Magnanimously homeschooling, worshiping, creating.......

Join us on a journey of faith, healing, learning to live with part of our hearts missing, and recovery, as our family rebuilds our lives, after our son's long battle with cancer....and his eventual rise on eagle's wings into Heaven...victory is his...he is serving the King!!!

Saturday, August 31, 2013

August one year ago




Things were really starting to go well now.  His ankle was better. He was very tired but life was good.  He was starting to show a little bit of kidney stress though around this time.  Scans were coming up and so was his one year anniversary of his transplant.  It can be so hard to look back and think of what we were doing and see now where we are without him.  Here he is visiting the Hoppers Flying Team. We miss you so much my love.

Day 13 the plan

Day 13: Rest day. I basically repeated one of my last great loss days which was beef taco-ish night.  I added just a tbsp of refried beans thinking the gas wouldn't bother me, but I forgot that I get headache from that, so woke up with headache this morning. Ugh.  Good news....I am down 1.4 today!! Woot Woot!!

Total wt loss since August 20....10 pounds!!

My goal is to take a picture just for fun today.

BMI wish I had written my starter BMI:   35.7

I want to get under 30 to start, which will get me out of the 'obese' range!  

22.8 pounds total from last year. I know Braveheart would be so proud of me, I can just hear his encouragement. Miss you my precious, precious boy....how can I live the rest of my life without you??? I am glad to be able to think of this as not my permanent home. I will have eternity with you.


Hey, I am not saying I am some sexy mama or anything, I just want to log my progress and maybe I will inspire one of you in the process. See you tomorrow. Oh I hope I can handle my breakfast test this morning.

Friday, August 30, 2013

Books of 2012

  • juice lady's turbo diet
  • sleeping away the pounds
  • the outliers
  • The Juice Lady's Living Foods Revolution
  • winter's heart
hunger games, I admit it, I read them.....

read a few others but hard with Braveheart ill again..miss him so much...

Day 12

Today is Day 13 with yesterday Day 12 being a 'test veggie' day. I made a delicious tomato sauce from the maters out of my garden.  I put it on my chicken Parmesan, but really it was Manchago for now, and mild symptoms last night of itching and some mild aches, but this morning my wt was up .2 so I think we have a full reaction!  We will cut that out for now. Rest day today so hopefully will recover and then tomorrow I get to test a new breakfast that I love and I am so excited!

No worries, the wt. is just a tool.

Still working on pics.  See you tomorrow.

Thursday, August 29, 2013

Day 11

Day 11 was a rest day.  We enjoyed all of our foods that are 'safe' foods.  Felt good all day.  Woke up after a good nights sleep to being down .6.  This is good. Today we will test a new veggie....tomatoes....everyone wants to be able to eat some of this in it's sauce form.

Total loss: 8.4 lbs

Total loss since last year when I lost 40 lbs but gained much of it back when Brave Boy became ill
 again: 21.6

I will plan to post a picture soon as I keep things moving and where are my food pics, I am too busy. I will try harder.

Wednesday, August 28, 2013

Day 10 the plan

Day 10 down: down 1.2 pounds!!! Yeah!

What a good day of feeling well, eating well and all just all together well.  I added the pinto beans (refried beans) as a new protein mainly for the kids and we love tacos.  The kids had a brown rice tortilla fried in coconut oil with same as me inside except I let them have mozz cheese, where I just had my beef, beans, manchego cheese, avocado and lots of lettuce on a plate with some mildly sauteed kale with pumpkin seeds. I no issues until later which involved lots of gas and a mild headache. So I guess beans are a fail for me for now. My exzcema acted up too, but I am not sure if it's from that or from picking tomatoes without gloves after dinner for my mama. Tomato plants really bother my skin. I am going to test tomatoes soon but fear I will fail some version of that.

See you tomorrow.

Total loss:  7.8 lbs

Day 9 repeat the plan

Day 10: New Protein

I did recover from my 'off' day by losing .4 lbs, I am happily moving on with the plan.  Today is a 'test protein' day. I chose to add pinto beans so we could have something filling that the kids would love.  Tonight was almost like any other day that we eat. We will have tacos.  Plan modified of coarse. Feeling good.  Can't wait until tomorrow to see if I can say there is some more wt off and loving my list of foods I can and cannot eat growing.

Monday, August 26, 2013

Day 9 the plan

Day 9? Well, day 9 will be repeated today. Yesterday we had a memorial lunch for our dear boy and there was this magnificent buffet with prime rib and I ate very well but added a bit of the cheese cake etc...needless to say I literally didn't have to eat the rest of the day and likely most it is a reaction to bread and increased salt which is super high in restaurants. So, I am not discouraged, it was a good day and I am repeating today's rest day 9 and back to business.  The bummer part is that I have a wonderful dinner at church tonight but it is a potato bar so...can't do potatos yet, so will call and get the details so I can eat well.
Love to  you all, love to my Brave Boy!

Sunday, August 25, 2013

Day 7 and 8 the plan

Day 7: I have company from out of town so I was unable to check in yesterday.  Day 7 Friday, was a good day...it was a rest day which means I ate only things I know I can eat and nothing new.  Even though rice wasn't new, I think with chicken it is a test, so I made brown rice to help fill the kiddos up and ended up eating it without thinking, but I passed! Yeah, the next day I was still down .4. I felt great!

Day 8 was my first bread testing day. I was a little nervous as I haven't eaten bread for over a month, but I had my 1 slice and all was well all night long, no bowel distress whatsoever.  I couldn't wait to see what my wait this morning and there it was...the same....ugh..well this is my first stall and I am pretty sure this means that I had some kind of reaction to bread, I am looking into it and will not keep eating it at this time.  But I feel good with no headache which is very exciting to me.
Today is a rest day so I will see you tomorrow.

Oh, by the way, I made the spicy coco sauce again Friday night and it was a little better than last time and I am in LOVE..whoa..so good...then I made more flax granola and dried it out more than usual and now I know why everyone loves it so much..it is the BOMB when you make it right. I will post some pics next time.

Love to you all, thanks to my Savior for helping on this overwhelming journey and love and hugs to my sweet Brave Boy in Heaven whom inspires me daily. Love you sweetie.

Total Loss: 7lbs

Observations: Just keeping an eye on this but I noticed I sleep deep and longer after chicken and awaken very early after beef. We will see if this trend continues.

Friday, August 23, 2013

Day 6 the plan

Ok, so Day 6 went very well. I added beef for a second protein and felt great all night and still down .4 so that is a win!  Today is a rest day, no new foods!  Company coming from out of town, crazy week this has been, so can't wait for things to slow down but not sure that is ever going to happen.

Total loss: 6.6 lbs

Thursday, August 22, 2013

Day 5 the plan

Day 5 is complete.  Today down .8.  I added in my Rye cracker for my snack.  My bowels were not happy after dinner. During the night I had that body ache, deep thigh bone ache, headache.  Unfortunately, I had the broccoli soup for lunch which I am beginning to see as might have been my challenge with the gassy and ache on Day 3.

 For now, I am considering Rye to be a fail on the test, even though I did loose wt., so no more Rye for me for now. I get to test Bread on Day 8 but that is not looking too promising.  I am enjoying my dark chocolate with almond butter and coconut oil for dessert....yum!

Here's praying for a great day today!

Total loss:  6.2 lbs

Wednesday, August 21, 2013

Day 4, the plan

I finished Day 4 yesterday and consider it a success.  I lost .4 lbs which means I did not have an inflammatory response to yesterday's new foods. Goat cheese, dark chocolate and red wine, yes you heard right. Well, I rarely have alcohol but I tried it to stick to the plan. My wt. loss was largely decreased but still there none the less.   I felt good and I feel great today so far.

New food today is Rye crackers. I also tried the Blueberry Compote today and it is quite good and I will likey eat that instead of the other most of the time..whew...
Here is the compote..

Well, yes, it looks like caviar but but it is actually sweet and delightful to eat..it's chia seeds...I will still be happy when I can try a different breakfast...I have an old favorite I want to test as soon as I am able.

See you tomorrow.

Tuesday, August 20, 2013

Day 3 the plan

Day 3
Chicken (very low reactive protein)

I feel great!! Really I do.....that is my feelings Day 3 AM.  As you all know, I have been having about 2 oz of coffee each day to prevent me dying..literally....haa,
so I have a story but first  I forgot to let you all know that I have already been off wheat for about a month prior to starting this with no wt loss at all but I did notice that I went from taking 1-6 Ibuprofen a day to only a few a week!! A new hip pain I was having was nearly gone and my bad knee and feet, although not healed, were improved greatly!  As I research things, I think even my Plantar Fasciitis....is inflammatory related and that is what the Plan is all about..INFLAMMATION and stopping it. Finding the foods that are YOUR trigger foods.

That being said, I had pre-set plans to have coffee with some mom's from our homeschool class and was going to order hot green tea but unbeknownst to me, I ordered a sugary green cold drink...I guess I am not coffee shop savvy enough, while being told I have a free coffee that expired this very morning at 11 am can you believe that???  It was 9:30 AM.  Well, I opted for my free coffee and planned to drink only 2-3 oz of it and I did and it went well.

Lunch was cream of broccoli soup which I was excited about but it's really not so great, but it is edible and healthy. Most of the food is good, especially when I can add salt back in on Day 4.  If I could show you the face my Damsel made...oh boy...here is a pic of the soup, next time I won't blend quite so long...it's very fluffy soup.

Yeah..it's gross looking...

Great day all day, then today was an add chicken day...

Dinner was delicious, I even had a compliment from my man which is rare, so it was well deserved.  Tomorrow is chocolate day but I snuck a very tiny bit of dark chocolate.  Later that night I had very bad heart burn and my body was a little achy..these are big signs to watch for, but chicken and dark chocolate are very low reactive so I am a bit baffled, but since my wt. was still down the next morning....well, it was down a whom-ping 1.4 pounds still!! So I noted this in my journal and will begin Day 4.
From now on I will write about a full day, the following day.

Tid bits:

My hubs is not full on board sadly, he was tired from the day 1 cleanse, he works and his taste buds are less agreeable to all these veggies than me...he will get there but he will be eating our food at home and he already agreed to that.  I am happy.

Also. the flax granola breakfast is not my fav but I am hanging in there and was able to add a bit of honey today which made me very happy. I made the alternative compote and will try that later.

Total Loss so far:   5 pounds

Thanks to my Savior for helping me through this and my Braveheart for giving me inspiration!!  I can do this..he went through so much more and loved me to be healthy.
Love you Brave Boy...miss you so much!!!

Sunday, August 18, 2013

Day 2 The Plan


Day 1 update first:

Yesterday...DAY 1 I felt good until evening and not sure if it was just the 'no coffee' or just this detox menu or both, likely both no matter what, but I got really sick...terrible headache...nausea but not quite vomiting.  Whoa, I am being honest with you, I gave in and had 3 ibuprofen and 2 oz of coffee. I felt better by bedtime and slept well all night long!!!!


Success is my word for Day 1!  It was hard but not...does that make sense? Not sure I can eat Kale sauteed with mushrooms now due to the sick feeling next to it. Ugh.  The Spicy Coco Sauce is the BOMB!

wt loss Day 1: 2.2 pounds

Day 2 update:

I woke up feeling GREAT this morning!  I also lost 2.2!!! I was happy, relaxed as much as I could, went to the park as a family. I felt tired but able to get through the day well.
I drank just a whimpy 2 oz of coffee as a preventative.

wt loss Day 2 AM: 1.4 pounds

Saturday, August 17, 2013

Day 1: elimination diet

So we have been missing our dear boy for over 7 months now. It just doesn't seem real.  I get so busy taking care of my other littles that even though I think of him every moment of the day, how can I not, he is still here in everything he left behind, I do sometimes forget to have a really good cry.  Preparing my oldest left at home's school binder had me sifting through B's binder from last year and I was all alone and so I just couldn't stop crying forever!! He always encouraged me to eat healthy and exercise.

Now with Damsel having thyroiditis that quickly turned into Hypothyroidism, I must be motivated to make a change here. We are all stressed and ill after these last 41/2 yrs and especially after the stress of losing one most precious to us.
My research has taken me to 'the plan' by Lyn Genet.  Some of you may of heard of her from the Dr. Oz, I don't watch regular TV but someone told me about this book so I have been researching and our whole family is going to start the Plan.
It is a 20 day elimination diet, using your body's wt and signs as a indicator of your 'trigger foods.  The children will start on Day 4 and will journal any changes so that they will not be taught to 'focus' on wt plus it doesn't help a youngy yet at their age.
Yes, I am going to try it with the kids.....they aren't looking forward to it but they are very willing...this is my chance to do this all at once and see if we can find out what is triggering things in each of us.  I have already stopped wheat for myself and I find that I went from 1-6 Ibuprofen a day to just a few a week!!! Seriously!

What do we need help with you might be wondering?

Me: I am fat, cannot get the wt off, tired, achy, low energy.....headaches, low concentration..I could go on. I guess I was diagnosed with Fibromyalgia years back but who knows.

Damsel:  She has an auto-immune disease!! Seriously??  I want to try to see if there is something setting this off...they don't know much about this medically nor is there any treatment.

Ninja: He is pretty good except he has severe acne and  major bouts of IBS, also he does have an attitude sometimes but then he is a teenage boy...

The Man:  Well, he is perfect...he wasn't even breastfed...haaa...perfect teeth...he can eat any food and it doesn't seem to bother him, he has general energy but not over an abundance of it..well he did have bad eyes but that was corrected with lasic.. ok so he is over weight and has a chronic back pain, that I hope will be alleviated...I love him...we will see how it goes...much of this food will be slightly challenging for him to eat..carrot ginger soup pureed?? oh boy

Ok, so keep up with me here and I will try to keep you informed on how we are doing.

I am going to go take a pic and get the flax granola out of the oven...hope the man can eat it...


YIKES!  I can't believe how fat I have become!!

I wish I could find a better picture of me when I was skinnier but here something at least from 2009.



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Why MAGNANIMOUS?

Noah Webster's 1828 Dictionary of the American Language defines Magnanimity as such:
MAGNANIM'ITY, n. [L. magnanimitas; magnus, great, and animus, mind.] Greatness of mind; that elevation or dignity of soul, which encounters danger and trouble with tranquillity and firmness, which raises the possessor above revenge, and makes him delight in acts of benevolence, which makes him disdain injustice and meanness, and prompts him to sacrifice personal ease, interest and safety for the accomplishment of useful and noble objects.