Fun on the Web Weds: faces, eyes

I have always been interested in old photographs, and especially the faces, and eyes.  Show me photos of soldiers in uniform from the Civil War, or one of the World Wars, I will find myself staring at the various faces. Wondering what the person was feeling, thinking.  My parents have old family photos lining the stairwell from the first to second floors of their house, and I spent many a quarter hour of my childhood  gazing at all the faces, so familiar and yet so mysterious--my ancestors, and yet strangers.  

I might have been in middle school when I saw this famous photograph in a textbook; it was the first time I think it really hit me that history was made up of individual people who had feelings and reasons for why they did what they did.  It fascinated me:

Recently I stumbled upon this fascinating collection of phorographs, taken  by the New South Wales (Sydney, Australia) police department between 1912 and 1948.  Oh, the faces--and the stories to imagine, especially in the people's clothes, in their expressions, in the occassional repetition of a face. . .

cindersunny

Sunday school, class discussion on being courageous.  In-class artistic response to lesson, by Sunny:

(double-click to embiggen)

When I came to get her at the end of class, she showed me, I was mortified, and asked her, "Is this supposed to be me?!!!"  Her teachers overheard and laughed, so they must have asked her about it too (or just wondered!!!). Turns out this was a dream she had the night before, in which she was an orphan and that lady was the mean woman in charge of the orphanage.

I was relieved to hear the explaination, but insisted Sunny add that note of clarification at the bottom of the page.  ; )

I think our recent diet of "Annie" and "A Little Princess" and other such works has left an impression on her.

The Eating Experiment: Pt 1, the Whys of Going Gluten-Free

image found here

So I mentioned in my Lent post that I have been almost entirely gluten-free for going on two months now (save those dark chocolate brownies on the first day of Lent. Mmmmm, sacrilicious).  The desire to change my eating patterns for better health started several years ago--but I will write about that next.  The more recent impetus for this first change was that bad cold/viral/bacterial/who knows what that pretty much wiped me out for almost 2 months.  My family all got a touch of it, but just a touch--for them it was just a mild cold, easily shrugged off, while for me it became an ongoing, life-sucking drudge. 

(by the way, one of the fun things about writing in this blog is that I get to stir the gray matter a bit, and words that seem like they might say what I mean float to the surface, pleasant re-discoveries that don't normally come into use.  But I don't trust my instincts usually--I have to look the words up to make sure I'm not using them too outrageously.  So just now I had the pleasure of looking up the definitions of drudge, dredge, and dreck, and finding them all pretty much just what I had thought, which is most satisfying.  As is learning that dreck is Yiddish.)

So after being under the weight of illness for over a month, I remember talking and swapping woes with my dear Becky, who was herself also going through the same yuck.  She told me about a conversation she had recently had with her own mother, who lives just down the lane from her.  She had been bemoaning her illness, and commenting on how something was going around and everybody had been getting it (which was true--a friend of mine who is an ER doc locally told me when the wave of sick people started coming to the ER, the docs all said to one another, "Is this what the flu is going to look like this year?"  But then a month later the true flu suffers starting coming in, so something else had been making the rounds first).  But Becky's mom just said to her, "Becky, I haven't gotten it."  Becky's mom was attributing her overall good health to being gluten-free, which she has been for years.  So, Becky decided to try going gluten-free. 
So there I was, sick, desperate for anything to help me get better, and knowing in my core that my diet probably had something important to do with how I feel and how I fight illness--I heard this story from Becky, and in the very same week no less than three bloggers I read announced they either were or were going gluten-free, for health reasons. 

It seemed like the writing on the wall. 

Oh, and by the way, I did not go to the Dr. for my illness.  First I thought, Oh this will be over with soon, it's just a cold.  Then I was getting better, only to have a terrible rebound.  Then when it was at its worst, the last thing I wanted to do when I felt so cruddy and was just managing to keep my head above the water in my homeschool and household duties was work out the logistics of getting to the dr. without or without four children. So I said to myself, If I don't get better soon, I'll go to the doctor, but in the meantime I decided to try the gluten-free (GF) thing to see if it made a difference in my healing.   And it really was not that hard to do--a GF diet is free of wheat, barley and rye, but still allows oats, cornmeal, rice, quinoa and potatoes. (And a bunch of other uncommon flours and grains, like millet and almond flour, but I don't think I'll be going there.)  My goal was just to see if I could avoid gluten for at least 6 weeks and try to determine if being gluten free seemed to improve my overall well-being.  

I really do not know definitively whether or not the gluten was hampering my immune system; all I can say is I did get better pretty quickly after that. I would say I was 95% normal after a week and 1/2 of going GF.  But it could have just been the illness finally running its natural course.  So I decided to stick with the experiment through Lent, giving a longer time period for my body to respond.

I looked up the symptoms of gluten insensitivity on various medical webpages, and those do not particularly seem to fit me, so I don't think I will end up keeping a gluten free diet longer than Lent.  At that time I will re-introduce gluten foods slowly, just to help confirm whether or not I feel a difference in my body.  And I'll try to re-introduce only the grains that are best for us, like whole grains--and limit how much I ingest in a day, since while gluten so far does not seem like a big deal to my body, I am sensing that carbohydrates in general are problematic for me.

continued in Pt. 2, for anyone who might find this interesting ; )

  

file under "score one for my adventuresome kids"

Today's breakfast:  Peach Oatmeal Smoothie

Ingredients:

The last of the whole fat yoghurt (about 3/4 cup)
One large bowl leftover cold oatmeal (originally cooked with cinnamon)
Small bag frozen peaches
Last of the skim milk (about one cup? a little more?)
Generous dollup of honey

Blend it all up, serve immediately.  See if the kids can guess what all is in it.  Be amazed when they say it's decent enough that if I made it again they would gladly eat it.

Served with a side of fresh strawberries and an assortment of nuts.

And it was all stuff I wanted to use up!  (even the honey, which is getting old and crystalizing)  Whoo-hoo!

So glad my kids are so used to eating weird stuff trying new dishes that they happily try almost anything. : )

to my dear readers

My dear blog friends and family,

I love blogs.  I don't think there is anything else that has educated or enlightened or challenged or encouraged me as much as reading other people's blogs this past year.  I've learned about health, and illness, and courage, and hope, and homeschooling, and parenting, and living life more fully--just to name a few things!--all from reading the blogs of strangers, almost all of them fellow moms.  They write about things I want to know, or need to hear.  They share their stories, bare their hearts, and sometimes through what they share, I get to view the world just a little bit more like how I think God views it, seeing people the way God sees them.  And sometimes, through my reaction to these stories, I can even be part of making our crazy, messed-up world better. 

I want to share two stories with you today, to get your attention, in case you sense God desiring you to move, to be part of His miracles:

The first one is just tragic.  A beautiful loving couple completed all the necessary paperwork and jumped through all the hoops to adopt an abandoned baby in Russia.  After arriving in country and getting to the local court for the official approval--they were not allowed to take their son home, because he has Down Syndrome.  The judge said they were clearly a good family and they could adopt any other healthy Russian child, but they could not take home this little boy, because--basically--he is not worthy.  Please go here to read an overview and see sweet pictures, and then if you want to, go here to read the details from the family's own blog.  I don't know what we can do for this family except pray and get the word out, so that it reaches the ears of those who can help.

The second one is just pure hope.  There is another family who is adopting another special needs child from Eastern Europe, and are supposed to leave on this Sunday to bring their daughter home, but much of the financing they had been assured would come through has failed, and they are desperately needing a miracle to get the remaining funds for the adoption before they leave.  Is God calling you to be part of His work to bring this little girl home?  If you feel led to make a donation, there is currently a giveaway going on--every donation enters you to win a new iPad, and if you do it through this blog, you can also enter to win a new Kindle!  If you don't feel led to give, please consider passing this story on as well to the people you know who have a heart for special needs children, or adoption, or just miracles in general!

I love hearing these stories of people trusting God to provide, and have just recently read of several gorgeous stories of God actively at work to bring "the least of these" to loving families.

Here is one that is just simply beautiful, and leaves no room at all for doubt at God's plan and provision.  These people are either crazy (imagining things) or lying--or God is so Real you can almost see His hands at work.  Here is Part 1, and Part 2. 

Same with this story from Keri, whom I have written about before.  God is just everywhere in her life story--you could not explain it to anyone and omit God, He is so woven into its threads!  (I want to be able to say the same about my own story--food for thought.)  This one is also unfolding as we speak--Keri is now completing her paperwork and hopes to travel back to Russia to bring her son home in a few weeks!

Finally, remember Davids?  I have been following the new blog of the family who is adopting him and another boy from Latvia, and it is just so sweet to see the photos and hear the stories of these boys and their new parents.  They are actually in country now, and will be for a few more weeks as their paperwork is processed and final approvals are made. 

And these is just a few of the wonderful stories going on all over the world right now.  Right Now.

My prayer for us all today:  that we hear God whisper, and our hearts leap to answer. 

With love,

blessed

Humor of the Day: Why Having a Toddler is Like Being at a Frat Party

This link-share is dedicated to all my readers who are parents of small children.  Maybe I am the last person on earth to be seeing this, but it is good--be sure to read the comments for more chuckles!

My contribution to the list:  at any moment a short guy without his shirt might come up and pat your butt cheeks, giggle and say "hi!"

(Ok, truth be told I am honestly sitting here wondering if I have ever actually been to a frat party. . . Susan, help me out?  but I did have a good friend who lived in a frat, so I remember the ambiance and the stories, and I once saw both Animal House and Revenge of the Nerds, so that's close enough.  waaaaaaay close enough.  shudder.)

Monday--another day of randomness, Pt. 2: colors of spring

I get emails from etsy about once a day, tempting me with pics of things for sale, encouraging my patronage of the arts.   It is interesting and informative.  And sometimes, brightens my day:

Poppy Seed Pod Ceramic Vessel by whitneysmith

Beautiful Soup Mug in Robins Egg by AbbyTPottery

Bowls Porcelain Set of 6 by cherylwolff

Autumn ash bowl by Treecycle

These colors are the way my spirit feels at its most hopeful in this day of transition from winter to spring!