Today, thanks to another blast of winter, I'm enjoying a fourth day in a row of stress-free, non-scheduled, simply delightful freedom. Last Thursday however, the day before this lovely polar vortex lull, I was experiencing the polar opposite. In this crazy family of ours…
Read MoreThe holidays are over, the blizzard of '14 has come and gone, the polar vortex has settled in...but we're home, safe and warm, enjoying the first snow day of the year. My mind woke up at 5:30 a.m. today...right on schedule, as if it knew that winter break had ended and it was time to go back to school.
Read MoreThe girls got hair cuts yesterday...and Leah's is now just slightly below her chin! We love her new look! Her mini-makeover reminded me of the 3rd part of her story I keep meaning to sit down and write. I don't know why, but I'm finding this one challenging, and have been procrastinating for about two weeks.
Read MoreI'm sitting here watching the rain fall gently on my windshield, sipping pumpkin latte and using some free Wifi, while my girls are at piano lessons. Two weeks ago, I was doing basically the same thing (although that was a sunny day), when I pulled out my laptop to work on the journal I had started during Leah's back surgery. I
Read MoreAfter church this morning, Leah said, "I wonder when people are going to stop asking me how I'm doing, and telling me how much better I look." We smiled and understood. It's not that she's annoyed by the concern our church family has shown or continues to show (quite the opposite...she doesn't mind the attention at all)...but I think she is beginning to feel "normal" again, and her diabetes has become a normal part of being normal.
Read MoreAbout four years ago, at an Edwardsburg High School Homecoming game, there was a surprise that blew everyone's minds...a flyover! While we had seen this type of thing before at huge Notre Dame games, we never imagined one at our little high school!
Read MoreI thought it was time to lighten things up a little, so I give you all a little "pancreas humor."
In conversations with friends over the past couple of weeks, one topic that seems to come up over and over when discussing diabetes, is Type 1 vs. Type 2. Maybe I'm bringing it up, because I'm wanting others to understand there is a difference.
Read MoreI'm not really sure what I'm going to write tonight because I've had so many thoughts and feelings over the past few days. So let's see where I go with this trio: Body, Mind, and Soul. First of all...the Body. Leah's body continues to strengthen, and for that we are thankful. Her blood sugars continue to come down a little more each day,
Read MoreSeeing Leah tonight, playing in the marching band, dancing and smiling, you might think that the only difference from a year ago, besides the haircut, was that she was a year older. It's hard to believe a week ago tonight we found out about Leah's diabetes. And nearly 10 weeks ago, she was recovering from spinal fusion surgery. She has (okay, we have) been through a LOT this year.
Read MoreOne week ago, we were in the ICU, in a state of shock of the news that Leah is a Type 1 diabetic. This week, she's back to marching band, full of life, and smiling that beautiful smile.
Read MoreToday was a roller coaster kind of day. We buckled ourselves in and started the upward climb...Leah and I stayed home this morning as I didn't want her to start out with a full day of school. Plus, we needed to run through her morning routine, which now takes about 20-30 minutes longer than before.
Read MoreRejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! Leah was released from the St. Joe Regional Med. Center around 3:00 this afternoon. On our way home, we stopped at CVS to drop off a PILE of prescriptions (for needles, lancets, glucagon injection thingys, etc.), and this was after we had our insulin pen prescriptions filled yesterday. I had no idea the amount of meds and tools and thingys that people with Type 1 diabetes required!
Read MoreThis is my first "everyday" blog entry. While I've blogged our family vacations before (because vacations are fun and interesting, right?), I have never felt like our everyday lives were interesting enough to warrant a blog, i.e. why would someone want to read about a mom, a dad and four kids, leading ordinary lives? But thanks to Leah (I love you, honey!), our lives have become a little more interesting lately.
Read MoreToday was our last day in the Rockies. We had many things on our “to do” list, as there was just so much we wanted to squeeze in before leaving the area…
Read MoreToday we woke up to fog, clouds and overall dreariness. This is the day we had planned for some family hiking, and since the rain was not forecast until noon, we got everyone moving and headed out to the Bear Lake Trailhead. We joined a ranger-led hike with “Ranger Drew”
Read MoreToday was a great day in the Rockies. The kids checked out the YMCA day camp where Jared works. Jared actually works only with the local kids, Kindergarten and 1st grade ages. Our kids were in the program for visitors. Chloe was a "Pioneer"…
Read MoreNothing big happened today. We were kinda' looking for a relaxing day, so that's what we had. After breakfast, we sat and talked to Barb, Fred & Stacey for awhile. Then we went over to check out the day camp options for the kids--Jared has been highly recommending it (wonder why??)
Read MoreToday is Sunday, so of course the first thing on our agenda (after breakfast) was to go to the campground church at Rocky Mountain National Park where Jared and his cousin Shanna's ministry team from the ACMNP (Association of Christian Ministry in the National Parks) were putting on the worship service.
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