A few from Sisters

We love Black Butte!  The other morning we headed into Sisters and had so much fun just enjoying the park and grabbing coffee.  I played with my camera.  Here are some favorites.

This cracks me up ... grown ups getting kids to smile

"Watch what I do through Matthew ..."

Sorry in advance for the rambling, but I feel like there is a lot to report.

I wanted to update people on Matt's first appointment with the naturopath since he started the Paleo diet.  The visit was better than expected; Dr. Tony praised Matt for his strict dedication.  He said Matt blew all of his expectations away in terms of sticking to the changes.

His physical assessment indicated that Matt's liver has significantly detoxed!  His adrenal glands are working much better than at his first appointment.  YAY Matt!  So proud of you.  He said Matt still has some work to do on the initial detox of all of the built-up toxins in his body, but he wanted Matt to feel like it was ok to have one or two gluten-free beers on our upcoming vacation to Black Butte as a treat.  TWO beers ... Matt felt like he was saying it was Christmas :).  Matt actually said he's not sure if he will even drink the beers ... it's just the *option* that makes it way easier to tolerate the discipline.

Way to go Matt!

I was alternately a bit defeated this week ... a found out that a coworker's husband has what Matt has, and she educated me that Matt no longer has alopecia areata but instead his total body hair loss is called alopecia universalis or alopecia totalis.  Her husband has had the full blown disorder for 25 years.  Apparently, once it progresses to this level the rate of remission goes wayyyyy down.  She pretty much confirmed the dermatologists' comment of, "lost cause."

In honesty, I was pretty down hearing her news.

But you know what ... I have already seen SOOOOO many good things from our diet changes, not just in our lives but in many friends and distant acquaintances (thank you for all of the emails everyone).  We are not just finding incredible energy from our new habits, but we are inspiring so many people who have been curious about some diet changes but have not known where to start.

Speaking of energy ... I can't stress enough the energy spike I've had.  I thought it was high last week ... this week it's creepy.  This is the tangent part of the post, so feel free to scroll down and skip it, but I just felt like describing my day because even for me, this was productive! For example ...

- last night I was up til 11:30 (bad, I know ... I need to get to bed earlier).
- Got up at 5:30, not tired, cleaned my entire house before the boys got up,
- Made to-do lists for packing for vacation,
- was at the gym by 9 and did a crazy crazy crazy workout class (the Klos' can testify; just to give you the gist ... 200 push ups in the first half hour)
- After the class we still had energy so we ended it all with sprints and pushing benches around a field).  I told you, crazy.
- Showered and then headed to the farmers market with the boys and my mom and her sister, my aunt Linda who is in town for the day from DC
- Came home and made lunch
- Ran off to work for a 2 hour audit I had to do looking at patients' IV sites throughout the hospital
- Finished in time to do all my Trader Joes shopping for our Black Butte Trip
- Met Matt and the boys at my parents for dinner and while there, made an amazing Ragu with all of my farmers market veggies to freeze and bring on vacation
- Chased the boys
- I got a little tired right at the end of the night there, but ...
- When I got home we had to put them to bed and then unload the groceries which gave me another wind of energy so I:
- baked my first ever Paleo muffins (I never bake, so this is very out of character)
- cleaned it all up
- Now I'm blogging about it at 10:45 and am telling myself that it is not healthy to not get enough sleep so I need to go to bed but I'm just not tired.

I told you ... it's crazy.  I used to have energy, but typically after chasing the boys all day, I'd crash about 8 pm and be done for.  Now, I keep a steady pace.

Even before all of this, all of my friends teased me that I'm like Monica from friends.  Well, this is Monica in overdrive.  I am assuming it will taper off as my body gets used to the new normal.  Maybe then I'll have to go on a processed-foods binge just so I can have this surge of energy when I go back to healthy eating (kidding!).

As Kelly texted so aptly tonight, "Jessica, back away from the kitchen ... slowly ... stay clear of anything productive."  RIGHT!?!?  I keep geeking out on my food preparation and taking iPhone pictures of my cooking.  It's dorky, weird, a little hippie ... but, here I am, and I'm loving it.

I feel like I have been given new eyes to see the world with.  A butterflies eyes perhaps ... ;)

One last but very important story before I post my geeked-out muffin pics:

When this first all was happening with Matt, his mom sent him a card in the mail.  She said that she had been waking up in the night and was led to pray for Matt.  What Jesus promised her was, "Watch what I do through Matthew."

No matter what the circumstance, that is a really cool word to hear about yourself or your spouse.

I have chills just thinking about that promise.  We have had that card on our refrigerator for about 3 months now.  At first, I was encouraged by it, but after Matt's hair was totally gone despite all of my prayers, I struggled and doubted that God really had any big plan for using this experience to impact others.

After all ... IT'S JUST HAIR.

It's not life or death.  It's not what several of my coworkers are facing in their families right now ... standing face to face with the mortality of people they love the most.  It's not the daily exhausting challenges of you or a loved one who has acute or chronic illnesses.

But still ... it is something.  To us, it is a "thing" in our life for the moment.  99.96% of the time it is just a "thing" but .04% of the time I do mourn the loss of the full-head-of-hair-two-eyebrowed-with-eyelashes man I fell in love with and may never see again.  Of COURSE, Matt is still so handsome as the hairless wonder, don't get me wrong.  Truly, this is one handsome hairless wonder.  But I know he misses his hair too, or at least his eyebrows.  Again, I can't stress enough, 99.96% of me is just so grateful his autoimmune disorder is JUST hair loss.  If you are going to have an auto-immune disorder, alopecia is the one to get.  It's mostly cosmetic with just a few physical inconveniences with temperature regulation and dust filtration in your eyes/nose.   It's not fatal.  Thank you, Lord.

Now that we are making these huge lifestyle changes, and we are actually inspiring others along with us to make one or two or ten healthier substitutions in their lives, I am re-invigorated by that card from Mary.  Mom, I'm so glad you were bold and shared God's word for us.  Again, I really do have chills just seeing it all come together.

It's not about the hair.  It's about living healthier, cleaner, more abundant, fruit-filled (literally and figuratively) lives.

And once again, if I know anything about Jesus (which thankfully, I know a few things) ... this is only the beginning.

"Watch what I do through Matthew ... "

~ Jessica

I hand picked my lunch for work Friday from our Garden

Here are a couple pics of the Ragu I made tonight while at my moms.  I made it the other night, and it was incredible.

When I cook, I mostly just throw things together that I like.  I have always made hearty spaghetti sauces just to add lots of veggies in to dinner.  I used to add sugar to counteract the acidity of the tomatoes.  I am now substituting cinnamon, and it's seriously the key to the sauce.

Here's what I did:

-Sauted organic ground beef in with 3 minced garlic gloves and 2 chopped big green onions and just a dash of olive oil
- After the meat was browned, I tossed in finely chopped 1 red pepper, 1 medium zucchini, 2 small eggplants, about 20 mushrooms, and a half a cup of celery and let this cook on low-medium for about 10 minutes, stirring often.
- You can seriously add almost any veggie you have. I meant to add Kale from my garden but since I ended up making it at my mom's house, I didn't.

I added 1 jar of Trader Joes gluten/dairy free plain marinara.  I seasoned the whole thing with 2 more cloves of minced garlic, a couple dashes of each sea salt, pepper, and cinnamon and 1 full cup of finely chopped fresh basil.

Then, I turned the heat as low as it would go and let it simmer for 2 hours.  Because this is such a huge batch, I ended up adding one more jar of the marinara after the first hour.

Sorry, it doesn't really look that appetizing in the photo, but I promise, it's SO SO SO good.  We will serve this over rice pasta and Matt will eat it plain or over some greens.  The sauce is more like a stew in consistency.  

I know, it looks sort of gross in the picture, but the smell is incredible.

Here are some phone pics of the carrot-banana muffins:

Tah-Dah ... Paleo friendly muffins and MAN ARE THEY DELICIOUS!!!!  I could not help myself ... I had two!

Crop

I feel like it is so dorky, but I am so excited about our garden veggies!  Here is a quick pic of some little Jordan family Kale and Sugar Snap Peas.  I have a ton of lettuce ready for picking, and the snap peas are really coming in.  I've been using my herbs for a while now.  The tomatoes will be ready before we know it.

There is just something extremely rewarding about growing your own food.  I know that it is clean and it tastes SO flavorful.  The lettuce is pretty bitter, but I think that is how lettuce is actually supposed to taste vs the over-pesticided stuff we typically eat. Move over Laura Ingles Wilder, here come the little Jordans on the prairie, hahaha ;-).

I will say it first here, and I am sure I will repeat it many, many, many times over ... I am no chef.  I never follow recipes.  I know what I like, and I just guess about what foods that I like would be good together.  I throw them together, and there you go ... dinner.

Thankfully, that approach actually works pretty well on our veggie-ful eating plan.  I sort of throw in some olive oil, lots of veggies we like, and some protein (meat, fish, or eggs).  Wa-la, tasty meal.

For lunch the other day, I tossed in:

- Eggplant
- Zucchini
- Kale
- Fresh basil & oregano from the garden
- Garlic
- Red Onion
- Pepper & sea salt

I sauted these with some olive oil and splashed on some balsamic vinegar and then tossed in some chicken sausage.  For Matt and I, threw this combo over lettuce (from our garden!)

For the boys, I added some g-free marinara (just the tiniest amount) and served it over rice pasta.  It was so delicious.  I have realized that I may end up having an obsession with eggplant sauted in balsamic.  OH SO TASTY.

Anyhow, that was the easiest meal, and it was so good.  I actually ate all of the boys' leftovers too because it was so good with the marinara.

There you go ... a paleo and/or g-free meal filled with clean, fresh, healthy foods for your family (in 15 minutes).

:) ~ Jessica

Gavin is 2!

Dear Gavin,

Happy 2nd Birthday my sweet blue eyed, blond haired snuggle bug.  Gavin, you are the snuggliest two-year-old ever.  You still love to be "up-py."  You are definitely on the apprehensive side about new things (or even familiar things sometimes). Often you will be playing happily and then all of a sudden run over and want me to pick you up. 

When Tyler was your age, he was obsessed with cars.  You don't really have a thing like that that is your very favorite, but you get super excited every time you see an airplane.  You have a few little airplane toys that you have fun with.  Again though, you are not all that into toys; you will play with something for a few minutes and then move on. That may be partly because Tyler tends to jack whatever you start getting into. 

Yes, he takes your toys sometimes, but he also totally entertains you.  Most mornings after breakfast, I get you boys dressed and then you go play together while I get read and clean up.  It is the cutest thing.  You read books to each other or sit quietly with toys.  You love Tyler so much.  You always look for him when he is not around. You call him "broder" or "Ty-woo" (which I think is seriously the cutest thing you say).

Mr. G, you love to sleep.  After you ask for "1 more story," we do our prayers and if I ever try and rock you, you will sit with me for a minute or two, but then you point to your crib.  You never fuss at bedtime.  You take 2-3 hour naps daily and sleep 12+ hours at night.  I wonder if in high school you will ever get out of bed on weekends ;)

You have zero interest in TV.  It's funny because you were exposed to way more screen time than Tyler ever was before age 2, but you really pay no attention to it.  That's why it surprised me so much the other morning when Tyler was watching Tangled and you looked at me and said, "Mommy, O'd dat horsy go?" (aka where'd the horsy go?).  A full sentence, wow! It came out of nowhere but it was so cute.  Paige told me that at her house you held up the lego motorcycle and said, "O'd Jeff Motorcycle go?"  Her husband Jeff rides a motorcycle to work.  Smart boy :)  You take in so much and understand so much.

The other day, I was rocking you right before bed, and I was praying out loud for you.  You realized I was praying, and quietly you added, "... And Ty-woo ... And Kelsey."  Eeek, you are the sweetest!  You love to pray for all of your grands and your family and friends. 

Gavin, you are definitely my stubborn one.  If you don't get something you want, you will immediately start to throw a huge fit.  It takes a lot of patience on our end to make you stop, look in our eyes, use your words, and calm down. 

We are pretty strict with you, but we have to be.  You would just walk all over us if not.  It's so easy to just give in and give you everything that you want (because you are SO cute), but we hold our own and we don't give you everything you want.  You get so mad sometimes!  It's actually hard not to laugh when you do your dramatic displays of freak out.  But I am so proud of you because you really are trying to learn how to stop yourself and just use your words. 

One thing that always makes you happy is music.  You love to sing and dance.  We have dance parties daily.  You love itsy-bitsy and the ABCs.  You can repeat all of the letters to me (it's cute because you repeat every letter except X; instead of X you excitedly say Y!!)

Oh Gavs, I just love you so much.  You are so handsome and sweet.  I am loving watching you grow.  I think you are going to make me laugh a ton this next year as I start to learn more what is in your head as your vocabulary expands. 

I love you SOOOOOO much!!!  Love, Mommy

Cocoon

Matt has Alopecia Areata, an autoimmune disorder where the body attacks its hair follicles.  In junior high, he lost patches of his hair.  A year later, his hair grew back and he has been in remission until this year, when it started falling out again.  Within a few weeks, he had to shave his head (see the post from March).  

Pretty soon, Matt has a full blown attack of alopecia.  We like to call him "the hairless wonder" ;-).  

When Matt started losing his hair, we were hopeful that it was just going to come back, like it had when he was in junior high and his alopecia first occurred.  As I said, it has gotten progressively much worse though, and the dermatologist pretty much told him his hair is a “lost cause,” at least for the time being. 

We were ok with that because it’s just hair … but then his eyebrows/eyelashes/nose hairs started falling out.  When you don’t have eyelashes, your eyes get dust in them.  No fun.  We have had several people suggest a naturopath, so we decided to give it a try.

Matt was very impressed by the naturopathic doctor he saw.  Dr. Tony Mirczuk did several “muscle testing” exercises and took a full history from Matt.  For the first time in Matt’s entire life, a doctor finally said, “kids don’t get heartburn … if you have been having GI problems since you were a child, there is something wrong with your gut.”  FINALLY.  Every other doctor Matt has ever seen has told him that his intermittent yet chronic & severe heartburn and associated back pain was “stress related.”  We know stress adds to it, but that’s not the only cause, we just know it.  Like Dr. Tony said … “kids should not get heartburn.”

He basically told Matt that while his physique is perfect and he appears in perfect heatlh according to most people’s standards, that his body is telling him that he is actually not well.  His own body is attacking his hair follicles; periodically he is up all night long with intense heartburn and back pain … it’s not a healthy picture.

We are all in agreement that alopecia is a genetic autoimmune disorder; but what most people suspect about autoimmune disorders is that certain things aggravate them and cause symptoms vs periods of remission.  The trick is to figure out what is causing the flare ups.

The doctor did not promise to fix the baldness.  But he did say that he had some strong feelings about how to make Matt’s body significantly healthier, which he hopes will cause his alopecia to go into remission.  We figure, we have no reason not to try his advice.

Matt and I went together to the appointment where the doctor revealed his findings and recommendations.  I went into the appointment prepared for him to ask Matt to give up something from his diet.  My list included: soy, corn (aka all corn syrup products), gluten, or dairy. 

I was trying to think of which one of those things would be the “easiest” for our family to give up.  But then, I sort of got blown out of the water at the appointment. 

First and foremost, he said that Matt is chronically dehydrated … too much coffee, too much beer, not enough water.   Matt is now 100% off all alcohol, he can have 8 oz of coffee a day, and the remainder of his day he can drink only plain or sparkling water. 

That is just the beginning …

He hypothesizes that Matt’s gut is expending so much effort digesting his food, that it is under great stress.  If Matt is eating foods that his body can’t handle, they likely poke micro-holes in his intestine, which causes the foods that Matt eats to actually leak into his bloodstream.  The immune system mounts a response against these foreign cells in the blood.  If any of those cells mirror hair follicles, the auto-immune response initiates and the body attacks them. 

… or … his body is working so hard to digest food, that his body temperature is higher than it should be (YES, Matt is ALWAYS hot).  When your body is working in over drive, it needs to sacrifice some of it’s other processes.  Hair exists to keep us warm.  If you are already hot, then you don’t need hair, so the body sacrifices it to use its energy for:

- digestion

- working out (aka Matt’s p90X commitment over the last 2 years)

- lack of sleep associated with shift work (aka Matt get’s up at 4 am often for work)

- normal daily stresses.

Both of these hypothesis are very feasible and definitely make more sense than, “well, your hair is a lost cause.”

But what is the solution?

The doctor recommended that at least for a time, Matt go very strictly on what is called the Paleo Diet. 

What’s that?  That’s what I asked too!

It’s basically only eating things that primitive man was designed to eat.  I think of it as “garden of eden” foods.  Fruits, veggies, meats, fish, nuts, seeds.

No grains.  No rice.  No dairy.  No legumes.  No corn.  At all.  Basically, nothing processed.

It is STRICT!!!!!  I was prepared to give something up from our diet … THIS IS CRAZY. 

Or is it?

I don’t know, honestly.  Matt was game to try it.  Let’s do 3 months, he proposed, and then see if anything improves.

It’s his bald head, his tummy aches … so I’m going to support whatever he is game to try. 

We figured, the boys and I would go gluten free and fix meals that Matt could eat.   The kids and I can still eat gluten-free grains and while we will still eat some dairy, we will decrease it significantly.  I just strongly felt like if we didn’t rally behind Matt and make huge changes in our own patterns, there was no way he could succeed on his own.  We are a family, and we will do this together. 

I walked out of the office crying.  This seemed like such a huge sacrifice.  Other than for nutrition, we use food for celebration, for comfort, for tradition, for routine, for convenience.  I felt like this doctor was asking us to disregard our entire daiy routine/culture/heritage just on a whim that this could help Matt.  Again, what a huge sacrifice. When we celebrate anything, we do it around the food’s we love and that make us feel really good for the moment.  We can’t give those things up?  Can we?

But if it heals Matt’s body (not just the hair, but all of the GI symptoms) and improves his quality of life and longevity, then isn’t it worth it?

Yes.  But how?  And is this really right???

Bring in the Jesus.

Anytime I am at a crossroads, I get really homesick for Jesus.  I just want the comfort of His familiar voice to tell me where to go.  I prayed for God to show us what to do.  I specifically prayed for him to speak through Matt, since he was the one who brought us to this point.

When we prayed together, Matt got three images in his head:

1.  A caterpillar

2.  A Butterfly

3.  A Tricycle

We had no idea what these meant, so we just went to bed.

When I woke up the next morning, I was so sad.  I was faced with going the store to buy food in a way that I had never done before.  I felt super alone; like I was going into a store in a foreign country and didn’t speak the language.   I emailed a friend Bethany Fegles (my very very very favorite photographer and an amazing mom who lives a completely gluten/dairy free life).  I told her we were venturing into the g-free world, and she left me a voicemail shortly thereafter that was so encouraging and sweet.   She named all of my emotions and fears and totally understood!  I could have just cried hearing her encouraging words on the message.  She ended by saying that it would be just like riding a bike, and soon we would be so used to being g-free that we would not think twice about it.

Right when she said that, the image of the tricycle popped in my head, and I got it.  I could see that God was saying that while I was riding a trike right now (which is what it felt like), pretty soon it would become old hat.

Bethany also emailed me a few links that have been super helpful.  One of them was a blog entry she wrote for a friend's blog, and it filled out the rest of God’s picture for us.

At the end of it, she said …

“Our kids have a butterfly garden here at home, and we're in the process of watching caterpillars make their cocoons. This process reminds of a little picture that hung in our home when I was a child. It said, "What the caterpillar calls the end of the world, the Master calls a butterfly." Whatever season you're in, God is in it with you. Changes aren't always easy, but I'm confident that God's making something beautiful of your life!”

This stopped me in my tracks!  Once again, I just started crying, but this time, it was crying at being so thankful for God’s confirmation that his hands were fully in this process.  Yes Lord, we will move forward and see what you have in store.  Clearly, it’s something good.

I know enough about God to know that His answers to our prayers often don’t come in the way we originally think they will.  Perhaps Matt’s hair will never grow back, but God wants to use this to do something good in our lives, so we are game to see what it is.


It has taken me 2 full weeks to post this.  It has all been so overwhelming that I wasn't sure how to sum it all up.  But guess what!  In the past 2 weeks, God really has been SO faithful to meet me in all my fears!


-  I am extremely happy with the COLOR that I am feeding my family! Our meals rich in color, nutrients, and healthy goodness.  

Gluten Free hot dog buns for the boys ... Matt & I skipped any grains and had a strictly Paleo dinner :)  

- Matt and my energy levels are both through the roof.  Matt is OFF caffeine!  Yes, my starbucks husband is no longer a caffeine junky.  I've been drinking a cup or two of half decaf in the morning and that's it.  We both have way more steady energy throughout the day.


-  Our friends and family have been amazingly supportive.  People have welcomed our changes rather than judge us.  Our family and friends have done research, spend lots of $$$ and time preparing us paleo-friendly and g-free meals, and overall just made us feel normal rather than like freaky-deaks.


- For snacks, instead of crackers or bread products, we've been having fruits, veggies, rice cakes, and more, and they gobble them up. 


- I was so worried that our kids would feel punished or deprived.  Guess what, they have not noticed a thing.  They actually have been really enjoying all of our new foods.  I am trying to stay away from as much processed as possible, but I bought some g-free mac-n-cheese (rice pasta) for a special treat for the boys.  Tyler's comment was "This is the BEST mac-n-cheese I've ever had ... can we always buy this kind?"

I have been g-free for almost a month now.  Matt has been for 3 weeks, and Paleo for 2 weeks.  Tomorrow is his first check-in with Dr. Tony.  I hope it goes well!  This doctor comes highly, highly recommended, so we are excited for what he can possibly do for Matt.


Thanks for all of your support.  Thanks especially to Bethany for all of the advice and wisdom having been down this road.  Thanks to our family and closest friends for being "safe" houses where we can come and eat Paleo-safe.  You have no idea how much this has meant to us.


PS ... if you have not seen Fat, Sick, and Nearly Dead, it's a must watch documentary!  I believe it's free to watch for this month with that link.  Otherwise, google the title.  

life is sweet

Freezing Berries in Baby Food Jars

We LOOOOVE fresh berries.  I go out to Smith Berry Barn because they are no-spray, so I feel fine letting the kids eat them while picking.  Plus, it is so peaceful and beautiful there.  I didn't dare to take the camera because it was just me with both kiddos, but Hannah brought hers and it will be fun to see the three cute cousins picking!

It's a tradition for me to go pick berries on every 4th of July, and this time I had an extra reason to really stock up because we are starting a new venture in the little J' family of going gluten-free to try and help Matt's auto-immune disorder ... but that will be for another blog entry!

Today, I'm so excited to post about our beautiful berries.  Tyler was such a helper this year!  He said he picked all the berries "for daddy" because Matt was working.  Grandma and Granddaddy joined us too.  Such a fun day!

As you know, I have a mini obsession with making baby food, and when I had Gavin, I collected dozens of jars from friends so that I could store my homemade stuff easily.  I was left with all of these empty jars ... empty containers don't last long around me.  I always find a good use for them.  Last year, I froze tons of berries in the jars, and they were perfect!

Here are some tips ...

- As long as they are dry when you fill the jars and you seal the lids tight, they don't get any freezer burn at all.
- I use plastic boxes from target designed for storing printer paper to store the majority.  I always keep a few handy in the door of my freezer so I can grab them daily.
- They are the perfect portion to toss in oatmeal or smoothies.
- For larger recipes like a batch of blueberry pancakes, you can use a small mason jar.
- Use your helpers!!  The boys filled a lot of the jars ... I could not get over their cuteness :)

Try it!  It's so much better than ziplocks (freezer burn, berries stick in huge clumps, boo!).

Happy 4th Everyone!  ~ Jessica

Tyler was so proud to show daddy the berries he picked for him

Food to grow back daddies hair :)

Fresh berries for all winter long!!!  YAY!