SUNSHINE CLINIC LYME ADVENTURE | APRIL ’18

My Mom has had chronic Lyme disease for about 3 years now. The Lyme also has damaged her nerves. My family made a week long arrangement for mom at the Sunshine Clinic in Knoxville… This time, instead of doing a few treatments and that’s it, she had a week to steadily get treated and not have to leave. It was a crazy event but God made a way!

The 14th of April, my  parents, Kody, and I drove up to Knoxville and we got situated in an AIRN&B house. The next morning, Tory, Roger, and the kiddos arrived, too – Tory stayed behind at home Saturday night to do a live Paparazzi fundraiser for mom! (The fundraiser went AMAZING. SO many incredible people shopped to support my mom… We are so grateful to everyone for their prayers and love.) My dad and Tory’s husband Roger drove back home the next morning, which marked the first day of Mom’s week-long treatments at the Sunshine Clinic.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BhtygtOFcRo/?taken-by=angelar.watts

Each day, mom had at least one appointment. Kody and I would go also and babysit, usually in the playrooms that the clinics had. Overall, they behaved alright, though Gabby started teething (who knew a 3 month old baby could grow teeth?! I didn’t…), Reyna had whiny bouts, and Laney… well, we don’t talk about Laney, haha! She’s an accident waiting to happen… she fell down plenty of times but the memorable moment was when she locked herself in the upstairs playroom. Tory was telling her to unlock the door, Laney proceeds to say “I will!” and “Aw-right.”, and when Kody got the room unlocked, lo and behold: Laney is in the middle of the room playing with the toy vacuum. She wasn’t trying to unlock the door a all (shocker). Sooo besides her being crazy, the kiddos behaved. 😛

https://www.instagram.com/p/BhwjHBClNp7/?taken-by=angelar.watts

Mom’s Lyme symptoms are improving since the treatments. She detoxed a lot during the week visit and, the past week we’ve been home, continued to do so. She also still has viruses and such. Her immune and gut health are still weak from years of fighting but God is in total control. We also found out that mom’s shoulder injury is, indeed, an injury – she pulled a tendon in her left shoulder (which happened during the crisis when we lost our dear Ulu…). It’s been very painful for her and still is, but we now have an idea of the physical therapy that must be done and she’s taking small steps at home to heal. These visits to Sunshine Clinic have given answers and hope… and that’s amazing.

I tried to do a writing log for the week but didn’t succeed – it was too busy and by the time I settled down for the night, I was tired (so I watched Frasier. We all watched Frasier for the week to get our laughs in…). I did a few fun updates on my Instagram though, so that’s better than nothing! So, yes, the week of the treatments, I was WAY too busy and/or brain dead to write Seek. The week before that and after, we were preparing to leave, doing lots of school, and getting in the swing of things… so while I didn’t manage to write more in Seek, I’m not too bummed. God had other plans! ♥ My total word count for week two-three for Camp is now 22,223 words… so I wrote over 5,000 words… not much but better than nothing, considering all else I did. 😉

One thing I learned during this adventure… So often, I mistake God’s love for many wise rules I must obey and if I mess up, I gotta go back and fix it… gotta always be strong, never doubt, never fear… while God tells us not to fear, and to stand bold as lions… He also tells us to rest in Him. I forget this, y’all. I try to find strength in facing everything head on with God… I don’t want to be held by Him. I heard the song Just Be Held by Casting Crowns again and realized the truth – I didn’t want to be held because I just wanted to keep fighting, nonstop, to make things better. Because one day, things have to be better, right? I’ve found strength in just fighting without doubt, never letting myself think twice because I didn’t want to sin like that… but you can find strength in God’s comfort, too. There is strength and bravery in being still, trusting God that He’s fighting for us, too.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BhzCzKyFhCo/?taken-by=angelar.watts

Being home now, things are still steadily busy. Mom has a long road of recovery and healing ahead but we have faith and trust in YAHWEH! He is the Greatest Healer and He loves us. Let us rejoice and be glad!

I’ll part now, go write in Seek some, and leave y’all with a vid of Kody and I being excited over our DOUGHNUT stop on the drive home… when Fall Out Boy came on the radio! =D God bless!

– Angela

https://www.instagram.com/p/Bhw-T3ildRT/?taken-by=angelar.watts