Monday, January 31, 2011

A Pain in the Gut!!

So many of you may not know our most recent goings on. Life is funny, just when you get comfortable you get reminded that life is not meant to be simply comfortable. We began the year with a small, but unfounded scare. It was brought to our attention that Izabella is almost alarmingly small. This was followed by an orthodontist appointment where we were told her teeth development is at least a year behind. When discussing it with our family Dr., she is so short she is below the growth chart...she doesn't even register on it. So some tests were ran and all her GH and TSH levels were normal . However, most height prediction tests I've done say Izabella will be 4'9" at her full height. I may ask the neurologist if there is any connection between what Jasz has and her stature, but at least she is healthy. There are definitely worse things a person can have.

Alina, it turns out has the same constipation issues as Jasz. Her belly is not distended, but she can voice her pain, which is how we found out about her problem. She had a really bad abdominal day in December and she thought it was related to milk. So after discussing it with our family Dr. I brought her to see the GI Dr. who saw Jasz, expecting him to run a lactose intolerance test. He opted to do an x-ray instead. He found her gut was full. She is a bit on the underweight side and he guesses that there is no room for her to eat a lot. So perhaps she's not picky about dinner...she's full and it hurts. That was an unpleasant revelation thinking back to all the frustrating dinners where she would eat one bite and then say she was full. We never believed her I just thought she hated my cooking...arghh!Poor baby!!

Today, over a week later, Alina is home from school in a lot of pain. Things are just not moving in that department despite laxatives and "poopy Fruits". After a call to the GI Dr., we are upping her dosage and she is getting an over the counter pill to help as well. Hopefully we can get that gut working.

My frustration with this whole thing is that Dr.'s seem to want to treat the symptoms and not look for a cause. I have a consultation set up with the nutritionist in the GI Dr.'s office to see if she can maybe pinpoint some problem foods. That appointment is in the end of Feb., so I will keep a food journal on both Alina and Jasz in the mean time.

I am sure there is purpose to all of this, I just can't see the forest for all the trees right now. It's too hard to watch my kids hurt to see a purpose in it. Right now I just want to get more of an answer than what I have, and hopefully I will.

I constantly have the Mantra..."things could be worse." going through my head and Lord I know that is true.

Trust in the Lord with all your heart,
And lean not on your own understanding;
In all your ways acknowledge Him,
And He shall direct your paths. PROVERBS 3:5

Pray that I let God lead us as He has already done, and that I have the wisdom to Follow His ways!!

Wednesday, January 19, 2011

Leave Your Nets Behind You

Last Saturday our friend, Jason, came and spoke to John and I as well as a few friends about his new path in life. He has decided to join with Wycliffe using his skills in software development to help with their Bible translation project. There are more than 6900 languages in our world, which blew me away. I have to be honest that it did not seem like a compelling mission until I heard him speak about it. I wanted to support him because I know he is faithful to Christ and I consider him a friend.

Listening to him however, put everything in perspective. How can someone come to know and accept Christ as their Saviour if they can't read God's word? For so many in our world the Bible is like a neatly bound blank book. It's pretty but meaningless. I never actually sat down and thought about this before. What's more, their are many languages for which there is no written form of the language. All in all there about 2100 languages for which not a single word of Scripture has been written. The task of translating the Bible to all of these languages would be insurmountable without the help of the technology, which Jason will be a part of.

Also, listening to Jason gave me a new appreciation for who he is. As I listened, I kept thinking about how inspiring he is. Not many are willing to leave everyone and everything they know in order to heed God's call. I kept asking myself if I would do the same.

What's more interesting is the Gospel this week was Matthew 4:12-23. Jesus asks Peter and Andrew to leave their nets behind them and He says, "Come after me, and I will make you fishers of men." Our priest gave a great Homily about how in today's day in age we would do a lot of introspection and Internet searching before we decided this was a true calling. By the time we would decide to go, Jesus would have moved on to the next town, and we would miss our opportunity. It takes a great leap of faith to simply say "yes" and trust in the Lord. Most priests have that same huge leap of faith as they leave their family, their jobs, their possessions behind...hoping this is a true calling. Father Alfonse described what it was like for him to leave his nets behind and what a struggle it was for his family.

Jason is lucky in that he has the full support of his family and friends, but irregardless of that it is still quite a step to take and I am sure God will bless him for it.

I know many wanted to come and hear him talk but were unable and should time allow we would like to schedule an additional time. In any case I wanted to pass on the link to Jason's Wycliffe page. Jason not only needs financial support for his mission but prayers as well. You can sign up to support him in either form at this URL: http://www.wycliffe.org/Partnership.aspx?mid=4702DC . Here is a link to Jason's blog so you can read more about his journey in his own words: http://journeytodallas.wordpress.com/ .


I hope that those of you reading this can take some time each day and pray for the work that Jason will be doing.

Wednesday, January 12, 2011

My new Obsession

Okay, so I finally discovered "The Biggest Loser." I am intrigued by it...the journey the contestants make is so much more than weight loss. They find the core of the reason they got so heavy. It seems watching the show that once they unload the weight of their emotional burdens they are free to shed the pounds. It is wonderful to watch the transformation...it is a reality show about building people up not tearing them down. Some may disagree as the trainers (Bob and Jillian) can be REALLY harsh and of course you get the players that are "game Players."

Now their weekly weight loss is unrealistic for most of us as we all have lives outside of exercising and there are constant temptations around us...not to mention that all those super healthy foods cost dough and many of us are short in that department too. But I have learned from watching the show and from my own life, that it doesn't matter the speed at which you attain that goal, but rather that you don't quit.

There will be temptations to pull you away from your goals, we all need to learn to work past those and learn to say, "no"!! So here is my question, how do you want to be a Biggest Loser? What is your goal and what is stopping you? It may not be a fitness goal or it may be. My goal is to start a book. I also want to shed my last pounds to reach my goal weight and I want to get in better shape to be able to complete "Relay For Life" in July. I also plan on looking into what it takes to become a parent advocate. I have thought about and today Sherri asked me if I would consider it as she thinks I have a calling and could really help others. I feel like God wants to use me in this way at some point in my life.

So what's my challenge? I need a Jillian and Bob. And I think I can be others' Bob and Jillian too. So lets support and challenge each other to succeed in our goals.

God Bless!!

Monday, January 3, 2011

Appreciating Our Differences




It is so fascinating to look at my three children and to see how different they really are. They have the same parents and the same environment but they truly are different people. This became glaringly obvious to me during our trip to San Diego. All three of them are fiercely independent, but it shows in different ways. Alina cracks me up. She has decided that the reason there were things she was unable to do was because she wasn't five yet and now that she's five she is unafraid. We took her on the river raft ride at Sea World...which in hind-site was not smart in cold weather. Izabella was clearly afraid and sort of miserable. Alina could have easily gone again. In fact Izabella was cold after that ride and wanted to go back to our hotel. Alina, was fine with the cold..she just wanted to ride rides. She ahs also decided that it was her age preventing her from swimming like a pro and now that she's five I should let her go in the deep water on her own.

Jasz is a little imp. He has a twinkle in his eye that betrays the joker in him. We went to the hot tub and he is too young to sit in the boiling water. So I sat him on the edge and held his legs from within the tub. He calls, "Mama" to get my attention. As soon as I turned my head to see what he wanted he splashed water in my face and then cracked up. What a stinker!! Everything is one big gag to him right now...you can see by watching him...he is just waiting for the next opportunity to "get" someone.

Izabella is my girl of extremes. She feels every feeling to the max. She also feels other people's feelings. She worried the whole trip about my sister..wanting to make sure she was okay. She brought her stuffed animals so Julie would not have to sleep alone. Just the thoughtfulness and caring in those small actions spoke volumes as to the type of person Izabella is becoming.

Sometimes as a parent it's tempting to ask why one child doesn't behave well like another child. But outside of the situation I am glad that none of them behave the same way. God has given them each gifts and they each have a purpose. Thank God we are not all the same...how boring that would be!!!