2014 Christmas Card Video

2014 brought many changes for our family.  The pictures and words of the songs tell our story.

Good Days

It's been almost 7 months since Addy was diagnosed with diabetes and the downward health spiral began.  I'm tempted to think about all the health challenges that have happened to my kids over the past 7 months and get sad and feel bad.  But one thing I have learned during the past 7 months of trials is that I don't have to dwell on how I feel. It's not about how I feel, but what I know.  When I dwell on how I feel, I feel crummy, depressed, and tears well up in my eyes.  When I think of what is true, that God planned all my days, made my children just the way He wanted, that I have an eternal inheritance that is WAY better than anything earth can offer, I can face each day, each moment, with joy.

I know that God loves me and has planned out each of my days.  My faith has increased so much over the last seven months. God has done some incredible things through these trials and I praise Him! This morning I was reading one of my favorite psalms, Psalm 139. One of the reasons I like this psalm so much is because in the last nine years, four people have been formed in my womb and this psalm describes it incredibly.
  

This morning when I read this psalm I had to read over this section a few times.  So comforting was it to meditate on how each of my children are fearfully and wonderfully made.  Addison has diabetes, celiac disease, thyroiditis, and is fearfully and wonderfully made.  Luke has celiac disease and is fearfully and wonderfully made.  Brooke's hair is falling out and she is fearfully and wonderfully made.  Chloe is allergic to wheat, nuts, and milk, and she is fearfully and wonderfully made.  God saw them being made in secret as he wove them in the depths of the earth.  He saw their unformed substance and every one of the days that were formed for them were written in his book when there were still none.

Who am I to question what God is doing during this time in our lives or say that it is bad?  I can look back at the past 7 months and say, "It was good!  Look at what God did through this!  Praise God for it! He is good!"  And I can look forward into my kids' lives and say to them, "I can't wait to see how God is going to use you! God can use you guys in special ways because you have these things about you that most other people don't have! I know because you have diabetes God has something great planned for you Addy!  Luke, God is going to use your celiac for something great for the kingdom.  You may loose your hair, Brooke, but there are some things you can never lose, and I pray that you will find that which you can never lose.  Chloe, I know God has big plans for you and will use your allergies to glorify Him!"

I can focus on the challenges we face, or I can focus on the opportunities God has given us to reach out to a hurting world.  It's the same for everyone.  Everyone has trials and unique ways to share in the sufferings of Christ. In John 16: 33 Jesus says, "I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world."

Getting Back To Normal

We are unpacked, settled in, school has started, and I have a new arsenal of recipes and know how to feed my family again!  That means we are back on somewhat of a routine, and IT FEELS GREAT!  Here's what we've been up to lately. 

My mom called the other day and said mama cat was getting ready to have kittens.  So we went over and waited and waited.  Then finally, there was a kitten!  She must not have wanted us to watch her because every time we left and came back there was another kitten.  6 in all! 2 calico, 2 black, 2 yellow.  They all have names, but I am not sure what they are. The kids can tell them all apart just fine. 

Rachelle's new puppy is at Grandma Sharon's house now too.  Luke was bored waiting for a cat to have kittens, so he went and played with the puppy.  He can't get enough of that furry little fellow.  They are good buds. 

Chloe has been making a stick horse out of a bat lately.  She walks around the house with it between her legs and has great fun! 

Brooke is the kitty girl.  She loves when they crawl all over her and "tickle" her.  

It's Pagoo!!!  

After a big rain the kids found a crawdad by the pond.  It was very cool because we are reading a book right now called "Pagoo"  and it is about the life cycle of a hermit crab.  This crawdad is a lot like the pictures of Pagoo in our book, so we compared them.  The crawdad had a bunch of little babies on her underside too, which is the stage of life Pagoo is in our book right now.  

Chloe loves the kitties too.  This cat is afraid of the other kids, but she likes Chloe.  Chloe has this great ability to squat, as shown in this picture. 

We were pleasantly surprised to find an awesome apple tree on the other side of the pond!  We were told it was a red delicious, but now that the apples are almost ready we see that it is definitely not!  I think they are gala!  WOO HOOO!  We love gala!  

Ooh Ooh I see a red one! 

They got to throw the rotten ones in the pond.  That was GREAT fun!

I figured out the way Luke learns.  It takes me a little more time. But we both have so much fun.  Here he is "making 10" with numbers and yarn.  

If he gets to make a snake with all the words he knows, he does SO much better learning words!  He even gets to use tape, which is so cool in his world.  He taped the word snake above his bed so he can teach his "kids"  (stuffed teddy bears) how to read.  He is going to do a reading lesson with them every night before he goes to bed.  

And if we learn words by playing games, his competitiveness tricks him into learning.  We were playing bingo and he wanted to do 4 cards so he could get more bingos.  It takes A LOT of repitition for him to learn a word, so the more he sees it the better!  Tomorrow we are going to go on a scavenger hunt and see how many of the words he knows he can find around the house.  

Box From Nana!

Boxes from Nana are always a fun surprise.  Now that we live in the country they don't deliver it to our door. Instead we find the box hanging from our mailbox!  

When the term "Everything in moderation" no longer applies

If this life was all there is, if my afflictions were more than light and momentary, if I didn't have a hope of eternity to fix my eyes upon... But why think about the ifs when I know that this life is nothing compared to what's to come, these afflictions that seem so BIG right now are only light and momentary, and soon the trials of this life will be no more!  What joy! What thanksgiving I have in knowing that!  And what's more, the trials of my life are necessary for me to become who God wants me to be, they are necessary for my children.

 But they are still hard, and the trials are not over.  When I see one of my children diagnosed with something new, it hurts my heart.  I don't want them to have celiac disease!  I don't want them to have diabetes!  I don't want them to have allergies that could kill them!  I don't want people to be afraid of us because we have these things.

I have been on the phone with Children's Mercy a lot lately.  We had the other 3 kids tested to see if they have celiac disease.  Chloe's results came back negative for celiac disease, but positive for a wheat allergy.  Since she has pretty much not had any gluten her whole life, she could still have celiac, but we can't make a diagnosis.  Either way, she can't have wheat.
Luke, my "healthy" kid, now has celiac as well.  This was a total shock to us because he has ZERO symptoms.  We are still in denial.
Brooke, who we would expect to maybe have it because she has eczema, recurrent coughing spells, and some allergies, is in the clear for now.

We did get some good news yesterday.  Addy is managing her diabetes very well.  Her hemoglobin a1c is 7.2 after 3 months of being on insulin injections.  That is right where they want her to be.  Her thyroid medication is the correct dose, so she is healthy and strong and couldn't be better.  She is doing great with her school work.  Her reading has skyrocketed and she wants to read all the time.

Chloe is happy and healthy now too.  She has not had any gluten for several months and she is a completely different kid.  She is happy and she laughs a lot.  She walks all over now and climbs and is ornery.  She makes some hilarious funny faces and has some funny babble words.

My days with these 4 kiddos are very blessed.  We have fun together learning and playing.  We make meals together and talk about what is in them and why we replace certain ingredients with others.  We cuddle up on the couch and go to many different places and times in a book.  We fish in our front yard, ride bikes on our driveway, we play.  We get on each others nerves and sin and repent and forgive.  A diagnoses doesn't change us, it makes us stronger. It shows us how much we love each other.  It reminds us of the great love of our Father.

This morning during bible time we were talking about Noah and the rainbow.  We talked about how the bow points straight up in the sky. That bow is aimed right to the heart of heaven.  Jesus took the arrow to the heart when He died on the cross.  What a display of love!  What a great reminder of that great love!  When I was discouraged this morning God gave me the story of Noah and the rainbow to share with the kids.  He then sent rain, and showed me the rainbow and reminded me of His great love.  Luke's comments about bible time this morning was, "So how can people say that God is not real?  Who is tall enough to put a rainbow in the sky? Who can even make a rainbow?  Who can make it have all the different colors and it's just so big!  Only God can do that!"

Fun First Fair!

Addison had a fun time in her first year of 4-H

She started the fair off with the foods project.

She told the judge all about the foods she made.  Marshmallow chex bars and trail mix.  She got purple ribbons on both!

Next up was the goat project.  She got up early to go get her goats ready.  They did not like their baths.

The first time she went in the show arena she was a little nervous, but it didn't take her long to figure it out and she came out asking, "When do I get to go in there and show again?"

She worked hard at getting his legs set up straight so he would look his best!

Here she is showing in the grand champion drive.  Her goat got reserve champion in his class so she got to be in the arena when they chose the grand champion.  The class champion goats are in the front and Addison is in the back row with her reserve champion goat.  Her other goat got 3rd place in his class, so they did really well!

We had to stop and try out the huge pedal tractor! 

Then it was time to sell the goats.  She was a little sad, but is glad the project is over.  Taking care of goats is hard work! 

Here she is telling her buyer "Thank you!"  Our new neighbor bought her goat and she was SO excited because she knows him.  She can't wait to make some goodies and walk over to deliver them! He asked her what she was going to do with all that money.  She said, "Put it in the bank!"  Then he mentioned something about a college fund and she said, "It will get old by then!" Ha!

She was going to ride Aunt Natasha's horse in the 4-H rodeo last night for barrels.  But a storm came through when it was almost her turn.  We'll see if she gets to do that at a later date. 

Country Life

We have been really enjoying living in the country.  More than I thought.  It is so beautiful out here!  The sunsets, the reflection of the trees off the pond, the blue herring that we watch catch his breakfast every morning...

Addy caught the first fish out of the pond.

The whole family works together outside and we have so much fun! 

Our first get together was with the worship team.  Our second was a "family reunion" 4th of July.  We love having people out!

We got a couple of kitties!  Chloe loves them.  They are afraid of the other kids, but Chloe is surprisingly gentle!

 GOATS!  It's been a great project for Addy.  She takes care of them every day and will sell them in about a month and get her college fund started.

Of course there are all kinds of bugs.  Caterpillars and grasshoppers are the kids' favorite to catch. 

A relaxing paddle boat ride is nice at the end of the day.  When you go out with Luke it's not going to be relaxing.  He thinks you must constantly pedal. 

  

Even babies notice the fingerprints of their Creator in what He has created. 

Catching fish is so exciting!

Our neighbors have a pool.  We've gone swimming a couple times.  Brooke's "gobbles" are just for looks. They don't do too well keeping the water out! 

Ahhh.  The sunsets.

God is Good. All the time!

The past few months have been a little stressful.  There has been so much change!  But through all the trials and uncertainties, we have a constant.  God never changes, and he does all things for the good of those who love Him!  He has used so many diferent circumstances to show us His kindness to us right now.  Addy gave me this paper a while back with some verses she wrote out for me. She thought they would be helpful to me.  They were just what I needed to hear. She is such a sweetheart. 

It has been awesome to see how God is making things unfold.  His plan is something I would never have thought of! A couple days before we moved out of our house our neighbor's house caught on fire! 

We wanted to help them if we could, so we offered to let them stay in our house.  It turns out they need to rent something for 4-6 months while their house is being fixed, and our house is perfect since we are right across the street.  So their insurance is paying us rent.  We don't have to pay the utilities, or pay the higher cost for insuring a vacant house!  And they get to be right there to watch the progress on their house.  

We have been getting Addison't medical bills from when she was diagnosed with diabetes.  Our insurance paid some, but our portion is still really high.  A friend told us about a program that Children't Mercy has that pays a percentage of the bill if you meet certain qualifications.  We filled out all the paperwork and mailed it in and waited.  Today I called to see if they had received the paperwork, and they told me that it had just been processed today and that our portion was covered 100% and we would be getting a letter in the mail explaining it!  I couldn't believe it!  Through the trials, the times of joy, the sadness, the excitement, God continually shows Himself to be a BIG God worthy of ALL praise!  PRAISE GOD!  

2nd Invasion of Type 1 Diabetes in the Marshall Family

About a week ago we found out that Addy's pancreas has stopped producing insulin. I remember the day Scott told me he had diabetes.  We were in college, just getting to know each other.  I didn't know anything about type 1 diabetes so I was like, "Oh, okay, that's cool."  I didn't care that he had diabetes.  I learned more about diabetes, and things I may need to do to help him if he got low blood sugar, but he took care of himself, and I never had to give him a shot or test his blood sugar.  Really the only thing I've ever had to do is get him some juice.

I wasn't really heartbroken or devastated when I found out.  Those words are too strong.  I was glad that we knew why she was so tired, drinking so much water, and losing weight.  I was sad, because I knew the hassle of checking your blood sugar and giving insulin injections, but I knew that people with diabetes have normal lives.  I was probably shocked more than anything, and dreading the changes.  I knew I would be giving my daughter shots, pricking her finger multiple times, and counting carbs to determine how much insulin to give her.  And I knew it wouldn't be fun.

But Addison has been a trooper.  Not once has she complained about having to test her blood sugar or get an injection.  She was so thankful that we figured out why she was thirsty and tired all the time and that she is going to get better.  There will be many challenges learning to live with diabetes, but there will be many blessings as well.  I have already begun to see them.

Addison was excited to get a gift box with little goodies at the hospital. 

We are learning how to give and injection.  I'm glad my mom got to come along to learn how to do it. 

It's good to pay very close attention. 

This is RIGHT outside Addison's window.  She had never been so close to a helicopter before and it was REALLY cool.  She got to see it land and take off. 

Looking back and the past few months, I can see that God has been preparing me for this.  And I am so thankful.  If I didn't know the Lord, I think I would be a wreck.  I am tempted to worry and fear the future, but that's when I remind myself of the promises in scripture.  

God will not leave me or forsake me, He is always near.  He cares for me, He cares for Addy. He knows, He has a plan, it is good.    Here are some of the blessings I have already seen from this. 

Any time I start worrying about the future, (how are we going to pay for all the extra insulin, Dr. appointments, we just bought a house!) I force myself to think about the future.  The real future, the one that lasts FOREVER.  The one where there will be no sin, no pain, no crying, no DIABETES!  New bodies that are perfect!  And I also think about the fact that Scott and Addy will only be diabetic for a little while longer. This helps long for heaven and Jesus' return even more.  I am thankful for that constant reminder.

 I must trust God to provide financially.  I like to see where all our money is coming from and going.  I like to see it fit neatly into each category, and I like to have a little left over.  Right now, I can't see that.  I just have to trust that God will provide all we need.  I don't know how much Addy's diabetic supplies will cost, I don't know how much the insurance will pay, I don't know how much our bills are going to be when we move to our new house.  But I do know that God will make it work.  We will have what we need.  I get to sit back and watch how God does it. All our money is His anyway.

 Scott's mom and I now have another thing in common.  She knows what it is like when your child develops diabetes.  She knows the ache of a mother's heart when suddenly everything changes.   We have the same heartache.

I know that there will be many more blessings, and God will use this for our good.  He is showing me what it means to have JOY.  It is not dependent on my circumstances.  It is dependent on the one thing that can never be taken away.  In this life my heart will ache and my mind and body will be weary, but my hope in the Lord is secure. I am encouraged when I think about my Savior, whose heart ached and whose body was weary, who felt the pain of the curse when He died on the cross, and triumphed over sin and death.     

New House!!!

We just bought a house!

It sits on 12 acres and has a pond.  We are excited to have a lot of people out to enjoy this great space with us!

Here are a few pictures of my favorite parts of the house.

I love the pantry!  I have a place to put food now! The inside shelves open forward and there are more behind! Whoever thought to do this was genius!

The kitchen has space for all my little helpers!  I can't wait to make meals with all my girls in this kitchen. The big windows over the sink will give me a great view of the pond while I wash dishes. 

The windows let in tons of natural light.  Most days we won't even need to turn the lights on!

This picture doesn't show very well, but to the right of this picture is the garage.  You see the a closet door which is to the right of where you come in from the garage.  To the left is a built in bench and above the bench are hooks to hang coats or jackets.  So you can come in from the garage, sit down and take off your shoes, and hang up your coat.  There is also a half bathroom in this area and a laundry room behind where I was standing to take this picture.  A LAUNDRY ROOM!  An actual room to do laundry! The door your see on the left leads to the basement, which is big and unfinished except for 2 kind of finished bedrooms.  The other door on the left that you barely see is the door that leads to the little kids room. 

This is the homeschool area, right off the kitchen.  There is a big window that looks out to the front giving us a beautiful view of the pond. 

And for the boy, there's tons of room to RUN!  The whole time we were looking at the house the kid barely stopped running! This is a picture of the deck off the side of the house.  The door you see is to the living room, but there is another door from the master bedroom to the deck.  

We loved that at our house in town we had Jones Park "in our back yard".  We love that in our house in the country we have "Jones Park in our front yard".  The house is about  5 minutes from Emporia, 5 minutes from my parents, and about 10 minutes from school and church.

I was a little concerned at first that there was a pond so close to the house.  I guess when you live in town you teach kids to not play in the street, in the country you teach kids to not play in the pond!  As long as the kids know the rules and that they must be obeyed I think we'll be fine.  

We will be ready for visitors June 1st!  We hope that we can share our home with many many people!