Do you love God's creation? Do you love photography?
I have the perfect opportunity for you! Submit a photo to be featured in my 2022 Christian nature calendar. All proceeds from sales will help cover my medical expenses. The Rules:
By submitting, you also give me permission to edit your photo (eg: cropping and adding Scripture or quotes such as from hymns). Have fun, invite your friends to participate, and don't hesitate to contact me with any questions! I aim to have the calendars available for sale online by the end of August.
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Taking Mepron is a bit like working a construction job. It's hard, it makes me sweat (literally!), and I have to PROCEED WITH CAUTION.
Mepron also reminds me of construction because it's YELLOW. It's called the Yellow Paint Medicine, after all. So how are things going on Mepron? Well, it's a crazy ride of ups and downs, but I'm making progress. Most days I feel worse, as my symptoms have intensified on the treatment. But between herxes, I have had a few days with more energy than I've had in 5 years. That doesn't mean I felt great on those days, but when I went for a mile walk, shopped at Walmart, and then cleaned my room all in one day, it was encouraging! I'm not sure when I'll have another day like that, but it gives me hope! For the past week, I've been feeling much more flu-like again. The hard thing is that when I feel a little better, I have to increase the medicine again, which makes me feel worse initially. Lately, I've had a lot of nausea, sweating, fevers, achiness, and malaise from all the herxing. I'm on 1.5 tsp of Mepron now, and I am increasing weekly. Likely, I'll be on the full dose of 4 tsp in another 5 weeks. Then we'll be adding the next anti-Babesia medicine. There are 3 anti-Babesia medicines besides Mepron that I'll eventually be on, but we have to add them in and increase them slowly. The treatment is intense, so I have to email my doctor weekly and proceed with caution. Hope. It’s what we crave most when suffering. We long to see the light at the end of the tunnel. We long to know that our pain isn’t random or senseless. It’s because of this longing that Kristen Wetherell and Sarah Walton wrote Hope When It Hurts: Biblical Reflections to Help You Grasp God’s Purpose in Your Suffering. I have read many books on suffering, but Hope When It Hurts is a favorite. It’s one that I reread every year and often flip open when I’m struggling the most. I love this book because Kristen and Sarah don't shy away from hard realities but write about them with compassion and a gospel perspective. They vulnerably share their own struggles and show how God is at work on even their worst days. Their book is a “balm for weary hearts,” as Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth put it. This is a book for anyone suffering, be it physical, emotional, or psychological. The cloth cover and ribbon bookmark may appeal more to women, but men will be blessed as well. Each chapter ends with a prayer, a few questions for reflection, and a page to journal your thoughts. It reads like a devotional, but it is deep and rich. In 30 brief chapters, Kristen and Sarah work their way through 2 Corinthians 4 and 5 and show that it is possible to suffer and not lose heart. They remind us that God is with us, that He brings purpose to our pain, and that He understands suffering because He has suffered Himself. They remind us of heaven and encourage us to fix our eyes on the unseen. They point us to hope, even when it hurts. To learn more about Kristen and Sarah's book and to hear their testimony as they struggle with lyme disease, watch the 3.5 minute video below. You can buy their book, download free wallpaper, and read Stories of Hope (mine is included) on Kristen and Sarah's website hopewhenithurts.com. Hope When It Hurts is also available on Amazon and Christian Book Distributors. What is a favorite Christian book you've read on suffering? Share your recommendation below.
"This is my Father's world, And to my listening ears All nature sings, and round me rings The music of the spheres." ~ Maltbie D. Babcock, This Is My Father's World Today is National Nature Photography Day! Summer begins next week, and I hope you are enjoying God's creation and capturing His handiwork with your camera. My friends and I are, and we collaborated to bring you this post. May these pictures inspire you to also photograph the beauty of our Father's world. Hummingbird, Kristin Renfer Morning at the Farm, Kim Wrangell-St. Elias National Park, AK, Nicholas Tegethoff For Us the Living, Ben Watt Framed Pond, Clark's Summit University, PA, Heidi Douthat State Park, VA, Nathan Alligator, Janice Pymatuning Lake Sunset, PA, Grandpap Duane Watt Daffodils in the Woods, Lauren Watt Willow Bay, Allegheny National Forest, PA, Hadley Backyard, Jim Easter Sunrise 2020, Penny Durbiano Virgina Spring Beauty, Alex Watt What was your favorite picture? Comment below!
Remember Humpty Dumpty Rewritten? Today Humpty is having further adventures, as I welcome my brother, Ben Watt, to the blog. Humpty Dumpty sat apart from the bunch; Humpty Dumpty broke to make lunch. And all the digestion and all of the glue,
Today I read The Color Psychology of Yellow on the website Verywell. I learned that yellow is "an extrovert's color." I learned that "not everyone responds to this color in the same way." On another site I learned that "Yellow is the color of the sun, smiley faces and sunflowers. It’s a happy, youthful color, full of hope and positivity."
Why did I research yellow? Well, today I took my first dose of Mepron. Patients often call it the "Yellow Paint Medicine" because, well, it looks like yellow paint. It's also called "Liquid Gold" because it's very expensive. Mepron is a medication that targets Babesia. I started with ¼ tsp at breakfast and will take another ¼ tsp at dinner. The goal is to increase the overall dose by ½ tsp every 10 days until I reach 2 tsp 2x a day. The past 3 weeks have been harder, as I've been taking Lumbrokinase, a new supplement that breaks open Babesia biofilms. I've had a lot of fevers, sweats, chills, nausea, diarrhea, and increased fatigue since then. This is because by breaking open the biofilms I'm exposing more Babesia, and my immune system is now able to reach and kill more of the infection. However, even while I've been feeling much worse physically, I've simultaneously had more mental clarity for reading and writing. This is because by dissolving the Babesia biofilms my blood is able to flow better in the small vessels of my brain. Dr. L sometimes calls the biofilms "plugs," because they literally plug up my blood vessels and keep the blood from flowing as it should. I've seen the big, ugly biofilms in my blood smears before, and it certainly makes sense how they restrict blood flow. Yesterday I emailed Dr. L a summary of how I've been feeling, and he suggested I begin the Mepron at a low dose, as I did today. We expect it will make the herxing from breaking open the biofilms and killing Babesia even worse, but it will also get me through the herxing faster. Prayers are much appreciated! My parents and I recently calculated my monthly out-of-pocket medical expenses for medications and supplements. Currently it’s about $2,300 a month, even with GoodRx coupons, a prescription assistant program, and buying supplements when on sale. (Thankfully, my doctor appointments and testing are covered by Samaritan Ministries.) It’s humbling to share these numbers publicly, but I am thankful for everyone who has supported me. My brother Alex is helping create an online store to sell my artwork and cards to offset some of the expense, and I will share more soon! Now I'm off to take another dose of the Yellow Paint Medicine. Let's hope it has a positive effect! "What was that?" I asked myself. I was sitting in my bedroom, about to pick up a book, when I glanced at something flying above my head. "It must be a bird, or was it a bat?" I wondered. "I didn't get a good look." Whatever it was, it was gone in a flash, but I ran to the living room where I saw a wren flying by a window. "Quick," I told myself, "put the dog in the crate, so he doesn't hurt the poor thing." A moment later the dog was crated, and I was exclaiming, "There's a bird in the house!", as I chased him into the bathroom and closed the door. "He's trapped now," I thought. "He can't be too hard to catch." But I didn't even have a chance to try before Dad told me to leave the bird in the bathroom. The phone had rung for me, and Dad was departing for the dentist. Thirty minutes later, I returned to the bathroom. While I cautiously opened the door, Dad explained to the dental staff that he couldn't brush his teeth because there was a wren in his bathroom. I’m sure they thought it was absurd. Inside the bathroom, I used a butterfly net. Whoosh! A few times I came close to the wren with the net, but he always flew away. Besides, the net was on a five foot pole, which made it difficult to use. "Alright,” I reasoned, “I'll catch him with my hands." But wild birds are not tame, and my hands only ever brushed the wren's feathers. Of course, a bird in a bathroom is an unusual subject, so I laughed and began texting photos of the wren as he flew around the room. Mom was visiting my ninety-one year old grandma, so I video called to let them watch. Then I hung up and wondered what strategy I should attempt next. Only now where was the bird? It took ten minutes before I found him perched on the shadowed piping behind the toilet. Again I reached out my hand to grab him. Again no success. He flew under the steamer, then to a shelf, then to the skylight, then to the showerhead, then to a hook on the door, then behind the shower curtain. I looked in the garage. No, we didn't have a net on a shorter pole. Someone suggested I throw a sheet over the bird. That didn't work either. By now, I'd spent an hour trying to catch the wren, and I was a feverish, sweaty mess. I retreated. My parents could help when they returned home. I went to bed, but I couldn't stop thinking about the poor fellow, later named Silas by my sister-in-law. I didn't want him to go hungry, so I returned with a dish of birdseed. There I found a growing amount of poop on the floor and now on Mom's clothes. Oh, dear. Finally, my parents came home. Into the bathroom they went and out went tripping-hazards and hiding places for the bird. At first, for a horrible moment, Mom thought the bird had died as there was insulation scattered across the floor that she mistook for feathers. Apparently, Silas had been trying to escape through the skylight. Dad cut the pole on the net to a shorter length, and together my parents got to work. Again Silas hid behind the toilet. Again he flew around the room. But forty-five minutes later Silas landed on a hook on the door, and whoosh, over him went the net. Mom had caught the wren! Hooray! Minutes later, Mom, Dad, and I opened the net outside, and Silas flew into the woods. Three-cheers for a prisoner set free! And that was FIVE hours of May 25th at the Watt birdhouse. We're guessing our lovebirds called him in when I went outside to check on my plants that morning.
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AuthorHi! I'm Lauren Watt. I'm a 20 year old Christian, chronic illness warrior, and amateur artist and writer. Archives
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