God's Compassion

This one, my Haleigh, usually she cannot climb high enough, spin fast enough, push the limits of being safe enough.  My free spirited fearless had taken on a deep fear of storms.  Nothing had happened to cause this gripping fear that would push her to ask me to check the weather forecast before she went to bed at night, to cry in fear when there was not even a cloud in the sky, but the fear was deeply there none the less.

Then one day in the mail an envelope appeared that always makes us smile, we can't open these envelopes quick enough.  This day it was a letter from "Haleigh's compassion child."  The one miles and miles away that Haleigh decided would be the child she wanted our family to sponsor, to minister to, to reach out to.  We read the letter as we ate lunch  and were blown away by God's sweet whispers to Haleigh through this precious child of His as we were ministered to, touched by her words...

"...I send you big and bear hugs"  smiles and giggles erupted around the table.

As I came to the end of the letter I could hardly speak the words written on the page...

"I want to dedicate you this Bible verse: 'Have I not commanded you?  Be strong and courageous.  Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.  Joshua 1:9."

Haleigh sat there in shock, "Mom!  Did you tell her?!"  

How amazing is our God, mighty enough to command the storms, yet loving enough to speak to His children through His children!

Lauren's Ultimate Cookies

 A sweet friend sent me this recipe as a "must have" for our allergy journey. After tweaking it a little to make it work in our house with a peanut allergy it has become a staple in our home.  I couldn't agree with my friend more when she says these are packed with great things, and she doesn't mind the kids having them every day.  I encourage them often, sometimes even when we need a quick breakfast as we are running out the door.  

A few of the changes and why: I use almond butter instead of peanut butter, but I felt like that made them a little dry, so I added 1/2 cup of honey.  I swapped out the brown sugar for sucanat and lessened it to 3/4 cup.  Finally, with some controversy around xanthum gum (it being produced from wheat, soy or corn bothers me since H is allergic to 2 out of 3 possible sources) I felt safer using psyllium husks.

Let's bake!!

There are so many dry ingredients I like to gather them first, in a large bowl.  

2 cups flour

The gluten free flour mix used is 1/2 cup each oat flour and sorghum flour, 3/4 cup brown rice flour and 1/4 cup coconut flours.  (If your goal is gluten free you want to make sure all your oat products are specifically gluten free.) 

1 tsp cinnamon

2 tsp psyllium husks

3Tbsp shelled hemp seeds

2 Tbsp raw chia seeds

1/3 cup flax meal

 2 cups GF oats

1/2 cup oat bran

1 tsp sea salt

2 tsp baking soda

1 cup shredded unsweetened coconut

 In a mixing bowl mix the following:

1/2 cup coconut oil

1 cup almond butter

2 tsp pure vanilla

3/4 cup sucanat

1/2 cup honey

3 eggs (egg replacer also works if needed)

1/3 cup (or a little more if needed) water

Once these are mixed well, begin adding the dry ingredients.  Be warned the mixing bowl may run over!

 Add in 1/2 bag of chocolate chips and mix a little more.

 We make these very large cookies (my friend uses an ice cream scoop.)  The batch makes about 50 cookies minus the dough you happen to snack on as you roll the cookies out. 

 After baking 17 minutes at 350* they will be done.  Once they have cooled enjoy the cookie taste and the protein boost :)

"Almost Heaven, West Virginia!"

About two weeks ago we took our annual summertime trip to West Virginia.  This trip always has a two fold purpose, and it always starts out with about a nine hour car trip.  I can't say enough what good travelers accompany me!  We listened to audio books of Where the Mountain Meets the Moon by Grace Lin and Room One by Andrew Clements.  They were great entertainment for our trip!  

Once we arrived at Grandma and Poppy's house we were greeted also by cousin Kate.  Swimming and lightning bug catching proceeded into the late hours. 

The next morning Haleigh was given the "go ahead" to try to catch Walter.  A frog who has become part of the allure of the pond.  The chase was on... poor Walter, he didn't know who he was up against!

 Before long Haleigh had Walter in the bucket and was explaining the differences between a toad and frog, with a little extra on how they like their bellies rubbed.  (We studied this last year, but let me ask...who really knows if a frog likes its belly rubbed and how do they think they know that?!)

 After a bit we told the girls to let Walter have a break.  While they retreated to other playing Walter surprised us all with a "Houdini act" of his own.  He jumped out of his bucket, off the deck, and disappeared without anyone seeing him.  He stayed shy for the next day and a half.

 Sunday afternoon cousin Kate, Sophie and I headed on up the road to my sister's house, otherwise known by Sophie as the best week of her summer (perhaps the whole year if we are honest;)

She has joined my oldest sister's family for seven years of VBS now.  She absolutely loves every minute every year.  

You can see her adventures here...

http://thewrightstuffforus.blogspot.com/2012/06/vbs-giveth-vbs-taketh-away.html

After dropping off the VBS girls I returned to my parents' to hear excitement of a new foal at the neighbor's horse boarding stables.  We loaded up and went to see the foal (above) and a few yearlings.  What a treat!

 The rest of the days were just being!  We spent three days (outside for the most part) just being, playing,  drinking coffee on the porch. Aahhhh!

 Tuesday my middle sister and her boys joined us for a great day of playing, checking out the new swing, trying to swim (but it was way too cold) and more of just being before they headed back home.

 Wednesday we headed out to my aunt and uncle's lake house.  The girls played in the lake a little and then we headed out on the paddle boat and wrapped the day up with a picnic on the deck.

 That evening was capped off with another night of catching lightning bugs and playing with glow sticks from Aunt Sab. 

 The end of the week brought many tearful goodbyes.  However, we did exchange some new found loves which stuck around even after we had to leave...

my mom is now addicted to smoothies...

 and Haleigh's new favorite meal is spaghetti squash.  She asked for it three meals following when she first tried it.

 The week could not have been better (aside from the fact that Mark couldn't go with us.)

What An Evening!!

~Last summer we saw the sign downtown.

~We called to order tickets, but it was too early. 

~February I got a text from Mark, "Please order tickets today!"

~That day we took a quick trip downtown to purchase our tickets (and avoid extra ticket processing charges.)

~It was set!! July 2 seemed so far away. 

~Finally our big day arrived. 

Determined to make it a special evening we planned to be girly all day as we got ready for the long awaited event.  Each of the girls woke with half asleep whispers of, "It's today isn't it!"  "Tonight is when we get to go!" "I'm so excited, what time does it start?!"

I knew we needed a filler for the morning hours of waiting, so we made some "Sweet Orange Lip Gloss."

After swimming lessons, lips were glossed...

nails were painted...

three heads of hair were braided...

we met Daddy for a nice dinner...

and FINALLY it was time!!!

(Mackenzie isn't hiding, she is trying to be a lion ;)

Once in our seats the girls couldn't stand waiting any longer. 

All of a sudden, a voice sang out, the "sun" began to rise and "animals" poured down the aisles.  Sensory overload!  Not sure which way to look first, were we taking it all in!

 

 Pointing in a flurry trying to make sure the girls were seeing it all too.  It was fascinating, the scene, the makeup, the artistry of the costumes...  Then one of my favorite moments of the whole night.  I happened to catch out of the corner of my eye the one who said, "Let's go, let's all go, it'll be great...  Check on tickets...Plz get tickets today..." as he sat there holding Mackenzie, not fixed on the parade of excitement, but stuck in a gaze, soaking in our girls' sheer joy, wander, and elation.

The entire evening was nothing less than fantastic!  Once we were home (around 10:45) we sat around the table eating sorbet as banter of our favorite scenes continued long after all our bowls were emptied.  
(To see a bit of the magic you can click here:
http://www.lionking.com/about )

New Go To Snack

New recipes have been filtering through our house for the last few months as we are becoming an "allergy aware whole foods eating family."  We have found many new things that are great and some that have flopped for one reason or another.  My flagged picture file is overloaded and my post drafts are multiplying quickly due to this whole experience.  Eventually I will get them all posted, but I have raved about this snack to so many friends and family that it has to break free from its holding spot. 

  I found the "Chocolate Power Balls" in the first cookbook I found that met all the food restrictions first placed on Haleigh's diet.  (It was like finding a life preserver in the middle of the ocean!)   I was sharing with my mom and sisters in one of our texting flurries this new recipe I was going to try. One of them asked, "What are chia seeds?" 

My response was simply, "I'm not sure I think I'll skip those."  Then I began searching out the answer to the question and found that a lot of the "power" in these Chocolate Power Balls comes from this seed I had only heard of when growing sprouts of some sort on a funny character shaped planter.

A quick search informed me that this is ... "an ancient superfood that is currently experiencing a renaissance... Chia is actually the Mayan word for strength...  it gives an incredibly sustaining surge of energy..." apparently not enough good can be said about this seed...

~high protein ~5 times the calcium of milk~high in potassium, iron, omega 3 and 6

~provides energy~boosts strength~bolsters endurance~levels blood sugar~induces weight loss~aids in intestinal regularity.  (http://www.rawreform.com/content/view/345/127/)

Needless to say we loaded up the car and headed to one of our local vitamin shops to pick up a bag.

Like I said, this was in the beginning stages of our journey so our kitchen equipment on hand required us to take a few extra steps but the results were worth every step and then a few. 

Begin by placing 1 cup of walnuts, 1 cup of cashews and 1 cup of pitted and chopped dates (I often use figs)  in a food processor and pulse until ground.  (We chopped them in the mini chopper and added them to a mixing bowl.) 

Add the rest of the ingredients:  1 TBSP chia seeds, 1 TBSP pure vanilla, 1/2 cup Enjoy Life Foods vegan chocolate chips (Obviously these are very special chocolate chips that are soy free, dairy free, nut free however, they surprisingly taste very good.  As long as your chips don't have hydrogenated oils they aren't so bad for you;) 1/2 tsp cinnamon, 1/8 to 1/4 tsp cardamom (I used nutmeg until I remembered to put cardamom on my store list) and 1 TBSP water or orange juice.

Mix it all up until the mixture begins to form a ball.  (If you are not using a food processor you may have to roll up your sleeves and use your hands to get it all mixed really well.)  If you are using a food processor it will look like this ...

Form the dough into about a TBSP size ball and place on waxed paper on a cookie sheet.  (Mark sure it will fit in your freezer though because that is the next step.)  Place them in the freezer for about an hour (or until you remember you put them in the freezer.)  Then you can pack them into lunches, pool bags, picnic baskets or just put them into a baggie and store them in the refrigerator for up to a week.  Although, they've never been around long enough to see a whole week in our fridge. 

Enjoy!!  
I promise we do, in fact there are some in the freezer right now!