Bob's Red Mill

We visited Bob's Red Mill here in Portland on Saturday. I kept hearing about it from people because they have a large line of gluten-free flours and products so I decided to try it. It is a very charming store, like you would expect to see in a small town. It is a big red barn with a water wheel and every one was very friendly. There is a picture of the owner on the wall of their cafe that adds to the charm .

Not only did I pick up lots of gluten-free flours for my holiday baking, but we had lunch there. I kind of forced BB because I wanted to taste their gluten-free soups and sandwiches. It was quite delicious. I had to buy their wonderful gluten-free bread mix after that. BB thinks it tastes like crap, but he hasn't tasted the other options out there either!!

We will definitely be back, for the food, atmosphere, and the charm.

Thanksgiving holiday

As I posted a few weeks ago, I cooked thanksgiving at my house. I dried out the turkey a little, but afterwards I found out I should have soaked the turkey in a salt solution for 6 hours??? It makes sense, scientifically, but I never would have guessed. I would say that, besides the turkey, everything turned out ok. I couldn't eat everything because of the wheat and dairy problem, but my guests did. My sister-in-law and my friend from work really hit it off. BB broke open some wine and everyone had a good time. They both drove my friend home so she wouldn't have to stand out in the night waiting for the bus.

After thanksgiving, we drove down to the coast and went hiking on friday. It was a beautiful, clear 60 degrees up at Cascade Head that day. They we went to the in-laws house in Newport that night. On Saturday, we drove down to Cape Perpetua. It was cloudy and a little colder, but Devils Churn was spectacular. BB may post pictures for you to see. It is an inlet off the cape where the tide comes in fiercely and "churns" itself in this big bowl area. Then we did a small hike on top of the cape that gives an amazing view of 70 miles of coastline. Of course we stopped at the outlet mall in Lincoln city for some christmas shopping.

Then before we left, we tried out the Hatfield Marine Science Center (next to the Oregon Coast Aquarium). It is donation only and quite a bit smaller than the Aquarium, but it had tidepools with skates that swam with their noses in the air which made them look like they were showing off for us. Nibbles stayed there to touch them about 45 minutes. They had a nice octupus in a tank that would spray the spectators with water that the kids really liked. They also had fossils, whale and walrus skeletons and lots of tanks with algae, fish, anemones, star fish, etc.... It was a nice place, educational too.

I got sick (probably from gluten) from having eaten out so much over the weekend, so I am not looking forward to going out of town anytime soon. It is much safer for me to eat at home.

Missing Kansas

Now that the holidays are coming, I am missing my family. We are missing our friends too ( YOU). Our new friends have yet to be as promising, although I am making close friends at my work through my bible study. My sister almost made plans to come up in December, but she decided to wait until the weather is better. I am making Thanksgiving dinner myself. My sister-in-law may come and I invited one of the researchers from the lab that is in my bible study who has no where else to go. She is from Iran (and she is a christian). BB isn't too happy that I invited someone he doesn't know, but I hope he likes her. Being alone for the holidays is a drag.

The kids are in a new sitter now. We have yet to determine how she is going to work out. It is about 15-20 more driving a day for me. BB has even more driving. Woogy is into transformers bigtime, thanks to BB. BB was a huge fan as a boy and now he is teaching Woogy all about them. Nibbles is obsessed with horses (Moos) and baby dolls and doing anything that mommy does like cleaning and making dinner, putting on make-up and talking on the phone. She still loves mama over dada. When will she grow out of that??? I can't even go to service at church, I spend it in her 2 year old class and I end up working every sunday since I am an official volunteer now. I always intend to download the sermons but I am too busy. Such is life.

Hearing from God

I have been praying for a lot of concerns in my life, that God would give me direction and clarity ( ie. our babysitter, our church) . I have not felt the Lord directly speaking to me very often in my life. One of the men in my bible study here at work is a spirit-filled christian, formerly a pastor of his own church, and he claims that God speaks to him all the time. I told him that this is a very rare occurrence for me, but my brother-in-the Lord feels that this is not the way it should be.

He believes that all christians can hear from God, we just need to pray that we hear Him, that we are sensitive to His Voice. So he and I have been praying for me for a few weeks now. I can't say that I feel terribly different yet. I have been praying about our church and BB and I have actually visited a few other churches besides Imago.

Yesterday we visited a spirit-filled church that was totally wrong for us. Woogy refused to stay without me and hid behind my back the entire time! He is very shy and is very resistant to change. He is still having potty training issues even now and everyone we talk to agrees it is because he is missing his old house, old church, old preschool and especially his cousins from KC. He mentions how much he misses them 2-4x a week! And with having to switch babysitters in a week, Woogy is going to be having a really hard time soon.

So we are at this church that is totally wrong f0r us and then we go to a later service at Imago. I work in the 2 year old class with Nibbles there, happy as a lark. Woogy happily goes to his class and BB goes to service to hear another enjoyable sermon from Pastor Rick. We talk to our friends after the service and then it hits me, this is where we belong. It's hard to describe. No, Imago is not a spirit-filled church and that is the #1 reason why I was looking for others, but I believe that God made it very clear to me that this is where we belong. I am almost sure it was God, but I am still skeptical. Does this show a lack of faith or just inexperience?????

The First Thanksgiving

As the centuries old holiday approaches, I often wonder what it was like. How did the first pilgrims celebrate that first thanksgiving. Did they eat turkey, cranberries and pumpkin pie? They obviously didn't watch football on TV or travel great distances to see family as we do. My in-laws are flying the 1800 miles east to see BB's sister and family. My office mate is flying to Pennsylvania.

As you can tell from the picture, I did a little research on the subject of thanksgiving and found out that they most likely did not eat cranberry sauce and sweet potatoes. Historians know for sure that they ate venison and some type of wild fowl. Here is a possible list of food they might have feasted on from www.history.com/minisites/thanksgiving.

Foods That May Have Been on the Menu
Seafood: Cod, Eel, Clams, Lobster

Wild Fowl: Wild Turkey, Goose, Duck, Crane, Swan, Partridge, Eagles

Meat: Venison, Seal

Grain: Wheat Flour, Indian Corn

Vegetables: Pumpkin, Peas, Beans, Onions, Lettuce, Radishes, Carrots

Fruit: Plums, Grapes

Nuts: Walnuts, Chestnuts, Acorns

Herbs and Seasonings: Olive Oil, Liverwort, Leeks, Dried Currants, Parsnips

Endless illness

Sometimes I wonder why God gives some people so many physical challenges and ailments. I am very blessed that I have a very healthy husband and son, who both rarely get sick. Unfortunately, little Nibbles and I have been sick most of this month.

Nibbles is having serious asthma problems. She has had two bad colds this month. With the first one, I got a call from my sitter saying Nibbles couldn't breathe. So I rush home and take her in to the pediatrician and she gets diagnosed with asthma. We have an inhaler for her now. But I had to use the thing on her constantly for a week and sometimes it didn't even help. So I took her back and they put her on steroids (prednisone). One week later, she gets another cold and the asthma starts over again. The worst thing is how she coughs when she is wheezing, all night long. None of us get any sleep. I give her the inhaler 2x a night when she is like this and it just barely helps. It has cleared up now, but just yesterday, she was having another runny nose, not even a week since she got over the last cold!!!

All BB has to say is that she must have inherited my immune system. It's true. I am not the healthiest person, even though I eat healthier than anyone I know and run everyday. I have had a sinus infection now for a month. I have learned that antibiotics do more harm than good, for me, and I resist going on them. So I am suffering, waiting for this one to go away on it's own. But I don't know how much more I can take. I have asked my church and bible study to pray for us, but a few more prayers would be appreciated.

Where is a babysitter when you need one?

We got a bomb dropped on us Wednesday night. Our sitter told us she is moving to California in two weeks. Now, she wasn't the best sitter we have ever had so I am not sure I will miss her, but BB and I will both miss her rates and her location. She was one block away and she was very affordable. And she is a christian who often asked us to keep her in our prayers. I often thought the Lord brought us into her house to help her out financially because a lot of her parents don't pay on time and she has had alot of financial problems. That's actually why she is moving, to get into a better position financially. They have family down there.

So, BB and I have been, quite frantically, looking for another sitter that we can afford. And we are not finding any that match our current sitter's rates. And we are finding most of those available are not close to us, so we would both have a much longer commute. We found someone almost as close to us as our current sitter, who BB went to meet yesterday. And except for her rates, she is perfect. We also went to visit another one yesterday who is about 20 minutes away from us, but she is not perfect for us. I am praying that God will open doors and give us clear direction in this matter.

And just last week in bible study, we were studying John and talking about God pruning us so we bear more fruit (John 15:2). One question asked when was the last time I felt pruned by God, and I had to admit it had been quite a while, maybe since we moved to Portland. So we all prayed as a group that God would allow us to bear much fruit in our lives and I am thinking, "How is God going to prune me to increase my faith?" He didn't wait very long, did He?