Posted in Family News
Thank you, friends, for your concern and prayers while I've been ill. My health problems seem to be caused partly by a postpartum hormonal shift and partly by gluten intolerance. I'm still not feeling 100%, but I have been sleeping better in the past week which certainly makes life more pleasant.
I've always felt sorry for people with weird dietary restrictions, but now I'm in the club. Someone asked me via email if I have celiac-sprue. I will probably never know the answer to that, because I don't intend to get a biopsy of my short intestine to find out. A lab report confirmed that I am intolerant to gluten which means that I have antibodies in my body against gluten. The only solution is an immediate and permanent gluten-free diet so that the antibodies don't start attacking and damaging my body (if they haven't already). This is not as easy as just not eating wheat. Unfortunately gluten is in many foods and under many disguises so that I will have to become a conscientious label checker.
Thankfully, the meals I typically cook for my family are easily converted to gluten-free. My sister-in-law has already been down the gf path and has already answered many questions.
Yesterday, my kids asked why some cereal that I bought was called "Mighty Good Hot Cereal." "To try and make people feel better about it being gluten free," I replied. Actually, along with my eggs in the morning, I have replaced my usual oatmeal with brown rice with raisins, cinnamon and applesauce. It's a lot better than the "Mighty Good" cereal!
In other news, Evan got past the first audition for the piano competition. One night this next week, he is scheduled to play on stage before judges and an audience. He says that he is not nervous, but we will see when the time comes. Please pray that he handles the pressure well. Thanks!
I opened a free account with Dropshots.com to upload some videos. You can find the link to watch them in my sidebar, if you like. One of them is of Logan jamming to the music of Evan's piano practice which you can hear in the background. Of course, you can also hear our dying dishwasher which we didn't think to turn off.
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Another one of my Colorado cousins has a new little baby. My cousin John--the one who used to make me play "Jump" by Van Halen on the piano over and over(a dubious accomplishment that I picked up at school), the one who taunted, "Missy's got a boyfriend! Missy's got a boyfriend!" when I went out to eat with James before we were married--welcomed his first baby girl, Piper, into the world last Saturday.
Saturday turned out to be an eventful day for the extended family as well. While John's wife, Linde, was laboring, John's sister, Julie was admitted to the same hospital for emergency surgery. Thankfully, Julie is okay and is recovering. She is not allowed to lift her baby, Elijah, for four weeks. She is planning on staying at our house for two days next week. She'll be the brains leading the homeschooling whenever I'm called upon to be the brawn for baby-lifting.
Welcome to the world baby girl! (Note the afghan that my Grandma crocheted!)
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And here I've been feeling like a bad slacker mom for a year!
My older two boys are supposedly glasses-wearers. You might
wonder at that after looking at pictures of my kids on this blog and no
glasses in sight. When my oldest boy was four years old, I
noticed his eyes getting red and watering when he looked intently at
things. I figured he either had allergies or eye problems.
I took him to the eye doctor who referred me to another eye doctor who
specialized in vision therapy. I had the joy of forcing my young
boy to do eye therapy everyday for months. The vision therapy
actually helped a lot. He could track with his eyes much better
and stopped running into walls and started coloring and drawing.
He also began wearing bifocals.
When I took my second son to the same eye doctor, she prescribed
bifocals to him as well. She also wanted him to start eye
therapy, but he began some neurodevelopmental therapy with a friend of
mine from church which was more holistic in approach, but was effective
as far as bringing improvement with his eye tracking.
A year ago, the boys and I returned to the opthalmalogist for our
yearly exam and received new prescriptions for glasses. It took
the whole summer to get the new glasses for the boys because the lab
made mistakes in manufacturing the lenses several times! When the
boys received their glasses, I had to constantly remind them to wear
the glasses. They didn't seem to want to keep them on and claimed
that they didn't help.
My new glasses, in the meantime, were a trial to me. I tried for
weeks to get used to them, but they actually made my eyesight
worse. Everything at a distance was a blur and when I took them
off, my eyes were red and sore. I got a headache everyday.
(I have had glasses much of my life since I was a kid, and this was
different than getting used to a new prescription.) I just gave
up and quit wearing glasses altogether. My vision is actually
good; my eyes just get tired very easily, but I'm doing fine without
glasses now.
I've been feeling guilty for awhile now that the boys haven't been
wearing their glasses. I finally made an appointment for them
with a different eye doctor. They had their eye exams on
Wednesday. The verdict: Evan doesn't need glasses at all
and Matthew needs a slight prescription for reading only! The
boys are very pleased that they don't have to go back to full-time
glasses.
I am glad to be absolved of the glasses guilt!
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This
Christmas season turned out to be calmer than most for our
family. Since I was feeling sick much of the time, we kept things
simple. Thankfully, I accomplished the majority of our Christmas
shopping online in October ~ my style of shopping!! Since my Aunt
Beth did not want to disturb her plants from their residence by the
kitchen window, she loaned us her small pre-lit Christmas tree which
she usually places in that location. My kids decorated the
Christmas tree all by themselves, because Evan could reach the
top. (I only rearranged a few later!) They enjoyed taking
ownership of the project and I enjoyed the break from stringing lights.
All three of our kids really enjoy performing for people. After
Thanksgiving, they buckled down to learn their Christmas carols on the
piano so that they could play in the church Christmas
program. The night of the program, Evan played "Hark the
Herald Angels Sing" perfectly and beautifully! He beamed from ear
to ear when finished. Matthew played "Jingle Bells" while I
accompanied him with the "boom chuck" part, also on piano. Sophie
played "Silent Night" while I accompanied her on cello. She
smiled the whole time she played. She exclaimed, "I couldn't help
it!" We assured her that it was nice to see her smiling so.
People teased us after the program, calling us the "Von Trapps."
On December 17, we attended a wedding of members of our
congregation. At the reception, Sophie really wanted to
dance. She went up to the flower girls, whom she did not know,
and started dancing with them. She got quite a bit of exercise
twirling around the dance floor with her new little friends. So
cute!
In the weeks leading up to Christmas, we did an Advent study using a well-written guide titled Advent Foretold: A December Devotional for All Ages by Gary and Wanda Sanseri. We will probably use that book in future years as well.
We gave the kids their Christmas gifts on Christmas Eve morning this
year and they spent the rest of the day playing. Sophie's
favorite gift was this set of matryoshka dolls which I ordered from a
catalogue:
(This is not one of our kids, I uploaded the above photos from the catalogue sites. We haven't yet entered the digital photography age and our pictures aren't developed yet.)
We also gave our kids books. The immediate favorite was a little book about the invention of common everyday items such as toilets and telephones. The boys also received several books in the Redwall series which they will get to at some point.
After church on the Lord's Day, we spent the rest of the day at my Uncle Rich and Aunt Beth's house. They cooked a goose and a capon (tasted like chicken!) and we enjoyed the food and the fellowship.
On the 26th, we celebrated Christmas with James' mother and brother's family at their house. We feasted on seafood and beef and enjoyed their company as well. Grandma gave Sophie a "My Little Pony" (which I affectionately refer to as a "mutant girly horse"). It is actually a baby version, complete with diaper. Sophie has been carrying it around and cuddling it very gently. The boys got a big kick out of a balloon missile kit which effectively scared cousin Josi to hysterics. Great fun was had by all!
And (deep breath) we are not done partying. Matthew's birthday is tomorrow, but is being celebrated today with bowling with friends and lunch out. Poor Sophie is sick on the couch, getting taken care of by me, and currently watching Black Beauty on dvd. Tomorrow, Lord willing, we will drive two hours to another family get-together, another highlight. To finish off the season, we'll celebrate James' birthday in early January. I have a small surprise up my sleeve which I'll keep hush-hush at this time. Heh heh!
Thanks to all who hosted our family at their houses this season. We appreciate the hospitality!!
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Sometimes
it is difficult for me to write about what is closest to my
heart. I continue to delay writing about my Grandpa's life or his
funeral. I do have a prayer request about my Grandma Jennie,
though. Last weekend she was admitted to the hospital with a case
of pneumonia. She is doing much better now, but is still in the
hospital for some tests today. She also has emphysema.
She's very thankful for a new medication which calms her coughing, but
the doctor is saying that it's time for her to go on
oxygen. Grandma is 91 years old. Please pray for
God's comfort for her as she faces life without Grandpa and as she
deals with this new treatment. She may feel somewhat depressed at
the prospect of having to be attached to tubes.
Here is a picture of her with her family on the occasion of her 90th birthday:
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My
94 year old grandfather died yesterday evening. He lived a long,
productive and blessed life and was ready to go to heaven.
Separation is still difficult. I lived with my grandparents for
two summers.
Tomorrow morning, my family is driving
cross-country to attend his funeral, to be together with family, and to
spend time with my grandmother. Her great-grandchildren always
bring her joy and I hope their presence will comfort her even in this
situation. She and Grandpa would have been married for 65 years
at the end of this month.
Please pray for all the
people who are travelling to Grandpa's funeral and that God would be
glorified in his funeral and in the time we spend together.
Thanks for all the kind comments on this post. I appreciate your thoughts and prayers.
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Give thanks to God, this is an email that I just received from my dad:
Hi guys,
Well, so we get this call from this lady named Sandra.
She says her son-in-law found this heavy box with a bunch of
important looking papers in with our names on them--did we
know anything about that? Turns out it was our lost strong-box.
It'd been abandoned on the street not quite a half
a mile from our house.
So, that's how the Lord has answered our prayers for safety
from identify theft! Including Margie's two papers which the
police found in the thief's room, it looks like everything that
could be there is there!
We're happy.
Love,
D
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During a phone call yesterday, my mom said, "They caught the thieves who robbed our house."
She was immediately pelted with questions by me, because I had heard nothing of the incident. She explained that a week ago, two guys broke into their house and stole her gold necklaces and a change-sorter and their strong box with all of their important documents. The robbers found my dad's ladder which was stored under the deck and used it to climb in through a bathroom window which was left open. They broke in after my parents left for work in the morning. When my parents discovered what had happened, they prayed right away that the thieves would be caught.
Well...this week the thugs broke into a house on the next block, BUT the homeowner came back, because he had forgotten something. The two guys ran away when discovered, but one dropped a cell phone. The police got a phone number off the phone and when they went to the house, they found the stolen items inside. The robbers confessed to everything and my parents got back their property...EXCEPT the strong box. The thieves threw it in the woods, but the police couldn't find it.
Our next prayer is that God will protect my parents from identity theft. Praise God that the thieves were caught!!!!
Update: My dad just emailed to say that they actually found some of my mom's documents in the thieves' house which means that they lied (surprise, surprise) about just dumping the strongbox. This also means that my birth certificate was stolen along with some of my three sisters' documents.