I love lemonade! However my son’s body doesn’t love the sugar that comes along with it. So we make refreshing sugar free lemonade from home to enjoy on these nice spring days by the pool!
INGREDIENTS
1 1/4 cups lemon juice
1 cup sugar substitute
7-8 cups water
So I squeezed enough lemons to make 1 1/4 cups, but I’m sure you could use the kind out of the container and it would work just fine too.
Then I mixed the cup of Splenda with a cup of water and heated it up on the stove until it dissolved.
Next came mixing the syrupy liquid with the lemon juice and adding water to taste. I would add 7 cups of water and taste it, then add more if you want.
Make sure you remove the seeds from the juice before mixing it with the syrup mixture. Also check whatever sugar substitute you are using, because the ratios may be different.
Yes I drink my fresh squeezed lemonade out of old honey mason jars! Doesn’t everyone? I added a few strawberries from our strawberry plants as garnish as well, they just make everything seem prettier!
The best thing about this lemonade is my son approves! He is a picky eater (and drinker) and he doesn’t like sour things. But this lemonade is the perfect amount of sweet with a hint of sour. If you make it, let me know what you think! Also if you have a sugar substitute that you prefer, with a low glycemic index, share that as well! We are always looking for healthier ways to cook for our son.
So a few days ago, we celebrated my sons “Diaversary”. If you do not know what this is, then you are blessed! If you do know what it is, feel free to comment your diaversary date so I can send you some celebratory stuff on the date! But any who, it is the anniversary of his diagnosis of Type 1 diabetes (T1D).
I had plans to make it super special. Low carb cake, balloons, rides to places he enjoys. However, the entire world is shut down right now (thank you Covid-19). So my plan was a stay at home party of five. THEN we woke up and realized his insulin pump had shut off last night…that’s not good. Apparently his sugar spiked right at bedtime due to a small head injury after dinner (no worries, it only bled a little!). That sugar spike caused his alarm to go off all night. Which then led to his battery going from 50% to 0% in the middle of the night.
Talk about a long night for everyone, except him. I started using some essential oils on my children and now they can literally sleep through anything. I have even moved a dresser while tripping over toys inside their room, and no one budged! (Thank you Peace & Calming) Those oils are truly a life saver for a mom of a diabetic child and a toddler who share the same room. the alarm wakes the toddler and then no one goes back to sleep.
So anyway, back on task Stephanie! His insulin pump died, which causes his CGM to disconnect from his pump, and it stops reading how much insulin he has in his pump. It kind of snowballed by 7 that morning. All before I had even consumed coffee! I was overwhelmed, exhausted, and done with the day. So I did what any mom would do, I did the next right thing. (hello Frozen 2 song lyric).
We reset his pump, there was no saving that CGM connection, but luckily it stays connected to my phone too. So at least we have that. With him reconnected and that crisis kind of avoided, I sent the kids to the sand pile. I oiled up with some Stress Away and then joined them. BUT the craziness of this day was not yet over! My son meets me at the door holding his pump and attachments. his insulin pumped had gotten snagged on something and ripped completely out.
Luckily I had just put on Stress Away lol. So, we unhook everything, fill his pump up with more insulin, reinsert it into his little body, and try this outside thing one more time. Yall! I was at my limit of the day by this time. And it was only noon. I could feel the tension in my body, I could feel the shortness in my answers to the kids, I was not being the best version of myself.
Then my son did an amazing thing. He laid hands on me and started praying for me. My humble, wonderful 8 year old child prayed for my heart, my happiness, and for Jesus to help me to feel His love for me. As Wyatt was praying, my four year old son, Mason joined in. With both of my tiny children laying hands on me and praying for my sanity, I felt the layers of stress begin to melt away.
God began to minister to my heart and mind through the actions of these tiny humans. It was a humbling experience. And yes, I ugly cried. Hard. My children are the best blessing I ever received from God. They are truly faith builders and love connectors. Pure. Set apart. I learn about love and acceptance from them every day. Through the faith of my children, I was brought back to a place of perfect peace once again.
So, we finally celebrated his Diaversary in true us style, by swimming all day long and playing with baby chicks. By the time my husband got home with my surprise of chocolate covered pretzels, I was my normal happy, healthy self. We wished my son a happy 1 year Diaversary, told him all the ways we are proud of him and love him, then explained God’s love for him. Wyatt truly is a remarkable kid, his love for God is incredible and we are ready to conquer diabetes for another year.
God Bless
Grace Revival Homestead
BTW! If you are interested in any of the oils I mentioned, shoot me an email or comment below. I’d love to help other mommas find peace in the night and relaxation during the day!
Says my son. I hear this statement most days of the week. Sometimes multiple times a day. It breaks my momma heart, even though I do agree with him. I also wish he had never gotten diabetes, however I refuse to let any of us walk around with a victim mentality. So I turn it around with positivity and an extra low carb snack to ease his pain. He is beginning to be burned out with this season of life, and I don’t blame him. It’s just plain hard.
One day Wyatt asked me why he had gotten diabetes and why God hasn’t healed him yet. Talk about a hit in an already sore spot in my heart. I had asked God these exact questions already. Sometimes in frustration, sometimes just with a sheer curiosity that is common with us humans. But God had never given me an answer…..so i sighed, took a deep breath, said a silent prayer for God to speak through me to my sensitive child then spoke what came to my heart. It was in that instant that God answered my prayer through me. He spoke to my son’s tender heart and it warmed mine right up. Its reminded me that God never leaves us or forsakes us. This disease wasn’t a form of punishment or proof that God wasn’t paying attention to my family. It’s my son’s testimony. Whether God miraculously heals him or it is His will that Wyatt walk out his life with Type one, we dont know. But we do know that God is still good and He still loves us. He has been here with us comforting us the entire time.
So if you find yourself walking through a battle that seems endless, just know that God is with you. He will never forsake you. He loves you and He will walk through the fire beside you. The anchor holds, in spite of the storm!
Yesterdays prayer was so refreshing that I absolutely cannot wait to put up todays! This time we are going to be praying about health, mainly because my son’s sugar has been super high all morning. I need this prayer at this moment and hopefully you’ll find something valuable from it as well.
By His Stripes We Are Healed
Dear Heavenly Daddy,
Thank you for this beautiful but slightly flooded day in Louisiana. We appreciate Your kindness and love so much! Your grace and mercy far exceeds our limited way of thinking. Lord, I pray for divine healing today. We have been struggling to be a makeshift pancreas for my son lately. His blood sugar continues to be untamable and its frustrating to say the least. I pray that you step in and take control. I proclaim healing in his body and for all of his organs. I proclaim healing over every family that comes across this post. I pray for peace during sickness and for comfort. Relieve pain in joints and nerves. I rebuke cancer and all diseases that attack your children.
I pray for peace for the families that have sick children. Wrap these people in your loving embrace. Lord, for people that are hearing diagnosis’s for the first time, relieve their stress and fear. Your perfect love cast out all fear and we are standing on that promise right now. Send them people to support them and help hold their arms up like Aaron and Hur did for Moses. Teach them how to praise you in the storms of life. Don’t allow the enemy to use these devastating diseases to draw them away from Your love and comfort. I am standing in the gap today for families that are so overwhelmed that they cannot reach out to You. Lord protect them and wrap them in Your love.
Thank You Lord. Thank You for doctors with Your wisdom and for counselors that are willing to hear us out when we feel buried under our emotions. Thank You for supplying all of our needs before we even realize we are lacking. You are Jehovah Jireh! We love you so much!
For the last few weeks, we have really been struggling to keep my sons sugar in a “good” zone. First we struggled at night. He would drop 6-7 times a night, every night. Talk about me being a zombie for days on end. I was EXHAUSTED! Now that we have it almost under control at night, it is unsteady during the day! Meals that he has ate the entire time he has been diagnosed now send him to a shockingly high number. When just last week that exact same meal to insulin ratio sent him plummeting to an all time low. Let me just say that type 1 diabetes is frustrating and exhausting and just defeating sometimes.
#HONEYMOON PHASE
My son is currently in the honeymoon phase of T1D. Now, don’t get confused here, there is nothing fun about this honeymoon. It means that his pancreas still sometimes produces insulin. So he eats, we dose his insulin for the food, and BAM his pancreas works right and also gives him insulin. So we find him plummeting very quickly and having him shot gun apple juice…..insane right?! Then there are times that his pancreas doesn’t work at all, like today. So he ate the same breakfast that he has ate all week, but today, his insulin does nothing for him. He skyrockets to a very scary number and all we can do is dose him again and wait the two hour window for his medicine to take affect. Type one diabetes is stupid.
ITS ALL A WAITING GAME TO THE COMPLETE DEATH…
of his pancreas, that is. So, we sit and wait on his pancreas to fully die out. Hoping the day comes sooner rather than later. Living in this Russian roulette of insulin or not is really hard for his little 8 year old body to take. And it breaks my momma heart to pieces to watch him suffer like he does. Plus living with the stress of unknown long term effects of his sugar roller coasters. I’m not saying it will get better once that day comes, but I can hope that maybe, just maybe, it’ll be a little smoother.
If you know someone with T1D or have any tips or tricks of the trade, please send some my way! I’ll take all the help God brings to me!
My son Wyatt is 8 and he is winning at life with T1D. He conquers every single day like a champion! His math skills are exceptional (better than mine!) thanks to carb counting and correction factors, his faith in God is unshakeable, and his prayer life is out of this world. He knows the power of healing prayer and the power of walking out your personal testimony, no matter the cost, for the glory of God.
When you live with T1D, there is only one thing that is certain, and that is that every single day will be different. What you do one day that worked, will definitely not work the next day. What you ate that day that kept your blood sugar in a good zone, will make you sky rocket tomorrow. Day after day of shots, checks, and corrections lead to burn outs quickly, well for me. He excels in taking every day as a grain of salt. He amazes me! So now, after waiting long enough for his nerves to calm down, he has requested an insulin pump….. (insert anxiety here).
Now don’t get me wrong, I wanted an insulin pump. I’ve researched for the best one for his age, checked all the reviews, asked his diabetic educator her opinions, visited the doctor with questions, and asked my own “diabetic family” their advice. But ultimately, it is his decision. I leave all of these BIG changes up to him because in the long run, he is the one that has to live with and learn to love these devices. However, now that he is ready and his insulin pump has arrived via FedEx, I’m hesitant to schedule the training. Not because of any fixable reason, just because of fear of change. Again. Every time we get adjusted to the new of diabetes, a new ball is thrown into the juggling match that I have to master. It’s overwhelming and stressful and just plain out scary. Right after his diagnosis I left the hospital with the mindset of “Once I get home and do it myself, I’ll be good to go.” And technically that is true; I’m excellent at rolling with the punches.
CONTINUOUS GLUCOSE MONITOR
When we got the new CGM (Continuous glucose monitor) I was all on board for that. It is an amazing device that checks his sugar every 5 minutes 24 hours a day. But let me tell you the shock of seeing how food and drinks mess with a body that has a pancreas that doesn’t produce insulin. It’s insane! I stayed in a panic for at least two weeks. The alarm blared every 5 minutes every night for the first week! It was terrible. What I thought would make diabetes easier, made my life incredibly difficult and I was heart broken. Now a days, its easier, but not by a lot. The alarm haunts my sleep most nights. The roller coaster on the screen of the CGM reader makes me unforgettably aware that I am unfit to replace an organ that God made perfect for a body.
So now I am at a cross roads of going to finalize this insulin pump set up, or to just keep going with the multiple injections every day. While I know I will eventually get brave and take Wyatt to his training, I think I’ll sit here in the comfort of our “normal” for a little while longer. Until I gather all of my courage and face this newest change, I’ll hold my strong little man a little while longer and pray with him. Pray for strength, courage, and perseverance for me. Pray for painless injections, normal sugar readings, and a steady faith in God for him.
I originally started this blog to give you an insight to my blended family covered in God’s grace. Then, disaster struck and everything came to a crashing halt. So here I am again, trying to start fresh in this newest season of life. So to start off, here is the back story:
When the Wave Crashes
On December 4th of last year, we got the crushing news that our unborn daughter’s heart had stopped beating. After about 5 hours of medically started labor, she was born at 9pm and laid to rest a few days later. Our hearts were broken and our faith shaken. BUT God….He always rescues us. Even when we have to walk in the fire, He stands beside us in it. He spoke to my heart every single day. Comforting my heart, giving me room to be angry at Him, pouring out His love on my family through many people in our community and church. There was an outpouring of grace and mercy from everyone He sent to us.
After Shock
Fast forward 4 months, our family still healing from the loss of a daughter, sister, and so many lost future memories; our son got sick during lunch one day. Not the normal sick, but the kind of sick that turns your skin yellow and makes a hole form in a mother’s stomach. I’m normally a very calm, at home, natural healing momma. But something about the way my little man was looking shocked me to my very core. So off to the emergency room we went. There, in a cold sterile hospital room, we heard the diagnosis of Type One Diabetes for the very first time. Honestly, it was the very first time I had heard of that disease period. From that moment on, our life was turned upside down. There was so much to learn, so much to absorb, and so much was riding on me becoming an expert overnight in this disease. One mistake and it could cost my child his very life. T1D is an overwhelming disease, but we refuse to let it define us. My son is the most amazing little boy. He took his diagnosis so much better than I did. I would lay next to him in bed and cry myself to sleep for nights on end, so scared that if I slept, he would be gone in an instant. But not him. He played, he took his shots, he tested his sugar all without complaint. He calmed my anxieties and Jesus healed my broken heart and shattered faith. So, just as the story goes, we kept marching, and healing, and standing on the promises of God.
Built On The Rock…Maybe
I wish I could say that through all of those speed bumps of life, that my faith stayed strong and my beliefs undeterred. But, I cant. I struggled with a lot. I argued with God, I almost slipped back into my old sinful habits, I wondered if God really cared for me and my children, and I feared that He was allowing the devil to take out my family one by one. There was so much fear and frustration. So many tears and a whole lot of bitterness. But God never let go of me. He embraced me with the grace to feel all of my emotions. He spoke kindly to me and expressed His love to me daily. He sent people to minister to me and to pray over my family and I. God’s presence in my life never faltered and He never let up. He poured out all of His spirit on me until I could no longer allow my doubts to overshadow His promises. That’s the God I serve with faith and trust now. I can look back and see the growth of the past year all over my children and my marriage.
So, if you want some insight into T1D, homeschooling, life after loss, breaking chains to addictions, and faith after unbelief, come back next time to check out more of these posts. I plan to pour out God’s word in my blog and hopefully give helpful advice to anyone who needs or wants any! I’ve walked through the fire (more than what’s written in this post) and I’ve come out on the other side stronger and more transparent than ever before. Lets take on this life together!
Seasons of Grace 