years are short

we think it is here... we have had 4 bouncing babies and now we have no "babies" anymore, but praying that he has more in the future  :)    ..... for the past 3 or 4 nights Andrew has not had an accident at night!... he has been going in the morning... I am thankful that he is getting so big to do these things on his own.. and I am little sad because it means the time is going sooooo fast.... I will embrace all these days with each one of the kiddos because it flies by! I always say the days at times are long but the years are short!... could not be a truer statement!!!!!

Happy to report...

Got the last call today... all Lymes test came back negative... so thankful to have this behind us and moving forward :)  ... what did we learn during this time...


1. God is sovereign (we knew this anyway)
2. Patience is good
3. our hope lies in NO test (only Jesus!)
4. this may have lead us to maybe the "real" cause... again time will tell
5. our "little" problems are nothing in comparison to others


I am so thankful for God and Him taking care of our family!


as I wrote this blog, I started thinking why do I keep up this blog and the happenings of our family.... my simple answer is .... God is molding me and shaping  me and our family into His image and I want to have it down, so when I look back I can see His hand in our lives..... He is faithful!.. I am Thankful!!!

could this just be our ANSWER???

I, for, years since Caleb was about 3 months or so thought that he was allergic to something...  He stayed sick so much as a little one, I mean, I would carry a box of tissues where ever we went because you know what is coming next.... snot.... I mean ALOT!!!! ask his preschool teachers :)  we did everything from taking out the tonsils to adenoids to tubes in his ears...... and UGH it just never worked... we had blood work done when he was small, we had allergy test run, we went to COUNTLESS numbers of Dr's trying to find out what was wrong with our Kiddo!.. we were exhausted to say the least, when he was 5 his Asthma  flared up pretty bad, between hospital stays and meds, exhaustion, breathing machines ... we made it through!!!

we had about 4 years where things seemed to improve, we had pretty much changed our diets, less time eating out, and changing to whole wheat everything....

I have already wrote a post about Caleb and our happenings over the past 6 month... (go back and read if you would like) though a turn of events (after having the worst week ever on the 2nd week of his antibiotics) I decided to take it into my own hands...

to make a long story short, we have taken Gluten out of his diet!  I am finding out by many and my research that this can really only be detected  through a saliva test...He has so many signs of this..... soooooo we started last Thursday and we have seen improvement... he once could not even jump on the trampoline for fear his joints would hurt or swell, I am happy to report since Saturday he has jumped on the trampoline EVERY day.. we have has NO issues.....  is this our answer????

only time will tell!

and they lack NOTHING!!!!

a few weeks back I blogged about "our 7 experiment"....

 

7 things each day for 7 days that we would get rid of and give to charity...

 

well, the update is WE DID IT!!!! 

 

and they lack nothing!...

 

we got rid of almost 300 items ...

This was day 5 so by the end of the seven days it was 2 HUGE (industrial strength) black bags... sorry no picture, did not have the camera ready...

So what did this teach us??

1. its not ours anyway all things belong to God
2.did not want to feel like we were giving away junk, but did not want to feel bad about giving worn stuff either because people could really use it
3. day 7 was harder..... not as much to choose from
4. this "stuff" consumes us at times
5. we have plenty of things, so we ALL lack NOTHING!!!!!

I challenge everyone to do this.....

when things just don't move ....

for many months now our hearts have been stirred for adoption.... many friends have started, finished, in process etc in the adoption process... as we have encouraged, loved, prayed, wept with them on the needs that face us.. I often say "why" God.... Doug and I have this life of speed............... Why do you have us waiting,... I'm OK with the waiting BUT its hard... What are you showing us.. (my question mark on this computer does not work) LOL!... I always want to rest in HIM! I do not want to try to move ahead of God, I do not want to move if He wants us to be still, and I would never want to manipulate what God may have planned for us!... a few months we have looked at each other and came to the realization that we are in the "waiting" process... again I am OK with that! I know that in the waiting process that we can't just sit back and wait and do NOTHING.... I think of this John Waller song.... PLEASE take a minute to listen


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bb7TSGptd3Y


we will wait BUT there is STILL work to be done.... we have a home, love, restoration, commitment, food, water, fun, and JESUS..... this is the opportunity for us to plant seeds not only to these Children but their parents... what a BEAUTIFUL sight......           BEING THE HANDS AND FEET of JESUS!
I do not want to run my race in vain, I want to make a difference, I want to be love, I want to please God in all!...

All this to say is Doug and I are taking classes to Foster children in our home, love them maybe like they have never known, meet needs both physically and emotionally... who knows .... this could be what God has for us!... I press on!... I run the race!

one down, two to go....

we have had so many people ask how our family is doing.. answer is GREAT!!!... we do not want the circumstances in our lives to mold and shape us.. we want ALMIGHTY God to do that!.. although we try to live as biblical as we can BUT we fall short, we worry at times, question, doubt, and just plain get discouraged. we live in this flesh (oh, by the way, I do not like !) I want to be able to say that I am living in the spirit all the time, every second of the day BUT I can't..

It has been a trying 6 months not understanding what has been going on with Caleb .... BUT as I think about this I actually feel sooooo guilty!... seeing other children who are fighting for their life, taking a crazy amount of meds and children who are not even able to be kids because of their sickness!... I have repented!.. I know I have been selfish!!! 

we got the results for Doug yesterday and he is negative...  we continue to wait for Alexis and myself..

I want to think of my Savior more, others more, think of my neighbors more, think of everyone more than I think of myself :) 

and the waiting will begin AGAIN....

as my last post a few days ago we revealed that we finally had answers for Caleb, Lymes Disease, so as the mommy part of me I have done LOTS and maybe to a fault of research on this... most of my findings have shown that more than one family member has it!... I know isn't that CRAZY!!!!... so I have been praying and Doug has been as well on whether to have the other kiddos tested... well today I took Andrew to the Dr.  because he was complaining of his ear hurting and YES he has a double ear infection so Antibiotics it is and numbing drops.. now I am NOT a fan of medicine but at this point I must relax, use tons of probiotics, and just let go of my hate for them!... so hopefully he will be better soon! He did give him the same antibiotic that Lymes disease is treated with so we do not have to do a blood test on him... Dr Coker today of course ask about Caleb and the more we talked he decided we should test Alexis...
back in late August early September she was sooooo sick... fever for days, extreme fatigue, and just feeling crummy.. we visited the Dr. office a lot, talked to the PA Lauren sooooo much and even visited the ER... she has a rash in late October which we thought was poison oak (which it might have been) but it appeared mysteriously about a month ago.. weird!!!  so he thought it be best to do that!... I am going to the Dr on Friday for yearly stuff but I am going to request I be tested to as I have had a rash and just some other things as well... oh and Doug will be tested too, he has had some wrist issues and some fatigue... well he does run 90 to nothing .....  so we are in a waiting time... trusting in the Lord and His sovereignty... we would also like to pray for our neighbor... her daughter is having some of the SAME issues as Caleb.. we pray that the Lord would give them answers and that she could quickly heal!!!

We covet your prayers, not one is wasted on our family!.. we rest in HIM, not in a test result, but in HIM.. he is our refuge in time of trouble... He says we will endure suffering, may we run to it and HOPE in HIM.... Jesus you are our strength and I am thankful for the peace you give us!