I have to clean our bedroom this weekend. In a 14' x 14' room, we have crammed in: a queen size bed, two dressers, a bookcase, a hope chest, a pack 'n play, my wedding dress, too many shoes, and PILES of laundry (because I can't get to any of the dressers to put the darn things away!!). So, we are shoving everything to one side and FINALLY getting that third wall and all of the trim painted. AS OF MONDAY, I WILL NO LONGER HAVE THREE COLORS IN OUR BEDROOM!!! Can you tell that I'm stoked? :D Yay! Now I'm going to put the baby down. For real.

Happy weekend, all!

Yick.

I love Mondays and Fridays. Mom has been taking the older three in the mornings, to cut me a break to shop, clean, or whatever it is that I need to do on that particular day. Since Shawn worked 2nd shift today, she took them at lunch for the afternoon. I usually have big plans (and get a LOT done!), but I am still feeling, well, icky. I still have a migraine, a tummy ache, and am horribly fatigued. It's amazing what the tiniest bit of gluten will do to me.

So, I'm waiting for Emmie to fall asleep so I can too.

I still can't believe I lived like this for so long. I remember very clearly feeling like this every single day. Thank the Lord, my life isn't like that now. Now, if I can only find enough energy to make it until bedtime...

And still waiting on those tests.

Swelling and hives and gluten, OH MY!

This was me, yesterday morning, before I called the doc.

The hives aren't totally visible, but you can definitely see the ogre-like swelling on my face. Amazing, huh?! I was so itchy and just... yucky feeling, so I called to get an appointment with the doc.

Well, the swelling and the hives didn't seem to concern her as much as the gluten issue. Benedryl was taking care of the hives and swelling, and it was slowly going down. I had ended up with some GI issues that afternoon, and then I knew I had eat some gluten. Somewhere, somehow, that stuff had gotten into my body.

The only thing I could think that it could have been, is perhaps cross-contamination of the spoons when we ate at my in-laws house on Monday night. They did an excellent job preparing a (mostly) gluten-free meal for me and Lottie. Still, that is the only time I've even been in close proximity to gluten in over a week, and it's been several weeks since I've eaten it.

Today, I'm still a little puffy. Didn't need any Benedryl, but I'm very fatigued, and bordering on migraine. Those symptoms are a dead giveaway. I don't feel quite right, albeit better than yesterday by leaps and bounds!

So she ordered three tests to be run, Vit. D malabsorption (although, the more I hear myself say that, the more wrong it sounds... but I KNOW it was Vit. D something or other), a check for anemia, and SED rate (non-specific, but will indicate a problem if there is one - does celiac count?). I'm not sure if she is checking for further problems, or building to an actual Celiac diagnosis. Either way, she referred to me as having Celiac Disease, and that's what she's assuming me to have - she talked confidently, with no doubts. She was familiar with the symptoms, spotted it right away, and took all of my research (as far as the elimination diet was concerned) into consideration. I like her.

So, waiting to find out on two of the tests today, and the other next week. But being called a Celiac by a doc matters a lot to me. Now I can gain even more knowledge on the subject, and become better equipped to handle it. I refuse to think of myself as deprived. Look at the whole world of cooking that is open to me - and I will be learning as much as I can!

And that was yesterday!