Prayer Requests

Satan has come to kill, steal and destroy. But Christ came that we might have life abundantly. I choose the life abundantly myself.

Generational destruction has been visited on me and my child. Silas has tested positive for antibodies which may mean he has celiac disease. It means some dietary lifestyle changes for our family, removing wheat, barley, and rye. It means an intestinal biopsy for Silas, blood tests every 6 months, if he has it. And least of all, but still annoying, blood tests for everyone in our family.

Prayer requests:

1. Salvation for my sons. Caleb 8 / Malachi 6 / Silas 3
2. Excellent medical team/care
3. Insurance coverage where I want to go (specialists in Palo Alto, involve herbs as well as medicine)
4. Healing of intestinal lining, Celia, and no more tummy aches or bloating
5. Protection from exposure to wheat barley and rye
6. A faith my sons own themselves, their seeing Gods hand of provision, protection, power, love and His glory in and through this situation
7. Peace of mind and spirit for me and the family


I believe in the power of prayer and I covet your prayers. All things work together for the good of those who love the Lord and are called according to his purposes. What Satan means for evil I(God) will use for good.

Thank you for your prayers and care. I do not take it lightly when you pray for us. God has continued to shower us with his grace and blessings. Satan has continued to do what he can to steal kill and destroy, but the joy of the Lord is supreme and transcendent! Thank you Lord for your peace and provision.

Generational destruction, to what am I referring? My dad had many ailments, among them was Lupus, an autoimmune disease. I had Castlemans Disease(CD), in remission, very rare, so not well researched, but also an autoimmune disease. Many of the symptoms of Celiacs are similar to these other 2 diseases. How curious though, that 3 generations would have autoimmune diseases.

We are under a new covenant, yet still the laws and consequences have not been negated. We live in a fallen world, a world that is decaying. A world where Satan is real. In Nehemiah, referring to King Uzziah, and many of the kings following King David, there was reference to the blessings that follow to 1000 generations to King Uzziah, if I remember correctly, because he tore down the idols from the high places, where the kings before him had left them in place. Even Solomon had left them, or built them rather for his foreign wives.

Musings of a mind looking for answers.

10 Facts About Celiac Disease

After reading number 2, I have a deep sense of appreciation for finding this so soon. Having no history, that I knew of with Celiacs disease. My dad had a plethora of ailments, along with ongoing stomach aches. Wish I could have him tested now. Insulin dependant diabetes, lupis, rheumatoid arthritis. my family has had all of these common associations with Celiac sufferers. Along with being the child of a redhead, and an Asian(one of each!), Silas may have the genetic disposition. Time and testing will tell.


Description:
Celiac Disease is an autoimmune disease that damages the small intestine and interferes with absorption of nutrients from food. People who have Celiac Disease cannot tolerate a protein called gluten that is found in wheat, rye, and barley. Research has shown that timely diagnosis of Celiac Disease is essential to treating or preventing its complications10 Facts about Celiac Disease

1. Celiac disease is common: affecting an average of 1/133 Americans and up to 1/22 for those associated with risk factors.

2. The average duration of symptoms for celiac patients before they are correctly diagnosed is 11 years.

3. Celiac disease is twice as common as Crohn’s, ulcerative colitis and cystic fibrosis combined.

4. Approximately 50% of adult patients present with atypical symptoms.

5. Celiac disease is often misdiagnosed as irritable bowel syndrome or lactose intolerance and up to 1/3rd of celiac disease patients have been previously diagnosed with IBS.

6. Celiac disease meets the criteria for the World Health Organization for justifying general screening.

7. Physicians may use more widely known but less accurate serological testing that can result in missed diagnosis.

8. Up to 21% of intestinal biopsies, necessary for confirmation of celiac disease, are rejected by insurance companies, claiming that the cost of the testing isn’t justified by the symptoms. Makes me wonder if we have a hope for not having celiacs? I'll keep you posted. All we have done is test positive with the gliadin antibody so far. IgG and IgA.

9. Celiac disease has a 95 percent genetic predisposition.

10. Celiac disease is associated with or can lead to a number of other disorders including infertility, premature births, reduced bone density (both osteopenia and osteoporosis), neurological disorders*I have epilepsy, malignancies such as adenocarcinoma, non-Hodgkins lymphoma*Castlemand Disease can turn into Lymphoma, and others, and a host of autoimmune disorders such as insulin dependent diabetes*My dad , thyroid disease*My mom, her mom, me- borderline , Sjogren’s syndrome, Addison’s disease, Psoriasis*My Dad, brother,sister, paterna grandfather, maternal aunt, autoimmune liver disease, and cardiomyopathy.(This blurb is from the National Foundation for Celiac Awareness website. See address below.)

http://www.celiaccentral.org/

Celiacs Disease

Silas may have Celiacs disease. I'm still reeling from what I've found out. I had a suspicion, enough to get the blood work done. Had all of the kids allergy tested for the basics, and only Silas checked for Celiacs. He's had an ongoing tummy ache for a while. I thought I ran down the source, and it was a hidden dairy, but now.....

He has tested positive for the gliadin antibody. Normal range for IGA 11-17, he's 16. Normal range for IGG, 11-17 also, he's 24. I called a friend of mine who has Celiacs, she said it sounds like he's positive. Why am I guessing you ask? I had the Allergist fax me the test results last week, didn't have time to look at it well until today. NO ONE CALLED to tell me he tested positive! How ridiculous is that! Dr's are just people. Just wish they would have looked at the results to notice life changing information should be shared with the patient/parents. OK, that's done, I've got enough to be emotional about without taking that on.

It's Saturday, so I'll have to wait till Monday to call our regular pediatrician. What I wish I'd done is asked the allergists office to send the results immediately to the Ped so she'd have them. Then she would have called if anything was not normal. Future note.

God. Where is he in this. I know 2 people with Celiacs. This is a specific blood test I had to request. The fact it came to my mind to test when I really thought there was a dairy issue. This is really a miracle to find this when he's so healthy, no real big obvious issues. I was watching to see what he was eating before he had a tummy ache for that 1-2 months. Sandwiches, toast. But then I also cut a source of dairy out and he got better.

I was told today that my friend thought she was allergic to dairy but once she cut out gluten, she was able to have dairy again. My hope for Silas is he can enjoy dairy one day. But for now, we have to change some eating habits in the family.

We're all going to get tested when we get back from Oregon. I'm thinking someone else may have it too...... We shall see.

Please keep us in your prayers. Prayers for Gods glory to be revealed through this. For all of the kids and Lawrence and I to be vigilant of gluten. God will reveal how to pray. I'm a bit numb still to know what to ask for.

I am grateful that I nursed a long time. Gluten in the intestines breaks the celia and causes leaky gut, which is when food leaks out of the small intestine. The body then sees it as an enemy and fights it, thus making the person feel a terrible tummy ache.

"Sometimes you have to look for God" thoughts from Caleb

A couple weeks ago we watched The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything at church. While it was a fun movie, no big overt messages about God. Today Caleb was telling me about the movie. He said that sometimes you have to look for God in things. He got that when you don't think you can do something, you just have to try, and God sends you help which sometimes doesn't look like good help, but it is just what you need.

The crazy Cheetos bit, where the Cheetos have mouths and are chasing that gourd, he gives up and is ready to be eaten by the Cheetos when according to Caleb, God sent a crab to help him try. And sometimes if you just try, you can do more than you knew you could.

Wisdom from my deep thinker. I'm so impressed by his thought process! I love when he shares his insights. They come at the most random times. This is the preciousness of homeschooling, the gems that come when they would be at school.

Happy Birthday Malachi * 6 *

Malachi's favorite 'animal' of the Day.

Christine from Sulphur Creek shared information about Gopher Snakes, Tarantulas, and Chinchillas.







Silas meets the gopher snake.

Malachi has a private moment with his new friend.

Malachi feeds the chinchilla a raisin. This is as close as he comes folks, protected by a 2 year old:)

Silas gets a turn high fiving a tarantula.

Caleb's turn.

Malachi's first meeting with Spidy.

Chilean Rosy Tarantula or something like that.

A brag on Malachi, on his special day. He wanted to be sure I saw Caleb's creation and took a picture of it. So thoughtful of others.

Family Heritage

I was going through my dad's pictures and I came across an album. This album went back into the late 1800's. Started with a few pictures of my dad's adopted dad. Newborn, 1 year, and around 8 years old, plus others. There were cool pictures in 1911 or so with some other kids, period dress, obviously. I wanted to grab on to this feeling of heritage, having this legacy, this piece of history..... the darkness of what I know about this man clouded the desire to lose myself in this grasp at preserving legacy. The more I thought about it, the sadder I was to realize this was not my family, (my dad was adopted and the adopted father was evil). After pouring through this album, thinking, I don't know if he really was evil.... I came to the last professional photo, opened it like a gift, and found my Grandpa Straubs family(My moms dad with his brothers and sisters and parents). It was as if God was saying, "This is your heritage, you have a tangible piece of legacy here."