All the Randomness

Because I'm stinking these days at updating my little corner of the internet, here's some randomness and some updates, in no particular order...


Colorado Winter Fun 

We had a wonderful visit with my family over Christmas (though overshadowed by a nice tummy bug that took out about half the party) and spent many of our unseasonably warm days at the end of January and start of February battling another stomach bug that spent three long, painful weeks gracing our family with its presence.

But we did get to enjoy MLK weekend skiing at Copper Mountain, a record 80 degree day in February, and a fun hike/climb up Castle Rock on Peter's birthday, which was another extra warm days.

(I really don't know what I'd do without these pockets of warmth and the cheeriness of the Colorado sun. Our sunshine disappeared for a whole three days in January and I could hardly take it)! This past weekend we spent our second long weekend of the winter skiing Crested Butte; it was our first time there and I was prepared to be unimpressed, especially because it's much farther away than other resorts. But it's legit! Absolutely breathtaking and so worth the longer drive. Someday I'll get my act together and post all the pictures...but for now I'll brag about the fact that all three kids are blowing us away flying down the mountain and whipping through the trees. We thought Ethan would maybe have a hard time keeping up but not in the least - and Marie will soon be out-skiing me. At Crested Butte, she went to the top with Peter to try a black diamond, and they ended up on a double black (!!) with some extreme terrain -- something I'm not even willing to do! And we had all three kids on a black diamond at least twice, though it did tucker Ethan out a bit. The more time we spend skiing with them, the more grateful I am that we've made it a point to go as a family and have them learn; it's a lifelong love that we can all enjoy together.

I mean, really. Does it get more amazing?

He's getting better at getting up on his own...sometimes.
(Last run of the weekend on a black diamond had him tuckered out!)

All the powder. 

New Health "Fun"

I found a concerning area a few weeks ago so I decided to put on my big girl pants and actually call my NaPro (OBGYN) and let someone know. She scheduled me immediately with a mammogram place. I'm so incredibly thankful that I was cleared completely this past week - seems like it was just some changes due to the hormone therapy I'm currently on for my endometriosis. But it was definitely a slightly nerve wracking few weeks; I'm eternally grateful to all those who carried me in prayer--and I'm SO glad I didn't ignore it and still came out on the bright side. Being in the diagnostic waiting room with so many other women was truly sobering and I'm keeping them all in prayer. Moral of the story/PSA: keep up your self checks and when in doubt, rule it out!


Chronic Health updates

As far as the rest of my issues go: I've been on a somewhat experimental treatment of high doses of daily progesterone for two months now. My NaPro thought it would be a so-called gentle way of "shutting everything down" for awhile and seeing if I get any relief. I don't know that I'd call it gentle, and it makes me soooo tired, body and mind (I feel so foggy sometimes and my memory is shot!). The jury is still out on if it's actually helping the pain, but I've got at least one more month for the trial part so we'll see if things start to turn a corner at all.

On the GI side, food still hates me (nothing new) and my reactions are still pretty frequent regardless of how much I cut out of my diet. Currently, I'm looking into gut-healing wisdom {without cutting out anymore foods because I'm hardly getting enough as is} while I wait for a colonoscopy/ endoscopy...that is literally taking months to get scheduled. More fun times! But I've got been in contact with some women who have had great success with two different treatments, so I'm doing more research and thinking there may be some hope. Anyway, apparently I've reached the golden age when "news" involves all these Debbie Downer TMI things, so shall we move on to something a little more palatable? Like...


Mawwage, Mawwage

On Valentine's Day, Peter came up with a fun activity for the next few months: a weekly "marriage night" at home. We came up with ideas that would take one hour or less and cost lest than $20, wrote them on little tags and put them in a jar to draw every week. This past week we drew "pamper Samson" and it was such a relaxing, happy hour.

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 Can't wait for this night.

Baking

Not my baking, of course. I think we all know that baking and I don't get along. But once a week, Gran picks Ethan up to learn how to bake (the same program Erik "graduated" from last year while he was still in school only half-days). Well, Ethan, who can't have dairy, is both incredibly enthusiastic about it and learning what a softie his Gran is when he has an "awesome" baking idea. His most recent request? Goldfish. Since he can't eat regular Goldfish, he wanted to make some with "his kind of cheese," aka, ridiculously stinky fake cheese. And look what Gran helped him deliver:

Right down to the little eyes and smiles. 

Small Group

We recently started a couples' small group/bible study in which women meet once a month, men meet once a month, and then we all try to get together as families one other night during the month. We (the girls) just started the series The Wild Goose; I've heard so many great things about it and after watching the first one I think it's going to be a really good pick.


Lenten Fast

I decided all the way back in Advent that I'd be giving up all social this Lent. {Although I wonder every time I log on to Facebook if it will actually be a sacrifice anymore, ha}. I deleted my Facebook app from my phone forever ago and in the mean time just downloaded the groups app, so unless I get on my laptop, I have no news feed to get bogged down by, and half the time I'm not even distracted by notifications unless I specifically go to the group through the app. It's been a grand stress-reducing compromise!

To be completely honest though, fasting from social media is something I have purposefully avoided in the past because I know it will be such a difficult sacrifice for me. I'm planning on replacing the time with a daily prayer practice, hopefully developing better routines, and more intentionally attending to and connecting with the family and friends in front of my face instead of constantly escaping to a screen for connection. Maybe I'll have more time for real blogging too since I'll be away from my "microblogging" sources.

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That's all the randomness for now. May your Mardi Gras be sweet and your Lent be rich - hopefully I'll be back here soon(ish)!