Celebrating 10 Years of India's Diagnosis

Happy Anniversary India.

I am so proud of you my darling.

Ten years ago, 

you

 received a life changing diagnosis. 

You were told that from that moment on,

that you, 

who was afraid of blood,

would have to prick yourself to bleed.

You,

who hated math,

would have to learn the carbohydrate count

of every item you put in your mouth.

You,

who was terrified of needles

 would have to give yourself shots 

many times a day. 

You 

would have to say "no" to things that 

most people take for granted.

You 

would have to learn to read all the subtle,

and not so subtle, 

cues your body would give you.

You

would have to learn to stand up

for your health needs,

even when people called you

"Faker" 

and 

"Drama Queen".

You 

would learn to depend on God

for your every breath. 

You

would grow

and change

and mature

yet still

be the best "you"!

The "you"

that God created you to be.

Never forget the verse that you claimed

as yours when you were a tiny girl.

Jeremiah 29:11

"For I know the plans I have for you,"

declares the Lord,

"plans to prosper you and not to harm you,

plans to give you hope and a future."

You fought the battle.

You struggled. 

You decided to win!
 

I love you my girl. 

India's Surgery Update

Thank you For your prayers. India is home and finally doing better.
Her surgeon was able to repair her tendon and remove a lot of scar tissue from the damaged area. India's Type 1 Diabetes wrecked havoc with her before and after the surgery, but after several different types of pain meds, anti-nausea meds, and antibiotics, she is feeling better. Several frantic phone calls to the nurse and surgeon finally netted the right combination. The pain was so intense that it caused her adrenaline to spike her blood sugar, which caused hours of vomiting. This meant she was unable to eat anything. But finally, at about 9:00 PM she was able to eat and the pain meds stayed down. So, even though she can still feel the pain, she is loopy enough not to care.
Please continue to pray for my sweetie. I am sure this kind of surgery is painful by itself. But the addition of Type 1 Diabetes is not an easy one.

I am so grateful for praying friends. Your prayers and encouragement mean the world to us.
Thank you.


Note: this is my first time posting on my iPad and auto correct is driving me nuts!! I am hoping I caught all the weird word substitutions. If there is a wrong word or something funky, please forgive me. I am still learning this new thing.
Sivje

Pajamas, Prayer, and Bad Christmas Photos

Yes, I know it is the ninth of January

and I am just now posting photos of Christmas morning.

But I have been trying,

in my VERY LIMITED UNDERSTANDING,

to make something of these blurry photos.

You see, 

I DID make the girls matching Christmas jammies.

And Ahnalin received

the Disney Animators Mulan Doll

from her Daddy and me.

And she received her Molly doll

from her Nana and Papa.

And I made matching jammies for Molly too.

And India received a biography about her 

favorite boss.

And Don received a t-shirt with his namesake

on it!

And me.........

Yeah, my Hot Rockin' Hubby 

bought me an iPad2!

I still need to learn so much about 

how to use my drafting programs on it.

It feels super decadent to me,

but it is my computer.

I have been using Don's old 

MacBook and he needs it back!

So, I need to figure it out.

I am VERY open to any and all

tips and thoughts from 

anyone!

After we opened our gifts

and had some breakfast,

we headed to church for the Christmas service.

It was a beautiful service,

worshiping the newborn King Jesus

with our new church family. 

Because Don is the music minister,

he made the decision to 

have India join us in singing the

Christmas carols.

So, I got to sing with my India

and my HRH together.

What a gift!

After church,

the girls put their Christmas jammies

back on because they were so cozy.

And yes, the oven DID catch on fire

while I was making the Spanikopita.

I had planned on taking lovely photos

and posting the recipe. 

Really. 

But I couldn't find Ahnalin's camera

and my phone was taking these blurry shots

and I used too much butter

for the first time in 23 years of making this

and THE OVEN CAUGHT ON FIRE!!!!!!!

So we ran next door

and the neighbors had a fire extinguisher

and brought it over to put out the flames.

And God protected us so much,
because the fire was contained
to just the inside of the oven.

Thankfully,

the rest of Christmas dinner was food

I could make on top of the stove. 

So crazy!!!

Don wanted to clean the oven

but I said it could wait until

after Christmas dinner!!!!!!

He did it anyway. 

It is very clean now. 

Thank you Don!

After dinner,

we went to see 

The Muppets for the 2nd time.

This time, we all sang along.

You see, it was at the bargain theater

and everyone else was in a Christmas mood, so 

EVERYONE WAS SINGING ALONG!

It was a lovely Christmas day!

And yes, I am going to buy a new

fire extinguisher.

A few days later,

Ahnalin and I drove India to the 

airport so she could fly out to visit

her Chicago buddies!

She had a wonderful time,

but is SO READY to finally

have her surgery.

So, this morning

we are heading to the hospital for her

pre-op with the anesthesiologist.

Her surgery is set for 12:50 tomorrow,

but we are praying that the hospital will

move up her surgery slot so she can 

go in earlier.

With her Type 1 diabetes,

fasting for surgery is difficult.

Please, please pray for my girl.

Please.

Please pray that the surgeon will

be able to repair the tendons in her

right foot. 

Please pray that he can figure out 

what the strange lump is on

her ankle, and correct or 

remove it.

Please pray for India as she recovers,

that her blood sugars would remain stable

and that her immune system

will behave, for once,

so she can heal.

We really covet any prayers sent our way.

Thank you so much. 

I will update soon.

Sivje

My India

I am once again asking for prayer for my 18 year old daughter, India.

Yes, she is sick again. 

This time, she has had bronchitis for almost 2 weeks, 

though we only got the diagnosis on Friday. 

I just get sick of taking her to the doctor and 

having her be on antibiotics all the time. 

She was out of school most of the week and even

missed a special birthday party on Friday night. 

However, the birthday girl also happened to be 

the daughter of our family doctor,

whom we had just seen for the diagnosis.

But she felt too rotten to go anyway.

We were working hard to get India well so that she would be able to sing.

You see, she was to sing on a very special feature song

on Sunday in the regular services.

Normally India sings with the high school band, 

and she does a great job.

But this week, the feature song was a 

very important song to India, and 

so she requested to

audition for a chance to sing the song.

What happened was truly a gift.

A dear friend, and fellow vocal team member

Heather Henderson sang the song

with India as a duet. 

In addition, one of India's friends, Rachel (in the picture with her),

and another friend of mine, Cassie, who are both

truly gifted dancers, choreographed 

a dance to the song.

The song "Stand in the Rain"

by Superchick

talks about the importance of enduring through even

the hardest pain. 

And we know that that endurance only comes through

Jesus.

And the dancers mirrored

India and Heather singing, 

showing the importance of mentorship 

and support when a person is struggling

to stand for what is right. 

The song reflects so much

the fight that India fights every day, 

just to survive and beat her disease.

India managed to sing the song in each of the three services.

She did a beautiful job. 

She made me cry.......

 in a good way.

Yet after each time, 

she crashed back into a deep sleep  

backstage. 

Yes, this lovely picture is the green room

backstage at our church. 

I am not exactly sure what various props are in this picture

but it cracks me up. 

India was really not feeling well here.

She has plenty of makeup on so she did not 

fade out under the lights. 

I am trying to upload the video of the song. 

So if you want to see it, let me know and I will try.

I am so proud of my girl.

Please continue praying for her. 

She needs all the prayer she can get.

We are trying to get her well enough to get back to school.

On Wednesday, we have another appointment

with the immunology clinic at U.C. Davis. 

I am praying for better answers than last time. 

She is struggling with her blood sugars and 

ketones, just like every time she is ill.

It is not fair.

Here is India with my Daddy. 

Even though her makeup still looks 

good, I can see that she is really starting 

to fade in this picture. 

Please just pray for her healing.

Thank you all so much.

I know I owe you all a good sewing post and 

some other things. I will get to them.

Really. 

Love to you all.

Sivje

A Steak and Artichokes Kind of Day

Happy Anniversary India!!!

 Yes, that would be grilled London Broil.

BEEF!

On the grill!

Well, it is February and there is not currently snow on the ground, so we grilled it.

And artichokes?

Well, that spells "Celebration" in our house.

Nothing fancy, just trimmed, steamed and ready to eat. 

OH YUM!

Yes, yesterday was India's 7th anniversary of her diagnosis of

Type 1 diabetes, also known as Juvenile Diabetes.

Seven years ago, India was told how different her life would be.

And it was hard. 

Really, really hard. 

But India decided to meet the challenge head on.

She refused to let this disease define who she was to become.

Well.......maybe a little bit, but not in a bad way.

India fights her disease every day.

And she fights for those with the disease.

We were, and are, so proud that she successfully pulled off
Showstoppers.

She raised awareness of Juvenile Diabetes and raised nearly
$1000.00 to give to the Diabetic Youth Foundation.

She is currently in the interview process to work as a counselor at
Bearskin Meadows Camp, the DYF camp for young people
growing up with Diabetes.

Diabetes is a struggle.

A challenge.

But we choose to celebrate her anniversary,
almost as an Old Testament "Ebenezer".
The word Ebenezer means
"Thus far hath the Lord brought us.

And the Lord is bringing us through this daily.


We are so grateful that God has given us our beautiful daughter.
And we are so grateful that even with this disease, in spite of it,
she is thriving.

Please continue to pray that we find out how to keep her healthy.
Next week, we see an immunologist at U.C. and we are praying that she is
able to get to the bottom of India's immune system issues.
The last month has been filled with so many different doctors.
I am tired of it all, but then so is India.

Thank you all for your prayers. 

They mean more than you could know.

Much love to you all.

Sivje

What I Have Been Up To

Snow.

Yeah, I know. I am really tired of it.

Sure it is beautiful.

But we have already had WAY(!!!!) too much snow this year

and have I said yet that I am tired of it?

We live up in the Sierra Foothills, about an hour from Tahoe.

Snow is to be expected here.

But I am such a weeny when it comes to driving in the stuff

so I am ready for Spring.

NOW!!!

Oh yeah, this picture was taken from INSIDE the house,

hence the window mullions in the picture.

One of my very best, and most patient, friends in the world,

Melissa,  asked me months ago to make her a slipcover for the sofa in her craft room. We picked out the fabrics LAST YEAR!

The weather has been so yucky here that I needed some kind

of fun change, and working with anything in the color yellow

is always a tonic for me in the dreary month of January.

This was the "before" pic of her sofa.

Melissa has been taking pics because she is a world class, super amazing

and awe inspiring scrapbooker (scrapper? scrappist?)

I have been taking my Janome up the hill to her house

for the last few days and setting up camp there.

She is documenting the process and will probably create

some gorgeous scrapbook pages of our slipcovering adventure that will

win major prizes at the fair.

I am sewing miles of plaid piping in this pic.

Since I only have the time that Ahnalin is at kindergarten

to do this, I have not gotten much done each day.

The first day, all I got done was the plaid piping and cutting and

sewing the outside pieces of the back. I have the side

pinned on to the outside arm of the sofa to see i it is straight.

You can see where her kitty clawed up the arm of the original

upholstery because of the stuffing sticking out from the side.

That will all be covered up!

This is how far I got today!

Last week, we had several days of snow storms so yucky that I

could not drive in it. Well, I DID drive in it, but I get

really nervous driving the steep hills around here.

And Melissa lives on a mountain.

So.....this is taking a while to get done.

I am very, very picky about matching prints

even though this is the inside back and deck that will be covered

with back and seat cushions.

This is the same arm as I showed a few photos above.

The arm is now sewn together, and covers that nasty

cat-clawed area.

This is looking down from above where the arm meets up with the

inside back. It makes me crazy that I could not match up the pattern at

that seam. But because of how the inside arm had to be cut, I could

not match the pattern. This is a fitted slipcover, and I have not pressed

the seams of where the outside and inside is sewn to the welting.

So it looks a little wonky along the top back of the sofa.

Oh, at the bottom of the pic, you can also see a tiny bit of the pleat

at the back corner. I chose to do this and will attach contrast ties,

instead of zippers or buttons for fitting the slipcover.

Yeah, I know I have not hemmed it yet, but we were still deciding

what to do. I think I will do a contrast band hem with the plaid.

I am hoping my zippers arrive tomorrow so I can work on

the cushions. There are 8 of them to sew.

I am planning on working on this again on Wednesday afternoon,

so there will be more pictures coming.

Just a cute pic of my HRH and his girls.

We have had several power outages in the last week due to trees

falling down in the storms. No power means no TV.

That means MUCH more snuggling time!

Daddy LOVES snuggling his girls.

My MIL brought this outfit home from

her trip to Texas to visit my SIL Dianna.

Dianna bought the pink boots for my girl!

I should probably mention that Ahnalin has had

pink cowgirl boots ever since she was a toddler.

This is her 3rd pair! She REFUSES to wear

tennies but thinks that pink cowgirl boots

are a wardrobe staple.

Gotta love the tude!

On Saturday, I took a class at my favorite local independent fabric shop,

Fabrics on Mill Street.

The class was "Minor Sergery".

You see, I have owned 2 different sergers for the last 18 years,

and I have been terrified of both of them.

I would sew a french seam in a heart beat, and often have

in an effort to avoid serging. The problem with that, is that

it is time consuming, and not always appropriate for every garment.

You see, I don't like any seam to show, ever. I am a seam snob.

I do not like raw edges! And serged seams are just too "ready to wear" for me.

But, time is money, and I do not have a lot of either.

So my sweet hubby told me to quit whining and make nice with my sergers.

Basically he wanted me to get over my fear of the things and start enjoying

these lovely tools.

So....I learned a lot. And I think I may have made friends with my sergers.

I just may use them more now...

maybe.

India update:

The Metronic pump trainer came today and India is back on the insulin pump.

She is very happy about it. Her last pump died while she was on her Ireland

trip last April and then due to a rash of major health and insurance upheavals,

we decided to hold off on getting her back on the pump. But

due to all the health crises of the last several months, her numbers have been

pretty poor and we felt it was time to go back on.

In the next several weeks, we have many appts with different types of

doctors, trainers, nutritionists, etc, in hopes of getting our girl back

on the right path to health. We appreciate any prayers

you all can send our way.

Also, India has sent in her application to be a counselor at the DYF camp

Bearskin Meadows for kids with Type 1 Diabetes. This

would be a great solution as she would be working with kids, in a beautiful setting,

away from home all summer, but with her doctors and nurses right there!

Please pray she is accepted as a counselor.

In other news, I am continuing to work on the apron pattern, in between

doctor visits, working with Ahnalin's class at school, battling

insurance, and other client sewing. I promise. You will see it soon!!

Thank you for all the prayer for my family.

Ahnalin's Doll

Ahnalin has been completely bitten by the sewing bug.

She decided that she wanted to make her own doll.

So, we set off in search of a simple rag doll pattern so that she could

try out her new sewing skills. She wanted to sew the doll completely by herself.

So I found a simple pattern and let her dig in my scrap box for fabric.

I pinned the pattern to the fabric and she cut it out and changed a few design elements

so that the doll reflected her vision of the perfect doll.

The original pattern suggested drawing on the face with a marker.

However, Ahnalin drew on the face and then asked me how to

applique triangles on for the eyes.

So, I taught her how to do basic applique!

We ironed on the triangles with Stitch Witchery and she

zig-zagged them in place. Then she asked me to draw on the mouth

so that she could zig-zag over that. She drew the nose

on and zig-zagged that.

After she finished the face, she sewed the arms and legs.

Then she started stuffing them.

She LOVES stuffing things with fiberfill!!!

Yes, that is Ahnalin cutting with my big sharp scissors.

I am sure I am going to regret letting her use them, but she is

learning to be careful with them.

The rag doll pattern instructs the sewist to stitch "joints" in

the arms and legs so that the doll can sit more easily.

So, that is what Ahnalin did!

Two legs and two arms!

Then she sewed the arms and legs onto the

front of the doll torso.

Arms and legs are all sewed on and now she has to sew the

back to the front. This could get tricky!

Ok. She finally asked me to help her sew

when she got to this point. Up until this point, she did not want my

help, other than drawing the smile and

telling her how to iron the eyes on to the face.

But the body got so bulky when she was sewing the back on

that she asked me to sew a few of the areas.

The arms and legs are still inside the body at this point.

But when she turned the doll the right side out,

it looked like a real doll!!! Oh wow, was she proud!!

At this point, I made her go to bed. She was NOT HAPPY

about this but finally gave in when I promised that she could finish the doll

after school the next day.

After school the next day, she stuffed the body and head and

sewed up the opening.

Yes! All by herself!!!

I had to stop myself from getting in her way too much.

I kept wanting to correct her stitches, but I had to wait until

she asked for help because she

"Wanted to do it all by herself!!!"

I love this picture because sometimes when she really concentrates, she sticks her tongue out, and it is almost out here!

She LOVES her new doll!

She has named her Sally.

Isn't she cute?????

I just love her!

I am having a terrible time getting pictures to load up so I am going

to have to load up the rest tomorrow.

Oh, and I wanted to give you all an India update.

Thank you all so much for praying. Please keep praying for her.

We went to her endocrinologist a few days ago and it was not a great visit.

But finally the doctors are all starting to catch on that she just gets

sick far, far more than she should.

We saw a local allergist and immunologist today. He will start

allergy testing in two weeks but has also referred

us on to an immunologist in Sacramento. He does not feel that we

have good enough labs locally, or that they just do not have the

experience necessary to find out what is causing India to be so ill.

But at least things are moving along now.

I will update when I have more information.

Please keep those prayers coming.

Sivje

Requesting Prayer

I will keep this short and sweet, and promise you that I will post a lovely long post

with pictures later on.

But I would so appreciate any prayers you could send your way.

India is sick again.

She has been sick well over a week this time.

But she had only been well for a short time in between

this time and the previous illness.

She lost her voice over a week ago and is on her

second round of antibiotics.

Her glands are swollen and she is completely exhausted all the time. 

We are starting immunological testing next

week but the local doctor feel we should take her to

U.C.Davis as they are more advanced in the tests they can do.

Later on today we head back to her endocrinologist

in Sacramento and pray that he has some

ideas for us.

I know that her diabetes makes her more susceptible to illness,

but I have never seen even a person with type 1 get EVERY illness

that comes down the pike like she does.

It is really, really interfering with her life and

we just want her to graduate high school

in June, with her class.

Anyway, please pray for my sweet girl.

And please pray for wisdom for us, and for her doctors.

My girl needs her voice and strength back, so she can sing for Jesus.

Showstoppers Pictures At Last!

At last! Showstoppers pictures!

India introduced herself and spoke briefly about the Diabetic Youth Foundation, and her passion for Broadway music. Then she started off the show with "Putting It Together" from the musical "Sunday In The Park With George."

Next up "Past the Point Of No Return" from "Phantom Of The Opera". In addition to our Phantom and Christine, we had 6 tango dancers. We were so blessed to have a marvelous dancer, Mary, choreograph some of our numbers.



Don did an amazing job as Tevya from "Fiddler on the Roof!" Not only was he perfect for the part vocally, but he danced like a crazy man!

While this song is NOT from a Broadway show, it was certainly a "Showstopper" in every sense of the word. The kids in the choir and drama departments are all pretty hooked on the movie "Robin Hood: Men in Tights" and so they insisted on performing the song "Men in Tights". This left me to make 10 Robin Hood costumes! They are not great sewing, and yes, I used felt. But they looked great and the kids had the dance spot on!

My favorite song of the whole show, or at least one near the very top of the list, was when India and Laurissa sang "Defying Gravity" from the musical "Wicked". They were incredible!!! This song, especially, makes me cry. I am overcome when my beautiful takes command of the stage and sings "And nobody, in all of Oz, no wizard that there is or was, is ever gonna bring me down!" That is how she feels about her diabetes! This disease is not going to stop her. She will not let it! Makes a mama proud!

Then we had "Chim Chiminee" and "Step In Time" from the musical "Merry Poppins". Our Mary and Bert looked just like the original characters! And our chimney sweeps were hilarious!

Dean and Carol Chilecoat represented the Diabetic Youth Foundation and shared about the fantastic and live changing programs that we strongly support.