On the Verge...

As we have resettled and felt a calmness and stability in Austin that we knew was from the Lord, we started praying about and considering adding another child to our family. We felt like we had room in our heart and our home and so, with a lot of peace and excitement from us and the kids, we found out in September that we were expecting a baby in June 2016! We have held off telling more than close friends and family until we made it through the 12 week ultrasound appointment when we would make sure everything was looking normal. That appointment was a few weeks ago. We saw our new little squirrel wiggling around and measuring right on schedule. But after the ultrasound, at my nurse's visit, they told me that the baby's nuchal translucency (a space at the back of the neck, used for indicating a possibly chromosomal abnormality) was a little big. Not too much, but enough to cause some concern. They suggested a non-invasive blood test that could detect an abnormality wit

Quinn has been back at work for a month. The first week I started out "well". By that I mean that I did a lot with the kids and the kitchen was mostly clean, the laundry was mostly taken care of and I cooked most dinners. As the weeks have gone on, though, it has become glaringly apparent that, because I have been working from my own strength, I have been slowly depleted and brought to the bottom of my barrel. Today was hard. Yesterday was Chic-fil-A and mowing the lawn with a hand mower and going to bed with a sinus headache. This morning was a play date with a close friend, whom I love. But our boys also reeeeealllly love each other and when they get together we end up spending most of the morning yelling corrections at them in the other room or upstairs at the top of our lungs and then trying desperately to return to some encouraging and affirming conversation with each other about what God is teaching us. It's filling and draining at the same time - if that's

Just a week ago, we got some news that completely changed our life. It lead us to believe that God has closed the door to our home on the other side of the world.  The details are unimportant for the purposes of this blog. But I'll just say that we have been praying for clarity regarding this decision for four months now and planned as far as we could see and felt peace about. The Lord chose, in His sovereignty, to fill the last few weeks and even days with clear direction away from that home and back to our former one in Austin. We feel like we are on a roller coaster, but with the sure and trustworthy safety harness of the goodness of our heavenly Father holding us tight, we are able to enjoy the ride in some way.  But at the moment, we are mostly grieving. I think that most of our friends and family believe this is the right direction and feel confident that the Lord has been in all of it, but the appreciation for what we are leaving behind is something it feels like we are w

Wow. It's been a really long time since my last post! Like, maybe 4 months or something. I know that because I don't think I've posted the whole time we have been in America and we have been in America for 4 months. My deduction skills are amazing, are they not? In some ways I cannot believe   that we have been in the States for 4 months. That's 1/3 of a year! We've been in 3 different states, taken one family road trip, seen tons of friends and family, enjoyed a snow in Colorado, freeze in Texas, rain in Idaho, and now some warmer weather to get us ready to head back to the UAE (which I saw was the hottest place in the world the other day). I've also made some progress with my health and I can confidently say that I am more aware of what positively and negatively affects my body than I have ever been in my life. Ultimately, the Auto Immune Protocol has been great for me. I arrived in February in Colorado with a lot of pain in my hands and back and some bad

I went to a brunch yesterday and made something AIP that I could eat (of course). A friend of mine has just told me about this yummy combination, but after searching for recipes I couldn't find anything similar. So I just winged it. Wung it. Whatever. I I don't normally do this with great results, but since a few people asked me for the "recipe", I thought maybe it had turned out alright and I should write it down somewhere.  Unfortunately I took this picture of the leftovers that I'm eating for breakfast this morning, so it's not quite as beautiful as hour number 1. The leftovers are ok, but finishing it in one sitting would be better. And sharing it at a potluck was the best :) This is Auto Immune Protocol friendly (which is why I am not scared of the bacon grease!) Brussel Sprout Bacon Avocado Salad Prep time: 15 min Cook time: 15 min Serves: 6-8 (as a side dish) Ingredients: 8oz bacon 1.5 lbs brussel sprouts 2 large avocados 1/2 lime 1/2 tsp pink sea s alt

I am sitting here waiting for a very tired, teething, stuffy, grumpy 11 month old boy to fall asleep. Instead of torturing myself with thoughts of any other ways I could help him sleep comfortably, I will concentrate on a few minutes of blogging! We have been incredibly busy since arriving in Austin. Mostly because last weekend, I officially started the Auto-Immune Protocol diet. I've been reading the very thorough book The Paleo Approach  by Sarah Ballantyne and I've seen and heard many encouraging stories from people who have done it. So before starting on a serious medication regime, I wanted to try going the natural route first. This is a pretty brief and good explanation of the thought behind the approach from Sarah Ballantyne's website,  www.thepaleomom.com : "Autoimmune disease is caused by the immune system losing the ability to differentiate proteins belonging to your own body with proteins belonging to a foreign invader (like a bacteria, virus or parasi

Because I have had no time for a real blog post these last few weeks, but have had lots of sweet friends asking about how things are going, here's a brief rundown: 1. In Austin for a week now with wonderful friends who have opened their house to us. Our boys are getting along famously (and loudly!) 2. I have been grain, dairy, egg, nut, and nightshade free for 5 days and strictly on the AIP (Auto Immune Protocol) elimination diet for 2. My sacroiliitis is already feeling a lot better! Now hoping my fingers and skin will show improvement also as I continue.  3. I've been spending many hours a day in the kitchen (since I have to prepare all my meals) and it's a little overwhelming for my non-chef self. Hoping I'll get better about chopping massive amounts of veggies more quickly in the near future.  4. I haven't been too tempted to cheat yet, which is totally The Lord. But Jill's ice cream looked really amazing tonight ;) 5. Missing our friends and home in Fu

Let's start with a cute picture of Abram and Selah in Spain: Adorbs. Now... I posted earlier today while I was waiting to see a rheumatologist in Dubai. I had been referred by the ortho doctor I had seen in Fujairah on multiple occasions over the last few months for my finger and back problems. My sister is a dermatologist and knows that I have had psoriasis for years and she also thought I needed to see a rheumatologist.  Just in case you aren't aware, psoriasis is basically an itchy skin condition. Basically. But there's actually more to it than that (which I wasn't even aware of until very recently.) It is a chronic auto immune problem. My body's immune system (for some undetermined reason) attacks healthy skin cells and it results in itchy patches of skin. Pretty awesome, right? In about 20% of people with skin psoriasis, the immune system will also start attacking the joints, which is why I found myself in a very nice rheumatologist's