Tyler loves to dance.
Thursday, May 26, 2011
Sunday, May 22, 2011
Inspiration
I have a lot to be thankful for. I have two beautiful children. I have a loving husband. We have an amazing extended family. We have a house we can afford. We have jobs and great childcare. But yet, I am so frustrated with the boys' food allergies. I am struggling. I do not like feeding them. I don't know what to feed them. I don't know how to get them to eat new things. Meals are my least favorite part of the day.
I have been trying to put this all in perspective lately and have had some pretty good examples to look to. A friend Jack went to high school with, Matt, and his wife left last October with their two kids for Africa to be missionaries. They sold everything they owned and moved, not intending to come back for years. Five months later, they had to fly back to find out their oldest daughter has leukemia. Not that anyone "should" have a kid with cancer, but really? Missionaries? Lindsey, Matt's wife, also keeps up on a blog and she had an amazingly insightful post not too far back. In essence, she said that for a kid to get through cancer, she needs two loving parents. She needs faith, family and love. For any other child, it would be just too much to go through without all that. I'm not sure I could have been that insightful in her position.
Another friend I used to work with, Rob, had just moved to Arkansas for a new job with his family when his second child, Johnny, (of five) was diagnosed with an inoperable brain tumor. He died a few weeks ago after a year long battle. Through it all, they were an amazing witness to God's faithfulness. In every news story (and there were a lot -- from Dick Vitale wearing Johnny's arm band to Cornerstone's basketball team winning their division championship and giving the MVP trophy to Johnny), the focus was on God and the family's faith. One comment from Rob in an article said something about how he would have gladly switched his healthy brain without anesthesia for his son's cancerous one. And how, when he thought about that, he was struck by how willingly God gave his only son for us and how he wasn't sure he would do the same.
I realize that these allergies, while a total pain in my side, are not life threatening. These two amazing families have been inspirational to me, not just because of these stupid allergies, but just in general as they have gone through so much and can still praise God. How can I even blink about something so relatively easy?
I started writing this post last week Sunday when I was quite depressed about how things were going with the boys. I am happy to say, however, that I think we finally may have made some progress as Sam is finally improving (not perfect, but improving).
Rob / Johnny: http://www.mlive.com/smallcolleges/grandrapids/index.ssf/2011/05/family_friends_of_johnny_teis.html
Lindsey / Lola: http://followingthecall.org/2011/03/who-should-it-be/
I have been trying to put this all in perspective lately and have had some pretty good examples to look to. A friend Jack went to high school with, Matt, and his wife left last October with their two kids for Africa to be missionaries. They sold everything they owned and moved, not intending to come back for years. Five months later, they had to fly back to find out their oldest daughter has leukemia. Not that anyone "should" have a kid with cancer, but really? Missionaries? Lindsey, Matt's wife, also keeps up on a blog and she had an amazingly insightful post not too far back. In essence, she said that for a kid to get through cancer, she needs two loving parents. She needs faith, family and love. For any other child, it would be just too much to go through without all that. I'm not sure I could have been that insightful in her position.
Another friend I used to work with, Rob, had just moved to Arkansas for a new job with his family when his second child, Johnny, (of five) was diagnosed with an inoperable brain tumor. He died a few weeks ago after a year long battle. Through it all, they were an amazing witness to God's faithfulness. In every news story (and there were a lot -- from Dick Vitale wearing Johnny's arm band to Cornerstone's basketball team winning their division championship and giving the MVP trophy to Johnny), the focus was on God and the family's faith. One comment from Rob in an article said something about how he would have gladly switched his healthy brain without anesthesia for his son's cancerous one. And how, when he thought about that, he was struck by how willingly God gave his only son for us and how he wasn't sure he would do the same.
I realize that these allergies, while a total pain in my side, are not life threatening. These two amazing families have been inspirational to me, not just because of these stupid allergies, but just in general as they have gone through so much and can still praise God. How can I even blink about something so relatively easy?
I started writing this post last week Sunday when I was quite depressed about how things were going with the boys. I am happy to say, however, that I think we finally may have made some progress as Sam is finally improving (not perfect, but improving).
Rob / Johnny: http://www.mlive.com/smallcolleges/grandrapids/index.ssf/2011/05/family_friends_of_johnny_teis.html
Lindsey / Lola: http://followingthecall.org/2011/03/who-should-it-be/
Friday, May 6, 2011
May Fun
Oh the boys. What's new over here ... well, we had to get more blood drawn from the boys today because last time they ran out of blood to complete the allergy testing. Since Sam has been a total mess for the last month or two, we decided to figure out the milk thing ... and chances are pretty good that food group will be out. For those counting, we would then be left with meats, most veggies and fruits (which they aren't overly fond of), corn and rice. The doc recommended we see a nutritionist to make sure the kids get what they need ... which I think may be a little tough. Meal times are among my least favorite part of the day anyway so I can't wait to throw another monkey wrench into the mix.Beyond that, they are getting lots of new teeth, including some molars. They love
playing outside. In fact, this morning, they were banging on the door trying to get out to play. Tyler is a total goofball. Sam is a riot too but seriously mischevious. Anything he can possibly find to get in trouble with, he does. They are starting to become just a teensy bit independent... by that I mean, I can sort of let them go play on their own and not worry too much about major catastrophies. For example, yesterday, I was raking up the ridiculous amount of grass clippings from our first lawn mow while the boys were in our little gated area behind the garage playing baseball ... for like 20 minutes! I wasn't even in their eye sight and they were just having a ball. I kept checking on them ... but they were just doing their thing. It was awesome. They still love Lawrence Welk and get very excited any time the theme music starts to play (it's quite funny). They love their morning OJ (the only time they drink something other than water all day) -- Sam helps us get the juice out of the fridge every morning and sucks it down in less than 2 minutes.
playing outside. In fact, this morning, they were banging on the door trying to get out to play. Tyler is a total goofball. Sam is a riot too but seriously mischevious. Anything he can possibly find to get in trouble with, he does. They are starting to become just a teensy bit independent... by that I mean, I can sort of let them go play on their own and not worry too much about major catastrophies. For example, yesterday, I was raking up the ridiculous amount of grass clippings from our first lawn mow while the boys were in our little gated area behind the garage playing baseball ... for like 20 minutes! I wasn't even in their eye sight and they were just having a ball. I kept checking on them ... but they were just doing their thing. It was awesome. They still love Lawrence Welk and get very excited any time the theme music starts to play (it's quite funny). They love their morning OJ (the only time they drink something other than water all day) -- Sam helps us get the juice out of the fridge every morning and sucks it down in less than 2 minutes.Oh and they love to tickle daddy's feet (see last post). And it's not acting from Jack. He cannot STAND when anyone touches his feet ... thus my egging on the boys!
Monday, May 2, 2011
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