Fun Facts Friday!!

by Steph // Friday, March 18, 2016 // Comments off

I am going to have to start calling this Some Stuff Saturday!

Cause I keep running out of time on Friday!

Earlier this week I was planning school for this coming fall, and it was then that I realized I will only have four kiddos to teach.

WHAT?! Only four kiddos to teach!?

Then Addie Mae pointed out that this fall will be the first time in nine years that I will not have a child in High School to teach!

Wow, I am old.

Our bigs are growing up! Grant and Addie Mae are seniors and will graduate this year!

That will make four seniors I have graduated from our Moschel Academy! Three of our own, and I also schooled a dear friend’s daughter for her last two years of high school – so that really makes four!

Our bigs used to look like this, and then I blinked.

You know, we do so many things around our home that are so normal to us, but not so normal to others.

Like living chemical free, and eating so weird!

I thought I would point out that when you bake in stoneware muffin pans and use unbleached muffin liners, the pure food you put in the muffin pan actually stays pure while baking instead of leaching the bleach out of regular muffin liners, or the chemicals out of a non-stick muffin tin.

I love to learn! And I have learned a lot about harmful chemicals and harmful foods over the years.

Speaking of food, we always buy mostly produce.

Blake calls these yummy things “nature’s candy!” I agree!

Thanks to Uncle Sam and our tax return, I was able to bulk order some nuts and dates.

We buy our nuts and dried fruit from nuts.com.

Most nuts are processed in facilities that also process wheat.

That means your nuts could run down an assembly line that something with wheat just ran down.

For someone like us that live with celiac disease, that is not ok!

The things we buy from nuts.com are certified gluten-free.

And these people are fabulous!! Their quality, their quick shipping, and most of all their customer service, including their cute boxes!

It has been a rather grey, rainy week around these parts.

So we broke out some DVD’s for the littles to watch.

We do have a monitor to watch things on in the sun room, and stream things to watch now and then off of Amazon Prime, Hulu, or PBS, but we do not have any television channels.

Davey and Goliath and The Pond were both a hit with Tate and Eliza! They are such good character building stories!

Eliza calls the Alligator in The Pond the “Croc-a-gator!”

We did not can this last fall. We were a littttlllleeee busy.

I would like to announce that we only have nine quarts of salsa left in our cellar.

I sure hope Costco carries a good spicy, kinda sweet salsa!

Cause we go through this stuff like water!

We bought Eliza a trampoline for her birthday. For therapy.

And it is a BLESSING!!

This girl needs to bounce, I am telling you.

And her brother thinks he needs to too!

And, yes, that is Grant, their spotter, who is trying not to be in these photos.

I made baked oats the other morning.

What are your favorite breakfast foods?

Have I ever told you I LOVE being a Mom?

And a homeschool Mom?

And to cuddle and read aloud with my kiddos?

Everyday?

Well, I DO!

That’s all folks!!

I would tell you all to have a GREAT Friday, but I am a little too late!

So have a GREAT Saturday, you all!!!

Exceeding Abundantly Above

by Steph // Thursday, March 17, 2016 // Comments off

Today Blake, Eliza and I were Team Tate as we headed to Madison for an appointment for Tate to see the orthopedic surgeon.

It was such a beautiful day for the drive!

Having the two littles together for the day was a blast!

We last saw the orthopedic surgeon on our fifteen hour medical day in late September of last year.

The surgeon showed us Tate’s first scans and x-rays that day. It wasn’t until he pulled up another boys pictures next to Tate’s that we realized how severe Tate’s scoliosis is and how much his organs are in jeopardy.

The surgeon told us that day that he would put grow rods in Tate’s spine to straighten it. He showed us pictures of a five year old boy who had recently had this surgery done.

It is a very invasive procedure to say the least.

When I started asking details about the surgery that day, the surgeon looked at my overwhelmed teary self and simply said “We are not going there right now.” Smart man. I knew I respected him so much already, and I had known him for 15 minutes.

Then he told us we would wait and watch Tate’s growth and organs carefully.

Fast forward to today.

We had new scans and x-rays taken here at our local hospital, and the surgeon had them on his computer screen today.

He was measuring Tate’s curve on those films, and he said he expected Tate’s curve to be much worse. The doctor knows about “catch-up” growth, which is a phrase we use with adoption to describe how quickly these kiddos grow once they are home and have proper nutrition and love.

He measured it, re-measured it, and re-measured it, saying “Wow, Tate” while he did.

Then the surgeon spun his chair around to smile and tell us that Tate’s curvature has DECREASED ten degrees!

I know!

It has went from a little over 60 degrees to a little over 50 degrees!!

I exhaled. I think I was holding my breath. I think the room filled with the air that left my body.

And then all I could think was “I didn’t pray for this. I didn’t pray for this. I didn’t pray for this!”

Because it had never crossed my mind (or Blake’s – I asked him!) to pray for Tate’s curve to GET BETTER.

The Lord is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think!!!

“Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us.” Ephesians 3:20

The surgeon believes nutrition and improved balance are a part of this amazing change.

Probably so.

But we are still praising and praising and praising our Lord!

The surgeon wants to see Tate again with new scans in six months, but he did say today that there is a possibility that Tate could go his whole life just the way he is.

I think I will start praying for that!!

After we finished at the hospital we headed to the Co-op for some lunch.

I had a smile bigger than my face and tears in my eyes constantly!

Eliza kept saying to me “MOMMY!! Get that crying out of your eyes!!”

I kept telling her they were happy, happy tears!

Then we had the long drive home.

The littles did this –

And I sat lost in thought, chatting with Jesus, looking out the window, with that same huge smile on my face and those tears in my eyes, while sipping this –

Exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think.

We will take it.

For Tate’s sake, thank you, Lord.

A Recipe//Chocolate Cupcakes with Chocolate Frosting

by Steph // Wednesday, March 16, 2016 // Comments off

I have made these cupcakes many, many times! Sometimes we make them plain and call them muffins. Sometimes we add chocolate chips to the batter and call them chocolate chip muffins. Sometimes we add the chocolate chips and frost them and call them chocolate cupcakes!

They are yummy anyway you make them! They are also grain-free, dairy-free, and egg-free.

Both the cupcake recipe and the frosting recipe are from this book.

Chocolate Brownie Cupcakes

Dry Ingredients:
3 cups blanched almond flour
1/2 cup cocoa powder
1/4 cup arrowroot powder
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp sea salt

Wet Ingredients:
1 cup coconut milk
1/2 cup honey
1/4 cup melted coconut oil
2 tsp vanilla
1 tsp almond flavoring

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a 12-cup muffin pan with paper liners.

In a bowl whisk together the dry ingredients. Break up any lumps with your fingers. In a separate bowl, whisk together the wet ingredients. Add the wet to the dry and whisk together well.

Spoon batter into cups. Bake 30 minutes. Let cool 10 to 15 minutes before removing from pan and transferring to a wire rack. They are very fragile when hot. They firm up once completely cool.

Chocolate Avocado Frosting

one large ripe avocado mashed (about 1/2 cup)
3 to 4 tablespoons honey or pure maple syrup
3 to 4 tablespoons cocoa powder
2 tablespoons melted coconut oil
1 1/2 tsp vanilla
1 tsp almond flavoring
1/2 tsp lemon juice

Place all in a food processor with the “s” blade. Process till smooth and creamy. Chill in fridge for two hours before using. Yield: 1 cup and plenty for twelve cupcakes

SO yummy!!

Enjoy!!!