If at first you don't succeed...

Well, I tried to start a blog back in July of 2010. Failed. But what's that old saying? "If at first you don't succeed, try, try again..."

Here goes.

It sure has been a busy, dizzying year. This was our first year of homeschooling. We are in our last days now. Our oldest son, Gavin has only 2 days left of K-5. Our daughters, Maddy (grade 3) and Emily (grade 1) only have 6 days of school left for the year! All have done well. We've certainly had our ups and downs, but overall it's been a success.

Samuel (4 years old) has had a year full of improvement too. His speech has become much more articulate. (Insert SHOUT OUT to his Speech Therapist, Kathy Mount at Cincinnati Childrens!) My heart just melts when he climbs up into my lap, puts his strong arm around my neck to play with my hair and says, "I wud jew, Mommy." He's such a joy. He recently saw a specialist at Cincinnati Children's named Dr. Susan Wiley. She was so extremely pleased with his progression in developmental skills. Dr. Wiley works in the Division of Developmental & Behavioral Pediatrics. She was especially taken aback by Sam's results of the Beery-Bucktenica Test of Visual-Motor Integration. Sam earned a score of 110 which is in the "high average range." We are so pleased! Dr. Wiley informed us that many pediatric patients that have had bacterial spinal menengitis often have to deal with impulse issues and sensory issues, neither of which seem evident in Sam at this point! Praise be to God!

Gavin has done very well in K-5. I do believe that he enjoys science (though for some odd reason he denies it) and Bible. One of Gavin's strengths is arithmetic. It seems to come pretty easily to him though he struggles with number recognition at times. Incredibly he can tell you what 10 X 5 equals, but sometimes struggles in recognizing numbers such as 13, 31, etc. Counting coins is a strength of Gavin's too which will come in handy since he is a money "hoarder" of sorts! Gavin can quote just about any tv show/movie he watches. He may not always look like he's paying attention (READ: he doesn't sit still or stop talking for a moment), but somehow that mind of his absorbs things like a sponge.

The biggest struggle this year has been Emily. She is a very helpful girl around the house. Her desire is to be a Mommy someday. She loves to cook, she's quick to see the needs of others (and meet those needs) and she's tenderhearted. BUT if I could get that girl to focus as much attention on her actual school work as she puts into cheating (in 1st grade!) she'd be an A student. Frustrating. Emily's best subjects are arithmetic and science. Penmanship...forget about it! Phonics...nope. God placed the desire for her to want to be a Mommy in her heart and her heart obviously follows that path. I constantly remind her that arithmetic and science are important subjects for a Mommy to know, but so are phonics and reading.

Last, but certainly not least is Maddy. She LOVES history. That is certainly her best subject. Don't get me wrong, she does well at just about every subject, but history is her absolute favorite. I love the passion with which she reads too! Maddy is a bookworm for sure. If she's not drawing some kind of drawing in one of her many notebooks/diaries, she's reading. She's very artistic. Obviously not from me. Donnie is more artistic than I. My sister and dad are very artistic too. Gratefully, Maddy is almost a self-taught student. Between trying to keep Sam quiet, monitor Emily's behavior, help Gavin to keep focused on task, Maddy has pretty much taught herself 3rd grade. What a blessing she is.

Just last month, I went back to my endocrinologist for my regular check up. The previous visit, he upped my dose for my thyroid medication and wanted to check on how I was feeling. No change. Still completely exhausted. He said that there was, "obviously something else wrong with me." (Please hold all comments! I know there are plenty of other things wrong with me!) WOO HOO! He's finally listening to me! I've been trying to tell him for the last couple of years that, "Something just isn't right. I feel awful." So he did a ton of blood work and the results came back that seem to "indicate Celiac Disease." So on to another specialist for me. In three days, I will be seeing a gastroenterologist for diagnoses and treatment. So it looks like we'll be going gluten-free (as well as sugar-free for Donnie and egg-free for Gavin). It is my MISSION to come up with a gluten-free, sugar-free, egg-free menu that taste GREAT too!

As I mentioned before, this has been a busy year for us. Donnie has been working so hard at his job. And the results prove it! He has won several performance awards as well as earned more in bonuses this year than he ever has. I'm so proud of him! What a diligent worker he is. I'm so grateful that he's good at what he does, and that he cares for his family too. Many times in my life I've heard women complain that their husbands are never home. That they never spend time with the family. Not so here in the Stewart household! Donnie makes sure that we have family devotions and that we spend quality (and quantity) family time together.

God moved our family in a spiritual sense this year. He moved us from serving in our previous church to a new church. It's been a big adjustment for our entire family, but the rewards have been great! Since changing churches, God has called Donnie into missions, to Bearing Precious Seed (BPS) ministries. Right now we are in the preparation phase. We are paying off debts so that we can move much closer to our church. This past year, God has allowed us to pay off more debt than we've been able to do in a looooong time. I believe that it's partly a reward for making some difficult spiritual decisions last year. Right now we live about 40 minutes from church. We'd like to eventually be within 10-15 minutes away, if possible. (And with God, ALL things are possible:)

I know this is a cooking blog. Therefore, I'm sorry for the seemingly random post. I just felt that I needed to update myself as to what we have faced recently and to what we are about to face. Looking forward to blogging more about my journey with Celiac Disease and the foods that will hopefully help heal me. (And hopefully some pictures to accompany the recipes!)