Today I was at the store looking for chicken broth.  You know, the broth that you get from boiling a chicken, right?  Well, I picked up swanson which I’ve used in the past and the front said no msg…good. Then I happened to glance at the ingredients.  Yeast extract.  What the heck is yeast extract?  It also said a few other things that I didn’t know and that the item may contain milk, soy or wheat.  Ummm…in chicken broth?  Chicken BROTH?  What??  I don’t think so.  I picked up the store brand healthier options and it was the same thing…yeast extract and may contain wheat.

With Nathan being g free, I knew that wasn’t going to work and I decided I’d just make my own.  You know, chicken broth, from boiling a chicken!  I don’t know why I am constantly amazed at the junk that is in the food we eat, but it still surprises me!  I bought a good free ranger and went to town.

I happily boiled my chicken with onion, carrot and celery and thanks to my Mom’s advice, a teaspoon of apple cider vinegar.  It does something with drawing out the good stuff inside the bone marrow.

Now I have all these containers of…wait, can you guess?  Chicken broth!!  And not a hint of yeast anything.  Or milk.  Or soy.  Or even wheat!

  It made about 14 cups of broth.  Not too shabby if you ask me!

For the last few weeks, Nathan has happily run off to school and for six hours those days I have no idea of what he’s doing or how it’s going.  It is so weird to go from knowing all the ins and outs of his life to letting go and trusting that all is well all day long.  I have figured that no news is good news and if there was a problem, his teacher would let me know.

Well, today we got word….

I opened Nathan’s folder today and it was right there.  A note that said Student of the Month at the top and Nathan’s name on the bottom!!  My Nathan, student of the month.  My little micro preemie.  My little born-three-months-early.  My fight for his life little boy.  The boy who suffered from a stage 2 brain bleed in utero.  (That’s a stroke!  He had a stroke and we know brain damage because of all the trauma. )  The boy who fought through 3 months in the NICU.   The boy who has had speech, ot and pt for nearly all of his life.  The one we weren’t sure would walk or talk or run or for many days, even survive.  My little brown eyed boy, is his class’ first student of the month!!

It gets better.  Can you believe the characteristic for the month of October is persevere?  “One who continues to try even though it is difficult” is the description on the form that came home.  That so describes Nathan.  Nothing has come easy in his life.  He has had to work hard to learn how to do everything.  The same things which come naturally to most of us, he has had to work at.  And now here he is getting recognized for all of his hard work.

Let’s just say that this incredibly proud Mom may have shed a few tears when I saw his note.   He has taught me so much in the last six years and I pray I may be known as someone who models perseverance too…one who continues to try even though it is difficult.