Continuing the Story

It's been a long time since my last post about Evan's story. Things have been VERY busy around here, but I'd like to continue now.

So, Evan's family began adapting their diet to his needs. They continued to experiment with recipes to come up with things that Evan could eat. They developed the pumpkin bread recipe that is already on this blog, along with recipes for chocolate cheesecake and pumpkin pie. At first though, it was hard for Evan to be on the diet. He would ask his mother for the snacks that he was accustomed to eating, and she would have to refuse. He struggled (as many do) with why this would happen to him. Why couldn't he just be normal? Why couldn't he eat like his friends? But, his parents knew that the only way to improve his health was through this diet.

They supported him by eating the way he had to. They began making dinners that the whole family could share but would still be good for Evan to eat. Within just 2 weeks of the diet, Evan began to notice improvement. He had more energy, and he was gaining weight. Obviously, his parents were thrilled with these results. They continued to support him by setting goals for weight gain in 10 pound increments. When he reached his weight goals, they would take the whole family out to dinner, often to Tony Roma's. Though the barbeque sauce on the ribs he always ordered contained sugar, he was able to maintain his results because his family helped him be strict at all other times.

We'll be adding more to this story later. Thanks for reading!

Oops!

I just realized that I've missed TWO Recipe Sundays! We have been incredibly busy prepping for and taking finals and moving into our new apartment. Life has been moving so fast lately, and sometimes it's difficult to remember to enjoy each moment. But, as I am slowly learning, this is SOOO important because if you're always looking forward, you miss so much of the little details that make experiences unique.

Anyway, here is another recipe, even though it's not Sunday.

Best Thai Peanut Sauce

Ingredients:

1.5 cups creamy peanut butter
1/2 cup coconut milk
3 tablespoons water
3 tablespoons soy sauce
1 tablespoon fish sauce
1 tablespoon minced fresh ginger root
3 cloves of garlic, minced
1/4 cup chopped cilantro
Juice of 1 lime
Broccoli or spinach to taste

Directions:

1. Begin cooking chicken or other meat of choice on the stove.
2. Mix peanut butter, coconut milk, water, lime juice, soy sauce, fish sauce, ginger and garlic on the stove on medium to high heat.
3. Mix in cilantro and broccoli/spinach just before serving

I think this dish tastes best with chopped chicken, but if you don't like chicken, it also goes nicely with salmon or another kind of fish.

Coincidence? I don't think so.

Evan and I decided to go mattress shopping today after helping some friends move their stuff into storage. We just wanted to look around and see what we might want because we weren't intending on buying anything until next week when we move into our apartment. We went to a couple of mattress stores that had fairly nice mattresses, though most were on the upper limit of our price range. Then, we went to Mattress Land.

Upon entering the store, one of the associates greeted us with "Hey, did you guys bring any 70 degree sunshine with you?" We laughed, and told him exactly what we told the other salespeople. We were simply looking to get an idea of what we might want in the budget we had. He began to show us some really nice mattresses that were on special just until Monday. This guy had tons of knowledge about mattresses too. We told him what kind of bed we had (platform bed, no box spring) and he recommended these mattresses that were made for platform beds. He was telling us that Sertas and other mattress brands weren't designed to be used without a box spring, and would be more likely to start sagging without one.

Oh, and did I mention that this mattress was marked down by 200 bucks?

Anyway, this salesman was really nice, and we started having a casual conversation, not about mattresses but about his family. And, would you believe it, his wife has Crohn's disease! We shared an abbreviated version of Evan's story with him and told him about Evan's diet. He was so grateful because his wife has been struggling with Crohn's for quite awhile. And we were grateful because we were able to get an amazing deal on a mattress.

It's times like these when I can't help but reflect on the way God works. I mean, there were 3 other guys working in this store, this guy was the one to help us. God's timing is just perfect.