A Big Part of Our Life

I do not have any memories as a young girl of being in the kitchen helping my Mom cook and bake.

My Mom was a fantastic cook, and we always had delicious food growing up!

After Blake and I were married, somewhere along the way I started to love to be in the kitchen – making new recipes, learning new ways to cook and bake, and making everything from scratch.

I was the one who made cinnamon rolls from scratch for Saturday morning breakfast, took the fancy pampered chef appetizers to get-togethers, and was always asked to bring my homemade rolls to Thanksgiving dinner.

Those rolls were appropriately named “the best buns in town!”

I just LOVE how the Lord prepared me for what lay ahead!

Once I was diagnosed with Celiac disease in 2006, my love for being in the kitchen took on a whole new meaning.

It is such a HUGE part of our life – but now it is out of necessity.

I still make rolls!

I’m not sure they are “the best buns in town,” but they are good!


Celiac disease, topped with other autoimmune diseases, and children who are dealing with the same – is not all about what you cannot eat….

It is very much about making sure the bites you CAN eat count!

Food is either poison or medicine – depending on what you eat, that is!

Food that is good for you is in its natural state and it is beautiful too!


The further we got into our healing journey, the more Blake and I realized eating WELL would make a difference in our healing, if the Lord chose to bless our efforts.

He has.

A hundred times over, the Lord has blessed our efforts!!


When you add the need for allergen-free foods to the amount of mouths we have here to feed, it is a BIG job!

Because we eat mostly fresh produce, our fridge looks like this before grocery day –


And then like this after grocery day!


I am SO thankful for ALL my helpers and their own dedication to their own health and healing journeys.

Addie Mae is the best grocery shopping helper!


Tate is inheriting his Grandma’s and his Mama’s love of being in the kitchen and it makes me SO happy!!


He was helping me make six layer bars here after we found a new “safe” ingredient at the grocery store.

Please make note of the photo bomber.

Thank you very much.


Here those bars are headed to the oven.

They got rave reviews, although they were way too sweet for our taste buds!


Eliza also likes to be in the kitchen too!

I enjoy spending time with her this way!!


Addie’s love for baking is inspiring and something I hope she passes down to her children someday!

She makes delicious things!


Of course, there is always room for treats.

Ice cream is one of our favorites!

We make ice cream from scratch a lot, but there are some very yummy safe ice creams at the store too!


It goes without saying that I (and we) are very aware of how abundantly blessed we are.

I sit in the quiet of the morning and ask the Lord often “why us?”

“Why do we get to live like this, with so much, when there are others in other places who live with nothing?”

We simply are not worthy of ALL the Lord does for us!

I will always be grateful for the joy the Lord has given me in the kitchen when it is such a need in our lives!

How I love to fill bellies!!

Thank you, Jesus, for all you have done for us!!

Grand Days Are the BEST Days!

If you have been here in this little space on this world wide web for even a second you know that our BEST days are when they are spent with our FAVORITES!

Our grand babies!!

Either here at Twin Oaks, over at Shiloh Valley Farm, or any where in between – we LOVE time with our grand babies!!

I can never get enough of them!


They are growing up fast and just FULL of life, inquisitiveness and JOY!

Our youngest children and our grand babies are growing up like cousins and best friends!


I love this photo and the memory of how NaiNai’s ice pack could make a bonk on the head all better super fast!!


The babies (how much longer can I call them that?) absolutely adore their Aunt and Uncles too.

Watching them together fills my heart to overflowing!!


No better way to fill up our table or our beds!


Whenever they are here at NaiNai’s house and have to leave to go back home, Clyde taps me on my leg and says “NaiNai, NaiNai, NaiNai! I come back, OK?”

You better believe it’s OK, sweet Clyde Strength!!

Make sure you bring your brother and sisters, OK?

I LOVE YOU MY GRAND BABIES SO VERY MUCH!!

A Doctor’s Appointment

A week ago Blake and I took Eliza to see the eye doctor.

Eliza had been complaining about her right eye, telling me it felt “crusty” inside of it and she was constantly rubbing it.

I looked carefully in her eye, pulling her lower eye lid down and her upper eye lid up to take a good look around.

I was surprised to see a grey spot on the white of her right eye underneath her eye.

Then I looked in her other eye, and there is a grey spot on the white of her eye above her eye.

Then I googled.

Don’t do that – just saying!

When I called the eye doctor to make an appointment, they asked why I was wanting her to be seen so I told them what I saw in her eyes.

They had us come right over.

Eliza thought an outing with Mom AND Dad was a pretty good deal!!


She insisted on bringing her school work with her in the van.


We saw a resident in the Gundersen Ophthalmology department.

He did not seem too worried about these grey spots, saying that people of Asian descent can be prone to discoloration on the whites of their eyes.

He also said that her eyes might be bothering her due to allergies, and told us of several over-the-counter eye drops we could try.

That was all good news!

I still will wonder about these grey spots just a little bit though, as they can be caused by a connected tissue disorder, which is something Eliza was checked for by a geneticist when she arrived home from China.

For now, we will rest in this resident’s diagnosis and pray and hope it is so!

Eliza did GREAT at her appointment!!


We stopped at the Coop on the way back home and got some treats!

Eliza picked chips and I picked this –


I do have medical journals that I keep for both Tate and Eliza to keep track of all of their appointments and everything that is said at those appointments.

But…I have looked back at posts here on the blog or on Instagram many times to refresh my memory of what happened at certain appointments!

It is hard to keep track of it all!

We have more appointments for our two cherubs coming up this week.

We will be doing their check-ups with neurosurgery and urology different this time because of COVID, but we are hopeful that it will all go well and be enough for now!

We are SO thankful for their health and stability!!

It will be great to check these upcoming appointments off our list just the same!!

A Sweet Delivery

A couple of weeks ago our trio received a package in the mail from their Grandma – just because!

It was the most PERFECT timing and SO appreciated!!


Gonna be honest here – I have wanted magnetic tiles for the kids for awhile now!

They were so excited to receive these new things!

They have had endless hours of fun with them already!

Eliza especially has enjoyed the magnetic tiles!


What a sweet surprise to receive this delivery!

Bless you and thank you Grandma Norma!!

WE LOVE YOU AND MISS YOU SO MUCH!!