Daniel Fast: Day 2

Today marks Day 2 of my Daniel fast. It has been strange to me
which foods I really missed. I Knew that Coffee would be the
thing that I would be dying for. But I think since I have been
weaning myself off for a few weeks now, it was not the problem
yesterday. The problem food? Sweets. There is absolutely no sugar
on this fast!!! But last night I threw some pineapple slices on the
grill and they were so good it almost felt like I was cheating.

Today I am feeling better than yesterday. However yesterday
started out well and ended with me being very irritable. Which
my endocrinologist warned me would happen when trying to
stop coffee.

Amazing that several times I have thought, "How am I going to
do this?" But once I sit down to The Word or a devotional, I am
immediately renewed. I once again feel like I can do this.

Again why am I amazed? but God brought forth 2 devotionals this
morning that really spoke to my heart. One contained one of my
favorite Psalms. "I will sing to the Lord as long as I live; I will
sing praise to my God while I have my being" Psalm 104:12,33.
The other spoke of believers being consecrated for a purpose.
We are to be about the Lord's work. For those of you that do not
know me, I am a singer. I sing on a praise team at our church
called The Hill. I am constantly under attack by Satan about
my singing abilities. It is such a strange line to walk to be
giving all of my talents and abilities to the Lord and at the
same time being in front of people. You have to in a sense
perform but at the same time you can't be just performing.
I was reminded today that I have been given a gift. No I am
not the best, but it is not for me to decided that because I am
not the best I will not sing. God uses what we give for His plan
and His purpose. He wants me to praise Him and He will take
care of the rest.
It is has been the case that the Lord will give me a song that
is kinda like a theme song when I fast. This fast I know that
my focus needs to be on being still and listening to His voice.
My song for this fast or at least one of them is a song called
Restless by a wonderful artist named Audrey Assad. She really
inspires me. Want to have your heart blessed beyond measure
today? Listen to this song!!

Daniel Fast: Day 1

I have recently been feeling a call to start a fast. I had done one a
little over a year ago. During that time I had read about a fast called
The Daniel Fast. It is a 21 day partial fast. You abstain from dairy,
meat, all sweeteners, all leavened bread, all refined and processed
foods. So you Can have fruits, vegetables, whole grains, nuts, seeds,
legumes, quality oils and distilled or filtered water. Oh and I did
not mention- NO COFFEE!!! A wonderful Christian woman
named Susan Gregory wrote a book about it and it is very helpful.
But when I first read about this I said "NO Way!!" There was no
way in the world I could ever take on a challenge like this. But I
believe that God uses time to bring us to where He wants us and
about 10 days ago I was brought back the The Daniel Fast and
realized it was time.
It should never amaze me, but it does, how God brings everything
into alignment to fall into place at the exact right time. I found out
about 2 weeks ago that coffee and thyroid medication do not go
well together. I take an extremely high dose of medication and we
have been exploring reasons why. So in effort to find out if coffee
is playing a problem, I have cut back drastically. Then along came
this fast where I am to drink no coffee. And I had been feeling a tug
to do a fast and I had read about this fast over a year ago. I just
do not believe in coincidence. Everything has fallen into place for
me to do this.
SO today is day One!! Susan encourages you to get up as early as you
need to, to spend time with the Lord, maybe exercise and start the
day out right. Making sacrifices that you may not usually make. So
I got up at 6:15 and went for my run/walk. I am starting week 4 this
week of a 12 week program to go from 0-30 minutes of running in
12 weeks. Then I came home filled up my water cup and sat down
for my quiet time. Again I am not sure why it amazes me, but it does.
I read the devotional that Susan provides in the Daniel Fast book.
Then I read a short devotional from a book that my friend gave me.
AND they were almost exactly the same. The one that was not in
the Daniel fast was about Nehemiah and how he fasted. Both about
not getting so caught up in life that we forget to put God first.
God has been so faithful at every step of this process!! I can't even
begin to imagine what this 21 days will bring. I know that God
has already began to speak. It is going to be awesome!!

Paper Beads Bracelets Series: Day 1

Our Etsy shop has had me a bit busy lately so I

have not been so good about the blogging.

In an attempt to make up for the lag, I am 

going to do a series on some different paper

bead bracelets. 

My Friend Kelli brought me several colors of

scrap book paper and card stock to make her

some bracelets. So I thought I would kill 2

birds with one stone and do a blog about the

bracelets I am making for her. All of these

bracelets will start with beads I have 

already made. So if you are completely lost,

you will need to go back and review the blog

where I taught you to make paper beads.

I of course made several of the bracelets in

my stretch cord and glass bead combo like shown

in my previous blogs. But lately I have been

working more with jewelry wire and crimp beads

and clasps so I thought I would try it with

my paper beads.

Materials Needed:

-Paper Beads (this bracelet I used 9)

-Seed Beads 

-Jewelry Wire

-Clasp of your choice (I used a bar and circle set)

-2 crimp bead tubes

-crimper tool

-wire cutters (not shown)

First you will cut a length of wire. I

cut about 3-4" more the than finished size I wanted. 

When you measure your wrist for bracelet size you 

will add 1/2" to that for your bracelet size. This 

whole crimping business is new to me so I hope I do 

not confuse. Please post questions if you need 

clarification. You will put the crimp bead tube and 

one part of the clasp on one end to start. You will 

then thread the end of the wire back through the 

crimp bead making a loop around your clasp. You 

will then use your crimping tool to flatten the tube.

Then you will use your tool to crimp the 2 flattened 

ends together. Please see the video for more specific

teaching.

Once you have the crimp bead tube crimped you will

cut the excess wire as close as you can making sure

not to cut both wires.

Now you can begin to string your beads. I started

with 3 clear silver lined seed beads and then a 

paper bead. I continued in this pattern until I 

reached approximately 6 1/2". Keep in mind the

clasp with add about 1/2-3/4" to the entire length.

Finally you string the other crimp tube and the 

other part of the clasp and crimp and trim once

again.

And there you have it!!

Etsy Artisan of the Week!!

I saw this weeks Etsy shop and I was immediately in LOVE!! 
Not only is every item as adorable as they come but this shop
owner also has a message and a mission!! 

This week's shop is Maple Shade Kids owned by a kind woman

named Wanda Hirsch. Wanda is the mother of a 10 year old 

daughter and 7 year old twin sons. She hales from the beautiful

state of New Hampshire. As already stated ALL of her items are

precious and perfect for our homes. BUT she also is doing her 

part in the process. With every product purchased she donates

to Trees for the Future to plant trees. AND she is a shop owner 

that strives to keep her products natural and safe for children.

OH MY where to begin with a couple favorite items?? So if you

know me, you know I think anything with owls is sweet! I have

been known to make an owl hat or two in my day. I love her 

animal decorated peg racks and I think the ones with owls

are my favorites!

If your kids are like mine, then they have sweaters and jackets

a plenty. A rack like this would come in very handy. Only problem

is deciding which one you want because they are all so darn 

cute!!

How many of us parents have art all over our fridge and some

to boot? Problem solved!! Wanda makes these perfect little

art hangers that come with clothes pins to hang up all the 

art projects!

If you take a look at her site you can see that you could coordinate

a theme for your child's room. She has the peg racks, she has 

shelves, she has the art hangers, and she has collage art hangings.

I really like her art collages because every detail has been given to 

using recycled and/or safe products. Check out the elephant and

blue bird collage.

We have now come the the Don't Take My Word for it portion of my

blog. With a 100% positive feedback at her shop there is no problem

finding people who are nuts about her work!!

-Excellent customer service! Beautiful packaging! The birds are darling!!! I love them so much and can't wait to start displaying my girls' artwork in a cool new way!! Thanks so much for the extra bird magnet...it's great!!! Definately will be back for more items in the future!!!

-Really lovely work! Exactly as pictured - extremely smooth and FAST transaction! Will definitely purchase from again!

-They are the most beautiful things in my baby's room! LOVE IT!

-I love it! Thanks for the excellent product and communication and quick shipping. You have a new return customer.

You cannot go wrong visiting Maple Shade Kids!! With every item created

beautifully and safely, you only have to choose!!

But I can tell you now, you will not be able to pick just one item!! 

Visit Wanda's shop today  www.mapleshadekids.etsy.com 

And Wanda takes part of an Etsy group called Natural Kids Team
and they have a blog too!!  Natural Kids Blog: 

http://natural-kids.blogspot.com/2009/04/friday-feature-with-maple-shade-kids.html

Child Allergy Topics: Food Allergy Awareness Week

There was a time in my life, before kids, when I made fun of that
nerdy little boy or girl who appeared to be mothered to death
by their mom because of their "food allergies". HAHAHAHA and
now look at me!! I am the mother, mothering my child to death 
because of his "Food Allergies". You don't realize how crazy it is
until you try it!! But because I am a mom of a child with Severe
Food, Drug and Environmental allergies, I want to get the word
out there about what it is like to live in our world.


This week is food allergy awareness week sponsored by a group
called FAAN- The Food Allergy and Anaphylaxis Network! I just
received an e-mail from this group last week and until then I had 
never heard of them before. Their goal this week is to get as much
information out to the public as they can about food allergies. 
They have a lot of info aimed at helping parents get information
into their schools about what it is like to have allergies and what
we do about it in our homes. Let's face it sometimes kids can be
mean when someone else is different. But once we give them
education and open up a discussion, they feel more at ease. 


FAAN has on their site something that I absolutely Love!!
A Myths page!! It addresses a lot of topics that people have
questioned me about and questions that I have asked our allergist.
That page can be found here:
http://www.foodallergy.org/page/myths?

I highly recommend the FAAN site to everyone who wants to know
more about Food Allergies. It is a helpful site for me as well because
they are not just about education but they also take part in research
to help people who live with allergies. 


We have come to a time when we all will come in contact with 
someone who has food allergies. Why not get educated and learn
more about what it means to have food allergies?

Thyroid Thursday- Signs and Symptoms

As stated in my last Thyroid Thursday post, I did not realize

that I was having low thyroid symptoms. Probably for several 

years before I was diagnose I was feeling symptoms but I 

think a lot of people get busy and don't realize something is 

wrong until it is really wrong. Even now I am not the best at

recognizing that my medication dose may be off. 

Physical symptoms:

• Weight gain (due to fluid retention)
• Dry skin
• Yellow skin
• Hair loss, including the eyebrows
• Swollen face, hands, legs, ankles or feet
• Feeling cold
• Aches and pains in muscles or joints
• Hoarse or raspy voice
• Constipation
• Heavy menstrual bleeding or irregular periods
• Fatigue

Looking back I now see that I had several physical

symptoms:  fatigue, constipation, irregular periods

and aches and pain. Did I have dry skin? Well living in 

New Mexico that is pretty much a given so who knows.

I did have times of weight gain due to water retention

but I actually had lost a lot of weight because college

life allowed me to eat really once a day if I felt like it

Cognitive and mood-related symptoms:

• Slower thinking
• Trouble remembering things
• Slower speech or movement
• Feeling down or depressed

I normally struggle with the feeling down and depressed.

I have read that people with Hypothyroidism often

struggle with feeling unmotivated and this is often true

for me. Also my endocrinologist will ask me when my 

medication dose is too high if I am feeling anxiety.

I tell him I have 2 children and I work nights and I am 

often sleep deprived and yes I often have anxiety. But

who knows which one it is from.

Symptoms you might not be aware of:

• Enlarged thyroid gland (your doctor can check for this during an exam)
• Changes in cholesterol
• Slow heart rate 
• Infertility

My thyroid is enlarged and that is how my CNFP initially

found that something was up. Other wise these are

not things I deal with. I have my cholesterol checked 

because this can be an issue for people with Hypothyroidism.

Also I have read many times that women who are having

difficulty conceiving or carrying a pregnancy for any 

length of time will find that they have a low thyroid.

I will discuss in more depth in another blog about 

Hypothyroidism and pregnancy. But it is vitally important

if you have a low thyroid and are pregnant to have your

levels checked often. 

Research I have read says to keep in mind that even if

you have any of these symptoms it does not mean that

you do have Hypothyroidism. AND people can have it

and not have any signs and symptoms. So this is why

getting a yearly check up is important. We come from

a thought process that if it is not broke don't fix it.

But we need to change this lifestyle and be proactive

about our health.

Child Allergy Topics: Allergy Shots

As our son has gotten older, his environmental allergies

and asthma have become more of an issue. While we are 

continually taking measures in the home to make the air

better for him, we know that allergy shots will be in his 

future. His allergist says that the youngest he will do 

shots on children is age 5. But he says that the most 

difficult group to do shots in is 5 year old boys and our 

son is a 5 year old boy. So we have some time before we will 

really consider it. Once we decide to do this it is a big 

commitment for us because we will have to drive about 90-95 

miles round trip 2 times a week for 6-8 weeks for him to get

his shots. This is just the initial phase. The shot process 

can last years!! SO the question is, is it worth it?

I was reading today about allergy shots just because I want

to be educated on them once we decide to go forward with 

them. I found an article that really helped me.  One thing I

read really stood out to me and that was allergy shots 

decrease the risk of developing asthma by 50%. They also

decrease the risk for developing new allergies. While our

son already has asthma, this statistic is encouraging. With

the number of known allergens he is allergic to being 25 and I

know that there is more, this means we could slow or halt new

ones being added. Also his asthma could become less of a 

problem. 

When our son gets sick it is not like when other kids

get sick. A simple cold bring nebulizer treatments and 

steroids around the clock. Lots of missed school days and 

lots of doctors visits for asthma attacks that we are having 

difficulty getting under control. Often we wonder is this 

going to be the time he gets admitted. We are more than 

blessed that he has never been admitted but this last cold 

brought us the closest we have ever been. This cold season 

has by far been the worst he has ever had. He has been 

treated for Pneumonia 3 times since January. We had not 

done nebulizer treatments since he was 15 months old. Since

February we have gone through approx. 70 albuterol ampules. 

The information I have read looks very promising and while

it will be a huge commitment it seems like the price is worth

the gain. I know that after this cold and flu season we would

pay a great price to see him not suffer. 

What about you? Any experience with allergy shots? Tell me

what you think!!