Remind me of this post when it’s 115 degrees in August February 8, 2010
Posted by Karen Joy in Allergies, Babies, Family, Homeschooling, Life in the Desert, Loving Nature!, Motherhood, Music, Sports Stuff, The Kids, Total Elimination Diet, Weather.add a comment
This is now the desktop image on my computer
Yesterday was the sort of beautifully glorious day that makes me realize why millions of people live in the Phoenix area: Giant cumulonimbus clouds breezing across the most impossibly clear, deep azure sky. Bright, warm sun which made the world simply sparkle. Clean, invigorating breeze, temperature in the low 60s. Recent rains have given a green tint to the rocky, desert hills which surround my neighborhood, and the play of cloud shadows on their slopes and valleys added to their drama and beauty.
I kept praising God for His amazing creation, and thanking Him for where I live, exclaiming countless times, “It is SO BEAUTIFUL out here.”
Today is similar, but much of it has been spent looking out the window, as we’re back to school today. Yesterday, I spent as much time as possible outside.
Late in the afternoon, the boys wanted to watch the Super Bowl (I did, too, and a good game it was!), but I wanted to a) take advantage of the day, and b) give the girls a chance to run around, as all too soon, the rest of the family would be plunked in front of the TV, in which they had no interest. So, I took ‘em to the park, which we often do on Sundays.
We had a little dietary setback this past week, causing a facial rash again; the likely culprit is corn, which has been removed from Fiala's diet again.
I met another mother, there for similar reasons with her very small nephews and 8yo son; her husband, 12yo twin sons, and other family members at home watching the game.
Audrey (um, not pictured) successfully pumped her legs on the swing for the first time!
Fiala thought she wanted to go down the very long, steep slide, so I took her with me, restraining her from going down by herself, precariously perched on the landing, as I wrestled to get her onto my lap. Then, I comforted her as she squealed with tearful cries after we reached the bottom. It was the slide equivalent of one’s eyes being too big for one’s stomach.
Other than lovely little girls and the weather, yesterday, I was thankful for:
- Finding oranges for 33¢ a pound.
The fact that, when adults, my children will not put errant apostrophes in signs:- A new family at church who homeschools, bringing the total up to three. The mother is so dear. I’ve spent the last week contrasting, in my mind, the character of her, and of another mother, with whom I had a conversation recently, who is such a knot of fear — no freedom, no peace. Yesterday, I wrote the hs’ing mom a note of encouragement, telling her that the Holy Spirit is bearing fruit in her life. (I’m NOT implying that homeschooling equals peace; many homeschooling mothers are not particularly peaceful; it’s just nice to anticipate hanging around with a family whose matriarch is a beautiful, peaceful woman of God, who is submitted to His plans and whose life reflects it, and I’m thankful for God putting her in my path.)
- And I’m thankful that I did not grow up listening to The Who.
Some deep stuff (and some not-so-deep) February 3, 2010
Posted by Karen Joy in Allergies, Babies, Character Development, Christian Living, Christianity, Cooking/Baking/Food/Recipes, Encouragement, Family, Memories, Missions and ministry, Prophetic, Random Stuff, The Kids, Travelling, Vineyard Phoenix, Worship.4 comments
- This past weekend was the International Leadership Summit that my church heads up. It is a meeting of both the leadership from Vineyard Phoenix, and the leaders from the churches and ministries around the nations with whom we minister. There were people from Northern Ireland, Scotland, Zambia, Korea, Japan, Mexico, and Israel. I cannot express the magnitude of what God does each year in the Summit. Words truly fall short, and pictures can’t capture it. I mentally stammer just trying to think of how to start to describe it. Just. No. Words. Suffice it to say, you wish you could have been there, even if you don’t know it! Hahaha!
- Fiala continues to improve; upon my return from being gone three days at the Summit, she was noticeably better. She did great for Grandma Detta (Martin’s mom), in our absence. What a dear little girl she is. She’s so happy. Pretty much the only time she’s unhappy is if she is hungry or tired… and now that she’s sleeping better at night and napping solidly, and now that we have such an array of foods to give her, she’s rarely ever cranky.
- I’ve developed a recipe for hemp milk that Fiala is now drinking. Recipe to be posted soon!
- I’m employed! I’m working part time as a ghost writer. At least, that’s what the author is calling it, and I’m fine with that. If being a ghost writer means that you clean up a manuscript, but get no credit as a co-author, I guess I’m a ghost writer! I’m very happy to be involved in the project.
- Truly, this is simply a happy season in my life. Not that there is widespread perfection in the many areas of my life, but in every spot, I can observe the hand of God… areas of improvement… a light at the end of some dark tunnels… exciting times ahead… It was spoken over me several times in the last week or so that I’m about to enter a season of both stretching beyond my normal territory and into blessing, and I feel like I’m already starting to live that.
- That said (the above bullet), God is also taking me through a time where my knowledge and sense of His love and His goodness is not regulated so much by my feelings. God created feelings, and I think that stoicism and Christianity are opposed to one another. Yet, on the other hand, I can get way too reliant on my circumstances and what I feel, as “evidence” (or not) of God’s love and goodness, and that’s not wise. He’s good and loving no matter if I feel it or not, even if He doesn’t answer my prayers the way I want Him to, even if He doesn’t show up in a way I expect Him to… He’s still God. He is also challenging me to pursue Him in the midst of not feeling Him. I got a picture of the woman with the bleeding problem reaching out to touch Jesus, but in that time, in the crowd, BEFORE she touched Him… just reaching out to Him, reaching out, reaching out… He’s bringing me to a new place of not getting discouraged when He doesn’t answer in the way or the time I’d prefer; I’ve spent too much of my Christian life discouraged and lacking in perseverance, and it’s time for that to end.
- Sort of piggy-backing on the first bullet point, and the above point: On Thursday night, at the Leadership Summit, I was singing on the worship team, and I got a sense of something I felt God wanted to say. It was appropriate for me to sing it, so I did. When I got done, I started thinking, as I do too often, “Oh, that didn’t come out quite right. What I sang just wasn’t the fullness of what God was telling me. Bummer. I should have said… And, oh, I forgot that part…” And various sorts of mental butt-kicking ensued. Then, very quickly, I felt God speak to me, “That’s OK. Words fall short.” Oh, my goodness! Those three words — “words fall short” — brought such freedom to me! It’s TRUE: what God says, and what He does, and how He works, there just isn’t adequate language for it! Plus, it’s not just my words, it’s the power of God behind the words!!! Last night, at kinship (a “bonus” kinship, as I was filling in for an out-of-town worship leader), one of the ladies there talked about being ministered to on Sunday by a lady from Japan. She said, “It’s weird. It was so general, yet so specific. She just said, ‘God is taking the bad memories and creating new, good memories,’ and it was so simple… yet the power behind her words was so profound, and I don’t think I’ve ever experienced healing as deep or as powerful ever before, than from those simple, short words.” I SO KNEW WHAT SHE MEANT. Yes, I am to be obedient to the prompting of the Holy Spirit; if He’s telling me to say something, I need to say it (or sing it). But it’s OK if my words seem to fall short, because a) His power is behind them, and b) language is simply inadequate. ~sigh~ Freedom. No condemnation. God is good.
Fi-Fie-Fo-Fum Update January 27, 2010
Posted by Karen Joy in Babies, Digestive Woes, Encouragement, Family, Friendships, Medical Stuff, Motherhood, The Kids, Total Elimination Diet.11 comments
- First of all, I am so very incredibly thankful for my friend Elizabeth (don’t know if she wants to be named here… she’s a family practice doctor who lives in Alaska). She has totally taken up Fiala’s cause, and with her medical guidance and spiritual insight, we are making fabulous headway. I would be so lost without her. I keep thinking, “Why couldn’t another doctor, one of the many we’ve seen in this last year, have had the wisdom and care that Elizabeth has had?” I don’t know the answer to that, but I am absolutely thankful to both her and the Father for sending her my way.
- Fiala’s skin is 95% better. I’m not sure if it’s the 2½ weeks of antibiotics (2½ weeks to go, still! She’s now on Septra, which has worked MUCH better than Keflex) that has cleared up the staph, which has healed her skin… or, if it’s the Protopic + triamcinolone + Vaseline regimen. Today was also the last day of a 5-day prednisone prescription (a.k.a. “evil juice” — it’s AWFUL). Lots o’ meds. However, I am so, so, so, so happy that she is not an oozy, itchy, scabby, miserable baby any longer. I look forward to her being off of medication, though, and boosting her immune system via nutrition and supplements, and seeing if she can “hold” the healing while off meds. Yes, I was hoping to treat everything homeopathically, naturally, but that hasn’t been possible. Hopefully, she will have “just” five weeks of hitting the meds hard and then we can get her off of them.
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Before Septra - Taken 01/14/10
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After Septra - Taken today, 01/27/10 (With big brother Grant)
- Fiala is officially weaned, at 15 months. That’s both happy and sad. I Freecycled the Boppy pillow, because she kept bringing it to me, asking with sweet hopefulness, “Nuh-nuh??” And now, she just sadly shakes her head, “Nuh-nuh gah-gah.” Nuh-nuh all gone.
So, now, I’m not on the Total Elimination Diet, but I’m not going hog-wild. I told myself I was going to get a pint of Ben & Jerry’s Karamel Sutra to celebrate when I was able to eat real food, but I haven’t done that yet. We actually ate out at a restaurant on Sunday, which then gave me an afternoon-long, food-related stomach ache, the first stomach ache I’d had in four months… (other than when we, apparently, got some bad black beans a few weeks ago) So, I’m still going pretty slow. - Fiala is still on a restricted diet, but we are expanding it with some success. She currently can eat lamb, turkey, buckwheat (though she’s sick of it), almost all beans, quinoa, gluten-free oats, every vege in the mustard family (broccoli, bok choy, cabbage, cauliflower, collard greens), every vege in the beet family (beets, red chard, spinach), blueberries (cranberries, too, but I super-limit those because we haven’t found any dried that have no sugar, and the fresh ones are way too tart!). She also has had good success lately with organic apples, and I’ve been able to give her a little bit of honey. Her favorite things are blueberries and raw broccoli core.
I also have her on a vitamin that she loves: Children’s Chewables from Michael’s Naturopathic Programs. It’s the only gluten-free, sugar-free, at-least-partly-whole food vitamin AND mineral. And, it’s not crazy-expensive, bless God. Looking at the list above, I guess that still doesn’t seem like a whole lot… but it’s SO BROAD compared to a month or six weeks ago. - In the last couple of weeks, she has had BAD reactions to prunes — I should have figured that out before I even tried them; she had a bad reaction to almonds in the past, and they’re related. She actually got hives in her diaper area everywhere the prune-poop touched. Even where a bit of prune skin had blown out the side, where it was touching her skin was a correspondingly-shaped welt. So, everything in the plum family is out (peaches, apricots, plums, almonds). And, she had a bad reaction to banana (gassy, fussy, red, itchy skin, and caustic poop). STILL. At this point, her diet is expanding more rapidly than it’s contracting, if that makes sense. I am very encouraged.
- SHE’S SLEEPING THROUGH THE NIGHT. Not every single night, but close to it. Last night, she slept from 7:15 p.m. – 5:00 a.m., and the previous night was similar. Most nights, she’s been sleeping at least one good 6-8 hour jag. There have been a number of nights where she has a very hard time going back to sleep, and I’ve been up for 1½ – 2 hours with a fussy, crying, sad baby. But, it’s definitely been two-steps-forward, one-step-back progress. We moved her crib into the girls’ room (and moved Audrey, temporarily, into our room), and that — along with just saying no to nursing at night — has spurred the success, along with her general healing, which has taken away her itchy, restless misery.
- When we’re off of Septra, we will address strengthening her immune system, via nutrition and supplements. I’m having chicken-and-egg thoughts: Was her immune system weak from the beginning, which led her to be so badly infected with staph? Or is her immune system exhausted from fighting staph for what appears to be her WHOLE LIFE? I’m holding out hope that it’s the second, and once the staph is gone, she will recover to great health.
- Overall, though there are many readers on here who are homeopathic/naturopathic-minded like myself, I hope you will rejoice with me at the wonderful leaps and bounds we’ve gained in Sweet Fi’s health.
New Domain!! January 25, 2010
Posted by Karen Joy in Blogging.3 comments
Waaalll…
A friend from church thought that I should have my own domain, so he went and purchased it for me! www.onlysometimesclever.com or http://onlysometimesclever.com both work. Thanks, Jesse!
I really don’t know what to do with it, other than to alert y’all that you don’t need the “wordpress” part of the addy any more. Perhaps I will play with it a bit in the future; I’m not even sure what I CAN do with it! (I’m not really a “discover the possibilities!” kind of gal.)
If you have any tips, of course, send ‘em my way.
Braised Lemon Rosemary Lamb Shanks with “Caramelized” Turnips January 25, 2010
Posted by Karen Joy in Celiac Disease, Cooking/Baking/Food/Recipes, Dairy-free, GF Recipes, GFCF, GFCF Recipes, The Kids.Tags: cooking, dinner, lamb, lamb shanks, rosemary, slow food
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Four months ago or so, I would NEVER have even looked at a recipe with this name, let alone eaten it, let alone LOVED it. I remember reading a restaurant review some time ago from local foodie Howard Seftel, and literally gagging when he mentioned how dreamy and “mucilaginous” perfect lamb shanks were. However, times and tastes do change, and now, Howard, I understand you.
Shown with Red Quinoa
Whenever I make this dish (which has been probably eight times in the last couple of months), my eight-year-old son hovers, eyes wide, as I dish it out. He is gleeful when I pop a turnip chunk or two in his mouth, and was literally ecstatic when I gave him a whole bowlful last night, hopping around, and running to tell his brothers of his luck. When I eat this dish, I tell myself that I am going to portion out the turnips, eating them slowly, alternating bites with the lamb. A few minutes later, as my lamb shank sits bare on my plate, no turnips in sight, I only mildly bemoan my lack of self-control. Even if you think you don’t like turnips, I encourage you to try them this way! If an 8yo, who is not a particular fan of veggies, delights in them, you can be assured that it’s likely that you will love them, too!
Lamb shanks are definitely slow food. This easy recipe is edible in two hours, but perfect in three. It’s worth it, though!
I say “caramelized” because the turnips end up having the appearance of being caramelized, but they really aren’t. It is likely that this recipe would also work well with rutabagas and/or parsnips, but I have not tried either.
As they contain a great deal of bone, lamb shanks are among the least expensive cuts of lamb. Here in the Phoenix area, I buy mine frozen from Lee Lee Oriental Market at only $3.29/lb.
(As always, this is a gluten-free, dairy/casein-free dish!)
Braised Lemon Rosemary Lamb Shanks with “Caramelized” Turnips
serves two
- 2 lamb shanks, ¾ to 1 lb each
- 2 medium turnips, cut into 1″ cubes (approximately 4 cups)
- ½ lemon (zest and juice)
- ½ teaspoon sea salt
- 2″ long rosemary sprig
- ½ cup water
- Measure water into a 10″ skillet. Into it, place the lamb shanks, and sprinkle them with the zest of ½ lemon.
- Arrange the turnips around the shanks as evenly as possible.
- Sprinkle the turnips and lamb with fresh rosemary leaves and sea salt.
- Squeeze the juice of ½ lemon over everything.
- Bring to boil over high heat, cover, and quickly turn down to simmer on low.
- Check periodically that the water has not evaporated. During that time, as the meat shrinks while it cooks, gently rearrange turnips so that they are braising in the broth as the dish cooks.
- After 2 hours, check the tenderness of the meat and lamb. At this point, the dish will have been cooked thoroughly and will be edible. However, you will get perfect flavor if you allow it to cook for another hour or so.
- Check the turnips, lamb, and sauce level at 15 minute intervals for an additional 45 minutes to 1 hour, for a total of 2:45 – 3:00 cooking time. You do not want the water to run out entirely, though when the dish is done, you want a reduced, thickish, caramel-colored sauce at the bottom of the pan. Also, you’re looking for the turnips to be totally infused with the taste and color of the sauce. If there is not enough water, the sauce and turnips will burn, rendering them inedible (ask me how I know! ). But, if the sauce is too thin, it’s won’t be rich and flavorful enough, and the color and flavor will not saturate the turnips.
- When the sauce is reduced and the turnips are a dark golden caramel color, the dish is done.
- Enjoy hot!
Braised Lemon Rosemary Lamb Shanks with Turnips (printable PDF)
Double-Red Quinoa January 23, 2010
Posted by Karen Joy in Cooking/Baking/Food/Recipes, Dairy-free, GF Recipes, GFCF Recipes, gluten-free.3 comments
A while back, I ordered some buckwheat from Eden Organics via Amazon. They mistakenly sent me a box of red quinoa instead. As it is a food item, the customer service folks at Amazon said I could just keep it, in addition to refunding my money. At the time, I thought, “There is no way I’ll eat all of this.” So, I gave six of the 12 packages away. Now, I’m rather wishing I had them back!
Easy to digest, gluten-free, full of protein and fiber, if you’ve never tried quinoa, now is the time to start! Quinoa is nearly as versatile as rice, cooks up in about the same time as white rice, but with much greater nutrition.
Once my supply of Eden Organics Red Quinoa ran out, I’ve purchased Ancient Harvest Inca Red at a local grocer. Expect to pay about $3.50 – 4.50 for a 12-16 ounce package. Each 12 oz package has 2 cups of quinoa.
It is hard to believe how delicious a recipe can be, with only a very few ingredients. I’ve been making this super-simple dish literally 2-3 times a week for the last month or so. I’ve eaten it both as a side dish, and I’ve browned some ground lamb and stirred it in for a complete meal. It also reheats beautifully for tasty leftovers. (If there are any! The first time I made this, I ate every last bite!)
I’ve tried it with collard greens in lieu of red chard, but I don’t like the taste nearly so well. The delicate taste of the red chard combined with the nutty taste of the red quinoa is a perfect match.
Check the organic section of your local grocer for red chard. I have been able to find organic red chard for the same price as conventional! (At Sprouts, for anyone in the Phoenix area.) With organic olive oil from Trader Joe’s, organic quinoa, and organic red chard, this is a super-healthy, clean, tasty whole-grain dish!!
Double-Red Quinoa
makes 4 side-dish sized servings
- 2 tsp olive oil
- 1/2 tsp sea salt (or, to taste)
- 1 1/4 cup water
- 1 cup red wholegrain quinoa
- 2-4 stalks of red chard (leaves and stalks)
- In a small saucepan, bring olive oil, sea salt, and water to a boil. Stir in quinoa, bring back to boil, and turn down to a simmer. Cover and simmer for 15 minutes.
- In the meantime, chop the red chard into fairly small pieces. (I slice the large leaves lengthwise several times, then slice them crosswise into 1/4″ slices.)
- After 15 minutes, stir the quinoa. There should be only a bit of water left in the pan. If it is dry, add up to 1/4 cup more of water.
- Stir in the chopped red chard, and return to a simmer. Simmer for five additional minutes. After five minutes, there should be very little water left in the pan. If it’s still quite “wet,” turn up the heat and boil until most of the water is evaporated.
- Serve hot!
So, where have I been? January 22, 2010
Posted by Karen Joy in Allergies, Babies, Friendships, God/Christianity/Church, Medical Stuff, Motherhood, The Kids.2 comments
Fasting.
Fasting the internet, that is.
Many people from my church went on a Daniel fast for the first three weeks of January. That’s basically a whole-foods vegan diet, like Daniel and his buddies did when they were taken captive into Babylon.
However, for me, excluding foods??? That’s a walk in the park. Other than meat, the Daniel fast would EXPAND the foods I’m currently eating. So, I had been considering other options, other things to fast.
On the 31st of December, I think it was, I was talking with my friend Elizabeth, who is a doctor… actually, it was more like SHE was talking to ME, giving me some guidance on Fiala.
As long-time readers of this blog will be aware, my dear baby, who is 15 months old today, has had a rough go of it for pretty much her whole life. After the last doctor we spent lots of money on told us that he’d reached the end of his expertise, and he was advising us to go see a different specialist, my husband and I decided to just give the whole “doctor” thing a break for a while. So, we had been without medical care for her for about four months…
In the meantime, I was spending time, pretty much daily, online, trying to find out WHAT was wrong with Fiala, and HOW to treat her. Really, I became overwhelmed and fairly desperate and hopeless.
In that phone conversation, Elizabeth suggested, “I think you need to stay off the internet for a while.” Though I didn’t really LIKE her advice, I knew she was right. And, I knew that it would be a perfect fit for the discipline of fasting.
So, that’s where I’ve been: Living life, sans internet.
Elizabeth and I have kept in close contact, via phone and e-mail… There have been too many things to recount (though I may go back at some point and try), and Fiala is not altogether healed yet, and we still have a lot of unsolved, unanswered questions. Still. Overall, I am highly encouraged, and feel like God is leading us down the path to healing, and that there is light at the end of the tunnel, when previously, we were very much in darkness and floundering about.
God is good. He is trustworthy. He loves me and my precious daughter. I look forward to posting more positive and hopeful writings about Fiala’s health in the near future. 
Our anti-staph regimen (for now) for Fiala, and anti-asthma for Wes December 31, 2009
Posted by Karen Joy in Allergies, Babies, Family, Interesting Websites, Medical Stuff, The Kids, Total Elimination Diet.8 comments
My friend Sheila turned me on to a website called Earth Clinic. I have long been looking for a website that has homeopathic remedies that does NOT have a “New-Agey” feel, and this is by far the best one I’ve found, so far. Even though it can be a bit difficult to navigate and wade through, I’ve found a ton of useful information on there. People can also respond to others’ suggestions saying whether or not a particular remedy worked for them. There are some REALLY knowledgeable contributors on Earth Clinic. I also like that it is (almost completely) non-commercial. In fact, they have a policy against even saying brand names.
One of the things that jumped out at me immediately is that folks have frequently reported the healing of their allergies by taking turmeric. Now, I will admit that I have not fully researched this at all, but I have read, in the past, about the amazing medicinal properties of a component of turmeric, curcumin. I thought it was worth a shot, especially since I am NOT liking the idea of putting my 8yo son Wesley on life-long anti-asthma meds. Currently, he has to take Singulair for about six months out of the year to ward off daily wheezing, coughing, and asthma attacks. Every year, we are able to identify more triggers to his asthma and then avoid them — dairy and pine are the biggest contributors — but he still has ongoing asthma problems, especially during the colder months. I have thought, “There just HAS to be a better, more natural solution.” Now, as far as medication goes, Singulair is less worrisome (I think) steroids: it works by disabling a particular fatty molecule that starts the snowballing chain of reactions that leads to an asthma attack. Still. I don’t like the fact that it messes with his endocrine system.
Wes has already been on 30 days’ worth of Singulair this winter season. His doctor’s office said that before they renew the prescription, he’d have to go back and see the doctor to have his asthma re-evaluated. I don’t like this for a number of reasons:
- We’re in the process of changing doctors. Our beloved pediatrician has been on medical sabbatical for more than a year (it was originally supposed to be six weeks), and every time we go into the ped’s office now, we see a different doc. I hate that. So, I’m changing the kids over to my doctor, who is a D.O. family doctor. Wes has an appointment with her next week; I just did NOT want to make another appointment with his old doctor’s office simply to get his prescription refilled.
- The medication is $30 per month.
- The co-pay for the the re-eval is an additional $30.
Now, I am willing to spend $60 on my son’s health. However, I don’t care to perpetually spend $$ on meds and copays when I don’t really support the IDEA behind them in the first place. Hope that makes sense.
Anyways.
Turmeric tastes awful, at least in concentrated form. We’ve tried it a number of different ways, and I’ve only had Wesley taking it for five days now. The best way we’ve found for him to take it is mixing the turmeric (about 1/8 tsp) with about 2 tsp of honey, and having him gulp it down as fast as possible. Though he did have an asthma attack on that first day, Wesley has not had one since, and his coughing and wheezing has greatly subsided. He told me this morning that he didn’t think he needed to take the turmeric, since he’s breathing so much better. Uh, Wes… Nice try. I am hopeful that he’s breathing better BECAUSE of the turmeric.
(By the way, I spent $2.49 on a 400 gram/14 oz bag of turmeric at the Asian market. That’s a LOT of turmeric, for very little money.)
Turmeric also has demonstrated antibacterial properties, and many folks on Earth Clinic have successfully used a turmeric paste on staph/MRSA boils and skin infections. I tried a salve with turmeric in it on Fiala’s face and legs, but she’s just too wiggly and active; I couldn’t get it to stick and stay. So, for the last two days, I’m back to using Gentian Violet on the worst lesions on her face and legs. It’s messy. It has stained her clothes. She looks AWFUL with that junk on the lower half of her face. However, it (combined with daily baths into which I’ve added a cup or two of vinegar) appears to be having a positive effect on the lesions: they’re drying out and shrinking.
As in the last couple of weeks, Fiala’s skin has profoundly worsened, I am going back to a completely sugar-free diet. I had been giving her a little bit of honey in her morning buckwheat, and had been putting honey in my coffee… and I had started to become lax about popping a candy in my mouth — one a day or fewer — AND, even worse, I ate some caramel corn on Monday. As a result of all of that, PLUS with the knowledge that it is likely that Fiala’s reactions aren’t JUST allergy-based, but that her skin problems are indicative of staph bacteria swarming her body… well, I’ve decided to clamp down, even though it’s hard… it’s been a long haul… I really miss sugar, and of all ingredients I’ve cut out of my diet, I miss sugar the most. Still. I have to begrudgingly admit that sugar puts Fiala’s reactions into a tailspin, and I am convinced that it will speed her healing if I’m militantly diligent about eliminating it.
I still haven’t quite decided if I will take blueberries out of our diets. (Blueberries are currently our only “safe” fruit.)
In the morning, I have also been mixing up a tonic, of sorts, for Fiala. She normally drinks water throughout the day and in that water, I daily empty a probiotic capsule. In addition to that, this past week, I’ve been adding 1/8 tsp of turmeric, 2 droppersful of colloidal silver (250 ppm strength), and a little stevia to make it somewhat palatable. From Fiala’s reaction, I would say that she prefers her “plain” probiotic water, but she’s drinking the tonic. When the cup is about half gone, I top it off with more water. By the end of the day the orangey-yellow color from the turmeric is about gone. Even if it’s not totally gone, I’m satisfied that she’s consumed most of the tonic, and we start the next day with a fresh cup.
Now, I’m not 100% certain that any of this has a super-dramatic effect on her health, but I’m just doing the best I can to eliminate the bad stuff in her body (bacteria, viruses, allergic reactions, etc.) and supply it with the best opportunity to get as much nutrition from her food as possible, and to re-populate her intestines with good bacteria. (As I write that, I hope that the probiotic and the turmeric aren’t canceling each other out! Curcumin has been studied particularly for its effects against staph; I hope it doesn’t kill the good bacteria, too.)
~sigh~
I’ve also been soaking her binkies in vinegar water, making sure she has a fresh bath towel (normally, we use the same towel for the whole week), changing her clothes and bedding frequently…
I still haven’t heard back from Elizabeth, my doctor-friend. And, I’m still breastfeeding — haven’t switched Fiala over to goat milk. But, as soon as I can get up to Trader Joe’s to purchase some some, I’ll probably at least try her on it.
Christmas, clothes, and too many “Bud Vase”s, year-end video December 29, 2009
Posted by Karen Joy in Christmas, Clothes, Family, Funny Stuff, God/Christianity/Church, Holidays, Medical Stuff, Missions and ministry, Prophetic, Shoes, Shopping, The Kids, Vineyard Phoenix, Worship.3 comments
- I recently was going to post about how dearly I love wee flowers, brought to me by my kids, cheering my world in the bud vase on my counter top. This sweet image, though, has been overridden by my husband overhearing my 3yo daughter saying, “Bud vase,” and thinking she was saying something naughty… then, him laughing hysterically about it, the all the boys catching on, and now, days later, my husband and me up to our EARS with the boys calling each other, “Bud Vase.” (Say it aloud.)
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The five best kids ever (and the doggie), Christmas morning
Christmas! I have only a few grainy pics from my phone. Ugh. However, my Dad tells me that, rather than repairing my camera (which he’s had since… June? July?), that he’s going to buy me a new one! That’s fabulous. We’ve been essentially camera-less since April, and that’s a long time. Anyways. Christmas was great — lovely, happy, full of family warmth. On The Day, we had my Mom & Stepdad, Martin’s Dad & Stepmom, my brother, his wife, and two of their three boys (the other in California with my SIL’s parents) over for the afternoon and evening, eating a non-traditional dinner of Thai omelette soup (I should post a recipe!). Our home was full, loud, and happy. And, GOD PROVIDES. If I went into detail, I’d be typing forever. So, suffice it to say that our Christmas, which we all thought would be spare and lacking in provision, was overflowing. Overflowing. God is so good; He’s amazing.
- I am now a size 6. I haven’t been a size 6 since before I had kids. I now weigh less than I did before I got pregnant with my oldest, who is now 12½. But, even there, God provides!! Slacks on clearance at Macy’s for about $10 each, plus some borrowed jeans from a sweet friend who also has recently, unintentionally lost weight and is now a size 4! So, I have four pairs of jeans on loan from her, two sixes, and two eights.
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The little rosette, the heel height & shape, the rounded toe... perfect
Not really size-related, but I also found a FABULOUS pair of black pumps on the 26th. I haven’t been this excited about shoes in a long time… mostly because we just don’t have the money to get as many shoes as I would LIKE, so I typically purchase shoes that are sensible and long-lasting, rather than cute… Then I admire the shoes of my pastor’s wife, Nancy. However, I found these for $6.99 on clearance at Ross, so I figured I could spend seven bucks on some totally insensible shoes. I’m so excited about them, I wore them to the grocery store last night. Hahahahaha! I have huge feet — size 10. But, as I’ve lost those nearly-30 pounds, I have discovered that my feet have shrunk a bit. Who knew? I had fat feet. So now, I can wear a 9½ again — and these shoes are even 9W! They’d be better in a slightly larger size, but this was the only pair Ross had.
- Our church’s year end video… FANTASTIC. Many on here have commented about my church’s dynamics. If you would like to see it in action, there’s a nearly-34 minute video here. In a way it’s a best-of-the-year video, and in a way, it’s just really typical as to what takes place. My whole fam is mixed in there… Some personal highlights are: My older two boys quoting Psalm 102 at 1:22; My hubby leading worship at 5:07 (he’s in LOTS of other places, too); Me leading worship at 5:20; Audrey being a “PUWH-son” at 12:36… And my son Ethan at the soundboard at the very end.
Is this it??? (SSSS) December 28, 2009
Posted by Karen Joy in Allergies, Babies, Christianity, Digestive Woes, Encouragement, Friendships, Medical Stuff, Missions and ministry, Motherhood, Prophetic, Scary stuff, The Kids, Vineyard Phoenix, Worship.12 comments
I have a friend named Elizabeth… She and I were fairly good friends, then the two of us got married at roughly the same time, then she moved to Alaska. Both our marriages and the move slowed down the friendship quite a bit. But, I’m happy when I see her, which is about once a year, when she visits family in town and visits our church, too, where she used to attend. (She also married a cousin of my pastor.)
Facebook has increased our contact of late, which has been nice. In fact, when Elizabeth and I were talking after church, her daughter appeared to be listening intently to our conversation, then she burst out, “Are you Karen?” I admitted to that fact, and Elizabeth explained, “She recognizes you from Facebook.”
Elizabeth is a doctor. She used to be Ethan’s pediatrician when he was a baby, and I — for selfish reasons — mourned her move, because not only is she a fabulous, brilliant doctor, but I could always trust her to tell me the TRUTH, and to give me a perspective that is Godly-wisdom-based, not just medically-based. (For instance, she was the first doctor to tell me straight out that the pill is an abortifacient, which most all doctors will pussyfoot around or flat-out deny.)
Yesterday, after church, she came up to me, telling me that she had had a vision of me during worship. She almost didn’t tell me, and, oh! I’m so glad she did! She saw me with a hobo’s bag full of tin cups that I kept messing with, and God was standing off to the side with a gold, jewel-encrusted goblet, that was full of healing. The idea was that God had the goblet for me, and I kept messing with the tin cups.
In other words, I keep TINKERING with things, when He has HEALING.
I totally took that, on behalf of Fiala.
What made that especially significant is that yesterday was the day that some specific ministry prayer was to be done over Fiala! Such timing. We did get some prayer, though the team (for one reason or another) was only half its originally-intended size, and it was hard to pray because Fiala was VERY fussy and just wanted to go run.
Elizabeth only got a brief look at Fi, and now she and her family are off to California for a couple of days, but she also saw my pastor’s family for quite a while yesterday, and she told my pastor’s wife that she is quite certain that Fiala has Staph Scalded Skin Syndrome.
I started to Google it, but stopped, because the fear started to creep back in when I read that, often, in babies less than a year, SSSS is fatal. Fiala is now 14 months, but this is the same thing — if it is it — that she’s been struggling with, in one form or another, since she was two months old.
Although this little girl, in England, who was diagnosed with SSSS, has patches that appear IDENTICAL to Fiala’s:
Again, this is NOT Fiala, but her patches look identical. Currently, her skin is even worse than the above baby's!
I still have lots of questions for Elizabeth-the-doctor, for some of the things that Fi has doesn’t quite fit the symptoms of SSSS, from what I can tell. (Especially that patches from SSSS are supposed to heal in 5-7 days, and Fiala has had some of the same patches for literally months on end.)
Still, when I was praying this morning, I felt very confident that I am to trust Elizabeth, and that God gave her that vision of me, in order to increase my confidence in both her ability to hear from God, and in her medical advice, because right now, my trust-level in doctors is pretty low.
I’m not going to hunt her down in California to talk about it, but she did suggest (through our pastor’s wife) that I
- stop breastfeeding and start her on goat milk (she suggested a 2-week trial, in which I also pump, to keep my supply up, and store the milk) — this is because it’s likely that I am the continuing source of staph bacteria
- give her warm baths to which 2 cups of white vinegar have been added, as Staph (and other bacteria) can’t live in an acidic environment
I have done the second, but not the first yet. Before I stop breastfeeding, I want to talk directly with Elizabeth about that.
She is also convinced that while Fiala may indeed have some underlying food allergy issues, it is extremely unlikely that she is allergic to EVERYTHING, which is where she’s currently at — reacting to EVERYTHING. Elizabeth believes that staph in her body (maybe bacterial enterocolitis?) is interfering with the digestion process, and it’s the staph that is causing most of her symptoms. Interestingly, people with bacterial enterocolitis can develop carbohydrate intolerances, and it’s to various carbohydrates that Fiala has always reacted most violently, which is why her (no-longer) allergist thought she may have some sort of sugar intolerance.
Elizabeth also said that while antibiotics might be needed, there are other things we can do to eliminate the staph and treat the symptoms. It’s the “other things” that I’m really interested in right now… It’s hard to wait until we can talk!!
Part of me doesn’t want to get my hopes up, but the other part — especially due to the circumstances — is quick to think, “This is it! This is the answer to our prayers! This is what Fiala’s been struggling with, her whole sweet little life!!!”
