A Non-Food-Related Post Because Good Grief, it's Time.

Congratulations to my sweet, handsome husband "J" on his promotion! It was such a wonderful ceremony, and I was so touched to be a part of it. Here are some photos of the big day:

At Attention

"Pinning on" the new rank

Oath of Office

I am so proud of you, J!

Emerging from the bloggy shadows

I know, I know. No update from me in so long. It started in October when I became pregnant and was so overwhelmed with morning sickness that I got out of the bloggy habit. And it's just hard to re-establish a habit once you're out of it.

I made a minor change to the blog-changing everyone's name to an initial, because it was just too hard to keep up with their pseudonyms.

It is the middle of the night and I am still awake, even though I am really tired and want to go to bed. Miss M has been on a special diet for over a year with great success. The book says that after you've been symptom free for a year you can begin re-introducing "normal" foods, so this winter we started allowing her some grains and things. That was a really bad idea. She had a terrible relapse, so we immediately went back on the diet months ago, where she found almost immediate relief. So what does that have to do with me being awake in the middle of the night in March? Well, on Sunday we hosted a BBQ with some of our homeschool friends. Miss M snuck a bite of cookie and half of a hot dog bun and now she's feeling the effects of it, dancing around in pain because she can't sleep.

As I sit here tired and irrational, I can't help but think of these doctors I've gone to for help over the years who just dismissed me and told me to give her more fresh fruits and veggies. Really? First of all, M eats more fresh fruits and veggies than almost any child on the planet, and secondly, can you look me in the eye and tell me that it is totally normal to eat half a hot dog bun and a bite of cookie and be in pain for days afterwards?

I am so thankful for the diet and that it is really all we need to control her condition. I am wondering, though, if maybe we should pursue more testing, just to have a more definitive answer, if that's even possible. A friend of mine stated that if there's a chance your child has celiac's disease, that it's important to know for sure, because celiacs who cheat have much lower life expectancy than celiacs who don't. Besides celiac's, there could be any number of conditions out there she may have. Maybe her diagnosis is just "cranky gut" and there's nothing else they will be able to find wrong with her. Truth be told, I'm not sure I can get a doctor who will listen to me anyway. I don't really know what to do, so I will sit here in the doctor and ponder while M works through her pain.

The Missing Plane-Part I

The day started out like any other. Cooking, cleaning, schooling, karate... Then I got the e-mail. "Hey Z, there is military wife stationed in Guam who is on her way back to the east coast and needs help getting from the Hickam passenger terminal to Honolulu International. Can you help her? Oh, by the way, she's traveling with 4 children (including 18 month old twins) and she's pregnant! And I don't know when she'll take off or land and she doesn't have a cell phone."

I enthusiastically accepted the challenge for several reasons. 1) It's nice now and then to break up the monotony of homeschooling: "Let's recite the second declension male nouns from our vocabulary list this week, kids." 2) My husband is very smart about locating airplanes, which would make this job a piece of cake. 3) I know what it's like to be on the receiving end of another person's kindness, so I appreciate the opportunity to "spread some love around." 4) Jesus gave so much to me, a ride to the airport is the least I could do.

My friend promised to call or e-mail when she knew more, and I promised to check my e-mail periodically throughout the night. It was around 3:00 when I read in an e-mail that the plane took off around 10:00. The flight from Guam to Hawaii is one that my husband flies frequently, so I figured they would land between 5:00 and 6:00. I called the pax terminal at Hickam and listened to the recording. Those of you who fly Space-A are familiar with the drill. Push 1 general information...push 2 for arrivals...push 3 for departures... The only missions that were scheduled to land were a flight from Korea coming in at 4:00am, and a flight from Okinawa landing at 8:00.

I got on the phone to my very smart husband who was in Tucson for a conference and asked if maybe the flight from Okinawa had been in Guam first. He confirmed that it had been in Guam first, but it left Guam 20 hours ago and there were only 2 registered passengers on board. He reported that he didn't see any other flights from Guam in the air. So, not knowing what else to do, I showered, got dressed, and drove to Hickam. I thought that on the off chance that the flight DID arrive at 6:00-ish, I should probably be there to greet this woman and her children. If it were me, I knew I would be terrified and exhausted after traveling so long with 4 children and not having anyone there at the airport as planned. I brought a book along, though, and was actually looking forward to the opportunity to sit and read, which I never get to do at home.

Seven Quick Takes

Seven reasons to love living in paradise:
1. The rainbows. I see a rainbow more days than I do not see a rainbow. Many days I often see a double rainbow!

2. The sun, the sand, the water, the weather. Need I say more?

3. The view. I'm surrounded by incredible beauty! Trees, flowers, birds, blues skies, and blue seas. I just want to drink it all in!

4. The spam. No, just kidding. I will never understand the Hawaiians' appreciation for meat in a can. But I do adore all the fresh products I can get year round from local farms! Pineapples (of course!), bananas, tomatoes, eggs and goat's milk...

5. Costco. Ok, so as much as I love those bananas I get from a local family-owned farm, I love those gigantic packages of nuts flown in from California. And Costco is so close to the house! Right next to Target.

6. The people. It's an interesting cultural experience to be a racial minority. I was watching a group of school children walk, and out of 30 kids, there were only two Caucasians. I was worried when we first moved here that the Hawaiians would be resentful of our presence, both as whites and as mIlitary members, but I've found them to be a very warm and kind people. It's been a pleasure getting to know them and their land.

7. The company. If you live in paradise, you'll have lots of friends come out of the woodwork to visit. It's been fun hosting our friends and family. We hope to see more soon!

For the "original" seven quick takes click here.

Some Sample Meals

What we eat on the SCD:

Breakfast:

Scrambled eggs (with roast chicken, peppers, cheese, bacon, avocado, spinach, etc)

Fruit and yogurt smoothies

SCD pancakes or waffles

Cinnamon rolls with sausage

"Oatmeal" (cooked almond meal with yogurt, honey, and cinnamon)

Lunch:

Sandwiches on scd bread

Costco sausages (made with chicken and minimally processed! Read the labels carefully though, not all are legal)

Hamburgers, no bun, but with lots of fun toppings: cilantro and cheddar, guacamole and provolone, chile mayo,

Drumsticks, made the night before and served cold or reheated

Tuna salad with legal mayo, pineapple and macadamia nuts, served over lettuce (I just had this for lunch today, with fresh ahi tuna! Yum!)

Fresh veggies: carrots, peppers, squash, sugar snap peas

Dinner:

Peanut butter pork (one pork loin, several "glugs" of legal soy sauce and several "dollops" of legal peanut butter in the crockpot on low, all day. Serve over shredded cabbage.)

Curried shrimp (saute a few pounds of shrimp, add 1 cup coconut milk, a few tsp. curry, serve over grated cauliflower)

Bacon Ranch Pizza

Broiled Halibut with creamy parmesan and roasted veggies

Quiche

Steak, chicken, or fish on the grill

Meatballs (made with eggs, legal bread crumbs and seasonings)

Dessert:

Strawberry shortcake (a la Grain Free Gourmet)

Almond butter brownies

Ice cream

Vanilla Bean Cake

Food, Food, Food!

I thought I would give you an update on how it's going with the Specific Carbohydrate Diet. I can say with honesty that it is getting easier with time. I am tempted to "cheat" once in a while and do drive-though, but then I consider the incredible progress we've made and it completely quashes the temptation.

When we leave the house, we've gotten good at planning ahead and bringing snacks along. Or if we're occasionally caught unprepared and we need a quick bite to eat, there's this thing called the grocery store...:) It's really easy. You get out of your car, go inside and put a few choice items in the cart: cheddar cheese (hard, aged cheddar has very low levels of lactose), grapes, almonds... Sometimes you can find scd-legal meats that you can roll up in a lettuce leaf like a wrap. It's pretty simple, it's just been a matter of changing how we think about our food choices.

We eat at home most of the time because it seems when we eat at restaurants the only choices our scd kiddos have are: hamburger, no bun with steamed veggies, chicken with veggies, or steak with veggies. That can get pretty tiresome for our children. Especially when they watch us chowing down on french fries or pizza. Though Ruby Tuesdays has a great salad bar. The dressings are all illegal, but A doesn't care because he doesn't really like dressing anyway, and M doesn't care because she is fruit-obsessed and only wants to eat the grapes and pineapple.

As time goes on, I am seeing more and more signs that baby Z has the same gut issues as M. He has far too much trouble in that area for a little guy who is 95% breastfed and only about 5% established on solids. My choices are to wait until he weans and begin him on the scd, or (gulp) put myself entirely on the diet right now, since he's probably reacting to all the non-scd foods I'm eating. This will be a struggle because I really, really, really (really, really!) enjoy the weekly/monthly (depending on work/travel schedules, you know?) pizza and ice cream dates I have with my husband. I will try to be a big girl about it and NOT WHINE. But that will be hard for me because did I mention that I really like pizza and ice cream?

How to Fix Bad Attitudes...in Yourself

I saw these two blog posts, and thought they were too wonderful not to share!

Ten Keys to Patient motherhood

Cultivating a Kind, Gentle Tone of Voice