Hello all! Alan, Adeline and I will be visiting the church in Michigan next weekend. We're leaving on Friday the 5th and coming back the night of the 7th. Please pray for this weekend - that the Lord would do what He wants to do and that we and the people at the church would get a good chance to really get to know one another.
We covet your prayers as this process continues.
Friday, August 29, 2008
Wednesday, August 27, 2008
Picaboo
A little while back I created a Picaboo photo book of Adeline's first year. I ordered a couple of copies and really liked the way they turned out. If you wanted to get one, or make one of your own to order, but didn't get around to it, now is a good time because you can get 25% off your order if you purchase by August 28th. If you download the software and create an album of your own you get your first book free (up to $9.99). I thought it was fun and will probably be using it again one day.
Enjoy!
Thursday, August 21, 2008
Yet I will rejoice in the LORD
I know what you're thinking - how many posts are there going to be in a single day? This is the last one, I think... :)
I just wanted to share that God has been doing some amazing things in me these last few days. He has shown me things that I have been holding onto that I had no idea about. I'd like to share the story with you, because I am so excited and so hopeful and I want people to know.
On Sunday evening Alan and I sat down to pray and journal together. After inviting the Holy Spirit to speak to us and do His work in those moments, Alan suggested we journal out all of our wants. We were going to write down everything we wanted - not just now, but anything we could possibly think of wanting - from an overall sense of satisfaction in life to a fireplace in our home one day (can you guess which of those two was mine? ;-)
So I sat there, pen in hand (I'm always the secretary :) and wrote down the couple of things Alan initially said. Then Alan asked me what I wanted, and I couldn't write. I didn't want to. I felt angry. Frustrated. Overwhelmed. In despair. Alan attributes what happened next to the speaking of the Holy Spirit. He said to me, "Make a column on the other side of the paper. You [speaking to me] are going to write out all of your fears." I thought, this is dumb. Like this is gonna help anything... I started writing nonetheless and several pages, many minutes, and lots of tears later I finally stopped. I never, until that moment, knew how much I was afraid of, and the topics ranged from one extreme to the other: fear of being forgotten all the way down to the fear of never living somewhere with a fireplace. Fears I never told God before. How could I? I had never told myself.
Once the fears were out the wants started flowing. The list of wants was not nearly as long as the list of fears, but we wrote and wrote until we could think of nothing else. Now God knows. Now we know. There is indeed so much freedom in that amount of honesty and openness - not only before God but between one another within our marriage.
Believe it or not, that was only the beginning of the story... :)
Earlier last week, before Sunday, I sat down to do something called the Daily Examen (this isn't the greatest link but one of the better ones I found). My boss had sent it out to our D.Min. staff so we could use it to prepare for our staff retreat which took place Wednesday this week. The five steps to the Examen are 1. Thanksgiving 2. Intention 3. Examination 4. Contrition 5. Hope. When I read through it last week to try to sit down and do it I got to the Hope section and thought, this exercise is not for people like me in my situation in life. Oh well. And I gave up on it. I didn't know at the time that the reason I couldn't do it was probably because I had been feeling pretty hopeless.
After Sunday, on Monday afternoon, I sat down to try to do it again. It was a whole different ball game. The whole thing doesn't take much time at all (even though I did write it all out) but it made all the difference in my day, my week, my life. I felt like I could sit there and be perfectly honest with God, telling Him exactly the things which came to mind for which I was thankful that day, what I really wanted for the day, how I had experienced His love that day, how I had sinned that day, and what choices I would make that day to allow Him to lead me to a brighter tomorrow.
THEN... on Wednesday morning at our staff retreat we spent two hours in solitude and quiet that we could basically spend however we wanted. (How cool is that that I have a job that pays me to spend two hours alone with God!?) During some group prayer time my boss read the account of the feeding of the five thousand from John. He also mentioned that in the account in Matthew's gospel when the disciples tell Jesus the number of loaves and fish they have, Jesus says to them, "Bring them to me." I spent a lot of time meditating on this phrase during my two hours. Bring them to me. I felt God telling me that I was to bring everything I am to Him. Jesus asked the disciples to bring to him what they had. They could not bring more than what they had and in doing so had to bring their inadequacies as well. But the miracle is that Jesus indeed worked with what they gave Him, but He did not work the miracle until they gave Him what they had. In that moment I felt so thankful that God had prompted me to bring myself to Him - mostly my inadequacies - on Sunday and spared me that experience yesterday morning. I felt like this extra time of solitude that I had been given allowed me to tie up the loose ends and continue to move ahead since Sunday's breakthrough.
Believe it or not my two hours was not yet up at this point so I decided to pick a book of the Bible to read. I landed on Habakkuk. I knew it was short, I hadn't read it in a while, and it also contains one of my favorite verses, 2:20. When I got to the end of the book I was reminded of some of my other favorite verses that had not come to mind in a long time...
I just wanted to share that God has been doing some amazing things in me these last few days. He has shown me things that I have been holding onto that I had no idea about. I'd like to share the story with you, because I am so excited and so hopeful and I want people to know.
On Sunday evening Alan and I sat down to pray and journal together. After inviting the Holy Spirit to speak to us and do His work in those moments, Alan suggested we journal out all of our wants. We were going to write down everything we wanted - not just now, but anything we could possibly think of wanting - from an overall sense of satisfaction in life to a fireplace in our home one day (can you guess which of those two was mine? ;-)
So I sat there, pen in hand (I'm always the secretary :) and wrote down the couple of things Alan initially said. Then Alan asked me what I wanted, and I couldn't write. I didn't want to. I felt angry. Frustrated. Overwhelmed. In despair. Alan attributes what happened next to the speaking of the Holy Spirit. He said to me, "Make a column on the other side of the paper. You [speaking to me] are going to write out all of your fears." I thought, this is dumb. Like this is gonna help anything... I started writing nonetheless and several pages, many minutes, and lots of tears later I finally stopped. I never, until that moment, knew how much I was afraid of, and the topics ranged from one extreme to the other: fear of being forgotten all the way down to the fear of never living somewhere with a fireplace. Fears I never told God before. How could I? I had never told myself.
Once the fears were out the wants started flowing. The list of wants was not nearly as long as the list of fears, but we wrote and wrote until we could think of nothing else. Now God knows. Now we know. There is indeed so much freedom in that amount of honesty and openness - not only before God but between one another within our marriage.
Believe it or not, that was only the beginning of the story... :)
Earlier last week, before Sunday, I sat down to do something called the Daily Examen (this isn't the greatest link but one of the better ones I found). My boss had sent it out to our D.Min. staff so we could use it to prepare for our staff retreat which took place Wednesday this week. The five steps to the Examen are 1. Thanksgiving 2. Intention 3. Examination 4. Contrition 5. Hope. When I read through it last week to try to sit down and do it I got to the Hope section and thought, this exercise is not for people like me in my situation in life. Oh well. And I gave up on it. I didn't know at the time that the reason I couldn't do it was probably because I had been feeling pretty hopeless.
After Sunday, on Monday afternoon, I sat down to try to do it again. It was a whole different ball game. The whole thing doesn't take much time at all (even though I did write it all out) but it made all the difference in my day, my week, my life. I felt like I could sit there and be perfectly honest with God, telling Him exactly the things which came to mind for which I was thankful that day, what I really wanted for the day, how I had experienced His love that day, how I had sinned that day, and what choices I would make that day to allow Him to lead me to a brighter tomorrow.
THEN... on Wednesday morning at our staff retreat we spent two hours in solitude and quiet that we could basically spend however we wanted. (How cool is that that I have a job that pays me to spend two hours alone with God!?) During some group prayer time my boss read the account of the feeding of the five thousand from John. He also mentioned that in the account in Matthew's gospel when the disciples tell Jesus the number of loaves and fish they have, Jesus says to them, "Bring them to me." I spent a lot of time meditating on this phrase during my two hours. Bring them to me. I felt God telling me that I was to bring everything I am to Him. Jesus asked the disciples to bring to him what they had. They could not bring more than what they had and in doing so had to bring their inadequacies as well. But the miracle is that Jesus indeed worked with what they gave Him, but He did not work the miracle until they gave Him what they had. In that moment I felt so thankful that God had prompted me to bring myself to Him - mostly my inadequacies - on Sunday and spared me that experience yesterday morning. I felt like this extra time of solitude that I had been given allowed me to tie up the loose ends and continue to move ahead since Sunday's breakthrough.
Believe it or not my two hours was not yet up at this point so I decided to pick a book of the Bible to read. I landed on Habakkuk. I knew it was short, I hadn't read it in a while, and it also contains one of my favorite verses, 2:20. When I got to the end of the book I was reminded of some of my other favorite verses that had not come to mind in a long time...
Though the fig tree does not bud,
and there are no grapes on the vines,
though the olive crop fails
and the fields produce no food,
though there are no sheep in the pen
and no cattle in the stalls,
Yet I will rejoice in the LORD,
I will be joyful in God my Savior.
The Sovereign LORD is my strength.
and there are no grapes on the vines,
though the olive crop fails
and the fields produce no food,
though there are no sheep in the pen
and no cattle in the stalls,
Yet I will rejoice in the LORD,
I will be joyful in God my Savior.
The Sovereign LORD is my strength.
Hab. 3:17-18, 19a
Anyone got a spare fleece??
Alan and I are in the process of once again trying to figure out what is next for us. We are praying daily for Him to work a miracle by August 31st and/or to give us unmistakable direction for what to do next. Job things are once again in the air (irons in the fire but no confirmation for anything yet) as is the housing situation. We are asking God to help us discern what to use as a fleece (a la Gideon) as an instrument for a sign from Him.
We thank those of you who are joining with us in prayer for these things.
We thank those of you who are joining with us in prayer for these things.
Alopecia Areata
Some of you know that since about late June, early July, I started to lose large chunks of my hair. Hoping it was simply stress-related I decided to wait it out because, at the time, it looked like things were going to be changing for us rather soon. Well, when Virginia didn't work out and we started our process over again I decided I had to go to the doctor about it. My primary care immediately diagnosed me with a condition called Alopecia Areata and referred me to a dermatologist, telling me that to treat it she would likely give me steroid injections in my scalp. I'm thinking, that sounds fun.
I had my derm appointment on Monday and she did say that the shots were one treatment option. Then she further explained that due to the size of the balding areas on my head I would need to have somewhere in the ballpark of 50 little shots with no guarantee that it was actually going to work and there was a likelihood of my having to repeat this treatment again in 3 months. Did I mention she also said it's quite painful?? I was very pleased when she recommended not to go with the shots and offered me other options.
After listing a few options we landed on steroid creams. She prescribed two - one for night and one for the day - and also men's extra strength Rogaine (OTC) for when I wasn't using the other two. However when I went to get them filled my insurance only covered one. Guess which one! The cheapest! Of course! The daytime cream they wouldn't cover - the $207 one of course - so we're working on that. In the meantime I'm just going to wait it out (one of the "treatment" options she listed) and see how things go. It will largely depend on what I hear back after a week or so, once the 12-page appeal process has been completed for the secondary meds.
Anywho, that's my sad story with Alopecia, and I only post it here partly so those who know what's been going on can get the story without me having to share it a gazillion times! Oh, and the derm also had my blood checked for a thyroid condition, anemia and Vitamin D deficiency as those things can cause hair loss. The derm described the Alopecia by saying that for some reason my body is attacking its own little hair follicles. Alopecia Areata is more common in those with family members with autoimmune disorders, like a thyroid condition.
So that's it. I go back in October (if we're still here...) for a follow-up. If we're not still here I'll follow-up with a derm wherever we do end up. Thanks for your prayers for my hair :).
I had my derm appointment on Monday and she did say that the shots were one treatment option. Then she further explained that due to the size of the balding areas on my head I would need to have somewhere in the ballpark of 50 little shots with no guarantee that it was actually going to work and there was a likelihood of my having to repeat this treatment again in 3 months. Did I mention she also said it's quite painful?? I was very pleased when she recommended not to go with the shots and offered me other options.
After listing a few options we landed on steroid creams. She prescribed two - one for night and one for the day - and also men's extra strength Rogaine (OTC) for when I wasn't using the other two. However when I went to get them filled my insurance only covered one. Guess which one! The cheapest! Of course! The daytime cream they wouldn't cover - the $207 one of course - so we're working on that. In the meantime I'm just going to wait it out (one of the "treatment" options she listed) and see how things go. It will largely depend on what I hear back after a week or so, once the 12-page appeal process has been completed for the secondary meds.
Anywho, that's my sad story with Alopecia, and I only post it here partly so those who know what's been going on can get the story without me having to share it a gazillion times! Oh, and the derm also had my blood checked for a thyroid condition, anemia and Vitamin D deficiency as those things can cause hair loss. The derm described the Alopecia by saying that for some reason my body is attacking its own little hair follicles. Alopecia Areata is more common in those with family members with autoimmune disorders, like a thyroid condition.
So that's it. I go back in October (if we're still here...) for a follow-up. If we're not still here I'll follow-up with a derm wherever we do end up. Thanks for your prayers for my hair :).
Tuesday, August 19, 2008
BPA Update
The FDA recently came out with yet another study that BPA has been ruled safe. An article about it can be read here. The report can be read here. At the bottom of that page you can also find more details about what BPA is and some other articles. Anti-BPA activists and concerned parents alike are questioning the study based on the argument that the experts on whose word and studies the FDA and the ACC based their report are biased towards the chemical and therefore might argue it as safe even if it isn't. They are calling for other experts to be consulted. Experts they argue are objective about BPA.
Personally I'm done being worried about it. I have taken steps to make sure that I don't use BPA bottles for future children just in case - plus I just think glass baby bottles are kind of cool :). But for those of you who might be wanting or looking for more info, I hope this helps.
Personally I'm done being worried about it. I have taken steps to make sure that I don't use BPA bottles for future children just in case - plus I just think glass baby bottles are kind of cool :). But for those of you who might be wanting or looking for more info, I hope this helps.
Friday, August 15, 2008
Happy Anniversary, Alan and Meredith! You've won an all-expense paid trip to... the Emergency Room!!
Yep... Happy #5 to us.
Yesterday when I was out watering our landlord's plants I was nibbled on by quite a few bugs. One in particular, on the inside of my left thigh, began itching immediately. Being bitten, however, since living in the shoebox is nothing new, so I shrugged it off and went about my day.
At 7:00 this morning, when I headed to work, I noticed that the bite had swollen to 3" in diameter. Hm... no ordinary mosquito. Must be another spider bite.
At 1pm this afternoon after arriving home from work I notice that the swollen area has spread another inch all the way around. Needless to say I'm not feeling too great about this.
Alan heads to work about 2pm and Adeline and I took a nap then a walk (once we woke up :). At about 4:30, after the walk, I notice the redness is getting worse and it hurts to walk. Hm... not good. I called Alan at work and he encouraged me to try to do some research online after calling friends to see if anyone might be able to come over to sit with Adeline while I borrow their car to head over to the ER. Mind you I'm not thinking this is necessarily an emergency, however the Dr's office is closed and it's a weekend and I'm thinking this needs to be looked at.
I secure the help of a friend and moments later - about 5 - Alan calls back and says he's in the car on the way home to take me to the ER. Turns out he did some research of his own and discovered it was better to go to the ER and he knew me well enough to know that's it's something I really didn't want to do on my own. At least we would get to spend a couple hours of our anniversary together!
Once I finally saw a Dr in the ER he said it might actually be a tick bite and because they can carry Lyme Disease it was good I came in. He put me on antibiotics and gave me another drug for the itchiness. I should be feeling better by Monday.
We went to the pharmacy to drop off the Rx's and then went to the grocery store while we waited. We picked up some fried chicken for dinner, ate it in the car, then picked up the Rx's, headed home, then Alan left again for work to finish up his shift.
So that about brings us to the current time. Thankfully we learned early on that less is more as regards anniversary celebrations so of the five we've had, this one is actually pretty okay ;-).
By the way, Adeline said "up" today :). So many words!
Yesterday when I was out watering our landlord's plants I was nibbled on by quite a few bugs. One in particular, on the inside of my left thigh, began itching immediately. Being bitten, however, since living in the shoebox is nothing new, so I shrugged it off and went about my day.
At 7:00 this morning, when I headed to work, I noticed that the bite had swollen to 3" in diameter. Hm... no ordinary mosquito. Must be another spider bite.
At 1pm this afternoon after arriving home from work I notice that the swollen area has spread another inch all the way around. Needless to say I'm not feeling too great about this.
Alan heads to work about 2pm and Adeline and I took a nap then a walk (once we woke up :). At about 4:30, after the walk, I notice the redness is getting worse and it hurts to walk. Hm... not good. I called Alan at work and he encouraged me to try to do some research online after calling friends to see if anyone might be able to come over to sit with Adeline while I borrow their car to head over to the ER. Mind you I'm not thinking this is necessarily an emergency, however the Dr's office is closed and it's a weekend and I'm thinking this needs to be looked at.
I secure the help of a friend and moments later - about 5 - Alan calls back and says he's in the car on the way home to take me to the ER. Turns out he did some research of his own and discovered it was better to go to the ER and he knew me well enough to know that's it's something I really didn't want to do on my own. At least we would get to spend a couple hours of our anniversary together!
Once I finally saw a Dr in the ER he said it might actually be a tick bite and because they can carry Lyme Disease it was good I came in. He put me on antibiotics and gave me another drug for the itchiness. I should be feeling better by Monday.
We went to the pharmacy to drop off the Rx's and then went to the grocery store while we waited. We picked up some fried chicken for dinner, ate it in the car, then picked up the Rx's, headed home, then Alan left again for work to finish up his shift.
So that about brings us to the current time. Thankfully we learned early on that less is more as regards anniversary celebrations so of the five we've had, this one is actually pretty okay ;-).
By the way, Adeline said "up" today :). So many words!
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