Week in Review

Wow, what a week this has been. As I mentioned before, both I-girl and M-boy ran fevers this week. M-boy made it through with no seizures! I-girl did have two, but they aware both very minor compared to her prior seizures. Mike took her to the ER on Friday night because her temperature was up to 105.4. Thanks to our cell phone, he has pictures of their visit. She has an ear infection, which she has been on antibiotics for since she went to the doctor last Tuesday, but it hadn't cleared up yet. That was about all they told us at the ER, but we are so glad that we took her in. Apparently anything over 104 is cause to go to the ER.
I love the cute little hospital gown.

After Mike came home with I-girl, he took M-boy to the doctor and found out he has a double ear infection. When Mike called to tell me, he just laughed. That was about all we could do at that point. I'm so grateful that my parents came out that night when Mike was at the ER, so I didn't have to be alone. It's such a helpless feeling to not be able to take the pain away from your child who is suffering. I had a epiphany as the irrational part of me was wanting to blame God for them being sick. I realized that it is about as logical as my kids blaming me for them getting sick. It's just a part of life, and we knew it when we decided that this was the plan we wanted to follow. As much as I try to sanitize their hands and keep everything clean and disinfected, they are still going to get sick. Last night, I-girl was feeling so much better, and was being quite harsh with her little brother, several times in a row. I have never been more happy to send her to her room because it meant she was really feeling better!

We e so thankful for our friends and family who have shown us such great support and love during these times. We have an amazing ward that is so supportive of us. Challenges are made for us to overcome them, so we can prove ourselves worthy of of Heavenly Fathers kingdom. I want to be able to return home to him someday with full confidence in the life I have lived, having relied on him for everything.

On a completely different subject, on Thursday, we decided to can salsa. We went to the U-pick field and picked the vegetables we needed. (we are thinking about adding some more boxes to our Square Foot Garden so we can grow it all ourselves) We took turns picking vegetables and staying with I-girl and M-boy in the car while S-girl was in school. Mike made the first batch and salsa on Thursday, and I made a second batch of salsa yesterday. We tried two different recipes. I'll list them below for any of you who may want to try them. They are both really yummy. The second recipe has a little more of a kick to it (but not much, I really don't like things that are too hot) We use our camp chef and do the majority of our canning outside. I took this picture when I canned beans the other day. Our total count for salsa was 23 pints, and we canned 5 pints and 1 quart of beans last week. It was good to have a project to keep our minds off of other things. We are slowly reaching our goal to fill every bottle that we have downstairs!

My dad came over while we were canning and I-girl fell asleep on his lap.

I almost forgot to mention, that S-girl also lost her second tooth this week. It was soooo loose, and of course, she wouldn't let us touch it. On Friday morning, she woke up and said she felt something hard in her mouth as she was making her bed. Sure enough, her tooth had fallen out in the night. I'm really glad she didn't swallow it!

Here are the salsa recipes:

Tomato/Tomato Paste Salsa
3 quarts peeled, cored, chopped slicing tomatoes
3 cups chopped onions
6 jalapeno peppers, seeded, finely chopped
4 long green chiles, seeded, chopped
4 cloves garlic, finely chopped
2 12-ounce cans tomato paste
2 cups bottled lemon juice
1 tablespoon salt
1 tablespoon sugar
1 tablespoon ground cumin*
2 tablespoons oregano leaves*
1 teaspoon black pepper
Combine all ingredients in a large saucepan. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat and
simmer for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally. Ladle hot into pint jars, leaving 1/2-inch
headspace. Adjust lids and process in a boiling water canner. 15 minutes at 0-1,000
feet altitude; 20 minutes at 1,001-6,000 feet, 25 minutes above 6,000 feet.
Yield: 7 pints
*Optional

Tomato Salsa (using paste tomatoes) - we used Romas.
7 quarts peeled, cored, chopped tomatoes
4 cups seeded, chopped long green chiles
5 cups chopped onion
1/2 cup seeded, finely chopped jalapeno peppers
6 cloves garlic, finely chopped
2 cups bottled lemon juice
2 tablespoons salt
1 tablespoon black pepper
2 tablespoons ground cumin*
3 tablespoons oregano leaves*
2 tablespoons fresh cilantro*
Combine all ingredients except cumin, oregano and cilantro in a large pot and bring to a
boil, stirring frequently, then reduce heat and simmer 10 minutes. Add spices and
simmer for another 20 minutes, stirring occasionally. Ladle hot into pint jars, leaving
1/2-inch headspace. Adjust lids and process in a boiling water canner: 15 minutes at 0-
1,000 feet altitude; 20 minutes at 1,001-6,000 feet, 25 minutes above 6,000 feet.
Yield: 13 pints
*Optional
This recipe works best with paste tomatoes. Slicing tomatoes require a much longer
cooking time to achieve a desirable consistency.