Friday, June 29, 2012

Tuesday and Being Anxious

Tuesday, Dawson has his MRI and Neurology appt.  ~ Please pray?

These last two week have been a struggle for me.  Sick, traveling, hosting, getting ready for a garage sale…. feeling a bit dry in my spirit, ya know?

I was telling a girlfriend this morning, as we were walking, that I am a little shaky going into this one because of the "dryness."

Please pray I would be be focused vertically, on Christ and His perfect plans.


Philippians 4:6

New American Standard Bible (NASB)
 Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.

This is water to my crazy soul right now.

It has never been so obvious to me that I do not live on bread alone.

Justin and a friend reminded me to thankful.  I believe being thankful uproots anxiousness that easy tangles and chokes the life right out of a girl.

I have MUCH to be thankful for!

*A Great God that is relentless to pursue my heart!
*A husband that loves me even when I am ugly (and I am not talking about physically, although he is awesome about that too ;)).
*Kids that are fun and full of JOY!
*Friends, oh I have good friends!
*Great neighbors, I just love them!
*Family, still loving the time we had together.
*Motrin and replacement hormones, I am thankful.
*Nieces that are prego.  Makes my heart warm.
*Adoptions.  Such a picture of redemption.
*The fellowship that we are a part of and the men that are passionate about Christ!  Exciting!
*Line dry sheets.  Kinda obsessed with this one!

Be blessed, be thankful!

Thank you for praying!

Friday, June 22, 2012



"We need much less of Veggie Tales and Barney and tons more of the radical, bloody, scandalous message of God made man and crushed by his Father for our sin."


"At the very deepest level of what we do as parents, we should hear the heartbeat of a loving, grace-giving Father who freely adopts rebels and transforms them into loving sons and daughters."


~ Give Them Grace - Dazzling Your Kids with the Love of Jesus by Elyse M. Fitzpatrick & Jessica Thompson ~

Monday, June 11, 2012

Once Upon a Time….

...there was a little girl that was an only child.
She was much loved by her parents, but she knew she wanted to do things different.
So she married a man...



and had 4 girls.



These 4 girls became the best of friends [and the worst of enemies, at times ;)].



The four girls all got married and started having babies.



They cheered each other on saying "way to go sister, more babies, more babies!"



"More babies, more babies…. YAY for more!"




[leap frog - kinda]


Before The Sisters knew it… there were 22 babies!




And then….. their babies started having babies.





Now the family is large.
  Filled with treasures from above, and that little girl will now, one day soon, be a great grandma
 …. [and there will be more babies :)].


The End.
[well, not really…]

*all pictures were from this weekend as we celebrated Kole graduating! and Lashae's baby shower.  we missed you Rick, Seth, Katie and Chaney*

Monday, June 4, 2012

Ready Students?

The [hardly there, but growing daily :)] teacher in me is just busting at the seams to teach what we have learned through our experience with Dawson.

Pencils everyone, pencils.

Where is our pituitary gland?
pituitary: the master gland of the endocrine system; located at the base of the brain.


What is Diabetes Insipidus?

di·a·be·tes in·sip·i·dus/inˈsipidəs/

Noun:
A rare form of diabetes caused by a deficiency of the pituitary hormone vasopressin, which regulates kidney function



In laymen terms?  When the pituitary (the back half) quits telling (via hormone) the kidneys to hold or concentrate urine.


Interesting bit of history from our Neurosurgeon:  way back when….. Dr.'s would taste the urine to diagnose between diabetes millitus: tasting sweet, sugar and diabetes insipidus: lack of taste.


Big round of applause for those dedicated Dr.'s!  Another round of applause for new testing methods!  

Why did Dawson's pituitary do that?

We still do not know exactly.  What we do know is that the stalk of the pituitary gland is thickened, along with a visible bump on it [but remember!  it has DEcreased, beu.ti.fully REduced, thank you Jesus].  His pituitary gland also lacks the "bright spot" revealing the lack of hormone (therefore DI). 

What does living with DI mean?

It means, we give him a hormone (DDAVP) replacement morning and night.  It also means as long as he has DI, he will have an Endocrinologist. 

What is an Endocrinologist? 

These are our new best friends or better known as:

physician who specializes in the diagnosis and treatment of conditions affecting the endocrine system.

Ours are really nice and I am pretty sure they are the best in the west, literally. :)

What's next?

MRI on July 3rd.

What is an MRI?


Magnetic resonance imaging.

Dawson will go "under" again, and they will take pictures of the inside of his brain.  It's there - lots of brain (I saw it!) and I am pretty sure we will print a few images out for review in the midst of the teen years, j/k [maybe]. ;)

Why do we have to go to Stanford for an MRI?

Here, the images are 3 mm thick - Our Dr. wants 1 mm thick.

Now I will teach you 3 big words/phrases [that gave me instant diarrhea but now I am AOK to chat about them :)]:


Langerhans Cell Histiocytosis:


Langerhans cell histiocytosis (LCH) is the most common of the histiocytic disorders and occurs when the body accumulates too many immature Langerhans cells, a subset of the larger family of cells known as histiocytes.  Langerhans cells are a type of white blood cell that normally help the body fight infection.  In LCH, too many Langerhans cells are produced and build up in certain parts of the body where they can form tumors or damage organs.

My definition :  Bad.  A disease that goes around and does bad things - all over.  Treatment is similar to that of cancer patients.  Large spectrum tho.


Lymphocytic Hypophysitis:


Lymphocytic hypophysitis is a rare inflammatory condition affecting the front portion of the pituitary gland and the pituitary stalk, or the connection between the back of the gland and the brain. ~UCLA Health System


My definition:  Naughty but fairly friendly.  We do nothing and basically, it's weird inflammation that causes trouble.


Germinoma:



Brain Tumor: Germ Cell Tumors (Brain)

Alternate Names: Germinoma, embryonal carcinoma, endodermal sinus tumor, teratoma

Definition

These tumors arise from various types of "germ cells" found in the brain. Different types of germ cells give rise to different types of tumors, including germinoma, embryonal carcinoma, endodermal sinus tumor and teratoma. These tumors arise primarily in two locations in the center of the brain, the suprasellar and pineal regions. Germ cell tumors can spread to other areas of the brain and spinal cord.
These tumors are very rare, accounting less than 4 percent of all newly diagnosed brain tumors in children. They are commonly diagnosed during adolescence, and boys are affected more often than girls.  ~ St. Jude Children Hospital 


My definition:  Bad.  Cancer.  Treatable.


These were/are the three possible diagnosis.  The reason I say "were" is because the LCH and Germinoma do not typically reduce, on its own.  We have not been given the inflammation diagnosis … yet.


One last phrase for you:


ANSWERED PRAYER:


What we got last Saturday from OUR Miracle-working, Mountain-moving, Awe-inspiring, Gasp-giving God!   


Class dismissed.









a giveaway you may want to enter.

My Sweet Friend Lovelyn has a drawing going on with amazing items!

I want each thing on there - everything is super cute!  AND you can help bring Esther home.  She has been waiting so long for a forever family.

Please go check it out and while you are there just look at the pic of Esther and her beautiful parents.  My Monday morning just got brighter.