A new series....hopefully!

So there have been some revelations around here lately.  In many different areas of life.  For myself one area that has taken on a new shape is realizing that I can't do it all.  Wow, amazing, right?  Maybe you all figured this out already.  It has taken me ummm.... way too long!  But better late than never, right?  So this new series will document the areas that I am learning to "make it work".  That is, making it work for *ME*.  This also coincides with a few other changes, for example the idea of taking all this stuff I know in my head and living it.  I need to stop the research and instead live it out.

Thankfully I had a conversation with a friend who really helped to show me I was on the right path with this idea.  She explained that there are some people who know the "what", and others who know the "how".  For her own example she used her sister, who had researched a new diet that she thought could help my friend's family.  However this sister had no idea of how to actually make it work.  My friend on the other hand is not good in the searching out of new ideas, but when given an idea, in this case the diet, she was able to make it work for her family.

I fall in the category of knowing the 'what'. I fall way short of knowing HOW to make it work for my family.  So this series is an attempt of me figuring out the "HOW".

The idea of "Making It Work" for my family, being at peace with it, and knowing that there will be a time to do more in another season of life, have been freeing.  Realizing that my personality, strengths and weaknesses all lend to how things will actually play out in my home is starting to bring hope for my frazzled brain.  For example our schooling is never perfect.  And for a very long time this has been a burden to me.  But coming to realize that I need to only look to the Lord to see what He would have me do, and NOT to worry about how everyone else is doing it, has been a huge weight off my shoulders.  This does not mean I am walking in perfect peace, but that I am learning.

I am looking forward to working on certain areas around our home, taking the ideas that are in my head, and making them a reality.  This series will encompass many areas, some of which will be me just trying to make it work with what I have on hand.  AND learning to be at peace with the results!  So come join me, and see what I learn along the way.  I can't promise that a new post will be up on a certain day, but I would like to try to get a new one up every Monday or two.

Let me know how you are "Making It Work" for you and your family...whatever that *it* is :-)

The Ball

I only have a moment.  We finally got the pictures off of my camera.  There is some issue with my camera not being recognized by my computer to upload the pictures.  We were finally able to get them uploaded with a card reader.  I really hope there isn't another issue with my camera!  Ugh.

Anyways, I wanted to share the pictures I took of the girls and Jeremiah right before they went off to the Ball.  They were running late, and thought they would get pictures there, but I insisted.  Good thing too, because they forgot their cameras!  By the time they got home, well it definitely looked like they spent the night dancing :-)

Here they were, all made up:

When there are bumps in the road...or in your mouth

My oh my it has bee a while.  I haven't had time to get on here and type with two hands.  I really don't like typing one handed.  Though I suppose that is because I am long winded!  Ha, ha!  Never the less, I have a few minutes.  I have been 'training' the baby to fall asleep on her own.  She was not settling well with nursing to sleep.  She kept fussing, kicking and would cry even as she was nursing to sleep.  I'm not sure why, but the only other way to get her to sleep was to walk her around and patting her bottom.  Doing that when needed *at times* isn't a big deal, but it was getting to be every time she needed to sleep.  I figured if she was going to fuss and cry through all of that I might as well take it a next step and teach her to fall asleep on her own.  I decided to first let her fall asleep on me.  I pat her back, making sure not to rock or sway, and talk softly to her if she starts to cry.  This is only day three and she only fussed a total of two minutes in my arms this morning!  So hopefully that means I will have more time to get things done around here :-)

As for the bump in the mouth...well I thought I would pass on what I have learned this week.  Usually with each pregnancy I would get inflamed gums, and maybe some bleeding.  This pregnancy I didn't, and I know that had a lot to do with my diet.  However, this postpartum period hadn't gone exactly as planned, and for the past few weeks I've eaten a very limited diet, the result of not having two hands, or the time to cook proper meals.  So a few days before Easter I noticed my gums over my last two molars was getting inflamed and started bleeding a bit (when brushing my teeth).  No biggie I thought.  Some extra care and all will be well.  Except that wasn't what happened.  Two days after noticing the inflammation this area pretty much 'exploded' in severity.  I have never seen my gums do what they did.  This was major swelling!  To the point that it felt my one tooth was a bit loose!!  Not to mention I was getting pain along with all of this.  So I tried some tea tree oil and some salt gargles.  Nope, nothing.  The next day, which was the day before Easter, I tried some garlic packs (I crushed some garlic, and mixed it with some coconut oil, and wrapped it in some gauze).  I put the pack in for 10 to 15 minutes at a time, every two or three hours.  Progress was finally noted!  Phew!  And then Easter.  I had some sugar, and to make matters worse, I was not able to do any of the garlic packs that day.  Monday morning saw me back to square one.  Ugh.  So I upped my routine.  I did the garlic, coconut oil, and added turmeric (for inflammation),and two drops of oil of oregano in a pack.  Thankfully I saw major progress in two applications.  If I had not seen quick progress I would have had to go into the dentist, because truly this was not a good looking situation!

After three days of this routine I felt defeated.  Things were not getting worse but they also were not improving any more than Monday.  Thankfully the pain was gone, and the swelling was down by 80%.  But the swelling wouldn't budge.  I even started a nutritional approach since I knew I didn't have time on my side if this thing got out of control.  I cut out all sugar, except fruit (though my only sugar source, save Easter, is honey normally).  I made a smoothie packed with greens and other good stuff for my breakfast, a large salad for lunch, and a gluten free dinner.  I started this eating plan on Monday, along with the extra applications of the garlic pack, but still no progress.  So I got online to see if there was anything else to be done.  A few of the suggestions were ones I was already doing.  Ugh.  But then I came across the idea of using a tea bag (that had been steeped, and cooled) on the gums.  I have tea bags, and what could it hurt?  The garlic concoctions were messing with my skin on my gums, becoming very sensitive and sore.  I left the tea bag in for 30 minutes.  It was bed time when I did this, and I fell asleep soon after I removed it. This morning I woke up to *NORMAL* gums!!  Huge sigh of relief!

I am very happy that I was able to tackle this without a visit to the dentist.  I will continue with the tea packs and maybe a garlic pack or two for the next couple of days, along with my new eating plan.  The reason behind swollen gums is that the bacteria of the mouth have gotten out of control.  No surprise there!  I already know I have a HUGE issue with the lack of good bacteria ever since the baby was born.  I made up a bit of a 'schedule' or plan on upping my good bacteria levels.  Since it seems to bother the baby if I eat/drink more than a certain amount of ferments I am starting from square one.  I am consuming 1/4 cup of kombucha a day.  Next week I will keep up the 1/4 cup kombucha and add in 1 tsp of fermented veggie juice.  Each week I plan on increasing the level of those two ferments until about two months from now when I plan on adding in 1 TBS of kefir each day and see how that is tolerated...in *me*.  I am hoping that since by that point we will be swimming in raw goat's milk that my body will be able to handle the raw goat's milk kefir.  We shall see!