Azure Standard time...stocking up on healthy staples

I recently discovered Azure Standard for ordering quality organic, sustainable growing products.  I love the ease at which I can search, order and pick up said items.  I love seeing what everyone else is ordering, so here is my bigger than usual list. What's yours?

One of my favorite products available at Azure...10# of blueberries for less than $2 a pound. Although not certified organic, one can be sure it is grown contentiously and only sprayed if absolutely needed! I can live with that and so can my WALLET!

Wilderness Family Naturals Coconut Oil, Expeller Press -Refined	32 oz
Azure Farm Wheat Berries, Soft White, Organic	25 lbs.
Bulk Blueberries, Natural, Frozen, Small	10 lbs.
Fresh Produce Potatoes, Russet, Organic	10 x 5 lbs.
Food For Life Brown Rice Tortillas WF & GF	12 x 12 ozs.
Rumiano Butter, Unsalted, rBST Free	1 lb.
Wholesome Sweeteners Coconut Palm Sugar, Organic	16 oz
Ener-G Foods Egg Replacer	1 lb.
Food For Life Brown Rice Tortillas WF & GF	12 ozs.
Food For Life Brown Rice Bread, Yeast & Gluten Free	28 ozs.
Really Raw Honey Really Raw Honey (Glass)	1 lb.
Eden Foods Millet, Organic, Gluten Free	16 ozs.
Earth Circle Organics Barley Grass Juice Powder, Raw, Organic	4 ozs.
Lundberg Creamy Brown Rice Cereal, Organic	5 lbs.
Azure Farm Buckwheat, Broken Groat Grits, Organic PS...do you like how I store mine in a mason jar in my freezer? See the cute lid for my jar? Love them!  I keep the big bag in the deep freezer.	5 lbs.

mr. snowman is wet and wild

 .......and Mr. Snowman!

My wonderful man came home from work last week and to our surprise, announce he was going to make a snow man! Right before I went to snap a photo with the two of them, it started pouring rain down on them.
Wonderful memories for him with his youngest son. Oh how I wish our Braveheart could have been out there romping around with the guys. There are so many memories rushing to mind of when he was a small boy, outside with his brothers. I bet there is much better snow in Heaven.

WET AND WILD SNOWMAN!

Read Alouds 2011/ 2012 school year

I have not much too write here.  This was a horrible year of trying to save our son's life, then, 

unfortunately,  prepare for and go forward with a bone marrow transplant.  Our son suffered a great deal of

horrible side effects from the transplant. We spent 2 1/2 months there.  If we read more and recall it, I will add it. 

• pretty sure I read where the red fern grows to our bravest boy
• transplant year...can't even remember right now
• George Muelle

Reading: Big John's Secret

We are reading BIG JOHN'S SECRET by Eleanore M. Jewett as a historical fiction read aloud. I LOVE historical fiction.  

This has been an excellent year of fruit, regrouping in our home school.  We have been able to re-implement a solid read aloud each day that was sorely lacking , not gone completely, the last two years. It has been good for my heart to pour my life into these last two kiddos I have at home.  We cherish these memories of reading aloud with all my kids since they were born. So many memories of our boy B, rubbing his hands together in excitement over a climactic event in a great book! 

We are studying the Middle Ages, currently. We have really enjoyed this book from the start. It's witty, full of rich historical language and made us laugh from the beginning! 

more posting

Hello friends. How has your healing, healthy lifestyle been going? I am going to try to get back in the groove of regular blogging reports, but time is something I don't have much of, but I love to write, however bad I am at it.  
It was a long hard Christmas without our dear B.  Things are still hard, never to be the same but there is a certain amount less of the 'pressure' of it now that school is back in full swing and Christmas is past. I can focus my mind on other things, sort of. Even though B is always on my mind, I am able to focus on my children left to me here....it helps....I cannot express the depth of missing him...longing to hold him...

I have spent time eating all of my 'healing' foods, following what I have learned from my elimination, with the exception of sugar.....I made plenty of sugar desserts over the last couple months, starting with Christmas festivities.  
I tried to bring some kind of norm into our first Christmas without a part of our family...it was hard. God gave me strength to do what is right for my other children. So, my health came to a maintenance level, in regards to weight and I am beginning to feel a bit of that sugar. I am happy at this weight, for now, but will not stay here forever.  That's ok, there is a place for this. I want to change my lifestyle to one I can live with, not one where I am constantly deprived. There is, however, a time for deprivation.
I am regrouping for renewed tightening of the belt as it were..soon, a cleansing will begin. I am gearing up...

Enjoy some beautiful birds that visit us all winter. Did you know that B loved birds? We have been so blessed to receive some fabulous large collections of birds at our humble home. We don't believe that B is a bird, but we feel these birds are a little gift from His mighty hand, to remind us that our boy is safe, happy and healthy...it brings us joy!

1 year in Heaven

I know I am late....I should have done this on the 2nd but I communicate more on facebook when it comes to all the milestones of our Braveheart being in Heaven.  Christmas was hard....good, because we have such a wonderful family still left here on earth, but unbelievably hard...I guess it was an added weight due to the fact that it was Christmas and that his year anniversary was coming and now has went....  I must admit that I was not in the spirit as we once were during our favorite holiday.  I usually blast the home with Christmas songs and bake and this year I just couldn't play it as often.  My daughter turned it on the most and that was ok, but most of them made me sad and reminded me of Braveheart.  I think the kids may have felt a small difference but not in the way of neglecting them or anything of that nature.
It felt much like the first year was a hazing blur of tears and numbness just like they say....keeping busy taking care of the other kiddos. It felt like God put these protective walls up so that we couldn't swallow it all at once..because if we did, we would just die....
Lately, I have felt as if the walls have slowly began to come down, as if God is allowing us to process more and more of the truth and pain of it.  I have to live the rest of my life on this earth without my precious boy!!!
Something that makes us happy is knowing he is truly in Heaven with Jesus and has no tears and we still have these amazing kids here on earth, and me and the hubs, well, we have each other, which is a huge blessing. And of coarse, we have Jesus, which makes it all worth while, which gives us the hope that we will see our boy again one day.

We love and miss you so much son.  See you in Heaven one day, then our hearts will be ok again....

still going strong

I am checking in here. I have so many wonderful things to share with you that I have been doing with my diet, meals, fun things I have been making. I just have't had time to share them all.  I will try to share them soon though.
I have now lost a total of 15 lbs from the start of my elimination diet. So much of it lost at the beginning but very slowly after as I was testing foods and would have 'off' days etc. I feel like my body has done lots of healing over this last couple months. Total wt from when I began last summer in 2012 is 28 lbs. I feel so much better these days.
I am missing my sweet boy so much. He has been gone 10 months now as of the 2nd of November. It is still hard for me to wrap my brain around it. Imagine how much of the 'things' around you, are connected to your child.  If I take a bath, I know that he bathed here.  If I use soap, I know that I still have the leftover part of a natural bar of soap that he used. I don't want to throw it out!  His toothbrush is still in our drawer. How can I ever take that out?  Oh, how my heart longs for him, to hold and squeeze him. Oh, how I need to get around others that have been through this, it's been awhile, time to regroup.
We lost our Hospice counselor whom knew us so well.  We found another one that is a Christian and we really like him but this one isn't free if you know what I mean.  It is good to meet with him, we need it and have noticed that we hadn't for a while.
I went out and had some fun trying to take pics of the kiddos myself for this school year. I think it went quite well.

Here is our precious boy in 2011, getting family pics before he heads in for his transplant.  So strong a memory in my mind.

Just he and mom and dad. 

Here he is just foolin' around.  Man I miss him.

He is the last, or third boy.  

My last child, darling girl.

My oldest son has moved out so we don't get to take many pics like this any more. Someday I hope to be able to get some again.