Tuesday, February 15, 2011

Feedback from the PPD post!

Wow.  Just wow.  Not only am I overwhelmed by the response to my Postpartum Depression post, I am blessed!  So many of you shared your sympathy, shared your own stories and many of you shared your relief that a Christian could publicly admit to *GASP* taking antidepressants.  Between the blog and comments on Facebook, I had 17 comments!  Who knew I even had that many readers!

I am constantly surprised at how many of my own friends and acquaintances have experienced PPD.  It makes it easy to believe that the prevalence of PPD is 5%-25%.

On the topic of Christians and depression, we have many examples of Godly, faithful people who struggled with depression.

Moses (Numbers 1:10-14  Moses heard the people weeping throughout their clans, everyone at the door of his tent. And the anger of the LORD blazed hotly, and Moses was displeased. Moses said to the LORD, "Why have you dealt ill with your servant? And why have I not found favor in your sight, that you lay the burden of all this people on me?  Did I conceive all this people? Did I give them birth, that you should say to me, 'Carry them in your bosom, as a nurse carries a nursing child,' to the land that you swore to give their fathers?  Where am I to get meat to give to all this people? For they weep before me and say, 'Give us meat, that we may eat.'  I am not able to carry all this people alone; the burden is too heavy for me.  If you will treat me like this, kill me at once, if I find favor in your sight, that I may not see my wretchedness.).


Elijah (1 Kings 19:3-4  Then he was afraid, and he arose and ran for his life and came to Beersheba, which belongs to Judah, and left his servant there.  But he himself went a day’s journey into the wilderness and came and sat down under a broom tree. And he asked that he might die, saying, "It is enough; now, O LORD, take away my life, for I am no better than my fathers.").


Job (Job 3- especially verses 3,11,20-26 3 "Let the day perish on which I was born,
and the night that said,
   'A man is conceived.'  11"Why did I not die at birth,
come out from the womb and expire?  20"Why is light given to him who is in misery,
and life to the bitter in soul,
21who long for death, but it comes not,
and dig for it more than for hidden treasures,
22who rejoice exceedingly
and are glad when they find the grave?
23Why is light given to a man whose way is hidden,
whom God has hedged in?
24For my sighing comes instead of my bread,
and my groanings are poured out like water.
25 For the thing that I fear comes upon me,
and what I dread befalls me.
26I am not at ease, nor am I quiet;
I have no rest, but trouble comes."   Job 17:1 1 "My spirit is broken; my days are extinct; the graveyard is ready for me.).


David (Ps. 43:2-5  2For you are the God in whom I take refuge;
why have you rejected me?
 Why do I go about mourning
because of the oppression of the enemy?  3 Send out your light and your truth;
let them lead me;
let them bring me to your holy hill
and to your dwelling!
4 Then I will go to the altar of God,
to God my exceeding joy,
and I will praise you with the lyre,
O God, my God.  5 Why are you cast down, O my soul,
and why are you in turmoil within me?  Hope in God; for I shall again praise him,
my salvation and my God.). 
No one experienced more depression than David.  Here are some more references to David’s depression. (Ps. 6,13,18,23,25,27,31,32,34, 37-40, 42-43, 46, 51,55,62-63, 69, 71, 73,77,84,86,90-91, 94-95, 103- 104, 107, 110, 116, 118, 121, 123-124, 130, 138, 139, 141-143, 146-147).


Jeremiah (Jer. 20:14  14 Cursed be the day
 on which I was born!
 The day when my mother bore me,
let it not be blessed!).


Hannah (1 Sam. 1:8, 10  8And Elkanah, her husband, said to her, "Hannah, why do you weep? And why do you not eat? And why is your heart sad?  10 She was deeply distressed and prayed to the LORD and wept bitterly.).


Nehemiah (Neh. 1:4 4 As soon as I heard these words I sat down and wept and mourned for days, and I continued fasting and praying before the God of heaven.  Neh. 2:1  1In the month of Nisan, in the twentieth year of King Artaxerxes, when wine was before him, I took up the wine and gave it to the king. Now I had not been sad in his presence.).


Jesus (Mat 26:38 Then He said to them, "My soul is deeply grieved, to the point of death; remain here and keep watch with Me.")


I feel that this is enough to "chew" on for one day, so I leave you with this verse from Habakkuk 3:17-19.



Though the fig tree should not blossom,




   nor fruit be on the vines,
the produce of the olive fail
   and the fields yield no food,
the flock be cut off from the fold
   and there be no herd in the stalls,


yet I will rejoice in the LORD;




   I will take joy in the God of my salvation.
GOD, the Lord, is my strength;
   he makes my feet like the deer’s;
   he makes me tread on my high places.

Sunday, February 13, 2011

28 days of Love... Or perhaps only 10 days.

Wow!  I officially give up on this 28 Days of Love thing.  It seemed like a good idea, but I am having a terrible time keeping up, especially on weekends.

Today, after church, we got outside in the warm-ish weather!  It was GREAT!  We worked on gathering materials for the pea trellis, I started a wattle fence around my herb bed and the kids played on the compost pile.

Thursday, February 10, 2011

28 Days of Love! Day 9 and 10.

So I'm really not so great at doing this every day...

Go check out My Country Cupboard for her 28 Days of Love!


 One picture, lots of loves!
Here, we have camping, little girls, friends, cool spring water and playing outside!
LOVE!

Tuesday, February 8, 2011

A Postpartum Depression Story.

I have debated sharing this and have started this post several times.  It has been sitting in my "drafts" for months now but I think I am ready.  It is finally time for me to share my postpartum depression story.


Some of you know me personally and had no idea I was going through this.  Guess what, I didn't even really know!  My main reason for sharing this now is so my friends and family will know more about what to look for.  Look for it in your friends, your family, and Mama's, look for it in yourself!


28 Days of Love! Day 8.

Go check out My Country Cupboard for her 28 Days of Love!


Today my love is the family pet. Pictured is 10 year old Ali and 4 year old Eden!
Photo by Chanin Gilman

Monday, February 7, 2011

2 in one day!

It isn't often I get the chance to post twice in the same day, but I just had to share some pics of the stuff that's been coming out of my kitchen lately!

 Theo helped me make brownies the other day.  He enjoyed it! ;)

28 Days of Love! Day 7

Go check out My Country Cupboard for her 28 Days of Love!

Posting here every day is so much more difficult on the weekends.  It is not like I'm sitting around doing nothing, though.  I got to finalize the garden plan, complete my seed order and my cabbage seeds are sprouting in the windowsill.  I got to spend some time with a good friend who has just moved back to town, spend an afternoon antiquing with another friend and our 4 year old little girls (not for the faint of heart) and I bought a new book.

The new book is Forgotten Skills of Cooking by Darina Allen.  I had checked out Sally Fallon's Nourishing Traditions from the library several times and I know there is a lot of love for Sally out there, but this book seemed like the better choice for me.  I honestly really don't like to cook and I couldn't justify buying 2 cookbooks at once.  Forgotten Skills goes through a lot of fun topics like foraging, cooking game and preserving food.  It is a really beautiful book with wonderful photos.  It really appeals to the bibliophile in me!

So anyway, I am cooking Winter Squash Souffle tonight.  Not from the new book, but from here at Nourished Kitchen.  

My love for the day (yes, I am just going to skip yesterday) is kids who love tools!  
My littles love helping out with our jobs around the house and that makes me happy!
Eden, age 2.

Saturday, February 5, 2011

28 Days of Love! Day 4 and 5. *blushes*

Yesterday was a fun-filled day with little internet... So, I will post my pics for yesterday and today.  These pics are the 2 really important men in my life  Brandon and my Dad.



Thursday, February 3, 2011

28 Days of Love! Day 3.

Go check out My Country Cupboard for her 28 Days of Love!

Cleaning up after the kid's painting, I tossed their palette into the sink, ran a little water in it to keep the paint from drying in it and got busy doing something else.  When I came back to finally wash it, this is what I found in the sink.

Rainbows = Love
Even when you find them in the bottom of the sink!

Wednesday, February 2, 2011

28 Days of Love! Day 2.

Go check out My Country Cupboard for her 28 Days of Love!

I am at a season of my life where my world revolves around the 2 little blessings running around the house.  In my opinion, nothing says love like children.  Were it not for extreme love, nobody would do this parenthood thing.  Pregnancy, birth, the disruption of our own agenda, the day to day tedium, the adjustment a couple must make... seriously, I could go on and on.  The converse of this is the part where you get to give them birth, give them nourishment (physical, spiritual, mental), give them an environment in which to thrive, give them, well, yourself!  Over and over you give yourself.

Tuesday, February 1, 2011

28 Days of Love! Day 1.

My friend Miriam over at My Country Cupboard is doing "28 Days of Love" for February.  I think it is a pretty cute idea, so I am going to copy her! ;)

The rules are simple... post a photo each day in February that says "love" to you.  I was already working on a post today, but I think this could fit nicely with my post!