Pneumonia and Gratitude!

November 24, 2023

Pneumonia and Gratitude!

The end of October was supposed to be so exciting!  Gym had an employee & family fall festival scheduled – I was super excited about that because three of my family members are also coworkers and the girls had planned their goodies and costumes.  Our church had a Trunk or Treat – the first one Christina didn’t have classes on and was actually able to decorate her trunk (the back of the 4Runner).  Two weekends after was to be a concert at our church I wanted to attend. 

There was a stomach bug passing around in the local schools.  I ended up with that and usually I don’t get sick, but that tossed me out.  I was throwing up and had a really high fever.  Our O people didn’t really get sick, or if they did, it was sniffles and no fever.  (Louis is totally convinced that the blood type has a huge impact on how you are sick – after this last two rounds, I’m sure it has a factor.)  Kimberly and I were down two days (one feeling horrid, and 24 hours after the last fever).  It was fighting the fight of “stay hydrated” and “make sure I’m putting something in my stomach” when everything was coming back up! 

Done, that cleared everyone.  Got back to work (ended up missing all of the events, sadly). 

I got it again!  The following weekend the bug came back!  I had a high fever and all the stomach issues Saturday morning, starting about two in the morning this time.  It was faster to the finish (fever broke about 14 hours instead of fevers back and forth for a full day), but I was so worn out!  Then I started feeling my lung.  I was coughing and it hurt so bad to lift my arm.  It felt like the pneumonia I’d had back in 2018.  In brief, I’d ended up with “asthmatic allergic reaction to black mold” at the same time as pneumonia and it took about 4 doctor visits before I ended up in the hospital fighting that – I’d been told by the pulmonologist back then to be careful that it would be easier for an infection to turn into pneumonia. 

I went to a clinic.  Yes.  Pneumonia, but the scan showed something really amazing!

**Back up about three months when we got our property** (Oh, yes, we are clearing land!!)…

I was out working, dragging limbs and clearing brush like the workhorse I remember being back when we had our farm.  No getting winded after a little workout, no coughing, no stopping to make my body take deep breaths.  I thanked God for healing my lungs!  It felt so great! (back in 2018, I had been told the scarring on my lungs would probably not heal: “never be back to 100%”)

**Back to the story**

The doctor said the scan showed that the “secondary damage” was completely gone! (Scarring of my lungs)  The tests showed full use of my left lung, the only reason the right was low was because of the pneumonia!  I was so excited!  Even though I already “knew” it was nice to be confirmed! 

God is amazing!

I’m so grateful for the way He made our bodies so they heal with His touch!  I can workout!  (I had started trying to after Thea was born in 2019, but it was slow going and I’d feel my limit fast – I had to bicycle “slowly” and stop to take deep breaths to make my body stop “panicking”)  I’d been doing slightly more in workouts in the last three or four months and had last used my inhaler just before Laud’s birth.  

Thank you, Jesus, for healing my lungs!  It’s so cool that two infections ending up with pneumonia cumulated with a confirmation that my lungs are healed!  The doctor was like, “usually pneumonia is treated in the hospital if you are allergic to these antibiotics (yes, the two “outpatient” drugs I’m allergic to), but we can try two days of outpatient with these” (some “stronger” antibiotics that he warned were harder to control because they both cause dehydration & you have to keep eating probiotics because they “clean your gut out”)

Daily probiotic protein shake, check. It contains iron so had to be four hours after and before the every twelve hour pill.

Greek yogurt on the other twelve hour window, check.

Super focus on hydration, check.  (When I’m fighting something, I log medicine, vitamins, liquid intake, and food intake because it helps me not forget to eat and drink.)

Managed to not go to the hospital this time, check!! – And I’m all done now.  No coughing, nothing!

God, I am so thankful for Your healing!!

Thank You for the wisdom you gave the doctors.  Thank You for the miraculous way You designed our bodies.  Thank You for health and restoration in my body!

Thank you for reading,

Type at you later!

~Nancy Tart

Mister Baker

April 8, 2020

Mister Baker

Part of our lifestyle is creating healthy recipes or healthier versions of favorites like chili, marinara, applesauce.  We prefer natural, less sugar, more healthy food options to serve, but our budget is limited.  I try to stay at $50 per person or less. 

About 10 years ago, we had a bread recipe and baked 6 loaves once a week (this ended when we lost the big oven) but Louis wanted a better-than-sliced-bread recipe that tasted better than Publix fresh. 

A few weeks of experimentation cumulated in these:

Beautiful artisan French loaves.

And gorgeous “regular” white bread in loaf pans that Louis slices to perfection and stores in our Tupperware bread box to keep fresh. 

He has to bake a set every day to keep up with our demand, but at $0.36 per set ($0.18 per loaf!), it is well in our budget. 

Sugar, salt, olive oil, yeast, water, and bead flour.  That’s it.  Of course, Louis is a special kind of baker in that nothing is every measured.  (He says some of this and some of that and it always comes out great as it’s “all in the proportions.”)  For super soft bread, (dinner rolls) he will use bacon grease instead of olive oil (not as healthy, but way better than crescent dinner rolls and so much tastier!) or for “French,” he’ll reduce the sugar and shape into logs brushed with butter.

The original recipe came from somewhere on google that he modified bit by bit.  Temperature of the yeast and rising time are the most vital parts for chemistry. 

I challenge you to experiment!  Find ready-made foods your family loves and research how to make them and try it!  You can make small batches and try them out today – added hint: homemade bread makes great inexpensive croutons and stuffing too!

Thank you for reading.

Type at you later,

~Nancy Tart

Stepping Back

Stepping Back

February 23, 2020

My little love is one! I’m 37. We both had birthdays this week. This is the first birthday for one of my children that I missed.

I was on my way to a meeting at work when I got two adorable videos from Louis – my littlest baby, looking at her first birthday cupcake Grandma Joanne brought her while everyone sings “Happy Birthday” and her little toes wiggle happily.

I could have let that make me feel really blue. I almost did because I had a rather sour day at work that morning – I’m a perfectionist, should explain everything (right?)

As I watched that video three times, there were two voices in my head:

The first was saying things like: Aww how cute! How sweet that they took a video! She’s having so much fun!

The second jumped immediately on top with: You aren’t there. This is the first birthday cake you haven’t done with any child! You neglect her. You neglect them all. You work too much. You are missing your children’s lives. See how much you miss.

And the second voice doesn’t shut up!

I went through the meeting. That second voice was still screaming in the background on the way back to work: If you had any business sense, you could have been good at Beachbody like Katy, you could be a real author making a living at it, you could have sold makeup, you could still be at home. Why didn’t you…. You could have been… If only…

It boiled down to this: YOU ARE A FAILURE!

But I’m not!

I refocused. I took a deep breath and steadied myself on my way to gym – the voice tried again because my baby didn’t even come to gym on her birthday because Daddy and big sister kept her at home (she was pooped after birthday fun).

I am doing my best.

Most importantly, I allowed myself to step back and look at the bigger picture. That is really hard when voices – your own voices in your head – are screaming at you. Your logic tells you they are accurate! Your emotion agrees with them! All the parenting books you’ve read, teachers you’ve listened to, and “stats” you’ve seen about raising children all tell you the voices – the accusing second voices – are right. BUT NO!

Step back. I stepped back.

For 15 years, I’d been the one at home (yes, working from home too) to see the firsts. With Thea, Louis has been.

He said he loves the baby stage and is so thankful he isn’t missing all of it. He felt like he was never around for the others. I’m so happy he gets to be home in the morning/early afternoons in this season!

I had an awesome relationship with my Daddy. I want that for my children, especially my girls; for them to have an awesome relationship with their Daddy. Louis gets to spend more time with them.

I stepped back.

We have joint goals. We have family goals. A house that means a new start for us – rooms for everyone and more than 4 feet of counter space in the kitchen! We are accomplishing that!

I stepped back.

I LOVE my family, and they know this. Just because I work two jobs in this season doesn’t change that. We both got to go to Christina’s first University tour! (That wouldn’t have happened with other jobs!) We both get to go to the gymnastics show in May. We all get Sundays together as family days (that has never happened in our family lives – service industry doesn’t give up weekends!).

I took another deep breath. The accusing voice had stopped. This was because I started to mentally pray: thank you, Jesus, for this season of life you have us in. It may be hard, it may sometimes seem like too much, other people may think it’s too much, others may judge, my logic might be telling me it’s not a good place… but I am SO grateful for the season I’m in right now! I pray for guidance daily and until God says “let it go,” I’m holding on to the gifts (jobs) he’s given us. Thank you!

If your inner voices are ripping you apart…

Take a deep breath. Steady yourself. Step back. PRAY. Be grateful for what you have and pray for wisdom on what to allow to let go.

Listen to God’s heart.

Thank you for reading!

Type at you later!

~Nancy Tart

Becky’s New Semester

September 2, 2019

Becky’s New Semester

Who knew my thirteen year old would be bouncing all over the county (okay, not literally) this semester in her activities?

Becky decided on two courses this semester.  Her online class turned out to be a half-semester starting after her birthday.  Her Macroeconomics started last week.  She has Tuesday and Thursday classes for an hour and a half, getting off just in time for Grandma to pick her up from college on her way to work.  This is nice because it gets Becky to her 4:30 gym class which I would be late for! (Logistics is getting to be a Tetris maze because we have four young ladies involved in four different activities at varying times plus normal household stuff and four jobs between the three of us! – This may ease up when Christina becomes an independent driver!)

Becky has Tuesday & Thursday college, Thursday gymnastics, Wednesday youth group, and periodic meetings with people adopting her little piggies.  She’s doing an online coding class, doing regular schoolwork, assistant teaching, babysitting, and just decided to start her own website to show people her little farm critters. 

Becky wants to be an orthodontic surgeon at the moment; although that has fluctuated from brain surgeon, midwife, obstetrician, dentist, orthodontist, her direction will likely be medical.  She studies all kinds of fun things along the way: conjoined twins (brain operations to keep their brains intact successfully), whole body health, nutrition, how nutrition affects the teeth, how a healthy smile affects a person’s confidence, brain development and chemicals, the effects of stress on the body… you name it, we’ve likely heard Becky popping up from some research with, “hey!  You know what?” and relaying all this new knowledge.  She likes to read opposing views, research, and experiment to see what result she gets.

She’s anxiously waiting for braces; hopefully that happens soon – as she wants a “smile I am proud of.” (But I don’t know how we’ll squeeze another item in our family schedule!)

I’m thoroughly enjoying this discovery stage Becky has been traveling through.  I smile when I think of her being almost 2-years-old using my phone charger as a Doppler to “hear” Kimberly’s heartbeat and later handing my midwife the instruments as she named them during the first part of Kimberly’s birth.  That started Becky’s love of health, the human body, and eventually medicine.  My little scientist.  Animal lover.  Comedian.  I pray she finds her path as God leads her and enjoys her journey along the way! 

Type at you next time,

~Nancy Tart

Spring Blessings

March 24, 2019

Spring Blessings

March 20th was the official first day of spring.

I live in Florida, so “Spring” as we see it means beach weather – at least for those of us who don’t consider 70 degrees too cold for sand, surf, and sun.

The flower bulbs are coming back.  The songbirds are singing and making nests.  The woodpeckers in the Maple tree are arguing about who gets the best insect hole.  My baby Thea is a month old (on the first day of spring & two of her aunts’ birthdays).  I’m shifting from part time to full time at my office job.

This job is a God-sent blessing anyway (read that story here); increase of hours = increase of income and that is super sweet!

Anyone seen White Christmas?  Bing Crosby sings “Counting My Blessings” and that became a theme song in my head.  Songs will pop into my head when I think certain things… I’m just musically wired… auto-correct tried to put in “weird;” maybe weird is the right word!

So, I’m “counting my blessings” this spring:

Job with a growing company where I get to take my Baby Thea to work with me! (Thank you, Jesus!)

Dream job where I get to teach and encourage young athletes while working out and having fun.  (Thank you, Jesus!)

Health, (finally!) as I’ve found a technique that works to keep my black mold allergy from turning to throat-constricting asthma. (I can keep it at just a post-nasal drip, which is irritating, but not debilitating.)

Family.  I live for family.  (Why I haven’t been writing for a bit… busy with jobs, helping sisters, and spending time investing in family.)

Finding a church we hope to be able to call “home” as our church closed.  (Louis’ cousin and several friends attend there.)  We’ve been three times and most of the kids like it so far.

Spiritual growth in my girls.  Watching that bloom is the best!

Provision.  We have a house to rent, food to eat, and gas to get us to and from work.  Paying back debt and then shifting focus to our long-term goal of saving for our own house.

Thank you, Jesus, for the blessings in my life!  Thank you for healing, love, family, and life!

I’m enjoying a jolt of energy from counting my blessings, what about you?

Thanks for reading!

Type at you next time…

~Nancy Tart

Savor Life

We should savor life at every stage!

February 2, 2019

Savor Life

I’m a few weeks or so from giving birth to our seventh little miracle.

Lying in the bed (because of some biological oddities to hit just as this baby started, the cold that normally would take me two or three days to fight is taking a stretched-out time; I’m on day seven) Louis says, “if the afterbirth is harder each time, maybe we should stop with this one.”

I smiled, but since I was lying toward the wall, he couldn’t see.  “I’ve always treated each time as if it may be the last.”

“Really?” I guess this shocked him a little because I love being pregnant, I love the infant stage, I love the growing independence of the toddler stage, I love each and every step so far in this journey.   Although I’m fully prepared for God to say, “this is the last one” sometime, I’m also fully prepared to continue going through this amazing cycle of mothering a miracle.

Yes.

I guess it’s complicated.

See, about the time I was pregnant with Kimberly, I grew a great deal in my understanding of how to allow God to have full control in my entire life.  I thought I trusted Him with everything but realized that I was quietly hoping to have a multitude of children and not really okay with less – or even three.  But I asked myself, “What if God’s perfect number for you is three?”

I began to realize that God’s perfection was not limited nor driven by my wants.  (DUH!)

I decided early during that pregnancy (with Kimberly) that I would savor every second, every feeling, every hiccup, stretch, movement, and challenge that came along as if this were the last time I would carry life.

I already loved being pregnant.  I shared that love with my mother and Louis’ Grandma Honey (she told me once she would have been pregnant her entire life if God had allowed her!).

At that time, I had a shift of my mental state.  Instead of trying to always project perfection, I wanted to savor life with my family.  If this meant not fully finishing with a cleaning chore before we went somewhere, then okay.  If this meant taking a break to look at a cool flower while I’m supposed to be hanging clothes, okay.  If this meant letting someone else watch the kids so Louis and I could go out, then that was okay.  I realized I was trying to follow other peoples’ ideas of what my life should look like and had unconsciously adopted those ideas as “perfection” – and yes, perfection as it was in my brain was never truly achievable!

My stress level fell so much in those few months while I grew Kimberly in my belly and started a new “temp” job.  I may have looked busier, but I felt so liberated!

Even though what followed (from 5-weeks after Kimberly’s birth) was what I honestly believe was the most grueling, difficult 18 months of Louis & my married life, I was able to find a well of thankfulness to pull from when I felt so far down.  Without my new understanding of submitting totally to God’s plan, I would have probably allowed the horrid miscarriage to drag me into the jaws of depression.  I realized even as I cried in the stupid bulk-grocery-store bathroom, by myself, hundreds of miles from home, while I “passed” the fragments of what was once a life I felt and loved, that God had even this time in His hands.  He knew all the whys and I wasn’t to understand them; just to trust Him.

So, fast forward almost 12 years and  here I am lying with this little miracle kicking up a nice sensitive bruise under my right side.  Life in its cycle, totally unexpected, another prime example of God’s timing and perfect wisdom (Click here for that crazy amazing story!).  I’m rubbing on my belly because it makes the Baby move around and react to my touch – and I LOVE that.  I’m playing with this little one before he/she is born!

God has done so much, so many unexpected things that have lifted us up despite the weird, harsh, and unexpected challenges this past year.  God has taught me to savor all life – all stages and parts, from babies and pregnancy to friendships and siblings.  Take time for and savor everything.  There are miracles everywhere.  Yes, I’m okay if this is my last pregnancy and birth.  I’d long ago given all control to God.  I mean, if I trust Him with something so awesome as my salvation and eternal life, how can I not trust His wisdom in family size?

Thanks for reading!

Type at you next time…

~Nancy Tart

Motivation

How Becky discovered gymnastics and is now motivated to workout for personal improvement! Mom is thankful for her fitness goals!

January 12, 2019

Motivation

Sometimes motivation comes from a course you don’t expect.

I often find motivation coming from my study or from life events.

For Becky, the motivation to workout has just never been there.  Christina got motivated to run and work out when she joined Civil Air Patrol.  Kimberly always wants to beat everyone, so when her dad, sisters, or sister-cousins were running, she matched them, when her sister and friends were seeing who could do the most push-ups or pull-ups or climb the rope fastest, she had to work harder.  Jaquline and Jillian get motivated anytime dad, mom, or one of their big sisters happens to be working out.  Lucas never stops.

Then Becky signed up for gymnastics.

Becky suddenly wanted to be the best.  Becky found her motivation to work harder and get stronger.

I am so thankful that she’s found something to help motivate her toward a healthier state.

For some people, a fitness gym or club with others to hold them accountable works, for others, the freedom of working out at home or on the go with the possible aid of an online coach is perfect, others need a structured team event, some need a goal like training for a 5K.  I love helping people find and exploit their motivation towards being healthier.

For me, health has been our lifestyle, so modifying my lifestyle in various ways to make healthy easier for us is always in the back of my mind.  So as my schedule continually gets busier, my commitment to one fuel and nutrient packed shake each morning has definitely helped me stay on track!

I love watching the girls grow in their personal choices.  I am excited about the educational, fitness, and social gains Christina has made at Civil Air Patrol.  She’s grown so much in the past year and a half!  I can’t wait to see what gains Becky makes in her personal life as she advances in gymnastics – what growth will she produce toward her goal?

Only time will tell, but I’m excited that Becky has found some motivation in her health because I want her to be the very best she can be!

Thanks for reading!

Type at you next time…

~Nancy Tart

Thankfulness

Time to reflect: thankfulness

November 21, 2018

Thankfulness

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving.

Tomorrow is also my 16th wedding anniversary!

The time leading up to Thanksgiving is when I usually reflect on the amazing things that God has done for us.  I often start with how every move in my life led to new experiences that helped build who I am – and the time I wrote in my journal “I’ll move with them one last time.”

That was to Saint Augustine when I was 18.

Just after that move (January 2002) I went to a family reunion where every adult teased me about not having a boyfriend (had never dated) and I remember replying with “in God’s time it will happen.” It was an awesome fun time where I met many relatives and learned many stories about my late grandparents.

January 2003, one year later, I was married, carrying our first child, and working in the town where my husband’s family had lived for generations.  The roots I’d wanted as a child I married into.  I instantly had two amazing grandmothers.  Grandma Jeannette taught me amazing things like crochet and canning food and cooking or preserving local Florida produce.  I loved learning by her side.  Grandma Honey had the most fascinating stories of Cracker life as a young girl and her journey as a mother, wife, and artist (she painted amazing landscapes).

If I had planned my life (as I did in notebooks since being ten years old) it would not have included a 4-month courtship.  I always planned on “knowing someone” for years – generally all the way through 6 or 8 years of university – before marrying.  God had other plans.

I didn’t plan on immediately getting pregnant – married in November and baby’s beautiful face is framed in our wedding cake topper on our first anniversary photo.   God had other plans.

We both planned on having a big family, but then our naïve thoughts of “big” were relative to the world around us – he thought 7 like his grandparents, I thought 7 like my parents.  We agreed early on that we’d let God decide our family size.  I don’t think either of us were truly thinking we’d ever be blessed with 7, maybe 3 or 5; maybe, and that would be “big.”  God had other plans.

Our little blessing growing within me now was totally not “according to plan” as I’d gotten sick and we’d decided it wasn’t a prudent time to start new life.  God laughed; this little one was already growing.  And the hormonal imbalance caused by my reaction to multiple medications which my research said would take 18 to 24 months to reset, was reset by the pregnancy within 5 months.  Although we thought we were planning well, God had other plans.

I love how my life didn’t go according to my “plans” – and I’ve kept diaries since I was ten, so I can look back at plans I made.  I didn’t stop making plans, I am a planner and organizer by nature, but I so love it when God’s plan intervenes and “surprise” life things happen.  I love God’s plans and how they are so different (sometimes) from my “plans” but so reflect my true heart.

From little things like my future sister and I working at the same place at the same time without knowing each other to amazing life events like marriage and births; in each, I see God’s powerful hand.  I’m so thankful for His direction and for the wisdom to allow Him to lead me.

I’m thankful for the ability to keep our family sustained.

We’ve always had jobs.

When one door closes, God always had something else waiting in the wings for us.  Sometimes far different from what we expected, but still awesome.

I was at an interview and someone commented on the variety of jobs I’ve had (Software Developer, Customer Service aka Ride Operator, Bank Teller, Business Office Manager of a Skilled Nursing Facility, Co-owner & Manager of a Transportation Company) – I had to add my recent update to that list as I’m currently a Gymnastics Coach.  His question was what could I bring to this job (food retail)?  Well, each position has taught me new skills and the list proves I can learn anything.

This official job experience doesn’t list that I’m a published author of over 50 books in children’s, educational, and young adult genres!

It’s amazing to me that God found me a job where I can combine my love of teaching, physical fitness, and a childhood dream!  (Gymnastics Coach)  I love the environment in which I work and the people with which I have the privilege of working.  Someone said it’s a step down to go from business owner to working for another small business.  Nope.  Not at all.  I bring a work ethic with me where I understand the challenge of being a small business owner and I always work my job as if it’s my company – even far before I was a business owner.  Ask me, it’s “my gym” – just because I get to work there!

I’m thankful for all the steps along this life journey.  I’m thankful for the people I’ve met along the way.  I remember faces and some names – people like Mrs. Joy up the big hill when I was 8 in Eutawville, South Carolina who baked cookies with my sister and me and gave me my first cookbook.  I remember Grandma Jeanette telling me after I’d been married a year or so, “honey, you were going to be my granddaughter, no way out of it” because she had prayed for me after meeting me at church (before I met her grandson).  I’m thankful for mentors, family, and friends.

I’m thankful for all I see before me; God has been so gracious and generous to me and my family.  We’ve been blessed so very much.

Every time I reflect on the blessings God has given me, I am overcome with gratefulness.  I can’t help but whisper a prayer of thanks.  Even though we won’t be “coming together” for “thanksgiving dinner” on the actual Thursday this year, we’ll get together on a different day with family and celebrate our thanks!

I pray blessings on you and your family as we reflect on all that we can be thankful for!

Thanks for reading!

Type at you next time…

~Nancy Tart

Number Seven

Yes, ambiguious title and puzzle til the end of a long post…

October 24, 2018

Number Seven

Ambiguous title?  Yes.

Am I being cryptic on purpose?  Yes.

You are supposed to figure out the puzzle from the clues in this story.

(WARNING!  LONG STORY! – and it’s pretty deep because there’s a lot of feelings and thoughts smashed in here.)

Anyway, in April and May, I was in and out of clinics and the hospital because of a severe reaction to black mold.  (I know, crazy, right?)  I researched the medication I was to finish and every side effect possible happened to me (they always do, it’s just my weird, unique biology) so my hair fell out, hormone levels changed, pimples exploded over my face, and various other physical changes happened, I wasn’t watching for anything else.  It was a low period for me because it seemed my favorite parts of my body (long hair, my figure, health) was disappearing.  (Crazy reason to be depressed, isn’t it? After all, I was still alive!)  Although I kept telling myself this would work itself out, and I kept praying and believing God had control of this situation too (He has everything in His hands.), it was sometimes hard to face it without feeling sad.  Especially for me when I brushed my hair and it seemed there was more hair in the brush than stayed on my head.  (Of course, shedding hair means length disappears, so I went from semi-thick long hair that was below my waist to thin few-strands-to-the-middle-of-my-back.)  My hair was something that even as a child I was really proud of.  I’ve never cut it.  I always wanted to have long hair like Lady Godiva (ever seen the version where Maureen O’Hara plays Lady Godiva? I loved that movie because she was a strong, bold woman who loved her people.) and loved the Bible verse that says our “long hair is our covering.”  Plus, Louis likes my hair long. (Yes, after getting married, I thought it would take too much time to have to style short, plain hair so it was cool that my husband liked it long and straight.)

Being that I’m allergic to almost everything chemical (latex, cleaning fluids, pills, antibiotics, the inhaler I was prescribed!, etc.), we pretty much rely on natural family planning and some non-latex help.  Usually, I know my body well.  Part of the side-effects to one of the drugs was hormone imbalance which threw my body off where I wasn’t sure what it was doing.  Not considering it a good time for pregnancy, we decided to hold off on any potential baby-making.  Period.

Oh well, God laughed at that.

Certain things began to reverse during July.  My hair began to grow back (I have one-inch-long sticking-ups all over my head), my figure returned to normal, and other small things in my body seemed to reset.  I was very curious because although I’d been off the huge assortment of “we-don’t-know-what-this-is-but-treat-everything” drugs in the hospital for two months, everything I’d read about the steroid they’d given me was that it took twelve to eighteen months for the hormone imbalance to correct itself and I was still taking one occasionally to prevent asthma attacks.  What was turning my imbalance around?

Yep, God decided to reset my body himself; with a baby.

I love being pregnant, but worried that the drugs I’d been on had effected the child – then relaxed about as soon as I thought about it because if we were trying to keep it from happening (Starting in mid-April with the only 100% sure way), yet God said “haha, you thought you knew this stuff,” He obviously was in charge of baby’s health.

For the first time in my reproductive life, the only “date” I have can’t be.  I keep calendars that are honestly way too detailed, but those dates don’t match with the dates counting backwards.  (Every other time in my life I knew the day/night we came together to start our little blessing!)  Based on these “diary facts” as my girls call them, I can’t figure the time.  (What happened?  The little swimmers had to get through sheepskin & sit around inside of me for eight to ten days?  Really?  If I use the LMP date, that’s what had to happen because after that was nothing. Period.  I didn’t know hanging around inside was medically possible.)

Now, I’m totally enthusiastic about being pregnant (I am one of those crazy women who LOVE carrying life – every part of it); I just am amazed at the mystery of this baby.  I figured you know, I know what protection is, we use planning, and yeah, I get it, I’ve seen women on the pill, using protection, and even two who had their tubes tied get pregnant, so I know anything is possible.

I mean, philosophically we trust all to God’s hands, including family size and timing.  (Or say so, we were technically trying not to get pregnant with the whole breathing and health thing “at least until we moved to a mold-free house”)  But can you say surprised?  Yes.

So, “number seven” is this little precious life growing inside of me!  (Yes, I know most people, including many member of my family, think we are completely nuts, and maybe we are – but we are loving this adventure!)

New job, new baby, surprise!  God says!  Now I have an awesome job I can’t believe I really get to do and seriously get paid for (I love teaching children!) and a new little life growing inside that Lucas can’t wait to wrestle with (he comes and mashes on my belly, talks to “his baby,” and the baby responds by racing around, kicking, punching, whatever inside me).  I’m so excited… what does God have next?  A plot of land we can call our own and a trailer to stick on it or some plot with an old house that needs work – maybe?  Or are Kimberly’s dreams of building our own “movable house” accurate?  Okay, I’m totally open to the next step in this adventure!  (And, yes, I’m fine if that means, “rest, sit tight, you’re in pause mode right now.”)

Thanks for reading!

Type at you later…

~Nancy Tart

Pineapple

May 2, 2018

Pineapple

One of our favorite fruits is the pineapple.

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The best of the best is fresh cut.  (We will get them straight off our bushes someday!)

Pineapple is great with pork, in oriental dishes, on pizza, in a cake, in muffins, or just plain and juicy sweet.

Up until a few months ago, I’d never cut a fresh pineapple!  It’s really easy if your kids are like mine and want to eat as close to the rind as possible.  My mom cuts the rind off and then dices the meat for a no-mess-later snack.

You cut off the top.  (Be sure to leave a little meat so you can plant the top in a sunny spot and a year later you’ll have more pineapples!)

You cut off the base.  (My kids call it the butt because the pineapple sits on it.)

Now stand the pineapple up and slice through it from top to bottom in two or three cuts.  I always use three because I like narrower bites for small-child mouths to make less of a mess.  Lay these four or six strips flat and slice into wedges.  They will look like pizza slices.  The yellow pineapple meat is pretending to be the cheese and the rind is being the crust.

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And voila!  Easy treat to grab and eat!  Our chickens love pineapple rinds.  Prim always thinks she wants them when we are cutting, but that’s just because we have the cutting board out and she thinks she’s a human.

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Pineapple is loaded with vitamins and minerals needed for healthy bodies.  It has an enzyme called bromelain that is anti-inflammatory and helps sooth coughing too.  For the calories (82 per cup), pineapple is considered nutrient dense and low sugar.  One cup of fresh pineapple has about 180mg potassium, 2g dietary fiber, 0.6g protein, 0.7% Vitamin A, 40% Vitamin C, 6.7% Vitamin B6, as well as copper, iron, folate, magnesium, thiamin, niacin, and 130% daily value of manganese!  (Among others, check it out!)

So, for a healthy, easy snack that tastes great, try some fresh pineapple!  (Just watch out for the “burn” you can get on your lips after a few slices.)

Fun facts:

Did you know that adding a little salt to pineapple makes it taste sweeter?  Just not too much!

The pineapple is technically a berry!  It is formed by several flowers fruiting together at the core (the hard central “Stem” through the middle of the pineapple) and fusing together into the soft, yellow meat of a single fruit per stalk.

The core and rind are edible!  The core can be too tough to eat in an unripe pineapple.  The rind is traditionally used to make a fermented drink!

Thanks for reading!

Type at you next time…

~Nancy Tart

 

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