How are you feeling?

Thought I would bring a smile to your face today!

Love,
SG

Samantha Grace's Sugar Busters

We just want to take a few minutes and say...THANKS! We are so extremely blessed to have such supportive friends and family. Despite the dreary weather, there was a good turn-out for the race. Below are a few pictures from our outing.


Our team members that braved the weather,


Can you believe how many hills were in that course?


Glad to be done...3rd female overall!




SG really didn't know what was going on but had fun the rest of the day once she warmed up.

There are a few t-shirts (mainly S/M) still available and we will be taking JDRF donations up until Febraury 12. SG and Mommy are looking for another race where we could join together as "Samantha Grace's Sugar Busters" where fun can be had by all! Thanks, again, to everyone for their support.

Goin' Strollin'

Yesterday we had exceptionally beautiful weather in Montgomery! SG and Mommy enjoyed about 2 1/2 hours outside doing various activities. We started out our adventures by taking her babies, including Abby Cadabby, for a stroll. SG cracked Mommy up how she was so careful with her babies as we walked along the sidewalk. She did eventually "tire out" of pushing and wanted Mommy to push the stroller. Quite a task for Mommy since the stroller is less than 3 feet tall. Mommy is sure the neighbors got quite a chuckle over the whole thing. So she took some video of SG pushing just to give everyone a full perspective of our outing.



On a little bit heavier note...We do have two prayer requests to be lifted up. First, Daddy told Mommy of a family from Montgomery whose 6 month old was just diagnosed with Type I diabetes. They are continually struggling, like us, to find regulation. Unfortunately, their health insurance is not as good as it should be in this case. In addition, the instability has caused them to go back to Birmingham several times since being diagnosed in the last month. They are now, as Mommy and Daddy's understanding, in Birmingham for the next few weeks. SG and Mommy plan on making a surprise visit sometime next week to give this little girl's, Madison, parents a break. Our hearts break for this family because we do know how it feels to be so incredibly frustrated and not knowing any answers. We also pray for this family because they are not connected to a church family. Pray that Daddy and Mommy can be great witnesses to them in this special time of need!

Our second prayer request is for SG. She has been battling what we think is a cold, at the moment. We will be returning to the doctor this AM for a re-check because last night she was in an incredible amount of pain in what is to believe her right ear. We are all praying that it is not RSV because it is running like wild fire through her little preschool room and program. She and Mommy were up a lot last night battling ear aches (we believe) and high fevers up to 103.5. She is finally resting peacefully for more than hour right now. Please pray for clear answers at the doctor's office today, relief of pain and fever, and a lowering of blood sugars.

We, as a family, cannot thank all of you enough for your continual prayer support. It truly is how we press on each and every day. We know that the Lord has so richly blessed us with SG, and we know that He is using her diabetes to spread the great news about His love!

Papa Aust

This week has been very busy at The Dukes of 3 Bakery, which we are all so thankful! I even constructed free handed my first Superman cake.



However, we have not been so busy that I have stopped trying new recipes for dinner. I have been trying to cook all of the Southern Living recipes in January's issue. We have enjoyed trying new things. I have made what I think are some of the best pancakes ever and I generally don't like pancakes. Since January is rapidly coming to an end, I am ever looking ahead to February's issue and the adorable cookies on the front cover and some of the new cupcakes I will be offering at the bakery.



Well, all this brings me to today's creation for dinner. I landed upon the Chicken 'n Dumplings recipe. The way that the magazine presented this recipe was in two forms: 1) Mama's Old Fashioned Way or 2)The Updated Quick and Easy way. I chose, since I am home today, Mama's way. I have to say it brought back some wonderful childhood memories of my Papa Aust.

You see my Ama and Papa Aust were quite the cooks. Nothing, usually, came from a box. Everything was from scratch, including the chocolate covered cherries that I miss so much! Well, one of the things that Papa Aust used to make were these flat noodles that you could use in just about any soup or stew. They were to die for! But they took some time to make, including drying over night. I have made these only once since being married.

So this morning as I read through the recipe for Mama's Chicken and Dumplings, I couldn't help but hear my Papa's voice in my head. "Roll them thin or they will be too doughy." I did just that...I rolled the dumplings nice and thin.

Papa you would have been proud. I rolled them thin and the smell is just divine.

Please visit my Southern Living blog where I will keep you up to date on my progress of cooking through the magaazine.

In the meantime, I will pull up a chair, a good book and enjoy a nice warm bowl of Chicken 'n Dumplins tonight!

Quiet Mommy-ent

I am sitting in the quiet and stillness of the morning and enjoying every minute of it. I so take for granted these moments and am usually bussling throughout the house trying to get things done before the quietness is briskly taken away.

But something is so different this morning (maybe it's the getting up at 4 AM to workout)...I feel God's voice just continually telling me be still and listen to Him. (This is something I have really been trying to work on.)

So I challenge each Mommy out there to take a few of those precious quiet "Mommy-ments" and be still. If I can do it long enough to write this posting, any one can do it...so be still and know that He is God!

Done with Klass

This has been a fairly normal week at our house. Samantha Grace has been full of energy this week keeping Mommy and Daddy on their toes! She is learning more words everyday.

Mommy was talking about being productive to Samantha Grace. Then SG just shouted out the word "ductive" trying to say the word "productive". Mommy was quite amazed. Then Mommy asked her to show her what she thought productive meant. After this she proceeded to pick-up all of the measuring cups that she had gotten out of the cabinet. Mommy praised her and was quite amazed! :)

Another amazing thing happened this week. For those of you that don't know, next Saturday, January 30th our family along with 30+ of our closest friends from church, area schools, and local gyms will join together for Montgomery's Diabetes 5K at the Capitol. We have formed a team called "Samantha Grace's Sugar Busters". (Thanks to Mrs.Ruth for our name!) We all have t-shirts made running/walking in her honor! We are pretty excited!

Not only are we going to be raising awareness about Type I diabetes, but a new friend that works for the sports section of our Montgomery Advertiser so graciously agreed to interview our family about SG's story. Kym Klass's article will run in tomorrow's paper. Unfortunately not all of our blog readers are in our area, so I have posted the article that will appear tomorrow below. Tomorrow I will post the actual article link from the paper!

If you would still like to support our team by giving to JDRF please e-mail me at cdukerunner@hotmail.com. I will be turning in our donation on February 1. I have a lofty goal of sending in $2,000 from t-shirts and other donations, but I know nothing is impossible with God's help! Thank you in advance to all our supporters!

Carri Duke has run five marathons, too many half marathons to remember the number and her share of shorter-distance road races.¶ But despite the miles she has run, and the time dedicated to training for each race, she learned her biggest challenge isn’t on the roads.¶ Her biggest challenge came when her then 12-month-old daughter, Samantha Grace, was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes.¶ A marathon is easy in comparison.¶ Duke will continue her fight for a cure for Type 1 Diabetes at Saturday’s House Leadership Race for Diabetes, which starts at 8 a.m. at the Alabama State Capitol on Washington Avenue. She will join a group of women -- her friends -- who will wear shirts with "Samantha Grace’s Sugar Busters" on it. There will be about 30 of them — women from Duke’s Montgomery church, First Baptist Church (where her husband Joshua Duke is the associate minister of music), as well as some of her running partners from Metro Fitness.¶ In Alabama, there typically are only four cases each year of a child under age 1 are diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes. Usually at this age, the disease is genetic. In Samantha Grace’s case, it was viral. When the then-12-month-old was weighed at her 1-year check-up, she only gained 9 ounces from her 9-month check up. Duke attributed that to her daughter’s metabolism. But soon, every time she started putting her down to sleep, her screams were piercing.¶ She ate a lot, and Duke -- assistant director at Trinity preschool -- thought maybe her daughter had stomach issues.¶ Samantha Grace would only sleep in 30-minute increments. Check-ups at the pediatrician office came back normal. But there was weight loss, chronic ear infections, and fever viruses. And doctors started taking more blood tests.¶ And when her blood sugar level was found to be more than 600, she was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes. There’s no cure for Type 1.¶ Before she was life-flighted to Children’s Hospital in Birmingham, Samantha Grace's level reached 914, and doctors didn’t know how she was still alive.¶ Normal levels for anybody is between about 70 and 120.¶ Samantha Grace takes gymnastics classes — she will have opportunities in sports just like any other child. She has a pump that pumps insulin into her every 10 minutes. Look at her, and know nothing will hold her back. There is an intensity in Duke when she talks about her daughter, about her condition and about every way it has affected her family of three. Ask Duke about her running, and she speaks with the same passion as she does about her daughter. She loves marathons for the challenge. To her, running is a drug. As many runners will say, it’s a stress reliever. ¶ She will be out with her friends on Saturday, with her daughter’s message on her shirts. She won’t give up until a cure has been found. Duke describes her now 22-month-old as a ball of energy, the light of her life. She said Samantha Grace has not been slowed down by the diabetes. "The days you are frustrated, and she says, ‘Mommy, I love you,’ you realize it’s not about only the diabetes," Duke said. It’s about loving your child."

One Step at a Time

This has been an extremely busy week at the Duke household. Mommy has the opportunity tonight to sit and write some reflections upon our week.

Samantha Grace has been one big social butterfly this week, at least at home. She is starting to put more than two words together. Tonight she said her firs complete sentence, "I fix it." (She was referring to her Minnie Mouse lunch box kit that has randomly broken since Christmas.) She has also been working with Mommy on the letters "A", "B" and "C" not only recognizing them but also knowing words that start with each letter. She is doing really well for a 21 month old. She, once again, love gymnastics this week and almost completed a forward roll all by herself. She is extremely proud of herself. :)

She and Mommy also had the wonderful opportunity to meet with one of family friends to talk about the possibility of homeschooling in the future. Samantha Grace had a blast playing school for over two hours. Mommy enjoyed learning a lot but also the almost 4 hour nap that SG took upon our return home!

This brings Mommy upon some reflections and suggestions. While at our friends' house, Mommy was given several resources and some "fun" reads. One of the "fun" reads was the Duggars book. Mommy has to admit that at first she was quite skeptical; however, the Lord quickly opened my mind to the book. Mommy told Daddy that she took so much away from the book that she ordered after finishing it in 1 1/2 days. (That's really quick reading for a Mommy with a 21 month old running around.)Mommy has to highly recommend this as an easy yet very resourceful read!

Mommy is finding that the Lord is placing so many helpful people and resources in our lives more and more each day. It is so much about the small blessings in life that add up to be big blessings!

We bring this entry to a close...While Mommy enjoys this slow weekend, she is looking forward to some exciting weekends of baking, traveling and family in the next few weeks. So she will try to be faithful in updating the blog at least weekly but wanted to give all our readers a heads up!

"For the word of the LORD is right and true; he is faithful in all he does."
-Psalm33:4

Y's Up with Tumbling Skypers

So I was guilted, as I was reading one of my new favorite blogs,that I had not updated my own blog in quite some time and A LOT has been going on in our house since Christmas. Just when Mommy thought things might slow down a bit, it seems that some things have just been replaced by others.

As many of you already know, we received a web cam for Christmas. Well, it has been quite the toy...not for Mommy and Daddy but for Samantha Grace. She has now figured out that the camera plugs into the computer and that it "magically" dials up Mimi and Bobo. POOF***MAGIC*** and they are there! So it stands to reason that our almost 21 month old put the following two objects together the other night, and we were so lucky to catch it on film.



NOTE: As she was "talking" on the phone, she kept saying their names. You also have to know that we generally do have to make a phone call before we Skype to make sure everyone is connected!

In addition to making this wonderful technological connection, Samantha Grace has made yet another wonderful connection between her body and the gymnastics world. Yep! You got it! We have started taking gymnastic lessons (with Mommy of course). She started last week thanks to a generous gift! Words of just enjoyment could not fully express how much fun she had. Unfortunately, since Mommy "participates" in the class too she could only get some pre-class pics. But we all must say she looks pretty stellar in her new pink sparkly leotard! (I also included pics of the gym for all our family to see.)






So if you ever need a good laugh come to gymnastics with SG and Mommy, or there is always an open swap with Mommy because you do get quite a workout!

As for the newness in our entire family's life (no not a baby for those trying to guess), we have ALL been getting fit at our newest local YMCA. For Mimi and Bobo, I know this may come to a shock for you for Daddy's sake, but Mommy is so proud of him! We have all been going almost everyday for 2 weeks now. (Daddy even brought up the subject about going today!) Samantha Grace is loving the nursery time because of all the "new" toys and friends. This is great for all of us since the weather in the deep south has been so blustery lately!

We are all so thankful that everyone has been staying healthy with the cold weather. Our bakery is helping keep the house warm. (Please feel free to order your next birthday cake or any dessert from our bakery.) Mommy just made a dozen very adorable American Girl Doll themed cupcakes! She refused pictures...maybe next time! She will be making a wedding cake at the end of this month that will be sure to make the blog.

I guess that is all the news for now from The Dukes of 3. We pray that you and your family are having a blessed 2010 so far!

Oh, So Many Faces

When visiting Mommy's parents recently in Atlanta, Samantha Grace was given two new Mr.Potato Heads. They have brought a lot of laughter to our days recently. We have put together many interesting Potato Heads, so we decided to start photographing some of them.

SG has caught on to the concept, which means that after each "new" potato is construted she brings it to Mommy saying "Cheese, cheese." That means to take a picture. One time she even brought Mommy the camera.

I hope you enjoy the pictures!