Wonderful Lab Results :)

Today I saw Dr. Kolb and we discussed my lab work that was done last Friday. I was SO tickled at the numbers. Only one thing, chloride, was a bit out of range(only one point though)...but in looking at the overall pattern of this one element, it was not out of line really as it was always at the high end of normal...so nothing to be concerned about.

My Hemoglobin A1C, a measure of my overall diabetic control over a three month period, was 5.7. For a NON diabetic it should be 4.0-6.0....so I almost scored like a non-diabetic. Yea!!!!

My cholesterol was 98 (should be under 200....maybe 150 for a diabetic). My triglycerides were 73 (should be under 150), my HDL was 49 and my LDL was 34 (should be under 100).

My iron looks good (yea)!! as it has been low a lot in the recent past.

I have lost 21 pounds on her scales since I was there in March....and I was the lowest weight I have been in I don't know how many years?????

I am coming off my diabetes injections (remaining on the pill only) and also coming off of my two cholesterol meds as well. I will go back for follow up labs in 3 months, and if the numbers still look good, we may decrease those remaining meds a bit unless they are closer to getting too high.

I am excited to be on this journey to better health...and when the results keep coming in good, then it motivates me to keep on going :)

Thanks for your support and prayers. I truly do appreciate it.

below 100

Princess, our precious yellow lab, somehow ended up with an ear infection. So, on Tuesday (7-28-09) she went to the vet to be checked and to get meds for it. Well, as a standard procedure, they decided to weigh her...and yea!!!! She is now 99.4 pounds :) So, we only have 9.4 more pounds to go until our ideal weight is reached!!!

She loves going to the vet by the way...riding in the van....showing out by sitting and doing "down" and getting a tummy rub...visiting with other dogs and cats. She is by far the best dog we have ever had..so sweet and even tempered...but a bit hard to hold onto at that weight.

Her ear is already showing improvment...she'll be on antibiotics (oral and ointment) for about a week.

Summer fun.....

We have had a busy and fun summer..not so many organized activities as usual, but lots of different things going on. These pictures will tell a bit of the story :)Ben Aquila's 11th birthday at Connor's at Bridge Street...Abby, Abigail, Ben and Maddie
Abigail and Mary M. at the "tea" party at church...she does not dress up....so the hat was about the extent of it :)
Abigail and her cousins Ben and Maddie for the fourth of July at our house
Abigail and her swim teacher, Ms. Cassie at Redstone Arsenal Pool on Goss Rd.
Abigail and some of her friends who took swimming lessons at the same time
Abigail and a few of her close friends from church who came for over last weekend, along with Mrs. Jennifer who was their camp counselor
Four of the five girls who went to church camp as they loaded into the van...
Abigail, my little swimmer :)
Abigail's first visit to the doctor this summer about her sinus infection...it took two visits and some strong antibiotics to get rid of it.
Abigail and Bruce on Father's Day this year at the McDonald's in Scottsboro, AL where we met Mom and Dad to pick her up after she got to spend a few days with them in Georgia

Bruce and his new luggage...he ended up keeping the first set I bought him as an anniversary gift and returned the second one :)

Before and after....

We have been very blessed to have built our home in 1996....as a matter of fact, we were in the midst of building this time of the year 13 years ago. Well, over time, things do wear out and need to be replaced. We have been wanting to replace the flooring...and recently we were able to get one room taken care of thanks to a gift as well as the money we had already set aside.

Poor Rascal, who has been deceased for two years, often got sick and when we moved furniture, we could really see the damage his multiple sicknesses had on our flooring. Ick!!!



It is sort of hard to tell the new color and such, but it is a slightly more solid color....still very neutral though. Abigail loves it and wanted her picture taken just lying on it :) The pad is a nicer one...so it feels a LOT softer.

Weigh in time.....

Just a quick little tidbit of info.....

Princess and Allie have been on a quest for better health for a few months. Yesterday, they had a weigh in and showed some very positive results. Allie, the beagle, has lost 9 pounds since her last weight check. She is now pretty much at her ideal weight. Princess has lost anywhere from 15-25 pounds depending on which day the scales were correct..LOL! She now weighs 101 pounds and is only 10 pounds from her ideal weight.

I had another weigh in yesterday, and have lost a total of 42.8 pounds. I am still eating right and exercising regularly with a bit of jogging sprinkled in there. The rate of loss has slowed, and I have been on this trek for a bit over a year now. I feel good, and will be having labs done today, with a visit to the doctor next Friday to go over the results and with the suggestion to her that we make some changes/deletions in a medicine or two since nothing has been adjusted since I have lost weight. I am probably still at least 10-15 or maybe even a bit more from my goal....not sure what that really is, as I will keep on eating right and exercising and when my body stops losing, I will know that I have reached my goal :)

I am very grateful to the Lord for His help in this process. Without a lot of prayer and the support of my family and friends, this would not have been possible. But this time, God provided just what I needed and took away the distractions that made it more difficult for me in my past attempts. I am glad to be on the path to better health, so I can serve Him and my family and my friends much better.

Kid's Camp in review

It's hard to believe that three weeks have passed since Abigail left for Kid's Camp....and 2 1/2 weeks since she returned home. These are a few photos to give you a bit of an idea of what went on.

On Saturday, the girls who went to camp came over to our house to make a scrapbook of their camp memories....then their parents joined us for cookout/potluck dinner, along with Mrs. Jennifer (the camp chaperone) and her hubby. What fun we had :)

The girls...sporting a 'fun' attitude and lots of green since they were on the green team(which won the last day )
..green hair....notice Abigail's hair..she has her back to the camera
...being silly.....she is SO much like her daddy...
...hanging out on the bunk bed....these girls are good buddies..and they had a wonderful time :)

lots of things.....

I promise, I HAVE been taking photos....and soon,I will find time to upload and blog about some of them....

but.....for now....a few things that are going on in our neck of the woods

**Abigail is taking swimming lessons. She will finish this level on Friday (July 17), then we'll be done with the majority of our 'structured' stuff for the summer.

**Our new carpet will FINALLY be installed next week. I'll be sure to post before and after photos. Due to some production hold ups (evidentally, the carpet I chose is very popular), it took a LONG time to get the carpet made and delivered.

**I am still in the midst of teaching kids' scrapbooking classes. I have four remaining to teach. They are a blast. The children are having LOTS of fun and their books are just beautiful.

**Abigail is just getting over a nasty sinus infection and finishing the last bit of a ten day round of antibiotics. Hopefully she will not have any further relapses.

**In the midst of everything else, we have gotten in about ten school days since June first :) That is great! Because, we are going to need that insurance policy it looks like since our fall may get a little crazy...because just yesterday we found out.....

**Bruce will be having surgery in September on his right shoulder. The MRI showed damage more extensive than we had expected, and he'll be in a sling for 4-6 weeks with a LONG time of rehab to follow. He has to fulfill some work obligations/trips that will require him to set up booths and such at a trade show. Since that requires lifting and a range of motion he won't have for a while after surgery, we have to wait for the surgery. Unfortunately, the surgery will be two days before Abigail's tenth birthday :( I am sure we will have to shorten some school days to get him to doctor's appointments and therapy.....and I'll also have to think of a special way to celebrate her big day that is quite different than what we originally hoped to do because Bruce won't be able to help and probably won't be able to even participate. :(

SO....these are a few of the things that have been keeping our family on the go lately......

Kitchen Service

I have been participating in a Bible study at church based on a book called "Having a Mary Heart in a Martha World." It is a great book....one that has truly opened my eyes to a lot of different ideas about Martha and Mary..whom I used to always view as completely wrong and completely right before.

One of the chapters is called "Kitchen Service". There is a lot of background needed to explain that title....and I won't even try in the interest of space and time.....but I will say that one of the points of the chapter is that our lives should be lived in such a way, that when people see us, they know WHO and WHOSE we are, because they see our Lord and his love in us.

This one thing struck me really hard. "It's easy to fall into the hypocrisy of talking one way and living another--or to get so involved withour religious activities that we neglect to reach out to those around us."The bolded part.....GUILTY!!!! A little over a year ago, the Lord brought several different things into my life all at once that got my attention on just this matter.....and I had to really step back and look at things...say NO to some things I was doing 'for Him' and focus only on what I was truly supposed to be doing.

A quote from Dwight L. Moody follows this in the chapter...."Of one hundred men, one will read the Bible; the ninety-nine will read the Christian." Now, isn't that telling?

And, another reminder from the story of Mary and Martha....when Jesus rebuked Martha, He wasn't rebuking her act, but her attitude......for allowing it to irritate, agitate and absorb her. And, I had to ask myself, how many times had I tried to give SO much, that my attitude became wrong? How many times was I doing the right thing, but it was not what God wanted me to do (I failed to seek Him before jumping in to help?)

So, going back to a previous chapter, I will close with these thoughts from author, Joanna Weaver. "I realized then, that while there are many things that need to be done, things I'm capable of doing and want to do, I am not always the one to do them. Even if I have a burden for a certain need or project, my interest or concern is not a surefire sign that I need to be in charge. God may only be calling me to pray that the right person will rise up to accomplish it. What's more, I may be stealing someone else's blessing when I assume I must do it all."

That's a lot to think about, isn't it? To say "NO" when something needs to be done? And I can do it? And I want to? And others expect me to? Hmmmmm.....

She's gone.....

I can hardly believe my 'baby' is old enough to go to church camp/Kids' camp for the first time...but alas....she is. On Monday, I took her to the church and put her on a van with some other very giggly girls and one very brave chaperone.

This year the group was small...only five girls...but in a way I am very excited. These girls are the core of our youth group 'to be'..at least the 'female' core group in years to come. This is a great opportunity for them to begin to bond now...in a way that they'd never get to otherwise. They are in various grade levels...various parts of town...various schools...so this is a really awesome opportunity on top of the fact that they are getting some great teaching and having lots of fun.

Here is a photo of them checking in...well four of them anyway. The fifth girl was meeting them there a bit later on as she had to come over from a family function in Atlanta.

The photo is sort of dark, but Abigail is the third from the left. The people at camp took this photo and posted it on a parent site so we could log on and see our children. We had to dig thru hundreds of photos to find it..but I am pretty determined :)

If you think of the girls...say a prayer for them. They are scheduled to return Thursday afternoon...full of stories, giggles, and hopefully more full of things the Lord has taught them....and probably QUITE tired too.