How do you eat an elephant...

                                  ...One bite at a time!!



Well, hanging out around the bed and couch! Not much energy! Just finished a round of antibiotics and prednisone for Pleurisy. Still feeling blah! The good news is that I have found a new doctor! This one seems to be knowledgeable, thorough, and compassionate! The more pleased I am with her, the more upset I get at all of the others! Don't they take the same oath? I have always felt that I have fallen between the cracks concerning medical care during my 25 years with Sarcoidosis. My new Doctor discovered some new problems and may have just saved my life! Thank you Lord!!! :) My new Doctor is part of the M.D.V.I.P. Program. Check it out if you're looking for a really good Doctor!! You will pay an upfront fee, similar to a retainer with a lawyer. For your office visits, they file most insurance, just like other Doctors, with a co-pay. The great thing is that these Doctors are limited to 400-600 patients, which means you get more individual attention. (And a personal cell phone number)

"I can do all things through Christ which strengthens me." Philippians 4:13

About the elephant...we are moving toward a simple path but right now our lives seem pretty complicated! There is light at the end of the tunnel, but we have a major to-do list!! Between Hubby's full-time job, the additional work of the animal rescue, doctor and lab visits, and house-hunting for whats next, we are very busy!! Then add in giveaways, throwaways, sorting through boxes of books, and mounds of papers in order to down-size. Oh yeah, I need to help Melissa (My middle Daughter) get the rest of her furniture and belongings out of the master bedroom. YAAY--one whole room will be empty soon! And of course, we could always use a few more forever homes for our rescue animals!

Rental house at the lake in the country or park model travel trailer in the country near the existing animal rescue? Both appeal, and are smaller than our current house--a definite plus! I love just sitting outside and listening to the birds sing!! It makes me happy! Whichever one we decide, will be a more simple lifestyle, and require us to down-size even further. This is going to feel really good, but getting there is really a rough ride right now. Living a simple life is the goal and well worth the struggle!

                                                          Moving Down The Simple Path,
                                                                         Robin

One Obstacle--Sarcoidosis

One of our biggest obstacles that affects everything that we do is my
(Robin) disease of Sarcoidosis. Two months ago, very thankfully, I celebrated my fiftieth Birthday (Thank you Lord!!). That means that I have been suffering from this disease for half of my life. Even though I began getting ill near my twenty-fifth Birthday, I was not diagnosed properly for another ten years. After Mike and I were married and began talking about a more simple life, my disease seemed to be ramping up. We think that this may have had a great deal to do with the home we had purchased and recently moved into. It seems that our little nest had been extensively fumigated  with anti-termite  chemicals only months before we moved in. With me being somewhat of a "Canary", we believe that these chemicals helped to damage my immune system and allow the Sarcoidosis to flare.  Obviously, this took our focus off of most everything except my illness. I even had to abandon my dessert catering business, which i dearly loved. My disease has continued to progress over the years and three years ago it caused me to go blind. Part of our dream of a simple life is to bring my husband Mike home from full-time work to part-time as soon as we get some of the bills paid. This will allow us more time to be together.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
What is Sarcoidosis? Sarcoidosis (pronounced SAR-COY-DOE-SIS) is an inflammatory disease that can affect almost any organ in the body. It causes heightened immunity, which means that a person’s immune system, which normally protects the body from infection and disease, overreacts, resulting in damage to the body’s own tissues. The classic feature of sarcoidosis is the formation of granulomas, microscopic clumps of inflammatory cells that group together (and look like granules, hence the name). When too many of these clumps form in an organ they can interfere with how that organ functions.

In people in the United States, sarcoidosis most commonly targets the lungs and lymph nodes, but the disease can and usually does affect others organs, too, including (but not limited to) the skin, eyes, liver, salivary glands, sinuses, kidneys, heart, the muscles and bones, and the brain and nervous system.

An Introduction

  This blog will be a family project used to discuss our life journey together and help to navigate the path. Our small but close family of 3 have adopted the motto "FROG turtle"! F.R.O.G. means Fully Rely On God! And Turtle means living life in the slow lane--a simple life! Most of the posts will probably come from Robin (The Wife~), unless otherwise noted. Hopefully along the way Mike (The Husband~) and Alexis (The Daughter~) will interject their thoughts.
  Before we became a couple, we had separately been feeling the need for a simple life. We had been on different roads throughout our lives but each felt that we had found a special place with each other--home!! Our journey so far together has been filled with many obstacles but we have survived Together. In the beginning our blog may be filled with many thoughts and feelings that we will digest and use to help us find what's next on our path. The one thing that we do know is that we do Fully Rely On God, and are headed to a more simple life!

By this point, we have made many donations to Goodwill and have had quite a few yard sales to help us pare down our belongings. I am also sorting through the many items that I have saved for my oldest three children from their childhood. They will be receiving these items soon!! :) We do plan to host one more major sale on our way to simplicity. We plan to begin to live the next chapter of our lives with only the bare essentials--no clutter!!

More on this later..

--Robin