A homecoming

This week we received news that my grandmother (my dad's mom) passed away. Given her health over the years it wasn't unexpected. It is the timing that really shocked us. Next week we will be in Florida. This trip has been planned for months and the main purpose of the trip was to see Grandma Sarah. She would have met her great-grandson for the first time.

However, God isn't surprised. It's tough to understand the timing, but I know that it's in God's hands. There is a reason for the timing, even if we don't understand. And there is hope. My grandmother had professed faith in Christ. I believe she is being welcomed into heaven. She is in the presence of God. It is with that knowledge that we praise God. We know that a day will come when we can see her again.

Grandma Sarah, we love you and we miss you! Selfishly we want you here with us, but we know you are at peace in the Lord's loving arms. We thank God for the hope and peace that His loves brings.

 

Where can I go from your Spirit?
    Where can I flee from your presence?

 If I go up to the heavens, you are there;
    if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.

  If I rise on the wings of the dawn,
    if I settle on the far side of the sea,

 even there your hand will guide me,
    your right hand will hold me fast.

 If I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me
    and the light become night around me,” 

 even the darkness will not be dark to you;
    the night will shine like the day,
    for darkness is as light to you.

For you created my inmost being;
    you knit me together in my mother’s womb.  

 I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
    your works are wonderful,
    I know that full well. My frame was not hidden from you
    when I was made in the secret place,
    when I was woven together in the depths of the earth. 

  Your eyes saw my unformed body;
    all the days ordained for me were written in your book
    before one of them came to be.  

How precious to me are your thoughts, God!

    How vast is the sum of them! Were I to count them,
    they would outnumber the grains of sand —
    when I awake, I am still with you.

Psalms 139 7-18

Neurologist

Saw a neurologist yesterday. It was a pretty good appointment. He did a pretty thorough evaluation of my reflexes, nerves and balance. He felt that everything looks good and he does not think that anything serious is going on. As far as other tests go, we are holding off for now. Any other testing would be pretty invasive. More that likely it wouldn't tell him much anyway.

At this point I'm not sure he knows why I have these symptoms. He said it is possible that I am having variant migraines. Without more obvious symptoms it's a little hard to say. Fibromyalgia was also mentioned as a possibility.

I guess we will just keep hoping that I feel better! I am still praying that nothing serious is going on and that the symptoms will go away!

More health stuff...

I have been having some neurological problems for a couple of weeks. Mostly pins and needles in my hands and feet, vision problems, headaches and nausea.

I had a brain MRI and the results are normal. The vision tests show that I have some abnormalities in the vessels behind my eyes. At this point the eye doctor thinks I have pseudopapilledema and possibly optic disk drusen. What this means is that I could have some vision loss at some point. There is nothing that can be done about it and it is a congenital defect. This may explain some of the vision stuff. The good thing is that it doesn't look like papilledema (meaning increased intracranial pressure). The biggest concern (and mostly why I had the MRI) was brain tumors. So, the normal MRI rules that out!! Yay!

I am still having some symptoms. Some fatigue, visual disturbances and tingling in my hands and feet. I was offered a referral to a Neurologist. One other test that might give us information is a lumbar puncture. This would show if I have too much spinal fluid. At this point I am not in a hurry to do either. If I keep having problems then I will go see a Neurologist. I am kind of hoping that I just keep feeling better.

Things to continue praying for if you feel led: That I would feel better and be back to myself!! That the problem with my eyes is completely benign and that I will not have any loss of vision down the road. That any underlying issues would just go away :)

Welcoming the New Year

I seem to have unintentionally taken a break from this blog. It has been a crazy few months around here. We have had a fair amount of bad news lately. Since Halloween at least one of us has been sick. Aaron and I haven't had more than five days of health at a time before coming down with something else. I miscarried in December. There has been plenty of other stressful family issues as well.

God is good though. He has blessed us in so many ways. We have experienced so much peace over the last few months. He has blessed us with employment, great health insurance and good doctors. It was wonderful to spend time with family at Christmas. However, we are SO ready for the new year!

Here are some pictures from the last few months. We have had some fun this Fall/Winter!

Aaron feeding the chickens. He LOVES to feed
the chickens.

Hiking!

Our little guy.

Sledding in Grand Junction! You have to take advantage of any
amount of snow that falls in the desert!

Aaron and two of his cousins, Katie and Tyler.