Releasing Our Butterflies

My sister, Krista, helped us release the butterflies today.

The butterflies slowly made their way out of the butterfly garden.

This butterfly sat on top of the butterfly garden for a while before flying away.

Painted Lady

William got to hold the butterfly before it flew away!

31 Days of Joy

In the month of October The Nester does a 31 Days series on her blog.  This year she is inviting other bloggers to join her in the craziness and fun.  I have decided to write a 31 Days series on the topic of Joy.  This is something I have wanted to do for well over a year now, and this 31 Days link up is the perfect opportunity.

Please join me for the month of October to talk about joy.  We’ll be talking about what joy is, how we can have joy now, and the future joy of Heaven.  I’ll also be sharing about some people who have encouraged me by their joyful attitudes in the midst of suffering. 

I won’t be writing long blog posts every day. I need to keep this simple enough so that I can keep up with it. On the weekends I will be sharing songs and Bible verses about joy.  During the week I will write some longer blog posts as well as a couple of short posts that share small glimpses of joy from my life.

I look forward to sharing about the joy that I have with you.  Most importantly, I want you to know this joy too.  Please come join me for 31 Days of Joy!

Here is a glimpse of the upcoming posts.  As I publish posts I will update this list with direct links to each 31 Days post.

1. Come People of the Risen King
2. Shout for Joy to the Lord!
3. What Is Joy?
4. Why Do I Have Joy?
5. Little Joys
6. Big Joys
7. Joni Eareckson Tada
8. When Trials Come
9. Consider it Pure Joy
10. Joy in Suffering
11. Future Joy
12. Little Joys
13. Big Joys
14. Sara Frankl
15. Sweet Exchange
16. Good News of Great Joy
17. How Can You Have Joy?
18. Spreading Joy for Halloween
19. Little Joys
20. Big Joys
21. Nick Vujicic
22. In Christ Alone
23. A Cheerful Heart
24. Changing Perspective
25. Little Joys
26. Big Joys
27. He Comes to Make His Blessings Flow
28. Faithful Examples
29. I Can Only Imagine
30. Consider Him
31. Be Joyful Always

Hop over to the Nester's blog to see what other bloggers are doing for their 31 Days series.

Painted Lady Butterflies

William officially started Kindergarten this year, and we have been having a great time with homeschool. For a science project this fall we ordered a butterfly garden and live caterpillars. The caterpillars came in the mail two weeks ago.

William was just a little excited.

For several days we watched the caterpillars crawl around, eat, and spin silk threads.

When the caterpillars were entering the pupal stage they crawled to the top of the cup and hung upside down on the paper disk inside the lid.  After a day or so the outside of their bodies began to harden and they turned into the chrysalids that you see above.

After a couple of days we carefully took them out of the cup, and we pinned the paper disk to the inside of the butterfly garden.  While moving the caterpillars into the butterfly garden some of them started wiggling.  This is a natural instinct to ward of predators.  One caterpillar wiggled so much that eventually he became detached from the paper disk and he fell to the bottom of the butterfly garden.

Last night the first butterfly emerged from its chrysalis!  The first one to emerge was the one that had fallen off of the paper disk.  Here he is on his back working to get his wings opened up.  You can see the remainder of the chrysalis lying on the word "Live" on the bottom of the butterfly garden.

The first butterfly drying its wings after emerging.

Painted Lady Butterfly

William with his butterfly garden.

We feed the butterflies by putting drops of sugar water on carnations on the floor of the butterfly home.  We can also give the butterflies slices of orange to drink from.  This has been a really fun project for William and for all of us!

Growing

I decided to join in on 5 Minute Friday again with The Gypsy Mama.  We write for 5 minutes only.  The writing is bold and free, unscripted and unedited, and we don't have to worry about staying in the lines. This week the topic is Growing.





Growing

In the trials and the hard times my faith grows. I draw closer to the Lord because I realize how much I need Him. I wouldn’t choose the hard times if I were given the option. No, I wouldn’t choose to be weak, homebound, unable to go for a walk with my children, unable to cook and clean, unable to get up with my family in the morning. But God has chosen this for me. He knows my strengths. He knows my weaknesses. He knows my faults and my tendencies toward sin. And He knows just what I need to draw me closer to Him, to strengthen my faith, to make me more like His Son, Jesus.

The challenges I face with dysautonomia aren’t a result of random chance. I didn’t have “bad luck” with genetics. I don’t have mitochondria that accidentally malfunction. No, all of this was measured out by the hand of God. He is sovereign. He is in control. He loves me so much. As my husband says, “God cares more about our sanctification than He does about our comfort.” In these hard times I pray that I will keep drawing closer to Christ, keep pressing on, and keep growing in the faith.

God has a plan and a purpose in suffering, and I’m growing because of it. How good He is!

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P.S. I am trying a new comment form because the blogger comments weren't working well.  If you try to leave a comment, but it won't let you, would you please send me an email at cranberryteatime(at)hotmail(dot)com so that I can try to figure out the problem and fix it?  Thanks! :)

Settling In

Hi Friends,

It has been a while since I've updated on life here.  We moved into our apartment about a month ago and we have been getting settled in.  I move slowly, so it's a long process for us.  We still have quite a few boxes lying around and I don't have any pictures on the walls or decorations up yet.

William started decorating right away.  On the first day in our new apartment he decorated his bookshelf with the few toys that had been unpacked.

I have had some really good days and some really bad days since moving to Atlanta.  I made it to church one Sunday morning (yay!), and then I fainted 5 seconds after the service ended (oops).  I have had some days of autonomic fevers and uncontrolable tremors.  This past weekend I had a bad gastroparesis flare.  Mixed in between those bad days, though, have been some really good days.  On four different days I was able to take care of the children in the afternoon and evening while Will was at work.  That was a huge accomplishment for me, and I was thrilled to be on my own for a short time.  My body has been getting weaker again this week.  We have worked in some extra rest time for me, and we are hoping that I will feel stronger again soon.

Taking it easy on a bad day and getting some snuggles from Adelaide.

You may notice that I am trying a new comment system on my blog.  This week I loaded Disqus onto my blog.  I had been having problems with the blogger comment form, and I hope that this will make commenting easier for my blog readers and for me.  I am excited about it because it has a "reply" feature which will make it much easier for me to respond to those who comment here. 

I hope to be back next week to tell you about the fun project William and I have been doing for school.  Have a great weekend, everyone!



Edited to add:  I heard from someone who tried to comment on my blog, but couldn't do so with the new comment form.  If you have trouble commenting, would you please let me know?  You can send me an email at cranberryteatime(at)hotmail(dot)com.  If too many people can't comment on the Disqus form then I will switch back to blogger.  Thanks for your help! :)

Choose Joy

Every Friday The Gypsy Mama chooses a topic to write about for 5 minutes.  This idea came from her desire to "paint with words without worrying about staying inside the lines," and she invites her readers to join her.  I have wanted to join the 5 Minute Friday posts before, but I'm usually terrible at writing something in only 5 minutes.  My brain doesn't think that fast!  However, this week I have decided to join the 5 Minute Friday party because the topic is one that is close to my heart.

The topic is "Joy," and this has been inspired by Sara Frankl, our dear Gitzen Girl. She has been suffering from Ankylosing Spondylitis for a long time and will soon be leaving this earth.  During her years of blogging she encouraged us to choose joy, and she was a living example of one who is joyful in the midst of suffering.

Here is my 5 Minute Friday post.  Okay, to be honest it took me more like 6 minutes.  I told you I'm bad at writing in 5 minutes.  May I please have an extra minute for my slow brain?  Thank you. :)

This week, when I hear the word “joy” I think of Sara. Joy defined her life. For years she has been homebound due to Ankylosing Spondylitis, but she didn’t let that define her. Compassion and love for others defined her. Love for Jesus defined her. Joy defined her.

Sara has been a huge encouragement to me in the past year and a half since I found her blog. Here was someone who was severely disabled, but didn’t complain! She took the life God gave her and used it for His glory. She made the most out of pain and suffering.

The past year of my life has been incredibly hard, especially last fall when I was homebound, confused, stuck in bed, and at times barely conscious. It was scary. I was facing a difficult part of my illness that I hadn’t faced before. We didn’t know what the future held or if I could recover from the trauma my illness had brought. At times I wondered about the future, what it held, how I would handle being homebound for such a long time.

Sara was an encouragement to me during this time. I saw the hard life she had, and I saw the joy she lived with and the light she shown. Sara found joy in the suffering and in her homebound life. I could too. With the help of Jesus, my homebound life could be defined by joy, just like Sara.

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To read what others have written, head over to The Gypsy Mama's Five Minute Friday: Joy.

I am also linking this post up with Jessica at The Mom Creative where Sara's family is reading the blog posts celebrating Sara's life.

30 Things

Lisa Copen created a list called, "30 Things About My Invisible Illness You May Not Know." She and her bloggy friends are filling it out and posting it on their blogs and facebook pages as a way to raise awareness of invisible illnesses.  My list is below.  You can go here to find others who have written about their 30 Things.

1. The illness I live with is: Dysautonomia. My doctors believe that it is caused by a Mitochondrial Disease.

2. I was diagnosed with it in the year: 1995.

3. But I had symptoms since: 1992 or earlier.

4. The biggest adjustment I’ve had to make is: giving up a lot of my independence.

5. Most people assume: People who haven't known me for long assume that I should get better someday. I just need the right doctor, the right medicine, the right supplement, or more prayer.

6. The hardest part about morning is: staying asleep. I currently need 11-12 hours of sleep, but the sun doesn’t stay down that long, and the world doesn’t stay quiet for that long.

7. My favorite medical TV show is: I do not usually like medical TV shows.
8. A gadget I couldn’t live without is: my laptop. Using my laptop in bed allows me to keep in touch with the outside world via facebook, twitter, blogging, and email. Without my laptop and internet access I would be very isolated.

9. The hardest part about night is: being tired and exhausted and not able to just lie down and fall asleep.

10. Each day I take 5 different medications, 1 multi-vitamin, and 9 supplements.

11. Regarding alternative treatments I: have found that many of them are either scams or they work for only a very few people. There aren’t magic pills or treatments that cure all chronic conditions. There are some vitamins, supplements, and other natural treatments for dysautonomia, but good doctors already know about these and they advise their patients to try them.

12. If I had to choose between an invisible illness or visible I would choose: invisible. If I have to feel awful, at least I can look good.

13. Regarding working and career: I don’t feel like I am missing out on a career. I like being a stay at home wife and mom. I just wish I had the strength and energy to do all the wife and mom stuff I’d like to do.

14. People would be surprised to know: that I walk around my apartment. I use a wheelchair when I go out because I can’t walk very far or stand for still for more than a minute or two. If I am in my wheelchair I am free to wait in a line or stop and talk to people on my way in to church.

15. The hardest thing to accept about my new reality has been: being isolated from friends.

16. Something I never thought I could do with my illness that I did was: get married and have children.

17. The commercials about my illness: do not exist. Dysautonomia isn't all that rare, but it is not well known.

18. Something I really miss doing since I was diagnosed is: ice skating.

19. It was really hard to have to give up: my dream of having 6 or more children in my arms.

20. A new hobby I have taken up since my diagnosis is: blogging.

21. If I could have one day of feeling normal again I would: go to the beach with my family.

22. My illness has taught me: that all human life is so precious and that suffering has purpose and value.

23. Want to know a secret? One thing people say that gets under my skin is: “if you had enough faith then you wouldn’t be sick.”

24. But I love it when people: ask if they can take me out somewhere for fun or come to visit me.

25. My favorite motto, scripture, quote that gets me through tough times is: “Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all" (2 Corinthians 4:17-18, NIV).

26. When someone is diagnosed I’d like to tell them: “I’m so sorry that you have to walk this road. It is worth it, but it hurts. I will be praying for you.”

27. Something that has surprised me about living with an illness is: how easy it is on some days and how incredibly hard it is on other days.

28. The nicest thing someone did for me when I wasn’t feeling well was: come to my home and bring a tea party to me in bed.

29. I’m involved with Invisible Illness Week because: I think it is important to spread awareness for dysautonomia and other invisible illnesses, and because it is fun to work together on this with others who suffer from invisible illnesses.

30. The fact that you read this list makes me feel: thankful.

Invisible Illness Week 2011

It's that time of year again! Today marks the beginning of National Invisible Chronic Illness Awareness Week. This year there are featured workshops availible on http://invisibleillnessweek.com/. There are also good blog articles on the website that are helpful for those who suffer from an invisible illness and those who know someone with an invisible illness.

Lisa Copen, founder of Invisible Illness Week, asked people to describe what life is like for those with an Invisible Illness. Here is what some of them had to say: