It's decaf…
It's non-dairy…
It's non-fat and sugar-free…
It's tedious…
But it's worth it for my cup o' java every morning!
6 oz. water
3 level T. freshly ground decaf coffee
1/2 c. rice milk
1/2 T. agave nectar
a few drops each, vanilla and almond extract
: )
Alesha
We are doing fine here in sunny/rainy Florida. (You know, we have them each in turn: the sun and the rain; and then we have them together: sun showers – one of my favorite kinds of rain.) 🙂
Isaac is doing well, although since Friday, he has not slept one night through. He had been sleeping so soundly every night for almost a month; but suddenly he is finished with that. I guess it was just too boring for him! So now he is waking up a couple of times each night, or either he never goes back to sleep after he first wakes. He does sometimes nap between 6-8 a.m., but then stays awake the rest of the day.
So, obviously, Doug and I are t-i-r-e-d! I feel like we are burning our candle at both ends, and the wick is just about completely consumed. It's a good tired, I guess.
We are making it to all the church services (twice on Sunday and again on Wednesday night.) I'm also managing choir practice on Sunday evening and Wednesday evening, and special music practice on some Sunday nights after the service. It's a lot, but I am enjoying it.
Isaac seems to really enjoy being in the church building with all the people before and after the services. He always has enjoyed noisy places. I've read that the NICUs in the hospital are very noisy places, and that preemies get used to that level of noise. They find it soothing. Isaac's foster parents told us that when they first got him he cried all the time; but he would quiet down in his favorite places: church and Cracker Barrel. : )
People are getting to know him, which is nice. Folks are asking me questions about him, which I much prefer to staring. : ) Some people have volunteered to watch him for us during a service, but there is much to be considered before we can do that. He needs to be changed during almost every service, but there isn't an appropriate place for that yet. When it's just him and Daddy, it's no big deal; but others will need to be trained to lift him. They will also need to learn to recognize his seizures, as well as learn how to engage him so that he doesn't become overstimulated, noisy and obnoxious! (although he does that last bit with us sometimes, too! lol!)
Daddy has decided to take a much needed day off of therapy today. It does make quite a full week for him when he does all the church services and both days of therapy. Each trip to therapy is 4 hours of driving. The therapy is totally worth the drive time; but occasionally we just need a break. : ) Hopefully we'll be able to get Isaac's hair cut today. He is getting a little "shaggy". ; )
I guess that's it for today. We're struggling right now with our diet, and have not been eating as well as we should be. It really takes a toll on my energy levels when we don't stick to the eating plan. That's my only excuse for not blogging as much as I should. : / Every week, we are getting back on track a little more. Lord willing, my energy levels will rise with each healthy habit we practice.
I pray you have a great day, and can count each of God's blessings as He gives them.
Alesha
Congrats to Jessica who dropped by my blog to visit for the first time, and promptly won the contest for the earrings!
Thanks to everybody who played along, including those of you from Facebook. Unfortunately, Facebook was having issues with my feed, and didn't post the blog until about 5 p.m. : (
Jessica, if you will email me your snail mail address by clicking the
"Email me" link on the right, I will get those pretty earrings out to
you first thing next week. : )
By the way, when readers ask me questions in the comments section, I do my best to reply to your comment with the answer. So, if you check back here later, you will find my answers to you.
OR you can subscribe to my comment feed by clicking "Follow me on my profile" over there on the right side column. If you do that, you will see any comments that I leave on any blog on Typepad that I happen to visit. Could be a bit more info than you really want, though. ; )
I'm going to do another giveaway soon, because I hate to see pretty jewelry just sitting in a box on my dresser! My hubby says I am too generous for my own good…but it's so fun to give things away!!! I just can't help myself once in a while.
Hope ya'll have a great weekend!
Alesha
"…A pot, a pan, a broom, a hat."
(Free earrings to the first person to leave on comment on my blog, naming the origin of the above quote.) : D
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I hope you all have had a good week. I haven't blogged every day this week, because it would've been the same blog over and over!
Yep, one of those ordinary, boring, nothing-exciting-happened weeks…for which I am extremely grateful!!!
We do have a couple of tropical systems somewhere out in the Atlantic, but I really don't know much about them. Any time someone starts to discuss them, I just put my fingers in my ears, and go "La la la la la la la la." ; )
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Neither Isaac nor I have felt very well this week, so we have laid low, taken it easy, and for Isaac, had lots of naps.
His mystery fever was back for a couple of days this week. <sigh> We still don't have a clue…but are keeping a really close eye on him. We can't just ignore it, of course…something must be causing the low-grade temps.
Here's a question for you medically-minded people out there, or for those with medically fragile kiddos: Could the temperature in the house cause him to run a temp?
Our house is small with one window until a/c, and we run 2 fans 24/7 to move the air into his room. However, we are in Florida, and the temps get extremely high outside; and due to very little insulation, the room that the sun is shining on gets very hot.
Isaac's room is on the northwest side of the house, so it gets a full blast of afternoon and evening sun. His room probably gets to 80* or better some afternoons.
Could this cause his temp to go to 100*? I know his brain doesn't regulate his temps very well, but I just don't know if it could cause that much of a rise in his temp.
Any input or ideas would be very much welcomed.
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I sold a pair of earrings last week! It was very exciting, because they were bought by a person unknown to me. Just someone who found my site and liked the jewelry, I guess. I really hope they like it when it gets there. I always want my customers to be very pleased and satisfied with their purchases.
My mom has blessed me the past 2 months by paying a friend to come and clean at my house for a couple of hours a month. It has been such a blessing. She does such a nice job, plus it is nice to fellowship with a friend while we're working. We've worked out a plan for her to come an extra time each month: I'm going to make jewelry for her and she's going to clean for me. : ) : ) : ) I am so excited and pleased to be able to do that!
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I'm needing to be very careful with my back this week. It is feeling very "fragile", so I am not doing much with Isaac or the house. We just sort of put everything on "hold" if we can. For those things that can't wait, my hubby works very hard to take care of them.
I've been enjoying some of those books that my mother-in-love mailed to us last month while I've been resting this week. Isn't that so handy that she sent them? : )
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For any new Facebook friends who have wandered over here to my blog, feel free to check out the "All About Isaac" tab at the top of the page. It has his adoption story there, and also a little bit about his medical condition.
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I guess that's it for this week. I am hoping to resume my regular blogging schedule soon, but it's still summer, so we'll see! : D I don't consider the summer finished until September starts…I'm just "old school" that way!
I pray that ya'll have a wonderful weekend, and that you are able to assemble with other Christians and worship the Lord together. I know sometimes you just can't get to church; but if you can, I hope that you will. If you cannot, I invite you again to watch our services online: Landmark Baptist Church.
Blessings to you,
Alesha
Thank you for reading my blog. Really…I mean it! I truly enjoy blogging and sharing our lives with you; but it would be a boring, dissatisfying exercise if it weren't for your comments and participation.
So, thank you! I am so glad you are here.
I have so many things to tell you about, so let's get started.
First, we have taken Isaac to 6 doctors in the last 4 weeks. It has been exhausting physically, mentally and emotionally. I'll try to sum up in bullets:
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I won a blog contest a few week's back and received the yummiest wash cloths from Copperswife, Cheryl. They are the softest, prettiest things I've seen in a long time. I am using them only for Isaac, and they are especially nice for washing his face every morning. : ) Here are a couple of pics. I planned to get a few more pics, but was unable to do so (more on that later).
Be sure to read Cheryl's latest blog. It has some encouragement for us to have the proper priorities as we finish up our busy summers and head into the upcoming school year. It's a good read, as usual!
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Isaac received another nice surprise last month from our friends Jerry and Laura in Japan. Jerry and a group of other missionaries and interns climbed Mt. Fuji in Japan! It was an awesome trip. Be sure to catch his first installment of the journey on his blog, linked above.
Jerry had offered to mail postcards from the post office at the top of Mt. Fuji, and so I had asked him to send one to Isaac. Not only did he send a beautiful postcard, but he also included the headband that he wore on his trek. This is the message that Jerry sent to Isaac. (After the month that we have had, you can imagine how these kind words touched this mommy's heart. )
"Dear Isaac, When a Japanese person has a difficult job to do, they wear a headband with a message written on it to encourage them. Each member of our group wore a headband with the Kanji 'Hisshou' (victory) written on it. This is my headband. I hope it will encourage you in whatever hard jobs you have to do. Habakkuk 3:19"
(Laura, I hope I have it right side up! : ) I "googled" it so see how to turn it. )
It is amazing the things that God puts into motion weeks, months or even years before you need a Word from Him. I'm sure this climb has been something that Jerry has pondered for a long time. And at just the right time, God allowed him to make this climb, and then he, in turn, passed on a blessing to us. Our God is incredible.
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I know this post has gone on forever, but I have just a few more things to share. : )
New shirts for Isaac
New shirts for Mommy : )
Our new parsley plant (in a cute little pot, courtesy of Grammy).
On a sad note, my new camera has DIED!!! You can't even imagine my sadness! We had only had it for a couple of months, and I had just learned how to take much better pictures of my jewelry with it! I was taking some pictures, and the camera fell on the floor. It jammed the lense mechanism, and now the lense won't open. When the lense doesn't open, the camera won't even come on and stay on. I am very, very sad! I will be pulling out my old camera that takes AA batteries to see if I can use it again. (Insert my deep, heavy sigh here!) Did I tell you how SAD this makes me??? : (
And my last little bit of news…I have joined the choir at my church!!! I am so excited to be singing again! I am enjoying the practices so much, and of course, the fellowship that comes with it. Don't forget, if you can't make it to your church on Sunday, you can watch ours online in real time. Here's the link: Landmark Baptist Church. Just click the "media" tab, then the "live services" tab. (You might even see me in the choir!!! tee hee hee!) : )
Thank you, again, for coming to read my blog; and I especially want to thank you for your prayers for us. We appreciate it so much.
God's richest blessings to you,
Alesha
Romans 15:4
For whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the scriptures might have hope.
Hope comes through patience.
Oh great!
But wait, where do we find our patience?
Our patience comes through the comfort of the Scriptures.
When we read the Word, we find the stories of other Christ-followers. Many times, I have found great encouragement reading how another Christian handled an adversity.
Sometimes, I've even found comfort in the telling of their failures.
Everything in the Bible was written for us…that we might learn from it.
The knowledge we glean from the Word of God teaches us about the character of God, and how He works with His children. The more I know of the character of God, the more I can trust Him for my life.
- As I read the Scriptures,
- I find comfort there
- and I learn to be patient as God is working in me.
That comfort and that patience give me hope!
Ok, ya'll…I just made up this dish today, and it was so yummy, I knew I had to share it with you. : )
I get tired of salad reeeeeally quickly, but I know all of those beautiful, raw veggies are so good for me. This is what I came up with:
Bold and Tangy Salad Boats
1/2 cucumber diced
1 vine ripened tomato diced
2-3 cloves of garlic, minced or pressed in a garlic press
Sea salt to taste
2 T. flax seed oil
2 T. balsamic vinegar
2-3 romaine lettuce leaves
Spinach leaves
Prepare veggies and set aside. Combine oil and vinegar. Pour oil and vinegar mixture over veggies, add salt to taste, and toss to mix.
Lay romaine lettuce "boats" on a plate and line each with 4-5 leaves of spinach. Sprinkle with salt. Spoon veggie mixture into each "boat". Drizzle any extra oil and vinegar over the leaves.
Now there are so many variations on this, so just let your imagination go wild with it. If you come up with something really yummy, be sure to let me know!
I'm sure you could use olive oil instead of flax oil and any kind of vinegar. I just used what I had on hand. I call it bold and tangy because of the combination of the raw garlic and the vinegar. It was just perfect!
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There are several things I need to share with ya'll, but it is going to be another busy week for us. As soon as I can, though, I'll be sharing with you about the following:
Thank you for your patience. : )
OH, and before I forget, I wanted to just Praise the Lord for the Miracle Offering at our church. Thank you for your prayers!
Our goal was $150,000, and we took up just over $238,000 with another $17,000 committed to be given in the next few months, giving us a total of over $255,000!!!
Isn't that just amazing?!!! Our God is SO great and mighty!!!
I can't wait to hear testimony of how God blesses the givers in our church! It should be very exciting!
God bless your week,
Alesha
Obtaining Mercy 