If anyone who reads this is related to / is friends with / or is otherwise affiliated with the owners of Cracker Barrel, Chef-Boyardee, or Juicy Juice….let them know that I have their new spokes-girl at my house, right now! With the amount of food she's taking in, the smart thing is to either buy stock in the company, or get sponsorship ads placed on her behind!
Every day this week I’ve been to Cracker Barrel for breakfast. Now, that might not sound all that bad, but anything gets old 3 days in a row. I feed her around 4-ish, she eats again when the kids get up and eat their breakfast around 7-ish and then by the time we drop them off at school at 8:20, I start hearing this “can we go to Cracker Barrel now?” Sometimes I ignore it just to see how long she’ll ask before she gets mean about it….takes about 9 minutes. When I’ve tried to reason that we just went the day before, that it costs money to go, and then the reminder that we DO have eggs at home and I AM capable of making a plate of eggs myself, the look on her face is just terrible. My offering to make her scrambled eggs instead of taking her to Cracker Barrel is the equivalent of taking her to Taco Bell and trying to pass it off for a vacation to Mexico. “NO! Cracker Barrel!!!”
So, the people at Cracker Barrel just smile and coo and ooze sweet love over Peyton as she shovels bacon and ham into her mouth as fast as she can….and they don’t even blink an eye over the fact we’re there every day. They’re going to start thinking we’re stalking someone, and we’ll just have to explain that the only thing we’re stalking is a big plate of sugar-cured ham and scrambled eggs.
Tomorrow is day 14 of the steroid treatment, only one more week to go. She’s expanding at a much slower rate this time, her dosage is a little lower, and so she’s easily tearful and emotional, but not hateful or angry this time around. She’s also eating a lot, but not the scary bottomless cave she was the first go-round. Her little cheeks are starting to puff, and her belly pokes out so cutely, she pats it proudly and says “look at my round belly!” That’s my girl.
Peyton on Dec 30
Peyton 14 days into steroids
However, Peter and I are also starting to puff and poke out, and our round bellies just aren’t as cute. We’ve started the South Beach diet, and so far we’re 12 hours into it and haven’t eaten one of the children yet, so it’s going ok. We’ve done this one before and it was a great diet for us, until we visited my Aunt Shawnee and her chocolate chip cookies and fresh homemade cinnamon rolls and amazing yeast rolls….need I explain further why our diet had a slow, painful, carb-filled death?
Rachael was starting an art class at Center Place today, and we got there this afternoon, something she’s been chattering about for a week now….and we find out the guy giving the art lessons fell, broke his leg and cancelled all his classes. Poor kid, she was so sad leaving the building. She asked me “Why can’t he give the art class? Does he draw with his feet or something?” I love this kid’s logic!
On a more serious note, I received two bits of news that require lots of prayer and I would ask that everyone who reads this to please say one for these two families in need.
1.Nathaniel has a friend in his class named Blessing. Blessing is the sweetest girl with an amazing smile and funny personality, and she’s always quick to come up to Peyton and say hi and ask how she’s doing. Blessing’s mother went into the hospital last week with leg pain, she was quickly diagnosed with leukemia. Adult leukemia is much rarer and also much more difficult to treat, and her mother was only given 6 months by the oncologist. Unfortunately, God’s will was that she be with him now, and she died suddenly Monday night. This family needs your prayers for comfort, peace and understanding.
2. We have great friends named Lisa and Harry Greenaker, we’ve known them for years and Lisa has always been one of the first to jump in and lend a hand when our family has struggled. Harry will be having a major spinal surgery at the end of the month in Miami, and we just ask for prayer that God will see him safely through this very risky surgery, and for strength to recover. Lisa will also need our prayers as she continues to teach middle school, be mother to four highly energetic boys, and caregiver to Harry.
So much happens that we can’t explain or understand, we just have to pray for the Creator’s grace to see us through these times. One thing I’ve learned is that sometimes there is just no understanding, we just have to let God’s will be the mastering force in our lives and have faith that HIS plan is greater than ours.
f.r.o.G…fully relying on God
—Anissa
