Welcome, Spring!!

                                           :) Welcome new followers, Teresa Wood of
                             A Life Made Simple, and IrishDon--my brother! Glad to have you with us!!

Okay, so I have been meaning to post since March 21st, and welcome Spring. Here in South Georgia, we have been having some beautiful weather! All the azaleas have bloomed, and I wake up to all of the little bird songs. Boy, are they happy! Sometimes I think about how nice it would be to live a simple life!! My Daughter Melissa and Grandson Dylan stayed with us almost a week while they were having their bathroom remodeled. Of course, he's Grandma's snuggle bunny first thing in the morning! One particular morning he woke up early, climbed up in my lap, and asked to sing the birdy song! I thought it was just too early to be singing, but.....!

Here's the song:

Way up in the sky
the little birdies fly
way down in the nest,
the little birdies rest.

With a wing on the left
And a wing on the right
The little birds sleep
All thru the night

SHHH!! (quiet)
They’re sleeping

(really loud)
The bright sun comes up,
the dew falls away,
"Good morning, good morning!"
the little birdies say.

Since Dylan has been born, we have been waking up the birds together, and he loves this song!

In the last 3 weeks, besides some bright spots with the family, I have been struggling with my health. No surprises there!!! Doctors Appointments, Lab Work, Ultrasound, Chest X-ray, and more Doctors Appointments! My primary care checked me out again, and sent me to 2 specialists, a Gastroenternologist, and an Endocrinologist. The Gastro was a complete jerk, and I'm just not going to talk about it!! The Endocrinologist was a wonderful Doctor, and I had a very thorough exam.  He's putting me on a medicine for Diabetes in the form of a once a week shot. (Not insulin) I pray this goes well! During the thorough exam, all of my reflexes were checked. Usually they only do the knees. Unfortunately, we found out that both of my ankles had no reflexes. Pretty hard to deal with!! I've known for some time that due to Diabetic Neuropathy,  my feet were nearly lifeless. They feel nothing! So now I have the proof from the Doctor! No matter how I have tried to prepare myself for this news, it is unreal! First the eyes, now the feet! Sarcoidosis and Diabetes are the enemy!

Moving Down The Simple Path,
Robin

New Year and...

:) Welcome to our new Follower, Claire123!  It is so wonderful to read about a teenager who has dedicated her life to God.

Well, Hubby coughed through Christmas and into New Year with Bronchitis. Then he passed it to Alexis, and then finally me. We are just now getting to the place where we feel better. Yesterday was the first day Alexis and I had gotten outside in awhile. We spent about an hour and a half sitting outside with my Mother on the porch. It was a beautiful "Fall" day in the middle of Winter. The tempature was pleasent with a cool breeze. Someone was also burning leaves, so that Fall smell was in the air also.

In contrast,  today was a rather rough day for me. I have been feeling rather weak and it is increasingly difficult to walk. Due to the Sarcoidosis and Diabetes, I have nerve damage in my feet and legs (and hands) and will be getting a wheelchair soon. As I am only 50, this is sometimes hard to take.  It will mean that I get to participate more in life, such as going to the Grocery store. My bout with depression today goes to the deeper thought of potential amputation, if my leg condition worsens. I pray alot and really try to stay upbeat, but somedays it gets the best of me anyway. Today was just one of those days!

On a lighter note--I am very excited about our nutrition plan! Due to all the illness since Christmas,  we've had to put things on hold. We plan to get geared up very soon, and I plan to write a post about it.

Would welcome any comments, and prayer requests.


                                                           Moving Down The Simple Path,
                                                                            Robin

Going Vegetarian...

We have been researching information on nutrition, health, and wellness for the past few years. What we have found has led us to a vegetarian diet. Mike was a vegetarian for eight years prior to us getting married. After we married, he joined in with me on my "all-you-eat buffet" diet and gained some weight. He has started having health issues, such as Diabetes, and decided that we all need to make better food choices for our family. Alexis became a vegetarian about six months ago and loves to prepare food such as Vegan Vanilla Pancakes, and Fruit-Soy milk Smoothies. Mike and I became vegetarian in September of 2011. Let me confess here that although my husband and daughter are strict vegetarians, I am a cheater! Although I know that it is not good for me, I sometimes crave meat. (and sometimes eat it!)

I am so excited about what happened to me only two weeks in to being a vegetarian! I couldn't even believe it while it was happening! Having a healing crisis can be very scary, especially when you don't know it's going to happen. I began to have extreme pain deep in my sinus'. It felt like something going Pop! Pop! Pop!. Not to be gross, but it seemed a lot of mucus was leaving my body that was tinged with blood. I was almost concerned enough to go to the Emergency Room, but if you know me you know that I reserve the ER for Life-Threatening emergencies only. The pain was overwhelming! Even though this Healing Crisis lasted about a week, I could already breathe better that first night! Praise the Lord! Due to the Sarcoidosis, and the Sinus issues (Infections and Polyps), I had not been able to breathe this deeply and clearly in decades! The vegetarian diet is a non-inflammatory diet, and my body has responded  well because the Sarcoidosis is an Inflammatory disease. My Sinus' have been healed by eighty to eighty-five percent. Hallelujah!!

Also, even though I am still overweight, I have recently lost over 60 pounds. Yay me! We are always looking at ways to improve our health and wellness. We are also into supplementation, and I will talk about that in another post. More on some alternative theories as well...

Moving Down The Simple Path,
Robin