All posts by A Labour of Love

My name is Sherry and I am a stay at home mom of two, wife to my husband of 20 years, daughter, granddaughter, sister and aunt. My delight in this life on earth is serving a God who knows my weaknesses and guides me through each day. I have recently been diagnosed with Lymes disease and am determined to get my life back on track. I am determined to be able to move my legs and feet as I once could, to be able to regain back my energy level, and to continue to strive to be the Proverbs 31:10-31 woman. My goal is to beat this disease so that I will be the Titus woman to my daughter and those who need me in the future. I hope that you find this blog to be a blessing to you. Thanks for stopping by.
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A Mothers Joyful Heart

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Psalm 127:3 (ESV)   Behold, children are a heritage from the Lord, the fruit of the womb a reward.

I can still remember the feeling of my children when I was pregnant for them.  I remember the movement they would make, the hiccups that kept them jostling around in  consecutive rhythm, and the elbow or knee that would poke out under my rib that kept me from being able to bend forward.  I remember the glorious feeling that God had chosen me to be their mom on this earth.  That he chose me to carry two of His children so that I could raise them up in His word and teach them what I know of Him.    What a blessing, what an honor.  

Proverbs 22:6 (ESV)  Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old he will not depart from it.

My daughter and I had the opportunity to spend some time together a week ago leaving the boys home to meander doing “boy stuff”.  The true test of how much I am healing.  From not being able to drive at all, to driving the 8 hours one way to our home away from home.  The drive back home 4 days later was more of a challenge, yet we made it safely and the memories of our time together will be a blessing for many years.

We cooked, shopped, took apart old watches and made bracelets out of the gears, and began working on quilts from the material we found at the quilt store.  We also drove around one day with our cameras and took some photographs of nature and the beauty that God provides.  I think many people go through their days not noticing what is around them.  Not us, we embraced the moment with two lenses, one lens being the eyes of youth and the other being the eyes of age.  We laughed and discussed how glorious God is that he has found favor in us to have given us the ability to see beauty in the things around us.   From the flowers blooming in the garden of a older woman, to the trees in the forest lining the road way.  We saw deer, a skunk, an eagle, and the black squirrels jumping from limb to limb playing tag.  Our weekend was not short of excitement.

My highlight was spending time with my daughter, and watching the doe with her fawns that visited our yard each day.  Sometimes more than once.  At one point I opened the upstairs window to capture a clear shot and I heard one of the fawns honk as he/she communicated with his/her mom.  I nearly cried.  I watched as mom looked in all directions before she led her babes across the street, and watched as she led them to the greenery teaching them to forage for food.  I also watched the babes chase one another around the yard jumping and running at full speed.  It was beautiful and for a moment I felt a connection with the doe.  We were both teaching and spending time with the blessing of our womb.

I hope that you find favor in the site of the Lord and that you can see the beauty that is around you.  No matter where you are, what you are doing, what affliction tries to carry you away, I pray that you can and will cry out for the eyesight to notice the creations of the Lord.  Enjoy the pics, we sure enjoyed taking them.

 

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And the surprise out my bedroom window at 5:30 a.m.

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Big, fluffy white coat and a tail that swirled and swayed as he ran into the woods (when I tried to take the screen out to get a better picture) … If only it didn’t smell!   🙂

 

Menus / Recipes, Why?

Healthy Meal Idea

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A friend of mine recently wrote about her Strawberry Mango Salsa and I was drooling.  Okay, not literally drooling, I was salivating in thought.   It reminded me of a salsa that I used to make years ago, allowing a few summers to pass without it blessing our table.  So, while my daughter and I were away we decided to make fish tacos with our Mango Salsa.  We’ve now enjoyed two meals with it.  🙂

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Mango Salsa

2 ripe organic Mangos

1/2 organic yellow sweet onion

1 small organic red pepper

1 bunch organic cilantro

2 garlic stalks

Chop all of the above and put into a bowl.

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Add:

1/2 tsp. Organic Balsamic vinegar

1 TBS. Lime juice

1 TBS. Apple Cider Vinegar

1 TBS. Coconut Sap

Salt

Mix all ingredients well, cover and let sit in the fridge for at least 2 hours before serving.

The fish I used was a thick white fish (any that are wild caught).  I cut them into squares and seasoned them, placing them into a cast iron pan with coconut oil.  I cooked them just until they were done.

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We loaded the fish into the taco shells (organic is best), then added fresh cut organic red cabbage and placed the mango salsa on top.

The following day we broiled some Wild Caught Sockeye Salmon with some dill and placed it over a bed of garden fresh lettuce with a sliced avocado and some 6 bean salad.  Who needs dressing for the salad when you have Mango Salsa.  🙂

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Gardening, Lymes, Menus / Recipes

Health and Healing, Dinner Part 3

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There is nothing like dinner on the porch with the whole family enjoying fresh wholesome foods sharing their thoughts on their day.  Tonights dinner was soup and salad.  If your like my family you are likely saying to yourself, “Soup?  It’s summer…soup is for winter and cool weather.”  My son and my husband both had this look on their faces as if I had 10 eyes when I told them soup.  I have to tell you that at the first bite they both were delighted and enjoyed what they thought was going to be a mistake of a meal.  So, here it is:

Asparagus Soup (Sherry version)

1/2  Large yellow onion, chopped

4-6  Yellow, Red and Orange Sweet Peppers, chopped

2 Center stalks of Celery, chopped

2-3 Bouquets of fresh asparagus

Sautee vegetables in 2 TBS butter or coconut oil.
Sautee vegetables in 2 TBS butter or coconut oil.
Add Asparagus and sautee until tender.
Add Asparagus and sautee until tender.

When vegetables are tender, add fresh parsley, thyme and sage from the garden.  I also added 1 TBS garlic, 1/2 TBS sea salt and pepper to taste.  Stir all together and add:

1 Quart of fresh homemade beef broth (cook down soup bones with water and 1 TBS apple cider vinegar)

Add also either 8 oz. milk or coconut milk.  Simmer until all vegetables are cooked down and liquid is hot.  Then I use an immersion blender and make sure all of the vegetables are broken down so the soup is not chunky.  I then let it simmer for another 10 minutes.

For the salad, we picked fresh green out of the garden tower, added fresh grape tomatoes, cucumbers, parsley, and cut up turkey breast.  I added an Organic Creamy Ceaser dressing.

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Just a note:

Asparagus is a great source of Vitamins A, C, E & K, chromium, glutathione, and is a natural diuretic.

Lymes, Menus / Recipes

Health & Healing Part 2, Lunch

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What could be better than leftovers?  For lunches we either make salads, nachos, or eat leftovers.  Sometimes the kids will make a sandwich if we have turkey.  Above is an example of a tasty lunch from some leftovers.

Cut up organic veggies leftover from the weekend at the Highland Games, a cup of hummus (organic individual cup from Costco), Organic 6 bean and onion salad, and a leftover grilled chicken breast with some raw honey mixed together with a little mustard.

The kids and I also like to make taco salads, homemade chicken caesar salads, homemade soups, and once in a while a gluten free, rice free tuna pasta salad with veggies.  The possibilities are endless if you stock your fridge with fresh healthy whole foods.

My afternoon detox / energy drinks are either homemade Kombucha and/or my recent concoction of Young Living Essential Oil’s Ninxia Red (2 oz), 2 tsp apple cider vinegar, 1 TBS raw honey, juice from 1/2 squeezed lemon and 6-8 oz. coconut water.  Mix and drink.

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Nutrition does not need to be expensive or difficult.  I hope that you too can find healing from some of God’s most natural healing foods.

 

Lymes, Menus / Recipes

Breakfast, Health and Healing Part 1

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Over the years I have been amazed at the food choices some people make.  I have had acquaintances with women who are skinny as rails, spend hours in the gym, go home and eat 1/2 of a chocolate cake.  I’m not kidding!  I on the other hand can spend hours at the gym, eat salads 3 meals a day and gain weight.  I’m serious!

With Lyme disease, I have found it so painful at times and the exhaustion so extreme that cooking anything seemed daunting.  I know I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again… I praise God for a husband and children who love me enough to take over the “mom” duty of cooking over the last year.  They not only cooked, they also prepared healthy meals following the directions I’ve given them over the years.  Even as teenagers, their rebellion  against food is usually against the bag of organic gluten free cereal.  They are becoming more and more against cereal and enjoy their eggs, yogurt and a pancake once in a while.  You could say they typically complain if it’s not cooked or prepared just prior to eating.

Research after research shows how unhealthy our food choices are in this country.  We have GMO’s and many other toxins in our water, vegetables, meats and fish.  So what is one to do?  Learn, read, study and educate yourself.  I am quite confident that my own battle with Lyme disease and all of it’s wonderful co-infection friends will only be won if I stay on track and continue to try to build up my body with nutrition and not give in to the foods that can make my mouth water at the name or smell.

Since I had the B12 shot, changed my meds around, and made more significant changes in my meal choices,  I have been increasingly finding myself better each day.  I have moments of fatigue, so I rest, I have moments of pain, so I evaluate my diet or activity level and I make more changes.  I thought I would share what a typical day of my diet looks like, since it only changes slightly.  Today, we will start with breakfast.

A pint of juice from fresh vegetables provided by my own garden and our local CSA that is now in full swing.

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Now, I began juicing each day broccoli, kale, spinach, carrots, celery and cucumbers.  I felt great about 2 weeks into it and then I crashed.  I learned from a friend who is in the medical field and who also has health issues of her own that if one is hypothyroid caution should be taken with cruciferous vegetables.  It dawned on me that I had read that early on in my diagnosis of adrenal fatigue and hypothyroidism a number of years ago.  So, I read up on what is safe to eat and for the last two weeks I have once again been feeling that my energy is better.   I am quite certain that the nutrients released out of the fiber has helped my body regain the vitamins and minerals it needs to help heal itself.  When I have to miss a day, I certainly feel it.   Here is my daily juicing recipe (all organic):

bunch of celery – Known to be an antioxidant, helps with inflammation, contains Vitamin C, B1, B2, B6, and also potassium, folate, calcium, magnesium, iron, phosphorus, sodium and many amino acids.   Some caution is taken due to the sodium content in celery.

1/4 large cucumber – aids in digestion, helps with hydration, has been found to fight cancers, is also a good source of  the B Vitamins

 beet greens – vitamins C,  A, and K, protein, phosphorus, zinc, fiber, magnesium, potassium, copper, manganese, calcium, iron

organic pre-cooked beets – lowers blood pressure, fights inflammation, Vitamin C, minerals, detoxifies

carrots – beta carotene, Vitamins A, K, C, calcium, potassium, copper, B6, folic acid thiamine, magnesium

cilantro – detoxifying, phytonutrients, antioxidant, is used as an anti-septic, fungicide, aids in digestion, has Vitamins A, C, K and B as well as calcium an potassium

swiss chard – used as an antioxidant, beta carotene, Vitamins E, C, zinc, lutein, also helps in regulating blood sugar levels and is a good source of calcium

dandelion greens – Vitamins K, C, B6, thiamin, riboflavin, calcium, iron, potassium, manganese, zeaxanthin, folate, magnesium, phosphorus, and copper

1 lime – Vitamin C

I also eat a gluten free, rice free Glutino English Muffin.  Toasted twice, and on both halves I put 1 TBS each of Coconut Oil.  Then I sprinkle Maca Powder on one half with an organic soaked and dried nut butter on top.  The other half gets a TBS of my raw honey.

This mornings addition was left over Avocado Cucumber salad.  Consisting of:

Sliced and de-seeded cucumbers, avocados, fresh chives chopped up, fresh garden cilantro chopped finely, and two limes which I cut in half and squeezed on top.  Add a little salt  and stir.  The family like it and it was so healthy.  I was glad there was some for breakfast.

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Gardening, Household Helps

Sherry Sherry Quite Contrary, How does your garden grow?

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A Girl’s Garden

Robert Frost (from Mountain Interval, 1920)

A neighbor of mine in the village
Likes to tell how one spring
When she was a girl on the farm, she did
A childlike thing.

One day she asked her father
To give her a garden plot
To plant and tend and reap herself,
And he said, “Why not?”

In casting about for a corner
He thought of an idle bit
Of walled-off ground where a shop had stood,
And he said, “Just it.”

And he said, “That ought to make you
An ideal one-girl farm,
And give you a chance to put some strength
On your slim-jim arm.”

It was not enough of a garden,
Her father said, to plough;
So she had to work it all by hand,
But she don’t mind now.

She wheeled the dung in the wheelbarrow
Along a stretch of road;
But she always ran away and left
Her not-nice load.

And hid from anyone passing.
And then she begged the seed.
She says she thinks she planted one
Of all things but weed.

A hill each of potatoes,
Radishes, lettuce, peas,
Tomatoes, beets, beans, pumpkins, corn,
And even fruit trees

And yes, she has long mistrusted
That a cider apple tree
In bearing there to-day is hers,
Or at least may be.

Her crop was a miscellany
When all was said and done,
A little bit of everything,
A great deal of none.

Now when she sees in the village
How village things go,
Just when it seems to come in right,
She says, “I know!

It’s as when I was a farmer——”
Oh, never by way of advice!
And she never sins by telling the tale
To the same person twice.

Weekly Update:

The garden tower is providing our lettuce, spinach, bok choy, swiss chard, cabbage, kale and soon our fennel.

 

 

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The beans and peas are growing taller by the day and will soon provide a welcome addition to our table.

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The tomatoes and tomatillos are growing taller and I had to put in the tomato cages.  I’m hoping they hold up to the weight since they are not in the ground.  Surprisingly the ph is staying within range even with all of the rain.  I like this kind of gardening.  🙂

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They survived the strong storms, high winds and hail the last few days.  The old garden holding the radishes, onions, carrots and beets is already providing radishes for our salads.

Household Helps, Menus / Recipes, Why?

Honey Anyone?

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Proverbs 24:13 (ESV)  My son, eat honey, for it is good, and the drippings of the honeycomb are sweet to your taste.

Exodus 3:8 (ESV)  And I have come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land to a good and broad land, a land flowing with milk and honey, to the place of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites.

Matthew 3:4 (ESV)  Now John wore a garment of camel’s hair and a leather belt around his waist, and his food was locusts and wild honey.

I have been looking forward to having bees for several years.  In fact, I even bought the kids a book on bee keeping for Christmas one year.  They knew it was more for me, I was just trying to rope them in to my dream.  Last year, I was thrilled to be able to buy my own bees and set up my hive.  Although they died this spring and I am trying to built upon an old hive in the woods, I was able to harvest the honey out of my original hive and scrape out the wax.

It took a week for me to complete the process and a week without being able to use my kitchen island, yet I would say it was worth it.  Oh how sweet it is.  I am praising God for His most delicious and creative creation.

Here is what fun I’ve had in the last week:

First, I scraped the frames into a plastic bin.  The frames that had honey I scraped into a colander over a large bowl.

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The combs that did not have honey I put into an old crock pot and turned on low to melt down.

 

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Once the honey dripped out of the combs in the colander I strained the honey that was in the catching bowl through a small mesh hand held colander into a half gallon jar.

 

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I cut the top off of an empty 1/2 gallon cardboard container of almond milk and cut up an old white t-shirt rubber banding the piece of shirt to the top of the container.  I then poured the melted wax out of the crock pot into the container using the shirt as a strainer for any of the paper comb that did not melt.  When it all cooled I cleaned out the pot discarding the waste comb and cut open the box to find a beautiful clean block of beeswax.

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The kids want to know what I’m going to use it for and I told them it will be used for either candles or lip balm.  They are opting for the candles, I’m opting for the lip balm.  A friend of mine from TX gave me a wonderful lip balm las week she made out of beeswax, essential oils and coconut oil.  I’m hoping to get the recipe from her when she returns back home.

When I can taste the sweetness of the honey, and smell the aroma of the beeswax, I no longer fear the disease that has consumed my life over the last year.  Nature is amazing.  God is amazing!

memories

Graduation Day

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A blessing that will be remembered for many years to come.  Celebrated with our closest friends, church family and a few of our immediate family members.

I remember our sons first day of school and I also remember his first day of homeschooling.  We both were excited at the new adventure, yet we were also a bit nervous over what the years would bring.  It wasn’t always easy as I not only prepared lesson plans for one class, but all of them.  At times I felt like I had lived under a rock over my 40+ years.  We learned together in most subjects and I wondered if I was doing a good job.   There was always worry….  There were a few years that we put almost 100 miles a week on the car driving from sports activities, volunteering opportunities,  to music lessons.   I used to tell my husband that being a stay at home mom is not easy and I will not know how well I’ve done my job until our children turned 18 and I see the end result of who they become.  After all, there is no evaluation at the end of each year, there is no paycheck handed to you and there are no promotions.

At this point, I weep with joy over the end of our adventure as I see a once little boy become a young man.  He is first and foremost a Godly individual who wants to serve the Lord in all he does.  He is polite, happy, easy going (most of the time) and he is incredibly smart.  He graduated last weekend with a near 4. GPA, and he is also at a sophomore level in college.   Well, I can praise God for leading us through this part of our journey between mother and son and thank Him for His glory that saw us through the difficulties.  We could only have done it with the power of prayer and strength from Him whom we trust.

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A selfie with mom!

 

 

memories

Garden Spot

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It’s been a long couple of weeks with our oldest graduating from High School.  We’ve had yard work, basement organizing, garage cleaning, food prep, High School Road Rally organizing, etc.  Yes there has been more, however, this is the A list.  All that being said, my health has been up and down.  My latest blood draw came out a complete mess and shows I’m still very sick with many co-infections, yet the Lyme results are actually getting better.  I am praising God for this news!  I was surprised to find that last week when my doctor gave me a B12 shot due to my B12 being so low,  I felt like the energizer bunny the following day.  My aching body felt better and I had the energy to finish out the week without debilitating exhaustion (at least 4 days).  Note to self:  schedule the monthly B12 shot around events!!

So, we made it through last weekend with no obvious issues.  Now, I am enjoying a clean house, lots of left overs and the quiet that follows the commotion of such an event.  Today  my mom and I took my daughter to a movie and out to dinner.  Two of her favorite things, and two of my favorite things to do with her.

I thought about my blog and how behind I am, realizing that there is much to report on.  The hydroponic system was completed yesterday and I put in the tomatoes this morning. Thought I’d show you how everything is looking thus far.  The hydroponics, the Garden Tower, the bean pots and the herbs.

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The bees died this spring but a hive was discovered in the neighboring farmers woods so we took two of the boxes with empty frames and placed them on top of an old hive.  This is a complete experiment to see if we will harvest any honey in the fall.

The trip out to the old hives had me in a panic, so I prepared by suiting up and brought one of my dearest friends with me to help me with the lifting as my strength still has not returned.  The highlight was riding on the farmers tractor as I had never done this before.  Before Lyme, I prayed for a farm, now I’ll take an Urban Farm.  Although the tractor ride was GREAT!   Can you say oompa loompa?  ha ha

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Who doesn’t love a farm cat!  (I looked for ticks before I petted her… Isn’t that sad?

I did also look at the white suit when we returned out of the woods and was shocked to not find any ticks.  Another blessing!