New Year's Eve 2007. It's been a year of very trying times but a good year. How can it not be good when you consider the faithfulness of our God? I am sooooo grateful.

Here is a picture of Grace's foot. This is 27 hours after we discovered her injury and treated her. I'm going to call the doctor to ask them if I'm treating the injury correctly. We don't go to the doctor for Pink Eye or Strep but we'll go for an injury if we don't have the means or knowledge to treat it ourselves.

The curvy cut around her ankle bone has already healed up quickly but the raw skin patches are what concern me. I just can't imagine not being able to control the writhing and jerking of my limbs in order to keep from hurting myself. She was scraping and cutting herself so badly but she couldn't get out of the situation. I'm sure she didn't get much sleep Saturday night. I should have set my alarm for about 1:00 a.m. to go check on her because I heard her squirming on the bed before I went to bed. Dad and I talked about a rail around her bed. This is something I've thought of before but it has to be a solid rail. No hospital bed rail will do for Grace. She'd slither through and possibly hang herself. No we'll probably have to build a big box out of plywood and lay the mattress inside the box - sort of like a sandbox. I'd have to upholster the box with either a coordinating fabric to match curtains, bedskirt, etc. Or I could use a faux leather fabric. The frame would also have to be made to come apart because trying to remove that huge box for out of town guests would be too difficult.

The kids are all home this entire week so going to the doctor would not be fun. However, I'm going to see if I can email them this photo so that they can see the injury that way and possibly tell me over the phone what I need to do.

Speaking of kids being home, it's so tempting to stay up later but funny thing about kids...they don't necessarily sleep as long as you need them to after you stay up so late. I'll do better ...well, it IS New Year's Eve ...so I won't be going to bed early tonight. Maybe we can take naps this afternoon...HA!!! While on vacation we eat differently and we sleep differently making vacation not as restful as it should be. It's funny how we think we can splurge in these areas and "treat" ourselves when in reality we're beating ourselves up. I RARELY buy cold cereal but I do a buy a box of it maybe 3 times a year. I bought a box of Honey Nut Cheerios for Christmas break as a "treat" and the kids finished it off this morning. A little trick that doesn't make the cereal any more healthy - it just adds a little nutrition to the breakfast is crushed nuts. I take walnuts and crush them in the food processor and sprinkle it on top of their cereal - no matter what the cereal is. It adds a little protein, a GREAT flavor and substantiates the meal just a little bit so they're not feeling weak and poor 90 minutes after they eat. They tell me they don't want nuts on their cereal but if I don't mention it they can't tell and even if they know they eat it all anyway.

Speaking of nutritious breakfasts I saw a commercial the other day about cereal. It starts out with animated cereal characters speaking to each other. They're talking about doing a good job at what they do because "Johnny has a big test today" and they were going to make sure he did good on his test. Then the narration in the commercial goes on to say that if you take your milk and warm it up in the microwave and then pour it on your cold cereal, you'll have a very nutritious breakfast that will cause your child to excel in school. Now, I hope you don't fall for such a bunch a bull. Think about it. You take your cold cereal which, fortunately some people are realizing it's not a healthy breakfast and you heat the milk before you pour it on, then you have a healthy breakfast!....just because it's warm?????? First of all, the milk is pasteurized and homogenized and it's full of harmful antibiotics. Then you NUKE it. Then you pour it over your (the ingredients on the box of Honey Nut Cheerios is: whole wheat flour, sugar, cornstrarch, honey (again, pasteurized) modified cornstarch, brown sugar, salt, defatted wheat germ, tricalcium phosphate, vitamin C calcium carbonate, trisodium phosphate, molasses, iron, vitamin A, color, almonds, niacinamide, zinc, preservative, canola oil, vitamin B1, vitamin B6, vitamin D, vitamin B2, folic acid, vitamin B12) and now you have ...nutrition??? Just because you see the vitamins listed on the box doesn't mean you're getting very much at all. Sugar IS the second ingredient. You're getting more sugar and tricalcium phosphate than you are vitamins. This commercial made me wonder, "How stupid do they think we really are?" Don't fall for those commercials friends. Splenda is NOT good for you. Splenda is chlorinated sugar. It's actually worse than sugar. I used to say that if you keep to the outer walls of the grocery store you'll stay healthier. However, that's not so true anymore with processed, drugged up lunch meats and ...how 'bout that Activa? I haven't read the label so I can't say for sure, but just remember the lactobacilius acidophilus and other beneficial bacteria can NOT survive with sugar. So if there is sugar in the ingredients (corn syrup is sugar) you're not really getting very much friendly bacteria. ALSO, if there's fruit in the yogurt - there's SUGAR in the yogurt. Yes, fruit is a natural sugar but it's still sugar.

I teach a two-year-old Mother's Day Out class at Bethel Baptist Church and I have been shocked at what I see in these children's lunches! One little sweetheart has been on antibiotic after antibiotic for ear infections and yes, yeast infections followed that. Mom gave her YoBaby every day for lunch to give her the nutrition she thought she needed. Mom had the best intentions but when I looked at the label of YoBaby, I saw that the first ingredient was milk (again, pasteurized - the beneficial bacteria and enzymes are killed in this process) and then the second ingredient was SUGAR! Mom didn't realize she was throwing her money away and making the situation worse because yeast thrives in sugar.

Food for thought! You HAVE to use your brain and THINK for YOURSELVES when it comes to what you eat and how you take care of your body. Think about it. We have the greatest medical technology in the world yet we're the fattest, sickest people in the world. Do you really think you should believe commercials?

Have a happy, healthier 2008!

A healthy on-the-go breakfast that we have quite often at our house is smoothies...and they're not warm. Recipe below:

The amounts listed below are guesses. This drink has evolved and varied greatly over the 8 or so years I've been making it.

Enough bananas to fill 2/3 of the blender
Enough frozen strawberries on top of the bananas to make the blender heaping full.
Enough raw cream (start with 1 1/2 cups) to blend the bananas and cause the strawberries to lower down into the blender leaving room for more ingredients. Use the pulse button to get the bananas and strawberries mixed up with the cream, then add:

3 raw fresh eggs from free-range chickens
1/2 cup of wheat germ
1/2 cup of raw oats
1/4 cup of raw (unpasteurized) honey
Blend and drink.

(This amount is enough breakfast for all 4 of my children.)

Use your imagination when it comes to the fruit you use. You can use fruit juice instead of cream - just leave out the honey. Remember that you can sneak an herb or vitamin into a smoothie a little more easily than you can into cereal if you're trying to treat your child. One more note: The bananas will cause this drink to gray in color in a short time. If you make this smoothie the night before, it will have an ugly color to it the next morning. However, this is how my kids drink it because I make the smoothie on Saturday for Sunday morning breakfast. The taste is the same - just not the pretty pink it was when you first made it.

Had an adventure with Grace last night and this morning. My email to sister, Mary follows:

Grace got out of bed twice. The second time she got out she fell asleep on the floor and when Bobby put her back in bed, she woke up and squirmed once again. I think she got out after we were in bed and was on the floor all night. That's not so terrible but this morning when we went to get her, she was wedged and Bobby had to lift the bed while I pulled her out. We noticed some blood on the sheet and I figured it was from her mouth (she's had a canker sore). But Bobby showed me her foot was cut pretty nasty. She has a long curvy cut around her ankle bone and down onto her heel. She also has 3 spots where she rubbed herself raw - no top layer of skin. One on the side of her heel, another on the ankle bone and a third spot, small, on her pelvic bone. So... we had a BLOODY mess to clean up before church. I felt a little sick to my stomach, aggravated and angry all at once. I was mad at the devil and told Grace and Bobby so and said it's not God's will for her to be sleeping under a bed cutting herself and getting blood everywhere. Not until this afternoon did I move the bed and see what it looked like under there. There's a blood spot about 5-6 inches in diameter. I soaked it with hydrogen peroxide. Wow. That causes a chemical reaction. It made the spot warm and of course it fizzed. I'll be working on that into tomorrow. We weren't late though. Good old Bobby has us leaving at 7:00 which always gives us a cushion in case we run into problems like the one we had this morning.

Now I have to go clean up lotion out of the carpet in the yellow room. Faith got into trouble. At least it smells good.

I am constantly reminded of the importance of praying in the Spirit. When I am overwhelmed with Grace's needs and when I need creativity (which is every day) if I will pray in the Holy Spirit as He gives me utterance, my faith is built up and my prayers are not limited to my own understanding. Praise the Lord. Deeanna had a timely word this morning during the praise and worship time at church. I heard her say later she was scared to death but I thanked her for trusting the Lord to speak through her for it was exactly what I needed to hear today:

"...leave your past behind you. Behold I have done a new thing and I will be your strength in the midst of the wilderness. Leave your dry and thirsty place and come to me. Lay down all the things that have so encumbered you and you will find rest and a drink of living water."

I must leave all my mistakes as Grace's mother, as well as my successes behind me as I enter this new year. God Almighty has already ordered mine and Grace's steps for 2008 and He will be our strength as we move forward. I've been dry and thirsty lately and I'm so tired of it. I give all the trials, temptations of doubt and fear and the burdens that come with a handicapped child, to HIM for He knows...He knows. He will refresh me with His living water.

What a great tough love sermon this morning - perfect for the last Sunday of 2007, looking forward to a new year. One wrong thought, though...eggs are GOOD for you! It's a totally natural food. It does depend on how you fix them of course. Boiled or raw are better than fried. And I'm talking about free range FRESH eggs from the farm - like we eat. And you know what? A little bacon won't hurt you either if you raise your own pork! I agree with him on the gravy. Not good for you but it sure is tasty! Would you believe a "nutritionist" from Vanderbilt advised me to give Grace gravy every day to put weight on her??? I didn't take her advice for I don't follow the thought that a heavy child is a healthy child. In our case, a heavy child means my achy back!!

School's OUT!!! Right now I'm excited about it. Probably, come New Year's Day I'll be ready "for school to start again," as the old Christmas song goes. Yesterday, the kids helped me all day long as we cleaned and got ready to host a party for my Youngevity team last night. Today, we awoke when we wanted to (which was 5:45 - oh! That's NOT what I wanted) and we're living leisurely. It's so nice to be done with everything, the Christmas concert at church and last night's party, and just enjoy family time the last few days before Christmas. OK - I do have about 6 loads of laundry to do and I need to start packing for the our road trip to Arkansas on Christmas day but I consider the hard part to be over with. At least we can all stay home!

Grace got the bug the Faith had almost 2 weeks ago. Wednesday at school she started with a lot of congestion and by bedtime Wednesday night she had a fever. She started out cooler Thursday morning but had a fever most all day, cooling off a little by bedtime. I gave her nothing for her fever but allowed her increased temp to burn out the bug. She sipped on Pedialite and water all day. Something I read recently said that we don't want to eat anything when we have a fever because our body knows the liver can't handle it. Our liver is busy detoxing and cleansing and doesn't need the extra work load of trying to aid in digestion as well. This morning Grace woke up with no fever and she's happy after having a couple servings of diluted juice to get her body going for the day. She's laughing at Popeye right now. I thoroughly believe that if I had tried to suppress the fever like I have in years gone by, I would have prolonged the sickness by not allowing the fever to do it's job.

Time to get started on that laundry and feed Grace.

Ok - so it's been 10+ days since I blogged. Let's see, we had a touch of that stomach bug where your stools are soft and/or watery. Grace, Faith and I manifested some of those symptoms. Grace and Faith more so but only a couple of days. We took silver, of course. No antibiotics, no doctor visits, just a couple of drops of silver 2 or 3 times a day. And, of course, we took our vitamins. I heard there were several children out of school at Watauga but I really believe because we take our top-of-the-line vitamins and minerals that sickness is eclipsed and even avoided altogether. I'll let ya know in March how the winter went as far as sickness in the house.


What have we had for dinner? Well, Tuesday night I took the last little bit of the turkey from Thanksgiving and made a soup with that, rice, and veggies. Mmmmmmm! Good!!! I don't have that many readers so I won't post the made-up recipe but just in case someone reads this and would like more information, just post a reply and let me know. Tonight, we're having baked taters and salad. It started out being cole slaw but I kept adding things...carrots and onions, of course, a tiny bit of celery and oh, I couldn't resist, sweet corn! Made the dressing that mom taught me to make when I was a wee child. Mayo, milk/cream, sugar (but I used honey), vinegar and celery salt (mom didn't tell me to use celery salt - but I like it). My goal is to use what I have in the house. Use what I have, throw it together, season it well. Creativity is the name of the game. I baked 2 taters for Grace because I can't add much salad to her meal...it doesn't blend very well in the food processor.

Oh, and Landis and Bobby have been taking chili and turkey soup in their lunches. It saves money if I don't have to pack sandwiches. It's also healthier. And can we say, "comfort food" on a cold fall day?

Tomorrow is Hope's 5th birthday! Her request? A strawberry cake with pink icing. So, yes, I'm baking from a box! She's so fun to buy for and cook for. She gets so excited about anything you do for her...makes ya' feel so good! I'm looking forward to hanging out with the family tomorrow evening with some cake and ice cream after dinner and maybe some popcorn too.

Right now, I smell someone... gotta go change a dirty diadee.