What Gluten Free Really Means

I've been wanting to write this up and share it for awhile, but I wasn't sure who to share it with exactly so I figured the blog would be a good place!

As some of you know, last summer we figured out Sage cannot eat wheat flour. Boy have we learned a lot about her condition since then! The reason I wanted to share about it is because we are coming home and will be around a lot of people and there's always cookouts and things going on and I'm worried about Sage getting some food that she can't have. Also Joel has figured out he can't eat it either although he is not as sensitive as Sage is yet. It seems the longer she is off of it the more sensitive she becomes and the more foods we find out she can't have. So we have all been wheat free since December.

I wanted to let everyone know in case you want to invite us for a meal really. Not that I'm expecting that, but if you are considering it I want you to know what you're in for! Also for my family who gets together to eat all the time.

Other than wheat flour (which is in a LOT of things, I'll get to that) she also can't have banana's or oatmeal (bummer I know).

Here are things that often have wheat in them that might not be obvious:
sausage (here anyways I know it's used as a binder, I'd have to check labels there), hot dogs, lunch meat (even if labeled gluten free cross contamination is very likely, but it's not good for you anyways ;) ), I'm not sure about brats yet or venison sausage, many seasonings such as chicken boullion, any sauce/gravy mixes, soy sauce, a lot of mixed spices, any fried foods, even like french fries at a restaurant that have been fried with other foods, most candy (we don't give her candy anyways) except plain chocolate, cream of anything soup, most all cereal other than corn flakes, corn chex and rice crispies, cheese sauce, marinara sauce, play dough, rice cakes, salad dressings....basically if it's in a box she can't have it.

There is also cross contamination. Say I bring our own gluten free bread for a picnic and someone has peanut butter and jelly. If someone has dipped a knife into either one, spread it on their bread and then went for more, the crumbs in there will cause a reaction. Yes, she is THAT sensitive. Or using the same tongs to get a bun and then meat or something. Everything has to have it's own utensils.  You can see why we don't have flour in our house at all.

Wheat flour is also in most ALL processed food. There are a ton of hidden names, a big one is MSG, also malt, modified food starch, cereal (as an ingredient), vegetable gum, glucose syrup, starch, wheat protein, vegetable protein.....it's a long list.

So what CAN she eat?

REAL FOOD. Grilled meat (no seasonings), chicken legs are her favorite, fish (not fried unless with corn starch or rice flour), fruit and veggies (she only eats them uncooked so that makes it easy), raisins, nuts (if labeled gluten free), rice flour, corn flour, eggs (not in a restaurant though, they add flour batter to fluff them). Seriously just real whole food.

What happens when she gets some?

Oh boy. We ALL suffer lol. She gets stomach aches and gets constipated, but the worst part is she becomes an emotional mess. She will cry and scream for hours. She can't handle anything, you can't look at her wrong, say the wrong thing..... And it lasts for 3-5 days. I won't even take her anywhere, it's THAT bad.

I'm learning some teas and things that might help with the inflammation when she does get some, because I know it will happen. But I don't want to have to use them. The longer she's off of it the better and better she is. She turns into a sweet nice girl! But it takes about a month for it to completely wear off.

Joel doesn't react quite the same way. He doesn't throw fits anymore ;)

As far as restaurants go, we have to go somewhere with a gluten free menu, because it's obviously not good enough to just order things that aren't fried or breaded. Olive Garden has a gf menu actually and I saw one place in Menominee that does. I'm sure there are more I just haven't looked them up yet.

So now that you're completely overwhelmed and never want to invite us anywhere again.... No I'm joking, but really I understand if it's too much! There's also the option of me bringing our own food. We want to hang out with everyone I just don't want to have to explain this over and over, especially with the long list. Or you can ask me for ideas if you're up for the challenge. Everyone has gf things in their house that I can work with, I've been doing it for awhile now :)

Week 32

Well the biggest news this week is: WE GOT TICKETS! We will be home July 1st - 5 weeks away. We have a lot of mixed emotions for sure. We are of course excited to see what God has in store next as we are obedient to Him and also see all of you :) We are also really sad to leave a place we have come to love so much. So if any of our churches want us to come speak we'll be available any time after that. Or if any of you want to get together we'd love to share what God's been doing here and the things that we've learned, as well as our plans for the future. Just let us know!

Joel worked a few days with Jay at the fishing lodge again. He wants to wait to take pictures now til it's all done, sounds like it's going to be quite impressive!

We did our monthly shopping trip/visa renewal last week and realized it's going to be our last big shopping trip!

Saturday we went to the village for the day. Joel helped with a project Jay has organized to rebuild a building at the school that was lost during the hurricane a few years ago. The school had a fundraiser to get money for the project so every Saturday some of the men in the village are getting together to work on it.

So I got to spend the day with Myrtle (yay!) and Sage got to play with the puppies and kitten and her friends all day. It was pretty great :)

Week 31

Here are the pictures from the project Joel and the guys have been working on at the fishing lodge.

The fireplace should be done this week it's going to be pretty awesome:

They talked Myrtle into using her jello mold for making art on the fireplace: 

 I know it's been a lot of hard work but I know he's also having a blast :)

I want to talk about something here that's been on my mind lately. Week after week we post and share about the physical work we're doing here. I want to stress that this is not our only ministry. We've found that being hard working is definitely an asset when working with people (anywhere). It gets you instant respect which is important in discipleship, and it also gives you something in common with most people, especially here where people live so differently than we do. The work on the base itself is really not important. I mean lets be real, at this point we're fixing this place up and keeping it nice so it can sell. There are no more teams coming. It's been months since the youth group came out. Really it feels like we're house flippers. Which is part of the reason we're not staying. BUT we are using our situation for God's glory in any way we can. To have people come out here and see that Joel is working hard and not just sitting on the beach or watching tv all day (it's broken anyway lol) is a big deal and we know it's led to some of the friendships Joel has with some of the guys. Part of the reason we came here was because it was an opportunity to help out a mission, for Joel to do ministry and work at the same time (makes us feel like we're earning your support in a way), and to get our feet in the door for mission work. So in that way it has worked out really well. Unfortunately it being so remote has not worked out so well as far as ministry goes - it's hard to work with people when you're not around people ;)

Anyways, I just wanted to point that out. It's not all about our working around the base. Awesome things are happening in the short time we've been here, God is working through Joel in amazing ways. We just can't share every detail because these are real people with real internet lol. But it's something we'd love to share about in person. God works in ways we'll never even know and when we get to know it's even more amazing!  Even though our time here is short we pray every day that He uses us for His glory and never for ours.

So every week we want to post things that are going on so since we can't share personal details we share things about work we're getting done and stuff like that. We want to post SOMETHING lol, and to be accountable too. We are really here with no supervision which isn't always the best situation so we want to make sure everyone knows what we're up to. If you ever have questions please private message or email, we'd love to talk about it :)

Ok, I feel better :)

So back to the work part, this week Joel spent a lot of time at the fishing lodge working on the fireplace. It's pretty cool because he gets to teach his trade to Jay which will hopefully help him get more work like this. Plus they just like to hang out together. There's been a lot of different people out there working so it's led to opportunities for him to share about the Lord with other people as well.

He worked in the village this week too, the water pump was broken again, and he  helped weld up a luggage rack on the church van so Kenny could take the ladies to the women's retreat in Belmopan on Friday.

Sage and I have been here a lot, but it's probably a good thing because we've had some potty training 'issues' that make it hard to be in public lol. The wind and waves have calmed down and we actually had a nice cool day yesterday and a few cool nights (blankets!). Unfortunately the bugs are HORRIBLE. Some new mosquito hatched and they are EVIL. And as soon as the wind dies the sandflies come out, you just can't win lol.

Week 30

Joel spent a few days last week working at the fishing lodge.  Monday he and some 6 other guys from the village put up all the concrete for the pool with just trowels. The cement truck poured the concrete into the middle of the pool and every one just slung it at the walls until it was finished, it was a long hot day. We should have some pictures of the work in progress next week it was a busy place in that hole.

Then another day he and Jay worked on the fireplace for the outdoor kitchen. Joel said they are going way overboard on this project so he can show Jay a new trade and he can build more of these for other people. This fireplace/stove will have all the extras so Jay will know how to tackle any request in the future he might have. 

We've known our cabana was not quite level, but it seemed to be getting worse. The door kept getting stuck, the toilet wasn't working right, and the drain in the shower quit draining.

So he put a level on it and started jacking it up. And up and up....a whole foot! No wonder we felt we were sleeping on a hill! Unfortunately the posts had rotted off just below the sand, but he put concrete down and hopefully that will keep us level for awhile.

Straight again! Hey, it's a big deal, we sleep so much better level lol. 

There are so many mangoes in the village, we're eating them all the time (it's rough!) And plums and rose apples....

Sage is SO happy about this. If we lived in the village I don't think I'd have to feed her anymore, I think she'd go outside and graze.

After the rain everything has come to life, there's flowers blooming everywhere:

In other (even more exciting) news, Sage's chicken laid her first egg! Ok, Sage was the most excited and thanked Black for making her breakfast :)

I had a wonderful Mothers Day :) Joel and Sage picked me some flowers, and made me a card and breakfast!

We went to church where Joel gave the message (it was really good) and then went to Jay and Myrtles for an amazing meal of chicken, gibnut, rice and beans, banana salad, and potato pie.  Sage was in her glory because their dog had 6 puppies and their cat had kittens.

Then the kids all built a fort together in the back of Jay's truck :)

Hope you all had a great Mother's Day too!

Week 29

It's been SO hot and muggy here lately. It's been dry for months but this last week we had several days of it being so humid there was a haze over everything. I don't know if you can tell in the pic but from the beach the lodge was hazy.

And then finally some rain! Check out how everything is dead, even the grass:

And we got a lot of rain, the grass is already turning green and our water tanks are full!

The grape trees all decided to lose their leaves at the same time, and they do not fall apart I think they're made of rubber. So we've been raking. Think it needed to be done?

 Joel's been helping out on another project across the lagoon with Jay at a fishing lodge. Since he is able to help Jay he will make more money since he doesn't have to hire help. Here they put up a  block base for the rain barrel you see behind it, now it's high enough to have running water in the caretakers house, they are very excited.

Here's the swimming pool that's being built (full of water already lol) Joel and Jay are helping with this project but a local contractor is heading it up. Joel is going to work pouring concrete with all the people from the village who are helping.

Joel and Jay are working on a deck and a mayan kitchen out by the pool: (There will be fireplace with a dutch oven swing and a cooking area all incorporated in one; right up Joel and Jays alley, they had way to much fun designing this one.) Here's the future bridge from the pool deck to the mayan kitchen in the trees, yes I said bridge again Joel and Jay had way to much fun with this one :)

Yesterday (Saturday) Jay and Myrtle and Sista and a bunch of kids came out for the day, it was so fun! They brought mangoes from the village (Sage was really excited about that):

Myrtle and Sista cooked up a bunch of yummy food:

Myrtle is always helping me come up with gluten free recipes cause she feels so bad we can't have flour :)  These were shark panades. We had never had shark and cooked up this way it was really good!

Lunch:

Sage had a blast having other kids to play with and the kids all had fun hanging out here.

The whole reason they came out was so we could have bible study here and I could be a part of it.  It was so nice of them and I'm so glad they came. We had wonderful fellowship. They are so encouraging to us and we are going to miss them SO much, they've become family. 

There's supposed to be a showing this week, and maybe another one this month, so we'll be getting ready for that, mostly making the beach look perfect.

Our new truck is running great, we are so grateful for that!

We still have no concrete plans about when we're coming back or exactly how that's all going to work out, but we know we'd like to visit all of our supporting churches and all of our supporters individually so we'll be contacting some of you about that once we have dates. Exciting!