The Winds of Change Are Blowing…

Here it is nearly the end of summer and I have not posted! It’s been a busy summer.  There is a lot of change going on in our household.  Some of it has been tough…that refining type of change I mentioned in a post some months ago.  God continuously works on our hearts weeding out those things that don’t belong in our lives.  We have watched circumstances in our lives change all around us.  My job at church has changed, my husband’s job has changed, relationships have changed…and sometimes those changes are the hardest to take.  I’m not personally a fan of change…I like my little routine and I like to stick to it.  God has shown us this year that some change is good no matter how painful it is.  Often we don’t see that until much later and are able to look back on the ways God has worked for our good.

Here we are three weeks from the start of school.  That is one area in which there will hopefully be no change this year.  The kids will be part of the virtual online academy again.  They enjoyed it last year and did really well.  I liked being less hands on though I was still right here with them as they did their studies.  I just didn’t feel equipped to take on high school being the principle teacher, so this has been a very good experience for us.  The kids had a phenomenal mentor teacher, and really great content teachers as well.  I especially adored the English teachers.  It was a joy for me to watch them make writers out of my Lovies.  There was some pretty amazing writing going on in this household this past year. I was so proud because I did not emphasize that particular skill while I was teaching the kids…I concentrated more on their actual handwriting and making sure they kept up the penmanship as they both have beautiful penmanship. So I was glad to see them embrace the writing assignments this year, though difficult, and do really well on them.  Both children got 100% on their final writing projects which count as their final exams.  I was a pretty proud Mama.

Probably the biggest change coming up for us is going to be a dietary change.  I’ve been researching wheat and its effects on our diet and our health.  I have several health issues including diabetes and high blood pressure.  For quite some time I have had full body joint pain and headaches.  As I researched wheat and read testimonials of people who have eliminated it from their diets, people just like me were testifying that the same symptoms I’m struggling with were disappearing within weeks of eliminating wheat from their diets.  Some lost high numbers in pounds, others went off all medications pertaining to diabetes and high blood pressure.  Well…that was enough for me to really want to go for it.  I’m tired of not having energy and feeling crummy most of the time.  And I HATE doing insulin shots…four a day people! I also have to stick my fingers four times a day to check my blood sugar.  I’d do almost anything not to have to do that anymore! My mom gave me a copy of the book “Wheat Belly” and I’m furiously reading it and getting ready to purge my house of all things wheat.  I’ve already collected some recipes, and I’m looking forward to planning my first menu and doing our first wheat free grocery shop! I’m hoping this blog will evolve into one where I can share some great new recipes and meal plans and how the elimination of wheat (possibly dairy and sugar as well) are going for our family.  We’re all on board and excited to get started.

As always, August is a tough month for me.  This one has been more difficult than past years as this one holds a couple big milestones for us.  Madison would have graduated with the class of 2014, and she would have turned 18.  To honor those milestones we took some special photos in the cemetery.  We borrowed a friend’s lovely white cap/gown to do our special photo shoot, and it was just between my husband and me.  I will make copies to hang in our home…but it was really just for my Mama’s heart and the fact that I’ll never have a senior picture of her to hang here.  It was a very emotional time for me, but we were able to capture exactly what I wanted and I’m very pleased with the results.  I’ll share one with you…I could not keep my composure, so the emotion is written all over my face, but I love this shot and how the sun was shining on the beautiful gown hanging in her tree. I nearly fell to my knees when my husband hung it there because it was just so extraordinarily beautiful. Here it is…

Ok…one more…this is the beautiful blanket she was wrapped in when she was born.  The hospital let us keep anything that touched her, so this is one of my most precious possessions…

I have recently been in contact with one of the nurses that was with me when I delivered Madison.  She is arranging for me to go visit the room where I had her.  I’ve never been back and I’m certain it will be an emotional visit, but I’m so grateful for this opportunity to be in that room where I met her and held her for the most precious hours of my life.  I’ll keep you posted.

Hopefully I’ll have time to post more often as our family gets back into a routine soon, and life is lived out in our home for the glory of God!