Rachel's Second Birthday

Rachel turned two years old! Her Mommy and Daddy threw her a small birthday party with a few friends, pink and white decorations, and Gluten Free Chocolate cake. Yum! Enjoy the pictures!

Before the party, Joshua and Rachel toot some party favors:


The Birthday Girl:


As friends arrived we had some fun in the snow...

Joel and Rachel take the first run.


Big Josh and Claire:

Mary and Anna:



Anna takes another ride:


After a craft (making party hats) and a small lunch, Rachel opened presents:



Then it was time for cake!




Meet some of Rachel's friends! Here is Claire, daughter of Joshua and Stephanie:


Here is sweet Anna and Joshua (good friends):


And, Amelia, who said "cheese" whenever the camera came out! :)


All the kids had candles in their heart-shaped cupcakes. As the parents sang "Happy Birthday" the kids had big grins on their faces. There was such joy in sharing in the moment with Rachel as they all blew out their own candles, not just celebrating Rachel's life but all the children's lives as well.

Good News!

So we got something from the clinic yesterday. It was the test results from Joel and Joshua's blood tests to see if they also have Celiac Disease.

The tests were NEGATIVE!!! hurrah!

(If you're wondering why I (Renee) did not get tested, it's because Celiac, which is hereditary, is on Joel's side of the family.)

Baby Name Ideas

Renee is looking for some ideas for baby names...
boy or girl...

Do YOU have any ideas??

What Joel's thankful for in this gluten-free experience...

My very first attempt at a gluten free meal last week, a vegetable noodle soup, found success with the Critic. As Rachel dug into her third helping she said "Thank-you" - a relatively new word for her. She took a big bite and nodded at me as though to say, "Yep - this hits the spot." She then proceeded to finish off another helping, plus the rest of Joshua's!
Rachel, I believe, is a lot happier. We are not totally gluten-free, but mostly. God is giving Renee great grace and great friends to get this rolling, but it doesn't happen overnight. Tonight she's looking for a good replacement to Nature's Seasoning. But Rachel is full of energy like we haven't seen in a long time. We joked that the lethargic nature was easier to deal with than this wound up toddler full of vim and vigor! Ah well, its fun and feels good to see her laughing and running around again. Thank-you Lord.

News Report (sort of)

Just a quick news report:

1. Joel and Renee will be seeing the Celiac Disease Specialist on the morning of Wednesday February 11.

2. Renee will be receiving an ultrasound in the afternoon of Wed. Feb 11. Hopefully, with the higher grade equipment, the docs will be able to see Grape Nut more clearly. (Boy or girl???, yes I know, there are more important things than that to look for...)

3. Both Joel and Joshua are being tested for Celiac Disease this week. Results should come back in about a week.

4. Gluten Free muffins did not flop last night! Though they are a bit dry today...

Thankful #2

Yes, I am still trying to be thankful:

-I am (very) thankful that fruit juice is gluten free.

-In the previous post ('Thankful') I mentioned making things from scratch. I bet you've never bought your own tapioca starch or your own guar gum! I've always wanted to know what guar gum looked like...

-I'm thankful for Quinoa noodles. (pronounced: keen-wa) Which are excellent by the way! Yum...

-Hundreds of people have done this (gluten-free diet) before and are doing it right now, there's lots of support, recipes, help, and ideas.

-And I'm thankful for YOU who read this blog and care about us.

Thankful

Yes, I am trying to be thankful. If I separate myself from my life and look at it from a world perspective, my life really isn't that bad. Everyone has a bad day, everyone suffers in one way or another, everyone has a story. It just seems that I've been thrown into a blender and I'm being bombarded with chunks of banana and frozen strawberries, not to mention trying to stay afloat in this yogurty mess.

Here's a few things I can be thankful for...

I'm sure you've (or you will soon if you scroll down) seen that our current toothpaste and floss is gluten free. I'm very thankful for this. Imagine spending $6 a tube every month and a half? No way. And yes, we have to be that picky. Gluten free means gluten free.

I'm thankful for the pasta sauce that we usually buy- no gluten!

I'm thankful that this gluten free diet (which we will all be on, probably) is a healthy one and a natural one. It's going to force me to make my own bread, and make things from scratch. (And I mean scratch!!)

I'm also thankful that my ultrasound results of Grape Nut officially arrived in the mail today. All clear. Everything looks good according to the doc. (yes, Amen!)

I am ever so thankful for the handful of people (well maybe two handfuls) who have offered their resources, their advice and their recipes. Wow! What a blessing. (I don't type that flippantly).

Lots of other things to be thankful for, but those are the major ones right now. (yes pasta sauce is major!)

Toothpaste

Hurrah!!!! Crest Toothpaste is GLUTEN FREE!!!!! And so is GLIDE FLOSS!!!! Hurrah! Hurrah! Hurrah!!!!!!!!

ok so I'm a little excited, one toiletry down, how many more to go??

Test Results

Test results came back for Rachel last night. The Pediatrician called us to let us know that Rachel tested positive for Celiac Disease.
That sounds terrible and awful, but really, it's just an allergy to gluten. We are relieved that it's nothing terminal, cancerous, or some unknown disease. This is fixable and doesn't involve medications. It does, however, require a major adjustment in diet. Gluten is in just about everything except rice, corn, potato, fruit, veggies, meat, dairy and eggs.
Gluten is found in wheat, oats, rye, pasta, vinegar, soups, sauces, spices and seasonings, candy, artificial coloring and other things.
But how about non-food items? Yup, gotta stay away from that too, because whatever is on your skin is absorbed into your blood stream. So...envelopes, stickers, medications, vitamins, soap, shampoo, lotion, cosmetics and toothpaste all have gluten (or can have). For more of an exhaustive list check out: www.gfcf.com

Joel and I will most likely see a specialist sometime in the near future to ask questions and learn about this disease. But for now, I am trying to eliminate gluten where I can with my limited knowledge.

Rachel Speaks

This is for Big Josh

It was an adventure, but I finally put that Alaskan King in its place - in my tummy. Thanks dude.

Brother and Sis