Update on my health

Many have been praying for me over the last week or so, and I want to say thank you!!

For those that don't know, I went to the ER on 8/2 after an episode of dizziness, racing heart beat and extremely low oxygen levels in the blood. I spent 2 nights in the hospital.  They had me on constant oxygen and my levels were finally normal.  The doctors released me and said that everything was fine, they didn’t know why it happened and it shouldn’t happen again.  Well, we headed to the capital in order to do some further testing, just to be sure.  I continued to have dizziness and a racing heart beat from time to time for the next week, but no more problems with my oxygen levels (Praise the Lord because this was the main problem before!). 

After a full work up, I am thankful to say that everything has come back normal!!  I have not had any other symptoms since this past Monday, and the dr. is convinced that it was a bad side effect to a medicine I had been taking previously (last day to take it was Monday and I went to the hospital on Tuesday). 

And so for now I am healthy, and I have an answer as to what the cause was! God is good!!

I also had an interesting experience on the plane that I got to ride to Lima.  First of all, let me say that I have NEVER been on a plane so small before!! I have always been afraid of small planes, and I was this day too!! I was definitely praying that God would calm my nerves (I was afraid that if I was too nervous my heart would start racing again and I really didn't want that up in the air!).

Well, God really answered prayers, b/c after I saw this plane, it was SMALL!! I first had to climb up the 3 stairs and then duck my head.  Now, I'm not tall and I couldn't stand up in the plane.  Turning sidewise, trying to squeeze down the aisle, I quickly found my seat.  Laying there waiting for me was my snack, and also a pack of EARPLUGS.  I knew I was in for it then!

All 7 passengers quickly found their seats in the 18 passenger plane, with 1 pilot and 1 steward up front.  The steward proceeded to give his safety spill, which included the instructions, "In case of loss of cabin pressure, please pull your oxygen masks from under your seat.  Open this plug on the ceiling and then plug in the mask."

The ride was loud, but surprisingly smooth and a very fast method to travel to Lima.  It is normally 8 hours by bus, 6.5-7 hours by truck and this was only and 1 hour. I made it safely to Lima, quickly might I add, and had plenty of time to make it to the first of many doctor appointments.

I also need to mention that I had one of the best views I have had in Peru, the view of Mt. Huascaran (highest montain in Peru)  from the air--absolutely beautiful (too bad I didn't have a camera on me at the time!)

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….