One Busy Month

Wow!  I can't believe it's been about a month since my last post!  Many posts have been written in my head, but I never seem to find the time to actually type them out.  As you can guess, we have kept busy around here.  It is warming up and the sun has finally come out.  How good it feels to see blue skies again!  And GREEN GRASS!  I've even been hanging my laundry outside.  Ahh!  It feels SO nice (and smells better too) to not have wet laundry hanging everywhere!  I was so anxious to get it out of the house that I started hanging it out at the first sign of a semi-warm nice day...we got rain, then snow, with the laundry on the line.  The next few times I tried hanging clothes again - same thing.  It has became a joke with the neighbors.  They now yell over every time I hang a load saying, "It's going to rain today."

So, what have we been up to?  Here's a quick overview of what we have done outside of church activities...

Eric and Sammy made a puppet theater for our Sunday School.  I don't have any pictures of that yet, but Eric took a couple pictures of them hard at work. :)

Sammy LOVES being Daddy's helper.

My spare time has been spent sewing curtains for the boys' room, pillow covers for some throw pillows and the cushion in the mudroom, made laundry soap and dish soap (a TOTAL flop, probably because of the greasy Ukrainian soap I used) and experimenting in the kitchen.  I am not a seamstress, but my girls think I can do anything - sewing or cooking.  They are begging me to teach them to sew.  Guess we will be learning together. :)

The ruffles ended up being longer than I wanted, but I was not about to take the entire pillow apart to redo it.

Since we have been on such a strict diet, I have had to be a little more creative in the kitchen.  I've made almond flour-cheese crackers, peanut butter (YUM!!), and cottage cheese pancakes that taste and feel just like the real thing! {Recipe soon to come...maybe. ;)}

When we were in the States and since we've been back, some of you have asked if it was going to be easy to keep our diet here in Ukraine or if it's harder to find "diet" foods.  I actually think it's easier to find natural things here.  Here is just one example...in our village on almost every corner you'll find someone selling fresh goat's milk or cow's milk.  We get fresh goat's milk 3 times a week and the same lady sells cottage cheese, kefir, cream cheese...all from goat's milk. :)  The price is cheaper than buying the processed stuff at the store!  I sometimes have a hard time drinking/eating the stuff because I am SUPER sensitive to any milk product when I am pregnant, but the kids all love it.  Most of the time none of her stuff has any goat flavor and I enjoy the kefir blended with bananas, frozen strawberries and sometimes raspberries or cherries.

Sammy getting the goat's products with Daddy.

As far as how the diet helps us.  Ever since we had the parasites, our stomachs have been all messed up.  As soon as we get off the diet, we start having upset stomachs, messy bowel movements...let's just say it's not fun or pretty.  Even with those side effects, we are "off" the diet right now.  In fact, I made my first frosted cake in AGES today.  Eric asked for it and how could I say no?  I still really want to cut out the flour and sugar again.  I feel so much better when I am on it.  Especially since I've had so much trouble with my gums.  They were bleeding and very swollen, that at least has gone down.  The gums are still receded and sometimes sensitive.  I'm afraid all this junk will make them worse.  I also noticed that I get "morning" sickness (why do they call it that???) and heartburn when I'm off it.  (I write this as I snack with Eric on Oreos that a dear friend sent us.)  Why is it SO hard to eat healthy?  Cleaning with natural products (except dish and laundry soap), I clean almost everything with vinegar and baking soda,  - easy.  Beauty products also not so hard...but giving up sugar and white flour?  Wow! Is it hard!  I've been reading the book Teachers of Good Things by Francie Taylor (excellent book) and she hits a little on healthy eating.  She says,

Once we know the right thing to do for our bodies, it becomes a sin for us to do otherwise.  "Therefore to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin." James 4:17

That has been convicting me ever since we went off the diet!  Well, my mind is completely everywhere.  Sorry that it became mostly a "diet" post.  I wanted to answer your questions and my email is still not working so I can't reply to your emails there.  I need to just get a new account.