For years my husband has been feeling run down and ill.  Every visit to the doctor resulted with the same diagnosis -- stress and poor diet. His doctor got to the point that he would just tell him that nothing was wrong.

In early November, his sister called and told us that she had tested positive for Celiac (Silly what? was my response). I researched it on the net. After looking at several of the sites, I realized that my beloved had most of the symptoms. I sent him in to see his doctor. His doctor wasn't available but an associate was. The associate flat out told him that he didn't have it because he was too "bulky" and didn't look malnourished. He gave him the orders for a blood test. The day before Thanksgiving we received a call with the results. He had Celiac.

After the holiday, we were told that he needed to keep eating gluten until he met with a gastroenterologist. After meeting with the gastroenterologist, he now has an appointment for an endoscopic biopsy of his esophagus and his small intestines. Unfortunately, he couldn’t get an appointment until January 17^th. And yes, he still has to eat gluten until then. It is hard to keep feeding him things that will keep making him sick. I understand why they want him to keep eating gluten and I am sure that it would be worse to give up gluten for a few weeks then eat it again and then give it up.

The children’s test results are in and they are all not positive. I say not positive because a negative doesn’t necessarily mean that you don’t have Celiac. There are false negatives but not false positives. 

I gave up grains and sugars in June (because I don’t feel well when I eat them and I don’t drink enough water and then my kidney stones move and cause problems). For the rest of the family, I am going to have them all give up gluten when my husband does for at least 6 weeks and see if some of the health problems that the children suffer lessen or disappear.

Please keep us in prayer because it will be a huge change (we live on pasta and flour tortillas and toast). It also means no pizza hut or restaurants (which is really better for us and for our budget). My husband doesn’t pay attention to food. He will just eat anything so he will need extra awareness that he doesn’t just pick up food that other’s offer. It will be a huge re-education on his part. He also needs an understanding that this is for life. If he starts eating or continues eating, he will continue to get sicker and be more likely to get cancer. Thanks for your prayers.

Last year, my nephew gave me a lump of charcoal for CHRISTmas (along with a very nice gift card) but not this year.

My nephew, my niece and a friend of theirs who my sister took under her wing decided to buy my sister a Wii for CHRISTmas. In October, my sister went to a youth workers convention and played her first Wii game. She developed a Wii bowling problem over the 4 day conference. When she came back, all she could talk about was the Wii game. The aforementioned trio decided to aid and abet her addiction. My nephew was in charge of procurring the system, my niece with wrapping and the friend was going to contribute a third of the price. After weeks of fruitless searching (okay, knowing my bachlor 27 year old nephew -- he probably looked at whatever store he was forced to go into but didn't really search out the stores. But I will cut him a little slack since he is starting to court), he turned the task over to my niece. But by then, the Wii frenzy had hit and there wasn't one to be found here, there or anywhere. So on Thursday, my niece asked for my help because she wouldn't pay e-bay prices. I told her that BlessedXbyXGod said that she heard that Wii's were being delivered to Target, Bestbuy, and ToysRus on Sunday. I told her to stand in line early because I didn't want to miss church (now if it was Sat. I would have been all over it).  She didn't want to miss church either so .... It looked like my sister would be Wiiless this Christmas. I checked the tech blogs and one of the blogs advised checking Targets at different intervals because Target puts Wii's on the shelf at random times.

So if you are looking for a Wii this CHRISTmas (and don't want to pay e-bay prices) try stopping at Targets. You never know when you will be blessed.

My step-dad's funeral was last week. It was the first funeral that I had the responsibilty of helping to plan. 

When my dad died, I was only 8 and he died in the VA hospital so they did everything. I am not sure that my mom had many decisions to make.

In 1998, my sister's mother-in-law died and her father-in-law was not prepared (even though she had cancer for more than 2 years, they never wanted to think the unthinkable).  After she helped with all of her mother-in-law's arrangements, she sat my parents down and made them see the wisdom of planning ahead so that no one had to make any decisions in the midst of grief. 

My parents took her advice and bought a buriel plot and made all the arrangements regarding the burial. However, they never made arrangements for services, etc.  Trying to figure out a service that comforted my mom but didn't disrespect the man my step-father was became quite a challenge.

My mom was raised in church. Her family is an open casket family. My step-father had no interest in religion or any relationship with the Lord, didn't want an open casket or a mortuary service. He wanted no more than a few words at graveside and be done with it.

After working with my mom that the service was for the living and not the dead so that she wouldn't feel guilty about doing more than he would wish, we spent a long time a picking things that did not falsely represent his beliefs nor offend ours.

My mom and sister's pastor did the service (which was quite a challenge since the pastor had never met him and we told the pastor about his opinion of religion).  I am not sure how my pastor would have handled it.  The service went well. We had a reception afterwards at my mom's house. 

My step-father was quite a man.

He was the second of three. All three were sent to an orphanage. He was there until he reach adulthood.  He served in Korea from 1950 to 1953. He was a deep sea diver. He dove for abalone. He was also a tool and dye machinist. He worked for a Howard Hughes company (and even shook his hand once). He worked on the lunar rover.

When he was 40, he married my mom. She was 34 with two daughters (aged 10 and 12). For a confirmed bachlor, it was quite a leap.  He didn't know how to handle us but he did what he could to make sure that we didn't get in trouble (I don't think he ever realized how much we would have loved us if he knew how to let us). They were married for 36 years. 

He changed my life in so many ways. At the tender age of eight, I had become involved with the occult but I lost that involvement when we moved (my parents never knew). Before they married, my mom's work moved about 40 miles south of our home. (She didn't learn to drive until after my dad died and it took her about 20 years to get used to driving on the freeway). He decided it would be better if she lived closer to her work (even though it added an hour to his commuteme ). So they purchased a house. Thinking ahead, he made sure that the house was within walking distance of an elementary school, a middle-school, a high school, a community college and a church. (He figured that they would never have to drive us anywhere and that we'd never ask to borrow the car).  He introduced us to camping and pets. He made sure that we didn't get into too much trouble by giving us tough restrictions and rules (something we had never had before because my dad was sick most of my life and my mom had to work full-time).  The best thing that he ever did was to make sure that we went to church even though he did not believe in God (something that he always made sure that we knew). Both my sister and I came to have faith because he made sure that it was our only social outlet (he figured we couldn't get into too much trouble at church and Bible study). By the time I moved out (at age 20) to go to school, we had started to become a recluse.  For years, he wouldn't see my sister and we weren't welcome into their home very often (my mom would come to see us).  When her youngest was in school, he decided that having them around wasn't so bad.  By the time I got married, he would let us come over.  My oldest child was the first baby he had held since his younger sister was a baby (he was 61 then).  In his last few years, he became more reclusive. He'd leave the house 3 or 4 times a year to go to my sister's for holidays. But other than that, he'd only go to the doctors or take the dogs out for a walk.  We will miss him. 

My mom is doing okay.  We are a family that grieves by doing so we spent the week before the funeral, cleaning and redoing the house (something that he didn't want to face the last 7 or 8 years). Now, she is back at work (she does home care for the "elderly" --her words not mine).  She had never lived on her own before so we spend a lot of time with her.  We are still trying to get her to eat without one of us (or one of her clients) eating with her.  She just doesn't want to eat alone or at home (but she can't afford to take us all out -- nor can we afford to go out and she is not ready for us to cook for her).  We are also working on getting her "affairs" in order so we know what to expect if something happens to her.

Please keep us in your prayers as we try to minister to her and as she settles into a new life.