Lord of the Snow

The title of this blog sounds humorous, I'm sure, but the Holy Spirit has made it clear to me that when I bemoan or complain against "the snow" and how it has "ruined" so many moments of late, I am not bemoaning or complaining against "snow", but against God Himself. Under this conviction, I have now begun to "preach" the truth to myself - sometimes lightheartedly to make myself laugh rather than cry, and sometimes in all seriousness and urgency because I need rebuked for the whiny attitude of my heart.

The specific truth the Spirit brought to my mind is from Isaiah 55:9 in which it says, "For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the LORD. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts higher than your thoughts."

Interestingly enough when I went to the chapter the next verse even talks about snow! Hahahaha! God is so fun! Verse 10 says, "For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven and do not return there but water the earth, making it bring forth and sprout, giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater, so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it."

God knows what He is doing. And so although I was terribly sad that the Valentine's Day Party I had planned for the kids was canceled, the Sweetheart Dinner at church was canceled, two dates that we had planned were canceled, church today was canceled and the mom's prayer event I had planned was canceled, yet shall I praise Him! I may have thought that so many of those things were the best ways to glorify God as I was planning and cleaning and decorating and praying about them, but obviously they weren't. God knows what glorifies Him most, and I'm sure that even me coming again to the truth that I don't know best glorifies Him more than the game I planned about "biblical love" for the kiddos would have.

Oh, and Nina...I am also very thankful for how this snow is blessing you and Len :) I suppose that's another good reason to let go of a few date nights and parties :)

"Many are the plans in the mind of a man, but it is the purpose of the LORD that will stand." Proverbs 19:21 Thank God for that!

My husband, My Hero (along with the creators of Whole Foods)

Nadia has had some gastrointestinal troubles since about birth. They seemed to be getting worse and eventually she started developing what looks to us like an allergy rash. We aren't able to get in with a pediatric allergist just yet, and honestly, we don't really want her tested for a while since the results are so inaccurate for young babies, so we are playing "detective" until we go!

Since I am breastfeeding, if Nadia does have a food allergy, something that I am eating is the culprit. So I searched around a lot online and spoke to some lactation counselors and Daryl and I settled on eliminating some of the major allergens from my diet and then slowly reintroduce them, one at a time, to see what happens. Namely wheat/gluten, dairy, soy, eggs, nuts, shellfish, food additives, corn, and tomatoes. I've also scratched beef for a while as I found that can cause problems, too, but to scratch anything else I think I would die :)

That last part was a joke, but in all serious, Daryl and I did realize that while the elimination diet is a good idea for us, I have to eat - and I have to get enough nutrients and calories. The first few days it was snowing and I hadn't stocked up on good foods so I was surviving on squash, rice, baked potatoes and rice cereal with rice milk (by the way, I think rice milk rocks)! My milk supply plummeted which meant Nadia was fussy and had to eat a lot more often than normal and I literally almost had a breakdown. Daryl may even think that I did :) Even Anna knew that "mommy upset" and I swear I didn't clean my house all week as I was too consumed with research, trying to make foods I could eat, and caring for my kids. We had to cancel our Valentine's Day reservations and everything. Super bummer.

After my breakdowns my darling husband canceled everything else there was to do on Saturday and drove me and the kiddos to Whole Foods in Pittsburgh (it was even nice just to get out as I had been without a car most days since we only have one that is good in the snow and Daryl has to go to work!). I was prepared to find rice pasta, a dairy/gluten/soy free butter spread and some soups, but when I found this brand...
...I literally teared up right in the isle! They make all of their products without the top 7 allergens! WHIPPEE! I got breakfast bars and cookies! They are grainy tasting, but at least I have something! And I found a bunch of other cool stuff - including some veggie burgers, so needless to say, it was a good trip. Nadia even had fun helping me pick as she tagged along in the babybjorn and Daryl and Anna had fun at the cafe enjoying a granola yogurt parfait.

Thanks to my hubby for being so supportive and helpful! We got enough foods for a good while, but plan to make the trip every couple of weeks or as needed. My mom also directed me to this website foodallergygourmet.com which is a local place. God is good!

Lastly sweet Nad's rash has cleared up mostly and we've seen major improvement with bowel issues :) Can't believe I just wrote that. Hopefully we'll be able to help her and we are praying that if there is a food allergy that she will grow out of it quickly especially if I can avoid it for her.

If you have any products or recipes you like that we could have, we'd love to know about them!