Well they say everyone has a story to tell, so I guess I do too! Growing up the only thing I did in the kitchen was mix the mashed potatoes with a hand mixer. I can still remember the smell of the hot cooked potatoes getting whipped! This was all I was allowed to do. Sadly, my Mom didn’t believe in kids in the kitchen. As a teenager, I progressed to being able to fix a box of macaroni and cheese and open a can of corn to go with it! I got married at age 21, and wasn’t even sure if I could boil water without burning it. LOL!
I met my husband in high school, our Jr. year to be exact. We dated and got married on the 5th year of our very first date! Then approximately every 3 years for the next nine years I gave birth to a sweet baby boy! Can you guess how many years I would suggest between kids?? LOL!
I didn’t really start cooking until our oldest son turned 1, and started to eat table food and I thought oh no, what will I feed him?? This panic started my journey in the kitchen, and it’s an on going process.
The next part of my journey is long, so I’ll condense it as much as possible. #5 pregnancy was a baby girl, our one and only daughter. Since I was considered advanced maternal age, aka OLD, I qualified for extensive blood testing on the baby. She tested out perfectly in all areas. Everything was going good and I went in for a routine check up at 5 months and the Dr. couldn’t find the baby’s heartbeat. To say it was a shock would be an understatement. These things don’t happen this far along, right? I’d given birth to 4 healthy babies without even the slightest hiccup. Sadly I was wrong. After I gave birth to her, my Dr made the comment that it looked like something had attacked my placenta. Even after 4 babies, I didn’t know what a healthy placenta was supposed to look like! Long story short, we found out I had undiagnosed Celiac Disease and we think that it stopped attacking me and attacked the baby instead (placenta). I had no clue how devastating Celiac Disease could be. I’ve been living a strict Gluten Free diet for the past 7 years. Unfortunately, one of our sons is following in my footsteps. He has been gf over a year now.
Fast forward 2 years after pregnancy #5, I get the shock of my life, I’m pregnant with #6 baby! Only #6 turned out to be #6 AND #7, yes, TWINS!!! I can honestly say that seeing that glaring positive pregnancy test was more shocking than finding out it was a multiple pregnancy! My heart hadn’t been broke, it had been shattered into a million pieces when I lost that baby, and I never ever wanted to go through that again. But God, who is rich in mercy, saw me through a very worrisome pregnancy. Three years after I lost the baby, He gave me two in return!! I’ll write some more on my twin pregnancy and raising twins. It really is a different ballgame!
If it wasn’t for the Lord I can say without a doubt I wouldn’t/couldn’t have gotten over losing a baby that late in pregnancy. I was a new baby myself in the Lord and I did a lot of growing that first year. I often say that I didn’t start living my life until I had my first son. That all changed on 9/10/12. I received the baptism of the Holy Ghost and then I became a new creature in Christ! That’s when I truly started living!! I’m not a Jesus freak, I’m a Jesus everything! My sister once asked me, “Why do you talk about Jesus so much??”. He is the reason for everything and all the glory and honor goes to Him! He is the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords! He is my Lord and Savior! Praise His holy name!!
Nowadays you’ll find me in the kitchen singing my head off, even though I can’t carry a tune, LOL! I put on my apron and Christian music and praise the Lord in my kitchen!
I love pugs, baking, french fries, emojis and use way too many exclamation marks!
I’m also easily distracted and set timers for EVERYTHING!!
I started my blog 4 years ago to try to get my kids excited about being in the kitchen. Cooking is a life skill that everyone needs to acquire. I’d love to say that all my older kids have just excelled at cooking and their knife skills are amazing, but I’d be exaggerating. My 2 oldest kids just want to eat, my 2 little kids (not so little anymore) still have enough curiosity to want to see what’s going on in the kitchen, sometimes, and my twins enjoy anything that gets their sweet little hands dirty, LOL!
Of course there’s much that I’ve left off, college, jobs, homeschooling, autoimmune diseases, and much more. But this is a short story of my life.
Stick around and see all our successes and messes. You gotta eat, so might as well learn how to cook! It’s never too late to discover that Little Chef Within….
