PTL

I know that not everyone with diabetes likes to share their A1C scores.  I think it's out of fear of being judged, and there's a lot of guilt that comes with diabetes already without well-meaning but unwanted outside opinions about how to manage one's own disease.  There are innumerable factors that contribute to this one score that taking credit for a good one is kind of ludicrous.  It has a lot to do with the discipline of the individual with diabetes, yes, but a lot of is just "the X factor."  Despite that,  I'm so pumped about my latest results, I want to shout it from the rooftops.  It will not always be what it is today, and I'm not going to beat myself up for circumstances beyond my control in the future (okay, we all know that's a lie, but I'll try my best).

A good goal set by the American Diabetes Association is 7.0%.  When I was first tested, I was at 11%.  I got my test results about five minutes ago, and I'm at a 5.4%, which is in the non-diabetic range!  Before you get too excited, that does not mean that I am cured.  It just means that currently God has allowed me to have excellent control.

Praise the Lord!

Kirby Time

Last weekend we went on a 24-hour camping trip with our friends Gary and Heather Kirby.  They got married six days before us, and Gary and I were in the same wedding party (Woo-hoo Richesons!) in Wisconsin several years before we re-met at church.  Random!  Anyway, we stopped in at 5 Guys Burgers and Fries before roughing it. 

Okay, I'm having all kinds of trouble with the pictures today, so I'll just commentate from up here.  Picture two is of the three of them unloading the car at the same exact camping site we went to about a year ago.  Now that we've camped there twice (a.k.a. every time we've camped together), it's forever known as the Kirby/Parker spot.  If the stone picnic bench on the site had been wood, I'm sure we would have carved our initials in it.

Picture three: Gary and Nathan are taking down the 4-man tent that we all shacked up in.  Nathan didn't bother to put the rain fly on the night before, despite my warning.  "Your mom said that an early morning shower is expected," I said.

"Nah... I'll risk it," he said.  "I like to live on the edge." 

Umhm.  I just replayed that in my mind at 4 a.m. when rain drops were falling on Heather and me in the middle of the tent.  I jabbed his ribs, and he had to get out in the rain and jimmy it haphazardly with moths swarming his headlamp.  I laughed myself back to sleep.

Pictures four and five: We, of course, had to stop at Hawg Heaven for a little barbeque the next day. It's a Kirby/Parker camping tradition!  Picture five disgusts me - slash - makes me chuckle for two reasons: 1) Nathan has his mouth open and has food squirreled away in his cheeks, and 2) We caught the awkward Lifetime movie love scene on the TV in the background.

My Nightstand These Days

Here is my nightstand these days.  The pink peonies are from Mrs. Ida Bell, who came with her husband, Jim, to dinner the other night.  She has the most beautiful garden that was featured in Better Homes and Gardens a few years ago.  And yes... I'm almost done reading Harry Potter.

Harvard Sailing Team (Which Has Nothing to Do With Harvard or Sailing)

Watch this...

And then watch this...

Funny stuff.