Journey to Health, Volume VI

2018

2016 vs 2017

What a journey I have been on in my health journey the past couple of years.

I'm  not exactly where I want to be (wherever that is) but I'm certainly happy with how far I've come.  Prior to this summer, I had lost 90 pounds.  This summer was challenging for me, mentally and emotionally.  I'm an emotional eater and when times get tough, I turn to food.  I'm grateful that over the past two years I've trained myself (more often than not) to step away from the sweats during times of stress and turn to my essential oils.  I'm not going to get into that now but will share a bit about my journey from this summer.

I started working from home 4 days a week in June and although this was great (and still is), I quickly realized that I do not get up and move around enough.  When I go into the office, I have a good walk from my car to my office and also to the restroom, kitchen, etc.  When I'm home, the kitchen is only 35 feet from my desk and the restroom is about the same. Some days I would be so busy that I wouldn't leave my desk at all. A typical work day would end for me around 4:00 pm and I'd have less than 300 steps.  When I go to the office, I'd at least have 4,000 steps by the end of my work day (and a lot more if left the building for lunch). I'm not even one that counts steps. I don't have a daily step goal however this data is available to me and so I check it from time to time. During this time, I gained 12 pounds. It crept up fast and I had to do something fast before it got out of hand.  I've always loved running but will make every excuse not to go outside to run. Once I'm out there I'm good, and will run for a long time, but I make a million excuses. Too early, too hot, too cold, too many mosquitoes, too late, too dark, too close to dinner, blah blah blah blah blah...  One day, something clicked and I thought to myself, "I'll just run inside my home"... and so on the days I work from home, I started running. I run for 5 minutes every 90 minutes, starting at my front door and going to my bedroom, then bathroom, back to my room to the widows, out to the family room and into the kitchen, around the island and then into the dining room, around the table and then back into my office and then to the front door. When I first started I was doing 5 laps and the last time I did it, I ran 8 (I've not ran in 2 weeks).  I don't sprint... it's just a jog (I'm not trying to wipe out on our slick wood floors or tile) and I'm certainly not looking to sprain an ankle or knee.  This not only helped me to get some extra steps but it gets me up and moving which leads to extra energy throughout the day. Thankfully I was able to drop most of those extra pounds and am down another 2 this week (that's right, I'm down 2 pounds the week of Christmas).

It's been 2 years today since I had my surgery and I still have no regrets.  I feel great and have more energy than before. I'm no longer embarrassed to walk into Jayden's basketball games or go in public. I no longer feel confined to my home (although I really love my home and still love being home). I have more confidence and actually enjoy shopping for clothes again. I no longer hate every single picture of myself and although I know our self worth has nothing to do with how we look, I very much let it affect my day-to-day life. Women often struggle with insecurities and I was not above that, I greatly struggled in this area.  Something about shedding some pounds and having more energy has also strengthened my relationship with the Lord (maybe it's because I don't need to sleep as much and can spend more time in prayer and communicating with him).  I never really felt unworthy of his love when I was overweight, but yet deep down, I knew he wanted me to take care of myself (the temple) and so I would get down on myself and be harsh as if he didn't love me as much as he would if I would take better care of my self. I know these are lies of the enemy, I knew it then and I know it now but I would still fall for them. Are you in this space? Are you believing the lies of he enemy? If so, I encourage you to reach out to me, reach out to a friend, reach out to someone. It does NOT matter where you are in your health journey, He loves you RIGHT where you are. He shows us grace when we eat too many sugar cookies, he shows us grace when we indulge and overeat, he shows us grace through our trials and tribulations and our stressful days and tough situations. He is a mighty Father and He loves us all so very much!

Jeff has been on a health journey of his own.  I'm super duper proud of him for losing over 50 pounds. He looks great and feels even better. He is still working out multiple times a week and has also picked up running. One day, we will run together, but until then, I will continue to do my little laps in the house and he'll continue to run through the neighborhood.

This health journey we are on is so much more than losing weight. We've had a complete lifestyle transformation in our home. From eating healthier to removing the majority of plastic and replacing it with glass, to removing the extremely toxic non-stick cookware and replacing it with cast iron and stainless steal to removing the plastic utensils and replacing with wood and metal. We've all transformed to a healthier lifestyle. We tossed all the over the counter medications and solely use essential oils (we don't even have Tylenol or Ibuprofen in our home anymore).  Again, there is a time and place for medication. I still go to the doctor every 6 months and get my thyroid and hormones checked. I still take prescription medication for Hashimoto's and my hormone imbalance and although they've lowered my dosage since I've been using oils, I am still under doctor care and will be until I've fully transitioned to oils.  We've replaced all candles with diffusers (which is not only better for you, smells better and is also less expensive) and have changed to a non-toxic laundry soap and hand soap. If you'd like to know more about any of this, please do not hesitate to reach out to me. It's taken me years and many hours of reading and doing research to get to the point I'm at right now and I wouldn't turn back for anything. I am passionate about helping others and would love to help you too.

Wishing you all a very blessed New Year.

xoxo,
Trina

Journey to Health, Volume V

May 2016 -- May 2018

In honor of our anniversary this past weekend, I thought I’d share a quick update on our health journey. 

Together, we have lost 140 pounds… 140 POUNDS!!!

We got our mind right and got to it!  No harmful pills, no special food, no lifelong commitments to expensive programs and supplements loaded with toxins, no pre-packaged flavorless (or disgusting flavor) food… We made a decision to better our health, not for our looks, but for our wellbeing. Does it feel great to look better? Absolutely! But again, and as I’ve said before, it wasn’t about that. It’s not about being a certain size or a certain weight. It’s about feeling our best to be our best for each other, our children, our friends and family, our business and anyone we can serve throughout the rest of our life.

And for those of you who want to throw the “but you had surgery” card. You are right, I did. It was a tool that assisted me in my journey almost 2  years ago.  My mind-set was right long before I had the surgery and it has to remain set in this place forever or I will be right back where I started. The surgery isn’t keeping me from gaining the weight back, my mind is keeping me from it. As I mention in Journey to Health, Volume I, I lost quite  a bit of weight before having the surgery and contemplated cancelling it. I’m thankful I didn’t, as that would have been a lot of wasted money as it was already paid for, it has been a good tool in my journey.

I need to be very clear (as I’ve mentioned in my other Journey to Health posts), I’m not judging you if you’ve chosen to go with a program. They simply are not for me. Before I was educated on toxins and harmful products, I tried them (so many that I lost count). I lost weight, didn’t improve my mind set, and gained it back. Jeff too. Over and over and over again. It’s my opinion that this is how the programs work and unfortunately we’ve seen it time and time again.  That said, I loudly applaud anyone for choosing to take control of their health and wanting to make a change, even if that means using a program. It’s not easy to lose weight and make healthy choices all the time, especially with busy schedules, working full time, other activities, etc. I seriously applaud anyone who makes the decision to change bad habits to form new ones. I love hearing people’s stories and how they came from a dark place from unhealthy habits and have found a renewed love for life because of healthier habits. Being healthier is life changing in itself. When we eat healthy, we have more energy, we sleep better, we are not bitter or angry, we have a more patience during frustrating situations (like losing majority electronics in home from lightning) and a more positive outlook on everything.

Over a year ago, Jeff started a gym in the garage of our home. He initially started training a few high school boys, Jayden, Kiarra and some of her friends. It soon morphed into Jeff’s friends coming, several people from church and then neighbors joined as well. Some nights, he has 12+ people training with him and other nights there may only be 1 additional person… and some nights he works out solo.  He has made a decision to become healthy and I’m so proud of him for his commitment to his health, the health of our family and our friends.  If he sees you, he IS going to talk to you about coming over for workout!!  Run, just run!!  haha, just kidding. Although I’m impressed with his workout habits, I’m more impressed with the changes he’s made to his diet. He is eating more and more vegetables and fewer carbs. We still have traditional spaghetti and other carbs (who can live without carbs anyway) from time to time but he’s choosing to eat less of the bad stuff and more of the good stuff. I changed the way I cook and we are eating out less and less (like hardly ever these days). Since I’m cooking healthier, we are all healthier.  Shhhh, don’t tell Jayden I put broccoli in the last burgers I made with ground turkey (haha, just kidding. Although I wish J would eat more veggies, I don't actually believe in hiding foods from kids (or anyone) to get them to eat them).  Do we still indulge in a chocolate chip cookie, or a scoop of ice cream from time to time, YES, we do, and that is ok! 

I am excited to jump back into working out as well. I was really good about it last year and then fell off the bandwagon during the time of Kiarra graduating high school (as in a year and a half ago).  A friend and I were walking a few times a week this spring (and then it got too hot, we are wusses in the heat) and that not only helped to get in a little exercise, it more importantly helped to de-stress. Simply talking to a friend and sharing burdens (while walking) is very therapeutic.  Since I’ve mostly been working from home all summer, I have not been as active as I normally am and the scale was up a couple of pounds. I’m not happy about this and certainly not proud of it. I literally sit here at my desk, all day long. The kitchen is 15 feet away, the toilet is 15 feet away, I’m just not getting in the steps I used to get when going to the office each day. Walking from my car to my desk in my office is probably 1,000 steps and currently I’m lucky if I have 1,000 steps at the end of my work day. I’m eager to get back into lifting weights (small ones) and running again.  I LOVE running. It’s very therapeutic for me and I always have the best days after I run.

This health journey we are on started years ago. When I was pregnant with Taryn, I learned for the first time what eating healthy looked like. I’ve mentioned before that I growing up we ate fried food, a ton of boxed food loaded with chemicals, frozen meals like they were going out of style and drank tons and tons of soda. I don’t fault my Mom for this, she did everything she could to put food on the table for us. I was (and still am) addicted to sugar. I’ve been reading many books and articles throughout the years about how bad sugar, processed food and chemicals are for us yet I ignored and had the horrible mind set of “we are going to die anyway”. This all changed when I realized I could take control of our health and the toxic load intake for me and my family. Now that we have lowered our toxic load intake from many things in our home (cleaning supplies, laundry soap, hand soap, toothpaste, mouthwash, deodorant, face wash, OTC  medication, removal of candles, etc.), we are all feeling better, breathing better and really are living the best life we can live. Do we have bigger goals and dreams, YES!!  We have many more goals and dreams. We don’t get sick as often as we used to and this is a dream come true of its own. Is this a coincidence?? I think not!  We are using essential oils to not only support our needs to stay healthy but to also restore our health when we are feeling a certain way.  I never ever thought a drop of oil would be so powerful and so life changing. I prayed for years about a healthier lifestyle, trying product after product, program after program. I didn’t even really know I was dreaming and praying for a solution until it came knocking on my door.

I am thrilled to be on this journey and you know what, I am thrilled that Jeff is on it with me. He was super skeptical about oils at first (as was I). He wouldn’t really have anything to do with them until he got the flu (almost 2 years ago). Ha, I’ll show you Mr. flu bug!  I put a protocol together for him and was applying them topically every 3-4 hours, giving him oils in a veggie cap to take internally and diffusing constantly. This type of illness usually takes people down for a week (if not longer), but not in my house. We zapped it!  Poof, be gone!!  Last week when we were in Utah, 5,000 feet above sea level, smokey air from fires blazing nearby and super dry air, Jeff started to feel some sinus pressure and was sneezing every 5 minutes. He was not feeling his best but didn’t want to miss out on the amazing day ahead.  I lubed him up and we started our day. Around 4 pm, he was tired and feeling like he should lay down. He decided to miss the last 2 hours of convention that day and go back to the hotel. I told him exactly what to take and what to apply… When I returned after the day with my brand new convention kit that contained all of the new oils, my friend and I had him try two of the new ones. He went back to bed and we went to the street party.  The next day he was feeling so MUCH better. He wasn’t 100% but he was certainly better. He attended convention with me, as well as our team party.  By the following day, he was 100%.  Had we not of had these amazing oils, we would have resorted to OTC medication, full of junk with more side effects than effectiveness. We love our oils!

We celebrated our 19^th anniversary this past weekend and I’m grateful to have this man by my side.. walking hand in hand and enjoying life together…dreaming about our future and living our life to the fullest.

Sending Her Off To College

Today, my first born, Kiarra starts college. A new journey and an experience that will forever change her life…one that will forever change mine as well. Over the past 2 months, we began accumulating things for her to take to college. The bigger the pile got the more real it became. I’ve been thinking about this moment for 18 years. How will I manage without my side kick? We have done life together for almost 19 years. Have I prepared her for being away? Have I done enough? Taught her enough? Prayed enough? Listened enough? 

Last week, we packed up the cars and drove her to the apartment that will be her home for the next 5 months. I rode with her so we could talk and spend time together yet I didn’t know what to say. I couldn’t believe this time had come. How did these years go by so fast? Last year, we thought she’d be here for two more years attending community college but just as I wrote in my blog, When He speaks, we listen, those plans changed. On one hand I was incredibly happy and thrilled for her and on the other I was sad for me, Jeff and the kids. Life as we know it will no longer be the same. We have a lot of fun as a family. We love to play games and be silly, bake, cook and have water fights. She almost always goes to the store with me (literally my side kick) and we just love being weird.  I have faith that life will only get better, be better and I truly know this is where she is meant to be.

We arrived before lunch and check in was a breeze. She got the keys to her place and we stopped by to see if her roommates were there. Unfortunately they were not, but many other girls were around and came out to say hi. She was immediately welcomed with open arms. We went and had lunch and then headed back to her place to unload, unpack to get her settled in. Her roommates were there when we returned and they were so nice and welcoming. They are both a few years older and are in their 2^nd and 3^rd year. Saying I felt a sense of relief is a complete understatement of how I felt. I was overjoyed with how sweet, kind, compassionate and caring these girls were. Kiarra immediately had two big sisters looking out for her best interest.

The girls had to go to work, so we sent Jeff to the store and began unpacking and getting her settled. We really do make a good team, we had most of the stuff done before Jeff returned (we may have asked him to hit up Starbucks while he was out). Making the bed was seriously the hardest thing we had to do (top bunk).We laughed and had a great time getting everything organized. Before he returned from the store, we already had a list of other things she needed.  We finished up and then headed back to the store and then to dinner. I was delaying as much as humanly possible. We took her back to her place, unloaded and unpacked the things we had purchased and we said our good-byes for the night.

I was feeling great. I thought to myself “I can do this, that wasn’t so bad”…

The following morning, we went to her place to finish up. We didn’t have a planned agenda for the day and we didn’t have a set time to leave so I was THRILLED when she said she wanted to go shopping to get some sweaters (quite cold up there right now) and a couple other things she thought of.  YESSS… more of a delay and more time with my girl!!  We hit up a humongous Old Navy and a few other stores close by and then had lunch. 

The day flew by and it quickly became time to say good-bye. I thought I was good. We had a great day, I was feeling a little sad to say good-bye but felt I had it together…

We hugged and laughed and said our good-byes. Jeff hugged her and I felt something in my chest. My heart was pounding…. It started racing and chills ran through my entire body. We walked out without shedding a tear… and then we got to the car. We barely made it out of the parking lot when the tears started rolling. I couldn’t stop them. I thought I was ok. I was not ok. The tears would stop for a moment and I’d think I have it together and then my eyes would just start gushing again. I couldn’t get them under control.  My heart was hurting; at times it felt like daggers were stabbing me. I cried the whole way home, stopping long enough to get in a 30 minute nap.

I knew I would be sad, and I knew I’d cry. I just didn’t know I’d literally feel the heartache I felt that day. Even though I know she is in a great place and is going to flourish and do wonderful things, it doesn’t change the pain I felt in my heart knowing she’s not home each night and not under my roof.

Here we are, a week later and although I’ve had a little melt down each day, the pain in my heart has completely turned to joy and I cherish each text, snapchat, and call I receive from her. Am I still sad? Yes!  Do I miss her? Yes!!  But, I have a sense of peace each time she crosses my mind that reminds me “He’s got this”.  It also helps that her roommates have taken her under their wing began pouring into her on day one. They set goals their first night together, prayed together and have taken her with them to campus events and around the city. I’m grateful to God for these young ladies! Seriously, so grateful and so thankful!

Well I thought  that was the end of my post. I’ve been writing this for weeks, mostly in my head, but finally got it in writing late last week. Then, yesterday morning, one of the members in the band shared a message he received from the Lord. He said “Church, God has been preparing you for 18 years for this moment…” I initially took it as if he was talking to our pastor but as I sat there taking it all in, I’m quite positive that message was directly for Jeff and I. It was exactly what I needed to hear. It’s true, we have been preparing for this moment for 18 years. Was I ready?  No! But we have been fervently preparing her for this moment. From getting her first tooth at 2.5 months old, to walking at 8 months, to her first day of kindergarten, first sleepover, first day of Junior High and High school to her first job, driving and gaining some independence to her last day of high school, we have raised her in the way we want her to go.  Throughout every first, every good day, every bad day and all the days in-between, we have done our best to instill in her the principles we believe to be truth. Have we always been perfect? Nope. Has she made mistakes and departed from our teaching? Yep. Each time we have picked up from where we fell and we have moved forward with God leading our path. We had an extra 5 months with her to prepare her for this next first in her life…her very first day of college, today.  We love you Kiarra!

Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; 6 in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight. Proverbs 3:5-6

Commit your way to the LORD; trust in him, and he will act. Psalm 37:5

Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid. John 14:27

A Letter to My Daughter Before She Goes to College

Well…here we are, just a few days away from taking you to college.  Where have the years gone?? A bittersweet day for sure. For the past 18 years (almost 19), it’s been my job to protect you. The time has come… A brand new chapter in your life, a new experience for you. I’m going to miss you, a lot, but I can’t wait to see what the Lord has in store for you.  You are going to grow deeper in your faith and in your walk with the Lord. You’ll experience new things and meet new friends. You’ll have times of joy and laughter and times of sadness and sorrow. Through each experience; the good, the bad and the ugly, praise Him. Praise HIM!! Praise Him through each happy moment and through each storm. He will hold your hand and guide your path. He’ll wipe your tears in the sad times and will smile with you during the joyous times. He will always be with you.

As I drive away and you feel the sense of independence, there is something I want you to remember. As my firstborn, you had my heart first. My whole heart. I didn’t know I was capable of loving another child because I loved you so much. Independence is a great thing but it can also be scary. Be careful. Guard your heart. Lean not on your own understanding. Don’t be afraid to call and ask us for guidance. Always remember the principles we’ve instilled in you. Make good choices.  Learn from your mistakes. Study hard. Have fun!

When you miss me, and I know you will, call me! Text me!  FaceTime me! (I better see your name come up on my phone a lot!!)  Seriously, anytime of the day or night, if you need anything please do NOT hesitate to reach out to us. You are never too grown or too old to need your Mom. Yes, I said it. Mom. M-O-M, Mom.

I know you have to go, but I have a brilliant idea… sleep in and skip class so you fail and have to move home!!  We can get you your job back at TSA (hee-hee)!!  Although I’m only half joking, I really do want you to succeed. You are an incredibly beautiful young lady with an even more beautiful heart and soul. I’m incredibly proud of you for listening to the Lord and being obedient to His calling for you. You will be blessed by this obedience.

You are a blessing to me, our family, and so many others. I Love You Kiarra!

Medical Emergencies

One year ago, we had quite a scare in our family. In my Journey to Health Volume II blog, I mentioned that on Day 16 I had a great check-up and was ecstatic but then things took a turn for the worse, but it didn’t have anything to do with me and had everything to do with Kiarra and my brother, Talan.

Kiarra had her wisdom teeth removed on December 28, 2016.  She was swollen as one would expect, and we have some pretty hilarious video coverage of that day, but all went well and she was recovering nicely. Once it was time to go back to school, she did and was feeling ok.  She had her two week check-up with the surgeon and everything was good. He said she was healing perfectly and she could resume normal activities.

Just two days later, Friday (the 13^th) morning, she woke up swollen and in major pain. I called the surgeon and sure enough they wanted me to bring her in.  Kiarra was so worried about missing work that she didn’t initially want to go back to the doctor. Once we got there, the doctor had one quick look at her and told me they had to take her into surgery immediately to open her back up and get the infection out.  They whisked her away and the nurse handed me a bunch of paperwork to sign. Because she had eaten yogurt and drank some things earlier that morning, I was basically signing her life away. I signed papers that I wouldn’t sue them if something happened to her while under anaesthesia since she didn’t have an empty stomach. Then, more papers to approve resuscitation if need be… and of course all the regular papers you have to sign when agreeing to surgery. It all happened so fast, I didn’t have time to think, I just signed away. I asked the nurse for reassurance, but they couldn’t give me any (for obvious reasons). With a heavy heart, I went to the waiting room.

I no longer sat down to take a deep breathe and to call Jeff with an update when I got a call from my Mom.  She was sobbing on the other end of the phone and I could barely understand a word she was saying. All I heard was “pray for your brother, he’s not breathing”. And then silence. She was driving through the hills in Iowa and had no service. I was frantically trying to get a hold of her, and just lost it and started sobbing myself. One of the sweet nurses from the surgeon’s office came out to console me, thinking I was upset about Kiarra (which I was, but this wasn’t just about her). I quickly explained that I was ok, and that I wasn’t upset about Kiarra, but something else in regard to a phone call I had just received. 1. She didn’t believe me.  2. I know both situations is what caused my meltdown. 3. I was still moving a bit slow as I was still recovering from surgery as well (and on day 16 of not taking hormone medication... which was a disaster in itself).

I got a hold of Jeff, still crying,  he thinks I’m upset about Kiarra (which I am) but barely got a few words out when my Mom called me back. I had to hang up on him to talk with her…she briefly updated me and said he was now in an ambulance but wasn’t breathing when they got to the ambulance and also had no blood pressure…

I finally got to update Jeff and soon after, Kiarra was finished and the surgeon was ready to talk to me. He said he has been doing this for over 30 years and has never seen an infection this bad and escalate this quickly (remember, he just saw her two days prior to this and everything seemed to be good). He said he has definitely had some cases where infections happened but mostly dry sockets or something minor. He only remembered two other cases that were quite extreme where he had to go back in and open someone up in this emergency type of situation but neither had the infection this bad. He had this look on his face that I’ll never forget. A deep look of concern, almost as if he was scared. It was a look of compassion yet fear.  He had JUST seen her in his office two days ago and she was healing perfectly.  Mind you, I was also internally freaking out about my brother so my mind was all over the place. He told me all the signs to watch for in the case he didn’t get it all out. He told me she was MAJORLY swollen and that it would only get worse within the next few days. He gave me the emergency number to reach him if anything transpired over the weekend.  The nurse gave me additional aftercare instructions and I was able to take her home. When he told me that she was majorly swollen, I was expecting the same amount of swelling that she had after having her wisdom teeth out. I was shocked when I saw her. She was almost unrecognizable. It looked as if she had a softball in her cheek (and she was highly medicated). It immediately brought tears to my eyes (thankfully I had sunglasses on). This trip home was not as fun as the trip two weeks prior. The first trip was full of a very hilarious Kiarra acting like ET while driving a race car and wanting me to slow down so we didn’t get pulled over by the cops (I was only going 2 mph over the speed limit).  This trip was brutal. At first we couldn’t get her in the car, she would not stand up from the wheel chair and was just in so much pain.  More pain than I’ve ever seen her in! She was crying hysterically, confused, mad and again soooo worried about her job. She gave me the same look she gave me as a young child when she’d get those stupid shots… the look of “save me…why are you doing this to me”.  It was awful. I was driving and trying so hard to be strong for her, holding her hand and telling her it was going to be ok but about half way home, I lost it. That was even more confusing for her. Thankfully we don’t live that far, and I was able to get it together. As all this is happening, my phone is blowing up with texts from my family in Iowa either with information on Talan or wanting information on Kiarra.

We got home, Jeff helped me get her settled, get oils applied and then I was able to take a deep breathe.

I called my Mom and she gave me the update… Talan was alive but only after being resuscitated two times. He and my nephew were out and about doing somethings when he began having an asthma attack. My nephew drove him as fast as he could to meet up with an ambulance and when they got to the ambulance, he could not breathe. The ambulance took him to the local hospital and they couldn’t get a blood pressure and began to lose him. They had to resuscitate. This hospital took him to another, larger, hospital in the city where at some point they had to resuscitate again.  Finally, they managed to stabilize and get a ventilator in him. He was in a coma but stable and resting allowing his lungs to heal. His daughter, just 20 years old, was called in to make decisions. My Mom, Teige & Kathy, and my nephews were there as well. I text our life group, our pastors and our amazing prayer warrior friends and we all began to pray for him.

Kiarra didn’t want anyone around her and didn’t want anyone to see her. My heart broke, it was so hard seeing her in so much pain. All you Moms how I’m feeling here, it is extremely hard to see our children in pain. She was taking the pain medication and we were applying oils that support infection and pain but the swelling was just so much. She finally looked at herself and was shocked. She wept. The doctor said it would take weeks for this swelling to go down. Our sweet young pastor came by with dinner for us and prayed with us. Harvey came as well; he held her hand and comforted her. She slept a lot.

It was a very scary 24 hours for both Kiarra and Talan. I received an update on Talan mid-morning and his lungs were stronger and they said they’d remove the ventilator if he continued to improve, praise the LORD. Mid-afternoon, the ventilator was out and he was breathing well, talking and being his typical goofball self. He was still in ICU and was being so ornery that they kept getting into trouble from the nurses for being too loud. He had everyone cracking up.  It wasn’t long and he went from being on the ventilator to being released. Someone who had just been resuscitated twice within the past 24 hours was now free to go home. Mind blowing to me. But, that’s God. He is so good, always!

Kiarra was not doing so well. The swelling was only getting bigger. The pain was unbearable. She had homework and was still so worried about her job. I text her boss and told her she wouldn’t be there for at least week and they were so understanding. That helped ease her mind a bit.  She returned to school, thankfully she had late arrival and early dismissal so she didn’t have to be there all day every day. After a couple of days, the swelling in Kiarra’s face started to go down and she had a full recovery. It took a full 3 months for it go down completely but it did and she’s doing great!

Although we don’t always get along, Talan is an important person in my life and I can’t imagine him not being here. This was a scary situation and I’m so glad they were able to save him and he was able to recover…now if he’d just take care of his asthma daily instead of when he just has flare ups… that’s another blog for another time. :)