Valentine's Day

Since we've finished with the parties, I figured I could post about them now and post about his birthday once he's in bed and the celebrations have ended. :-)



It's such a beautiful day outside, that the kids seemed to be in especially good moods, as were we parents! They were ready to get the party started! This is Noah with his friend Bianca. She's been in his class since kindergarten. She is so sweet and since Noah's diagnosis, she seems to be taking extra special care of him. He even has another friend Madison, that's been in his class since kindergarten, that brought him a bag of candy for V-Day today of all sugar-free stuff! He's got some great classmates!

Noah sits in the back. Can you see him there? We were playing a rousing game of JINGO - which is BINGO, but with pictures and clues. Everyone won a game and were excited to get prizes. :-) I spent most of the partytime down in Noah's classroom. The room parent bought the kids pizza from Pizza Hut! Sweet!! Noah doesn't like pizza, so he stuck with strawberries that I brought for the class instead. :-)

I joined Madie a little later in the hour. I dropped off her snack, though, beforehand. The kids were all reading, just waiting for all the snacks and parents to arrive. We brought in some cinnamon popcorn as a treat.

The teacher had this great Bozo the Clown game, where you toss the ball into buckets. The kids LOVED it! Look at my tiny little 4th grader! She's a peanut!

When we got home, Noah opened up his Harry Potter legos, which his best friend Keeden got him for his bday.

Livie and Olive decided to look through all her V-day cards. She got lots of candy too, which thrilled her to no end!

Madie got some really cute V-day cards too. Another Valentine's Day success!

The Kindness of Strangers

The one thing that has surprised me most about having a child with Type 1, is how many strangers reach out to us. I understand the concern and care that come from friends, but I've had many strangers, that have heard about what we've been going through, reach out to us in love. In the hospital, I had a nurse come to our room and say to me, "I am a friend of Sally's and she called me to tell me about you. I have a son that has diabetes and since I work here in the hospital, I wanted to come up and talk to you and let you know that everything's going to be okay." First of all, the beauty of that situation is that my friend called up another friend that she knew could encourage me and instead of this person saying she was too busy, she took time to come up and see me. This stranger, though connected to a friend, was willing to hug me and share her story with me. And, the day she came in, I needed that. I needed it more than I needed much else that day. I was going on 30min of sleep, had held my screaming son down for numerous shots, and was physically, emotionally, and mentally exhausted. To have this stranger come comfort me in the midst of that was so amazing. And, it didn't stop there. A sister of a friend contacted me. She also has a son who was diagnosed. She talked me through what she's done with school stuff. She listened as I shared my fears about school and encouraged me about how to handle it. Told me how she managed it with her son. Yet another time I needed someone who was living through it to help me navigate it myself. Another stranger, this one from Missouri, reached out to me when I was in need. We all know about my Cracker Barrell angel. And, then today, I got an email from the newspaper editor. He received an email for me from yet another stranger, willing to share her story of hope. This is what she said...

Our daughter Emily was 8 when she was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes. We went to a local doctor who immediately got us in touch with the team from Peoria. Diane from the Diabetes Resource Center was a lifesaver to us during education and training.

The good news for you is that with time and practice it becomes second nature to count carbs, to get up in the middle of the night to check sugars, to make sure you have more snacks in your purse than anything else. You will be your son's friends favorite mom when it comes to sporting events because you will have tons of juice boxes and skittles. The bad news is you never stop worrying. Emily is 19 now, a freshman in college and doing great. But, there isn't a day that goes by, when she jumps in the car to head to IVCC that I don't worry about her numbers....

I wanted to share with you that a normal life is possible. Emily played softball for a number of years, soccer, volleyball, basketball, and she cheered in high school all four years. Normal to you and your son will just look a little different than to other kids but the end result will be the same. He can do anything that anyone else can do.

If you would like, we can share stories together. I do know what you are going through and sometimes it is nice to be able to share things with people who have been in your shoes.

Take care and may God bless your family during this unfamiliar time.


I was so touched by this. Yet, another stranger, who took the time to write out and email to me. To share her story and offer up hope. And, not only that, but open herself up to a friendship, made over our similarities with our children. There are many more stories like this, where friends of friends offer their help. Friends calling me, letting me know that know someone who's been through what I'm going through and is ready to talk if I need them. It touches me deeply that people who don't even know us want to share their stories with us, just so they can encourage and bear some of that burden with us. I replied to this gal who emailed me and told her how much I appreciated her kind words. I also told her that I hope one day, when Noah is 19, I can reach out to a newly diagnosed family the way she did to me and offer up those same words of encouragement and let them know that things will find a way to work out and that life will seem "normal" again. Reminds me that, though we live in a fallen world, there are still amazing people out there, that care, even when they don't have to.

A Thank You

http://mywebtimes.com/archives/ottawa/display.php?id=424125&query=write team


I wrote this the day after we got home from the hospital. Wanted to write it when everything was fresh for me. I hoped to use the forum that I've been privileged to use for these past few months to thank everyone who helped us during that first difficult week. This is for you...

Getting Ready

Just as I often have to remind myself during the Christmas season that I have a child with a birthday right after, I have to remind myself that with Noah's birthday comes Valentine's Day! So, we got to work this week on getting the Valentines made up for the class parties on Monday.



This year we went with Little Miss and Mister cards for Madie, Olivia the pig for (who else) Olivia, and paper airplanes for Noah.

Madie's old enough that she doesn't want any help from me. She reminded me that she's 9 and can do that herself. So, I helped Livie get hers done. She was so excited to do them for the first time this year. :-)

Noah got to work on his and did his by himself as well. My kids are growing up so much that they don't even need me for those fun things anymore. But, that's ok. Glad to see them having some independance. So, the Valentines are ready to go and will be ready for Monday's exchange. :-)

Thumbs Up!

It's a "thumbs up" kinda day! The girls were excited, because they got brand new dance bags. Complete with their names on them!


Madie got this nifty zebra striped one with her name in hot pink.

Livie got a polka dotted one with her name in green. That's a thumbs up with string cheese! That means she's super-happy! ;-)

And, why did Noah have a "thumbs up" kinda day? Why, because he ROCKED his first day at school without his mom there to help him through his shots. That's why! Yes, Noah got a glowing report on how well he handled his insulin shot today. The nurse said he didn't flinch, didn't move, and said, "Piece 'o cake!" when it was done. Way to go, Noah!!!

Candy Buffet

Today we had another special event for Sunday School. I decided to do something with a Valentine's Day theme. Since V-Day is all about love, I wanted to talk to them about who loves them the most! God does! So, I read them some verses about how much God loves us then told them we were going to make something fun for people we care about to show them that God loves them too. :-)



Each child got 2-3 treat boxes to decorate.

They could color pictures on them or write on them. Whatever they wanted to do.

Then they came up to our table and got a bag and filled it with all different kinds of candy. I didn't get my camera out until we were almost done, so there doesn't look like there was a lot of candy, but there was! Trust me. I had 10 different bowls filled with candy from sweettart hearts to 3 different kinds of M&Ms and gummy bears. There were lots to choose from and most everyone just went through and filled their bags with a spoonful of each.

When they were done, they tied the bags off with a ribbon and attached a card that said "God love you and (name) does too"! It was so much fun and after they were done filling up their treat boxes, they got to have a handful of candy just for themselves. It was a lot of fun and thankfully, they weren't too sugared up for service afterwards. :-)