H's face after following his new diet

Here's H's face after following his gluten free, corn free, and dairy free diet along with taking some natural supplements. I am so glad that I can avoid coating my baby in steroids!

H's Eczema before and after the diet modifications

Here is a picture of H's cheeks at one of the worst points.

Creative Eating: Zuchini Pancakes

As some of you know, H has severe eczema especially on face. This along with some other concerns (ie irritability, colic as a baby and a small appetite) has lead us on a journey for his health. At this time he is corn free, gluten and wheat free, dairy free and a few other "frees". As you can imagine this challenges a lot of our western cooking to say the least! We have given up a lot of things but one thing that we cannot live without is pancakes...I guess my boys got that love from their mom! I have come across this great recipe today and thought I would share it. Of course, it is someone else's recipe that I modified to meet our needs. Whether or not you have special nutritional needs like H, most moms want to get more vegetables in their children's diet so here's a recipe for Sweet Zuchini Pancakes. They were delicious. I just finished cooking the last 2 and the kitchen smells like cinnamon!
http://cookingequipment.about.com/od/breakfastrecipes/r/zucchinipancake.htm

*Keep in mind, I made several changes to the recipe and they turned out delicious! I substituted the butter for canola oil, all the flours (corn and wheat) with brown rice flour and substituted 1and1/2 tsp cream of tartar plus 1/2 tsp of baking soda for the baking powder. I substituted 3/4 cup coconut milk and 1/2 cup water for the milk in the recipe.

End of the Summer Tea Party!

Here are the neighbor girls and the boys. I watched them three days a week this summer. We ended our time with an evangelistic tea party. We made a craft of decorating a gift box and talked about gifts. We talked about how Jesus is a gift to us and we can be a gift back to God. Every child made a small wordless book to go in their box. This book tells the story of our sin, Jesus' redemption of us and our new life when we believe in Him. Luke has already told God that he accepts Jesus' death for his sins and that He wants to be friends with God but all three girls prayed and told God that. K the oldest one, I believe was completely sincere and realized what she was saying. The other two, well, a seed is planted and I know that they know. So then, we ended our little time with a celebration of hot chocolate and brownies and played a game passing a gift around and unwrapping it. What a great culmination to the summer! My desire in keeping the girls was to plant seeds and show them Jesus.

H's Dedication

Sometimes you have to get creative! For us, creative meant that we did not dedicate H at church like expected on Sunday. Instead, we were together with Grandparents for breakfast, scripture reading and quick prayers (the wind was chilly) on Sunday. It was such a sweet and special time and as a mom it will make for a special memory.

We had to get creative because H had been diagnosed with strep throat on Friday and we did not feel comfortable going to church with a sick baby. But we didn't want to miss out on dedicating him. Both my and J's parents were in town for this special event. If you are reading this and you weren't with us, we wish you were there. You are special to us and we treasure your input as we try to raise 2 godly boys..and hopefully and baby girl soon too! J's and my parents- thank you for your godly input, example and support. We love you.

HOPE

So recently, I have thought about trully using this as a blog. That is if I can steal away moments from other things that demand my time to write some thoughts. I have never thought highly of what I have to say. Thoughts like "why would anyone waste their time to read what I have to say" are trully in the front of my mind but somehow I don't know why but I feel lead to write for whatever edification of others it can bring.

So in the wake of this election, my heart has been so heavy. (The thought of Obama as president does not exactly thrill me) James and I have experienced a feeling of oppression for whatever reason. As believers, we definitely fight a spiritual battle. Sometimes we are more aware of it than others. One day, I trully felt like it was me and my God against the world. Do you ever feel this way? That day, I really wanted to go live with the Amish....in my own bubble! I know that that is the cowards way but that is how I felt.

So with all of that in mind God really helped me to overcome these things reminding me that He always walks in victory (I think that is found in Hebrews). He is our source of hope and victory. The God of all the universe has His eyes on the righteous and regardless of the future of our nation, He is our security.

So ironicly, this morning when James and I discovered that Obama and democrats have a lot of the majority, our Bible reading together was entitled "Circumstantial Deceit". It is based off of John 11:14-15. Circumstances don't tell the whole story. How often in the gospels were circumstances deceiving? A storm threatened to capsize a boat, thousands were hungry and God was killed by men, just to name a few. In all of these situations when people stared at the problem they despaired but when they stared at the Truth they found hope. The devotional tells of a story of George Muller who was going to a very important meeting but was on a ship that was stuck in the North Atlantic fog. The captain told George that he would not make his appointment but Muller responded "My eye is not on the density of the fog, but on the living God who controls every circumstance of my life." Amazingly the fog lifted.

"Our human tendency is to feel trapped by visible situations but circumstantial evidence is not the truth of a matter......Those who focused on their problems in the Gospels found those problems to be overwhelming. Those who focused on Jesus found their problems to be illusory. Focus on Jesus. There is no deceit in Him." (taken from The One Year at His Feet devotional by Chris Tiegreen)

So whatever your circumstances are this morning may Jesus Christ be your hope and your joy this day!

Luke's Haircut and Our little helpers!

This is our sweet boy with lots of hair! Love it!

This is all of his hair on the ground!
This is our sweet boy with little hair! Love it! But he looks so much more grown up...=( ! Check out the peanut butter mustache~!
Of course, whatever you do for one you must also do for the other child. So here is a picture of Hamilton's hair. Next time you get peanut butter and jelly in your hair, just make a mohawk out of it!
I thought you would enjoy pictures on the tight ship I (Jenny) run. Here is Luke doing his lunch dishes!

Here's Hamilton vacuuming!
What big helpers they are! Talk about being a productive family....mom is on the phone with Laurie, catching up with a good friend who recently moved, Luke is grating cheese and Hamilton is stirring our dinner, and Dad is on the computer researching flooring for our future home! Never boring in this house! I just hope the desire to help remains in the years to come.