Smattering of Sunday Thoughts

Well hello, faithful blog readers.  Has it really been over a month since we last met here?  I've missed the outlet of writing out thoughts from daily life here, but "free time" has become somewhat of a joke in my life lately. ;)  In desperation last week I cried out to my husband, asking for a few hours a week outside of the house, alone, to simply sit and have a complete thought.  Today is my second Sunday of such "dates" with myself, and I hope and pray it will become a weekly Sabbath tradition, this sitting, reading, praying, journaling, blogging, etc., from the local Chocolate shop.  Yes, you read that right.  I've given up the coffee shop scene...I don't drink coffee, and can't currently have any of the frilly treats that all contain dairy products.  But dark chocolate?  Made without any milk?  Yes, PLEASE!  I can't even begin to describe to you the joy and relief I found when I made this little discovery.   So though I make no promises of this post being clear, concise, or organized, because my mind is all in a jumble these days, here's a rundown on our life as of late:

Since adding a teenager to our family, it's been interesting for me to see where my extra time has come from.  Because I certainly didn't think I had any extra time to give, but it has to come from somewhere, right?  Turns out, I spend way less time on Facebook, I gave up reading 75% of the other blogs I was subscribed to, I watch less TV in the evening, and I go to bed way later than I want to or should.  That has probably been the (physically) hardest thing about having a teenager in the house.  Around 9:00 p.m., just about the time I am ready to shut down and close up shop for the day, she magically comes alive and starts to talk.  And I mean really talk, about important stuff that she needs us to hear.  I heard somewhere that teenagers are like oysters, they open up briefly and for short intervals, so you need to jump at every opportunity to drop what you're doing and listen!  So we do.  And God has been faithful to give me the grace I need to make it through the next day even if (when!) the baby has me up multiple times a night following a late night, and prior to an early morning wake-up call.  I was SO thankful for Daylight Savings' time hitting when it did this year...it has been bliss, BLISS I tell you, having at least 2 of our 3 kiddos sleep past 7!  Sometimes 8!  The first morning after the time change I hardly knew what do do with myself when 7:00 came and went and no one was awake needing my attention.  I actually got my house dusted before they got up, for the first time in...well...I'm not going to tell you, because that would be too embarrassing, but it had been quite awhile!  I could get so much done if this tradition continues!  To be honest most mornings I haven't been all that productive...but I have been trying to catch up on all the extra zzzzzzs I can squeeze in.

Let's see, an update on the kiddos anyone?  Grandparents?  Great-grandparents?  Are you going through withdrawal from lack of pictures?

Shortly after Valentine's Day, my dad and Tim took the girls on a special date at my dad's church.  Aren't they adorable?

Audrey has really stepped up her game these last few weeks, and is truly taking on the role of big sister.  She's becoming genuinely helpful, and decided Justus needed to learn the ins and outs of some modern technology one afternoon:

Norah, AKA "Bruiser," and her broken nose.  Norah: 0, Dining Room Chair: 1

She's also been working hard on learning how to write her letters!  

She knows how to spell her name, and can legibly write a few of those out, can you spot them?

She's little Miss Attitude, most days.  Super feisty.

But as quick as she turns it off, she can turn it back on again.  Super sweet.  This girl cracks us up and keeps us on our toes.

Justus turned 7 months old today.  SEVEN MONTHS OLD, PEOPLE!!!!!  Wasn't he just born, like, a month ago or something?  I can't believe how fast his first year is flying by.  Here are some photos I took at his 6 month milestone:

I cannot get enough of these cheeks.  I kiss them all day long. Repeatedly.

And this lip....this pouty lip!  It's going to be nearly impossible for me to deny this little pouty lip.

Mr. J-Man has started a few solid foods.  And by started I don't mean he eats them, he mostly just plays with his food, rolls it around in his mouth, and spits it out.  But he sure has fun!

Some notable quotables from the last few months:

Every time I sit down to read the girls a book before naptime, Audrey says "Mommy will you put your arm around me?" Then I do, and she sighs, "there, that's much more comfortable."  I usually try to do it to Norah too, but she removes my arm from around her shoulder and states matter-of-factly, "Mommy, I am NOT your snuggle bug."  They have different love languages, my daughters do.  It's so fun to figure them out!  Just this afternoon I was carrying Norah home from a family walk early because she suddenly had to go potty.  She was stroking my hair, telling me all about how she was taking the tangles out of it for me, then holding it out of my face so the wind wouldn't blow it.  The wind stopped blowing momentarily, and she told me "I was talking to Jesus about that.  I asked him to stop the wind blowing."  I told her she was sweet and kissed her on the cheek.  She responded with, "Mommy, I need to tell you someting.  I don't like kisses anymore."  :(  Guess what?  She's gonna keep on getting them!!  Silly girl.

Shortly after I started Justus on some solid foods, I asked Tim one night at dinner if he would sit next to Justus' highchair so he could feed him.  Norah's made the funniest face, then practically shouted, "but DADDY can't feed Justus, Daddy doesn't have BREAST-ES!"  We all cracked up so hard at that one.

One day at naptime as I was leaving Audrey's room I saw her finger begin to enter the forbidden zone of the nostril, so I gently told her to stop picking her nose.  She remarked, "But Mommy, it's like there's a loose tooth in my nose!"  Funny, I totally understood the feeling she was talking about!  (I handed her a Kleenex to get it out.) :)

Speaking of naptime, one afternoon Audrey came out of her room and told me "It's really hard to sleep when I keep swallowing saliva."

I've been experimenting with a variety of breakfast bars from Pinterest lately.  Some have been big hits with the kiddos, some not so much.  My most recent experiment was a rip roaring success; Audrey took one bite and remarked, "Mmmmm, Mama, I think you got the recipe right."

Another day she was really satisfied by my cooking.  So much so that I got a "Mommy, you made my wish come true by making this the cheesiest!  So you're kind of the hero of the day!"

One of my favorite phrases that Norah uses these days is "make sure-ing."  Oftentimes I ask her what she's doing, and she responds with "I'm just make-sureing this isn't breaking," or some such thing.  So sweet!

Lastly, I'll leave you with an answer key that I've been mentally compiling to help me decipher the text messages of our resident teen.  At the risk of sounding like an old lady, I must say that the abbreviations get seriously ridiculous.  Whatever time she saves by typing in this abbreviated faux-language, I surely spend while trying to interpret it.  For example:

"sumtn" - something
"afta" - after
"ig" - it's good
"whteva" - whatever
"N" - and
"b" - be
"wit" - with
"Idk" - I don't know
"guna" - going
"Ikr" - I know, right?
"u" - you
"tht" - that
"tho" - though
"jus" - just
"dis" - this
"Ik" - I know

Got it?  If you get a funny text from me, you'll know why.  I'm learning the language of teens, people.

All in all, life right now is full, busy, crazy, stressful, fun, exhausting, good.  Really good.  What we're doing right now is hard, but we've found that while doing kingdom work is hard, it is right where we want to be!  We cannot be refined unless we walk through the fire.  It forces us to press into God for wisdom and strength and sustenance.  So that's where we want to be!  We covet your prayers.

And thanks to you faithful ones who continue to check this blog and read it when I get around to posting!  And you get 5 bonus points if you made it all the way to the end of this long one.

That's all I've got for now.  See you again in a few...weeks, months, somethings!

5 on Friday

It has been an eventful week for our family, to say the least.

1.  Last week I returned home from an incredibly restful, fun, encouraging 4-day weekend with 2 friends and Justus at Sally Clarkson's MomHeart conference in Colorado.  I came home refreshed, rebuked, challenged, and with renewed vision for what I needed and wanted to be as a mother.  To my blog-reading friends in Texas and California, she has 2 more conferences coming right up in February that you should definitely check out if you can!  Even if you just had a baby! ;)  You would love it and it was amazing.

2.  It was no small coincidence that less than a week after coming home we got a foster care call for a teen mom.  The exact words they used were, "she just needs to learn how to be a good mom."  Um....hello...that's what I'm trying to learn myself every day!  Bring her on over!  We are definitely still in the 'honeymoon' stage of taking on a new placement, but so far things are going really really well.  She fits into our family more naturally than any other placement we've had so far, and I get a sense that all of our previous placements have really just served to prepare us for this one, each in their own specific way.  She's already opened up to us so much, and thanked us repeatedly for what we are doing for her.  We are praying praying praying that this kind of relationship continues!

3.  Life has been crazy and chaotic since the day I said yes to taking her in.  And she didn't even come to our house until 3 days later.  But every time we do foster care we definitely notice an increase in Satan's attacks on our family.  Which tells us we are doing exactly what we need to be doing.  We've had to be vigilant about our communication in our marriage.  Norah broke her nose on Sunday.  Justus has been waking up every 2-3 hours at night again, for a myriad of reasons.  (Anyone with heavy wetters have any suggestions for me on how to keep him, his jammies, his swaddling blanket, and his pack and play dry at night!?!?!  I've got him in size 4 Huggies overnights, and he still leaks all over EVERYTHING.)  On Tuesday Tim's sister and our brother-in-law and their 5 kids were moving to a new house less than an hour from here, and in a freak accident their moving van caught on fire and they lost nearly every earthly possession that they owned; we are so thankful that no one was hurt.  And on Thursday Tim's dad went in for his 20th heart procedure.  So prayers for our family are coveted, appreciated, and needed.  Only by the grace of God are we handling everything with joy and perseverance right now.  I love that it drives me to my knees.  I've been needing and wanting to do more of that anyway!

4.  Tim turned 32 on Wednesday!  Happy birthday, babe!  The girls and I and Justus decorated his office in the power plant with balloons and a homemade banner while he was at a meeting.  Then he rode the bus home with his balloon bouquet, and couldn't figure out how on earth I arranged to have 3 random strangers wish him happy birthday on the ride home. : )

5.  I'll leave you with a link that has inspired and encouraged me, and left me with a mantra for life in general, but especially my life in regards to making the sacrifices required for doing foster care.  Oh, who needs a link...I'm going to cut and paste it here to make sure you read it, because it is THAT GOOD.  This is why we say 'yes.'  And saying 'yes' to foster care seems like so much less of a sacrifice than what this woman and her family are doing...they are adopting!  Forever!  If they can do that, I can surely say 'yes' to a 5-month-placement.  It's only 5 months!!  Anyway.

"People ask, “how do you do it?”

I’m not ever really sure what they are meaning.

How do we meet everyone’s needs?

How do we still have joy?

How do i remain sane?

I’m not sure.

And I don’t ask.

But as I have thought about it the last few days

and prayed

I realize how we “do it”

and how I hope and pray we continue to “do it”

I think it’s having this mind set:

not, what if we ruin our family

but, THIS IS NOT MY FAMILY TO RUIN

not, what if it’s “too much” and I can’t handle it, what if I’m exhausted and miserable?

but, THIS IS NOT MY LIFE TO HOLD ON TO.

It’s been having the mindset that

THIS IS NOT OUR LIFE TO LIVE.

My life is not something to hold on to

I exist because of Christ, for God and His glory.

I truly feel that to live is to CLING TO CHRIST

and I truly believe that to DIE IS GAIN

I truly believe that this life is so temporary.

I truly believe that God does not involve my family and me in this grand global adoption mission, bringing all nations to Himself through it, because He needs us.

It’s because HE LOVES US!

When my eyes are down I magnify the hardness.  I get knit-picky with my kids, I get worried about if my new girls will ever catch up.  I worry.  I get anxious.  I get scared.  I get this phrase that runs through my head, ” I JUST WANT TO DO LIFE EASY!!!”

It’s a dangerous place for me to stand.

So, I don’t.

Instead I bend low, lower still!

we memorize Philippians 2

and

I tell myself, my friends, my children everyday:

(are you sick of hearing it?)

“THIS IS NOT OUR HOME!  WE ARE NOT HOME YET!”

I cannot want on this earth, in this life

what is only reserved for heaven,

Perfection!

And there you have it.  My life is not my own!  So thankful God is allowing us to be a part of His amazing plan.  It is a joy and a humbling privilege. 

Happy Friday, friends.

Resolution

I'm not usually one to get all fired up about making New Year's resolutions, but for some reason this year the thought has crossed my mind a few times, "IF I were to have a resolution, what would it be?"

So simple, and seemingly un-eventful, I think mine would be to go to bed earlier.  That's it.  My days would run so much more smoothly if I simply got an extra hour of sleep each night, and let's face it, with multiple small children, that's not going to happen on the morning end of my sleep cycle.  I've been getting up a lot earlier lately, which is great, but the days get long and by 4:00 I hit a massive wall of T.I.R.E.D. that wouldn't seem so insurmountable if I only went to bed an hour earlier each night.

And I just read this quote on one of my favorite blogs that really struck a chord in me:

"We are more likely to impact our families with a morning on our knees that a late night on the 'net."

SO.  TRUE.

Another quote that's been rolling around in my head lately,

"Wherever you are, be all there."  

I think it was Jim Elliot who said this, but I read it back in high school, so don't quote me on that.  But whoever it was, there's a lot of wisdom there.  Especially in our technology driven world that we live in today.  I'm considering deactivating my Facebook account, in hopes of eliminating the vast time-sucking-nature it can so easily have on my life.  And I'm having a love-hate relationship with my smartphone for the same reason.  I'm really feeling the burden of wanting to be "all there" for my kids, and thinking through the best ways to do that.  This is an idea in progress, and I'm looking forward to seeing where it leads!

Notable Quotables...and a few photos

A few conversations and photos that I want to remember when I think back on these days:

Norah occasionally sounds like a teenager trapped in a 2-year-old's body.  She's the queen of funny exclamations and big words.  (And unfortunately a few eye-rolls....already!!)

She can often be heard espousing, "Double drat!" when she's frustrated, or when something doesn't go her way.   Or "oh my peas!"  (Thank you, SuperWhy.)

And yesterday while coloring at the table I heard her say, "son of a gun!"  Sheesh.  We have Lady and the Tramp to thank for that expression.  I suppose it could be worse.

(image by Lori Kartman Photography.  I should do a post of all the pictures she took of our family, I don't think I did yet?)

The other night at dinner she kept trying to talk, but Audrey wouldn't stop talking, so she and Norah both started talking louder and louder trying to get their point of view across, when Norah finally exploded with, "AUDREY!!!  Stop talking!  I'm starting to feel excluded."  (This expression is courtesy of Fancy Nancy.  We were impressed she used it correctly in context!)

Then one day Audrey swiped a toy from Norah and was reprimanded by her little sister:  "Audrey!  You shouldn't steal toys!  The Bible says "Thou shalt not steal!"

Audrey:
One day in the car last week both girls were whining "what can we DOOOOO?"  This is one thing that absolutely drives me crazy.  Every time we drive anywhere (this was literally a 5 minute trip!) they complain that they are bored.  It's really quite ridiculous.  They ask to bring a toy along in the car whenever we get in the car.  I wrestle between wanting to say 'yes,' because it's an easy thing to say 'yes' to, and there are so many other more important things in the world that I need to say 'no' to, and I want to say 'yes' to them more often.  And yet...they're at the point where they require constant entertainment.  I want them to be able to ride in the car for a few minutes at a time and be content!  Look at the scenery!  Sing a song!  For the love!  I digress.  Continuing on with my story....

We were driving.  They were whining.  I decided to turn the tables.  I whined right back at them.  (I know what you're thinking, stellar application of that wonderful insight on GRACE I posted just days ago, right?  What can I say?  I'm a slow learner.)  It went something like this:

Me:  "What can I DOOOOOOOOOOO?  Driving is so BORRRRRRRRING!"  Wide-eyed, Audrey looked at me in the rear-view mirror and said "No, Mommy!  Don't say that!  You can't use that whiny voice all the way home!"
Me:  "Why not?  You do it."
Audrey:  (pausing and thinking really hard.)  "Because it just doesn't work like that."

Hmmm.  Her line of reasoning wasn't quite as well thought out as this conversation she had with Tim this other night:

A:  "Daddy, why didn't you flush the toilet after you went tinkle?"
Tim:  "How do you know it was me?"
A:  "Because the water in the toilet is green, and yellow and blue make green," (I've been using those automatic bowl cleaner things that turn the water blue,) "and there wasn't any toilet paper so it couldn't have been me or Norah or Mommy, it had to be you or Justus.  And Justus still wears a diaper so it had to be you."

Busted.

A word she's used a few times lately to describe a quantity is "amountment."  As in, "can you give me the same amountment of pine nuts as the peas on my plate?"

This morning when Norah woke up and came to the breakfast table Audrey greeted her with a "Good morning Norah!  How was your sleeping last night?  What did you dream about?"  So sweet and so cute.  I love listening to the little conversations they have throughout the day now.

(This image also by Lori Kartman Photography.)

Have I posted before her dilemma about how Jesus could have been with God when He created Mary if Jesus was in her tummy?  This was a big question over the Christmas season for her.  She's also been asking "what's the gospel?" and "what is faith?"  She's not satisfied with the typical on-the-4-year-old-level answers, either...so needless to say, she keeps us on our toes!

And she's been lovin' her brother to pieces the last few weeks.  It's really sweet to see.  She and Norah can get the biggest smiles and giggles out of him, more than anyone else can!

And Justus.  He's almost 5 months old now.  At his 4-month check-up he was 17 lbs 8 ounces, placing him in the 90th percentile.  Not surprising, considering I had to pull out the 12-month-clothes to accommodate his expanding belly.  The kid does not miss a meal.  And check out his mohawk!  It's red! And it cracks me up.

No quotes from him to post yet.  But he stays busy rolling (tummy to back and just recently back to tummy), spitting up all over the place, and attempting to suck his thumb.  And being cute.  That in and of itself is his primary job right now. ;)  And I'd say he's fulfilling those duties quite well, wouldn't you?

Check out those cheeks!!

Love him!

Parenting Challenges

Disclaimer:  Raw, ugly, heart honesty contained in this post.  Only read if you really want to get to know a not-so-nice part of my heart better. ;)

Over recent weeks months years I feel like God has been teaching me over and over again, through different means, about how to incorporate grace into my parenting.  Don't you love it when you just don't seem to get it the first time, so the same lesson keeps popping up over and over and over again?  I'm glad God loves me enough to stick with me, keep working on me, and helping me to maybe finally start to GET this. 

Let me begin by saying I am not a gracious person by nature.  My heart beats more in tune with justice than mercy, and it's hard for me to find that wonderful place of balance in between the two.  Be it with myself, my husband, or my kids, I'm much more likely to hold everyone to the highest standards, lay down the law, make up lists of rules to follow.  I am not naturally inclined to overlook offenses, or keep no record of wrongs.  I'm currently plowing through Sally Clarkson's The Ministry of Motherhood for book club, and the first section is all about how to impart to your children the gift of grace.  Ugh.  So. Thoroughly. Convicted.  The first quote that really got to me was her lesson from Luke 7:

"'For this reason I say to you, her sins, which are many, have been forgiven, for she loved much; but he who is forgiven little, loves little.'"  This is an important word to us as parents.  Sometimes we feel that we need to play the role of the Holy Spirit in our children's lives and impose great guilt on them so they will be hesitant to sin anymore.  But I don't see this in the life of Jesus.  Yes, Jesus always called his disciples and followers to the highest standards...and yet, wherever he went, Jesus proclaimed forgiveness and extended his gracious forgiveness to all who sought him---including the tax collectors, prostitutes, and even a thief on the cross.  He maintained this same attitude of gentle and gracious forgiveness toward the disciples even as they abandoned him at the cross.  Jesus took the time to personally talk to them about sin and to offer them grace.  And it was this gracious forgiveness, I believe, that opened their hearts so that they "loved much."   Our children need the same kind of gentle graciousness from us if they are to learn to share their vulnerability, to confess their own sin, and to be free to love.  If they fear our strong condemnation and possible rejection, they will hide their sin, perhaps even deceive themselves about the nature of it.  They will definitely not avail themselves of our mature direction in their lives."  (p 54-55, emphasis mine.)

Whew.  Seriously, so convicting, right?  Just wait, it gets better...

Sally offers study/discussion questions at the end of each section in this book, and this one had me thoroughly stumped:

"The Bible makes it clear that we are to discipline and correct our children when they do wrong.  How do you do this faithfully while still giving them the gift of grace?"

I read this through 3 or 4 times last night and honestly had NO IDEA how to answer it.  No idea.  Not even an inkling, folks!  I talked it through with Tim and we were both kind of just shaking our heads.  It has been particularly hard to demonstrate grace to our firstborn in times of disobedience.  She's so sharp that she doesn't miss a thing...so if I ever decide to overlook an offense, or lighten a punishment, (in the name of being 'gracious,')...the whole concept of 'if you give them an inch they'll take a mile' has gone into effect.  For instance, if we don't discipline her the first time for coming out of her bedroom at bedtime, she'll be out of bed, out of her room, 10 or 20 times for the next week.  It's ridiculous!  We've been realizing more and more just how strongly she needs hard and fast boundaries within which to operate.  So that's been our dilemma...how to show grace within the realm of firm boundaries.  Tricky, if you ask me.  

My vague conclusion is that is must boil down to my attitude, especially my attitude in the midst of, and following discipline.  So I've been trying to make a more conscious effort to verbally tell my girls "I love you when you obey AND when you disobey." And realizing that my words don't mean a thing if they're not backed up by my actions.  I need to act towards my children like God acts toward me, and His love for me is unconditional.  And lately I've been realizing how horribly conditional my outward acts of love toward my kids can be.  When they are whining and crabby and kicking and screaming and defiant, my natural instinct is to send them to their room, rather than draw them in, hugging and kissing and snuggling and showing affection.  I love how Ann Voskamp lists this in her Parenting Manifesto of Joy, "Today, the moment when I am most repelled by a child’s behavior, that is my sign to draw the very closest to that child." And this, my friends, is truly unconditional love.  This is how my children will begin to truly understand what grace is...they must see the love of the Father in me.  

This morning at church we sang a song that really helped me wrap my mind more around what this might look like.  It's meant to be sung about my relationship with God, but I think a lot of the lines can also be applied to how I want my kids to view me...as good, love, light, hope, peaceful when they are afraid...obviously the analogy breaks down at some point because death loses its sting in Christ, not me, and I won't reign over the world forever. :)  But you get the gist.  And of course I'm not going to perfectly be all these things to my kids anyway...and my ultimate goal is not to be everything to them, but to point them to Christ.  

Hillsong – Forever Reign

You are good, You are good
When there’s nothing good in me
You are love, You are love
On display for all to see
You are light, You are light
When the darkness closes in
You are hope, You are hope
You have covered all my sin

You are peace, You are peace
When my fear is crippling
You are true, You are true
Even in my wandering
You are joy, You are joy
You’re the reason that I sing
You are life, You are life,
In You death has lost it’s sting

Oh, I’m running to your arms,
I’m running to arms
The riches of your love
Will always be enough
Nothing compares to Your embrace
Light of the world forever reign

You are more, You are more
Than my words will ever say
You are Lord, You are Lord
All creation will proclaim
You are here, You are here
In your presence I’m made whole
You are God, You are God
Of all else I’m letting go

Oh, I’m running to your arms
I’m running to arms
The riches of your love
Will always be enough
Nothing compares to Your embrace
Light of the world forever reign

//My heart will sing
no other name
Jesus, Jesus//

//Oh, I’m running to your arms
I’m running to arms
The riches of your love
Will always be enough
Nothing compares to Your embrace
Light of the world forever reign

Anyway, that's a lot of rambling for one post.  Thanks for sticking with me.  I'm really looking forward to listening to Sally Clarkson in person in just 2 weeks!!  If her books are this good I'm sure her conference will not disappoint.  Next up on my reading list is Give Them Grace: Dazzling Your Kids with the Love of Jesus, by Elyse M. Fitzpatrick and Jessica Thompson.  Some good friends have recently read and highly recommended this one to me.  

How about you?  Do you wrestle with how to show grace in the midst of training and disciplining your children?  What has helped you find this balance?

3 weeks of meals

Awhile back I mentioned that I came up with a 3-week meal rotation since menu planning has gotten more complicated around here.

Tim's trying to eat (modified) Paleo.

Norah is gluten-intolerant.

Justus is milk-soy-protein intolerant.

I am Justus' only source of nourishment, therefore I am avoiding milk and soy protein.

Audrey can pretty much eat anything she wants  I let her eat. ;)  Let's not get too carried away.

Anyway, I've had quite a few requests for recipes, so I'll try to throw as many in this post as I can.  We'll see how far I get; it's "nap" time right now which means Audrey is in bed trying as hard as she can to stay awake, Norah is in her bed rolling around singing songs, and Justus has been sleeping in the pack and play for 45 minutes, so he's bound to wake up any second.  And that's how we roll.

Without further ado, here are some things you can eat that don't contain wheat, milk products, soy, and minimal grains:

Week 1:

• Bacon Round One Skillet Meal
• African Sweet Potato and Peanut Soup or Potato-Leek Soup
• Crispy Baked Chicken (or Orange Chicken, or Sesame Chicken) 
• Alaskan Salmon Bake (minus the bread crumbs, substituting dairy-free butter)
• Beef Tacos (We use hard shells since they are made of corn, rather than wheat.  I serve all the toppings on the side and the girls love filling their own tacos.  Instead of lettuce I chop up some spinach to up the veggie content.  Also...chopped tomatos, cheese, avocados, and salsa.)
• Ham Steak

Week 2:

• Sloppy Joes  (we usually serve these bun-less, just eat the toppings with a spoon, served alongside a steamed veggie.)
• Split Pea Soup  (this is best with bacon and cheese!)
• Chicken Stir-fry or BBQ chicken in the crock pot (this is my FAVORITE stir-fry recipe, but we haven't made it lately since I can eat soy sauce right now.  I did find a recipe for soy-less homemade soy sauce recently, just haven't take the time to put it all together yet.)
• Tilapia (season with lemon-pepper or seasoned salt, bake.  Serve with steamed veggie.)
• Carnitas Pork Tacos (Fareway sells a crock pot seasoning packet called Carnitas.  Mix it with water, a little salt, and pour over a pork roast.  In just a few hours you will have the most delicious taco filling, EVER.  Seriously...you must try this, it is so good!  Reminds me of Chipotle.)
• Sausage and Apple Stuffed Acorn Squash (using gluten-free Bisquick and non-dairy butter, or simply making it without the crumb topping.  Original recipe found here.)

Week 3:

• Taco Salad
• Chili or White Bean Chicken Chili
• Zucchini and Black Bean Skillet with Crock Pot Salsa Chicken  (I make regular medium grain rice and then just add it to the dish at the end.  And you have to try my friend Nealy's salsa chicken...seriously SO simple, SO easy, and SO good.  Sometimes I make it for lunch and just serve it in corn taco shells!)
• Meatloaf
• Tacos (Beef, or Pork, or Salsa Chicken if we have some leftover and we're not too tired of it!)
• Pork Chops

So you'll notice I only have 6 meals "planned" each week.  I don't assign them days, because I don't like to be locked into something, and I change my mind depending on what I'm in the mood for, and what I have time to cook that day.  The 7th day of the week we either eat leftovers, breakfast-for-dinner, spaghetti with quinoa pasta, or go out to eat.  (That spaghetti sauce recipe is AMAZING, however I must confess I haven't made it from scratch since Justus was born.  We've been thoroughly enjoying Emeril's Marinara, with some added browned hamburger, and it is gluten and dairy free.) : )

I find that if I plan 7 full meals, something always seems to come up and we don't get to them all.  A 3-week rotation has been pretty good as far as not repeating things too often, but after a few months of it I can definitely tell there are some things we're getting tired of, so I'm on a quest to fill up a week 4.  This week I'm trying out Paleo Enchiladas and Family-Style Frittatas.

So there you have it, in a nutshell.  Over the next few weeks months I'll try to post some of my other recipes on here that don't have online links.  If there are any specific ones you want me to for sure share, please leave a comment and let me know.  And if you have any good, simple, gluten and dairy-free recipes to share, by all means, please pass them along!