Hope Is Springing Up

Hey guys!

I hope you all are doing well and being blessed! I am happy to bring a good update today…so grab a tea or coffee of your choice and enjoy!

After my last update, Jason and I spent an evening in the emergency room. I was in the worst pain of my life and while at the hospital passed what we think was a kidney stone and all pain left. The good thing about this experience was that it pushed us both to find a general practitioner here in Columbus. So, now Jason and I both have a GP in the area.

I am free of poison ivy now and looking forward to digging in the dirt some more in the next few months. Speaking of which, baby girl and I have been watching herb seeds grow over the past few weeks. Today we transplanted our little seedlings to growing pots. You would love to watch that sweet baby helping mommy fill the pots with soil. She is so careful and decided about each spoonful of dirt she moves from the bag to the pot. She is so much fun to work with. She loves watching the seeds grow…she giggles and claps her hands when we talk with daddy about the baby plants.

I am having more good days…such a blessing! I am not even close to 100% me yet, but improvement is good. We are thrilled with little victories like:

-being able to stay awake and alert longer during the day.

-being able to make a grocery list at one time instead of multiple tries.

-being able to get down on the floor and playing with Millie without worrying about where the nearest piece of furniture is that I can push myself up on.

-no dishes in the sink when I go to bed every night.

-planning our weekend activities at the beginning of the week and actually getting to do what we planned.

Many of you have asked how long I will be on the antibiotics and well, I don’t have a good answer. I hope that I will not be on them much longer, but the doctor  thinks that I need to be on them for two months after all symptoms are gone. As I am not symptom free, we are unsure what my Lyme doctor will say at my next appointment toward the end of April. In the meantime, I am still drinking my herbal teas, taking vitamin and mineral supplements, detoxing and eating nothing more than fruits, veggies, nuts, seeds and lean meats with a few gluten-free grains mixed in once in a while.

Although I am not completely myself, we are excited that improvements have been made. Please continue to pray that a full healing will be swift. Also, continue to pray for financial renewal. It may seem simple but please pray that we will continue to find the joy in every single day.

The day is coming when I will finally be able to share a cup of tea with you and your family. Thank you for all your prayers this far! I couldn’t have made it without your love and support! It is a huge blessing!

Many hugs,

Joy

 

Walking Across Egypt and Crying Uncle!!!-Health Update

Hey Family and Friends,

I am so thankful for your prayers and love over the last few weeks. The prayers are much appreciated. You will know how much by the time you read this letter.

My mom and I always joked when something bad or unexpected happened that we felt like we were walking across Egypt. Well, ladies and gentlemen, my little family has felt like we were walking across Egypt these past few weeks and months. If you don’t get the word picture yet, let me expound a bit.

Like many of you, we were hit with the flu in December. Sweet little girlie was the one hit by this sickness. She was not resting during that time and Jason and I were both left exhausted. My daughter is such a sweet baby girl and battled through it with a smile on her face. Dealing with being exhausted from my illness and adding a sick baby, Christmas, the new year and then…

At the beginning of January, I got a simple cold. You may shrug your shoulders and say, “no big deal”. My immune system is so compromised, that a simple cold knocked me on my back for several weeks. Oh, man…I was so tired of being sick and so tired of having to lie down and not get things done with my family. I asked myself “why” often during this time.

Just about the time I started feeling better, Jason told me that he had been having stomach problems. I looked at him and thought, “are you being serious with me”? At this point I was tired of researching sicknesses, diet, treatments, herbs and just about anything you could think of related to an illness. But I started researching more, this time for Jason. We started changing an already difficult to manage diet. Because of my illness we had only been eating fruits, veggies, eggs and lean meats. That meant we had already cut out sugar, gluten, dairy, and any processed foods. Jason went to two doctors. We finally put together that he was having a reaction to eggs. Yikes…no eggs.

Just when I started to get a grip on our diet, it was time to start my ozone treatments in Atlanta. I know many of you have been wondering how that went, so here you go… My treatments were delayed until the middle of February. My first treatment was scheduled for a Tuesday, so that week was a single treatment (and now I am thankful for that). I haven’t really known what to say about the treatment but I will start by saying that we really felt that the treatment did improve my health. I had less joint pain, enough that I was able to play on the floor with Millie without groaning as I got up. I didn’t have any headaches afterwards. I even felt that I had more energy. I had no ill side effects. The problem is that (to put it lightly) the nurse administering the treatment was extremely unprofessional. The details (although many and varied) are not what I will concentrate on here. Needless to say, I will not be going back for treatments by that nurse. To be honest, I was disappointed and felt a bit overwhelmed. Here I found something that was helping me, only to realize that I would not be able to get it again. Well, poop!

Just when things started looking like it might slow down, Jason and I got poison ivy. What!?! Poison ivy in February? Yes, on a good Saturday we got out in the yard to remove some “harmless” vines on our fence. Those “harmless” vines were poison ivy. Well, with my immune system in the state it is in, I was not able to fight off the poison and it popped up all over my body. I felt extremely tired and knew that my body was trying to fight it. However, it just seemed that my body was losing the battle. As of today, I have had the poison ivy for over two weeks. It has gotten better and is slowly going away. In the process we tried a lot of home remedies and finally found a great product (Zanfel) that started helping my body fight the poison off.

After all this mess, I threw my hands up and cried “UNCLE”!!! I am tired of walking across Egypt! With that said, Jason and I are confident that we are walking across Egypt with God still in control. We know that He hasn’t left us or forgotten about us. Your prayers have allowed us to continue to believe that.

We are uncertain what the future holds for treatments for me. Please pray with us that we will be wise. I will be going for labs this month, with a follow up with the doctor in April. At that point we will see how the antibiotics have been doing and adjust if necessary. We will also talk about any additional treatments that she thinks would be helpful.

Please pray that if we are being attacked, that God will give us just enough strength for the battle (and maybe a little extra). Please pray for thankfulness on even bad days. Please pray for restoration of health and financial freedom.

We love you all! We look forward to the day that we can sit in a coffee shop sipping coffee, laugh at these days and see what God was doing.

Many hugs and smiles,

Joy and family

Simple Things

Hey all!
Sometimes it is the simple things that speak the most to my heart these days. I know...I am simple and why should I be surprised that simple things speak to me? I guess I'm not really that surprised, but thankful!
I went for a walk around my yard with my daughter this week. We were looking at all the dead branches on the trees about to burst out in life. We saw the little yellow bells that were just starting to awaken from a long dark slumber. We saw the birds that were building new nests from the leftovers of a nest past. We saw the tiny little bits of green starting to emerge from the dead ground all over the yard.

In that moment a simple truth was brought to my mind: God is always doing a new thing and He brings life from death! Isaiah reminded us of this:

"See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?

I am making a way in the desert and streams in the desert." -Isaiah 43:19

I have to be honest, it is so much easier to look at my circumstances and see the death...or the bad...in every day. It is hard to have the hope that He is bringing a new thing and life to my circumstances. I like to think that I am not unlike many of you in this struggle. At times, everyday can be a struggle. The hope comes in our believing that the new and life will come. Think about it, spring always comes. The flowers make their way to the surface of the dead ground and break forth. The trees continue to grow. It is His plan!
So here is my challenge for myself and you: Grab your boots, take a walk, marvel at God's world and be reminded that He never changes and that means that He is working on something new in your life if you are trusting Him and He will bring life!
Another simple truth came when I was having a not-so-great-day, and, just to be honest, wasn't feeling very thankful about much of anything. Heck, I was just straight up angry about circumstances in my life. I even had a "discussion" with God, where frankly, I wasn't really listening at all, just telling God why my situation wasn't very desirable. The details aren't that important, I'll just say that it was not a God-glorifying day.
At the end of the day, I was sitting in the rocking chair listening to my husband read a Bible story to our daughter when he began to sing. My daughter joined him as she swayed her head back and forth. My husband was singing, "Jesus Loves Me". My heart slammed inside me. Here I was, complaining about my situation and wondering if God was even listening to me, and was reminded by a simple children's song that God does love me. He hasn't forgotten about me instead, He loves me! Wow! It doesn't take much!
The last simple thing happened this morning as I was singing praise songs with my little family. The song below was playing when God reminded me that He is in control...of everything! Not just some things in my life or the world, but EVERYTHING! This was so comforting to my heart. May it be comforting to you as well. Enjoy listening and perhaps singing along!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nG-zoopwV_I
Until next time....