FREE FOOD!

I have a confession to make: there is no free food, though food is the topic of this post. But I have your attention now, don't I? Works every time :).

Before I dive into my vastly more interesting main topic of cooking, let me give you a quick update on my health. Besides developing bizarre bruise-like patches all over my body literally overnight and being admitted to the hospital for pain management and a fever on Friday, I’ve been feeling quite well recently! I realize that statement was somewhat of an oxymoron, but that’s pretty much how my life is at the moment, so I’m having to get used to these weekly ups and downs. The good news is that since being admitted and starting IV antibiotics and pain medicine, my pain has lessened dramatically and my fever and sore throat are gone, so I’m hoping to get discharged quickly, hopefully tomorrow evening or Tuesday morning (unfortunately 48 hours is the minimum hospital stay for a fever).

Now on to cooking :). Many of you know that I’ve developed a passion for cooking over the past couple years, trying new recipes and beginning to experiment with different flavors that Zack and I enjoy. I adapt almost every recipe I try now, adding or adjusting the types and amounts of meat, vegetables, and spices, and frequently reducing or eliminating the dairy to spare my stomach the woes of lactose-intolerance. I was cooking like crazy pre-transplant but obviously had to take a short sabbatical once admitted to the hospital, during which my cooking was restricted to such gourmet methods as microwaving Easy Mac and frozen burritos :(.

Over the past several months, however, I’ve slowly been easing back into cooking when I’ve felt well enough, which has been most days for the past couple weeks. I figured I’d share some of the recent dishes I’ve made and, thanks to Zack’s mad photographing skills and our Food Network-inspired appreciation for food presentation, pictures to go along with several of them! If you’d like the recipe for any of the following dishes, post a comment letting me know and I’ll post the recipe. However, I must warn you that if you request the recipe, you better make it, because it will take a while for me to type it out! Plus I want to know what you think :).

Asian Chicken and Green Bean Stir Fry* **
Black Bean and Corn Quesadillas**
Chicken Bacon Spinach Bake* **
Chicken Makhani (Indian Butter Chicken)
Chicken Piccata* ** (pictured above)
Chicken Tikka Masala (long prep time)
Easy Chicken Enchiladas (pictured above)
Edamame Pesto Pasta** (pictured above)
Grilled Chicken Avocado Sandwich* **(pictured above)
Mini Bacon Tomato Quiche**
Pesto Pasta with Green Beans and Potatoes**
Pesto Polenta Lasagna** (pictured above)
Pigs in a Blanket**
Pork Chops (or Chicken) with Mustard Cream Sauce (pictured above)
Roasted Broccoli and Tomatoes* **
Shrimp Scampi*
South Pacific Shrimp* (long prep time)
Southern Chicken and Rice Bake*
Tomato Bisque*
Tomato-Shrimp Risotto*
Turkey and Veggie Casserole**

*GFCF: gluten-free, casein (dairy)-free, or can easily be adapted to be so (e.g. swap butter for Earth Balance)
**Very easy and/or quick

Prayer to be Reckoned with

James 5:13a, 15, 16b-18 MSG
13-15 Are you hurting? Pray... Believing-prayer will heal you, and Jesus will put you on your feet. And if you've sinned, you'll be forgiven—healed inside and out.
16-18 ...pray for each other so that you can live together whole and healed. The prayer of a person living right with God is something powerful to be reckoned with. Elijah, for instance, human just like us, prayed hard that it wouldn't rain, and it didn't—not a drop for three and a half years. Then he prayed that it would rain, and it did. The showers came and everything started growing again.

2 Corinthians 1:10-11 NLT

¹⁰ And he did rescue us from mortal danger, and he will rescue us again. We have placed our confidence in him, and he will continue to rescue us. ¹¹ And you are helping us by praying for us. Then many people will give thanks because God has graciously answered so many prayers for our safety.

Luke 18:1-8 NLT

¹ One day Jesus told his disciples a story to show that they should always pray and never give up. ² “There was a judge in a certain city,” he said, “who neither feared God nor cared about people. ³ A widow of that city came to him repeatedly, saying, ‘Give me justice in this dispute with my enemy.’ ⁴ The judge ignored her for a while, but finally he said to himself, ‘I don’t fear God or care about people, ⁵ but this woman is driving me crazy. I’m going to see that she gets justice, because she is wearing me out with her constant requests!’”

⁶ Then the Lord said, “Learn a lesson from this unjust judge. ⁷ Even he rendered a just decision in the end. So don’t you think God will surely give justice to his chosen people who cry out to him day and night? Will he keep putting them off? ⁸ I tell you, he will grant justice to them quickly! But when the Son of Man returns, how many will he find on the earth who have faith?”

These are three of my favorite scriptures about prayer and its power. Though I continually forget, God has answered an incredible number of prayers on my behalf over the past year and a half, so many that I could probably write a thousand blogs on the topic. Zack and I just wanted to thank all of you who have been praying for me and ask you to keep checking the prayer requests listed on the right side of my blog. I'm trying to keep the list updated so that 1) you know a little more about what's going on with me medically; and 2) you can pray for those specific needs, because I know God hears and answers us when we pray and believe. Your prayers not only help me medically, but they strengthen me inwardly and help me not to give up :).

What NOT to Say - Part II

What I discussed in my last post, learning to empathize and go through someone’s suffering with him/her, reflects a total mind shift. Practically speaking, however, two questions are asked of me over and over that unintentionally can become quite discouraging, so I’d like to share them here to help people know what NOT to say :).

1) Are you feeling better?

First of all, just because I had a bone marrow transplant doesn’t mean I’m perpetually “sick.” Second, I know for the average person a hospital admission means you’re not doing well, but as I’ve explained previously, I get admitted for things like diarrhea or a 100 degree temperature, neither of which I’d classify as particularly hazardous. So, while I totally appreciate people’s prayers and concern, please don’t assume or treat me like I’m an invalid because I got admitted to the hospital. Third, there are only two possible answers to that question. One will put a smile on your face and give you warm fuzzies, and the other will make me feel like a failure and make you feel awkward. It’s a 50/50 chance, people. Those are not good odds.

What should you ask instead? It’s simple. Simply ask me how I’m doing, but be prepared for a complicated answer, or for me not feeling up to going into detail. Many times people with chronic health conditions feel defined by their condition. Their health not only controls every aspect of their life (mood, schedule, work options, finances, diet, etc.), but it controls how other people see them. Well-meaning people constantly ask me about my health, but sometimes I need to talk about other, totally unrelated things, just to remind myself that there’s more to me and my life than my health.

2) When will you be able to _______?

I have to live with tons of restrictions post-transplant, controlling my diet, travel, work, schedule, and other daily activities. These restrictions vary from patient to patient and depend on how I’m doing, my bloodwork, and the drugs I’m taking, so they are incredibly uncertain and constantly changing. There is no formula at this point that determines when I will be able to return to teaching, eat berries and salad, go to church, travel by airplane, or do any number of other things that I still can’t but want to do. So the indefinite answer to that question is that neither I nor my doctors know, and I’m trying to take one day at a time and not worry about the future. Believe me, it’ll be obvious when these restrictions are lifted because you know I’ll be doing all of it! ;)

What NOT to Say - Part I

Whenever anyone is going through challenges, whether they be health-related or not, people never know what to do or say to help. They often react to this inner conflict in one of two ways: they think they know what to say and come off as trying to “fix” the situation, or they keep their distance from the person emotionally and/or physically. I’ve done both. And you’d think that if you can relate to the person’s challenge, you’d be immune to this problem, but then you encounter the new problem of assuming that your experience is the same as the person’s, which is just as insensitive and unhelpful.

So what’s the solution? No idea.

Just kidding :). I do have an idea, but it’s not my own. I got it from reading Job this past week. Job is a character in the Bible who suffers extreme loss and undergoes immense challenges in a very short period of time, and his friends visit to comfort him. The problem is, they don’t comfort him at all. Job needed to express his deep grief, confusion, and anger and have his friends help him work through it, but instead they assume Job did something wrong to deserve his hardships and essentially tell him to “snap out of it.” As I was reading their long speeches to Job, I realized that his friends weren’t abnormally insensitive; they were just selfish. I think they felt uncomfortable, as most of us do, when confronted with someone’s intense suffering and his feelings about it. They would rather Job stuff his feelings and act like everything was fine than go through the emotional and spiritual battle with him of being honest with God and resolving his anger and confusion. That’s messy, and none of us likes messy.

Job 13:1-5, 12-13 Good News Translation (GNT)
Everything you say, I have heard before.
I understand it all; I know as much as you do.
I'm not your inferior.
3 But my dispute is with God, not you;
I want to argue my case with him.
4 You cover up your ignorance with lies;
you are like doctors who can't heal anyone.
5 Say nothing, and someone may think you are wise!
12 Your proverbs are as useless as ashes;
your arguments are as weak as clay.
13 Be quiet and give me a chance to speak,
and let the results be what they will.

What Job wanted and needed was to be able to speak freely with his friends and with God, without them trying to “fix” him with their wise words and understanding. Always searching for the perfect thing to say just makes you seem like you think you’re better than the person suffering; sometimes the best thing to offer is your smile and your presence rather than a profound statement or question.

One of the coolest things about God to me is that he values honesty over saying the “right” thing, because he knows everyone’s heart anyway and isn’t fooled by our dutifully trying to act like we’re okay, as Job’s friends were trying to get Job to do. After all of Job’s complaining, lamenting, and questioning, God responds, “I am angry with you and your two friends, because you have not spoken of me what is right, as my servant Job has.” (Job 42: 7)