Going Gluten Free

Hubby stayed home today in the end. Not only was he unwell this morning stil, but I was ill through the night.

As the day progressed, though, I felt better and this evening whilst I still feel wiped out, my stomach ache has gone for the first time in days.

The boys concentrated on maths this morning, with an hour at the table working through various worksheets that I had printed out for them. They also carried on with their game from yesterday. As it involveds adding up two dice, and calculating damaged to ships etc, I told them that counts as learning too. The attempts at resolving the inevitable arguements count as learning patience and tolerance

In the afternoon I needed to go shopping. We are considering going on a gluten and casein free diet to see if this helps S with his aspergers and J with his emotional outburst/AS traits. This has involved a lot of research on the theories, the products and the recipes. I will now have to add a whole new section to our family website cookbook for GF/CF diets! J said I should re-write it all, with an opening page letting people chose between regular, vegetarian, and CF/GF recipes! I'll just pop off and do that then...

Once again, the people on the HE special needs list have been invaluable with advice and recipe ideas. At times like this I feel very positive about the benefits of having the internet

Anyone with any good recipes - especially dairy-free - using ingredients I can get here in the UK, please, please leave a comment!

Dh is currently goal-setting for the spring. We need to work around the finance issue and find a way to make our income and expenditure match. We have cut back on everything, but he still doesn't earn enough. All our bills are so much lower than most other families that I know, so its not just a case of being frugal. The real, big issue is the debt that we are paying off. Three years ago dh was so ill that he worked for only some 8 months out of 2 years. At that time things got extremely desparate and we resorted to using up credit on store/credit cards to meet the clothing and food needs of the family at times. This now means that over a third of all our monthly outgoings are on debt-repayment. Without that, we would be able to manage on a thrifty budget. I console myself with knowing that we are doing the Christian thing by repaying what we owe, and keep trusting in God to guide us through. If we can keep our eyes fixed on Him, I know that it will all work out according to His purpose.

All prayers gratefully received.