Higher Nutrient Tostadas

Many of you know that Philip has about 20 distinct foods he will eat. He simply will not eat something unless he decides to. I've tried all types of ways of getting him to eat things with nutritional value, and he simply will not. Many people judge and will say things about parenting when you have a child like this. Let me tell you... I have two children and have raised them the same way. Faith is an excellent eater and choses fruits and veggies first. Unless you have had a child like Philip, you simply do NOT understand. Anyway, back to the point. We are at a place where Philip must have better nutrition. We really want him to get as many nutrients as possible from food rather than supplements or meal replacements. So, after research I decided to try the sneaky chef. One of the foods Philip will eat is tostadas (or at least my version).

When in make tostadas, I cook some chopped onion until it is beginning to caramelize. Then I brown about 1 pound of hamburger meat with a little salt and pepper. Then I add two cans of refried beans and 2/3 cups of water with taco seasoning mixed in. Once this is warmed thru I put some of the mixture on tostada shells adding cheese for everyone except Philip and bake until the cheese is bubbly.

While looking thru "The Sneaky Chef" cookbook,  I saw that she had a bean burrito that she added a white puree too. I thought that this might work with the tostadas. The white puree consists of zucchini and cauliflower. I prepared the veggies and pureed them. I added approximately 3/4 of a cup of the puree to my bean and meat mixture. This is about half of what the original bean recipe called for, but I decided to start small. The taste was great. The texture was ever so slightly different, but Philip didn't seem to notice and he notices everything when his food doesn't taste right.

Overall, I would consider this a success. Philip ate three tostadas!!!! Next time I make this, I will add a little more of the puree. This week I am making sneaky chef hamburgers, pizza, meatballs and sloppy Joes. I'm excited about the nutrients this will add to not only Philip's diet but all of our diets. I have to be honest and say that I am slightly stressed out about the extra work to create the purees and the addition to the food bill, but it is definitely worth it. I'm also so grateful that my mom has offered to help make some of the purees to freeze. I think with major menu planning and budgeting, this will be a great addition to our everyday lives, and will greatly help Philip's nutrition. I will not be able to make sneaky chef meals for every meal, but several times a week will certainly help.

I have been trying to post pictures, and it is not working out for me. I will add them later if I can.

Baptism...

I believe the Bible teaches that baptism should follow a profession of faith in Jesus Christ. I do not believe baptism saves you, but I do believe it is our first act of obedience once we become a Christian. The Bible speaks of baptism often. Jesus gave us an example of baptism. Luke 3:21-22 says, ²¹ When all the people were baptized, Jesus also was baptized. As He was praying, heaven opened, ²² and the Holy Spirit descended on Him in a physical appearance like a dove. And a voice came from heaven:    You are My beloved Son. I take delight in You! (HCSB) 

Acts 8:36-39, " ³⁶ As they were traveling down the road, they came to some water. The eunuch said, “Look, there’s water! What would keep me from being baptized?” ³⁷ And Philip said, “If you believe with all your heart you may.” And he replied, “I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.” ³⁸ Then he ordered the chariot to stop, and both Philip and the eunuch went down into the water, and he baptized him. ³⁹ When they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord carried Philip away, and the eunuch did not see him any longer. But he went on his way rejoicing." (HCSB)

In April 2010, my 5 year old son came to me one morning. There is a cross in our house that has a red jewel in the center. He asked me why it was red. I said, I don't know. Maybe it is to represent Jesus' blood. We then began to talk about Jesus coming to earth as a baby, living a perfect life, dying on the cross, and rising again. I told him, one day, Jesus will call you to be a Christian and you have to choose if you are going to follow Him or not. We talked about sin and how because of sin, we are separated from God. We talked about what sin is and how it hurts God that we do the wrong thing. To my amazement, Philip got it. Then he looked at me and said, "Mom, Jesus is tugging on my heart." So many things went through my head. We prayed together, and Philip asked Jesus into his heart. 

Now Philip is a timid child when it comes to public. James and I decided we would teach him about baptism and tell him that he needed to tell the church he was a Christian and get baptized. We left the timing up to him. In January, we had a lay renewal weekend at our church. The Sunday morning of the renewal weekend, Philip went before the church and told them he had asked Jesus into his heart and he wanted to be baptized. 

We scheduled a day to baptize him. However, the baptistry heater went out. So, we postponed it until we could get it fixed. They put a new heater in this week, and we scheduled baptism for today. A very special thing for us was that James got to baptize him. Since James is our music minister, we baptized Philip first. Jim got in the baptistry and talked about baptism, then James and Jim tried to get Philip to come in. The water was VERY hot and Philip did not want to get in it. James picked him up and put him in next to him. Poor kiddo cried. James kept him facing him and quickly went through the, "Philip have you asked Jesus in your heart?" Philip said, "Yes." James quickly said, "Upon your profession of Faith in Jesus, I baptize you, my brother, in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit." Then James moved him to the other side and quickly dunked him and lifted him out. The water wasn't hot enough to burn Philip, but it was hot. I felt so badly for him. Still such a special time.

We were very blessed to have not only our church family there, but my Mom, Dad, Jacob, Jarod, and our great friend the Craymer's. We had a great afternoon visiting our friends and I LOVE that our kids pick up and play like they see each other every day.

What a day!!!!

You know the type? The type where you think, "I should just go back to bed and try again." The type where things just are hectic? The type where your 4 year old opens her muddy car door into your side at drop off? The type where your 7 year old leaves his backpack at home? The type where you need to give your 2nd grader $2 and you open your billfold to find you have NO cash? Just so you know, I *could* go on. I won't for everyone's sanity though. Needless to say, this day started off wrong and did NOT get better.

Tonight is the one year anniversary of the night Faith was burned. It's definitely not something you want to celebrate, but it completely changed our lives and we won't forget the date. Well, I won't forget the date. James, he doesn't remember dates that much. She is doing wonderfully. With the nice days lately, her cheeks have been very red so we are having to be careful about that. I am considering making an appointment with a dermatologist to see if they can help with this issue. On Tuesday she said, "Ugh! My scar!" I asked her, "What about your scar, sweet pea?" She whined, "I just want it to go away!" This was the first time we had the discussion that it wouldn't just go away and would always be there. It really bugs her. She doesn't like how it looks or feels and lately it has been itchy. I suspect we will have this conversation often. Eventually, she will either decide it is part of who she is and not care about it anymore, or she will ask to have it restructured. We are prepared for either outcome. Right now, I'm just doing what I can to help it not physically bug her. Lots of lotions, aquaphor, etc, still. I'm so extremely grateful that a year later, these are the minor issues I'm talking about here. We are so abundantly blessed, and we know God knit her skin back together, just the way He knit her together in my womb. That was my prayer from the moment I realized what we were dealing with. You know, the moments after the panic, then praying for comfort for her, then praying for angels to calm her and numb the pain. The moments after the immediate "help my baby" thoughts.

I am so glad that I have hope. That WE have hope, and that Faith will have hope. I pray for her salvation. I was taught by an amazing friend, Liz, while I was still a teenager how important it is to pray for your children's salvation. I pray that when the time is right and God "knocks" on her heart, that she will run to Him and "answer the knock." I prayed this same prayer for Philip and was shocked when he came to me at such a young age asking deep questions. Those questions led to God "tugging" on his heart, and Philip accepting Jesus. It is such a relief knowing your child has a relationship with the one true God!

In other news (not sure I should go on after that!), I had parent-teacher conferences for Philip tonight. I am pleased to say that he has great grades and school comes easy for him. He is very bright! He does need to work a little harder because he is not reaching his full potential. That is something we will be working on at home. We've been trying to teach him that he doesn't have to be THE best, but he does need to be HIS best. School is out tomorrow, so Philip got to go stay the night with Grammy and Papaw. He was pumped. It works out well for my parents and me too. I have one less child to get around in the morning, mom and dad get to sleep in and so does Philip. Win-win-win if you ask me. I guess there is one that doesn't win though. Faith was not happy that she doesn't get to stay the night with Grammy and Papaw. I told her maybe over spring break.

Philip and fact families

Philip is quite the kid. He is 7.5 years old now, and simply amazes me everyday. In the car on the way to school, I work to teach the kids memorization. They have learned several memory verses, phone numbers and our address this way. Philip has been having a little trouble with subtraction. Noticing this trouble, I began feeling I was failing my son. After all, I have a B.S. in Math. So, I was telling him if 2+3=5, then 5-3=2; aka fact families. I know they've worked on fact families before, but filling in the blank is different than understanding the concept. So, I gave him several groups, and he just didn't get it. I kept telling him, "Philip, I am telling you the answer." All of the sudden, he got it! He was so proud of himself. I am amazed at the look on his face and excitement over small things. Where has that gone in our lives?

Fat Tuesday

Wow! It is Fat Tuesday 2012. Last year, Fat Tuesday was on March 8th. I will never forget that date because it is the day Faith was burned.

I am the kind of person who really enjoys having "traditions" in our home. Just small things that are the same each year, something for the kids to look forward too. Last year I was reading about Mardi Gras and learned that traditionally those who practice lent eat a "rich" meal before they give up meat for lent. As I continued to read, I discovered that many have pancakes the night before Ash Wednesday. I thought this would be neat, and we should start this tradition.

We are protestant and therefore do not corporately celebrate holidays that are traditionally Catholic. However, in our home, we do try to focus on the reason we celebrate Christian holidays. Particularly Christmas and Easter. We focus on Christmas each night during the Advent season and we try to fast from something during the lent season. This is our personal way to focus on Jesus and study the events leading up to each holiday.

Little did I know that choosing to start this tradition would lead up to a terrible accident. James starts dinner most nights since he gets home before me. That evening started just like any other. James called me and at the end of the conversation asked, "What's for dinner tonight?" I asked him to stop at the store and pick up some bacon so we could have pancakes and bacon. He began cooking it and little did any of us know that our lives would greatly be affected. On Fat Tuesday last year, my daughter was severely injured in a terrible accident.

Needless to say, pancakes on Fat Tuesday did NOT become a tradition in our house. Tonight at the end of the conversation I said, "Let's have salad." That is something that requires no heat. I am so extremely grateful that Faith has healed so well and will have very minimal permanent scarring from this incident, but we are all forever changed. I still have nightmares about seeing her face while calling 911. She talks about it now. Occasionally she will say, "Momma, I just wanted to know what was in that cup I couldn't have." Most recently she told me how bad it hurt. I know she was terrified and in so much pain. It is so heart breaking.

Other than the memories that have forever changed us, Faith has a small scar on her chest. So far, the verdict is that it will not have to be restructured until she is a teenager. More recently this scar has increased in size, so we will know more when we see her plastic surgeon again. I want to thank everyone for praying for us during this time and I cannot believe it has almost been a year since that terrible night.

Budgeting

It seems everyone has a different way to budget. Some like spread sheets, some use work sheets, some just pay what bills they have when they get paid, etc. I honestly have used most systems out there. What I have found works wonders for us, is to print off a calendar at the beginning of the month. I color code according to "type" of entry. Blue-James' paychecks, Pink-my paychecks, Deep Red- Tithe, Orange-bills, Purple-gas for cars, Red-groceries. I think that's everything.

I then write in every paycheck on the date it will be received and how much we expect. This number will vary from check to check so I do have to go back in and update my budget later. I then write in our tithe, all bills on the date they are due and how much they should be, and gas and grocery money on given dates. We use a modified envelope system. So I withdraw the money needed for gas and groceries on a specified date.

Next, in the notes section, I split the month in half. My paydays are consistent and James' are every other week. So, I split the month based on my paydays. It is just easier for us this way. I take the each half of the month and write total income minus total expenses. This helps us see where we are and if we need to move paying specific things around. I like writing everything in the calendar because we can visually see where everything is and avoid accidental late payments.

How do you budget? Do you follow a specific persons program?

Hello

Hi, I'm Rebekah, wife to James and mom to 6 year old Philip and 3 year old Faith. I could tell you all kinds of things about our "history" and maybe someday, I will share how James and I met, about our wedding, about the churches we've served at, etc, but today, I'm going to tell you a little about Faith's story from the last month or so... Well, I guess I'm going back to October for a little background.

Last October, Faith had a "nodule" on her neck that was a good size. You could tell it bugged her when she swallowed. After seeing an ENT in Norman, it was determined that it needed to be removed. This surgery took a little longer than expected because the "nodule" showed signs of infection and ruptured during extraction. The doctor put a rubber band drain in, and stiched her up. We stayed in the hospital overnight, and Faith recovered very quickly. The next morning the drain was removed and we went home. The biopsy came back consitent with Thyroglossal Duct Cyst and everything looked great.

Fast forward to February. One day, the area where the TDC was started looking bad. I don't know how to explain it, it just looked bad. The next day, James called me and told me it was draining. I called the ENT, but I already had a feeling what that meant. He had us come in the next morning and put her on antibiotics. The TDC had recurred and was infected. She was on antibiotics for 10 days, and we were to come back in 3 weeks. Well, before the 3 weeks was up, the infection came back. I called to let them know, and we were seen immediately. She was put on antibiotics again, and a second surgery was scheduled. We decided to have her tonsils and adenoids removed this time as well in order to avoid putting her under again in six months. Our ENT had a colleague work with him on her central neck dissection to make sure they got everything which they are confident they did. This time, they had to put a large tube drain in and we were in the hospital 2 nights. We got to come home on March 5th.

On March 8th, we were having breakfast for dinner for Fat Tuesday. James was cooking bacon, and I was helping Philip in the bath. He poured the bacon grease off into a coffee mug and scooted it to the back of the counter. While he was putting the pan back on the stove, Faith reached up and knocked the mug off. The grease burned the right side of her face, the right upper side of her chest, and her right arm. I know it hurt her so much. Just a small splatter of hot grease is enough to bring tears to an adults eyes. As soon as I knew what happened, I called 911 then I called my mom. I will never forget the image I saw when I looked and saw my daughter's face "melted" off. I know we are only a month out, but I feel like I will forever be haunted with that image. I literally have nightmares about it now. My parents live next door to us and were here momentarily. Faith was sitting on James' lap, while I was trying to gather stuff that we would have to have (like pants for Faithee). Dad stood out at the road so the ambulance would know where we were, and mom helped me and James keep Faith upright so she wasn't touching any of the burns to anything. When we got her to the ER they put silvadine and bacitracin on her and wrapped her up and sent her home. I really wish we would have went to Children's or Baptist where she would have seen a doctor rather than just a PA, but at the time, we just needed help. I found out later she should have been admitted and put on IV fluids and antibiotics. Thanks be to our Father that everything turned out fine despite this.

We went to wound care the next day where they cleaned her up and taught me how to care for the burns. We have been to wound care Monday, Wednesday and Friday each week since the accident. They have taken amazing care of her. We also saw a plastic surgeon at Children's who told us her chest will most likely need some sort of plastic surgery. We will go back to him in mid-May.

My prayer during all of this has been, "God, just as you knit Faith together in my womb, please knit her face back together." I know this prayer has been answered. Her face is still discolored, but it appears there will be no permanent scarring. The Bible says, "All things work together for good for those who love God, for those who are called according to HIS purpose." While in the midst of crisis, it is so hard to remember this truth, but I know God is God, God is sovereign and HE is still on the throne. I don't know how all God will work this for good, but I know He will. I've already seen amazing things, and I know Faith is going to have such an amazing testimony. She is such an amazing child. During one appointment, she sang, "When I am afraid, I will trust in You, I will trust in You, I will trust in You. When I am afraid, I will trust in You, In God who's word I praise." The faith of a child. : )

Our church family has stepped up in an amazing way. They put together a benefit dinner for Faith, and our community really turned out for it! Thank you to all who worked, came, gave, etc. We will never be able to express our gratitude adequately, but we want you all to know how much we appreciate all you are doing. The people I work with have been amazing too. We want to thank everyone for all the prayers, and ask for continued prayers. We still have a long road ahead of us, but we know that the prayers and love we've been shown have helped not only Faith's healing, but our spirits as we care for her.