Colton's Journey

November is Diabetes Awareness Month.  Its Diabetes Awareness in our house every single day.  24/7  365 days a year.  There are no days off, no taking a break, or taking a vacation from diabetes.  
Hundreds of little kids, teens and adults alike are diagnosed with Diabetes, every single day.   When its your own child, your world tends to be rocked just a little bit.  
Our son was diagnosed in 2000 at the age of just 2.  The signs and symptoms were there--for over 4 months!  I will forever be thankful for a friend, who was also our neighbor, for urging us to get him back to the doctor one more time.  I look back and can remember the days just before he was diagnosed and had I not listened to her urging, and ignored taking him back to the doctor, he wouldn't be here more than likely.  
I remember the day before we got a definite diagnosis, like it was yesterday   The sky was dark, and it was pouring down rain while I was at the doctors office with him.  It was late afternoon, and by the time we were done, we were the last ones to leave.  The doctor came in and just sat there, looking over his charts.   Next, I would hear the words that no momma wants to hear.  "Your son has sugar and protein in his urine.  He will need to go see a specialist tomorrow(SATURDAY) and will need to get started right away on insulin, and he will need to take insulin the rest of his life."
WHAT??  Insulin?  That's a medication that only OLD people have to take!!--At least that was my thought at the time.  The only other thing I knew about insulin was that it was little vials of clear liquid that were kept in the fridge.   Little did I know that I was about to be educated on just exactly what insulin was and who all used it-- Our family and friends would quickly be learning lots about diabetes as well.   
 We know that there will continue to be bumps in the road as we continue this journey, but we know that Christ is still going to be there with us each and every step we take.  In fact, over the last 3 years, we have hit a couple more bumps.   Since learning about the diabetes in June of 2000, we have also learned that he has Hashimotos, and Celiac.  Hashimotos is a thyroid condition, and he can take meds for it,  and Celiac means that he can't have any gluten.  In his case?  They all 3 go hand in hand.  It was clear to me in 2000, and its clear to me 15 years later, that the Lord has always been right there with us, and that He will continue to be there with us.  Jeremiah 29:11 

Journey

Kyle and I made the choice a few months ago now, to step out on faith and start a journey, that I honestly NEVER thought I would ever choose.  You have to understand, that I have seen my husband want to work from home for most of our 19 years together.  I've heard him say, "This one is going to work!"  "Well, that was a totally different thing, I KNOW this one will work this time."  I have had to bite my tongue, HARD to avoid telling him, "I told you so!!!!!"
This time its different.   This time, it was actually MY choice.  I can tell you straight up that I would NEVER have thought about doing this if I didn't believe in the product, or the company.
How many companies have the core principles like these:
1) Create a company that glorifies God
2)Create strong humble leadership
3)Create an environment where people can win at every level

We just attended a conference this past weekend and I can assure you that our company is indeed founded on the principles listed above.  They gave credit to the Lord EVERY single chance that they got.  Grown men stood on stage in front of 1800+ people and cried, and thanked their company leaders for the humble leadership that they see daily.  Those same grown men, show their own humble leadership to their teams each and every day.  They are not money hungry and greedy.  They want to HELP other people and help their families!

People making the CHOICE, to start a journey, stepping out on faith that the Lord is going to be there with them, guide them, and take them where ever He will take them.  

We heard so many amazing and wonderful stories at this conference.   And its REAL LIFE stories, not a load of crap that just made up to make someone look good.  People who started out on this journey with NOTHING.  People who simply started the journey to help their family out with finances, and have an extra $500/month.  They have been tremendously blessed!!!!!!!

I know everyone gets sick and tired of hearing Kyle and I both talk about what we are going.  But, here's the deal.  We made the CHOICE to start a JOURNEY, and we are on this journey TOGETHER, with the LORD right by our side!!!!!!!!   We feel in our hearts that sharing with everyone, as we have been doing, is exactly what He wants us to do.  If we don't share it with others, then essentially, we are being selfish!

We have pretty big goals and dreams and we do not intend to over look them.  We have trials we've been through.  We have dealt with hardships.  We deal with storms each day just like the rest of the world.  But we are making the CHOICE to make some changes.  I don't expect everyone to understand where we are coming from in what we are doing.  But I do expect respect for OUR decision in what we are doing.  Don't sit there and tell us we are stupid, or crazy or wrong.  Course, if you do tell us that, your just fueling our fire to get up and get out and continue the road ahead of us on the journey we chose to be a part of.

You  can make the same choice.  I know there are a lot of you reading this, who are just like a lot of folks.  Your struggling with finances, you don't feel good-your exhausted--physically and mentally.   And the bottom line is that you can continue to sit and do nothing about it and whine and gripe and complain about how you feel, and about your job and how much you hate it, or you can get up, do something about all your gripes and make changes happen!!

I literally NEVER thought I would do anything like I am doing now.  But I am, and Im glad I listened to my gut when I decided to go for it.  I've made a lot of new friends, that are essentially just like family when you sit down and think about it.  

Where do you want to go?  Are you ready for a new journey?   The choice is yours--don't  wait for someone to make the choice for you, b/c it will never happen!  Only YOU can make the choice to change.

Feel free to contact either of us:
Kyle
Lesley
Zeal Challenge
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Colton's Journey

I have wanted to make a video or slide show of Colton for a LONG time.  You have to remember, Im not real computer savvy--and what I can do on one, I've learned how to do just by fiddling around with my laptop.  
So I finally sat down put together some pics, took some tunes off of my iTunes and edited the pics with captions.  I had actually sat and typed up all of the 'facts' that are in the video and saved them to the computer.  But when I went to upload those files, each time I tried to insert one, it was blank.  SO, I decided to just write it out by hand...kinda makes it a bit more personal that way anyhow.  
And so, I sat all day yesterday working on this project.  This evening I have been trying to edit it some and re-do some of the fonts that I used.
Thought I'd share it here on my blog.   Each and every song has a significant reason for being used.  The first one, came out and we were in awe of the words, considering what we had just learned about his health.  The second one, I chose for Colton's life verse, the first time I ever heard it.  And the last one, is because my Lord and Savior is always there with me and my family caring us through the ups and downs of this journey that we all travel each and every day.  You may want to pause the music player on the blog while the video is playing.