First off let me just say I am feeling a lot better than I was at this time last month! I am still waiting for treatment so nothing really has changed but I’m not having major flare-ups so I will count my blessings.

However, to be transparent I want to document the disruption this disease has caused me over the past 5 weeks.  I want to be able to look back one day and see how far I’ve come. Here are the top ten things I have missed out on no thanks to MS.

  1. One day to feed the world picture

We love participating in One Day to Feed the World. Every year we give to Convoy of Hope and I know it’s not about a photo op at all, but it’s something we enjoy promoting. It’s a worthy cause and we are all in it together as a family.  We all got new t-shirts on October 5th. I even got a photo of Elle and her friend that day.

However three short weeks later I went to church had a flare up so I couldn’t do a photo and I had to have Z drive me home. It was awful.

2. Volunteering at Child’s Hope International

I had volunteered to go with our kids’ ministry to pack meals for people in Eswatini with Elle, but I was unable to because of MS. My friend swooped in to take Elle so I am glad she was able to serve but it still makes me sad that I wasn’t there with her.

3. SJ’s special OVV banquet

This one really breaks my heart. I RSVPd to be apart of this special event for OVV. It’s been months in the making. SJ is helping spread the word about what OVV can do for kids with hearing loss.

They showed some really awesome videos of SJ at different stages of learning how to talk (I will have to share them on here sometime). I am thankful that my mom could take her and she kept me updated via text giving a full play by play all night.

 

4. Nate Bargatze 

 I already shared about missing this comedy show so I won’t go into all the details. I am very happy that my parents went and had a great time. Was I jealous? Totally! Was my heart full hearing all about my mom’s wonderful experience? Absolutely!

5. Halloween with the kids

We don’t even celebrate Halloween, but I am one of those christians that loves to see my kids dressed up and go be a light in the darkness. This was my first year to miss that and while I did manage to get some photos from friends of them dressed up I really missed getting to take my own photos.

Elle was a fairy princess, Ezie was the Hallow Knight, SJ and and her friends were Strawberry shortcake characters.

6. Sending Christmas cards (but hang on there is something in the works!) 

Typical healthy Natalie would already have Christmas cards in the mail by now. It’s my thing! At first it was looking like we wouldn’t get to send any at all this year, but we managed to pull something off and I am actually SUPER excited about it.

7. Job/side jobs

I’m throwing two in one here because I have had to take 13 sick days and counting at work. Before now I had never taken a sick day unless I had a doctor’s appointment and that was rare. I actually love my job and have missed it so much. I got the sweetest cards from my students though. They may

I also love doing photography and thankfully I have managed to squeak out a couple shoots when I felt okay, but editing has gone much more slowly. I can’t spend as much time looking at a computer. My eyes get tired when I have to focus too much and some photo sessions I had to cancel altogether because I was physically unable to do them.

8. Decorating for Thanksgiving 

I did get to participate in Thanksgiving but usually I decorate, cook, bake, wear a cute apron—the whole June Clever thing.

 

This year I just talked and ate more healthy than usual because I am hyper aware of inflammatory foods right now. I am still thankful that family time happened and that is what matters most.

 

9. 25th Anniversary

I did a whole blog post about this one. My big spine MRI was scheduled the night of our 25th anniversary. So while we really didn’t have any major plans anyway, we definitely had not planned for that. 

10. Elle’s birthday 

So fitting that this is #10. This was a big birthday for her. Not only was it her golden birthday (10 on the 10th) but double digits too. We had big party plans until MS disrupted all of that. She took it like a champ. Even though she didn’t have a party she got to go on a special date with her daddy.

I still have no updates. Insurance still hasn’t approved my treatment so I still have no date for that. I am doing my best to receive help from others and enjoy this Christmas season regardless of the obstacles. Christmas is about Jesus and Jesus said in Matthew 17:20 if you have faith as a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move; and nothing will be impossible for you. So I’m not worried about this mountain I am going to celebrate my Savior’s birth no matter what!