1 year of wingin it

In some ways it seems like it's been more than a year since...since...since we went down the rabbit hole and everything got all flippy; Since I mourned the loss of wheat and was too numb to mourn the loss of corn two weeks later.  I still go through the cycles of greif sometimes, mostly hitting anger over our nation's "food" supply and what we've done to it, especially on days like last Wednesday when Sasha had a headache and an earache and every single medication has corn in it.  But since we started reclaiming Sasha a year ago, I have hardly had occasion to even want to give her medication.  I on the other hand just saw my neuro and thankfully re-maxed-out on my preventative migraine med so that the next three months won't be a box of torture like the last three months.  You win some, you lose some.  But in this year crammed full of research and migraines and endless making of food and describing of symptoms, we have come a looooooooong long way.

Last year

For example, FINALLY we can make good bread!  It only took until two weeks ago.  (-: We can also make marshmallows in various flavors and colors.  I whip up guac pretty fast, and slowly but surely our safe food options are expanding.  There are even lots of cookie recipe options which is nice, and since the great wheat revelation came smack dab ON my Mom's birthday, it occurs to me I better get my amazing cake on. Gosh, I was feeding the girls sandwiches on organic wheat bread from Costco in the car on the way to my Mom's work on her birthday just last year; We were bringing her flowers and balloons.  When we got home the rash on Sasha's face flared up when I had my "Aha!" moment, and life hasn't at ALL been the same since.  Our kitchen is simpler, we have less food over all but we eat all of it.  There are even two places we can eat out, Chipotle and In-N-Out so long as we order carefully!

Although, I'm still stressed out about food daily it seems.  The price of an organic 3-pack of sunbutter went up from about 17 dollars to about 30 dollars overnight, no joke.  The inorganic kinds all have additives, one of which might be a corn product, I have to contact the company and find out the source of their Vitamin E. *sigh*  Sasha's reacted to Vitamin E before.  Sometimes it's derived from corn. Why?!! *shaking fist*  And of course we have to do sunbutter bc peanutbutter kills emily, and it has to be the gluten-free kind.  Plus who wants added sugar and crappy salt and pesticides anyfreakingway!!!!!  UGH!  Then on the way to school today, I had to hold my heart together while driving as Sasha said, "I can't wait to get to Heaven, so I can have a cheese tortilla!" After coming home and doing an hour of research to determine that I can't source the Teff flour for most GF tortilla recipes that is not processed near wheat, corn, nuts, or all three, I found a tortilla recipe that calls for chickpea flour, which I can make.  And everything else forbidden in the recipe I can substitute.  Hopefully.  I'm also willing to give raw, grass-fed cow-milk cheese a try and see how she does with it, since cutting out dairy has been no light-switch-cure-all anyway.  So we just might be in business.  Or we might fail.  But we're gonna try...

Me: "Look at me with your eyes!"

Sasha: "Like this?"

I need a drink.  I need to pray and meditate.  I need to do some yoga and take a shower.  Thank Jesus that I have friends and family who love the snot out of me.  This is our life, one year later.  So much love, so much rescue, so much heartache and hassle.  The phrase, "When you hear hoofbeats, think horses, not zebras." does not apply to us.  They are using tempura paint with corn starch in it on the kids today at Sasha's school for facepainting.  I had to send her with some of mine and my mom's makeup.  I went and bought a set of blue and sparkly eye shadows yesterday so she would have a blue palette to work with, since that probably just has less corn in it, and hopefully won't make her itch like we know the tempura paint does.  Later today I'll be making green food coloring out of safe green sugar crystals and water, since regular food coloring isn't safe.  When you hear hoofbeats, think flying orange zebra unicorns.  And in one more year, maybe we'll steer by our 7th dorsal wings over to some cheese tortillas for dinner...

P.S. Mom's Maple Carob birthday cake was off the HOOK!
#screwyoufoodallergies