Homeschooling Joys

Homeschooling has been a rewarding experience so far. I enjoy the time that I get to spend with my son, and I have seen all the ways that he is growing and learning.  Also, I don't have to worry about him coming home from school and asking, "What did you do today?" just to have him respond with, "I don't know."  I already know everything that he did at school! :)

Now, I do have to admit that some days we have a rough day, even a frustrating day.  These days are challenging.

But then some days I listen to my 4 year old READ and I am just so proud!

This is the little book that we read yesterday in homeschool:
Sid Hits
Sid has a bat.
Cam has a mitt.
Sid has a cap. Cam has a cap.
Sid hits. Bam!
Cam is fast.
Cam taps the pad.
Rats! Sid is mad.
Sid sits. Sid is sad.

I enjoy homeschooling (so far!) and I'm a proud mommy!  :)

A Little Scare

Just a testimony to God's faithfulness:

After traveling to the coast, we returned back to our home in the altitude (10,100 feet) on Sunday evening.

Our 2 year old had been congested for the past few days, but nothing abnormal.  When we parked the truck in our driveway, the boys got out and immediately started running around. After 2 minutes, our 2 year said his head hurt as he screamed and cried.

We picked him up and he was turning blue.  We ran in the house to get the oxygen tank, praying every step of the way.  The tank was almost empty, but there was enough for about 1 minute, which allowed him to come to and he was not blue any more.

We kept praying and we saw God answer those prayers and he started to get better.  He was still pretty pale, but he was at least responsive and breathing good again.

As we took him to the ER, we started out to look for a taxi. You have to understand that on a Sunday afternoon, there are usually NO taxis. We have waited quite a while to find one in the past. 

As we walked out the door and down the steps to the road, we prayed that God would quickly send us a taxi.  As soon as we got to the road, there was a taxi there! Praise the Lord!

After seeing the doctor, he was already feeling much better. It seemed like it was just a reaction to the altitude, made worse by already being congested and overly tired.

As we left the hospital, we once again prayed that God would quickly send us a taxi, as it was cold and dark, and the taxis never seem to pass by the hospital.  As soon as I prayed, God sent us another taxi!

Just when we needed it, God responded! He provided just enough oxygen in the tank, health for our son, and even something as small as answering our request for taxis when we needed them.

Real Food Cookout

 Ok, so with all the traveling lately, I've gotten a little bit behind. Now to play catch up...

We had 3 college students working with us here for 6 weeks.  Before they left at the end of June, we wanted to give them a little taste of home and a definite change to all the food that they had been eating (you know--chicken foot soup, sheep's head soup, and lots of rice and potatoes--a normal diet for some people, but a little different than our normal diet).

And so we decided to do a cookout! What's better than hamburgers on the grill as comfort food for when you are missing America?  Well, I then decided to do a Real Food Cookout!

Here's some pictures of how it turned out:

Top: Hamburgers on homemade, whole-wheat hamburger buns, potato salad and popcorn.

Bottom: Home-made, whole-wheat apple pie!  This was the first time that I've tried making a pie crust with the whole wheat flour, and I have to say it tasted amazing!

PB&J Smoothies

We decided to make a healthy snack after nap time, and we tried this recipe for the first time.

WOW! These were much better than I expected! And, of course, the boys drank it up and kept asking for more!

I found the recipe on www.100daysofrealfood.com:

PB&J Smoothie

• 1/3 cup milk
• 1/3 cup apple juice
• 1/3 cup peanut butter
• 1 – 2 bananas (I like using 2…but if you only have 1 on hand don’t let it stop you!)
• 1 cup frozen (or fresh) berries
• Optional: A handful of ice cubes if you use fresh berries

Mix well in a blender and serve cold with a straw.

(Note: I left out the apple juice and used all milk, just because I didn't have any apple juice.  I used frozen strawberries for the berries).

Meatless Mondays

  Meatless Monday--It's a new trend out there, even has it's own website: http://www.meatlessmonday.com/ .  But actually, it's not a new trend, the history is described on the website as

• During World War I, the U.S. Food Administration urged families to reduce consumption of key staples to aid the war effort. “Food Will Win the War,” the government proclaimed, and “Meatless Monday” and “Wheatless Wednesday” were introduced to encourage Americans to do their part.
• The campaign returned during World War II and beyond, when Presidents Franklin D. Roosevelt and Harry S. Truman used rationing to help feed war-ravaged Europe.
• In 2003 Meatless Monday was recreated as public health awareness program in association with Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health’s Center for a Livable Future. The campaign was endorsed by over 20 schools of public health. Its goal was to help Americans reduce their risk of preventable disease by cutting back saturated fat.

I only recently found out about this a few months ago and we have been following it (most weeks!).  The website has LOTS of yummy recipes and ideas and most are very easy to make.

So, you are probably asking, "Why go meatless?" Well, first of all it's just 1 day a week, but skipping one meal of eating meat does have health benefits--reduce heart disease, fight diabetes, and help with weight issues, just to name a few.

But you know what else?  If you don't eat meat 1 day a week, think of how much money you are saving!  Next time you are shopping, compare the price of a bag of dried beans to the price of a steak, or even chicken breasts. 

So, what's our Meatless Monday Menu for today?  Lunch=veggie stir fry and Dinner=black eyed peas, turnip greens, and cornbread (my hubby picked this one!).  Yummy!

Have you ever tried going meatless?

Thomas Lap Book

Anyone that homeschools and has a younger sibling running around can relate to this.  I’m always looking for activities for J. to do while his big brother is doing homeschool. Normally, he plays well by himself with his trains or cars, but near the end he wanders in and wants to join in the fun where he can.

I recently saw a great idea on a homeschooling blog, http://www.1plus1plus1equals1.com/ .  It was for a lap book, which had theme based activities.  J. loves Thomas the train and so I decided to make him one.  He LOVES it. He will sit happily and play with it while we finish up with school, and he will play with it at other times too.

Then, of course, big brother became jealous and wanted a lap book too.  Right now he is absolutely obsessed with New York (after a group did this year’s VBS theme with the kids), and so that is what his book is. I’ll post more about it next time….

Surprising Blood Test Results

OK, so I’ve mentioned many times on this blog so far that we are trying to eat more healthy. I’m sure that if you have read any other blog posts then you will have read that statement. :) 

Well, there is a reason that started it all.  At the end of February I had a routine physical and during this exam I was told I had high cholesterol, namely high triglycerides.  Well, all the normal recommendations of quit smoking and drinking, lose weight, start exercising, and eat healthy didn’t really apply.  I didn’t fall into any of those categories. 

To be honest, I wasn’t very excited about taking a pill for the rest of my life.  I tried eating even healthier for a month and then redid the test. Numbers were still pretty high.  :( The doctor told me to start taking a pill and to see if that would work. Well, I ended up having very bad side effects (including a racing heart which really scared me!).  So, I stopped taking that pill and wondered what my other options were.  I really didn’t want to have to take another pill, if I didn’t have to. (I totally understand that there are times where you need to take medicine and I’m fine with that!)

I started looking into even healthier forms of eating and making complete changes in the way we view food.  We switched to brown rice, started cutting out almost all packaged and highly processed foods, completely cut out refined sugars (I only use honey as a natural sweetener now), and the most recent change has been to cut out refined flour and we switched to whole grain, whole wheat flour (I now grind our own flour).  

After consciously looking at all of our food and what the ingredients are, I’m surprised at how many changes we have made—when we already ate “healthy”.  In packaged and processed foods, when you look at the list of ingredients, you will be surprised (and even appalled) at all the stuff that is hidden in there!

Well, I wanted to do a test for myself and see if these changes were helping at all. I first started the changes with the hopes of being a healthier family and of lowering my cholesterol.

On Friday morning I went to the local clinic here. It was kinda painful b/c it didn’t open until 9:00am and I had to fast until then!  But I ended up getting a quick and cheap! (only $12!) blood test.  I got the results back that evening and I was S-U-R-P-R-I-S-E-D.

Only 3 months ago my total cholesterol was 198. It has sense dropped 20 points or 10%!

And the triglycerides—I must say that I am pleased!  3 months ago the number was 382 (a good number is less than 160).  Now the number was 198. It dropped 148 points or 48%. WOW!

Ok, so I know that I still have a ways to go, but come on! The changes are great!  I just have to keep it up now! :)