Happy Anniversary!!

Last night, we celebrated 60 years of wedded bliss with Big Pa and Grandma!!

All of the grown-ups went to the Gaylord Texan Hotel for dinner and a fun time with the family!! We ate at The Riverwalk Cafe and it was beyond yummy!! I ate some of the biggest shrimp I have ever seen - not like the kind we get to eat at home!!

But most of all, it was so great to be together with two people who have shaped my life in more ways than I can count. Big Pa and Grandma have always had a huge impact on my life. They are a part of some of my earliest memories and still influence and positively affect my life to this day. It is really amazing to look back at how the hand of God moved them to do the things they did and how it all worked out to His glory. They are truly two of the most special people on the planet!! Love you guys!!

Here's the lovely couple --

Here's the whole gang --

Here's the magician that came to our table. In a word - amazing!!

Here's the special cake to remember this special day --

Here's Big Pa holding a special collage of pictures that included a picture of him as a boy, a picture of Grandma as a young girl, a picture of them as a young family with 2 small girls, and a picture of them now. Every family got one of these to keep! Very cool!!

Here's Grandma opening a box filled with cards and letters from friends and family, near and far.

Here's what it looked like inside --

You are loved by many!!

Finally, here's a close-up of the photos.

The best diet ever !!

OK - I'm being totally sarcastic!!

But it is the best diet for Luke, so we're going with it.

My mom and I met with a dietitian on Friday to get a handle on this "very complicated diet," as she put it. Luke will only be able to eat things that either contain no gluten (wheat, barley, rye, etc) or have not been in contact with those things (i.e. manufactured in the same plant). Parts of it seem very simple and parts of it seem very difficult. So far, he is doing really well with it. I think it is still new and different and he's gotten a lot of "special" things to eat that no one else is allowed to eat, so it's still ok.

The biggest challenge right now is keeping him fed and keeping everyone else fed, but not necessarily with the same things. It would be great to have the whole family on this diet, except that some of the foods are very expensive. While we aren't going to eat Little Debbie's in front of him, I can't afford to buy special bread or snack bars for everyone. So, for now, Luke has his shelf in the pantry and his shelf in the fridge and that is his stuff.

Just as a point of reference, we stopped by the Sunflower Shop yesterday just to get some things that are not at Walmart. I spent $18 and this is what I got:

They are (left to right) bread ($5), crackers ($5.50), cereal bars ($4.59), and cookies ($2.99). The bread is a tiny loaf and weighs about 5 pounds!! It is a little dry and very dense. So, I pay more, get less, and it doesn't really taste that good!!

Another hard part is the reading of labels. I am supposed to read every label of anything that I want Luke to eat EVERY time I put it in my basket. Just because something is ok this week doesn't mean that they won't change the recipe next time. That will add some serious time to my grocery shopping. She gave me a three page list of ingredients that should not be in anything he eats.

The easier part is that it should be fairly simple to do while we are at home. He can eat all meats, veggies, fruits, and most dairy products as long as they are not processed with some form of wheat. It gets a little trickier when we are out. Like today, we had Opening Day at the ball fields - parade, bounce houses, free hot dogs!! I packed Luke a lunch and he was happy to eat it. But later, he said he wanted to get something from the concession stand. I tried to explain that I wasn't sure what he could have from there but I would (on another day) try to see if they would let me read the labels of the food they sell so maybe he could have something. He said, "But Mama, I haven't had anything good to eat all day!!" So, I say, "Like, what do you mean 'good'??" He said, "Like a hot dog or something!!!" So, sometimes I think he gets it, other times, he just wants something "good"!!

Finally, a couple of other things I learned from the dietitian -

** Celiac is not an allergy to wheat - it is an autoimmune disease. When gluten enters his body, his body immediately begins to fight against it, thinking it will harm him. While some people are allergic to wheat, this is not that simple.

** Though Luke should never have another speck of anything containing gluten in his life, he doesn't have to have surgery or take any medication for the rest of his life. The GOOD news is that it is strictly treated by his diet. The BAD news is that it is strictly treated by his diet!!

The doctor called . . .

. . . and Luke has Celiac Disease. I had pretty much convinced myself that he didn't have it so it was a bit of a surprise.







He has been feeling so well the last couple of weeks that we were hoping that would mean we would get positive news.




The good new is that this is treatable - not curable, but treatable.

To know Luke is to love him - such a sweet boy!!

Pray that he doesn't miss his wheat products too much!!

:)


Is anyone else totally frustrated by blogger and the fact that what the post looks like while you're writing it looks nothing like that on the actual blog?? It's driving me crazy!!

Easter 2008

Happy Easter - 2008!!

While we couldn't wear our new Easter shorts, the weather turned out to be very accommodating!! And the kids always have fun, no matter the weather!

After a great morning at church, we headed down to Granbury to eat with Nana, Poppy, BigPa, Grandma, George, Edith, Pawpaw & Mawmaw Alexander, and Ryan, Shannon, and the girls.

Here are the highlights:

This is the "church" picture - before the hair was messed up and the clothes were wrinkled!!

Here are Grandma and BigPa with the boys.

Here's the pre-hunt picture! Thanks for the new shirts, Grandma Bagg!!

Here's Landry looking for red eggs!

Luke looks for yellow eggs!!

Parker reaches high with a little help from Dad!

Alex digs deep for blue eggs!!

And here are all the happy hunters!!

Thanks to Nana and Poppy and Grandma and BigPa for all the goodies and a fun day!!

Easter Egg Hunt 2008

Today was a beautiful day for an egg hunt!

The little boys went to the hunt at the church and the weather was SO perfect!! Too bad it isn't going to hang around for Easter!!

Here are some pics of the boys having lots of fun!!

It was kind of hard to get in front of Luke to get a good picture! He was on a mission!

Here's Landry at the beginning of his hunt! He decided that maybe getting all those eggs wasn't such a good idea after all!

But once he realized there was candy to be had, he changed his mind!!

Here they are surveying all the loot!

Spring Break Adventures

Today, my mom and dad took the boys and Meagan and Lexie to Fossil Rim Wildlife Park. It was such a beautiful day and the kids had a great time!! I will let the pictures speak for themselves!!

He did it!!

After what seemed like an eternity, Luke is finally done with his EGD. We were told to be there at 9:45 and after sitting in the room, gown on, doing nothing for 2 hours, Scott finally asked the nurse if she had any idea what our time frame was. She said we were next in line and, after about another hour, Luke went back (12:45).

The wait was too long for a lot of reasons. These included Luke not having had anything to eat or drink, but more importantly than that, it allowed his fears to multiply over and over. He went from being happy to crying to begging Scott and I to go back with him. He reminded me several times that his tummy didn't really hurt anymore so he really didn't need to do this!! It was so pitiful!!

Finally, the nurse brought his giggle juice which he was so excited about because he was so thirsty and he thought he was really going to get some great juice!! He drank it right down and so began the magic!! After a few minutes, he asked me to lay him down on the bed and he snuggled right in!! He smiled big as the nurse came and rolled him away!! After the morning we had had, only the medicine could have done that!!

After about 20 minutes, the doctor came out and said he was done. He showed us some pictures, mentioned one place that he thought could indicate Celiac Disease, or maybe not, and said someone would call us in 7-10 days! He way he put it, it sounded so simple: If he has the disease, you do the diet. If he doesn't, you don't! (as though the two were pretty much equal!!) Actually, they sound like night and day difference to me!!

Here are the pics to prove the fun we had!!

Before

After

On the way home

I have the "during" pictures if you'd like to see. It just seems kind of weird to put Luke's stomach and intestines on the world wide web for everyone to see!!

Good to go

Finally, we are almost to the big day! Luke is scheduled for his scope/biopsy tomorrow morning. We are supposed to be there at 9:45. When I asked her if there was a specific time Luke would be doing his thing, she just said that Luke had a few others ahead of him. Not really specific enough for me, but oh well!!

These are my thoughts at this point - I have debated back and forth at least 250 million times whether my gut feeling says Luke has this Celiac Disease or not. Every time I convince myself he doesn't have it, I am reminded of something that makes me think he definitely has it (and vice versa). My thinking now is that IF this is a condition where the symptoms can come and go, then he has it - because his symptoms have definitely gone this week. If it is something that should affect him at all times, then he doesn't have it. I know - I should probably be a doctor!!

My gut feeling is usually NOT right - I thought I was having a girl more than once - so I really don't trust that part of me! I guess that is why we are doing this test as it is the only way to know for sure. We will not know anything tomorrow so the waiting will continue!

Horton is a hit!!

We took the boys to the movies tonight and had a great time! It is getting harder and harder to find movies that everyone from age 11 down to age 2 is happy with, but I think we found it in Horton Hears a Who!

I found myself cracking up a lot (not everyone around me was, but I did a lot!) and really enjoyed the movie. Of course, it was predictable as all kids' movies are, but it definitely kept my attention. I would even see it again - and that's saying something!

I know not everyone shares the same taste in movies, so I'm kind of putting myself and my opinions out there, but I thought this movie was really cute!

Remember - A person is a person, no matter how small!!

Oddly enough, we got into a pretty deep discussion on faith with Alex after the movie. We decided that faith is lots of different things from believing your chair will hold you to believing that you hear a whole city in a speck of dust (movie) to believing that the God of the universe loves you enough to send his Son to die for you.

I see a lot of myself in Alex - right now he's questioning how God has always been in existence. How has He always been? He told me tonight he thinks about that questions every day! I totally remember struggling with that when I was a kid. For someone with a logical, black/white mind, it's hard to put that concept into a nice, neat package. I'm just glad to know he's thinking on those deep things in that little heart of his!!

If Jesus were on land

Happy Monday! It's Spring Break and I'm not sure I've ever looked forward to another Spring Break like I have this one!! We really don't have any amazing plans on the books but I am so ready for a break!!

We've had our good friends, Jacob, Joseph, and Faith over today. All has gone well, though it is interesting to hear the conversations when there are too many chiefs and not enough Indians!! It's happened more than once!!

Luke is doing well and I did talk to the nurse today. She said it can happen where the symptoms can come and go, but she did find it a little strange that he's been great since almost this time last week. He's eating like a cow so I guess that's a good sign!

Yesterday, on the way to church, Luke says to me, "Mom, did you know that some bad men put Jesus on a cross and put nails in his hands??"

Me: Yes, I did know that. That's kind of sad, isn't it?

Luke: Yes - those were really mean guys!

Me: Do you know what would make Jesus want to do that?

Luke: Because he wanted to save us!

Me: Yeah - he really loves us a lot if He would die for us.

Luke: I wish Jesus was on land.

Me: What do you mean??

Luke: Well, if Jesus was on land, I could give him a big hug!!

Update on Luke

We are enjoying a beautiful weekend as we wait not-very-patiently for Luke's biopsy on Thursday. Interestingly enough, Luke has been back to his old self since our appointment with Dr. O on Tuesday. He's eating like crazy, sleeping like a baby, and not complaining of stomach pain at all!! He thinks Dr. O has healed him!! I just wish we knew if this was his last week of eating normal food. What would we do differently?? Would it even matter?? If I knew it was my last week on the planet to eat anything with wheat, I would be going crazy eating everything in sight!! But that's just me!!

I'll keep you posted!!

Tuesday

Tuesday, March 11th

This day began at about 12:30 in the morning. Luke came into our room complaining about his stomach. It seemed that his day of having fun with wheat was coming back to haunt him! After an hour or so of fitfulness, he settled down and slept well. When he woke up, he was in pretty bad shape and wasn't able to go to school.

I really needed to see at least one student, so I took Landry to school and Luke stayed with my mom in her office. He went back to sleep and pretty much stayed that way until I picked him up.
Around lunch, Luke started to feel better. We chilled out at home while we waited for his doctor's appointment. Finally, the time came and we went.

To sum up what Dr. O had to say, Luke needs to have an EGD (esophagogastroduodenoscopy) as this is the only absolute way to diagnose Celiac Disease. His blood work says that this is probably what he has, but this scope must be done. In this test, Luke is put to sleep and they insert a tube through his mouth, down into his stomach. They will take little pieces of tissue from his esophagus, stomach, and small intestine. For the true detail people, the tube is 2.8 mm, so the pieces of tissues will be smaller than that. They will then slice that tiny piece of tissue into 50 slices and view it under the microscope!! Amazing!! About a week later, we will know if this is the dreaded disease!!

The test will be next Thursday, the 20th. Luke has to be on a regular diet until then and he has actually done very well today and since lunch yesterday. His appetite is minimal but his complaints are less.

Obviously, if he does have Celiac Disease, we are in for a big change in our eating habits. My mom has already done a lot of research and given me lots of good suggestions. While definitely life-changing, it could be much, much worse! This is not curable, but it is treatable.

On a lighter note -

My Grandma and Big Pa went to The Sunflower Shop and bought Luke a couple of things from the Gluten-Free aisle!! This totally cracks me up!! The box reminds me of those fake commercials from Saturday Night Live. "Perky-O's" are the gluten-free version of Cheerios. Maybe they make you perky, too!!

One of my favorite parts of the box says "For extra crunch, look for Perky's gluten-and nut-free 'Nutty' cereals." Oddly enough, their "nutty" cereals are nut-free!! Their nutty varieties include Nutty Flax and Nutty Rice!! Yummy!! The maker of these cereals is Enjoy Life Foods. Little oxymoronic, don't you think??

Just for the record, Luke had a small bowl of these and LOVED them!!

So, at this point in the game, we are waiting until next Thursday. Then we will see where this crazy journey will take us!!

Anyone else find it ironic that just ten days ago I was posting about the MercyMe song that asks Jesus to bring me anything that brings Him glory?? Yeah, me too!!

My sweet Luke

Disclaimer about this post -

If we have talked at all in the last week, most of this will be information you already know. The purpose of this post is to begin documenting the journey we might find ourselves taking. Ten years from now, if Luke says, "how did this all start?" I can point him here.

Saturday, March 1st

The journey begins (maybe) - Luke is feeling sickly most of the day and finally throws up. He feels reasonably better the next day or two, with the occasional complaint of stomach pain.

Tuesday, March 4th -Wednesday, March 5th

Luke functions normally but complains pretty regularly about his stomach hurting. At night, he is awakened several times crying about his stomach.

Thursday, March 6th

I call the doctor and ask whether or not Luke's seemingly constant stomach pain should be checked out. They agree it should and Scott takes him in. He has blood drawn and is instructed to produce a urine sample and a stool sample. They tell us the lab work should be back by the following Tuesday!

Friday, March 7th

Luke is pretty much just lying around at this point - not much energy, lots of complaining about his belly. Friday night was possibly one of the worst nights of our lives in the sleeping department. I know we weren't, but it seemed like we were up all night long. I remember begging him to go to sleep with me as I saw the sun beginning to come up!! In addition to the pain, he would literally kick and thrash around the bed, sometimes ending up at the foot of the bed. It was almost like he was having a night terror - totally out of his head!!

Saturday, March 8th

I called the doctor back to see if there was anything I could give him for his pain, since the Motrin didn't seem to be helping much. Because of an amazing God, Luke's doctor was working that Saturday and I didn't have to retrace the whole situation with a new nurse. She pulled his initial lab work report and said that I needed to come back in to the office because his labs were suspicious and that they were suggesting that he might have diabetes!! Wow!! That seemed a little crazy to be telling me over the phone, but I promised her I would bring him in!

When we got there, Dr. C explained why he thought diabetes might be an issue, but also said that his lab work wasn't a fasting lab, so the results might be different if Luke had fasted before the blood was taken. He did another quick check in the office and his blood sugar came back within normal ranges.

The other part of his lab work that wasn't good was his Tissue Transglutaminase Antibodies and his Gliadin Antibodies. The first was a 77 on a normal scale of 0-8. The second one was a 43 on a scale of 0-17. This was highly suggestive of Celiac Disease. Dr. C promised to call the GI doctor first thing on Monday and let me know how quickly we could get in to see him. In the meantime, we should take anything containing wheat out of Luke's diet until we saw the GI doctor.

As an aside, Luke decided that our time in the doctor's office would be a good time to go ahead and leave that stool sample!! I could do a whole different post on that, but I might lose at least 1 of my 4 loyal readers!! (I'm talking to you Deneise!!) Suffice it to say that was an experience like no other!!

So, we set out to find something for lunch that was gluten free and after much thought and deliberation, we ended up at Taco Bueno where I got Luke a small side order of chicken! Yummy! We did no gluten for the rest of the day and Sunday. Sunday proved to be a great day for Luke - little to no pain.

Monday, March 10th

Dr. C calls this morning after he spoke with Dr. O. Dr. O feels like there is a 90% chance that Luke does have Celiac Disease but, of course, wants to see him! He miraculously squeezes us in on Tuesday afternoon. Dr. C also tells me to put Luke back on wheat products. Even though it might make his pain return, he should eat even more wheat than normal! Excellent!! Luke feels great pretty much all day Monday and enjoys eating pretty much whatever he wants!!

I think this is getting too long!! I will finish later with the appointment with Dr. O and where we are currently in the waiting game!

You know it's going to be a bad day when ...

. . . you can't get out of the driveway without backing into your husband's car!!

Yes - that's what happened to me at approximately 7:25 this morning!!

I knew then that it might be an interesting day!!

Just for the record, there wasn't too much damage. That's my story - Scott's might be a little different. When a black Suburban collides with a smaller white car, there's going to be some damage!! Of course, I didn't mean to do it!! Why would I mean to do it?? I just totally forgot that I have to carefully maneuver around his car when I leave first.

It's a great way to start your day!!

I get the boys to school and go to the high school. There, I speak with several people, go up and down stairs, talk to students, etc etc. I am discussing one of my students with a teacher and suddenly realize that my right arm looks like it has a HUGE muscle where my bicep should be. I quickly finish the conversation and go to my "office," all the while thinking - what the heck is in my arm?? I close the door, reach my hand into my shirt, and pull out a sock!! Excellent!! Everyone needs an extra sock in their shirt making their arm look totally deformed!! Why I didn't notice this before I chatted with several people, I'm not sure!!

So, before 8:15 this morning, I had had an accident and found a missing sock in my shirt!!

Of course, it all ended well because it started snowing and that makes almost everyone happy!! The boys were thrilled and I snapped some pics of them playing in the serious snowstorm we got!! They're keeping their fingers crossed for no school tomorrow!!

I think I captured Landry's thoughts on the whole idea of snow and cold!!

A bloggy makeover

Well, this is the new home for the four great boys happenings!

My good friend, Emily, hooked me up with the people who designed her blog and I think they did a great job! The idea of blog design - it's a whole new world!! So, I hope everyone likes this space because it's here for a very long time!! I can totally see the boys being about 25 and saying - Mom, when are you going to change those pictures?? They're so old!!

Now, if I could get a personal makeover, I'd be good to go!! I could be nominated for What Not to Wear!! How cool would that be?? Or maybe in a few years, 10 Years Younger!!

Something to keep in mind!!

Guess who called??

When we got home from school today, there were a couple of messages on the answering machine.

Imagine my surprise in hearing, "This is Barack Obama and today is election day in Texas!!"

I'm thinking - Wow, that is really great of him to call us! I'm sure he's very busy today!!

I went in to check my email and the phone range. Parker answered it in another part of the house and a few minutes later came in very excited!

He said - Do you know who that was on the phone??

I said - No

He said - It was Michelle Obama!

Me - Who's that??

Park - You know - that Obama guy's wife!!

Me - What did she want?

Park - To tell me to vote for Obama!

Me - So, did you tell her you would?

Park - I couldn't talk to her - it was like a computer!!

When I told him to go listen to the answering machine, he was totally pumped!! He could NOT believe that Barack Obama would call our house!! So now, he is very interested in Barack Obama. Just a couple of days ago, he couldn't seem to remember his name and was calling him "Ooompa." He was trying to convince me NOT to vote for Ooompa and that I should vote for Hillary instead. When I questioned him as to why I should vote for her, he replied, "She has a great hair-do!"

So, apparently, good hair-dos and personal phone calls go a long way with the 8 year old set. Just imagine if 8 year olds could vote! What kind of shape would our country be in then??

And just so you know, Parker went ahead and got online after visiting with the Obamas and voted so that his new friend could win!!

Who knew you could vote online??

:)

Glory

Life stinks at times, and sometimes for long periods of time.

This is part of a song that I am loving currently. It's by Mercy Me and it so adequately sums up how our attitude should be about the stinky times of life. While it never seems natural to me to say, "I love trials and hard times - they really bring out the best in me," it is so awesome to see how God can lead you during these times.

And to ever get to the point where you can say "Bring me anything that brings You glory" is just a huge testament to a loving God that totally holds your life in His hand. Because when God does do something in your life that is so totally and completely GOD - and absolutely, positively nothing else - all you want to do is shout it from the mountaintops. God is truly amazing!!


Bring The Rain

Bring me joy, bring me peace
Bring the chance to be free
Bring me anything that brings You glory
And I know there'll be days
When this life brings me pain
But if that's what it takes to praise You
Jesus, bring the rain

Holy, holy, holy
Is the Lord God Almighty



The last little bit of Psalm 118 (The Message) says:

You're my God, and I thank you.
O my God, I lift high your praise.
Thank God- he's so good.
His love never quits!!