Week one of no meat and other randomness

Well I gotta' say not eating meat isn't nearly as hard as avoiding wheat and dairy. I mean meat is meat right? No secrets, it doesn't try to hide in things or disguise itself. Wheat though? It's in things you never realized; soy sauce for example. You have to buy expensive organic soy sauce to avoid wheat. And dairy? People think you can buy veggie burgers at the store and be safe; not so, they usually always have cheese mixed in them. To avoid wheat, gluten and dairy you have to be an investigator 24-7. I didn't really miss meat at all. I used tofu and beans as subs. Now last night I will say we were in a pinch for dinner so I ate fish. I probably will still do that every so often throughout the month but everything I am reading still says people with autoimmune diseases do better with NO animal protein in their systems. Tomorrow night I am making bean burgers and chocolate cupcakes (all healthy) If they are "two thumbs up" I will post the recipe.

I saw the Dr. yesterday because I have another infection in my bladder and they want to make sure it REALLY clears up this time. If it doesn't they are going to do an ultra sound of my kidneys and stomach to see whats going on. Back in August when I started the chemo that was one of the major side affects and it seems I still can't shake it. They are also going to do a test to make sure all my heart valves are open and functioning properly since I was on the Methotrexate for so many years. Thank you for all the emails, text messages etc. checking in on my. I am not 100% still (not sure I remember what that feels like) but I am glad the Dr.'s are running the tests to rule things out. Please continue to pray and I will keep you posted. Want to know the irony here? My arthritis is great! My blood work showed NO swelling at all in my body. In my joints I feel amazing. Now isn't that something? Go figure right? That's proof positive that the diet works when you do it all day everyday.

I've always said that throughout all the things Dan and I have gone through in our marriage whether it be infertility, miscarriage, all the crazy failed adoptions, family stuff, marriage struggles, my health, his work stress etc. that I would praise God and I got to wondering as I have been struggling these past 6 weeks if I am really doing that to my fullest potential.

I decided to read through the book of Job and really meditate on the words of someone who REALLY suffered. Do you know in chapter 1 after receiving all the bad news of loosing all 10 of his children the first words Job utters is, " Naked I came from my mother's womb and naked shall I return. The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord."

I have to constantly remind myself that Job was human and he had a choice in that moment on what his response would be. Amazing. I can't even imagine one of my kids being super sick with something let alone loosing both of them. Have a great day and decided today regardless of what it looks like on your end to give it to the Lord.