Celebrating Seven!

“Happy Birthday Claire,” I whisper to her as she wakes to greet her seventh year of living the miracle that is her life. She smiles immediately and says “Am I seven?” And so begins her happy day of  birth.

But the truth is, I don’t celebrate this day. Birth day  is a bitter sweet memory.On that day I was happy,but the medical professionals were not. I was positive,but the  medical professionals were not. I cried tears of joy when I saw her sweet little face, and medical professionals reminded me that my joy would be fleeting…her life would be short lived.
Seven years later I sit in full view of the miracle before me. I fight the haunting of those days and choose to see all the happy of this day. She is the gift of this day, she is the joy that prevailed. She is the reason our lives have been made whole. We can’t listen to horror stories,or dismal words of a medical world that sometimes does not believe that God is bigger than any of all this.

Truth be told I don’t celebrate Claire’s “birth day.”

I celebrate the very first breath that she was never supposed to breathe, I celebrate each and every moment of the life that God has placed in my presence.  I celebrate a life that was never supposed to be of quality.  I celebrate her full beautiful life today,because there are no guarantees of what tomorrow holds…that is what makes today and everyday a very precious celebration.

The truth about today is that I celebrate Claire’s life just as any other day and I see her proving that God is bigger than any of all this.

And as she fell to sleep this evening, she was smiling still, asking “Am I seven?” I said, “yes,you are seven.”  Closing her eyes with a sleepy smile she whispers “seven.”

Hello God in the celebration of today and the sleepy whispers of a growing miracle…Hello Butter

 

 

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Butter Birthday Bliss

Our first birthday party on the ketogenic diet was a success. I think it was even better than previous parties because I was not focused on food preparation. Instead, we had a tea party for Claire. It was perfect since the food consisted of mini versions of quiche, cheesecake,  & eclairs all from the GFS store. Easy, take out of the box & make pretty on a plate.

 
Claire was happy with her chocolate cupcake made from a recipe on the myketocal website and figured portions on the ketocalculator. I don’t think it was the best cake she has ever had, but I think for my first try it wasn’t too bad. I used finely shredded coconut instead if coconut flour, I think it was a little too  gritty.

Birthday cake on the ketogenic diet

She is allowed herbal tea, but we haven’t found a flavor she likes. I’ve even tried apple tea to replace the apple juice she loved so much. She has been happy with drinking water and just one diet caffeine free pop a day.

We are still missing ice cream and she does not like the frozen cream with fruit that she is allowed. So we have replaced ice cream with plain shaved ice. I do use sugar-free syrup occasionally to make it more of a flavored treat. But we try to limit artificial sweeteners, especially if she has had her diet pop.

Our family loves a good spread at a good party, but we really didn’t miss the food. We just enjoyed the being together to celebrate another year of God’s blessings in the life of our amazing miracle girl.

 
We keep asking Claire ” how old are you” and she grins her big sparkling smile and says “I’m four…where did three and a half go?”  so today we say…

 
Goodbye three and a half…Hello Butter

Stay the Course

Stay the Course,God has You

I want to take a moment to praise God today for His faithfulness.

This diet is not only for Claire to have a better seizure free
life, but for our whole family to remember to focus on the important things in life.(by the way, it’s not food)

I can slowly spin out of balance, just like an overloaded washing machine. I talk a lot to God, so I know the familiar unbalanced sway and can correct it before completely spinning out of control. He has a gentle whisper that calms my heart. With out my daily quiet time with my Jesus, I can easily cave to the overloaded “washer” spin out of balance life.

So with all that being said, I am listening to the whispers. I can do this because God has this.
We can take this change and better our lives mostly because we are even more dependent on God to get us through all the highs and lows that a dieting  family has to go through.

Is anyone else too overloaded? Is your spin cycle about to become unbalanced? Take a breath, stay the course, God has you.
 

Goodbye unbalanced…Hello Butter!