Thankful Thursday

A little late in the day, but that just gives me more to be thankful for.

Last night we went to our small group - we call them "C-groups" for "community".  I am thankful for the time of praise, of sharing what the Lord has showed us in His word this week, of study (Proverbs 9), and of prayer and singing.

Today I am also thankful for this tasty recipe I found on Pinterest.  Yummy treats, no sugar added!

I am thankful that I got to go to the grocery store, that I have access to all kinds of good food.  Sooo thankful we have an Aldi, too!  I buy the bulk of my groceries there, but needed a few things from Wal-Mart today, too.

Thankful for a windowsill full of tomatoes ripening (if I leave them on the vine too long the critters get them), for plenty of work for our shop, for all my school curriculum bought for the upcoming year, and for a day at home to FINALLY get some real work done around here!

I am thankful my glucose numbers are going down, down, down - a whole week of not going out to eat, counting carbs and exercising each day is starting to pay off.  Thankful that I get to meet with the diabetes educator this Saturday.

Thankful all my guys are healthy, everyone is doing well....thankful for all the Lord has blessed us with, and thankful beyond measure that He saved me, my husband and my two older boys, and praying for His mercy that my two younger boys will also be saved.

Thankful watching my 14 year old, 6'1" son eating pizza and watching ESPN and knowing that he turned out normal EVEN THOUGH HE WAS HOMESCHOOLED.

Yeah Buddy!

Tuesday Morning on the Homestead

It is so nice - two days in a row I could get up and open the doors to the breeze- and have there actually BE a breeze, not just rolls of heat like an oven full of biscuits!  Praising God for the cooler weather, and especially for the rain we got over the weekend.  My poor, dead yard is starting to come to life again.

Today is (hopefully!) going to be a quiet day at home.  I have laundry to do, things to clean, and need to scoot out and vote this afternoon.  If you have elections in your area, don't forget to vote!  It is a great privilege, one not to be taken for granted.

Yesterday I allowed myself to "stress" - I gave the doctor until 1:30, then I called to check on my test results.  The nurse said that they had them, and that the doctor would call me that afternoon.

Guess who did not get a phone call......and my doctor is leaving today and will be gone (out of the country, I believe) for the rest of this week and all next week.  Hopefully, the other doctor in his practice is picking up the slack and will call me.  On top of just wanting to KNOW, and wanting to PLAN the next stage of my "life with diabetes" (meds, no meds, diet, what???) I need a diagnosis and some of the test results to get scheduled with the KICK Diabetes program. So, basically, I am waiting.....and I hate waiting.  I want to get information, form a plan, and proceed with said plan in a timely fashion- usually in the form of a checklist.

Yesterday I was texting all this angst to my friend Faith.  Here her response to my cries of agony,
"Be still and know that He is GOD, He works all things in His time, trust.  I love you!"

To which I responded,
"I am trying.  I hate having to depend on other people.:

And her sage words,
"You don't.  Just Christ teaching you patience and contentment."

Be still, be patient, be content, wait upon the Lord's timing......I was praying on the treadmill today for God to give me peace.  This is not that big of a deal.  Lots of people have MUCH bigger issues going on right now.  But what I managed to do to myself yesterday was eat a little extra snack and a little less veggie and stress, which raises blood sugars.  So this morning I hop off the treadmill and see that my fasting number is 11 higher than yesterday, and I weigh .2 lbs more (I know I should not weigh every day, but watching the number go down the past two weeks has been nice).  Physical response to spiritual malady.

So....to take my mind off it, I will keep busy, and share a few pictures from our vacation last week.  We were so busy this whole trip that I didn't have time to take many pics.  My inlaws took us, and my sister-in-law and niece to Kansas City on the train last Monday.  We went up Monday morning and got there around 1.  They rented two cars for us (there were ten of us) and we drove to Worlds of Fun/Oceans of Fun.  We got to stay in cabins in the park (really nice, little modulars made up to look like log cabins) and just hung out.  Monday night we spent 6 (count'em 6) hours at Worlds of Fun theme park, then spent all day Tuesday at Oceans of Fun waterpark.  Wednesday evening we took the train home, but not before spending time in the new Lego Discovery Center in Kansas City.  And it was there that my few pics were taken.  I have better ones....somewhere, but here is what my phone can share with you:

Henry and Joe make a new friend

Joe, Henry and Ben building Lego racers.  Ben was easily the tallest person there.  Tony  declined  a visit to Lego-ville, and went to the aquarium with the rest of the family.

This is our souvenir picture.  Okay, this was fun.  We rode through a Lego adventure, and shot  lazer guns.  I did not do so well.  It appears Henry's gun was not activated.

Here is a cute one - Henry and Nora playing in the train station.  A  photographer from the Kansas City Star took this picture while we were waiting to board our train - I copied it off the paper's website.

I wanted to add this close-up, so you could see the focus, the  intensity in our eyes.  Oh yes, we will save the Princess, we will find the jewels, we will shoot the bad guys!!

And that is it for today - enjoy your day, look me up on Pinterest (I will eventually figure out how to put the link on the blog), and don't forget to vote!

Diabetes Update, and other Life Stuff

So, how is the diabetes thing going?  So far, so good, I guess.  I am keeping a food diary, and tracking my carbs, fats and proteins. I wrote up a meal plan, based on what it was when I had gestational diabetes.  I had that three times, so I am way too familiar with monitoring, etc.  I am just writing it down and being aware of portion size, etc. again.  Just like Weight Watchers, only a little easier in some aspects. What is harder, though, is that in WW you can save up your points for megadessert, or have a huge dinner one night with your extra points.  Here, the main thing is to stay regular.  The problem is not that blood sugar goes up (everyones' does) but that it does not come back down.  So if I eat a Big Mac and large fries, it is going to go up, up, up, but it won't come down.  If I eat a regular hamburger and small fries it won't go up so high, so I won't have such a high level over extended time.  I probably won't change a whole lot about how I cook, but it is portion control - if I bake cookies, two small ones, not 8 cookies and a giant glass of milk.  

It is really a shame, because I make such good cookies!

I went to the doctor Friday, and he said for now he calls it Impaired Glucose Tolerance.  On Monday, when he has the rest of my bloodwork back, he will call it Diabetes.   Semantics.  He also said the problems I have been having with my feet are nerve damage from the diabetes (numbness, tingling, feels like needles in them, as if they were "asleep").  Anyway, depending on my numbers from the A1C test (which will give him a weighted average of my blood glucose), I may be just diet-controlled.  I am trying now, and some of my numbers are coming down, but they are still too high.  He said we may start out with oral medications and then see if my numbers go down and wean off it.  He said that should help with my feet, too.  If not, there is a specific med for that, but he doesn't want to start piling on too many meds.

I was also super-blessed in that I have a friend who is a parish nurse, and she referred me to a program call KICK Diabetes.  It is free, part of St. Louis University Medical School and ADA/St. Louis Diabetes Coalition.  It is research on diabetes education, and people with pre- or type 2 diabetes can participate.  You are assigned an educator and you meet four times to go over nutrition/create a meal plan, exercise, monitoring, medications, etc.  You agree to fill out questionnaires when you are done and again at three months.  I think they want to see what role education plays in helping people to manage their diabetes.  I am very excited about this!  Plus, now I will get to go to St. Louis four times and can get in a little shopping!

Financially, this is not as bad as I expected.  I told the doctor I was self-pay, and instead of the $150 office charge, I had to pay $80.  He has his own lab, so my A1C and cholesterol tests together were $18.50.  He said the meds would be generic, too.  I was able to cancel the appointment with a nutritionist ($50) because the KICK Diabetes educator will do the same thing.  And I signed up for discounts for my blood monitoring strips.  

So, the Lord is good, as always.  Sometimes my sinful attitudes keep me from seeing that.  Today, for example.  We had our monthly Fellowship Sunday, aka, crockpot and dessert supreme!  I did really well, small portions of a couple starchy items, larger portions of veggies, small dessert.  Still, last month I would have had a LARGE portion of the chicken potpie (my friend Faith makes THE BEST potpie) and at least two regular servings of dessert.  And probably (syrupy) sweet tea.  And later on today I will hit the treadmill again.  I have been getting on it almost every day.  

August is my month to "organize and simplify" my life.  I have almost nothing except church on the calendar.  This seems like it would be sad, but I am so happy.  I need time to establish some routines of exercise and meals before we jump back into the whirl of school chaos.  I need time to get used to this and order my mind around the new "normal" here.  

As normal as it gets, anyway!

A Little More Thankfulness Never Hurt

Here are just a few more things the Lord showed me this morning...

Nevin at work in the cabinet shop.  It is going to be 105 today.  The shop is not air conditioned, though he does have huge fans.  However, it is going to be HOT.  I am so thankful for a man who works hard for his family and built this business from nothing, with only his own brains and back.

And, by the way...

WE built this business, Mr. President!

Tony feeding the chickens

My beautiful Vivien.  How does she manage to stay on that rail???

Two things I am very thankful for - cats and fresh tomatoes!

They all find places in the various gardens to get out of the sun during the day.  Good for keeping away varmints, too!

Thankful Thursday

Two in one morning - I am borrowing this theme from The Upward Call. I have also seen it on other blogs, so I am not sure where it originates, but I like it!

Thankful for a great time of fellowship last night.  Had singing, praise, prayer, and a really good teaching from Proverbs 7 and 8.  I love our church, and especially love the small groups we have.  You really get a chance to know people by regularly attending these groups.

I am thankful that the Lord was gracious to me, He saved me from my sins.  Christ hung on the cross for MY sins - and no matter what my past was, or whose fault anything was, or what I did - it is forgiven.  He save me despite what I was, and lifted me up out of the cesspool.  Hallelujah!!

Thankful for a full day at home, to get some much-needed housework done before a super-busy weekend.  Disappointed that a lunch plan for today had to be cancelled. Thankful, though, to have the time open because now I am going to be able to watch a friends' children for her while she goes to the doctor.

Thankful for another day here to serve the Lord, to enjoy my family, to love my husband.....you get the picture!

What are you thankful for today?