Ch-ch-ch-changes

We have always been immensely grateful that are children are reasonably healthy. No major health issues have arrived thus far, and we know we are blessed. That being said, we still deal with 'uncommon' issues with both of the girls. What is so frustrating about their 'uncommon' issues, is that over the last 4 years for Haven, and 1 year for Tessa, we can not find a cause or a solution for their troubles.

Haven has had reflux, eczema, heart scares, and failure to thrive throughout her life. Yes, she is adorable and tiny..but as a mother...tiny isn't a great word to hear for your growing child. We have been on medication, used several different methods to control the eczema, and have tried our best to feed our children a healthy well-balanced diet. All of this to no avail. Haven's symptoms have grown into almost daily stomach pain and severe irritability. We have thought malnutrition, cystic fibrosis, ADD, ADHD, giftedness, appendicitis, and many more hypothesis with no conclusion throughout her entire life.

Tessa, although, much healthier and heftier in appearance, and with the least amount of symptoms, has it the worse. For about a year we have dealt with chronic constipation. And that feels like an understatement. Not to get into the gory details, but we have to plan our schedule around her bathroom problems. She will *try* painfully for DAYS to do what should come naturally to her on daily basis. She has hemorrhoids, and stomach pain constantly. She is TWO. We have made many attempts to correct or at least lessen the problem for the past year. Again, to no avail.

There is light now at the end of the tunnel! We have recently discovered some wheat/gluten intolerances/allergies in our family, which could be celiac disease. It is hereditary. While reading about the signs/symptoms it was like a breath of fresh air! This truly fits both of the girls symptoms and attitudes. While I am definitely NOT hoping the girls have celiac disease, if they do at least we have found the problem and can work on a REAL solution.

So while we are waiting on test results, we have decided to begin a gluten-free diet anyway to see if it makes a difference in our sweet girls...

Gluten is in EVERYTHING (not literally but close to it) so this will be a challenge for me, as I already struggle budgeting/cooking/cleaning for 5 already, but time will make it easier!

Some changes around our dinner table ..

Things we are avoiding: (unless specifically made gluten-free)

Packaged foods/meats/cheeses
Lunch meat
Sausage
Instant cocoa
Canned soup/broth
Pizza
Fried foods (including french fries...Haven will DIE)
Pasta (AGH!)
Wheat, rye, barley, and most all other grains and things made with them (basically everything we love)
Yogurt (some do not contain gluten)

Things we will be eating aLOT of:

ORGANIC, ORGANIC, ORGANIC
Fresh fruits and veggies..I just invested in a juicer so fresh juice for everyone! Yay!
Nuts
Meats (no breading, marinades, or commercial seasoning {unless gluten-free})
Things made with cornmeal
Corn tortillas
LOTS of homemade gluten-free bread/brownies/cookies

Although I have always strived to be healthy, I now have a great reason to be even better. I am looking forward to seeing the changes in everyone's health.

It will be challenging, but I am psyched to start making my own juice, making lots of our own food, growing a small garden, and getting the girls their own cute little Hello Kitty toaster. (to avoid cross-contamination of course) ;-)

If you have any tips for dealing with Celiac Disease or have any great healthy recipes, please share!!

Have a blessed day!!

Abby

Two losses, four sicknesses, and (possibly) three new additions..

Wow...the last 14 our so days have been a whirlwind. My husband's step mother passed away very tragically. He flew down on Valentine's Day to be with his dad, who is not only doing poorly from the loss of his wife, but having relapses with certain unmentionable addictions. You can imagine the sorrow and stress my husband and father-in-law were (and still are) going through.

While my husband was away I experienced another miscarriage. This will have been my second one in the last 18 months. Its hard enough to go through that on your own, but especially challenging when your love is away. The night I lost the baby, both of the girls were up with 102 degree fevers and vomiting. Wow...what a night. The next day all four of us had ear aches, fevers, and were just miserable.

Somehow by the grace of God, I kept my cool. I never was very upset or woe is me. God is absolutely amazing to have held me in His arms during this especially challenging time in our family. He has kept me looking forward and kept me out of despair.

So on with the good news....

My husband and I have always talked about adoption. It has been on my heart since I was a little girl. Even though I have always thought we eventually would, it has never been a serious thought...until now! Somewhere in the midst of all the loss and heartache, God put an urgency on my heart and my husband's to adopt now! We are not ready! But God says we are and we are thrilled. We are in the process of getting everything done to adopt here in the US from foster care. There are so many things I could be worried about, but I have none! NO worries..no inhibitions...I just feel like its time and God is going to take care of it. And another thing...I believe we have already found our future child(ren). YES! CHILDREN!! Three little boys...5,4, and 1...a sibling group, that I have fell in love with! My husband thought I was crazy! Then when he returned from his visit with his dad, and saw their pictures... he fell in love too! That would very quickly make our family of 5, a family of 8!!

All the hard times we have endured in the last month, are still heartbreaking, but God has given us a new and fresh vision and that has given us joy and hope.

I look forward to sharing more (great) information when we learn more about our new endeavor into adoption!

Introducing our family to the world of blogging...

I have had an account for quite a few weeks now, and have been hesitant about what to write as my first blog. This is a new concept to me, but an idea that is quite charming. Helping me to keep up with family, make new friends, be inspired and humbled by others, and to have an outlet for my daily going-ons. So, I have started an entry several times, but always deleted it. I finally came to the decision that my first entry should be an introduction of myself, my family, and our beliefs. Here goes....

My name is Abby. I am many things, but mostly a work in progress and an ever involving creation of God. Not saying that everyone isn't those two things, but those two things have been a big realization in the past few months to me. I am the daughter of a King, the King of Kings...isn't that amazing?! I am a 24 year old homeschooling mom of 3 amazing blessings that God has loaned me. I am a wife to my best friend, high school sweetheart, and military man. I am daughter to very loving, understanding, and giving parents (who are also amazing grandparents). I am a sister to a brother and a sister-in-law I love deeply. I am an amateur photographer. I am also a soon to be home daycare provider. I am sure the list could go on, my interests and habits change constantly...but these are the 'titles' I am working on at the present moment.

My husband and I home school for mostly religious reasons, but since deciding to do so we have discovered so many wonderful reasons to home school. We absolutely are passionate about it and excited about what God is doing in our children's and OUR lives through homeschooling.

We are a military family. We have been through two deployments in the past 5 years, and countless separations due to training and other various military type things. I have a love/hate relationship with 'belonging' to the military, but as always try to be as positive and thankful for the path God is leading us down. My husband's job as of Sept. requires him to be in another state for 5 days of the week, home again for 41/2, and then gone again for 5. Really wouldn't be so bad, if he actually got to spend time with us on his days off, but so far ends up having training..paperwork...tests...So ya, not loving this new job too awfully much. :)

Our children are the absolute utmost important thing in our lives. They are just awesome. There are no words to explain what being a mother is like, until you are one yourself. Our oldest, Gavin, is 5 as of June. Middle, Haven, is 4 as of Sept. Baby, Tessa, is 2 as of Jan.

Gavin is an artist. A creative thinker, who is very emotional yet straightforward. At his worse, there is no reasoning with him and all that helps is helping him to rely on God and cry out to him. I am so thankful he is learning to depend on the Lord at such a young age. BUT at Gavin's best, he is sweet, extremely loving, compassionate, thoughtful, and the best helper I have!
He loves Legos, building things, drawing and painting, singing, and being read to. His favorites so far are Chronicles of Narnia and The Spiderwick Chronicles. Although, he did show quite a bit of interest in Little House in the Big Woods.

Haven is my free thinker. A daydreamer and independent. At times she is difficult and downright impossible to be patient with, but we are learning to be patient while she is learning to be more controlled. This will be a lifelong path for all of us I am sure of it. She is very compassionate, but only when she feels like it. Helps out greatly when motivated. She has some of the most beautiful imaginative ideas, loves animals, and has a soft spot for creepy crawly things and snakes because (in her words) "they are so small and no one seems to like them very much" I fear this is a way she sees herself, so promoting self-worth and self-love are a main goal with our little Miss B Haven. ;)

And lastly but no leastly...Our little Tessa Gail. She is a ham!! She has always had one of the calmest spirits of our whole brood. She is a Mama's girl, and doesn't care whose feelings she hurts by showing it. She loves to eat, eat, eat!! She is a dancer and loves music and has since the very beginning. We all believe she is quite intelligent and sometimes startles us a bit at what she 'knows' at her age. Although she has always been advanced in fine motor skills, and language skills, she did not walk until she was 18 months old!! She is definitely our baby and everyone treats her so.

So that is us. The Norwood 5. Other interests we have:
being green, dogs, outdoors, camping, anything involving water or nature, LOVE music, playing instruments, singing, art, photography, gardening, learning to be more efficient and organized, and all that jazz...