Encountering Angels

I firmly believe God places angels around us from time to time, and if they aren't angels in the whole 'eternal' sense, He fills some of our hearts with such joy and love, they may as well as be in that moment.

I will never forget my encounter when my third child, Dino, was a mere 10 months old. I had dropped the girls off at pre-school and first grade. I was tired and needed a break. Sadly items like milk, turkey and bread were more needed than my break that day. So I spent my precious time to 'relax' in our favorite grocery store (and still is if you can believe that ;) ).

Dino was in the cart strapped to his fancy cart cover I found on Ebay and he began to cry. He wanted to be helped, nursed and loved. I just wanted to get out of the grocery store.

Quickly he decided to distract himself with items in the cart. One of these items was the peppers inside the plastic bag.

Scurrying between aisles, grabbing the items from the list, Dino continued playing with the bag. I didn't know how long the bliss would last so I rushed.

An older woman stopped my cart and began to shake her finger at me saying my son should not be playing with a plastic produce bag.

"You know what, "I snapped bag. "At this moment, I really don't care. I have exactly 40 minutes to pick up my two daughters and this keeps him quiet."

She gave me a look of pity and I started to cry, really cry.

"I am so tired, "I sobbed. "He won't sleep. I have so much to take care of. I do love him and I don't want him to get hurt. I am just tired."

She put her cart to the side and hugged me. She began talking with Dino and then suggested we walk over to the bakery case and get him a roll. She found a big tough Kaiser roll and gave it to him. The plastic bag was gone and he was happily gumming a giant roll.

I thanked her and apologized for being so terrible earlier.

She hugged me again and told me she completely understood.

She explained, "Helping you just made my day. I just came back from doctor's and my cancer has spread. They are giving me 3 months."

My world froze when she said this. I didn't know what to say. She was dealing with the most tragic news a person can get and I here I was whining about my lack of sleep.

I hugged her and told her how sorry I was. She told me she was unafraid and eager to meet the Lord.

We soon parted ways but our chance meeting made a huge impact on my life.

The rest of the day I savored every scream, whine, fight and traffic jam. It was life and I was honored to be involved.

I never saw my friend again, even though I tried looking for her every time I shopped.

She has also made my grocery shopping sane, if not fun. The second I get in the store, even the kids know, we head straight for the bakery for a roll or baked treat of their choice. And every time they pick something, I smile and remember the lady who put everything into perspective.

A Gluten Free Thanksgiving for All

I have always loved Thanksgiving. I love switching out dishes, trying new things. Thanksgiving is usually just as all family lives somewhere else and our girls are usually in 'The Nutcracker'.

This year, I am facing the issue of gluten. Gluten is in so many of my Thanksgiving favorites---the stuffing, the rolls, the gravy, the desserts. But the good news is many of the big dishes can get away with none--thankfully turkey is not usually wrapped in bread!

I have been scouring the internet looking for just the right recipe. I have decided to forgo the traditional 'pie' dessert and switch to creme brulee--simple, easy delicious and already gluten free!

I am also doing most of my favorites that I have put on my website, Whatsfordinnermommy.com. But many are still puzzling me. I usually do 'trial runs' of my dishes but to be honest gluten free bread crumbs are so expensive I don't think that will be happening. I did read of one blogger who uses toasted gluten free waffles for the stuffing but I am not sure still. It sounds interesting but I just don't want to chance it. I purchased some gluten free croutons from Whole Foods and noticed they had a stuffing recipe. Because I have had great luck with their recipes, I am going to give it a go :)

Anyway, here is my gluten free Thanksgiving menu.

Starters:

Baked brie with a cranberry chutney (served with gluten free crackers)

Salad:

Spinach salad with dried cranberries and walnuts (no dressing)

Main Meal:

Maple Turkey with Bacon with Gravy

Sauteed brocollini with garlic slices

Roasted Garlic Mashed Potatoes

Minted Cranberry Sauce

Gluten-free Stuffing

Dessert:

Creme brulee

Possible Clarity

Thank you so much for your kind words the other day on my last post. I know your prayers helped us!

I am not sure exactly what direction God wants us to go right now. My feeling is He wants us to work harder, to persevere (oddly, my daily bible title for the day after I wrote my post!). We are very happy with kids' present school situation. We love the school and also love getting to have them home for the homeschool days.

Mike and I are working with the children to create some real goals. We are talking with other parents, many of whom with the same issues, and setting up 'study' groups. And of course we are praying, a lot!

I wish I could just know what the future is, to know God's plan but then where what would be the fun in that? ;)

So for now, the word is 'persevere' and meet our challenges with hope and joy.

I hope you all have an amazing weekend. I am off to start trying recipes for our very first gluten free Thanksgiving.

Bending to the Wind

Tree branches, and even big tree trunks, tend to bend when faced with large gusts. The ones that are too old and rigid refuse to budge and end up breaking in half.

I am near a breaking point.

As I have mentioned a couple of times, my children go to a half-homeschool Christian school. They have classes two days a week, study at home two days a week and have electives one day a week. On the days home, work is planned by the teachers and we are there to carry out reviews, studies and projects.

I have always enjoyed it but this year has been a challenge.

The earlier years at the school, basics are pushed and pushed and pushed. I honestly think the school is slower than other schools because they just keep engraining the basics over and over and over again. Slowly, the studies pick up and this year Miley is in sixth grade doing the material most high school freshman are tackling.

She has a math book three courses above her grade level, a history and geography book I personally need to read twice just to understand, literature that includes King Arthur and Homer, Latin, and for bible, 'Pilgrim's Progress'.

It's not easy and she's not doing well, at all.

Yesterday, we worked for 10 solid hours, not including the work she did over the weekend. I'm still not sure we did a 'satisfactory' job. By 8 pm, I was about to just do the King Arthur questions for her but forgot why Sir Gareth was good and which examples from text to site.

Now if I just had Miley, I'd be OK. It would be very hectic, but we'd live.

But I have Sarah. Sarah is just starting to face to the tougher grades. She needs my help, desperately but I am trying to figure out just how oceanic and continental crust converge. Her grades are suffering too.

Then there's Dino. Dino is in the pre-k. Basics, basics, basics. Not too intense but he has some learning issues and getting him to put numbers in order from 1-10 is still a challenge. He really needs me.

Let's not forget Spanky. Spanky the busy, busy, happy, loud boy who wants to play and find anyway for us to drop what we are doing and laugh at his antics. My wild thing needs me too.

So what is a mom to do? We can't go on this path anymore. I have been talking with full-time home school moms asking for tips, and I have gotten a ton. The obvious tip is slow down but we can't do that because I don't make the schedule. Next tip, get up with Miley around 5:30 am so you can work with her in peace and then focus on the others during the day. Early morning is my God time and my exercising. Late night is when I spend time with my husband and relax. Work some after school and one weekends? I would do that if we weren't so booked with theater, ballet and music. Find ways to keep the younger ones busy with special games. Hmmmm...Spanky's favorite game when no one is around is 'empty the pantry, drawer or whatever happens to be open'.

I'm not sure what I am going to do. I know God is pushing us to make some sort of change. A more strict schedule the kids have to respect completely (even Spanky). A switch to complete homeschool so we can actually slow down (however I could lose my mind). Get up with Miley and find a new time to exercise or work with Miley at night and give up time with Mike. Dumping the extra activities so we would spend every waking minute on school (and driving the girls nuts). Spend a ton of money on crafts and new toys to keep little ones busy.

I don't know. I just pray for an answer soon!

Dining Out Gluten Free

One of the hardest things about not having a very common food allowed in your diet is the all popular past time, dining out.

I panicked at first wondering where the heck we would go--do you know how many sauces are thickened with flour? And asking a waitress if something had gluten in it? Most chefs can't answer as gluten is in some of the oddest spots.

I did what just about everyone does--googled "gluten free and dining out". I was shocked at just how many gluten free spots there are out there!

I found a gluten free restaurant awareness site that listed many spots, I found a site that listed popular chains (did you know PF Changs has its own gluten free menu or that Olive Garden now has gluten free pasta available?), and then the best luck of all--a local pizza place near me has a gluten free option!

So it turns out dining out and avoiding gluten can be done, quite easily--you just have to google first :)

Buyer Beware

Maybe it's just me. Maybe I am not observant enough at the stores. Maybe no one else has these issues. Since I have been on a cash-only basis, I have noticed many prices are not the same as I feel they are labeled in the 'racks'.

There is a clothing store I tend to buy a lot of items at once and they have great sales. Last week, I decided to take advantage of one of the sales, 2 pants for $12.99. Yet when they were rung up, the pants were $10 each.

I got out my cash and was embarrassed. I didn't have enough. I asked how much the pants were and told the cashier I thought they were two for $12.99. The cashier calls someone from the back who looks at the pants and explains those particular pants are not part of the sale; it clearly states 'select styles' under the sale sign; it just doesn't tell you what styles.

I put both pants back.

Today I was looking at dishes on the clearance rack (hey, I have four kids that tend to drop things, I don't care to spend big buck on china right now). Two styles were side by side. One was bright red flowers and a pretty white background. The description 'cherry blossom' was overhead along with small discounted prices. Beside it were dark blue dishes with pretty black designs and white flowers and the description 'indigo (something, I forget)'. These dishes were really marked down--we are talking $2.99 for a nice bowl. I counted out my cash and headed to the register.

The cashier began ringing up the items and I noticed 'cherry blossom' showing on the register screen and the bigger price to go with it. I commented that it wasn't right. These were indigo. She called for help. Another lady came back and said these were the 'cherry blossom' design'. The 'indigo' dish was a plain striped one--I saw no dishes like this.

I told the cashier to remove the items from my bill, even though it annoyed the 'in a big hurry' person behind me, bought my cheap spoons (we always seem to be out of) and left.

So I am wondering---does this happen to anyone else? Is this some sort of buying trick or should I possibly leave all the shopping to my husband? And who thinks of dark blue and black when they think of cherry blossoms?

What Do You Eat When You Can't Eat Wheat?

This question baffled me when I made my first weekly menu after taking Dino off gluten. No pasta, no sandwiches, no panninis, lots of potatoes.

That was how it started.

Then I noticed all the 'gluten free' products out on the market. There is pasta--Pasta Joy is excellent. There is bread--not the normal 'fluffy' bread but a thick dense bread that makes great panninis. And there is so much you can do with potatoes.

I decided to focus my meal plan on all we could eat and avoid the items we just could not eat.

Breakfast has almost always been eggs, salsa and chicken sausage. That was all gluten free. I mourned the loss of pancake day but quickly discovered some Van's frozen waffles that are wheat free-- the apple cinnamon are the best choice.

Lunch I learned to get a bit more creative. We have embraced the Tex-mex spirit of the state and have had more taco salads and nacho meals than I can count. Luckily, the kids are bigger fans of Tex-mex than Italian. We also became very big fans of fruit and cheese plates without any crackers. It took a while but I think the kids are not missing too much.

Dinner was very easy thanks to all the gluten free pastas and the 'low carb' meals so popular these days!

Following is this week's dinner plan:

Monday: Mike's b-day so we ordering out (I will post gluten free restaurants next week)

Tuesday: Chipolte with dried cherry sausage and roasted potatoes with a green salad

Wednesday: Taco Salad (tortilla chips, spinach, bison meat seasoned with taco seasoning (gluten free), and freshly shredded Mammoth cheddar) On the side, salsa and guac (gluten-free)

Thursday: Butternut squash with Kale Casserole (quite possibly my favorite fall dish using gluten-free brown rice pasta and no bread crumbs)

Friday: Sweet Chicken Soup (rather than noodles, I added peeled, diced sweet potato with the veggies in the beginning)

Saturday: Pizza (the crust is already pre-made courtesy of Whole Foods and only $4.95!)

Sunday: Chicken Curry Soup with a salad

Next week, I will be discussing learning how to eat out and being gluten free--it's not as hard as it sounds!

For more menu ideas, check out Jen at Chive Talkin'