Ch-Ch-Ch-Changes!

I was tired of looking at the green, so blue is here! I am not a girly, girl and neither is Claire well, at least not totally, so flowers are just not appropriate. This is nice though I think. At least for a little while.

Things around here have calmed down since Claire's procedure on Thursday. She is on 3 medicines and she is the best medicine taker EVER! The only bad thing is that one of the side effects is sensitivity to the sun. She is already super sensitive to the sun even without this medicine and so now we have to be extra extra extra careful about going outside. Did I mention it's July? In Texas? where the sun is always shining? and it's hot? and humid? We've been doing our best to stay inside, but the sunshine and swimming pool is just so inviting.

VBS at our church starts on Monday morning and I'm going to be teaching 1st graders. There is a specific reason that I teach high school students for a living. Too bad they don't have VBS for high school. I'm stretching however and stepping out of my comfort zone. And it's only for a week. I'm excited for Claire to be in VBS too. I'm hoping she'll have fun and learn some new songs.

Dad made it safely to India and will be there until the end of August teaching local pastors at their Bible college. I'm so appreciative for his courage to step out of his comfort zone too. Especially the fact that he went by himself for that long!

I read the book Thr3e by Ted Dekker yesterday. Yes, the entire book. It was a good book and I really liked the twist"s" at the end of the book. I have read several of his books now and think that many of them would be good movies. After I read his books, I don't have a new author picked out yet, though. Any suggestions?????

Warning: Bodily Fluid Topics Discussed

I was looking through my archives and looking for something about this and couldn't find anything, so I'm going to relate it all now. Last August, the day after we got back from Michigan, Claire started having diarrhea...no big deal right? That happens sometimes. Fast forward to October where it's still happening. Yes 3 months of diarrhea. After she's already expressed interest in potty training. HA! We finally get into a pediatric gastroenterology specialist and he takes one look at her and says no juice whatsoever. No dried fruits (like fruit snacks, trail mix, etc.) That's it? I've waited 3 months for this??? I was not too sure but we listened and it did clear up almost immediately! Praise the Lord! So we got back on the potty training wagon and was headed toward big girl underwear...until April. Still on a "no fruit juice" diet, the diarrhea comes back. Hmmpffff. So we schedule another appointment and she was still gaining weight, so let's just wait and see and perhaps it will just go away. Here we are in July. I have noticed it is a cycle of loose, none, and then slightly firmer stools. So last week they suggested the next step (after labs with all normal results for bacteria and viruses) would be a double scope. Today was the day of this scope. Yesterday, we had to restrict her to a clear liquid diet including a laxative to clear out her system. This is how the day went yesterday

Claire: gets up and says, "Mommy, can I have a pop-tart?"

Mommy: "No"

Claire: "Mommy, can I have cer-e-al?"

Mommy: "No"

Claire: "Mommy, can I have crackers?"

Mommy: "No, we are going to go to the doctor tomorrow and he wants us to just drink water and juice---"

Claire: "JUICE?!?!?!?"

Mommy: " --today, you want some juice?"

Claire: "JUICE! JUICE! JUICE!"

and that was it...seriously. no more asking of crackers, pudding, grapes, or any other types of food. (Once after her nap she did ask for a popsicle, but that was it, honest!)


She did sooo good yesterday which was such an answer to prayer.

Today they did the double scope and she was not very happy when she woke up (don't blame her). However, they didn't really find anything abnormal but took some biopsies and so now we are waiting for the results of those. The doctor did prescribe some medicine in the meantime and we'll go back in a month for a check up and hopefully we'll have some answers and/or results by then. He did say she can have juice again which will be a nice change for her.

Thank you to all of our friends/family who have prayed, thought of, and visited Claire. We are so appreciative of all that the Lord has blessed us with and are just looking at this as a small bump in the journey He's prepared for us. We have even been able to use this as a witnessing opportunity and we (Claire, Meemaw, Papa, Daddy, and Mommy) were singing "Everybody Ought to Know" this morning before she went back to surgery. Justin and I also met a person this morning and invited her to church and she seemed genuinely open which was an answer to prayer. Hopefully we'll see her on Sunday. We'll be looking for her!

Claire is waking up from her well-deserved nap and so I better go! Don't worry, I won't post the pictures the doctor gave us!

Surprise!!!

Well, who knew that people actually read my blog?!?!? But I've had some complaints about it not being updated, so for those very few of you who have actually come back THANKS! and SURPRISE! It's updated! I don't have any new pictures, but keep checking back maybe in a couple months..hehe...hopefully before then!

Well, well, well, what's happened since March? I finished teaching the school year and are changing districts to be closer to home and save on gas money. I'll still be teaching Chemistry so it won't be that big of a switch at least I don't think so. We'll see come August! Justin's off school for the summer so that is nice to have him home more often and get some "honey do lists" a little shorter. Claire is also home more during the summer as I get to spend lots more time with her!

We all took a trip up to Michigan in June and had lots of fun! We got to see lots of family and friends! I also went on a scrapbook weekend the end of April and really enjoyed scrapbooking Claire's life. I have found a new hobby and one I hope to continue and keep up with. I'm going back with a lot of the same ladies for another weekend in September and looking forward to it already!

This week I'm attending jury duty and have not been picked for a jury yet, so hopefully tomorrow will prove more useful. In the meantime, Justin will be sanding and priming the hallway for a new coat of paint to go along with the new carpet coming soon.

I think what I learned the most from our trip to Michigan this past month was the Lord's overwhelming blessings to me and our family. It seems like such a simple thing, but I had lost that perspective and it's not a good perspective to lose. Thank you Lord, for all your blessings to us that we see and even those that we don't see.