A nice surprise...

Kevin and I ran to town to pick up finishing things for birthdays and a shower curtain rod for our almost finished bathroom last night. I got out a few times at stores and noticed one of my brand new gloves the girls bought me missing. I felt awful because they picked them out for the feel of it and look and I love them. We drove back to the first store we went to and Voila! it was there right where I stepped out of the van. I had prayed the whole way that it would be there and what a nice surprise to find it, a little bit rumpled from being driven on but there just the same.

Isaac has shown a nice sign of improvement yesterday, only 1 bm all day. I pray it continues on this path and we see the blood gone soon. It's such a little amount now and not every time! I pray also for weight gain, growth in height, etc. With him being on so much prednisone we may not see the height growth for some time. He is slowly coming off it. We have a Dexa-scan on Wednesday to see just how do his bones look right now. He'll probably have one once a year to gauge growth. I guess it is a quick scan but we have to be there at 8:30 a.m.

Soapbox again...

I know I've been on a soapbox of sorts with this health care bill. :( It passed 60-39 Christmas Eve Day. It was a sad day for Americans and most of them don't understand how sad it will be until they start paying for this. So many are misled into thinking they will be getting "free" health care now. Sorry, it doesn't work that way. We, of all people, understand the cost of doctor visits and hospitals and tests and medications. It has been a long 14 months of health care costs. If I thought my life would be easier with the passage of the bill I wouldn't have fought it so much, maybe. I'm still against government-run anything. They don't have a good track record.

Our Christmas Eve went well. We attended a candlelight service in the church I grew up in and my parents still attend. The girls played violin and sang with daughters of ladies I went to church with and sang with once upon a time. We had lasagna and opened gifts at my parents afterwards. My brother is a brat but I forgive him. I was originally hoping to buy a Wii computer game system for the kids for Christmas but opted not to buy them anything and he went and bought them one. I am not a computer person, I must say but the Wii is so interactive physically that I thought it would be a lot of fun on snowy days like today. They have been playing baseball, bowling and boxing today. It may work as a great incentive to get school done.

Four kids have birthdays in the next two weeks and then another in 5 weeks so I just decided to do birthday presents only since they would get gifts from others for Christmas. Well, we didn't even get a thing for their stockings. Yesterday morning Kevin and I had second thoughts because the kids couldn't wait until they woke up to see what was in their stockings :( We woke up and walked down the hallway where the stockings were to find them full of things. I thought it was a joke at first and the kids filled them with stuff from around home but there were real things filling those stockings. My oldest and very dear daughter Jordan thought about my comments for the last couple weeks about not doing stockings this year and developed a plan. She did a really great job of picking out just the right things. The kids were thrilled! and Dad and I were saved and blessed by such a beautiful gesture. Just when you think you have failed as a parent in so many ways God gives you glimpses into your child's character that let you know it's OK. Praise for God's goodness to us. Only through Him do we having anything good to think about. Praise Kevin has been home all weekend! Merry Christmas all. We are snowed in good here as Kevin's tractor is stuck down the driveway. Praise I guess for our time together!

Congress.org...

Again, I urge you dear friends please! Please go to www.Congress.org to find your Senators and compose and email to them urging them to vote no on the health care bill tomorrow morning. Besides this bill being misleading, like millions of Americans believing it will give them free health care when in reality it provides a penalty for anyone who doesn't subscribe to it, it also allows for a $12 million dollar price tag to help fund abortions through this health care bill. To you and me that means increasing our tax dollars to help make abortion more available to everyone! I have gotten letters back in response to my emails and my Senators are NOT listening to me. They believe this bill to be some sort of salvation to so many Americans that they don't care what the cost to others.

Taking the day off...

The last couple years home schooling we do school up until Christmas Eve Day and we only take 2 days and then we take only New Years off. Today, we took the day off. I think we will tomorrow too. I had to paint the bathrooms. The plumber comes tomorrow to put in the sinks and toilets. Yee Haw! I will be happy to have the living room and my room back to normal (there are boxes and such everywhere). Most of all, I will be happy to have a toilet nearer to me in the night! It's a long, cold walk around 5 a.m. to the end of the house.

The kids are playing computer and other games. The oldest three went with Grandpa Christmas shopping. Lena is napping. It's a nice day!

The oldest girls are preparing musical numbers for Christmas Eve service at the church I grew up in. I am working to get my house clean. I need an army or the children to leave for a couple days so that it would stay clean!

Isaac continues looking good. We see some very small changes in bm's, less blood. We keep looking for more concrete changes. Dr. K. thinks the blood will just quit all of a sudden as the ulcers disappear. I still struggle to feed him nourishing but different things. It seems it is the same meals every single day.

Merry Christmas and God Bless You all as you make your plans.

Perspective...

It all depends on how you look at it... Kevin tends to be a more optimistic person who sees one side of things and I tend to say "that's true, but, " I have been like this with Isaac's illness anyway. I have been having a hard month again watching some symptoms that make me say he's not getting better or it's getting worse. We had our doctor appointments in the Cities and Mankato yesterday. Again, perspective was an issue.

The 11 a.m. appt. with Dr. G.: She told us many times that Isaac has "Chronic Ulcerative Colitis". Kevin says this morning he almost asked her, "What does he have again?" She also told us the worst case scenario about possibly removing his colon but that she wasn't saying that would happen. She also kept looking on her computer screen telling us how bad this lab number was from his blood results and how deficient he was in something else. I asked a couple times if that was from his Monday blood tests because I had a copy of them and I didn't see those numbers. "No, she says, they are from when he was in the hospital in September." !!??!!?? I was confused why she kept looking at them. I wanted to talk about the recent ones. She did, almost reluctantly, say he looked better than the last time. She is very nice I want to say. I know she cares about what happens to Isaac. It's just perspective.

The 2:30 p.m. appt. with Dr. K was very different. He was upbeat and very pleased with how Isaac looked. He played around with the boys and talked to us about the current labs and pointed out all the improvements and that he could see Isaac moving to healing. The labs definitely showed that his body is starting to produce things on it's own and that his body is changing for the good. He described how the ulcers heal. Isaac's body has some work to do but it was nice to know that there is something going on even though we don't see it all outwardly yet. Please pray for these ulcers to heal completely. Dr. K. said we are out of the critical stage! I did quiz him on all the results because I couldn't understand why he has such a different stand about them. Perspective!

I am thankful for the day. When I was sitting in Dr. K.'s office I was wondering, "what's the point of being here. No-one can help us." God gave me a pleasant gift yesterday. I will try to keep that in front of me this week and the next.

Goodbye...

My Grandma Edie passed away this morning about 2 a.m. We went to visit her on Sunday and she was responsive but not looking very well. She was only drinking a little water by then. Of course, two kids had to stay home due to one not feeling well so they are both a little down that they didn't get to see her one more time. I remember that happened when my Grandpa Hilton had a stroke. He died before we got to see him so I do feel terrible for Rebekah and Emily. I pray it won't stay with them too long as disappointment.

Isaac is not really feeling good today. It seems every time I post to pray for less blood or healing on this computer he gets a little worse so forgive me if this sounds weird but I pray the shed blood of Jesus on this message, I pray that Satan could not use these words meant to share with others how to pray for Isaac in a negative way, I pray Satan could not get a foot-hold into our life through this internet. I pray in Jesus name for Christ's glory to be revealed in Isaac's healing. We claim healing on Isaac and 1 John 4:4 Ye are of God, little children, and have overcome them: because greater is He that is in you, than he that is in the world. Christ is on the throne of our hearts and on our home! AMEN!

Prayer request...

Isaac has blood work tomorrow for his follow-up appointment in the Cities which is this week. Please pray for the numbers to show improvement. I do see some good things in Isaac lately. To be specific since I've been quite open about this already, he has been having less bm's. If you are up on what that means for Isaac, well, the less he has the better chance he has of absorbing more nutrients. The more he "goes", the more nutrients he loses. We do see less blood and that is a praise. Keep praying for no blood! Heal me, O Lord and I will be healed, Save and I will be saved, for you are my praise.

The bathroom project is progressing. It was a lot more work than I anticipated. Of course I think it should be a couple hour thing right?!?! :) We live in a bit of chaos. We look forward to linoleum on the floors again and drains that actually drain :)

Friday we spent the day with my friend Kim and had a great time catching up. Life got in the way and we don't see each other much anymore.

Please also pray for my Grandma Edie. She isn't doing very well health-wise lately. She isn't really eating anymore and some doctors say it won't be long. I pray she is turning her eyes on Jesus and putting her hope in heaven.

Please call the White House...

Today the Senate is again discussing health care and on Dec. 8th voted to table an amendment that would do away with Federal Funding of abortion. Thankfully my ND Senators voted no on that but we need people in all states to call their Senators today to ask them to vote NO on CLOTURE. Cloture would put the Health Care Bill up for an immediate vote and then they don't need a 2/3 majority they would only need 51 percent. It is a way they can get something passed that they don't have enough for a vote. They have been trying to get this passed since April and the new bill was written by Ted Kennedy's office and pharmaceutical companies. These companies stand to make BILLIONS of dollars if this health care plan is voted in the way it is. Nevermind that there are a hundred other problems with this bill. Over 1 million abortions are performed per year and adding federal funding would increase that figure. This healthcare plan will cost our country several trillion dollars. I though we were in a financial crises!!! Please urge your friends to call the Capitol Switchboard at 202-224-3121. I've emailed my Senators this morning and plan to call also urging them to vote no on cloture. It is a sneaky tactic. You can go on www.senate.gov to find your Senators and see how they have been voting.

Something new...

Our house has a few needs. We have a couple broken windows, now three because the glass fell out the garage door last night. We had ordered a window for the living room last year but when Isaac got sick we had to cancel it. It is large and broken in two places. The problems are too numerous to mention. We could definitely qualify for an Extreme Home makeover but our story isn't really that unique. We have been working on painting the floors in the basement and getting rid of old ceiling tile and moldy smelling carpet. We think that may have contributed to Isaac's illness. He did test for mold and/or fungus back in January and we recently moved him back to his old room without redoing it so we are going to move him back upstairs until we at least get the 30 year old ceiling out of there and floor painted. But, that's not what I was writing about.

We are redoing our bathrooms! Not really because we want to (we do want to) but not because we can really afford to do it but because we can't afford not to. We are having major issues with each bathroom and not to complain because we do have almost three bathrooms but they are not very usable right now. "Dad's" bathroom as we call it no longer has a toilet because it leaked all over and ruined the floor. There is a hole going into the basement. The sink in there does not drain (spent a ton on drain stuff) and the shower is just plain gross. I can't get it any cleaner. Everything is corroded and leaking into the basement! The "middle" bathroom has it's own problems, the sink also doesn't drain, the toilet won't flush much anymore, and the tub is corroding around the drain, thus it gets moldy pretty fast. The faucet on the tub has leaked into the basement for some time so we fixed it with a rubber band and a plastic bag so when you are really quiet you can hear drip, drip, drip off the plastic. And the last bathroom which has been a huge blessing through 6 pregnancies is in our bedroom. If you add a 1/2 cup of water to the tub the water overflows in it. It does not drain. Plus the water spout just fell off last week! The toilet won't flush with a square of toilet paper in it sometimes. When I open the curtains parts of them fall off each time I open them. Everything is 30 years old.

Normally, I am a go with the flow and try to be content with what you have. But last week my husband said we are fixing all the bathrooms and I didn't say "No, we shouldn't do that". It was his plan and idea and I figure he knows what's best. He is also putting a bathroom in the basement for the 7 kids who sleep down there. I really think he doesn't like being awakened in the night anymore with their pattering right next to our room. Our friend Bill the plumber is coming and two bathrooms will probably be completely finished by Saturday night! What a blessing it will be! I pray it will all go well and that our house will be "safe" and "clean" for the kids if these things were causing health problems. I pray we can really tackle the basement. Kev's just so busy and doesn't have time for these things and I just get swamped with school and kids and everything else so it's been a year and we haven't done anything with the boy's room downstairs. They have to do plumbing in the ceiling there so we should be able to close it up with sheetrock at this time after spraying with bleach water.

Pray for continued healing for Isaac. He is doing well. Still has some issues that need to be cleared up for healing. We have appointments in the Cities next week. I'm really praying they would clear up before we went.

A Day with the Orchestra...

Jordan had her concert Sunday and it was wonderful. I love string music. There was a tuba soloist from Minnesota (Uncle Kenny would have liked it being a fellow tuba player). He was wonderful and only practiced twice with the group. The whole group did a wonderful job. Jordan wrote in the Christmas letter that she couldn't have dreamed this 5 years ago that she'd be playing violin let along playing in an orchestra. It is a dream come true. She truly loves the violin. We listened to the Junior High Orchestra before Jordan's group and Emily wants to practice more so she could try out next year. We'll see what she can do. She would need to get real busy (not because she's so bad but because she doesn't love it like Jordan does so it does not come as easy). She doesn't spend as much time on it. We are all like that. We spend time on those things we think are the most important to us.

Chicken nuggets...

We made homemade chicken nuggets for Isaac tonight and it was a big hit. There wasn't enough. I only had a little bit of chicken cooked up otherwise I would have made more. I started with making cooked homemade mayonnaise. It started turning out and in the end flopped but for this recipe it didn't matter. The mayo is made with egg yolks, lemon juice, water, honey, dry mustard, salt, cayenne and olive oil. Grind the chicken with a little of the mayo and make little nuggets shapes on a cookie sheet. Bake 35 minutes and out came chicken nuggets. Isaac really liked them. I liked them. They tasted like the real deal. I used a potato peeler and made noodle like strips of zucchini and sauteed in olive oil and he salted and ate them with the nuggets. Gourmet food. I'm trying to increase the amount of food he eats and knew I had to dig into some new recipes for him. There are great resources online for his particular diet. I got online looking for pesto sauce and ran into testimonials on Healingcrow.com and most of the them were Crohn's/Colitis stories on how this diet was the only thing that worked for them, as opposed to supplements, medications, surgery, etc. I still know God is bigger than any diet. He just may use this diet to do the work though.

I feel a bit better tonight. Nothing has changed with Isaac. I was able to find some time to get into God's Word and read Joshua 1 and some of Hebrews 6. Thanks to a friend's call to help lift me up too. She was able to pray with me and encourage me. I was feeling like God had left me and after our call I was able to renew myself somewhat and look outside myself. Oh, to tread an easier path!

Trying to feel encouraged?

I would really like to see the good in anything that I am doing for Isaac but he continues to show signs that he is not healing. I don't know what else to do and would really like to just disappear and not face any of these issues again. I wish there was someone else who could take over. I wish I knew the answers. I thought God would show them to us but that doesn't appear to be his plan. Like David cried out to the Lord, "How long O, Lord will you make me wait?"

Too too cute...

Here's my Lena manina! Cheesy grin and all! She is now officially a walker! She can balance and turn around and move quite fast without falling. Mama is her official main word. Please is the second. She's always wanting to eat! She likes to play Connect 4 and loves her "baby", her next main word. I love her, I love her, I love her. She gives me so much to smile about! Her disobedience is even cute! (Unlike the rest of them :) Although we try not to let her be disobedient. She does understand the word "no" and cries a real soul-wrenching cry when she is told "no".

Happy Thanksgiving!

We had a nice day at my mom's yesterday. Just us, my parents and my brother. His family all went up north to his wife's family. Her dad was having heart surgery today. My brother had to work, trying to combine the corn. Isaac did real well even though he couldn't eat everything. He had turkey! He had some things that we brought along. He is going through a bit of a flare right now and we are trying to figure if it is a food that is causing it. It is so challenging to find out exactly what food could be doing it without feeding him nothing and then adding one thing every three days. He does well since we found a cheesecake recipe he can have. Amazing that something so basic tastes so good. It is made from strained goat's milk yogurt. You add some honey, eggs, real vanilla, and 2 cups dry curd cottage cheese. Blend it and bake and it tastes just like cheese cake.

Today, I planted lots of garlic. I can't believe how nice it is on Nov. 27th. I was digging the ground up and planting and it wasn't froze a bit. I got it all nicely covered with straw and we should have some nice varieties of garlic next fall. My friend Tina grows 14 varieties and lots of it so she shared with me the other day. We put Gizmo the male goat in with the three girls. In five months we should have some babies! :) The kids can't wait. They were very excited today, as if they will see the babies real soon.

Kevin's rash turns out to be a fungus trying to get out! He had been taking something for fungus and quit some time ago. He did go to the doctor. Please pray the stuff he is on will work soon. He is in pain with the itching. At least it's not contagious. I kept my distance until I knew what it was. I am officially done with my fast. 12 days total. 8 only on liquid. I chose the wrong foods to eat to come off of the fast and suffered with stomach pains the last three nights. I promised myself to be better today but once you eat solid food it's hard to have any will power. On liquid I can go on and on for days and never think about cheating but once you eat a bit of food, bam, I'm eating chips and salsa! I lost about 8 pounds and they're coming back on. I weighed what I did when I gained my Freshman 15 my first year in college before I got married. I bet I could fit in my wedding dress! I am having a small clothing crisis. I don't mind right now because I wear a lot of sweatshirts everywhere.

Isaac is counting down to Christmas. Every day he tells me how many days it is! Please pray for continued improvement, drastic improvement soon would be great! I sincerely pray his Christmas is much different than last year's. He has been through enough. Pray still for a complete, miraculous, shout it from the heavens healing that we can proclaim God's power throughout the land. He's dancing and singing to Lena right now, a Sesame Street song! Love it!

I've got a new plan...

Jordan and I love to plan something. When we lay it all out it feels all neat and tidy. We can conquer with a plan. Saturday we cleaned the kitchen top to bottom and it was so hectic at first because we were going back and forth to different projects and then Kev called saying he was coming home in 20 and we thought "Oh, we wanted this done before he got home!!" Then we developed a plan and it got done, well, except I had wanted to empty every cupboard and wipe it out, maybe next time. I like looking at my vacuumed ceiling, clean light fixtures and no stuff on the counters. It feels neat and tidy.

I wish my life were neat and tidy. I develop a plan with Isaac's diet or supplements or dr. appt.s and hope they will follow the schedule, but they don't ever seem to. I read and research and read and ask people who ask people about everything I can and it seems it should follow this certain way and wah lah, he'll be as good as new. Then I develop a new plan, another one and another one and as I watch each one fail or at least not bring the desired results, I lose a little heart in it with each failure. I still determine I'll figure it out and this time might be the "magic" key to take us there. I don't believe in "magic" though and instead pray Lord, show me if this is the way. I question why wasn't it "the way" a few times ago but He is Sovereign and knows what's best for me (this is hard to accept but what can I do, I haven't figured how to go back in time and redo it). Well, all this to say we have another plan and I'm happy again to have a laid out plan; do this for 3 days, do this for 3 more, do this for 3 more and call me, the doctor said. Please pray God's hand upon this plan and for healing to be seen immediately. I do not "plan" to give any man glory for Isaac's healing so come what may it will be all God's doing.

Well wishes to all who spend time with our family this way.

Again life goes on...

We wake up everyday and must keep going! I am determined to get this child well so I need to put aside my fears again! I have been having a bad weekend. Plain old discouraged and worn out by the efforts it takes to look and try solutions to getting Isaac well. I feel like we have exhausted every avenue and we just can't get him on a steady uphill climb. We woke up with a new plan and a new attitude (actually new strength from the Lord). Keep on praying and reading God's word, my only advice to those who are falling on hard times. And confiding in good friends. I didn't expect to fall apart yesterday when two of the very best of friends asked about Isaac but I sure appreciate them and praise God for their good friendship and constant prayers for us. (pretty sure they read this) I am doing much better today. My hubby and I got together last night and prayed and read the Bible together. We again prayed a very specific prayer and God answered it this morning! This is the second time we prayed that and He answered the very next morning. It cannot be anything but from the Lord. I need to keep trusting in the Lord to get us through. He has not left us!

It's not shingles... here's the Ball

Last night we went to a Ball with the oldest girls and the doctor of the house was able to say that Kevin definitely does not have shingles. For one, the doctor has had them and these are not it and then the lady sitting there had them and confirmed it. I kept waiting for Kevin to be in pain and for it to be unbearable and it wasn't getting like that. You usually have pain before you even break out and he didn't. He is still breaking out with something but after they break out they crust, and heal within a day or two and now his head is mostly clear of them. He must have gotten into something at work that irritated his skin or it's coming from the inside out. I'm just so happy for him. These itch but not near the discomfort of shingles.

The girls had a really good time dancing the Virginia Reel, Posty dance, Patty-Cake Polka, etc. They are worn out today. Em actually got up early and went to help Kevin at work with the two boys. They are up for it as they are looking for money for buying Christmas presents :)

The top picture is a picture of a dance where you do a few steps with your partner and get whirled away to the next person and on and on. Here is Jordan with her friend Havi and the bottom one is Jordan and Emily.

Thursday...

Don't know what to call it today. Kevin continues breaking out with blisters and won't go in to get this anti-viral shot I read about. He said next week he'll think about it but he's too busy. If you get the shot soon after a break-out you can minimize the pain and itching!!! Stubborn men! My dad has always been the same way. My Grandpa Ed also would be admitted to the hospital for a necessary surgery and check himself right out before the surgery. He finally had the surgery the week before he died. Stubborn!

I continue on with the fast although yesterday I considered cutting it short as in quitting. I do have to cut it from a 10 day to an 8 day because of Thanksgiving. I feel really good this morning. Yesterday morning I felt horrible and ill and I did get a whopper of a chest cold. Today I still have the chest cold but don't feel so yucky and juicing and all is going well. Tuesday I was trying to read school with the kids and I felt so sluggish. I don't have that now. Lena slept all night!!! Praise the Lord! Before bed Kevin and I prayed specifically for that! She gets up 2-4 times every single night so this was a huge answer.

We continue to see good things in Isaac. There are a couple nuisance things hanging on. When they are gone he will be well on his way to showing us perfect healing. Pray for wisdom for us in this and for these things to completely disappear. Praise for the good things in life; kids learning to read, Moriah's kisses, Lena walking, this long Fall weather, my friend Tina who calls everyday:), 6 squashes all cooked up today, Caleb's desire to read really big books, lunch is already planned, my husband's loving text messages, etc. etc.

Ahhh!

I am not sure I can do a 10 day fast. I did three days only liquid now and it is getting hard. Lena is not sleeping at night and that doesn't help. I'm too tired to wash, peel and juice anything so I think that made me a little weak and yucky feeling but also the toxins should be leaving me about now. I will persevere because all my stomach pains have gone away and so have the ones I had in my colon area. I need to let it continue to heal before I put food on it. I'll be pushing to get this done by Thanksgiving but plan to actually do 8 day juice fast followed by a 2 day fruit/veggie so that I can a little bit to eat on Thanksgiving. If any of you have done this before you can't just go back to your regular eating or you'll feel sick. I've done this twice so I have some experience but always "cheat" before the end. The kids are eating up our peanut butter so that's a plus (they are having mostly peanut butter sandwiches :) ) Not actually, but they are eating more. Last night I made spaghetti sauce with hamburger on spaghetti squash again and they just eat it up. Isaac can have it so we like to do that with home canned green beans and homemade applesauce. I also am getting my squash cooked up and frozen! It's going bad in my garage and oh, is it hard to watch that rot away. I paid almost $8/squash in the store this last winter and spring to make Isaac's special pancakes so I see every rotten squash as money out of our pocket. I'm up to about 10 thrown away ($80!!!!) If I cook up 5 a day I'll have it done in 10 days.

My hubby has shingles, well, I am pretty sure that's what all those blisters are that itch him and are cropping up new in different places each day. He's been stressed although he doesn't feel he's overly worried about anything in particular, just really busy and lots on his mind. It doesn't help that Lena isn't sleeping. She is going downstairs tonight and maybe staying there! We both need some real sleep.

Isaac is starting to have some side-effects of the prednisone. He is weaning off of it but it is causing muscle pain and itchy eyes. Please continue praying for him to heal up inside as he weans off of it. He has a chest cold. Pray for that to pass quickly as the prednisone wreaks havoc with his immune system and his body can't fight these kind of things as well as normal. It is hard to never go anywhere but maybe we should have until he was off the prednisone?!? The other kids would not go for that. We've tried to be smart and washing hands and all but you can't stop every germ.

Maybe I was wrong...

The next day Isaac had blood again and the next so I don't know what to think. I'm still (trying) to claim healing. Isaac is doing great still and was in trouble Saturday for fighting with Caleb! (Life feels more normal when they act like that). It doesn't feel like I have a "sick" child.

I am on day 4 of a fast. I started having some concerning symptoms a week ago and I read what I could about how to overcome it and a fast seemed the best move. A three day fast will remove toxins, a five day will begin the healing process but a 10 day will actually reverse things. It is actually a 14 day process as you start two days before and two days after eating only raw fruits and veggies. So, I'm on day 2 of the juice/tea/lemon water/water part of it. 8 1/2 to go!!! Can I do it? I'm not sure yet. I feel fine so far. Tired because Lena's not feeling good and kept me up most of the night. Hungry! I want to give over the cooking to other people. I like to eat as I'm cooking so it's a nightmare. My concerning symptoms all but disappeared when I changed to a soft-food diet last week! Praise for that!

The girls and I went to a Ball practice yesterday. Friends have a Ball every year with line dances; Virginia Reel, Posty Jig, Patty-Cake Polka. It is so much fun. Jordan says she needs to jog everyday until the ball to get in shape. You move constantly and it wears you out! It's Emily's first year that she is old enough to go.

Have a good week. We have the usual busy week.

Friends of ours had a new baby. Check them out at www.ourfamilystabletalk.blogspot.com

Premature praise?!?

Can you have premature praise? I'm learning that we are to "count it all joy my brethren when you fall into various trials" and we are to praise God in all things. I have trouble doing that most days (finding joy in my trials) but today Isaac showed absolutely no blood in two of his bm's!!!! Praise the Lord! Praise the Lord! I pray it continues to show improvement and I will try to continue praising the Lord even when it doesn't turn out the way I want every single time. I'm reading a devotional booklet by Joseph Stowell about how good we are to look for ways God is working in our life and how quick we are to expect Him to continually show Himself to us but we don't want to give God what is required of us, worship and glory and obedience and love, etc. He told an example of a baseball player who was a hero one day and the next not based on his pitching. He learned fans live by the motto "What have you done for me today?" That's all that counts. We as Christians tend to ask "What had God done for me lately?" I tell you this walking by faith is such a continual process. I keep thinking I'm almost where God wants me to be and then I learn and grow some more. I'm aiming for not asking God what can He do for me now to show He's there but what can I do to show Him I'm trusting in Him. :) I'm a work in progress.

We went to a concert "The Rochesters" tonight as a family. It was wonderful music. Most of the kids thought so. We met a nice couple having their first baby in two weeks. How exciting! Having a baby is about the most exciting thing in the whole world, especially your first. My first baby is almost 17. I really don't feel like that's possible. Her first concert is Dec. 6th for the Symphony Orchestra. Call or email for details if you want to attend. I'm real excited. I don't actually know any details yet but I'll post them when I get them. She's playing her fingers off on the violin.

It is back...

Our computer came home without much wrong. The hard drive had gone out on it but the nice computer guy was able to save ALL of our information and put it back on!!! It is slower though.

We had a good day for Isaac yesterday so you can all join us in praising the Lord for only 1 bm. He'd been having some increase in that and we've been working with a doctor trying to figure out how to get that to change and it worked! Isaac actually has a good day everyday. I didn't mean to make it sound like he's sitting around some days sick. I'm the only one really looking at those physical signs and judge good day/bad day based on them. He's got energy! He cut down almost a whole row of raspberry branches and helped load up the rest of the leaves after doing all of his school and now is building castles with his brother Caleb. I've been playing catch-up on the computer. I checked emails but they were mostly newsletters to this or that. Two weeks of no computer and I didn't get one personal email :( It would make me think I have no friends but I know that's not true. I have some of the very best friends.

Kevin is enjoying his "new" job. It's not so new in that he was already doing it part-time. I'm enjoying seeing him more. He comes home! He used to go to work after he got off work if you know what I mean. Sunday, was pretty much the only day we saw him. Now, we see him every night and most nights around 6 p.m. We have even been eating supper before 6:30 some nights. When he's not here I don't jump on getting it on the table until way too late. It is more complete when he is at the table.

Thanks again for the prayers. Please keep Isaac on your list for improvement, no blood at all and complete healing.

Psalm 19:14
Let the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart be acceptable in thy sight O Lord, my strength and my redeemer.

Trying to think "happy thoughts" and keep on praising the Lord for His goodness.

Happy Birthday Mom!

I'm at my mom's checking my email on her birthday.  I haven't even gone in to say hi yet.  They are having fun with Lena Mae :)  

Pray that Isaac would continue to show improvement.  Pray for continued healing for Isaac and for the rest of our family.  We seem to be continually challenged with something and we cherish your prayers for healing and peace upon all of us.    

Lots of things...

My computer crashed two weeks ago now and it looks like it has to be wiped clean and redone so I have not had time to get to a friend's to do any updates. In a nutshell, our computer crashed, the dog killed the rest of the chickens (something else got about 30 of them a while back), we have the lice thing under control (praise!!!), Isaac's follow-up in the Cities went well, kids had blast at Mall of America doing the rides, Kevin quit his job to go full-time on his own business as an electrician (they are very busy (praise!!!)), and just general stuff that goes on.

Please keep praying for complete healing in Isaac. My motto comes from several verses in the Bible that tell us with man things are impossible but with God all things are possible and also that we are to put our confidence in God and not man. 2 Chronicles 7:14 If my people who are called by my name, will humble themselves, pray, seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, I will hear from heaven and forgive their sins and heal their land. Claiming it. Life seems hard again but we are claiming this!

A light...

Psalm 119:105 Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path.

Philippians 2:13-14 For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure. Do all things without murmurings and disputions.

These verses were in a daily email devotion I get and they speak volumes to me as I am grumbling about what I have to do today and other things. I am discouraged and acting like it. A cheerful heart is good medicine came to mind as Isaac was singing as he made his breakfast. Hopefully God will listen to him and his happiness more than my grumblings!

Isaac has a follow-up appointment this week. Please pray for God's hand to upon all of us and for Him to reveal Himself to us. My fervent prayer is for God's Spirit to show Himself to us and to clearly guide us all in this week. (Actually right now today as I go about my day) :)

Tests today...

Isaac has lab tests today for his follow-up appointment next week in Minneapolis. Please pray for everything to show improvement. I got a bit off track the last few days and let myself get fearful and anxious but am claiming God's power today and leaning on His strength to take us through the next steps. I'm claiming those healing verses in the Bible for our entire household. Please join me in praying for Isaac's continued improvement!

The Sun is Shining...

As I write this the sun has peeked out and is giving us all a peek of what it looks like. It has been a long while. :) We are still working at cleaning out gardens around here. I would like to till them all before winter. I'd also like to cut down the raspberries and mow the lawn. I'm entirely too lazy feeling to even attempt it on a nice day. I have so much squash to freeze, carrots to can and freeze and now apples and I just don't have time or the inclination.

We are still dealing with lice. I found one nit on Riah on Wednesday. Emily was nit free yesterday and the other two girls need a thorough checking. It's looking better though.

Isaac had no blood for two days so that is cause to celebrate and rejoice with the sun shining down upon our life. He continues to feel great and have a lot of energy. His first AWANA night he wasn't able to participate in the games. By the second night he was playing and now he keeps right on running! He's doing excellent in school and memorizing 2-3 long sections each Wednesday.

Our household is about to go through another big change but this time it's not discouraging or as faith testing. It will be a test of faith but in a different way. I do believe it may be the answer to a lot of prayers. I can't quite share yet but this will keep you wondering :) (We are not pregnant, at least I don't think so right now).

Some days...

Some days just don't start the way you'd like. I'm sitting here with a disaster of a kitchen, kids playing with Lena instead of their school and my jammies on. I guess if the kids like doing school until 7 p.m. then that's the way it will be for awhile. Isaac had lego robotics last night and it always ends up a late night. Dad got home late and everyone wants to see him and read with him. We try not to skip the prayer time and Bible reading no matter how late he gets home. "Tradition" as they say in Fiddler on the Roof. I'd rather let the kids sleep in and do school a little later than miss out on a family moment. It can get a bit challenging for me because I'd like to be done by 2 and work on canning and other house projects.

Isaac has a chest cold and other than late nights he is doing great! Praise the Lord! He dressed identical to his brother today and I'm having trouble telling them apart. They keep laughing and wrestling together constantly! I may need to separate them if this keeps up! :)

Strange conversations...

I have repeatedly asked prayer for Isaac's bm's. Well, they are changing for the good! I am in particularly thankful. I've realized that I have been living a bit by fear. I get fearful every time I hear a toilet seat sound. I think, "Oh, here he goes again, spilling out his life blood and his life." I get tense and sick and nervous about what it will be like. This week I have been working on that reaction and trying to live more by faith than fear. I've been practicing not reacting to that sound. It's a lot like that experiment with dogs they did when they heard a bell and began to salivate. I hear that seat and my spirit sags.

Isaac continues to feel good. He and Caleb had an all-night movie night watching Robin hood in bed. They cleaned out some of my garden today and Isaac cleaned out the playground for the winter.

Unfortunately, we don't seem to have licked the lice thing. We treated again and will try to treat again in a few days. We should have treated again last Monday night but just didn't feel like it, the night was already long enough so we are paying the consequences. This time around we should see less than the first time. It's a nightmare keeping track of jackets and where people lay them after they wear them. We are drying bedding on a rotation this week. I pray we can take care of it this week. Praise the Lord for giving me the strength to do it everyday.

Best Friends again...

My boys Isaac and Caleb are 15 months apart. They have spent a good deal of their 11 and 10 years of life in the same room, doing the same things, in the same grade at school basically. This last year of Isaac's illness has separated best friends. It was hard to see that happen. First, Isaac was too tired to take part in things that Caleb wanted to do. He didn't have the strength to ride his bike, climb trees, play in the snow and build forts. Then he moved into his own room. Again, changes happened. Isaac was too sick to even want Caleb around. They have drifted for several months. About May, they started playing legos together again, talking about swords and knives and guns. Well, now that Isaac is really feeling good, Isaac has been sleeping in the top bunk with Caleb down in his old room. They go on almost daily walks with bow and arrow or BB Gun in hand. They talk and talk and talk to each other until I say, "Enough." "Back to school." They seek each other out when they have some great thing to say. It is incredibly soothing to my soul. Thank you Lord Jesus!

One down...

I think we have one kid nit-free! I keep checking Moriah's hair and can't find anything! Yeah! I haven't checked Jordan since Saturday so I should get around to it. I've been using a really hot hairdryer on my hair (still no sign but I don't want to take any chances), Moriah's and Rebekah's. Last night, I still found 9 nits on Rebekah. I can't figure out what a dead nit looks like though. I think we may be pulling off dead ones, that'd be great. I took a break from drying all of the bedding and did just pillows. I actually have no laundry to wash right now and only one load in the dryer and one waiting to be folded. WOW! I've done up to 6 loads a day and have not been able to catch up. The dryer runs from 9 am to after midnight. It's doing so well and it's over 16 years old.

Lena is cutting her first molar and it's not fun for her. She makes a really cute face though when she clamps her lips together, I assume in discomfort.

Isaac is doing well. We had seen blood in his bm's and it got us a little concerned so I changed his diet some and we have seen it lessen. Thank the Lord. God was very good to us today. He sends encouragement in many different ways. I called the doctor we see in Mankato to try to change our appointment and talked to the receptionist as I also wanted to see if I could talk to him about some diet things pertaining to Isaac. I was telling her a little of my wonderings and she said her son had Ulcerative Colitis in his early teens. He is 27 now and completely over it. It was a three year process and they were on the meds and got off and she had to figure out a diet on her own by trial and error and she said it was a very long and hard time. I was encouraged because we have a lot of resources helping us deal with the diet part although I am seeing it is trial and error even with help from those who have been there. I tell you I was so encouraged and given hope and I give all the thanks to the Lord for in His word he says in Romans 15:13 "May the God of hope fill you with all joy as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit." I'm learning to continue trusting Him especially when the anxious thought threaten me and I question what we are doing or if he is getting well.

Isaac has been a clown lately. He runs everywhere he goes in the house and he is friends with his brother Caleb again (only 15 months younger). He hasn't felt good for so long and became somewhat of a loaner as he just didn't feel good. Now, I walk in a room and he's wrestling with Caleb or playing with the baby or humming or singing silly songs from the Sesame Street tape Lena watches. It is a joy to see him like this. I keep looking at him and the memories of what he was like before this illness come back and I think it's happening. I kept praying for that old, goofy, a little bit annoying, laughing and having fun Isaac to come back. This got real long. Thanks for praying. Keep on praying for healing.

Stepped it up a notch...

I nit pick each girl once a day and now I have Emily going behind me and checking it again. She finds a few more that I didn't see. The number we are finding is coming down. I think I found over 30 on Rebekah yesterday and today it was about 16. Bad news is that I found some on Moriah today and we hadn't seen any previously :( Em found a good blog of a woman who has been there with the lice thing. As the louse in the egg (nit) grows it gets bigger and moves up some on the hair shaft making them more visible (I assume this has something to do with your hair growing too). Well, I have noticed that each day they get easier to find. Makes sense but means that the treatment doesn't kill the nits if they keep growing right???? We are going to treat again on Sunday night to make sure no nits have hatched out and we didn't catch them and then we'll keep nit picking. I think as we find less and less nits I'll slow down on how often I dry all the bedding. Right now I dry all the girls bedding each day, vacuum their beds and the floors around their beds and after everyone is in bed I vacuum the whole upstairs to pick up any possible fallen hairs with nits. The living room is still off limits so we are living in the kitchen, dining room and school room. (Staying on hard surfaces.) We are learning to get along a little better. I figure we may need the information we are learning through this to help someone else someday! :) I can say that now but when I finally get to bed after midnight I'm not so optimistic about all that is going on.

It looks like coyotes did get over 30 chickens. No feathers indicates that it wasn't our dog. She leaves lots of feathers around. Kevin was ready to do away with her so thankfully she was saved.

Isaac has a cold. Please pray it will clear up in a normal time. One of his meds makes his immune system not respond to these things. Athena from the U of M called today and said we need to watch it because of that med. Please pray also for continued healing on his intestinal tract. He is looking so good. We are claiming God's healing on him with a little help from scripture.

Exodus 15:26 ...for I am the LORD that healeth thee.

Exodus 23:25 And ye shall serve the Lord your God, and he shall bless thy bread, and thy water; and I will take sickness away from the midst of thee.

Matthew 8:16-17 ...and he...healed all that were sick: That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Isaiah the prophet, saying, Himself took our infirmities and bare our sicknesses.

Psalm 107:20 He sent his word, and healed them...

Psalm 103:2-3 Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits: who forgiveth all thine iniquities; who healeth all they diseases.

Someone gave me a booklet with these and more. We are praying them in our house and speaking them aloud.

Here a nit, there a nit, everywhere a nit, nit...

OK, so I am here plugging away at the nit picking. I just finished Rebekah's hair again and found about 20-40 more. They are hard to see so I think I just missed them from yesterday. The best way to get rid of lice is to nit pick often and keep them from hatching. We are also drying all bedding in a hot dryer and vacuuming their beds and surrounding floors. Tonight I am going to vacuum the hard floors and tables to keep up on any hairs that may have fallen with nits or possible live lice that fell out of hair although I have not found anymore live lice since Monday. Please keep praying we can lick this in one week!

Kevin went into the chicken coop and we have more than 25 missing chickens. They may have been taken by a coyote. We saw feathers in the yard yesterday and on my way home from the chiropractor today I saw a coyote running away from the direction of our house. He was about 1 mile away so I can't say for sure he was coming from our place but it's awfully suspicious especially with Kevin noticing missing chickens.

Lord, help us, this is so hard sometimes. It feels like we keep getting beat down. You are still Lord of this house and we will praise you always.

Oh my...

Lions and tigers and lice, oh my... I guess that's not how it goes but that's our life right now. We got the call from friends that they had it and that we probably do too. I checked heads and found a live one in poor Rebekah. Four girls had their heads bathed in oil, wrapped in plastic wrap for three hours, washed in dish soap, washed in vinegar and then checked. Poor Rebekah, this time it was three live ones I found so she got oiled and plastic wrapped and bagged and put to bed that way and in the morning they were all dead. This morning I picked nits off three girls because I just can't find a single one on Moriah's head. I didn't before the oil and I didn't after or today but she sleeps with Rebekah sometimes so I thought we better take precautions. I'll keep checking and picking until they are all gone. We are taking some other measures by drying in a hot dryer all bedding each day. I didn't find any in the boys' hair or Kevin's or mine. I feel I have them but three times someone has checked me and can't find a one. I'm thinking of oiling tomorrow to just feel better.

There always seems to be some drama around here. Yesterday, Kevin was bummed because he lost a hubcap, Isaac came down with the fever and headache some other kids had, and we found we had lice. I was trying to get my garden produce put away but had to divert my attention to checking heads. Do you know how long it takes to check a girl's head whose hair goes way down to there :) A long, long time! The first day I did it more than once. Yesterday felt impossible and stressful but today was more manageable. I feel we got them and if we didn't we have a plan to keep on top of them. Please pray we did get them all eradicated. Life goes on!

Praise that Isaac is feeling much better today. His fever is gone. He's still gaining weight! Praise that God has given me the strength this week to handle all that's happened.

A New Focus...

We were able to have great weekend camping and visiting with all kinds of people we love to be around. On Friday, I met a family who are missionaries in Brazil for the last 32 years. I visited with the mother some and she gave me some verses to help me focus on what God would have for me (us) during this time of challenges. 1 Corinthians 10:31 Therefore, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God. I shared some of my fears and how can I keep it together to go through this and again she is very wise and said it isn't about you and what you can do to heal him or find the right diet but all about if the way I am acting and being fearful pleases the Lord. His Word repeatedly tells us to "Fear not" (Psalm 37) and "trust"). 2 Timothy 1:7 For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of sound mind. (Thanks Sharon for this one) I actually memorized this one Friday night. I use so may excuses why I can't memorize scripture so am going to try a little harder to put some good words in my brain. The missionary helped with that a little since she gave me verse after verse after verse without needing a Bible or any help. Another woman who went through some health issues gave me a booklet that helped her through and so far it is real good (entitled "God's Medicine").

Isaac continues to improve and to do fine on his meds. The hospital called today for an update and he's following a good pattern of improvement. She helped me to understand what's next with the meds and what to expect.

Isaac loves it...

I have let Isaac go off the GAPS diet and he loves it of course. I'm having panic attacks about it every now and then. He ate a HOT DOG yesterday!!!! It was at the AWANA dinner and I hadn't planned for the eventuality that there would be hot dogs at the dinner. You know the verse about if you know what to do and you do not do it then it is sin. I feel like it is a sin to let him eat this way. I went online today looking up information on the Specific Carbohydrate Diet which follows the GAPS diet pretty closely and after reading the stories of success healing his exact disease I feel I need to regroup here and make a plan. While he is on the highest dose of prednisone we are letting him have a little fun. He really loves food, who doesn't really and it is nice for him to be so happy but if it is making hamburger of his intestines then I can't in good conscience keep it up. I need some time (don't have any) to make a plan and work out some menus that are high fat and high calorie on the diet. He is gaining weight and we need to keep that up.

Please pray for direction on the food issue. If God would heal him completely before I start the diet I would be so thankful and praising Him but I know that may not be His plan yet so I need help deciding what exactly is the very best for Isaac. I tend to get it all mixed up with what I think the very best for me is and of course that is healed completely so I don't have to change my life too much. We are all born thinking of ourselves. If anyone knows of someone who was healed naturally from Ulcerative Colitis send them my way. I'd love to talk to someone else who had this (past tense had).

Trying to stay on top...

I have several calls to make to organize follow-up visits for Isaac, get Moriah's stitches out, and other things and I decided not today. Although school got a late start due to a very late bedtime we did get through it all and have our sanity in tact. I need to correct some math lessons though. I did send the boys outside for some air. I sometimes get annoyed at being asked the same question too many times. Isaac wants to call Grandpa and ask when he can go out to pizza with him. Kevin and I haven't quite said yes but while he's on the full strength of the drugs we are considering letting him just once because once he starts to taper off the one drug we will want to watch what he eats for flare-ups. I don't have him on such a strict diet as before because the drugs are supposed to help him with reactions but one week ago his colon was extremely flared and oozing pus (their words to describe it). I have such trouble believing he can eat anything (their idea also). I'd rather err on the side of caution.

Good to be home???

Is it good to be home? I'm trying to sort that out. I came home exhausted from not much sleep to being responsible for 10 people again and not just a few. Meals at the hospital were fairly easy and I had about 1 load of laundry a day. Life is a little different here. I was feeling overwhelmed by it all on Saturday night. Thankfully, Jana brought us a meal so I didn't have to prepare that. Thank you! Today we are trying to achieve some sort of routine but still haven't gotten to school work. I am determined not to do anything else until each child has most of their list done.

Isaac is doing great! He is continuing to gain weight and feels fine. He feels really the same as when he went in with some minor things that are different. He is getting the "moon" face that you get from one of his drugs. Please continue praying for his healing and for the drugs to work well for him so that he doesn't have to switch. Pray for his body to absorb the nutrients from the foods he eats so that his body can be built up again with the things he has been missing. Pray for Kev and I as we feed him as healthy as we can.

God is so good. He keeps showing me others who have had ulcerative colitis and have not had a flare-up in over 20 years. Yesterday, in church the man behind us told me about his friend from college who has been free of it for 35 years and in the hospital we met a man who at the age of 20 had ulcerative colitis and dealt with it about 2 years and now has been 22 years free of it. Hope! God gives it to you when you least expect it :) I have to live day by day with what we have now though and pray that someday those stories will be Isaac's and he will be able to give hope to someone else.

Coming Home...

We are coming home today. We have to go over the meds and supplements and we will be off!

No go today...

Isaac needs to stay another day. His bm's aren't what the doctor wants to see him go home. Please keep praying for them to change. He's doing good, playing computer now. We are going out to the courtyard to get some sun for awhile. Praying tomorrow is the day! :)

Hi...

We are still at the hospital and are getting ready to leave. Keep praying we can go home tomorrow. Isaac is responding well to the meds so it's a positive thing right now. I had an extensive conference with a specialist who guides parents in going home with a child with Crohn's or Colitis. She helped me to understand his meds more.

Pray for Wendy whose mother passed away today. She was taking care of three of our kids. It's a hard thing for her to lose her mom.

Almost there..

Isaac has gained back over 3 pounds and his blood numbers are all in normal range (not the hemoglobin yet but they were looking at other ones right now). Yeah! Praise the Lord. One more requirement to go: a more normal stool. Please pray for it to firm up today!! and it's very possible we can go home tomorrow. At 2:30 p.m. we are consulting to go over the meds he'll be on and what we need to know about them. I had a bit of a sleepless night (Lena keeps crying out and I was thinking quite a bit of the meds. Gotta go, a nurse is looking for me.

Please pray...

The doctor has a few requirements before Isaac can go home. Please pray for these and see if we can help speed up the process with petitions to the Lord!

1)Gain Weight (they want him to eat over 2000 calories a day. This is hard for me because I think if he makes more waste it will irritate is very swollen sore colon even more. They want him to each a lot of food and say nothing will irritate it with the drugs he's on??????? I'm having trouble swallowing that.)
2)Blood (His numbers all need to improve in this department; hemoglobin, white blood cell count, platelets to go down, and some other things)
3)Stools to change to more firm.

All these things the doctor predicts will happen by Friday. I'm praying this is so and even sooner just so we can go Friday for sure. Thanks for checking and praying. Isaac is doing excellent. Just like he was at home; active, eating, playing computer, etc.

Not much new...

Isaac had an MRI this morning to look at his small intestine. The preliminary look is clear. Tonight all the labs should be in and we should have a consult with all the doctors on what's the next step. Isaac is doing well but not liking his food yet. I'm keeping it juicing and soft foods and by supper he can have a chicken breast with soft cooked veggies. The dietitian was OK with it but wants to see substantially more calories and more fat choices. I know I'm a little strong headed about things but I don't want to push it when his colon is so bad. Their thinking is that his small intestine is clear and he'll digest it before it gets there. I'd rather treat him like he has just had surgery which he did in a way with biopsies being taken. We just need to come home to cook for him. The kitchen here is so limited, no knives, no real silverware, no pan smaller than a large stock pot. We are roughing it! :) I'd make him soups and all kinds of good food at home.

Pray for wisdom and that I'll know when to give in and when to stand my ground.
Pray for wisdom in the doctors treatment plan, that it would be the best thing for Isaac long term and that he will respond to it well.
I'm not doing well today emotionally. No sleep is probably why. It is getting to be trying being here; so expensive and so long from the other kids and so much unknown left ahead of us.
Pray for Shawn who is 9 years old and has been doctoring here since he was 1 year old and his second kidney transplant is giving him troubles. His mother is a strong Christian woman who gave me some encouragement. She said they went through a real hard time about two years ago when he had cancer and they made it through when she didn't think they would.
Also, met a home school mom of 6 here with her baby who swallowed a plastic sticky note and had surgery to remove it last night. He's going home today though. She was fun to talk to.

Some news...

Isaac is done with the scope part of his stay. I knew it wasn't the greatest news when they came out of surgery a little sooner than they told us it would be. The doctor wasn't able to scope past a very little part in his colon because the inflammation was so severe. She believes it to be chronic Crohn's but won't officially diagnose him until the biopsies come back tomorrow. There is another test they want to run that they can do until 10 tonight. They want to keep him until at least Thursday to see how he reacts to food. He will be given IV anti-inflammatory medication as soon as there is a diagnosis. Isaac is upset. Back in October we speculated it being Crohn's and we did a lot of research on it and he knows it isn't something he wants to have. Pray for the rest of our time here. Pray for Isaac to have peace and feel hopeful that his life can be normal.

The longer you are here the more hopeful or thankful you can be. I'm sitting across from a woman (she's on another computer). She came to the Cities to visit her aunt and while here her 9 month old baby boy got sick and now needs a heart transplant and they don't want to move him to Chicago where she lives because he's too sick. Then you meet the dad of a 10 month old whose not been home since January and the dad already buried a daughter at the age of 1 year and 7 months who died of the very thing his son has. Then you meet a 15 year old who hasn't left the hospital in three months because of the cancer she has. It is not an uplifting place. Thankfully Isaac can be mostly treated from home.

We continue to juice for him and are very thankful they let us be in charge of his food and even bring in our own. I bought him some real eggs for tomorrow. We are taking it easy with juice and broth today since he had biopsies taken. Pray for healing.

Sunday...

Today, Isaac is being cleaned out for the colonoscopy tomorrow. He decided to forgo the tube down his nose and throat and drink this solution all day. I wasn't here for it but he drank the first glass without flinching and the staff watched him and their jaws visibly dropped open. Isaac proclaimed that he'd drank worse. My poor, funny, and strong child. He has endured a lot. Tomorrow I hope is the worst of it for the rest of his life. I can't wait until he comes home and I can work on nourishing him back to health. It still looks like Tuesday afternoon.

Since there wasn't much going on Em and I took Lena to the Mall of America. Emily especially wanted to see the American Girl store. Fun but spendy! We ate Chinese, ice cream (twice) (we shared one each time) (made the mistake of giving Lena a bite and she was hooked so really all three of us shared one twice). Emily bought a couple things. There are a lot of places to buy a lot of things we don't really need. We are staying somewhere about 5 minutes from the hospital. Very nice people (they go to John Piper's church for any Piper fans out there). I slept OK considering Em and I shared a hide-a-bed couch and Lena was in the room. I brought ear plugs and was surprised because Emily doesn't snore anymore. My chest cold is a bit better, not getting worse anyway.

Thanks for praying and keep praying for healing to keep going on inside Isaac and for the doctors not to find much when they poke around in there. A miracle would be OK with me :) Make the doctors question God's existence a little and not their own power. Whichever way it's going to be God will see us through it. I have incredible peace right now. It helps that Kevin is so steady. A nurse is going in Isaac's room, bye.

Whoa...

Fast internet at the hospital! Yeah! I didn't think I'd update until I got home. Tests will be back before noon on Tuesday. Pray for the results to be conclusive! Then we can come home. I juiced carrot, apple, kale, spinach, parsley and pepper for him and he was happy to have it. They gave him some "nutritional" juice and the first thing Isaac told me was that it had 30 g or mg? of sugar and it had red dye. I said "you're kidding". Kevin was a little surprised they considered that good for him but that's why mom is here now and we can juice some real food for him. He looks great and is in great spirits. Emily came to help with Lena. We plan to stay close by at a sister of a friends.

Pray for healing and for things to go well tomorrow with the tube down his nose and throat to clean him out before Monday's test. Thanks!

Twists and Turns...

Still on that rollercoaster theme! Isaac has been admitted to the U of M Medical Center in Minneapolis. He will be there about a week. They will run a bazillion tests, an edoscopy and colonoscopy on Monday and then we should get to the bottom of what's keeping him from getting completely well. Then with help from the Lord we will get this kid healthy and his parents happier. :)

Pray for complete healing on Isaac's body. I'm still clinging to that possibility. He could be a medical miracle right before their eyes.

Pray for strength to deal with any diagnosis we may get if total healing isn't in the Lord's plans right now.

Pray for protection on Isaac from the foods he has to eat there that have preservatives and additives as he hasn't had them in several months. Pray for him to be nourished there.

Pray for sleep for Kevin and I. This is trying mentally and physically.

Pray for the other children.

Here again...

I could say here I am again since it's been awhile or here we are again at a place in Isaac's illness where we didn't think we'd be again. He's actually doing fine and up and around doing all his "normal" activities. There are just some concerning symptoms he's having that bring us down another path of searching for answers. I now know what it means to "pray without ceasing". I think I pray more than I don't. I pray for strength, help, and mostly for healing for Isaac. I want to wake in the morning to a child who is better. Please pray for wisdom and for God to go before us as we see a new doctor on Wednesday morning.

Something exciting...

Yesterday, Jordan auditioned for the Area Youth Symphony on her violin and she was accepted! I am excited and Jordan is pleased. She got the audition piece the night before and had only one day to prepare. She played her recital piece from this year and some other things. We were both so nervous about what it would be like and would she be ready, etc., etc. Now, I'm a little nervous about what this will mean for us. If we would have been diligent to get Jordan her driver's license it would be one thing as she will have to attend practice every Sunday afternoon. Any volunteers to drive her once in awhile? :) It's a great opportunity to improve her skill on the violin. Also to play with a whole orchestra is neat. www.fmays.org is the site of the orchestra.

Isaac's hemoglobin keeps going up! Praise for that, while it's false and a fake way of getting it there pray for it to stay there. He's got a good appetite and I'm trying to keep up with it hoping he'll gain some weight. We are still praying for a complete healing. Praying also for God to do a complete and perfect work in our family. Isaiah 53:5 says by his stripes we are healed.

On a completely different note :) I have canned 13 quarts of pickles today. I am slowly, ever so slowly getting food put up for the winter. I have beans to wash today and should get 7 quarts. I would prefer to do about 21 at a time but they are not producing as I expected. I planted twice what I usually do and usually can a lot more. We have a little salsa put up and some beets although I don't know why as I still have some and no-one is too crazy about them. They are so pretty :) We've eaten about 20 spaghetti squash. We eat it with butter and honey or I make spaghetti sauce and we have it that way. Kids love it! I'm so glad cause I don't really :)

Obla di, obla da, la la la la life goes on. (Remember the show Life Goes On with Corky the down syndrome boy and his sister.) The theme song was something like that. Life keeps on going. Take care and God Bless.

Seeking...

Today's sermon was on Seeking Wisdom. James 1 was the basis for this text and I just happened to have read all of James 1 several times this week seeking comfort and help from the scriptures. James 1:2-5 says "My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing. If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him." James 1:12 says "Blessed is the man who endures temptation; for when he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life which the Lord has promised to those who love Him."

This week a friend sent me an email devotional from www.walkintheword.com and it was on this very scripture. I hope I can legally copy some of it to share with you because it is so good.

The following is from August 24th called Protect Your Joy
James 1 tells us that above all other human traits, endurance is the characteristic that God is trying to build into your life and mine. Perseverance. Steadfastness. Keep on going. Continue making and keeping the commitments of life. No matter how hard, don't quit.

Endurance is the funnel through which all Christian virtue flows. If God can just get me to not be a quitter, He can get every other good thing into my life. If I won't quit my marriage and I won't quit my kids and I won't quit my job and I won't quit my church and I'm not going to run around thinking the grass is greener somewhere else; I'm going to believe, this is where God has me! This is where I'm going to put down roots and plant my life and make a difference; if I'll stay right here under the pressure, it's unbelievable what God could do in my life. But I've got to be willing to commit for the long haul in order for God's trials to have their purpose in my life.
I want to share a cool related verse in James 1:12, "Blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial, for when he has stood the test he will receive the crown of life."

While I think there are literal crowns that we'll receive from the Lord, I'd like to suggest that the "crown of life" means the quality of life which God promises to those who love Him. If you endure, if you stand the test, there'll be a better life for you on the other side of this trial. Your best and most fruitful days are ahead. Your most God-glorifying days are ahead. God has a purpose for every difficult thing that you face, and if you hold up under it you're going to receive the "crown of life." It's a quality of life that comes to those who successfully pass the test - those who love Him. For some people it will be in eternity, but for most people it'll be at some point later in this life. Protect your joy - remain under the pressure and don't let this trial steal what's ahead.

This is me again. Aren't those great words? When thoughts of not being able to handle another day overwhelm me I think of what's in store for us after this is over. I am looking forward to that which he has for us. Still praying for a good and complete work of healing to be done in Isaac. (I pray for a miracle. I may be disappointed some days but like James says Perseverance, it's all about perseverance. Never give up hope, never give up praying for that miracle, never give up getting up and doing it all again each day! So with that I go make supper and prepare for our second week of school.

Hello...

Well, he got another transfusion. It seems they told me it would take a couple hours. 4 1/2 hours later we were out of there. Oh, well. I have nothing else to do, right?!? I checked out a book from the library and alternated between sleeping and reading. Caleb went along and they watched a movie together, Atlantis I think. Lena stayed home with the girls. It is so hard to have a busy 1 year old at the hospital that long. I can't put her on the floor, so I have to hold her or stroller her and she doesn't want either one for 4 1/2 hours. We got home kind of late and Isaac ate a late supper and we watched a Little House on the Prairie and he went right to bed. No sign of reaction. I guess it is the first 15 minutes if you will have one anyway. He is having less bm's which is great and there is less blood each time. I'm so thankful. I'm still so tired but I'm thankful. Still praying for less bm's, no more blood, and weight gain! Lord, give me the strength for another day and for healing on Isaac's body. Amen!

Update...

Hi, Isaac had an appointment today and his hemoglobin was up from the blood transfusion. We are going to transfuse him tomorrow at 2 p.m. and then check it weekly for about a month. It takes about a month for a blood transfusion to take complete effect, so we were told today. While we are planning on Mayo clinic we are waiting for his body to adjust to having a higher hemoglobin before we start the barrage of testing. We're still praying for complete healing!

I waver between highs and lows. I can get anxious and have found some good verses in James 1 that have helped give my attention to God's promises of those that go through trials. I constantly ask God "Why now?" "What is your plan? What is you have for us to learn or do or figure out?" "Please take this burden, Lord and heal my son so we can just have a normal life!" "Please, help me know what to do?" I really need to keep my focus on the important things. I've been snappy lately and I don't like to act that way when I'm stressed but it is so hard sometimes to see God's plan in all of this. I get so down and out about it some moments and other moments I'm completely in His hands, trusting in His perfect plan. I figure I should be a better person and then God would hear me or I must be doing something wrong yet and that's why Isaac isn't better. If I was more diligent in feeding him more nutritiously or if I was more in the word God would answer me the way I want. I know God doesn't work that way as my hubby tells me and my heart tells me. But, when I'm struggling I have these thoughts. I can usually find that calm at the end of the storm in prayer and persevering through the hard thoughts. I do find many things to praise the Lord for. Thanks for your thoughts and prayers. Isaac is doing quite well. He's doing well in school, got a 100% on his first math lesson and seems to enjoy school right now.

Happy Birthday...

Lena. She is one year old today. We had a party for her yesterday with family. The kids have all been looking forward to celebrating the birthday of their favorite person in the world! She had her first cake and ice cream. She didn't eat much of it. She was a little doll of course. She has been a wonderful blessing! Last year at this very day (since today is her birthday) I was in the beginning of labor at this very moment. She was born around 8:57 p.m. at 8 lbs 1 oz. Thank you Lord!

Please continue praying for healing on Isaac's body. He's feeling energetic and was up earlier than usual getting his school done. We've started out slow today and will keep adding subjects until we are doing everything. Kids are always excited the first week. I hope it keeps up. Praise that Lena slept until 7:30 a.m. I am thankful for some sleep. I actually feel great today. I deleted my last post because a couple days ago I was very discouraged and it was a discouraging post. Being around our church family always gives me a huge boost of strength and help for the week. When I am down the first thing I say to myself is "I'll stay home from church, I just can't do it. I'm too tired." Then, when I go I come away from the service refreshed and feeling like I can handle whatever the week has in store. I think that separating ourselves from others is a normal reaction when we are unsure, sad, worried, etc. and that is the last thing we should do.

I'm losing some of you....

I have been having trouble getting on the computer. Monday was just plain busy. Isaac started Lego robotics and it looks like a lot of fun. Tuesday we had an appointment to check his blood. Wednesday we had Dr. S. appointments (but not really because I came a day early). They fit us in anyway. Then I called the clinic to see when my appointment was and they said yesterday. Now I KNOW I did not make it for that day because I already had an appointment at that time. I'm not losing it that much! :) Thursday we were to another doctor and another clinic at 11:30 a.m. Left there at 2:30 p.m. Isaac was in the hospital (not serious) for a blood transfusion by 3:30 p.m. They didn't come type and match his blood until 5:30 p.m. and then it was another 40 minutes for the blood to come and then it took until 10 p.m. to finish it! Whew! What a week! I originally was going to finish painting the basement floor and put all the junk back by Friday so I could clean the house and have it ready for Lena's first birthday party Sunday. It didn't happen! So, my mom called today and I said, hey want to come help me clean my house. She dusted and vacuumed most of the upstairs. Thanks Mom! I hope to get a good amount cleaned out in the basement but I'm not hopeful. I don't think I ever went to sleep last night. I just couldn't sleep in case Isaac needed me. I don't know if you can have a reaction to a blood transfusion. Supposedly it would be in the first 15 minutes but he's so young and all.

Please pray for his hemoglobin to stay at a good level. This transfusion won't last I'm told. I'm sure if everyone I know emailed a prayer request to 10 friends we'd have an epidemic prayer request. Isaac also has blood in his stools again. I cannot express my disappointment and heartache at this. He was doing so excellent. I'm praying for it to go away and for God to direct and guide us and heal him. We do not plan to run a bunch of tests here but will ask for a referral to Mayo clinic if he doesn't clear up soon and if his hemoglobin doesn't stay up. Please pray for these particular things. Pray for sleep. I haven't actually slept in a few days and it gets so hard to do anything. We were going to start school Monday but our school room is still a disaster and so is most everything it seems. I'll see how much I accomplish tonight! Take care! God Bless!

Please pray...

Isaac has his hemoglobin checked tomorrow at 2 p.m. Please pray for it to have shown continued improvement. We were all so happy when it went up last time that we are looking for that same improvement or better this time! Isaac's color has sure improved lately and he is playing "harder" with everyone. We have continued juicing "iron-rich" juices for him and he eats a lot of meat and nut butters and eggs. He also likes to eat a salad from the garden with most meals, again iron-rich foods.

School is about to start and all summer I put off cleaning out the basement until now. When Isaac got sick he had an allergy to mold and it was suggested we paint the basement floor and walls of the unfinished part. What a huge burden that seemed to be! Now, I'm finally getting to it while I clean the school room, plan classes for the kids, can food from the garden and do our regular life!!! Things always seem to get done when you are really busy. I work well under pressure so Friday and Saturday, I washed the walls in half of the storage room, primed and painted the walls, acid-etched the floor and painted it! Last night I emptied 9 buckets of stuff and threw some, put some for thrift store and some for a friend. What a good feeling to be able to get rid of that stuff. After cleaning stuff out I always think why did I keep it? How did it get this bad? But, I have to remind myself that we have 10 people living here and all their stuff and I just can't keep up with it all the time. I am truly hoping that with it all fresh and new looking I'll be able to keep up with it now.

The second picture is a before I fill it back with junk picture. Doesn't it look nice? The other picture is what my livable basement space looks like right now. I'm planning it to be cleaned out and gone by Friday! Pray for me! I'm praying I can get rid of half of the stuff in the storage room! So far, so good!

T(axed) E(nough) A(lready)...

We all went to a Tea Party last night! A taxed enough already tea party. It's part of a nationwide effort to get people out there voicing their concerns about the way this country is going with health care and other things. There was an open mike with the local radio talk show host. I was in line to talk about the Parental Rights Amendment but they ran out of time before I got there. The point is I was in line and I was going to do it! Today, I called this talk show host's program and put a plug in for the Amendment. I was so nervous and he was going to a break so I didn't get to say everything but again "I did it"! This is really important to get the word out. This Amendment needs to be in the Constitution. Read about what the Convention of the Rights of the Child could mean for you on www. ParentalRights.org. And....call your congressmen and tell them you support this. Calling your congressmen is really the only way to make sure your voice is heard.

Testify...

Recently, I testified at a disciplinary hearing for my brother's lawyer relating to something that happened 5 years ago. It was a bit of a challenge to remember every detail but you know most of it came back to me AFTER I testified. Why is it that way? You had questions for the doctor but not until you left do you realize what they were. You had another item to add to the grocery list but 10 miles away from the store you remember. The way I'm trying to spin this testimony is that I said what God wanted me to say. I tell you I keep going over it and over it in my mind. I should have said THIS and that would have cinched it. It doesn't affect my life, my brother's life or my nephew whom we won custody of back then. I say "we" because I consider him a bit mine. I was his "primary" caregiver for 5 years. I just wanted the truth to be known and for those in the hearing to understand the truth. I was able to share a verse: John 17:17b Your word is truth. (Thanks to AWANA). (Not in the hearing but with the crew of people beforehand.) I don't know if it impacted anyone but I have to rest assured I did the best I could because I did tell the complete truth and nothing but the truth.

I was so nervous before I took the stand and then the longer I was there the more comfortable I became with it. I sure pray my brother's lawyer gets off on this charge. He's already paid a whole lot in lawyer fees to defend this. The kids like it when I say my brother's lawyer's lawyer.

My other main prayer is that God's purpose was accomplished. I don't know why this happened now and what my role was in it but I pray for it to further His kingdom.

Too cool...

Last Wednesday night at intermission at the GoFish concert a certain person saw my oldest daughter Jordan and asked her if she was Stephanie's daughter. This person knew it right off since that's what I looked like somewhat once upon a time. This person was my bestest friend from the age of 4 on up. She was my maid of honor at my wedding and I haven't seen her since her wedding 13 years ago. How fun it was for her to see me in my kids. I showed her a couple more girls and she could see me at their ages. Living around here I get told all the time how the kids look like their dad so it's neat when someone from my past see me in them.

Today, my kids sang and played at Great-Grandma Gretchen's assisted living home. It was real nice and the kids were well received. I was able to share about canning peaches and heard some comments about "they are all related" "I think they all are from that mother" "they must have practiced a lot". It was neat because we just threw the songs together and practiced about 3 times. We picked songs we know and like to sing.

Sometimes you have to eat your words...

I've had an incredibly busy last two weeks!!!! Wow! I took the kids camping last weekend myself while Kevin worked. We had fun with my brother and his family. The kids liked the big tube he has to pull behind his boat. I got on my roller blades that I bought 13 years ago and had a lot of fun. Once, Caleb told me to quit smiling so much. Guess I don't do that a lot! :( The Sunday we were done camping we drove straight to Vacation Bible School. What a blast!!! It was a GoFish theme. Anyone ever hear of the singing group GoFish? They had some songs quite a long time ago that were for a regular audience. I really like them because they sing acapella. Well, back at swim lessons Jana was telling me about them and I thought they were more pop now and teeny-bopper type music but Christian. I said I'd never purposely buy their stuff! I just thought they were not going to be what I wanted my kids getting into. I still don't like to get "into" anything in a real big way. I don't like fads much. Well, Wednesday night of VBS they came and actually put on a concert for the kids. I LOVED it! I recommend going to them if you ever get a chance. I recommend buying their albums, DVD, and anything else of theirs. If I could have I would have bought several things. We have a CD that they gave each family of kids at VBS and it is the most listened to CD right now. I know most of the songs! Go to www.gofishguys.com and check out their songs. Some of them you can listen to online. The "mom" song is great but the song about "It's hard to be cool when you drive a mini-van" had all of the adults at the concert busting a gut. I heartily recommend their stuff if you are looking for a Christmas gift for child or grandchild. If you buy one at $15 you can get any number of them for $5 each.

We've been canning green beans and peaches. We did 62 quarts of peaches in two days and that was pushing it and we went to a wedding. For us that is good. I have 7 lugs left to do. We looked up online if you can process it without sugar and found a couple sites that said you could so we have canned them without since Isaac still can't have anything with sugar. I don't think it will be a problem. The kids like peaches so much. My beans are doing so good. For each picking we have been getting 21 quarts canned and then eat them for 2-3 meals a week. My brother is not a real vegetable eater (only corn and potatoes) and we made up a big pot of green beans in his camper. He didn't eat even one. When my nephew woke up the next morning he said "It smells like Aunt Stephy's house." Cute!

Check..

Fixed mower and got most of lawn mowed (check)
Got bus here and started getting ready to go (check)
Made my lists of what needs to be done to go (check)
Bought groceries for camping (check)
Got Isaac's hemoglobin tested today (check)

It was a whole point higher than last month (check) (double wonderful check)

!!!!! :) !!!!! :) !!!!! :) !!!!! :) !!!!! :) !!!!! :) !!!!! :) !!!!! :)

I can tell you the first thing I said was "Praise the Lord!"
Thank you for praying for him and for us. It was great to see it go up. The person checking it said "Keep doing what you are doing." We'll check it again in a month. Keep on praying for it to go up, for Isaac's continued improvement and continued wisdom on our part to make the right choices for our family.

Praise/Prayer

Praise for the improvement we see in Isaac. He went in the pool today. Pray for his blood test tomorrow to show significant improvement in his iron level.

Bus time...

We are getting ready to take the bus on a little excursion. A small one to stay a couple nights locally. We are goat milkers now so can't go too far you know. Kev will be home most of the time during milking and spend some time with us and my brother's family. The kids of course are very ready. We only went on one outing last year at the end of September in the bus and haven't even seen it yet this year. We won't do a real big trip this year but I sure hope things are different next year.

I was going to mow the whole yard but a pin came out on the lawnmower and I can't fix it myself. Kev is working late fixing air conditioners, a bit of a surprise around here since it has been so cool. I'll have to wait. Kev told me to take the rest of the day off!!!! Right! I will be going out to keep working on weed control. I was able to spend several hours Friday and Saturday and things look pretty good but those carrots are such a thorn in my side :) We have about three weeks to butcher time. We are all ready to be done with chicken chores. We actually mentioned getting rid of the goats too. Life seems so hectic sometimes. I really need to learn to make cheese with the milk. We have so much each week. The kids keep lovin' the yogurt though. I was making lunch and one kid says let's have yogurt. He had three helpings at breakfast.

The picture is from a camping trip a couple years ago. Well, time to go onto other chores, like ordering school books. I'm not quite ready to order but keep checking prices of this company versus another. Jordan is 11th grade this year and I need all of her books. The "price" of being oldest is there aren't any hand-me-downs. Otherwise most of the books I have are just wishful thinking. I have a few workbooks to get for the rest but again the "price" of having one or two already having done a subject is you have it for the next one. It also helps that I like all of our classes so I don't have to shop around each year for something different. Another positive right now is that Jordan is looking forward to school and wishes I had her books for her so she could start organizing her year! Praise God for that gift!