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It finally happened! After five weeks we got a REAL date night. Woohoo! We wandered around Waco, ate at the beautiful Hippodrome, and then went to see Yo-Yo Ma shred the cello.
It reminded me how important it is to make time for date nights and just us evenings with little ones and while living in community. We both adore having other grownups around and having other farmies over for meals but I don’t think we’ve been intentional enough about catching up just the two of us. So last night was a delight.
The kids continue thriving on the farm. We took a little homeschooling break this week because Benjamin finished up the first half of his 1st grade math book and we’re waiting for the second book to arrive. So we just adventured, read books, went to the museum, and watched My Fair Lady.
Oh and we also made cookies. After 9 days on my gut healing liquid bone broth diet of misery, I called it a day. I do NOT have the willpower for that folks! But I do think it was a valuable exercise. I feel a teensy bit better physically and it helped me realize just how easy it is to overdo it on grains/sugars/inflammatory foods. I’m officially addicted to blueberry/almond butter smoothies and I’m trying to incorporate more bone broths into our meal plan.
I had a few meltdowns last week about my autoimmune disease and just feeling completely overwhelmed trying to figure out what helps me and what doesn’t. Blindly trying out this and that after hours of researching and getting contradictory information has exhausted me.
So I finally made an appointment with an acupuncturist that was highly recommended by some friends of mine that also suffer from chronic illness. I went yesterday and she was awesome and I’m excited to have someone far more knowledgeable than I am helping me on this healing path. So I’m sticking with the supplements and essential oils that seem to be helping me and adding acupuncture and Chinese herbs to the mix. Hopefully the healing will happen more quickly because I’m kinda getting sick of being sick?
The Quotable Gwen:
“I know how to do makeup!” Do ya, baby girl?
The Quotable Benjamin:
“We don’t get to come on the date night?! Ugh! Why are you so OBSESSED with Dad?!”
Giveaway Winners!
Megan Reusz is the winner of the giveaway for the Advent solid tapers from Toadily Handmade Beeswax Candles and Tammy is the winner of the hand rolled Advent candle set. Check your inbox, ladies, because I’ll be sending you info about your prize soon. This was such a fun giveaway and I wish I could send candles to everybody who entered because I’m pretty sure candles are my love language!
If you weren’t one of the lucky winners, you can still get 10% off during the month of October with the discount code ADVENT just for Carrots readers. So head over to their site and get set up early for Advent and all your candle-ish needs!
We have been particularly loving this adorable candle making set at our house! Lucy has been hard at work making candles for her birthday party next week. #seriousbusiness
And I’m also adoring this Christmas ornament:
Made of beeswax, folks. Smells like heaven. In fact, I’d just like to buy out their entire Christmas section.
Links:
Get Inspired with Emma Watson’s Style: Verily
We’re casual about sex and serious about consent. But is it working?: The Washington Post
Why Do We Love Henry David Thoreau?: The New Yorker
Best and Worst Eras of Makeup: Lisa Eldridge
40 Catholic Saints in Cross Stitch: Do Small Things With Love (I am seriously going to pick up embroidery thread and a hoop and do some cross stitching for the first time in two decades because……ADORABLE.)
Podcast:
Old Houses, Homesteads, and Having 100 Kids (our interview with Cari Donaldson of Ghost Fawn Homestead)
Sponsors:
Be sure to give some love to this month’s sponsor! They keep the lights on around here.
- Catholic Dad: (Mostly) Funny Stories of Faith, Family, and Fatherhood to Encourage and Inspire by Jake Frost
- Toadily Handmade Beeswax Candles
Wishing you a gorgeous weekend with lots of love,
Haley
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P.P.S.! My SIL and my friend Wendy are putting together a FREE online essential oils class next Thursday night on Facebook and I’m sharing videos during the class about a couple of the oils I’ve really been loving. So come hang out in your PJs with us and enjoy the giveaways, prizes, and learning a bit about essential oils. RSVP here.
Hi, Haley! So sorry to hear about your health struggles. I’ve been down that road, too, and have wanted to try acupuncture for years, but I have an acquaintance who says it’s off- limits to Catholics. Do you know whether the Church has a stance on acupuncture (I know we’re supposed to avoid stuff like Reiki and Yoga)? I’d love to get the green light to help with some of my own issues.
I too thought that acupuncture was supposed to be new agey – based on chinese alternative medicine that often incorporates elements of ” energy forces ” which are complefely different from the Christian view of God.
Not claiming to be an expert or unduly negative but I am a huge fan of yours and would hate you to get mixed up in anything unsound.
Hi Liz! See my comment to Erin above and here’s a good little article as well: http://www.catholicculture.org/culture/library/view.cfm?recnum=8758
Thanks for the link ! I didn’t know that there were different types of acupuncture. This makes sense. Praying for your healing and blessing on your family and for all the wonderful work you do. You have truly helped me many a day with your blog and podcast. Thank you Haley.
Hi Erin! While Eastern religion is obviously incompatible with Christianity, not all non-Western practices of medicine are. I have only ever received acupuncture treatment from Catholics (one a deacon at our last parish!) who were not practicing under the perspective of Eastern spirituality. The Church has not made acupuncture forbidden, although the US bishops did made a statement against Reiki because it lacks scientific backing and therefore could be considered superstition and because it channels energy that could be malevolent. Yoga can be practiced by Catholics as long as it is separated from Eastern spirituality. At least that’s my understanding! But it couldn’t hurt to ask your priest if you want confirmation on that.
That date night sounds awesome! I’m glad y’all got to explore without the kids and take time to enjoy being with each other! Ok, so you mention watching “My Fair Lady”-how do you look at the ending? I’ve only watched it, and when I saw it, I was all excited that the movie shows how awful misogyny and utilitarianism are, and I was totally planning to make my future children watch it while reading Karol Wojtyla or something great like that. And then I saw the last scene, and I was so confused! My gut instinct was, “Eliza, why are you doing that? You’re a strong, independent woman, and Higgins is a jerk!” But I figure there must be another way to interpret the ending, since I have a very strongly feminist friend who loves the movie (unfortunately, she’s never explained her take on the ending to me). Whew! Sorry for the mini-rant/confusion. So Haley, do you have any thoughts on this?
Oh I super hate the ending. In fact we haven’t finished the movie yet partly for that reason. In the original play, Pygmalion, Eliza does NOT return. I guess growing up my mom discussed with me why the ending was lacking and so I always think, “Eliza wouldn’t really do that” in my head
Oh Haley, I am right there with you & the auto immune disease thing.
I have Rheumatoid arthritis & I’m so over feeling not good. This year I tried a new medication that made my RA almost disappear, but the side effect were dizziness, nausea, upset stomach, which then made my anxiety go crazy. I was too scared to leave the house for fear of not being able to find a bathroom in time. I was miserable for 5 month & lost 11kgs/25lbs. Now it’s been 5 months off it & it took about 8 weeks for my stomach to settle, but now I’m in pain again everyday & I feel like back where I started when i was diagnosed two years ago.
Everyone tells me how well I look, make up, hair dye & a pretty dress make all the difference, but feeling tired, unwell & in pain is hard work.
I pray there will be some break through for all of us suffering from ‘invisible’ illness & that we’ll be given strength to get through each day.
Glad your date night was so fab.
Thanks for the prayers, Jayne! I hope you feel better, too!
Just LOVE Benjamin’s quote:):)
Bahahaha Benjamin!!!
haha Benjamin! perfect.
And prayers you start feeling better Haley. So sorry about that. You need to invent a cookie auto immune cure challenge. Surely it can be done
Hi there!
I’ve been following your blog and it has been really delightful. Thank you for sharing your life with other like minded mom’s!
So, I had an AAD too and tried everything. The only thing that has really worked is ” living a detoxifying way of life” – detoxtheworld.com. Not sure if you’ve ever heard of Natalia Rose but she’s been very helpful (and her team has been amazing to me along this journey). She now lives in South Africa but still doing her work from there. Her site if full of great information if you are into that kind of thing. It’s mostly teaching people to live a detox lifestyle to continually eliminate waste from our cells to live a vibrant life. Once the cells can function well, the whole body works in harmony. It makes so much sense. There is also room for coffee on this journey (it’s not recommended but she says that’s not our biggest problem) with heavy cream ;). Wine and chocolate are allowed too!
Hope the site is helpful. I’m back to it after having my third baby four months ago and feel SOOO much better (and believe you me, I tried everything! I feel your pain). If you have any questions about it and want to reach out, feel free to write!
Thank you again for sharing your life with other Catholic moms!
Thanks, Kristen! I really appreciate that. I’ll look into it!
Hi there, Haley. Long time reader/lurker here, and a fellow IC sufferer. Just thought I’d let you know that at a recent urology visit I was given a referral for pelvic floor physical therapy. I haven’t started it yet, so I don’t have anything to report, but it’s an interesting approach that I had not yet encountered to date. Perhaps worth looking into? Wishing you peace and healing.
Praying, praying, praying for you, sweet friend.
I don’t know which I love more: how much Gwen looks like Lucy (I CAN’T EVEN! Where did Baby Gwen go? I would honestly think that make-up picture was Lucy at first and second and fifteenth glances.), or Benjamin’s quote. He is hilarious!!