Possible Celiac Disease & A Challenge From Chris!

Maria's View-

So I got a phone call from the nurse at the Pediatric Clinic yesterday with the news that Griffin may have Celiac Disease.  We are waiting on a GI referral to confirm the diagnosis and if he does have it, he will begin a lifelong Gluten-free diet.  Well, all of us will.  Talk about tough!  I'm trying to not read too much info on it or worry to much because I know that Celiac Disease isn't a horrible diagnosis, just an inconvenient one, because he will be very limited to what he can eat in life, unless it's Gluten-free.  I'm more concerned about his heart and will breathe a huge sigh of relief once he's seen a cardiologist (that's in the works) and is cleared.  As far as we know, his heart is fine, but still...

So if you don't mind, please just pray that he doesn't have Celiac!  He has enough food struggles (which I suppose if he has Celiac, that may be causing a lot of his food frustration).  God is in control!

This morning, I put both of the little ones facing each other in their high chairs.  I noticed that Griffin would sign what Little G would sign, even though he had no idea what 'All done' really means. lol.  and no, I didn't remove him from his high chair.  So I think Little G is going to have a huge impact on his life!  So excited about that.

We are currently packing for a low key family vacation.  We are going to go to a military resort off base and watch the fireworks and walk around the village.  There is a lake and if the weather is nice, Griffin will get to experience what it's like to swim!  But other than those plans, we have none and we are going to take it slow for Griffin's sake.  We aren't opposed to just lounging in the room if he needs it.  We will be able to watch the firework show from our balcony and if the little ones are awake, they can watch, if not, they can sleep through it.  Actually, Griffin seems to do well in public.  I think he enjoys people watching and a lot of motion and activity.   We are so excited for him to celebrate his first 4th of July as a US citizen!!  How exciting!

We will keep y'all updated on his first 4th of July experience!  This will also be Little Gs first firework show as well!  So excited for the both of them.  Big G deserves this trip more than anyone for her bravery and patience while we were adopting Griffin.  She is such an awesome girl. 

Again, please pray for Griffin!  We can do nothing right now with his diet because that will throw the test off so we just have to keep feeding him a normal diet until we know for sure. 

Love and Hugs!!!


Chris's View-

Not sure how much blogging we will get done while we are on our mini-va-ca, so I wanted to go ahead and get this posted for ya'll to do/contemplate across the holiday weekend.  I am also going to try to figure out how to post a poll to show the results!

This is one of the most important holidays that we have as Americans.  Without this holiday, we would not be Americans.  I, as well as many of you readers out there, signed up to give our lives for the meaning behind this holiday.  THE HOLIDAY IS NOT THE 4TH OF JULY.  That term, a lot like X-Mas, reduces this holiday to something so far removed from what it is.  It is INDEPENDENCE DAY.  The day we as a country decided that we would no longer settle for being the punch-line of the British Empire's jokes, that we wanted to be free by whatever means it took.  By calling it the 4th of July, we fail to remind people that we fought for our Independence and won.  We fail to teach our children what it means to be a citizen of the United States of America.  That meaning is individual freedom... freedom to worship how you want, the freedom to say what you want, and except for the laws the keep us from being a group of people like those we have been hunting down for the past 11 years plus, it grants us the freedom to do what we want.

There has been a lot of talk about citizenship and legal vs. illegal aliens and things such as this across the past year.  Shoot, there has even been talks of people like those in some of the occupy protests talking about renouncing their US Citizenship and moving to other countries.  I'm not going to open a public debate here on what side is right & what side is wrong.  You are going to believe whatever you want to believe... see, it's your personal freedom that was granted by Independence Day!  :)  What I will say is that those who want to become US citizens are required to take a test about America.  I found a link on the Christian Science Monitor that had a sample test.  I took it... I got 88 out of 96 correct, that is 92%.  To pass the test, a person has to make a 60%, or get 58 questions correct.  That's it... barely more than half.  So, on this Independence Day weekend, take a few minutes and try your hand at the mock citizenship test.  If you want, post your score.  I'd love to see what the percentages are... no judging, I'm just curious... not to mention, it was a good refresher for my Political Science classes!  LOL!  Lastly, please do this honestly... no searching for the answers before you answer the question.  See what you remember from your school days.

To take the test, click HERE!

Then, leave a comment with your score, or send me an email, or hit me up on Facebook with your score.  I will compile them and post the results if people send me their scores.  Have fun with it & celebrate!  Like Steven Colbert says, "I am America (And So Can You)!"

See ya'll later!