Just what I needed

Is anyone else in amazement at the incredible blessing of a new friendship found? It's becoming more and more unique to actually meet someone at this age and just "click" on many levels, and want to nurture that friendship amidst the demands of marriage, work, babies, parents and siblings, while not forgetting the precious old, time-tested  friendships that need the weekly/monthy input to flourish. 

I have recently been blessed to have met an incredible woman who has become a friend and an important mentor in my life. She reached out to me in October last year, when I was very overwhelmed with wanting to do better nutritionally for my family. It started for me when I joined a Weston Price chat group on yahoo for Calgary  to reach out to others on the same journey. 

One evening I was reading about bone structure, jaw development and many other things that I didn't know were in correlation with nutrition.  It was about 1 am when I came to the conclusion that I had ruined my beautiful sleeping children forever because of my ignorance of how to nourish them. I basically wrote an anxious entry on the yahoo chat group asking how to start, and stated how very overwhelmed I felt. Most people wrote back with a short answer about where to find a specific product to get going with, but those replies just left me with more questions. I prayed and asked God to forgive my previous flippant nature towards feeding my family, and asked Him to take care of my anxiety. He answered my prayer in the form of an email that I woke up to in the morning:

HI Liz,

I hope you don’t mind that I have emailed you offline.  I read your email on the WAPF Calgary group.   In 2002 I found the WAPF and got my copy of NT.  I had been studying nutrition for many years and have 2 diplomas, one from SAIT and the other as Registered Holistic Nutritionist from Canadian School of Natural Nutrition but the best nutrition education I found was and still is in reading the pages of Nourishing Traditions.  You are NOT alone.  I was drinking soy milk and involved in a study with a Dietician to see how my baby would fair with calcium fortified soy.  Needless to say if you have read any of the WAPF info my thyroid went crazy and my son ended up with lots of food sensitivities but it took a few years to find it all.  I taught myself to ferment, soak grains and bake sourdough all from the cookbook but it did not happen overnight.  IF you need advice or even someone to taste your end product and say it is wonderful then I will help however I can.  I would love to give workshops on all that I have learned but the putting together of these is my weakness.  I am a doer and have the knowledge and experience.  If you have friends who would come to your home and want me to come show you then I could figure out a fee and do an informal group thing.  I live in the NW quadrant of the city.  Let me know if so or just contact me if you need support.  We are all walking the path and you are where you are, so try not to panic. 

Best,

Janice

I was so amazed! A real live person was willing to guide us through the tough beginning stages…this was worth so much to my family. She was like a live version of the cookbook I'd been trying to understand for the last year, "Nourishing Traditions". I knew that her experience was invaluable, but even more so was her empathy andwillingness to share her journey and early beginner mistakes (best advice yet: leave the kitchen and PLAY with your children. Nutrition is important but cooking is not to replace time spent with your family. Don't let it become a god). 


Since reaching out to me 6 months ago, we've had many emails back and forth, hour long phone conversations (me with pen and paper in hand, often scribbling down notes as she is a natural health encyclopedia!!), and one meal shared between our families that has confirmed God's answer to my prayers…He had done way better than simply rid me of my anxiety; he replaced it with a beautiful new friend.

I am so pleased to share her with you (my huge audience two family members that read this) as she will be guest blogging on here for all of us newbies, until I can convince her to start her own blog… I hope we will glean from her the lessons she has learned over the years as she continues to nourish her family. 

Stay tuned for Thursday!