What will we eat?

   
     We've had a lot of funny diets going on at our house lately, which is funny because normally we have no restrictions whatsoever.  It makes for challenges.  The first diet is that Leif can't have anything with tyramine in it or it could react strongly with the medicine he's on for these 9 months.  This means no cheese, sour cream, aged meats, pork, bananas, avocados, etc, etc.  Then, Leif and I decided for Lent this year to eat kosher.  We thought it would be a fun time to try it, as Leif can't eat pork anyways, and we don't really eat shellfish when we're in Russia.  We're not going to the extremes of having different cooking pots and plates for milk and meat products, but we aren't mixing meat and milk in a meal... so this means that all of the cream sauces that I make are out.  And a lot of things that I never thought of (like not cooking with butter or having mashed potatoes with butter with the meal)!  THEN I took Ike to the dermatologist for these spots he gets on his face, and she thinks he's allergic to red fruits and vegetables, bananas, and grapes.  So, this means no tomato bases now for cooking in.  And no cream bases.  And it means I have to use my brain all of the time to figure out what to cook!!!  The good news is that it hasn't really worked the past ten days to take Ike off of the red fruits and veggies, so I think it's something else (like a sensitivity to soaps and detergents).  The other good thing is that eating kosher has made us REALLY REALLY thankful we don't live under the Old Testament law anymore!  It's really hard to keep everything perfectly in the food department, and this is just a reminder that we all fall short of the law in every way.  We are all weak and we all need Jesus and there's no way we can ever "earn" our way to him.  How wonderful that we don't have to! He's already paid it all.

     Ike and I went on this little lunch date together after his dermatologist appointment.  He was SO happy.  He said, "this is a great day!"  He loved the doctor because she was pretty and sweet and gave him a toy.  And he loved going to a cafe and picking out his food (which turned out to be really gross!!) and then playing on the little playground there. 
 
     Another great thing about this day is that we bought a digital piano!!  It's already been wonderful to have in the home.  I'm learning how to play and am teaching the girls some things, too.  We have little family times where Leif plays the guitar and I play the piano and the kids beat on things (like drums) and we sing praise songs to God.  Music is so refreshing for the soul and this piano is such a gift from God!