Sunday, December 28, 2014

a story to tell

it's an old blog page, people.  haven't posted here for a few years.  but it's been on my heart for nearly two months:  there is a story to share.  the time is now.

and while i haven't been able to wrap it up in text, i found it today, already written... all laid out simply and beautifully in my daughter's informative speech.  

so here you are, an unedited account of grace that overwhelms me, written by alyssa's hand.  it's hard for me to consider this without tears.  i come undone.  grateful beyond words.

trusting this is meant to bless someone.
lisa

Tourette's Syndrome
Imagine you are four years old, in pre-school. Your teacher tells you to sit still, but, for some reason, you just can’t. You try your hardest, but it’s like your body has a mind of its own. Repetitively, you make gestures and noises that you just can’t seem to control. Your teacher tells you to stop that clapping, that hopping, that clicking of your tongue.  You try.  Really you do.
You are in second grade.  Your tics are more frequent now.  Mom has started to homeschool you, so you’re no longer distracting to an entire class.  Mom gets distracted, though, sometimes.  So does sister.  Sometimes they even get crabby about it.
Fourth grade.  The tics have grown more intense now.  You have sequences of hops, patterns of movements, numbers that you have to count.  These movements, sometimes they must be symmetrical.  You know you’re different from other kids, and you’re starting to resent that.
Tourette’s syndrome.
                What is Tourette’s syndrome exactly? It is neurological condition affecting 1 out of every 100 people, more often evident in boys than girls.  The first symptoms, which usually appear in early childhood, are involuntary movements known as tics.  These tics may be motor or vocal, often using the face, hands, body, and mouth.  As explained in the book, A Family’s Guide to Tourette Syndrome, published by the Tourette Syndrome Association, and by tsa-usa.org, motor tics are involuntary movements of your body or face, such as hopping, shrugging, blinking, grimacing, mouth movements, nose twitching, or head jerks. Vocal tics involve your throat or vocal cords and may come across as grunting, coughing, sniffling, spitting, screeching, throat clearing, and even barking. Tics may be simple or complex. A simple tic would be any tic that occurs by itself, while a complex tic would be the combination of multiple tics. Some examples of complex motor tics include facial gestures, biting patterns, touching objects or yourself, and the thrusting of one’s arms.  Complex vocal tics could be words or phrases spoken with certain rhythms, tones, accents, or intensity. Complex vocal tics also include the echo phenomenon, which is immediate repetition of another’s or one’s own words. In order to be diagnosed with Tourette’s, you must have tics for at least 12 months, and you must have both motor and vocal tics.
                In 1885, George Gilles de Tourette, labeled the condition “maladie de tics” (French for “tic sickness”). His teacher, Dr. Jean-Martin Charcot, was very impressed, and thus named the disorder after his student. In the early twentieth century, doctors were divided over what caused Tourette’s and how to treat it. During the 1920s, Dr. Sigmund Freud called Tourette’s “hysterical trauma.” Most doctors accepted this until the mid-twentieth century. In 1965, Americans Arthur and Elaine Shapiro successfully treated a patient using medications. Dr. Shapiro joined other patients and parents of patients in 1972 to form the Tourette Syndrome Association.
                While Tourette’s syndrome does not have a cure, some treatments have been found to help. Treatments have explored medications, allergens, brain chemicals, and diet in an attempt to bring relief to Tourette’s patients.
                Tourette’s has affected my family. In an interview with my brother and my mom, I learned what it is like to have Tourette’s syndrome. My brother, Nathanael, has had tics since age four. At first my parents didn’t pay much attention to his tics… they just thought he was a squirmy kid.  But gradually, Nathanael’s tics got worse. They increased in number, complexity, and intensity. He had lots of different motor and vocal tics: shrugging, hopping, neck rotating, blinking, throat clearing, coughing, and tongue clicking. He even had a tic for a few months where he’d need to touch his nose to the table when he was sitting down. And there was the tic compelled him to simultaneously blink his eyes and tap his fingers while riding in the car. Nathanael did an incredible job of covering up his tics, though. Unless you knew him really well or knew what to look for, you might just think he was really hyper or moved a lot. But by 2013, his tics were changing his quality of living. It was difficult for him to concentrate in school. Can you imagine how hard it is to do schoolwork when you need to keep touching the table with your nose?  Even the noises he made were distracting him. Tae Kwon Do was equally challenging. He wanted to stand still and focused, but he was constantly rotating his neck, shrugging, and hopping. Basketball frustrated him. He couldn’t run down the court without jumping and pulling up his socks every two steps or rubbing his face while guarding an opponent. By this point, Nathanael’s tics had an element of counting and symmetry. This indicated OCD (obsessive compulsive disorder), which is a common co-morbid of Tourette’s. My mom and dad, who were deeply concerned about my brother, took him to a neuropsychiatrist. She officially diagnosed Nathanael’s Tourette’s and suggested he might try various medications and participation in therapy. My parents decided against this course of action. They weren’t really opposed to it, they just didn’t feel peaceful in prayer about it. They felt that God was leading them down another path.
                My parents began aggressively researching holistic treatments that had proven helpful to other Tourette’s patients.  One such approach included a gluten-free diet.  Within a week, Nathanael’s tics improved immensely!  We estimated that there was a 75% reduction in tics!  Though overjoyed at the improvement, my mom hungered to know more about my brother.  During online research, Mom found a local physician by the name of Dr. Toth. Although she felt she wanted to take Nathanael to see this doctor, Mom really didn’t know if this was a sound decision.  So Mom and Dad prayed, specifically for someone we knew to give them a recommendation for Dr. Toth. Over the next couple weeks, four people mentioned him in conversation with overwhelmingly positive words. (My mom considers this one of the many miracles along the research path!) Mom, Dad, and Nathanael went to see Dr. Toth.  He suspected, based on Nathanael’s health history, that yeast, or candida, overgrowth in the intestines might be contributing to Nathanael’s symptoms.  As a treatment plan, he advised that we needed to starve the candida in the gut. Additionally, he wanted to regrow the good bacteria in Nathanael’s intestines.
                 To confirm that candida, or yeast, overgrowth was plaguing Nathanael, he was given a yeast test. The nurse slowly gave him some yeast drops under his tongue. Within minutes, my brother went from happily reading his book and joking with the nurse to squirming like mad and getting angry at everything!
Dr. Toth’s method for removing the candida included four parts: anti-fungal medication, probiotics, yeast antigen drops, and diet.  Nathanael took anti-fungal medicine to kill the candida.  He also took probiotics to regrow the good intestinal bacteria. Yeast antigen drops under his tongue were taken three times a day to get his body accustomed to a healthy amount of yeast. Finally, we followed an eating plan that aggressively aimed to starve the candida in the gut. This eating plan took lots of familiar foods out of our diet: yeast, sugar, alcohol, vinegar, cheese, honey, bananas, mushrooms, concentrates, and gluten. It was meant to starve the yeast, and it worked! Nathanael’s tics are 99% gone. Occasionally, we still notice an old tic or two from time to time, but he’s like a completely different kid. We are all so thankful that we have found a method to help my brother with Tourette’s syndrome!
                You may ask, “How can I help others with Tourette’s?” The book, Can I Tell You About the Tourette Syndrome, published by Mal Leicester, has some good answers. Don’t copy tics. Don’t keep on about tics, and don’t tease or call people with Tourette’s bad names. Also, understand that their tics are not done on purpose and that they have the same feelings as you and I do. God created all of us equally, in His image. He made each of us unique. And we’re all special, even if some of our lives have difficult challenges to overcome.
                In closing, permit me to leave you with this powerful quote shared from a piece of my ten-year-old brother Nathanael’s writing: 

Will I always have Tourette’s Syndrome? Maybe. God created me just the way I should be, so Tourette’s Syndrome is O.K. – it’s part of me, and it makes me special. But, I’m really thankful for everything that God’s done in my life this last year because it has helped me see that he is powerful enough to do anything!

Monday, June 25, 2012

glimpses


You know how it is… you wonder if you are really getting through to those kiddos.  This applies to school at our house as well.  Then you have mornings like today. 
Up at 5:30.  Groggy.  Moving before your feet touch the floor.  Shower and dress.  Grab and go.

“Mom.”  Sleepy boy speaks.  Still slurred.
“Mornin’, Bud.”  Whispered.  “I’ll see you up at church after breakfast.”

“Mom.  What are those things with lioras?”

“Huh?”
“What are those things with like or as?”

“You mean similes?”
“Yeah.  I have one for bowling.  I speed the ball down the alley like the wind.  It hits the first four pins and sends a ripple of pins crashing down like waves.”

“Buddy.  That’s a poem.  You want a title for that?”
“Oh yeah.  Bowling with Similes.”

Thursday, June 7, 2012

kale chips

CSA 2012 began today... happiness!
 A friend of a friend was starting a new CSA program this year, so we made the switch from last year's farm to this budding business.  On the way to the pick-up site today I caught myself dreaming about what would be in that box and promptly reprimanded myself for daring to hope for beets.  Surprise for me... beets!  See, what do I know?!
The hope this year is to use EVERYTHING in the box.  Tonight we start with kale chips.  Last year these babies came out of my oven greasy, lived a week in my cupboard, and ended their life in the compost heap.  This year... less oil... and voila!  Kale chips that won't make it until morning.  Sorry kids.  Mommy ate your veggies.

Wash, de-rib, and tear up the kale.  Toss with a LITTLE bit of oil and salt.  Bake for 20 minutes at 300.

Tuesday, May 29, 2012

summer reading 2012

We're always on the read around here, so summertime offers much free fun. 
Enjoy!!

Barnes and Noble Summer 2012 Program

Half Price Books Summer 2012 Program

Wisconsin State Parks Read to Lead Program - 2012

Chuck E. Cheese

Summer Library Program:  Dream Big – READ!

Friday, May 11, 2012

poem by alyssa... may, 2012

My Home

My home
Plenty of space
Everywhere
Inside and outside
For everyone
PLUS
Outdoor animal friends:
Mr. Turkey, Mrs. Deer
Mrs. Butterfly, Mr. Cardinal
Mrs. Goldfinch, Mr. Bee
Secret space
In the tree fort hideout
Everything’s quiet
Only broken by:
The whir of cars on Capital Drive,
Birds chirping, birds singing,
Breezes blowing to cool me down
My house is happy
Peace is kept
My house is sad
Fighting breaks out
The pool
Just for having summer parties
Beautiful, wonderful, clear blue water
All would be lost if we moved

Saturday, December 31, 2011

new year's eve

"You crown the year with Your goodness, and Your paths drip with abundance." ~ Psalm 65:11
Thank you, God! 
May 2012 be the year that our eyes would be opened to the abundant grace dripping all about us...
and, as Jacob, may we wake from our sleepy lives and say, “Surely the LORD is in this place, and I did not know it.” ~ Genesis 28:16 
Happy New Year, friends.

Friday, January 14, 2011

christmas letter

Heartfelt Christmas greetings to you!

It may be mid-January, but we’re still enjoying Christmas in our home. It seems this year we’re moving slowly… not a bad change for our family.

Our update? Same place, same stuff… sort of! Alan is settled in at his job and will be there, God-willing, for many more years. Lisa is working much less and is homeschooling the kids. Alyssa, Nathanael, and Eva are forever growing, changing. Life is both a delight and a challenge, and God’s unchanging goodness anchors all. We praise Him!

Feel free to peek back at our pictures to get a flavor of life at Casa Krug. Never dull, rarely quiet, sometimes messy, but always good. To God be the glory.

We wish you a wonderful 2011. We love visitors… especially in the summer when we can share our pool. Consider that an open invitation!

Much love,
Alan, Lisa,
Alyssa, Nathanael, and Eva