December 2013

Now you know why I have not updated our blog ...  

I was sitting on my hands trying to keep a secret !

Yes, I'm going to be a Grandmother. Jeremy and Sarah are expecting their first child and it's exciting to know that "Baby Grand" will join us sometime around June 1, 2014. 

We hung this little pair of booties on our Christmas Tree and I'll soon be mailing them to Sarah and Jeremy so that they can hang it on theirs as well.  It seems a long time off before two little feet will fill those shoes but I do know how time flies as it seems to stand still.  They will soon find that out, too, as this little one's birthdays start to fly by but for now, the wait for the birth day creeps along.

We are still volunteering in Oregon with Hard Hats for Christ at the Mountain Ministries Women's Life Skills Center. On September 18th we crossed the one year mark for this facility to be open. A couple of weeks ago Mountain Ministry had a special person graduate from the Women's Program. The first graduate who came into the program HERE at the Rainier facility. (All the other women who graduated before her entered into the program when the women were still living in the small guest house next to Gary and Fay's home.)   In the past year the old bus garage was changed into a residence for the directors of the women's facility (kitchen and bathroom added)... the 3rd floor of the old school building is now the home of Shiloh Christian Fellowship and the Mountain School... Heart Change uses the 2nd floor for their retreats and the cafeteria and gym on the 1st floor were brought up to code.

Lou has been well and kept quite busy helping with the maintenance and remodel of the buildings as well as getting the raised beds in the garden built. We've had our own repairs to do, too. He had to replace the fridge in our truck camper in April and then he had to replace the replacement in June and then that one failed in August as well! At least the cooling units were under warranty.  At that point we asked for our money back and had a cooling unit by a different manufacturer installed by a dealer in Portland. So far, it's been working fine.

I stayed busy with the needs of women in the program more than before.  I was not here the summer of 2012.  (We went back to Michigan for Jeremy's & Sarah's wedding.) but by the summer of 2013 many were dropping by to chat, pray together and get a hug. I enjoyed being here for them and I really could not go anywhere else due to health issues.  I had some swelling and pain going on in my legs and ankles and until we figured out what was causing it, I mostly stayed inside our motor home. I think I was getting sick the summer of 2012 but I didn't realize it. Once we got home from being gone five months, we were busy catching up. After the new year was when I realized that my ankles and legs were puffy. I just figured I needed to walk more. By the end of January I knew it was more serious. We needed to find someone that could treat this. I'm going to call the person that treated me a Chiropractor but he's a lot more than just a chiropractor. He got me started on kale/spinach/parsley cleansing drinks. They helped but  I would be better and then relapse. Took about six weeks to figure out that my sleep apnea machine was part of the problem. Disinfected it with distilled vinegar and tea tree oil. I was still having ups and downs all summer but thought I was making progress. After Labor Day's grand feast of corn on the cob and hamburgers I felt awful. I had an appointment with my chiropractor the next day and that was the day he handed me a list of foods to stay away from. I felt better in a week than I'd been all summer. Bingo. All I needed to do was watch what I ate. The next four weeks I improved until I walked into a Burgerville.  I wasn't even going in there to eat. I just wanted to use the bathroom. Lou ordered coffee and fries. I did not even touch a fry and my ankles and legs began to swell so fast and so bad that I could feel them "popping". We headed to the Chiropractor and he confirmed it.  I was having a reaction to the oil laden air inside the fast food place just from BREATHING it.That was a moment of reality.  I'm on the mend now. I react to wheat, soy, corn, cooking oils, beef ...  Actually its easier to tell you what I can have.  I can have salmon, tuna, chicken, almonds, almond milk, eggs, rice, sweet potato, squash, kale, spinach, parsley, lemons, coconut and butter.  That's my core menu and after strictly sticking to it for weeks... I've found I can sneak a little of this and that (including chocolate) as long as I don't over due it.  I'm convinced that all of that talk about GMO (genetically modified grains and corn) food being bad to eat...has merit. Drinking ionized water has merit, too.

Well, that's more about me than I thought I was going to write but I hope that it might help someone figure out what might be a health issue for themselves or someone else they know.

If you'd like to see a few pictures from 2013...  CLICK HERE
Just to show how the years have flown by, I've put some "then and now" pictures together of some of our loved ones.  

We wish you a Merry Christmas and a Very Happy New Year in 2014.
Hugs,
Kathy and Lou