Things are not going as well as we would like with Noelle's Lyme symptoms. Since taking out her PICC line in August her symptoms have worsened. Which means that IV antibiotics were definitely helping. We may have to reconsider that at some point. Though Noelle says that it is easy for me to say:/ She is currently not on antibiotics. We are trying a couple of new things. She is getting Onamed treatments. If you are interested in an explaination, there is one at this site, http://innermedicine.com/viewpage.cfm?pageID=18. She will receive treatments twice a week for about an hour each session.

We are also trying a Silver and Aloe protocol. The aloe will help to heal her stomach. Silver is said to kill the bacteria. The key to this will be our consistency.

A few months ago we felt the need to start searching for a new primary care physician. The primary care person we have counted on for a long time expressed a distrust in Noelle's diagnosis and in her treatment. We were not comfortable continuing to see her. I am happy to say that after a couple months of not knowing what to put when it asks our primary care physician, we have a new doctor!! Dr. Angela Townsend is actually a friend of our family's from church. She is a pediatrician but is able to treat Noelle as long as she is a student. We had our first appointment the other day and it could not have gone better! She is concentrating on Noelle's inablility to get decent sleep first. She is not awake yet this morning, but yesterday she slept over 12 hours! And no nightmares.

Due to her worsened symptoms school attendance has been a factor. Yesterday we met with her advisors and dropped all but one traditional class. She will attempt to make it to school each afternoon for Chemistry. This is important to her both because she likes science, and because she wants to be a nurse. All her other classes will be online and she will mostly work from home. I am praying that this change will relieve some of her stress.

Thanks again for your prayers.

Mandisa - Overcomer

Family time

Last night we had a very successful family outing. Scott and I were so excited. We drove in one car! And except for a tired six year old everything went fantastic. We mini-golfed and drove go karts. Then we went out to eat and enjoyed a great gluten-free menu and a few bites of non gluten-free desert. Can you say red velvet cheesecake!

Hot yoga

In my continued pursuit to find weight loss, exercise and a little me time, I have started going to hot yoga. And when they say hot, they mean HOT!! The first time I think I left class 3 times to try and cool off. I have since discovered that there is a big difference in instructors, both in the temperature and in the difficulty of the class. I am frustrated that I have not lost any weight yet but I love using my body and feeling some of my strength return.

Back to School

And so it begins again! August 22 (coincidentily our 26th anniversary) Noelle and Teme went back to school. Noelle is a senior!!!! And Teme is in 7th grade. That day also took Jake back to Iowa State after a year hiatus. The 26th saw Sabrina starting first grade and Jake starting classes.

We covet your prayers, as usual. Noelle's schedule is very heavy for her. She still wakes up with nauseau and a headache almost everyday. We are still seeking more answers health-wise. But in the meantime she has 3 traditional setting classes and 3 PBDA/online classes. Six hours of class is a lot for her weak body. She accomplished so much this summer, I know she can keep up the great work!

She took her first college course, her CNA class. She passed with an A!! She will still need to pass the state liscensing exam in the next couple months. This is the first step in her journey to become a nurse. It is required to be admitted to nursing school. Last night she wrote her essay for her admission to Allen College. She will be pursuing her BSN which will include 2 years at a community college and two years at Allen.

Teme's academic life may look a little different in the future as well. At the urging of his teachers we had Teme tested for learning disabilites at the University of Iowa. Teme was diagnosed with an intellectual disability, so eventually he will transition from ELL services to special education services. We will be meeting with his school next week to go over the official report from the U of I. This is a whole new ballpark for us. Please pray that we can navigate these waters successfully and always be good advocates for Teme. As I watched him leave football practice the other night I was struck again by how well liked he is. His ELL teacher has been able to observe Teme outside the ELL classroom this year. He said, "I wasn't that popular in middle school!" We have a fairly steady stream of boys that come over to our house to play basketball with Teme. I just pray that his learning difficulties never interfere with his friendships or his athletics.

Jake had a successful first week at school!! He has a tiny dorm room in an upper classmen dorm. His roommate is a noncommunicative recent immigrant. Quite a shock, I think, for Mr. Social. He is talking about running for dorm president. He said, "It will look good on my resume." I said, "who are you?" Kidding. He was very successful in his year off working at HGS/Toro. He was promoted to Team Leader and was interviewing and training new employees. When he left his bosses encouraged him to come back as an intern next summer. I pray that God inspires him with a course of action for his life. I pray that God gets a hold of his heart! I pray for a fantastic Christian Mrs. Hoss some day.

Then there is Chatty Kathy, I mean Sabrina. This morning she did not want to go to school because it is boring. It is going to be a long 12+ years. She missed two days last week with a fever and we are struggling to get her make up work done. She just is kind of a complainer right now. I just hope I am not modeling that. I need to project joy. There was some discussion about Sabrina repeating Kindergarten. I pray that we made the right decision. She has just 11 kids in her class, nine girls and two boys. I would certainly think the small class size would be an advantage.

Well, that is the back to school update. Have a great year!