Speaking of which, we are emergency foster parenting these days. This has caused some confusion about our intent to adopt. Yes, we are planning on adopting from Romania....and, would love to be able to adopt out of the foster care system in Alaska. It is a mess. But I really feel like God will bring us the situations and kids and we'll just take them as they come. We have had a little guy with us for over a month. He's 3 and a doll. We're all smitten and watching to see what happens. It was supposed to be a temporary placement, but nothing is certain, is kinda the rule, with OCS. I have just started researching where his heritage is from and am completely fascinated with it! What a rich thing, to have a culture and a history that has a visible root (Americans kinda loose theirs). I want to learn everything, so I can teach him. So that he can be proud of how unique he is. He has adapted in our home well, but I know that the more comfortable he gets, the more he'll act like a 3 year old (Oiy!). So for now, we have 4 kids, running and playing, and squabbling....and laughing...and playing in the mud!
It has been really good for my youngest Zaya, to have a younger sibling. He is rising to the challenge of being a good role model, and adapting to the fact that He is not the youngest. It has been a positive change. Zaya finally has someone who listens to him.
Fall is fading quickly here. We had an incredible summer. The blueberries this years were absolutely incredible! I was able to pick 17 gallons! and though that sounds like a lot. It may last me through the winter. They are very precious to me (said in the Gullom voice). We had a swift fall, full of pretty much non stop rain. We were able to go out 4 wheeling and cranberry picking on Sunday for the first time in over a month. But it's supposed to be in the 20's in the next couple of days. YIKES! So today I harvested all the rest of my garden. I had beautiful potatoes and carrots (there were many bites in my carrots from voles! gggrrrrr) come up, that I will enjoy in the coming months. Grateful!
My adventures in homeschooling are moving along slowly. I cannot believe how behind Isaac is academically, for his grade. It took him 2 hours to attempt to copy a sentence today. And still it was something I had to help him do. On the positive side, he is doing awesome with the math curriculum that I got. It has him grouping and learning on the abacus, which he's a natural at! I can't tell you the elation that I get, seeing him "get it". We played a game of war with fractions....fractions?! and he was able to know that 3/4 beats 6/10..... Toby says I'm geeking out over the whole curriculum, and he may be right. He may be right.
So I am currently doing a 30 day paleo diet experiment. Why? To see if my body does well with it. I am switching out whole grains, for animal protein. As a vegan for 2 years, I have a few things that I have noticed. First, I have had an intense sugar addiction, that either was not there before, or I never noticed. I also struggle a lot with acid reflux. Considering how clean my diet has been, it always bugged me! The only answer I got was that my food combining was off. But seriously? Should there really be something else that I need to follow? Food should not be this land mine field of do's and don'ts. Ultimately, it's gotta be better living than that.
Because my garden is over, I harvested all my kale. I planted many, many kale plants, cause I heart kale. I use the leaves to make this, and the stems to juice. My favorite kale is the dinosaur variety. I am not a fan of the Russian variety. But to each, his own. Before making the sauce, be sure you have taken the stems off and cut the kale into chip sizes.
KALE CHIPS!
preheat oven to 350 or prepare dehydrator (I have never used the oven, so if someone does, please tell me how it comes out)
in a blender (or vitamix) mix together
1c hemp seeds
2/3c of water
1 red bell pepper
1T of chili powder
1T of lemon juice
1-2 cloves of garlic
something spicy (I put jalapenos, but this is optional!)
mix into a nice sauce, and pour on prepared kale. Mix with hands....it gets messy, and I have to always wash my hands..... now before putting the dehydrating trays away, or cookie sheet... lightly salt the top of the kale with a salt shaker!
I put the chips overnight in my dehydrator...you can check the oven every 5 minutes till they are our of the oven....another tip is to use cashews, if you don't have hemp seeds...just soak for about 20 minutes.... Enjoy!!!! These are way better than any store bought versions.
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