I Can Handle This

This has been probably THE MOST STRESSFUL WEEK AND WEEKEND OF MY LIFE.  We have been going through a lot of changes in pretty much every nook and cranny of our life.  I know that God is moving us into greater things.  I can feel it.  I feel it in the pit of my stomach, and I feel it in my spirit.  God is BIG and He has BIG PLANS for us!

With big plans comes big change.  We are definitely being stretched to say the least.  The amazing thing is, I feel ZERO dread about ANYTHING that we have to do right now.  I won't frighten you with my "To do" list (believe me...it would definitely frighten you), I'll just say we are very busy, but I believe that God gives us the grace and ability to do ALL that He has called us to do right now.  And I believe that we are in exactly the right place at the right time doing exactly the RIGHT things.  I have an undeniable peace about all of that.

But even with all of this new stretching going on, it all just fades into the background because my heart can only think about one thing right now.  One of my youth girls.  Things are very difficult for her right now, and I know she has had a tough day today.  I haven't been able to stop thinking about her all day and all night.  This sweet girl is under so much stress, and I just want her to be ok.  Praying for her...

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Little Things

I am working on making this blog pleasing to the eyes, and I think it's coming along.  I still have a lot of tweaks to make, but I think it will get there eventually.  It would be awesome if I had all the time in the world to just sit here and play with my blog, but not in this house.  I just have to settle for a few minutes (or seconds)  here and there.  So if things look a little blurry, I KNOW, I just haven't had time to fix it.  I am usually working on my blog during the day, whenever I can manage to get past my home page without having to stop again (so thankful for my laptop!), or the wee hours of the night when everyone is in bed.  Honestly, I don't even know how any of my blog posts make any sense.  You have NO IDEA how many times I get interrupted.  I mean, it seriously took me forever just to write this, and I'm not even sure what it says because I literally haven't been able to read through it JUST ONCE without interruption, so I'm just going to post it and hope for the best!  Maybe I'll get to read it tonight after everyone is in the bed.  But you know, I just can't get upset about these little things, because they are just not that important when it compares to being able to be with my interrupting beautiful children all the time.  I really do love the life God has blessed me with!

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I made something!

So, I made a t-shirt scarf! Two of my good friends made one and it looked like something I could actually do, so there you go. This is the probably the only crafty thing I have ever done, so you most likely may never see a post like this again on my blog. I used this tutorial that Nicole and Leasa posted on their blogs. It was super easy and my daughter enjoyed helping with mine so much she's already making her own. I made mine for game day. Crimson, white, and 2 shades of grey...Roll Tide!

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AHA!

God is so good to me. I don't know if this happens like this to anyone else, but most of the time, I don't realize God has answered my prayer until I'm knee deep in the thing that I prayed for.

Last night I was lying in bed thinking, and I had one of those "AHA!" moments. A few months ago, I was drawn to Proverbs 31. I read it over and over several times, and I just had this longing to be that woman. I wasn't discouraged by the fact that I don't know how to sew or do most of the things that she did, but I remember praying for God to show me what I could do to be that woman for my family. If it meant that I needed to learn how to sew, then ok, I'll learn how to sew. But I really just prayed for Him to give me insight and wisdom, and to show me what to do according to the gifts and talents He has given me, and I remember praying for Him to bring opportunities my way that would put me in that place.

For years, I have wanted to do something that would contribute financially to our home, and I KNOW God has called me to be at home with my children, so I have searched through many options, but nothing ever seemed like the right thing. A couple of months ago, the Lord literally brought an awesome opportunity to me. I love organizing and doing paperwork (I love working on our budget and paying bills), and when I was offered to do a paperwork job for a local judge that I knew personally, I knew it was right, and it comes with a GOOD monthly paycheck. I recognized that this was from God immediately, and I'm so thankful for it.

A few weeks ago, I was invited to a Thirty-One Gifts party and had a great time. A party full of totes, bags, and purses, all for the sake of ORGANIZING. Cuteness. I knew Gina, the consultant, personally from a mom's group that I'm in, and she talked about where the name Thirty-One Gifts came from...Proverbs 31. This should have been my "AHA!" moment, but nope. I never even thought about it. The next week, I just had this sudden urge to be a consultant for Thirty-One Gifts, just for the fun of it. I had SO many other things going on in my life, and I just needed something that was fun and just for me. There is nothing more enjoyable to me than cute organizing stuff. Honestly. So, I called Gina and signed up. I knew it was right, but I didn't understand why it was such a quick and easy decision for me. Until last night.

I was lying in my bed thinking, and I had that "AHA!" moment. This is EXACTLY what I prayed for! God brought into my life opportunities that allow me to contribute financially to my family, that are perfectly suited to my gifts and talents, and just to show off, one of those opportunities is named after the very scripture that I prayed!

You can't make this stuff up. God is just TOO good!

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WHY?

Me: "I'll be with you in a minute, Jessi. I'm only one Mommy. I can only do one thing at a time."

Jessi: "But WHY can't you just put on your super stretchy arms so you can just reach over here and help me?"


Yeah...I got nothin'.

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Something New!

I am now an independent consultant for Thirty-One Gifts! I've been thinking about it for several weeks now, and I finally decided to go ahead and do it. Yes, I know how busy I am already, and that is EXACTLY why I am doing this. I NEED A BREAK! I need something that's JUST FOR ME. Something that gives me a reason to get out of the house once in a while BY MYSELF. And, I could use some extra money for Christmas and stuff.

I LOVE bags and purses and totes and luggage and all that fun, cute stuff. When If I go to a store that has these things, I completely lose track of time looking at them. It's just something I enjoy. It's fun for me. So, I know this will be just the right thing for me right now.

Also, I need hostesses to get started! Please let me know if you would be willing to host a party for me! Hostesses get free stuff! If you can't host, you can just order straight from my website, and you don't have to wait for a party. These products are super cute and you can have them monogrammed too! Here is a direct link to my website. Enjoy!

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Food!

This week has been SO MUCH BETTER. Except for the fact that my hubby is now like one of the kids where food is concerned. "What can I eat for breakfast?", "What can I eat for lunch?", "What's for dinner?". *SIGH* Sometimes I wish I could look at everyone and say, "No further questions", or "I'm not taking any questions at this time". I mean really. It's quite enough that I have to come up with a plan for dinner, but now I have to have a plan for EVERY SINGLE THING HE EATS. He's so pitiful grazing around the kitchen looking at all the whole, basic ingredients that make delicious meals and snacks like he has no idea what to do with them. He doesn't know what to do without having ready-to-eat crap at his fingertips.

I have to admit, it is more difficult to figure out what to eat when you're hungry. Especially when you have to eat something every 2 hours or so to gain weight. I know he'll be able to do it on his own soon though. He really hasn't had a lot of time to get educated on eating right, where I've been studying it for years. I actually tried to make this transition to healthy eating as a lifestyle about 6 years ago and was successful for a while, but you just can't do it on your own, and I was the only one that wanted to, so eventually we went back to eating crap. Not as bad as before, because there were just some things I refused to settle on, like Vegenaise (instead of nasty mayo), Organic milk, whole wheat, etc, but bad enough to make this diet such a feat.

When you decide to make a lifestyle change instead of going on a temporary diet, it's just easier. Those things that are harmful to your body are just not an option to you anymore. You learn what things are good for your body and those are just the things you choose. You want to know more and more about food and nutrition because you realize that the more you know, the better off you really are and the better you feel for it. You feel better physically and emotionally. I also think that when you choose to eat the things that God designed for your body to eat and be healthy, you are surrendering that part of your life to Him. Who better to surrender your body to than its own Creator?

I'm doing this with him because I'm with him no matter what. And like I said before, this isn't something you can do on your own, and he needs this, so I'm going to be right there beside him.

And by the way, I've lost 11 pounds. The sad thing about that is, I don't think anyone can tell. That's pretty bad, but oh well, 19 more to go!

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SHOUT OUT!

I have to give thanks to my dear friend, Nicole, for being a blog design pro! I don't know how you find the links you do girl, but I am loving the look of my blog! AND I don't feel so rejected anymore since I now have my little "followers" section on display so people can actually FOLLOW ME. And I just thought no one was interested. (even though about 600 of my 621 blog hits are probably just me, checking to see if my blog is still there)

Hey this is 3 shout outs in a row...maybe you should blog about blogs or something.

Love you girl!

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Follow Up

We went back to Dr. C yesterday to discuss the plan. His test results showed that this is most likely an immune system issue that is causing his thyroid to overproduce. The plan is basically to remain on the diet, along with the right supplements, which may need to be adjusted as we go along. When he last saw the endocrinologist, he wanted to remove Jason's thyroid via radioactive iodine, which for us, is the last possible option. He wanted to do this within the month, which is not enough time to see a change through his diet. The reason for this is because he just needs to come off the medication he is currently on, and there is no other medication for hyperthyroidism. Dr. C wants him to do his plan for 4-6 months. After 4 months he will (under the endocrinologist's care) come off the medication to see how his thyroid reacts. We will go from there. 4-6 months is a lot better than 2-3 weeks for me!

There is a 20 to 30 percent chance of remission from this. We are believing that he is in that 20 to 30 percent. We believe that he is healed and we are going to do everything we know to do. We know that God is our healer!

This has been one of the most stressful weeks we have had in a long time. Jason did not take the diet thing very well at first. He has never had to think about anything he eats in his entire life. He was pretty bummed. I was very excited about the diet because it was something we could do. So many people are sick and they don't really have any options in the natural. I was stoked that we could do something and that it would change our eating habits for the good. But when Jason is bummed, I am too, so that was stressing me, along with completely restocking our food supply and planning all new totally different meals and snacks like crazy. It has just been a lot. But it is getting easier, and Jason is totally fine with it now. I think he just needed a few days to process and realize that I COULD in fact make him good food that would FILL HIM UP and help him gain weight.

I won't bore you with all the reasons why he can't have certain foods, but they are legit. Just in case anyone is curious, this is what we were given last week (1st appointment):

                         Healthy Food Choices for Healthy Thyroid

FOOD GROUPS	ALLOW	AVOID
Meat/Fish/Poultry When possible Organic and free range  Baked, broiled or poached	Chicken, turkey, wild game, and cold water-caught in the wild fish:  salmon, halibut, mahi-mahi etc	Beef, pork, lamb Shell fish: shrimp, lobster. Meats with sodium nitrate: lunchmeats, bacon, cured, smoke or dried meat
Dairy	Plain yogurt, plain kefir, butter, eggs	All other dairy products: Milk, cheese, cottage cheese, flavored yogurt, flavored Kefir, ice cream
Vegetables  Fresh or frozen Raw or steamed	Vegetables, dried beans, lentils, legumes Limit sweet corn, soy products	Can vegetables, creamed vegetables, casseroles Do not eat these raw: broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, brussel sprouts, kale, turnips, mustard greens.
Fruit or fruit juice	All fruits 100% juice without sugar	Juice with sugar
Breads *Gluten free...	Buckwheat, brown rice, quinoa.  Limit: millet, millet-flax seed	Whole wheat and white flour products: bread, tortillas, pasta, crackers, etc
Nuts/Seeds	Raw (not roasted in oil): pecans, pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds Limit: almonds, pine-nuts, peanuts, walnuts	Processed/dry roasted nuts
Fats/Oils	cold pressed olive oil, grape seed oil, flaxseed oil, organic butter	Margarine, shortening, processed and hydrogenated oils, mayonnaise, spreads
Sugar	Stevia, raw honey, 100% maple syrup, 100% blackstrap molasses, agave	All forms of sugar, artificial sweeteners, high fructose corn syrup, rice syrup, date sugar, evaporated cane juice
Spices/condiments/others	All spices, hummus, small amount of sea salt or veggie salt	Salty foods, junk food, mayonnaise, mustard, ketchup, Processed foods
Drinks	64oz distilled or reversed osmosis water, caffeine free herbal tea	City water or bottled water containing chlorine or fluoride, coffee, tea, soda, fruit juice with sugar added

If you're still with me, here is the list we got today to be added to that one:

Low-Iodine Restrictions

• Iodized salt, sea salt (noniodized salt may be used)
• Dairy products (milk, cheese, cream, yogurt, ice cream, butter)
• Eggs (specifically egg yolks; egg whites may be used)
• Seafood (both fresh and salt-water fish; shellfish; seaweed; kelp)
• Foods that contain the additives carrageenan, agar-agar, algin, or alginates
• Cured and corned foods (ham, corned beef, sausage, luncheon meats, sauerkraut, pickles)
• Bread products that contain iodate dough conditioners (breads from small bakeries are sometimes safe; better to bake it yourself from scratch)
• Foods and medications that contain red food dyes (specifically, FD&C Red Dye #3; consult your physician about discontinuing or substituting for any red-colored medicines)
• Chocolate (because of the milk content; dark or pareve chocolate is fine)
• Molasses
• Soy products (soy sauce, soy milk, tofu, soy burgers, etc.

Additional Guidelines

• Avoid restaurant foods, since there's no reliable way to determine what's in your food.
• Use unsalted matzos (unleavened crackers made only of flour and water) or unsalted tortillas instead of bread.
• Noniodized salt may be used as desired
• Read ingredient lists of prepared or packaged foods carefully.
• Do not take multivitamins, since most contain iodine.
• Use olive oil as a condiment or in cooking instead of butter or margarine; nondairy or pareve margarine may also be used.
• Prepare low-iodine meals in advance and freeze them for easy use later.
• Food prepared from any fresh meats, fresh poultry, fresh or frozen vegetables, and fresh fruits should be fine for this diet, provided that you do not add any of the "to avoid" ingredients listed.  The diet is easiest when food is prepared from basic ingredients.

After being completely overwhelmed with all of this, I did my own research and discovered that A LOT of these are geared toward hypothyroidism, which is the opposite of what we're dealing with, so A LOT of these things are actually beneficial to him right now.  I know a lot of this is repetitive, but just so you know what I'm going through, here's what I found in a book by Dr. Colbert, who is a HIGHLY trusted source of mine (the short version):

Don't eat these with hypothyroidism (me)
Do eat these with hyperthyroidism (him):

• Broccoli
• Cauliflower
• Cabbage
• Brussels sprouts
• Sweet corn
• Millet
• Peanuts
• Almonds
• Walnuts
• Soybeans

Don't eat these with hyperthyroidism:

• Ocean fish
• Shellfish
• Dairy products
• Kelp and other forms of seaweed
• Onions
• Asparagus

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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Life is Good!

So, this week has been WAY different than I planned. This week has been the most bizarre mix of awesome and awful, all at once.

Last Friday:
*My husband got a bad report from the doctor about his thyroid. We wanted to know what his other options were, so we made an appointment with a wellness doctor for Monday.
*I got a sweet surprise on my front doorstep. A MacBook Pro!
*It was Wei Xu's Macbook Pro.
*Had to put it back in the box.

Saturday:
*We held an auction fundraiser for our youth, and 5 of them showed up to help. FIVE.
*We raised a good amount of money for them!
*Alabama lost. Not only did they lose, they were awful the WHOLE ENTIRE GAME.
*Had my favorite pizza during the game! I thought they were closed but I called just in time!
*Got out of the house for a bit for ice cream! Well, it actually turned into fries & milkshakes. I had a pregnant chick with me.

Sunday:
*Got another job that I'll be doing from home! I'll get an actual paycheck for this one!
*Had to pick up food for our small group, which was not my plan. I wanted to cook something, but I didn't expect the job thing to happen on Sunday afternoon, so I seriously ran out of time.
*Found a great deal on rotisserie chicken at Publix! Family deal that came with EVERYTHING! It was delish.
*First small group meeting. We had a great time with a great group!

Monday:
*Went to the wellness doctor with my hubby. We won't know everything that's involved until he gets his bloodwork from the "bad report doctor". But he went ahead and started him on a special diet for a healthy thyroid. It's very extreme and comes with lots of supplements.
*I'm doing the diet with him
*Realized I would need to get rid of almost all of my freezer meals and half my pantry.
*I'm very excited about this new way of eating, but the hubs, not so much yet. When he's bummed, I am too.

Tuesday:
*Food research continues. I'm studying more than I did in school. It's exhausting.
*Was able to give my freezer meals to a dear friend!
*Hungry. Haven't been to the store yet, so I'm sending all the food that we CAN eat with Jason to work.
*Also, Lena went from really fast to TURBO speed and is trying to destroy our home while I'm studying recipes, planning meals & snacks, making lists, etc.
*Eli is asking me for cheese EVERY FIVE MINUTES. You know, to make sure I don't actually get to have a complete thought.

Wednesday:
*More studying
*MY brand new MacBook Pro finally arrives! With accident insurance! For those of you who don't know, I dropped my last MacBook after only having it for 4 months and totaled it, and there was nothing they could do because Apple doesn't cover accidents. Of any kind. Awesome, right?
*Hubby calls & says he's on his way to pick us up for church just as I turn it on. GAH!
*The detoxing from this diet HIT ME HARD during church. I felt like crap.
*Got home & had to do laundry, so I decided to set up my Blackberry Desktop Manager & finally update my Blackberry software. I've been waiting to do it on my computer b/c the last time I did it over the wireless network, it jacked up all my stuff.
*Software update took FOREVER. Then failed. Twice. I was too tired to stay up and try it again so I started it up and went to bed.

Thursday:
*Got about 4 hours of sleep.
*Checked on my Blackberry. Failed again. Took out the battery. Failed again. Then an error message popped up and my phone was completely frozen. I went to Verizon right when they opened because I don't have a landline. Girl had my phone for about 5 seconds when she said, "So do you want your new phone sent to...?" Um, ok. So I have an old phone at home which she had listed so she activated it for me until my new one comes. I get home & can't find the charger ANYWHERE. So I have a phone, but it's dead.
*Coincidentally, the phone company was supposed to be coming to put in a landline today for my new job because I have to have a fax machine. They never showed.
*My only way of communicating is Twitter & Facebook.
*Another great meeting with Next! Next is the new young adult group that we're leading at church. We're very excited about this! Honestly, this really brightened my not so great day.

Friday! (Today)
*I'm finally blogging again!
*Lena is tearing all the tissues she pulled out of the box into tiny pieces on the living room floor & I don't even care.
*It's taking forever to write this blog because Lena keeps trying to put everything in the trash & Eli is already asking for cheese.
*Just stopped again to take a band-aid out of Lena's mouth.
*Hopefully I'll get my new Blackberry and the phone people will come today.
*We have NO FOOD in this house! Get ready Publix!

Also, we have several dear friends with a lot going on, so our hearts have been heavy for them this week. It's just been a crazy week. I'm so glad I decided to take this week off from school because I probably would have been a zombie by now.

Life is good folks! We face challenges sometimes, but we always get up and move forward!

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