The Power of the Pantry

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My wife and I have had some amazing adventures over the 20+ years we've been together, and 2012 brought some of those adventures unexpectedly - it's the year we discovered the power of the pantry.

We had anticipated doing our first Disney trip as a family in May of 2012, budgeted and saved up the money, and got all the maps and planning DVD.

Our kids were thrilled, and it was months of growing excitement. Then Jen was faced with some health challenges in early 2012: anemia and pneumonia that landed her in the hospital; it was months before she would get her energy back. On top of that, in April, Jen was struck by terrible, unexplained aches and joint pain - it came on all of a sudden, just weeks before we were to leave for our big trip.

Maybe against our better judgement, we decided to go through with the Disney trip, and unfortunately, Jen suffered much of the time with the burden of often excruciating pain. The best we could do was control it with Advil and give ourselves extra time to get places. We decided it is a trip we will certainly do over when health issues aren't hanging over us.

After we got back from Disney and went through a few doctor visits, Jen was diagnosed with reactive arthritis - something had been a catalyst to her coming down with this arthritic condition. The solution? A 4+ syllable prescription (we called it the 'prescription bomb') with sobering side effects (like possible blindness). We immediately decided the prescription wasn't for us, at least "not yet" - there had to be another way.

I went to work researching arthritis online and at natural health stores, reading everything I could get my hands on. A possible course seemed to be an 'elimination diet' where we would try taking things out of Jen's diet and see if it made a difference. Fast forward to about August or September... we had identified the two big culprits for Jen: dairy and gluten. The improvement was literally within hours (and to this day, she can backslide right into the pain by eating dairy and gluten). So... that's how we learned the power of the pantry, and we committed to cleaning it up.

What we didn't know, but are now very convicted of, is that our health is in our hands.

By the Way

I'm firm believer in, "all's well that ends well", and although we had significant challenges to grow through in 2012, it ended well. We realize the power of the pantry and since we know our health is in our hands, we want to share that truth with others. I've had some significant health challenges of my own over the years, and I'll likely share some of those in the journey of this blog. The reality is that I'm not a victim of my circumstances, and neither are you, so maybe we'll journey together.

For all of it's challenges 2012 brought growth and blessing as well - and ended on a good note. Here is the Christmas picture we shared with family and friends.