12 Commandments of food

I just received an email news letter from a nutritionist we took Annabelle to see last year.In her news letter she quotes these great food commandments, I thought that with the new year coming up they could be incorporated as part of our new years resolutions.

Michael Pollan’s “12 Commandments of Food” from his 2008 book In Defense of Food: An Eater's Manifesto.
1. "Don't eat anything your grandmother wouldn't recognize as food."
2. "Avoid foods containing ingredients you can't pronounce."
3. "Don't eat anything that won't eventually rot."
4. "Avoid food products that carry health claims."
5. "Shop the peripheries of the supermarket; stay out of the middle."
6. "Better yet, buy food somewhere else: the farmers' market or CSA."
7. "Pay more, eat less."
8. "Eat a wide variety of species."
9. "Eat food from animals that eat grass."
10. "Cook, and if you can, grow some of your own food."
11. "Eat meals and eat them only at tables."
12. "Eat deliberately, with other people whenever possible, and always with pleasure."

I particularly love no 10 and would love to have a little green house or vegetable patch in my back yard to grow all sorts of vegetables in, a person can dream!

Beach Therapy

Aloha from Hawaii.

We cashed in our American air miles we've been saving for the past 4,5 years to get 4 flights and we've rented a friends 1 bedroom condo at a special price, so that we can spend Christmas on Kauai Hawaii. We most probably won't get the chance again to come round to this part of the world any time soon.

It is a truly amazing place and I think Annabelle is in love with the beach, the sea, the sand and the waves. We have been visiting the beach most days and doing our own form of therapy that Annabelle seems to like very much - Beach Therapy we sit on the shore and wait for the waves to come up and splash us and then she giggles with delight. It fills my heart with joy to hear her laugh so much.

We have a small palm tree in the lounge and have made it our Christmas tree. As you would expect back in Bethlehem when Jesus was born they too only had palm trees, I bet!

We have been eating good food and detoxing with good clean sea air. Annabelle and I had a spa morning in, we rubbed our whole body with rhassoul clay and let it dry, we even put it in our hair, then we showered it off, this detoxes by drawing the toxins out through the skin.Your skin feels so smooth afterwards.

Only 1 day to Christmas, there is much excitement, we are having a very simple Christmas only a handful of presents (can you believe Amercan charges $25 for each bag you check) so we couldn't bring too much with us. But Christmas is not all about the presents it's about remembering Jesus's birthday and being with the people you love.(sorry Mom I wish you were here too I love you)

Wishing you all a Happy Christmas.

DME # 2 aka Wheelchair

It arrived! We started talking about wheelchairs with Annabelles PT in January after months of thinking about having my child in a wheelchair. As a mom you want to stay positive that your child will walk, and by getting a wheelchair I felt that I was giving up on that. But now I see that it's not the case, most typical children would be walking by a year old, 18 months at the latest, she was already 2 and not even sitting independently yet! I knew that she was soon going to outgrow all the "baby" equipment - highchairs, strollers that we use and we would need something that would suit her needs and grow with her. But a wheelchair is a hard pill to swallow for a mother.

 We got into the wheelchair clinic with CCS in April, and by May we had her measured and fitted and it was ordered. It was crazy they only had 2 styles of wheelchair to offer one with big wheels and one with small wheels that reclined I chose the big wheels because then there would possibly one day be a chance that she could propel herself with her arms, with small wheels there would be no chance for that. But there were 100 colours to choose from (as if that was the most important thing about a wheelchair?) I dont get it! Then came the wait getting insurance to cover it! After one denial and having to send more paperwork through they eventually approved it end of October. Then the supplier waits for all the pieces come from all over the country then they assembled it here. After many phone calls chasing everybody we went to the wheelchair clinic last week to go fetch it.

I decided to try it out when we got home and walk down to Matthews school to pick him up, I don't know why but I felt like I was walking down the street with no clothes on it was a strange feeling, not that people were staring at us, I guess its just something I will have to get used to. I can't hide anymore, the wheelchair shouts out to everybody that my child is disabled. A few children came up to us at Matthews school and asked us why Annabelle was in the wheelchair, it threw me off gaurd as I hadn't prepared for questions I just said "that she was in the wheelchair because she didn't walk" they asked why she couldn't walk, and I said that we weren't sure why she didn't walk which isn't entirely untrue I guess I need to prepare in my head what my response is going to be to people who ask questions, I'm not very good at thinking on the spot!

We have been try it out and I must say it did help us get through LAX a lot faster gates open where before we would have had to stand in line. We got let on the plane first. But there has been some cons too I bashed my lip on it getting it out of the boot (trunk), it weighs over 40lbs! It has no suspension and you can feel every bump if you are on a bumpy pavement. All in all I hope this will help provide Annabelle with more support and that she can be more mobile as she grows.



Homeless

We had our final garage sale on the weekend and God found good homes for most of our worldly possessions. Phone and internet get cut off tomorrow so I am now relying on 3G and our iPad to do posts. The few possessions that are left get packed up and shipped to England on Wednesday - this will take 6-8 weeks to get there, in the mean time we are living in hotels and furnished apartments till we leave for England on January 29th.


So before we get cut off here's some great photos of Annabelle on the beach on thanksgiving day.