First Baptist of Ivy Gap

Ahem, ahem... guess who is the official photographer for the Wetumpka Depot. Yes, yes... yours truly... ;) I sat in on the final dress rehearsal for First Baptist of Ivy Gap for some candid shots and a cast photo. This warm and delightful play is their season opener for 2011. The story chronicles the lives of six women who have seen the best and worst of life has. Their journey spans over 25 years as they discover themselves and the meaning of community, family, love and loss. Show dates are February 3-5, 10-12, and 17-19 at 7:30 p.m., and February 6 and 13 at 2:00 p.m. Be there!

Happy birthday

to my 8 year old Punk! I tried several times to upload an old video of her singing but it never did work... oh well...

a picture will do... from 2007

January

is Shep and Ella's birthday month. We celebrated Shep's birthday with a low key family party. I thought he would devour the cake but he actually had nothing to do with it. The look on his face here says it all...

Tomorrow is Ella's birthday and she is taking cupcakes to class for the first time ever! She is so thrilled.

This fog...

seems to be lifting from me. Here is the jist of it...

It took a long time to even realize I was in it. Looking back, I know that it started when I was pregnant with Shep. I just didn't seem myself. Tired... very tired. But I passed it off as being pregnant. And that pregnancy seemed to last forever. I enjoyed it, yes. But it was so tiring. Then after Shep was born, I noticed that I was a little less joyous than I should be. I cried a lot. I missed my mom terribly. I looked around at everyone that had their moms helping them with their little ones and it made me angry. So, I was happy to have my sweet new baby, but was sad, mad and angry on the inside. I passed this off too. I must be having a little post partum. And soon, I got over most of those feelings. But the tiredness would not leave me. It took all I had some days just to get through my normal routine. I lived for the moments when Shep was asleep so that I could rest as well. Any homeschooling I was doing would be workbooks and Ella reading out loud or silently. This too I passed off as me having so much going on or maybe it was just that I was getting older. So, I trudged on. Fall comes and then Christmas season. Scott gets sick and I have to take care of him. No big deal, right? Well... it was such a big deal. I think this is what catapulted it all. He had been struggling with chronic sinus infections and after getting an antibiotic from his ENT, he develops an allergic reaction about a week into the prescription. Now, I'm not talking about a little allergic reaction. This one had joint pains, flu like symptoms, 104 degree fever (umm... yeah), rash... you name it. I was so stressed out b/c we weren't sure what was causing the reaction. The doctor told us to continue the medicine and he did continue for one more day and that was it. It was such a scary time. I have never seen my husband so sick. Immediately after him getting better, I get sick. I almost fainted in church so I thought maybe my blood pressure was the culprit. I had it checked at Urgent Care and it was normal but my heart rate was 122. The wait was forever, so I decided to go home and rest. I didn't get better so 2 days later, I went back to Urgent Care and was diagnosed with a virus. Heart rate was 125 that day. They did bloodwork, and EKG, chest xray, and urinalysis. Was told to drink Gatorade and my heart rate should come down. The following day, they called and said my TSH was low. Do huh? What is TSH? Thyroid Stimulating Hormone. Ah. Now we are getting somewhere. That Thursday, I had an ultrasound and then followed up with my primary care physician. They were sure that I had some form of hyperthyroidism and order yet more testing. Keep in mind... I got sick at church on Sunday, had a RESTING heart rate in the 120s and this was Thursday... let's just say your heart rate is in the 120s while jogging. So, inside, I had been jogging for days!!!!

My PCP gave me beta blockers right away to lower my heart rate and I could tell a difference within a few hours. I was so relieved. My other symptoms, however, were still there. Hand tremors, hot flashes, nervousness, forgetfulness. I will spare you some of the details of dealing with some of those symptoms.

I had an appointment with the endocrinologist and also a nuclear uptake scan (sounds scary, huh) done last week and went this week to have all of the pieces of the puzzle put together and figure out what is going on. After dealing with this for almost 2 years, and most dangerously this past month, I finally have a diagnosis. Graves disease. It's a hereditary condition in my family. Because I don't have my mom here to advise me, I probably went longer with all of this going on that I should have. But that's ok... I'm so thankful to have a diagnosis and to know that I'm not losing my mind. Seriously. Just ask my family. They have had to deal with this more than you realize. And I do have to praise God for giving me such a compassionate and caring husband. He has truly been supportive in all of this. I love him! Oh... I am on medicine and hope to have everything regulated within 4-6 weeks!

So... with all of that said, I now know why I've been feeling like I've been in a fog for so long. I really WAS in a fog! My prayer is that God will restore my day to day joy that is so often taken for granted and that I will each day rest in His mercies. Because His mercies truly are new every morning.

Thanksgiving

From Noah Webster's 1828 dictionary (which has more biblical definitions than any other dictionary)

THANKSGIV'ING, n. The act of rendering thanks or expressing gratitude for favors or mercies.


Every creature of God is good, and nothing to be refused, if received with thanksgiving. 1 Tim.4.

1. A public celebration of divine goodness; also, a day set apart for religious services, specially to acknowledge the goodness of God, either in any remarkable deliverance from calamities or danger, or in the ordinary dispensation of his bounties. The practice of appointing an annual thanksgiving originated in New England.

I hope you all paused for Thanksgiving to celebrate His goodness.

As we celebrated, I tried out a new recipe. Apple pie. Yummmm. Can you get any more American than apple pie? Nope. I found the recipe here. To say it turned out good would be an understatement. It was delicious to everyone that ate it. A few tips to take note of in case you decide to make it... DO double the crust recipe as it suggests. Also, I didn't have cider vinegar on hand so I used white vinegar but only used 2 tsp instead of 1 tbsp.

Now... here it is... along with my sous chef...

It's Fall Y'all

We've been busy around here with tons of Fall festivities. We've been to festivals, to the zoo with friends, trick or treating, and just hanging out here at the house.

Here are some of my favorite pictures of the kids over the past few weeks.

Theology Thursday

What an exciting week for us so far! While everyone is scurrying around with Halloween festivities, we've been enjoying Reformation Week. I don't know how many people have asked me "Ooh, what is that? That sounds like fun." Well... yeah... it is fun. And it's exciting. And it's sad that so many people don't know what I mean when I refer to Reformation Day.


From Monergism: Reformation Day is a religious holiday celebrated on October 31st or the last weekend in October in remembrance of the Reformation. Martin Luther posted a proposal at the doors of a church in Wittenberg, Germany to debate the doctrine and practice of indulgences. This proposal is popularly known as the 95 Theses, which he nailed to the Castle Church doors. This was not an act of defiance or provocation as is sometimes thought. Since the Castle Church faced Wittenberg's main thoroughfare, the church door functioned as a public bulletin board and was therefore the logical place for posting important notices. Also, the theses were written in Latin, the language of the church, and not in the vernacular. Nonetheless, the event created a controversy between Luther and those allied with the Pope over a variety of doctrines and practices. While it had profound and lasting impacts on the political, economic, social, literary, and artistic aspects of modern society, the Reformation was at its heart a religious movement. The Reformation was the great rediscovery of the good news of salvation by grace through faith for Christ's sake. For centuries, the Roman Catholic Church had been plagued by false doctrines, superstition, ignorance, and corruption. Since most ordinary Christians were illiterate and had little knowledge of the Bible, they relied on their clergy for religious instruction and guidance. Tragically however, monks, priests, bishops, and even the popes in Rome taught unbiblical doctrines like purgatory and salvation through good works. Spiritually earnest people tried to justify themselves by charitable works, pilgrimages, and all kinds of religious performances and devotions, but they were left wondering if they had done enough to escape God's anger and punishment. The truth of the gospel -- the good news that God is loving and merciful, that He offers each and every one of us forgiveness and salvation not because of what we do, but because of what Christ has already done for us -- was largely forgotten by both clergy and laity. The Holy Spirit used an Augustinian monk and university professor named Martin Luther to restore the gospel to its rightful place as the cornerstone doctrine of Christianity. Martin Luther and his colleagues came to understand that if we sinners had to earn salvation by our own merits and good works, we would be lost and completely without hope. But through the working of the Holy Spirit, the reformers rediscovered the gospel -- the wonderful news that Jesus Christ lived, died, and rose again to redeem and justify us. As Luther wrote in his explanation of the Second Article of the Apostles' Creed: I believe that Jesus Christ, true God, begotten of the Father from eternity, and also true man, born of the Virgin Mary, is my Lord, who has redeemed me, a lost and condemned creature, purchased and won me from all sins, from death, and from the power of the devil; not with gold or silver, but with His holy, precious blood and with His innocent suffering and death, that I may be His own and live under Him in His kingdom, and serve Him in everlasting righteousness, innocence, and blessedness, even as He is risen from the dead, lives and reigns to all eternity. This is most certainly true. On Reformation Day, we glorify God for what he accomplished in 16th century Germany through His servant, Dr. Martin Luther -- the recovery of the gospel of salvation by grace through faith for Christ's sake. We also earnestly pray that God would keep all of us faithful to the true gospel and help us to joyfully declare it to the world. This lovely hymn verse encapsulates the theme of our Reformation celebration: By grace God's Son, our only Savior, Came down to earth to bear our sin. Was it because of your own merit That Jesus died your soul to win? No, it was grace, and grace alone, It brought Him from His heav'nly throne.


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Luther was ordered to appear before the Diet of Worms. Here is Ella reciting part of Luther's answer to Johann Eck when asked about his writings and if he stood by the contents.