One Day You'll Love Your Fish Oil!

Dear Lovely Daughter,

Well, maybe I'm exaggerating just a bit about really loving your fish oil.  But it is my true hope that one day you will know how important it is to take care of yourself...and I hope that you'll know that taking care of yourself will probably always be different and more intense for you, but it is so worth it. 

I am so thrilled to have you back and to have the opportunity to work on the day to day issues...realizing that bananas are a problem for you, putting together the fact that when I loosen up and let you have gingerbread and pizza crust (even with no cheese) on several occasions, clothes start to bother you more.  I'm happy that you can go to school and function like the you that I know that you are.  I'm simply blessed to have you here.  Because there was a time when you were completely gone from us, when you couldn't stand anyone or anything and when you couldn't stand to be in your own skin.  And it seemed like we were going to be hunting for the right medication forever.  The one that would bring you home.

But God's hand has carried us through it all.  There have been so many twists and turns in our story...the story of you and of us loving you....that we would have never made them all were it not for God's guidance.  And even now, sweet girl, I know that we are not at the end.  More of our story will unravel.  Perhaps our entire story will be one of unraveling, one of doing what is best for you now and of always observing and bettering the plan. 

Fish oil, my girl, tastes pretty sweet when it is part of a plan that brings your soft cheek back to my lips and wonderful you back into the circle of our family.  You are why our family motto is "Never, never, never, never, never give up."

What's For Lunch Today?

Simple is the name of the game today.  I need to go to the store in a bad, bad way, and there's not even any fruit or an applesauce cup to snack on.  So here's the meal plan...a box of quinoa elbow macaroni from Ancient Harvest and spaghetti sauce on top.  If I had more time (or ingredients), I can imagine that it might be pretty good and nutritious with grated carrots and tiny bits of steamed broccoli.  But today, simplicity gets the prize!

Call Me a Donut Sneak

After doing a total yeast detox diet including nystatin and diflucan for my daughter (the total diet for the rest of our family),  we have now relaxed a little bit and are doing gfcf.  I still really limit sugar and vinegar and am afraid of all bread--even rice bread--because it all seems to contain yeast. 

My dirty little secret, however, is donuts.   When I am in the car alone or with the baby girl (which can be arranged almost daily), a couple of donuts....that's an easy thing to work out!  It's like my fix, and Shipley's Donuts has become my dealer!  And it has been satisfying my sweet tooth for longer than I'd like to admit now (perhaps 3 months?).  But over the past week or so, for some reason, I seem to have forgotten about donuts.  And then I realized that this really bothersome, itchy, the dermatologist-doesn't-know-what-causes-it-but-it's-been-here-for-about-3-months, rash, disappeared.  Hmmmm.

So tonight, 6 hours ago, I decided to test it.  I "forced" myself to have two glazed donuts.  Lo and behold, my hands are itchy.  Not enough that I can say that I KNOW it's because of the donuts.  But let's just say they're the prime suspect. 

I can't get away with anything.....