Keeping It Simple

Dear Family,

I wanted to come up with something creative and fun for this Thanksgiving, but my creative thoughts I believe have all been baked into all the goodies that have been delivered. So in the midst of the middle of the night, my brain fired off this idea. I want to take the word THANKFUL and expound upon it to express my utmost thankfulness for this year.

As we all know this year has been a tremendous amount of ups and downs. My prayer is that you will feel all my true expressions of thankfulness.

T – Trust. I am so grateful for the trust I can put in our Lord no matter the situation. I am also grateful for the trust I have in friends and family through all of the valleys and mountain tops!

H – Helicopters full of helping hands. I truly believe that God laid his magnificent healing hands and gift of wisdom on the doctors and nurses aboard the Children’s Life Flight helicopter to transport our little angel.

A – Adventures. This year has been full of firsts for Samantha Grace. All of which through her precious eyes are grand new adventures. I just can’t explain that with each new adventure I tear up with such joy.

N – Notes. I have always been a HUGE fan of writing hand written notes. I just think that it has such a personal touch that we are slowly losing through our technology age. I thoroughly enjoyed reading all the notes that we received during Samantha Grace’s most difficult days. Those days that the tears came with no explanation, the notes were so uplifting!

K – Kindness. The kindness of friends, families, and strangers has been overwhelming from every angle. I never thought that the past 6 months of our lives would have impacted our family more than ever. I am truly learning about the kindness of a warm smile.

F – Family. I know…I know. It sounds so cheesy. But it is true. I am so thankful not only for my family, but I am also thankful for my heavenly family.

U – Unfortunate Events. This may sound peculiar, but I truly am thankful for all the unfortunate events of our lives. For I am thankful for the things that did not happen through all those events. I am thankful for the doors that these events have opened and closed.

L – Love! The love of our Heavenly Father is ever abounding. The growing and abounding love I have for Joshua and Samantha Grace. And the expanding love of all friends and family.

I know that this may seem quo to many. But these are only a few things that I have wanted to express to friends and family. My ultimate prayer is that you all have a fabulous and thankful Thanksgiving too!

Blessings,

The Dukes of 3
Joshua, Carri, & Samantha Grace

Blessed Beyond Measure

This morning as I began to write I couldn't even wrap my arms around the facts about how immeasurably bless our family is each and every day. There have been some daily reminders of this through the past few weeks that I would like to share.

Last week, we found out that Mimi, Grandbo and Auntie Ray-Ray would be participating in the Nashville Diabetes walk in honor of Samantha Grace. Below are some picture from their walk. We are so grateful for all the participation to raise money to one day find a cure.

Then a few days later I found out that other family members would be giving all of the United Way donations this year to Juvenile Diabetes in honor of Samantha Grace. I could not have been happier, for never know if one day that money could go towards the ultimate cure.

Just as I thought could not have gotten any better, the Lord continued to shine! As many of you know, we opened our own business (The Dukes of 3 Bakery)this week. We could not be happier with its progress thus far. I am staying busy but at a rate to which I can gradually get my feet per say. Wow! We are blessed!

Lastly, yesterday the Lord opened some doors earlier in the week, which lead to us having the opportunity to share Samantha Grace's story with a local news station. Her story was then beautifully orchestrated and presented last night on the 10 o'clock news. Our prayer is that not only would others become more aware of Juvenile Diabetes but that this story might help bring someone elses child to early detection rather than getting to the state where Samantha Grace had been. As soon as a video is available to post I will do so for those that might have missed it.

Again, I can not express how much the Lord is bestowing his blessings upon our family. I fully believe that when we remain faithful through words, acts, and prayer that he is faithful in return too!

6 Months

It is hard to believe but today we marked the 6th month since Samantha Grace's diagnosis with Type I diabetes.

Today I could not have heard two more fitting bench mark sermons. Once was about Jesus going to the pool at Bethesda and healing a man that had been sitting by the pool for over 38 years in hopes of being healed by these "miracle" waters. The second sermon I heard today was on Philippians 3:1-14.

This is a scripture passage that I visit frequently; however, tonight it sunk in with a totally new depth in my heart. Especially the all too familiar portion in verses 13 - 14:

Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, 14I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.

This scripture brought an incredible peace to my heart knowing that one of the "goals" in heaven will be a life without diabetes...or any childhood illness for that matter.

I also have to mention that when I am came home from church, I had a very touching e-mail from a friend in Birmingham whose daughter is battling cancer. Her daughter is only 3 years old. (I will be running the St. Jude Marathon in December in her honor.) So while Samantha Grace may have diabetes, our hearts ache as a family for our precious little friend.

Samantha Grace is growing so fast before our eyes! She is all girl and taking on more of a 2-year-old personality every day.

Medical update: SG is continuing to experience a roller coaster of blood sugar levels. Daddy and I have come the conclusion that we will continue to see this wave of numbers until she reaches some leveling in growth hormones and other changes that take effect during the young years.

She is finally showing some signs of getting over a sinus infection that has been lingering on for almost 4 weeks. We will finish our antibiotics in a few days!

SG is doing remarkably well with breaking of the pacifier habit. She has stopped asking for it during the day. The only time she BOLTS for the refrigerator (that's where we keep them to soothe any teething gums) is for nap or bedtime.

Overall, the Lord has been good in helping us understand what is best for Samantha Grace. She has been able to stay out of a doctor's office (except for the endocrinology appointments) for illness and/or emergencies for almost 3 weeks! We look forward to adding more weeks to our healthy days in the future.

Grand Opening

Joshua and I would like to announce we are taking a HUGE leap in the midst of the tough economic times. But as we live by each day...NOTHING is impossible without God!

We would like to announce the grand opening of our new business. We have decided to open a home and mail delivery bakery called The Dukes of 3 Bakery.

We felt the name was very fitting since it has become somewhat of our "Code Name" since Samantha Grace's diagnosis. I am offering a free dozen of cookies, of your choice, for the first 10 orders placed. All you have to do is once you order, I will e-mail you to tell you that you have "won" a dozen cookies. Then you can reply to that e-mail with your choice of cookie type.

We also ask for you to feel free to pass along this information to any friend or family member because our best form of advertisement at this point is via word of mouth.

Don't forget Christmas is just around the corner. The items we are selling make great gifts for around the office, school or for your next Christmas gathering.

Baking Spirits,

Carri

Once Upon a Time

Once upon a time there lived a beautiful tulip fairy who wanted to make everyone in America aware about Type I Diabetes during National Diabetes Awareness month.


She wants everyone to know that she is not alone...that there will be over 40 children diagnosed per day will join her this year alone totaling over 15,000 children.



She also, along with her Mommy and Daddy, want everyone to know that our biggest prayer each and every day is for a cure.


Finally, our fairy tale Tulip Fairy would like you to consider supporting JDRF.

One day our Tulip Fair knows that there will be a Happily Every After Ending to this fairy tale ending.

_____________________________________________________________________________________

Side Note: So Mommy let Samantha Grace get ahold of the post today. She told me that she was just going to post her adorable pictures from our Fall Festival at church. Mommy does have to agree with all the opinions and facts that our "Tulip Fairy" provided. She would have to encourage everyone to support JDRF sometime over the next year. You can even purchase your Christmas cards from the JDRF website.

Samantha Grace has been having some ups and downs over the last few days. We are now on our 2nd antibiotic to get over a sinus infection. We are seeing improvements with the antibiotics and a new nasal spray (thanks to a sweet friend at school for the advice). She is, however, not showing any signs of slowing down.

This week she so proudly went down the "Big Girl" slide all by herself and laughed with much excitement all the way to the bottom. She proudly sat in "class" as the Pre-K4's "taught" her during late room at school. It was a priceless picture! She also enjoyed teaching music with Mommy on Tuesday morning. She liked to tell the children that they were not to play with the toys in her classroom but to line up for their teacher. Obviously all in her own way of talking. Quite hilarious.

Mommy and Daddy have been working on following directions the first time with SG. We have to report proudly that she is doing awesome thus far. We have to confess that we have been using mini M&M's as a reward along with dances of praises. SG responds with clapping and her own dancing too!

Mommy and Daddy are thoroughly enjoying watching our little angel grow more and more every day! It's hard to believe that over a year and half has gone by thus far. Time does fly when you are having fun!