Endoscopy this week.

Daryl has his endoscopy on this Thursday morning and the last couple times he has been put out for procedures, he is sick for the next 24 hours. This time they are going to try some new medications to try to counter his negative reactions to the anesthesia. Daryl has been losing weight these days and so we really hope his body can handle it so that he can keep food down... thanks for praying.

Kidney stone day 6

It is Tuesday morning, Daryl is resting; he didn’t sleep that great last night. Still feels sore and uncomfortable. He had the procedure on Saturday to break up the stone, but apparently it can take a while for everything to pass through. There is also the chance that the other two stones that were in his kidneys are passing now. Ever since Saturday he has been very uncomfortable, with little spots of ease here and there.
I’ll be picking the girls up after work. They’ve been staying with Daryl’s parents since Sunday night. We miss them a lot, the house is so quiet without their playful voices, but it has been really nice to not worry about them and for Daryl to be able to rest and survive in the mornings instead of trying to care for them while I’m at work.
We have been more hopeful the last couple days, being reminded that God has given us this pain, it is not an accident or mistake- it is His good will for us.

I haven’t used this blog as an update for our current health issues with Daryl, but it seems convenient to do so. Right now, we are waiting for our insurance to approve the referral Daryl received for the surgery at USC medical center. (for more info about fundoplication surgery click here ) We’ve done some research on the surgery and it gives us some encouragement that USC is known to be the best hospital in LA for this surgery, since having an experienced surgeon is really important. Daryl and I have a range of emotions right now. We feel tired and long for God to bring this trial to an end. It has been 5 weeks since Daryl has been in his current low health. But it has been about 7 years (off and on some) that we have been dealing with health issues. We long for God to bring Glory to Himself and want to take courage that His timing is perfect. Some days we are filled with hope, some days we are discouraged. I will continue to post as new things come up. Thanks.

Natania cracks us up all the time. A couple weeks ago we had family from out of town visiting. Daryl's aunt from Colorado and Grandparents who live in Wyoming as well as his parents, brother and girlfriend were all over for dinner at our place. We had a great time together! At one point in the evening Daryl asked his Aunt Natalie how old she was. Aunt Nat teasingly said to all of us, "I'm old as dirt!" Natania who was standing right by her, looked at her and said, "Aunt Nat, you're not old as dirt," and then she pointed at Daryl grandparents sitting on the couch and said, "they're old as dirt!" We all had a good laugh at that one!

Sweet Claire

Last week we had a first hair cut... first hair cut by someone other than mommy that is! Natania got into the scissors and gave her little sister a hair cut. i was trying to find a good "before" picture but i just cut Claire's hair a couple weeks ago into a cute bob. and was probabably feeling a little pride about how adorable she was with her cute little hair cut. Well, as you see below, her golden tresses are rather short in some areas! We've tried to down-play the whole "oh Claire your beautiful hair is gone!" response while still taking the "playing with scissors" seriously. Even at this early age she is learning from us what beauty is and we want to be very intentional about treating looks healthily and without very much importance. I would love to raise girls who are free from the lies this culture and world teaches us from day one about beauty and needing to conform to a certain image that media and current fashion feeds us!

Ok, so here is the evidence!

Flour-Less (yes it's true!) peanut butter cookies

Ok, i was looking for a new Gluten Free cookie recipe to try out for Daryl and came across this recpie. I was skeptical at first, but i know this blogger does a lot of GF cooking and blogging and after reading through a bunch of the reviews on her site, i decided to try them and wow, i'm glad I did! Daryl loved them and we were both surprised at how good they came out without any flour. I read that some people substituted honey (only 3/4 cup instead of 1) for the sugar and also had great results... i think I'll try that next time. I don't normally like PB cookies, but these were delicious! (i did add a couple chocolate chips to the ones i baked for myself. If you like chocolate then i'd suggest adding a couple chips on top- wonderful) I did change the recipe a bit because Daryl isn't eating "peanut butter", so here is my version of the recipe as well as the process!

Becky's Cashew/Almond Butter Cookies
(how many things do you have to change to a recipe to make it officially yours?)

1/2 cup cashew butter
1/2 cup almond butter
1 cup white sugar
1 egg
1 tsp. baking powder
(extra sugar for rolling the cookie dough balls in)

that's it! ...i'm serrious! so simple.

Step 1. Mix ingrediants. Here is the dough... pretty sticky












Step 2. Make into little balls and roll in a little sugar. Small is good; apparently they hold together better if they are smaller. (this much dough would make a very big cookie! I made mine much smaller!)














Step 3. Press the classic fork "x" on them.













Step 4. Bake at 350 for 11 mins. Then let sit on pan for 5 minutes or more, then remove them from pan and let cool longer on wire rack or plate. As the cool the outer sugar coating gets crispier!

Step 5. Enjoy!

Becky's Chocolate Crinkles Cookies

These are wonderful, i took them to work last week and everyone loved them!

Ingredients:

1 cup unsweetened cocoa powder 2 cups white sugar 1/2 cup vegetable oil 4 eggs 2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1 cup all-purpose flour 1/2 cup whole wheat flour 1/2 cup of almond flour (optional: you can use more white/whole wheat if you don't have) 2 teaspoons baking powder 1/2 teaspoon salt 1/2 cup confectioners' sugar

Directions:

1.	In a medium bowl, mix together cocoa, white sugar, and vegetable oil. Beat in eggs one at a time, then stir in the vanilla. Combine the flours, baking powder, and salt; stir into the cocoa mixture. Cover dough, and chill for at least 4 hours, or put in freezer for 45 mins.
2.	Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Line cookie sheets with parchment paper. Get hands wet (very important as the dough is sticky!) Roll dough into one inch balls. Coat each ball in confectioners' sugar before placing onto prepared cookie sheets.
3.	Bake in preheated oven for 10 to 12 minutes. Take them out right when you think they may need a minute longer. Let stand on the cookie sheet for a minute and they will sink down a little and finish cooking. Transfer to wire racks to cool.

Enjoy!