Superior

Waterloo Christian School, where Sabrina attends, has a speech meet every spring. Sabrina did an excellent job with her poem "What is it?" She received a superior rating.

We need a car!

We have booked our flight and our extended stay hotel for Arizona. We leave on March 11th. We have one detail to work out. We need a car to use while we are there. I have looked at rentals and for the time we are there it is $1500+, for a compact, which is fine. We are praying that someone will have a car for us to use while we are there. If you know someone who is in Arizona seasonally and has car we might be able to use, please let me know. Please pray with us that God would take care of this one expense.

Good reads

Loved this book! You will experience every emotion!

Amazing story set during World War I. Covers some psychological ground that is very intriguing. Both of these authors are new to me, if you can recommend any of their other works please let me know.

This book was a gift for my daughter and I. It is written by a woman who struggled with Lyme disease. Honestly, it took me a few entries to appreciate the book. It felt like all her hope was put in heaven. I need some here on earth. And as I continued on, I have found hope. From day 24,

"When you feel on the verge of sinking in despair, turn to Me for help. Cling to My hand, and walk by faith through the darkness. Do not focus on the circumstances that are weighing you down. Instead, through eyes of faith, look ahead to brighter times, and praise Me for them. While you worship Me in the midst of darkness, I enable you to see the first gleam of dawn on the path before you. Continue walking worshipfully with Me-a walk of faith. As you persevere along this path, the dim light will gradually shine brighter and brighter till the full light of day."

2 Corinthians 5:7, "We walk by faith, not by sight."

Proverbs 4:18, "The path of the righteous is like the first gleam of dawn, shining ever brighter till the full lights of day."

So I will continue to search for that dim light as Noelle continues to be in pain every day. As she screams out as a new and fierce pain hits here. As we wait for a solution, a miracle.

Super Baker is at it again!

This was my beautiful Valentine's cake! Four layers of decadent chocolate cake with strawberries between each layer. Yummy! Thanks so much Noelle!

Then she made Red Velvet cupcakes decorated for the Olympics to take to her small group. Very Patriotic!

Neurology Update

We saw Noelle's neurologist yesterday. First, we really like her. That is such a bonus. All tests done on Noelle's spinal fluid came back negative. Including Lyme, which means it has not hit her nerves. Having ruled out any scary reasons for the pressure, we are able to fly to Arizona! YEAH! Neither one of us were excited about a 26 hour drive. Our flights are booked for March 11th.

Noelle is still experiencing horrible headaches and vision issues. The neurologist said it will take time for her symptoms to improve. The medication used to reduce the fluid must be built up weekly until the maximum dose at four weeks. We just started week two. Hopefully this increase in medication will begin to ease her symptoms. We asked the neurologist about medications for her headaches and she recommended we go off all pain medications for her headaches as these can actually cause rebound headaches. It will be hard to have no course of action when the pain is overwhelming.

In other Lyme news...Noelle's Bartonella test, a co-infection of Lyme, came back negative. Which is actually kind of annoying. The testing is not very reliable. Noelle has multiple symptoms specific to this co-infection but insurance will not pay for treatment without a positive test. We have decided to wait to treat until we get to Arizona.

Noelle has continued to suffer extreme body pain. Please keep her in your prayers. Until we get to Arizona, we do not have a treatment plan.

Woo Hoo

I am so proud. I have to post. Some of you know that Jake took a year off from Iowa State to reorganize:) He went back in the fall, and he made Dean's list!!! Yeah, Jake.

Cheaper than therapy!

At least that is what Noelle said when she came out to the kitchen yesterday:) When Noelle is having a rough day, she likes to bake. She is very good at it! All her goodies are gluten free. Last night she made a rainbow cake.

Lots of times on Wednesdays she makes cupcakes to take to her small group at church.

This was probably my favorite! Raspberry Cheesecake. Yummy!

These are lemon blueberry! So pretty.

Starfish Project

Starfish Project is a great project benefiting women in Asia trying to leave a life of prostitution. Please check it out at www.starfish-project.com. If you are interested in ordering any jewelry please select one of my sister-in-laws as your representative when you check out. Scott's sisters are Christy Daigle and Rachel Heassler.

These are some of the earrings we ordered. Noelle ordered these:

I got these.

And I got these for Sabrina.

I thought they had really cute kid's jewelry. They also have necklaces and bracelets if earrings are not your thing. They also deliver very quickly. So awesome to have fun new jewelry and know we are also helping women trying to rebuild their lives!

100 days of 1st grade!

Sabrina was asked to dress as a 100 year old in honor of the 100th day of school:)

I found this note on the back of a picture Sabrina gave me. It says, "I love how you smile." Since it feels like I am not very joyful sometimes, it was doubly special.

This note says, "You hate me. You like Noelle more than me." I have shared how I struggle to give Sabrina the attention she desires while taking care of Noelle. This particular night I was lying next to Noelle in bed because she was in considerable pain. Sabrina brought this note in to me:( She is going to struggle so much with me being gone for 8 weeks.

Opening Pressure

If you don't know what opening pressure is you are not alone. It is measured at the beginning of the spinal tap. And it is the number we have been waiting for to begin treatment for the pressure in Noelle's head. Normal is 15, and Noelle's opening pressure is 31. More than double does not sound good to me. They will begin treatment today.

Thanks for your prayers. She survived the procedure, though obviously it wasn't very fun. I am not sure how long the risk of headache exists. Hopefully she will escape that. The anesthesiologist did not make it sound good.

Ray of Sunshine!

It was Spirit week at Sabrina's school last week. This was supposed to be Clash day. As in, don't match. She wasn't very good at the not matching part but she sure is cute!

Appointment made

We are plunging in. We made an appoinment for Noelle at Envita Medical Center in Scottsdale, Arizona. She will begin treatment on March 13th. Now we need to figure out lodging and transportation.

Noelle had her field of vision test today and everything was within normal range. Her rescheduled spinal tap is tomorrow morning at 9:30. I believe her biggest fear is of the potential rebound headache that she has been warned about. I pray that everything goes smoothly and that the results are sufficient to begin the medication to lessen the pressure in her head. Then hopefully her headaches will lessen and her vision will return to normal. We are hoping they can lessen the pressure sufficiently enough that we can fly to Arizona.

Too many options

There aren't many things in life that I have had to research completely online. I prefer to look things in the eye if there is a question. There aren't many things in life that I have researched that have been so important. I am a quick decision maker. Maybe because most decisions aren't really that important. Does this go with that? Which refrigerator should we buy? Even which car should we buy? Where should we go for vacation? Turn left or right? Now I am faced with decisions that drastically affect my daughter's life. So scary.

If you research Lyme treatment centers on the internet you will find numerous options. If you look at reviews for each place you will find good and bad. Eventually you have to narrow it down. At this point I (we really, Noelle, Scott and I) am looking most seriously at Sponaugle Wellness Center in Florida and Envita Medical Center in Arizona.

If you know someone who has been a patient at either one or you have first hand knowledge about either one please leave your contact information in my comment section. I would love to speak with someone directly.