In September 2014 we found out that my Mother-in-Law was diagnosed with terminal stomach cancer. The blow was hard, fast and unexpected. Being only 59 years old, we assumed Mum would be around for many more years to come. Although we believed in faith for Mum's healing, her spirit passed into heaven in December that year. It was very traumatic to watch someone you love suffer and pass away so quickly before your eyes. We have confidence that Mum is up in heaven with Jesus worshiping and strumming a guitar or maybe some other heavenly instrument. This year is the year of letting go... A few months ago, my Mum's Mum - my Meemaw, passed away very quickly from cancer. I did not know her very well, but I know she loved me. We had lovely visit the year before and I am so glad we made that trip happen. This year is the year of letting go... Finally a few short weeks ago, we lost a tiny unborn baby, whom we have named Jacob Israel. We had a routine 12 week scan last month and found out our new little one's heart had stopped beating. We have named the baby (gender unknown) - Jacob Israel Wells. This name is special to us because Jacob is one of Josephine's recent favourite Bible characters. She wakes up in the morning and talks about going up to heaven to see Jacob, so we found it fitting to name our "heaven baby, " Jacob. Israel was the name God gave Jacob once he had seen the Lord. Our little one is now with the Lord and we will see the baby one day again. Overall we are at peace and know that God is in control, but losing someone never gets any easier. This year is the year of letting go... This post is in Memory of Merlene, Connie and Jacob-Israel.
October 15th is infant loss awareness day http://www.sands.org.nz/
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Spinach and Feta Meatballs (Gluten Free) Makes roughly: 15 meatballs Ingredients: 500 grams (roughly) of minced beef or lamb 1/2 - 1 teaspoon Garlic and Herb Salt. I put about about 3/4 teaspoon in. 1-2 cubes frozen spinach 40 grams feta cheese 3/4 cup milk 1/2 gluten free bread crumbs (mine were homemade that I store in the freezer) Preheat Oven to 205 Celsius (400 F) Directions: 1. Place all ingredients in a bowl and mix well. 2. Scoop out meatball mixture and roll into 5cm balls and place in a baking dish ( I prefer glass). I put them in the dish 1 layer thick in little lines (see photo below) 3. Bake until cooked through - roughly 15 minutes. Serve immediately with aioli, marinara sauce, ketchup or dip of your choice. Hints: You can change up the mix-ins or leave the feta out. Sometimes I use grated carrot instead of spinach. You could use garlic, salt and pepper combo if you don't have garlic and herb salt. These always disappear quickly and I think they are yum! Great as a party food, entree/appetizer or part of a main for dinner. I served them with gluten free mac n cheese and roasted pumpkin slices. Comment with your favourite meatball recipe. :D Pumpkin Cacao Chip Muffins ( Gluten Free and sweetened with honey) Recipe adapted from: http://cookieandkate.com/2014/healthy-maple-pumpkin-muffins/ Prep time: 10 mins Cook time: 23 mins Total time: 33 mins Serves: 10 muffins -or 12 mini muffins and 5 large muffins INGREDIENTS
INSTRUCTIONS
NOTES Recipe adapted from http://cookieandkate.com/2014/healthy-maple-pumpkin-muffins/ *MAKE IT EGG FREE: Muffins turn out well with flax eggs! STORAGE SUGGESTIONS: These muffins keep well in the freezer. Store them in a freezer-safe bag and defrost individual muffins as needed. CHANGE IT UP: You could really go crazy with add-ins here! Fold in mini dark chocolate chips, chopped dried cranberries or crystallized ginger and/or chopped nuts like pecans or walnuts. J helped me make them. I think her favourite part was eating them!
This morning, J decided it was time to wake up at 6:45am. -_- It is Saturday. So I decided to make the most of the early start and make a yummy, healthy, gluten free breakfast that she would be happy to gobble up! She was so excited she sang the whole breakfast time. My favourite J quote of the morning was, "Daddy your smoothie is ready! You better drink it up if you want it!"
Breakfast - Banana Waffles and Blueberry Banana Smoothies Banana Waffles: 2 bananas 2 eggs (free range if you desire) 1 tablespoon of gluten free flour Pop it all into the food processor and mix it up until smooth. Cook them either as a mini pancake on a hot pan with coconut oil or in a waffle press. Serve with fresh sugar free preserves or if you are lazy like me - St. Dalfour's NO SUGAR added strawberry jam! Blueberry Banana Smoothie: 1 cup frozen blueberries 1 cup milk ( we used goats milk) 1 tablespoon honey 1 banana 1 tablespoon oats or brown rice flakes 1 teaspoon LSA (optional) Pop it all in to the blender until smooth. Pour into a glass and drink it up! This week I deleted over 500 "friends" from my facebook...You are probably thinking, "what is the big deal?" For me it is a medium sized deal. I had something like 700 facebook friends. I would get nearly 200 likes on some of status posts and pictures. It was becoming overwhelming and I had pressure from people to continue posting and "keep in touch." I can't be a good friend to that many people. I was spending too much of my time trying to keep in touch with everyone I had ever met in my whole life, instead of living my everyday life. I worked hard to create this website to still get a peak into my world and my family blog to see what our wee J baby is up to. I made sure I informed people months in advance that "the purge" was going to occur. I personally invited everyone to email me or to message me with their email so that they could keep in touch that way, instead of the facebook stalker way. I hope I have made the transition easy for people. I am getting a few messages from people, wondering what's up or asking for a re-add on facebook. Please, please keep in touch. Send me an email or send me a link of your blog. Cheers, Kristina
As you can see from the photos below, she strongly approves and as a mum reading the labels, I approve too. Good to the last drop! |
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