Finding Joy In Today

Monday was a good day. Not much went as planned but yet it was still a good day. I was a bit grumpy Sunday so I was hoping I would not be so much Monday. School went very well with the girls this morning. That always seems to set the tone for the rest of the day. Then I headed over to my parents house to spend the afternoon. My Man had his monthly men’s small group gathering tonight which meant he wasn’t going to be home for dinner. Dinner and showers generally go better when I’m at my parents. I LOVE my Momma’s spaghetti! YUM-O. My parents are super helpful in getting the girls ready for bed too so that when I get home, all I have to do is put them to bed.

I also wanted to put a few things on eBay for my Mom which would be easier to do over there because the girls have a great time playing outside on the playground in their back yard. I took my laptop so I could get the work done. Additionally I brought a few books to do some reading and journaling. NONE of that happened! I packed and lugged all of that over there for no reason. Better over-prepared than under-prepared in my book.

My friend S from the Launch Team had asked me if I would help her with a budget for NYC. She is a young enthusiastic single woman. She is only 23 and giving up her comfortable life here to follow God’s calling on her life. At 23, there is NO WAY I’d be doing what she is doing. I am in awe of her courage and strength. S came by my parents just after I had gotten there and finished up lunch. I thought it would be 20 mins and S would high tail it out of there to get away from my crazy kiddos! No chance though! She loves the girls. She loves all kids I think. She has such a big heart for kids and the homeless and just people in general. It was wonderful for be able to spend a few hours with her just chatting and getting to know her. I felt so blessed to be able to hear her heart and get to know her better. Spending time with S was far more valuable than selling stuff on eBay. That stuff will still be there tomorrow.

Leaving This? Wordless (well, maybe just a few words) Wednesday

This is a quickie shot of my 3 princess playing in their tiny inflatable pool in the back yard. This pool is so tiny! But yet they have a blast every single time I let them fill it up. They have more fun filling it up and emptying it out (by taking bucket fulls of water out and watering the flowers with it so as not to be so wasteful of our water resource) than they do playing in it. I’m sitting here just a few feet away in the kitchen at the table typing on my laptop in the air conditioning watching them. I’m very close in case of an accident. But they get to have a great time and I don’t have to be hot : ) This is the convenience of suburbia that we are leaving behind. It is one of the things that we will surely miss. In NYC, if we want to play in the water, it will take much more effort. Backing up a bag of drinks, snacks, etc. to take with us while we walk to what hopefully will be the close neighborhood pool. One plus though to NYC pools, they are FREE! Not the $8 per person I’m going to pay later in the day to go to our old community pool in Troy. Wonder what my property tax money goes towards here???

A Sad Day For My Man

As if finding out that My Man had celiac disease was not bad news enough, he is now certain he is allergic to a whole lot of other things besides gluten.

He can no longer eat:
soy
almonds (all tree nuts)
bananas
barley
kiwi
melons (all melons)
tomatoes (no ketchup, salsa, spaghetti sauce)
strawberries

One food that has been a staple for Pete since he found out he had celiac was Mrs. Mays Trio Bars. They seem like the perfect food. Kosher, vegan, all natural, gluten free, etc. Oh, but they are made with 3 kinds of nuts! I've only been able to find them at Costco. We don't have a Costco membership so when I do get there, I tend to buy 3 boxes of them at a time to last us a month or so. They are expensive too. But well worth it to know that Pete was eating something healthy to sustain him during the day. Now he can't eat them. Of course I just bought 3 boxes this week-end! The girls are thrilled though because them love them and will now get to eat them all up.

I'm a picky eater. Ridiculously picky. Cooking has always been enjoyable for me because Pete and the girls (well except for Kaeterina) are not picky. That list may seem short but when I really think about the things that we eat - that is a lot of our favorite foods! Cooking will continue to be enjoyable - just more challenging now. I thought cutting out gluten was tough, and it was, but this is going to be doubly so. None of those allergies are life threatening like celiac disease can be but when your intestines are trying to heal from 32 years of abuse to them, adding undue stress does not help that process along any. Back to the cookbooks I go!