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.