Saturday, January 26, 2008

Amazing things! Allergies, prayer and cure!! etc.

I wanted to report on something that I discovered while cruising the http://www.watercure2.org/ site. If you click the link about "food intolerance's" it seems like he's starting in the middle of a conversation, but then it straightens itself out. He discusses muscle testing and then talks about how the Lord can work through muscle testing for healing. I've known about muscle testing for years and, also, a way to use it to heal allergies. However, the method I was shown involves being sick for a day and some other awkward things, like having to completely avoid the thing for 3 days. This is quite simple! I don't do the testing the way he does -- some of the things we're allergic to could send us into anaphalactic shock if we were to put them into our mouths! Not to mention, putting cat hair in your mouth would be quite nasty!! ( http://jamsgems4u.blogspot.com/2007/03/neutralization-procedure-for-allergies.html describes the treatment I've used in the past.)


Anyway, I have posted in the past about self-testing for allergies here in my blog, (http://jamsgems4u.blogspot.com/2007/03/self-test-for-allergies-and.html describes the test I use and am recommending), but where I'm going with this is -- by using this "general procedure" of testing (my way), then praying then re-testing, God has honored our prayers and not only healed us from several allergies (notably my son's red-dye which was violent), but he's stopped reactions in their tracks with this, too!!! Since we've just learned about this a few days ago, I've not yet had time to "fully explore" the implications here. However, this seems to be one of those "missing pieces" I've always sought in my relationship with the Lord! I tell you, I'm pumped!! Praise the Lord! He's healing us!!!!

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I also have a report on our finances. We got a 0% loan and, Lord willing, it looks like we'll be able to replace both our vehicles, get the bathroom fixed and our littlest's braces done. That will take care of the big needs we've had and D gets an extra paycheck this month, so, Lord willing, that should take care of our budget issues and get us back on track that way, too! I'm really praying for God to stretch what we have and I'm watching Him do it. It is pretty cool! Best friend and her nephew have been blessed several times recently with gifts of gas, food and cash. Also, her surgery is much sooner than anyone expected, thanks to God and His people praying! God is providing for them. I also saw an ad in craigslist.org for a pick-up truck that would meet their transportation need very inexpensively. Please pray that will work out if it is God's will.

Going to go car shopping and have the contractor here today. Lord willing, we need God's hand to be in it all!

Blessings!Sharron

Saturday, January 19, 2008

I miss Daddy and What is Love?

I hope this blesses you, too. I really needed it this morning. I miss my hubby so much I can't hardly bear it... Please pray that the job with the fellow from church will work out quickly or something else will come up. I've never hated a job he's had before -- but I hate this one! It's not that I'm not thankful that he has steady work and a good boss. For that, I am truly thankful. I just hate him being gone. The other day, all day long, my 9 year old sang a mournful little, "I miss Daddy," song.


Reprinted text below, author unknown:
A group of 4 to 8 year-olds were asked by professionals:
What does Love mean?
The answers they got were broader and deeper than anyone could have imagined.

Touching words from the mouth of babes.
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"When my grandmother got arthritis, she couldn't bend over and paint her toenails anymore. So my grandfather does it for her all the time, even when his hands got arthritis too. That's love." Rebecca- age 8
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"After my mom got sick of cancer my dad visited her in the hospital even though it was real dangerous because of the atomic bomb stuff and he could stay just a little bit. God gave mom a second chance and my dad went to the hospital and brought her home and he took care of her like a baby for a really long time and she got healthy." Roy - age 8
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"When someone loves you, the way they say your name is different. You just know that your name is safe in their mouth."Billy - age 4
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"Love is when a girl puts on perfume and a boy puts on shaving cologne and they go out and smell each other." Karl - age 5
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"Love is when you go out to eat and give somebody most of your French fries without making them give you any of theirs." Chrissy - age 6
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"Love is what makes you smile when you're tired." Terri - age 4
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"Love is when my mommy makes coffee for my daddy and she takes a sip before giving it to him, to make ! sure the taste is OK." Danny - age 7
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"Love is when you kiss all the time. Then when you get tired of kissing, you still want to be together and you talk more. My Mommy and Daddy are like that. They look gross when they kiss" Emily - age 8
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"Love is what's in the room with you at Christmas if you stop opening presents and listen." Bobby - age 7 (Wow!)
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"If you want to learn to love better, you should start with a friend who you hate," Nikka - age 6 (we need a few million more Nikka's on this planet)
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"Love is when you tell a guy you like his shirt, then he wears it everyday." Noelle - age 7
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"Love is like a little old woman and a little old man who are still friends even after they know each other so well." Tommy - age 6
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"During my piano recital, I was on a stage and I was scared. I looked at all the people watching me and saw my daddy waving and smiling. He was the only one doing that. I wasn't scared anymore." Cindy - age 8
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"My mommy loves me more than anybody. You don't see anyone else kissing me to sleep at night." Clare - age 6
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"Love is when Mommy gives Daddy the best piece of chicken." Elaine-age 5
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"Love is when Mommy sees Daddy smelly and sweaty and still says he is handsomer than Robert Redford." Chris - age 7
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"Love is when your puppy licks your face even after you left him alone all day." Mary Ann - age 4
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"I know my older sister loves me because she gives me all her old clothes and has to go out and buy new ones." Lauren - age 4
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"When you love somebody, your eyelashes go up and down and little stars come out of you." (what an image) Karen - age 7
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"Love is when Mommy sees Daddy on the toilet and she doesn't think it's gross." Mark - age 6
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"You really shouldn't say 'I love you' unless you mean it. But if you mean it, you should say it a lot. People forget." Jessica - age 8
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And the final one -- Author and lecturer Leo Buscaglia once talked about a contest he was asked to judge. The purpose of the contest was to find the most caring child. The winner was a four year old child whose next door neighbor was an elderly gentleman who had recently lost his wife. Upon seeing the man cry, the little boy went into the old gentleman's yard, climbed onto his lap, and just sat there. When his Mother asked what he had said to the neighbor, the little boy said, "Nothing, I just helped him cry"


God, Please bless all my family and friends in whatever it is that You know they may be needing this day! May their lives be full of Your peace as they seek to have a closer relationship with you. Amen. And May your life be more GOODER!


End quoted text.


Blessings!
Sharron

Tuesday, January 15, 2008

PH diet, moderation and the Polarity Principle!

Great great great!! I'm down 4# in 3 days and my PH is perfect!! Yee Haw!! The "deal" with the PH is that theoretically cancer, diabetes, and "disease" in general, can't exist with perfect PH. The "perfect" number is 7.3, but 6.8 to 7.4 is acceptable. There are so many lists of foods, etc., but the reason seems to be how our individual bodies process the food. I'm going to paste in a link to an article that helped me to understand: http://www.my-diet-story.com/articles/ph-miracle-diet/Acid-And-Alkaline-Foods-In-Ph-Miracle-Diet.php

I just got off the phone with my friend and we were talking about this. If you decide to look into the PH diet, then you'll have to get the test strips. They are available online and at health food stores. That was the only way I could figure out what "works" for me PH-wise. I've discovered that generally for me potatoes are veggies as long as I have a salad along with them -- I do have to treat them "respectfully" as they do cause increased pain and inflammation. I have also discovered I can do a CAD Reward Meal (CAD RM) more than once in a day and my PH will stay correct (and I can still lose weight!) The big deal is to have REAL veggies at every meal (green ones and/or salad at least at lunch and dinner) and lemon juice is huge for me. Whenever I have lemonade -- even the kind with sugar! -- my PH is correct. It is very useful knowing these things!


Bottom line for me -- I've figured out how I can eat within our budget, using the free meals at church, etc., and keep my PH right and lose weight. I'm just eating moderately, generally making "better" choices, using the CAD RM and so far so good. This has been a big issue. I've felt so defeated because I didn't think I could do it with the limitations set on us right now. Thank the Lord for friends who are praying for me!!


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Polarity Principle (ie., correcting incorrect Polarity by means of a "brain exercise") -- I went to see my Medical Massage Therapist last week and she shared with me what I'm calling the Polarity Principle. She explained that when we get injured or other traumatic events happen to us it can cause our "energy flow" to get messed up -- essentially, what I understand is that we are all either right or left brained. When we have trauma happen to us, the other side will try to take over to compensate for the perceived weakness. When that happens it is like all our energy starts to flow the wrong way. How I understand and experience it is that when my polarity is switched it is like "sludge" is flowing through my veins. (I've had sludge for years -- understood I did, but didn't know how to correct it!) When I correct it, it is like "health, energy and life" are flowing through my veins! The first time I did it, it was so dramatic that I wept for a few minutes. The second time I did it, about 5 minutes later, I felt a rush of "health" -- like I was a lifeguard again!

The procedure: With one hand hold your belly button (put a finger in/on it) and with the other hand systematically rub the following areas for a few seconds each in this order while still holding your belly button, 1. Just below your collar bones on the ribs in the center above the breast bone on the left and right side concurrently, 2. Above and below your lips (at the same time), 3. On the back of the neck at the base and in the center, again concurrently, 4. As close as you can get to your tailbone. Then you switch -- use the other hand to hold your belly button and then massage all of these points in order. Apparently, this tells your body to switch back to its normal polarity. She said you can do this as often as you want/need to do so. I'm definitely sleeping better, quality-wise and without bad dreams. I've always suffered with bad dreams! I had my kids do it, and they all responded dramatically.

If this helps anyone -- cool!!! It can't hurt :)

Blessings,
Sharron

Friday, January 11, 2008

Provision

I just wanted to share what God did the other day!

I've been praying for God to provide by some miraculous means. I've been reminding Him that it's His Great Name that is at stake here -- not really ours. See, we have "perfect" credit and I ALWAYS give God the credit for it (pun intended :) ) I always say that it is just by the grace of God that we've always paid all our bills on time. So, I've been reminding God of this.

DH had only gotten 1/2 paycheck on Friday because he had that time off over Christmas. It was not even enough to pay the most basic bills, much less groceries or gas. Sunday I decided to tithe, even though we really didn't "have it" -- I have some buffer money in my checking account to keep us from bouncing checks, so it was using some of that. Monday morning I was really intensely reminding God of His Name being on the line, and guess what came in the mail right around noon? A check for over-payment on our escrow account for ~$650! The other 1/2 of "DH's paycheck"!! :)

I'm so thankful for it -- we took the kids out on a family date to celebrate what God had done. We went to a little hole-in-the-wall Chinese buffet I'd seen while driving around looking for something the day before. It's called "Taste of Asia" in Vancouver, WA. Turns out this place is one of the Top 100 best Chinese Buffets in the entire nation!!! Oh baby!!! :p

Then I took the car to be DEQ'd and it failed, so we had to pay $280 for a new catalytic converter. If we hadn't gotten that check, I would not have been able to pay that bill. God is so faithful!!!

Praise God! I'm looking forward to what He's going to do NEXT :)

Blessings!
Sharron

Saturday, January 05, 2008

Sharron's Tacos de Lengua Recipe (Mexican-style beef tongue tacos)

OK Folks, here it is! My take on Tacos De Lengua:


Sharron's Tacos de Lengua
Makes about 12 servings

First, Cover an approximately 3 pound beef tongue with good water (filtered or purified in some way.) Add about 2 teaspoons salt, 1 teaspoon whole peppercorns, 2 bay leaves and 1/4 cup apple cider vinegar. Bring it to a boil, then reduce it to a simmer. Skim off any "floaties" that come to the surface of the broth and discard them.

Note: You'll probably accidentally skim off the peppercorns or maybe even the bay leaves. Put them back into the pot.

Cover the pot and allow it to simmer for about 3 hours. After that time, put the tongue into a 9"x13"x2" pan (or something similar) covered with about 1/2" of the cooking broth. The broth is to keep the meat from drying out. Allow the tongue to cool until it is easy to handle -- about 20 to 30 minutes, turning it once during the cooling time. Most sources say don't let it cool all the way until it is "cold" -- then it will be difficult to skin.

Skinning the tongue: What I did was slit the white "sandpaper" covering with a utility knife lengthwise along the whole tongue, all the way around. Then I just slipped my fingers under it and pulled it right off. It was that easy. Some sources warn to make sure to get any bones, fat or gristle off the tongue, but mine didn't have any of those, thankfully.

Chop the tongue into 1/2" pieces, putting them back into the pan with the reserved broth, again to keep them from drying out while working with the rest of the meat.

Cooking the meat -- the last stage:

Put about 1 tablespoon of lard, 1/2 cup diced white sweet onion, 1 teaspoon minced garlic, 1/4 teaspoon dried oregano leaves into a large frying pan. Cook, stirring often, over medium-high heat until the onion pieces are translucent, about 8 to 10 minutes. Add the chopped meat along with some of the reserved broth. (I basically just dumped the contents of the one pan into the other.)

Add about:
1/2 to 1 teaspoon lemon pepper
1 teaspoon seasoning salt (Adobo)
1 teaspoon sea salt
1 to 2 teaspoons cumin, ground
1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon chili powder (I had roasted chipotle)
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano leaves
1/2 lime, juiced

Cook the meat, broth and seasonings over medium high heat until the broth has thickened, about 15 minutes. Taste the meat and adjust seasonings if desired.

Serve the prepared meat on corn tortillas with sliced radishes, cucumbers and chopped sweet onion (and cilantro.) Optional additional garnishes: Sour cream, salsa, guacamole (or just avacado), cheese, etc.

In my humble opinion, these tacos were every bit as good as the little taqueria's. I hope you enjoy them!

Blessings,
Sharron

(c2008 Sharron Long -- Author of Extreme Lo-Carb Cuisine published by Adams Media, Corp., All rights reserved. May be copied freely for personal use only.)

"Cabesa" and Tongue tacos (Tacos de Lengua)

I don't have so many cooking failure stories... but I do have some funny "what I've eaten" stories. Particularly one stands out today:

I had just gotten off work. I worked at Mrs. Fields Cookies when I was in college -- it had the effect of making me lose weight rather than gain it because I got disgusted with the smell of cookies all day long! Anyway, went to my friends' home and his mom had been cooking something that smelled AMAZING -- I smelled it even before I entered their humble home. As I walked into the tiny kitchen, she was standing there, smiling and handing me a taco filled with some sort of "carne" -- it was exquisite!

In unison, they asked, "well, don't you want to know what sort of 'carne' it is?"

"No," said I, reaching my hand out for another taco.

"You don't want to know?" they all queried.

By this time I had some sort of funny feeling about this, but they knew I was willing to try just about anything as long as it wasn't blood. So, I finally said, "OK, what is it?" while happily munching down on my 2nd taco.

"Cabesa!" they all told me. ("Cabesa" means "head" in Spanish.)

"Oh, ok," I replied, asking for another taco. At this point they were all rather aghast that I didn't care. The only regret I have about those "cabesa" tacos now is that I didn't find out how to make them!

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Recently, I've discovered a local taqueria that has tacos de lengua (tongue tacos), which tastes pretty close to my friends mom's "cabesa" tacos. Right now, as I type, I have a big ol' tongue boiling in a pot. This is my first attempt. I also have a heart in there. I picked them both up on a whim for just a few pennies a pound. Hope the heart doesn't mess things up! Anyway, I'll let you know how it goes :)

Blessings,
Sharron, the hungry! :p