Life is fragile

Without getting into a ton of details, our campus reeled last week over the loss of a beloved alumnus and employee. The death was an accident, and it has affected so many of us in a profound way. While I have seen other peers buried before last week, it has always been after an illness. While I was sad to see them go home, there was always that mingled relief they were no longer in pain, no longer suffering.

When I was woken shortly after midnight to the news J had fallen to his death while hunting, it was the last bit of news I expected to hear. In fact, after I realized it was not news that someone had been smoking pot in the residence hall as I expected, for the first thirty seconds or so, I thought it was a different J. While Jason and I were not close to him, it is impossible to be on a campus this size and have even a casual history of 8+ years without feeling some sort of camaraderie with a person.

J's very pregnant wife, V, and their children are in my thoughts and prayers several times a day. I drink my coffee and think of them. I stop at a red light and think of them. I see the decorative grasses that J helped to plant, the grass that he cut, and am dumbfounded at how fragile the string of life is.

It is heartwarming to see how many lives J touched. What a testimony it was to see over 500 people who came from all over the country to commemorate his life and worship God! I hope that J could see his funeral, and if he did, I imagine he was surprised at what an impact he had on so very many people during his life. While no one really believes his race was done, he certainly fought the good fight, leaves behind many good works, and is a true testimony what it means to be a Christian man, husband and father.

My Poor Neglected Blog

Wow. I didn't realize it'd been nearly a year since I published anything! I realize that I have been missing writing, so I hope to start this up again regularly.

On an allergy note, Caden is not allergic to treenuts, fish or shellfish, so we have added that back into our diets. Our new allergist also suggested that we try using eggs in baked goods, so long as it is baked at at least 350 for 15 minutes. I tried a dairy free chocolate tart earlier this year on him, but I think the egg content was too high or something because he promptly up chucked (lovely word, eh?) about 30 minutes after eating it. He's safely eaten cake and cookies though. We're supposed to trial peanut soon, since he's never actually eaten them and his blood test results showed that he is on the cusp of being in the "clear" zone. Its actually my hope to test sesame soon too, because I'd love for him to be able to eat Kashi products. Although, I hear Lara bars are dairy free, so maybe we'll try that for a breakfast bar substitute. He stopped liking Enjoy Life snack bars when they changed their recipe :(

Jon seems to have outgrown his intolerance to egg. I haven't tried getting him to eat it yet, but he tolerates my eating it just fine. I'm starting to suspect he may have an allergy to cow's milk though. He had a bit of blood in his diaper and mucusy stools after drinking a large cup of milk two days ago. He had milk again tonight since I didn't make the connection, so we'll see what tomorrow brings forth. He doesn't seem bothered though, so I'm not convinced. Not to mention his negative allergy tests last year, but I fully admit I may just not want to face the reality of another dairy allergic kiddo. Come what may though if it is apparent it is a dairy allergy, I will cut it out of our diets.
On a dorm mom note, I have an awesome group this year.