Christmas Letter 2014

** The Doughans in 2014 **

2014 started with a surprise BABY due in October 2014!  Corinne and I wrestled with this news.  Before the baby surprise, we were content moving on to a new season of life without babies.  The Lord had already blessed us with three wonderful children.  We thought the Lord was transitioning us to a new season of service, a season of greater engagement with people outside our home that needed to experience God’s love.  But, God changed our hearts and we began looking forward to snuggling a newborn again.  We started making baby plans.  We would need a minivan…did we still have those baby toys in the basement?  However, our baby saw Jesus' face first instead of ours when Corinne miscarried in February.  "The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord."  (Job 1:21)  Corinne named her, Faith.  We planted a tree in the backyard in Faith’s honor and remembrance.  The kids speak of our baby often when they tell friends, neighbors, or people in line behind us at the store – that they have a sister that got to go to heaven early and how they can’t wait to get to heaven to see what she looks like…we still got the minivan.

Oh, what lessons our Savior teaches.  He works on our hearts.  2014 did become a year of wonderful service opportunities – but not until He ruled more completely on the thrown of our hearts.  He is King.  But we pretend we are in charge.  His plans are better than our plans and He is helping us be okay with that.  Odd that this experience would help Corinne and I trust Jesus more, but it did.  We are grateful for his pruning – we have never been disappointed at his gardening of our life. 

So much HAPPY happened this year, too! 

v  Colin: free from MBA studies, engaged with wife, kids, church, and work in impactful ways that the MBA previously prevented…and the grass got mowed more consistently.

v  Corinne: got braces, volunteered in the classroom(s), sang at church, helped coordinate church’s children’s ministry, and enjoyed her mochas (so she could stay awake to do all of these things!)

v  Jackson (8): is in second grade, finished all seven Harry Potter books, lost his first tooth, is learning piano and computer programming, and played baseball this summer.

v  Micah (6): is in Kindergarten, loves to read (his current topic of interest is pyramids and ancient Egypt - until he chooses a new topic tomorrow), is learning to ride his bike, and teaches us Mandarin at the supper table, ni hao.

v  Anora (3): attends “Mommy Preschool,” where she began reading lessons, and enjoys Curious George, Legos, her doll house, and mowing the grass with Dad.

What a joy we shared this year to see the growth of our kids in their relationships with each other (yay for sibling friendships) and in their knowledge of God and The Gospel (already questioning their parents’ faith in thoughtful ways) – love it!  LOVE it!

Our prayer for you, Dear Friends, is to experience the sovereignty of God in your lives.  No locked doors.  No secret rooms of the heart.  He loves you too much not to demand his kingship in your life.  The connection between sovereignty and submission is difficult to understand yet sweet to enjoy.  Psalm 136 reminds us of this love, “Give Thanks to the Lord for He is good, his Love endures forever.”  At Christmas, we see this sovereign love personified.  

Merry Christmas from the Doughans! 

:::SIGH:::

Over the last almost 6 years (I can't believe it's been that long) I have blogged A LOT about my kids being sick.  Most of the time their sickness has occurred when my family has been traveling particularly during cold and flu season.  We have so many puke stories, it's CRAZY!!  Don't believe me?  Here are a few of my blog posts to prove it (this does not even include the Christmas of 2011 when my kids were sick for an ENTIRE MONTH straight!!!!  I was so out of it I couldn't even blog about that one):

Christmas of 2008 

Propped Up and Sucked Out 

When My Kids Are Sick 

Hand, Foot and Mouth Disease 

The Boogy Monster

I literally felt insane during those times and even more so when I got little to no sympathy from others around me who were doing there best to cheer me up and make light of the situation.

I'm happy to report that things have changed!  For the whole story of what we changed and why, you can read my blog entitled "Change the Face of Cold and Flu Season."

For this post I just want to give you a glimpse of the differences between our Christmas in 2010 (before the change) and 2013 (after the change) through a few pictures:

Christmas 2010

Decorating cookies with the cousins.  Notice the latex gloves.  This was moments before Micah tossed his cookies.

A sick little boy cuddling with his grandma after a looooooong night of being sick to his stomach.  Colin and I are probably taking a nap somewhere trying to catch up on sleep and stay healthy ourselves.

The day we tried to get our flight changed because both the boys were still puking.   Here they are up for a few minutes between naps and being sick before we hit the road for Omaha and then on to our flight home in which Micah continued to be sick (throwing up every day  for almost 2 WEEKS).  To read more of that CRAZY sickness story read my blogs entitled "My Love/Hate Relationship With Travel" and "My Love/Hate Relationship With Travel Part 2." 

Christmas 2013

Decorating Christmas Cookies with all 9 of the cousins.  Notice that there are NO latex gloves.  NO ONE got sick after this either (despite the insane amount of sugar they used to decorate and then ingested).

A HEALTHY little girl cuddling with her grandma!  Enough said!

The 5 older cousins (we had a total of 9 kids between the ages of 1 and 7 years old and 8 adults all sleeping and eating under the same rough for 7 days straight) sleeping peacefully the entire night in the basement without any puke buckets by their sides.

EVERYONE was present and healthy for the Bible reading on Christmas morning.  A first since 2006!

LOTS of cousin play time!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The mommies even got to go out and get pedicures one night!!!!  This was the first Christmas vacation in a LONG time that was 100% enjoyable and restful!  I came home rejuvenated and re-energized for my family.  That was DEFINITELY not the case in years past.

Overall, I visited family during the 2013 holiday season with Micah and Anora for TWENTY days and NONE of us got sick!!!

So, my :::sigh::: is a HUGE sigh of relief.  If you want to learn more about the nutritional supplement my family is taking to achieve and maintain good health, check out my business website here, or you can message me on facebook if we're already friends.  I'd love to come along side of you and help you achieve amazing health.  May this blog find you and your loved ones be happy and healthy!! ~ Corinne

Doughan Christmas Letter 2013

Christmas Greetings

We are diaper free in the Doughan House at the end of 2013!  Maybe I shouldn’t have led with that, but it is a sign of things changing at the Doughan house.  Little people are growing up.  Our conversations at the supper table now include topics like: spelling tests and Mom/Dad’s policy on owning an IPOD.  But this kind of change is good.  Corinne seems more prepared for it than I am.  She pulls me along and helps me to loosen the reigns from time to time.  Here’s your 2013 Doughan Family Update.

Jackson (age 7) learned to ride his bike this summer.  First Grade is pushing him and he is developing deeper friendships and did I mention, spelling tests.  Ah, I remember those days of spelling tests.  He likes his teacher.  He likes school.  I am seeing the Lord work on his heart which is a joy for any parent.  Jackson is addicted to Mindcraft and Legos, and dunking the ball on the little hoop in the basement…and he is eating me out of house and home.

Micah (age 5) learned to read this year.  He will surprise his Kindergarten teacher next Fall by already reading small chapter books.  It is still a little surprising to have him read road signs in the car.  Micah has built a great friendship with his sister since the two them rule the roost now most days.  His comedic timing grows by the day.  His laughter is usually the contagion that has the whole family laughing over supper together.  Micah is addicted to checking his own books out at the library, eating his chocolate dipped biscotti like its chocolate corn on the cob, and enjoying being scared by stories about large African cats with big teeth.

Anora (age 2) is a blue eyed little lady.  As mentioned above, she is diaper-free and very proud of that fact.  She asks her mom questions about heaven, “Will there be toys there?”  She runs around the house in her super hero costume in pursuit of her caped-brothers.  She carries her baby doll with her on their adventures.  Her brothers lack such a sidekick!  She makes me smile every day, giving the best “knee hugs” when I come home from work, “Daddy’s home!”  Anora is addicted to helping Mom make supper, knowing where the contents of the dishwasher are stored better than her dad, and bossing her brothers around when they are healthy and offering to take care of them when they get sick.

Corinne (always 29) grows more beautiful every day.  She gives herself to our children and to our Church.  I am such a lucky man.  This year, Corinne is learning to play the guitar and trust God in all things.  She has become a regular singer at Church – I love hearing her sing on Sunday morning.  The kids don’t know the quality of their nightly lullabies.  In May, Corinne surprised me with a trip to Colorado Springs – just the two us (thanks Auntie Becky for watching the kids!).

Colin has completed his MBA (December 2013).  Boom – ten years in the making!  Thanks honey for letting me live at the library so many nights – now you can go back to school for your nuclear fusion degree…if you want to.

God is teaching us so many things during 2013, but none more so than how to lead others you care about through trials and struggles – when to offer solutions and when to just love on them.  What a beautiful thing it is to live in community.  God’s grace and provision are so evident and even…tangible.  Our prayer for you, our dear ones at the other end of this letter, is to seek the Lord (the God of Heaven born in a manger) and do life with a community of people you love…even though it is messy.  After all, that’s what God did for us.

The Doughans

Change the Face of Cold and Flu Season

If you've read any of my previous posts you'd; note two things. 1. I have not written a blog post in a very long time. 2. My previous posts had A LOT to do with the health of my children.

 Part of the reason I have not posted in so long is because we are past the season of life where routines are changing every day and week and my notes to self have become needed less often. The other part is that my family has discovered a way to boost our immune systems and our sicknesses have not been nearly as dramatic as they have been in the past ("Hallelujah Chorus" in the background).

This is my youngest daughter, posing for a poster I made the other day. She's not really sick, but isn't she adorable?

 Here's a little bit of the story of how we changed Cold and Flu Season and our overall health in our home for good.




 In the summer of 2011 my family moved to Colorado.

 That fall my oldest boy (who was 5 at the time) started to get severe migraine headaches that would wake him out of his sleep and he'd immediately begin vomiting. We got a CAT scan to rule out things like tumors. Thank the Lord that he did NOT have any tumors or the like. However, he did see a neurologist and was diagnosed with migraines. Luckily the doctor did not prescribe medications, but recommended supplements we could buy at the store.

 Enter my good friend from college who told us about a high quality nutritional supplement that is like none other on the market.

I listened politely.

Then, I ignored her.

Then on December 21st my middle child got sick despite our best efforts to have a healthy diet, good hygiene and supplementing with store bought vitamins and probiotics. We were in the airport on the way to family for the holidays administering albeuterol treatments and giving him steroids. Then we got to family and everyone got sick ... as usual. Except this time my kids remained sick (even after traveling back home) for AN ENTIRE MONTH!!!

 I was exhausted!

 I was emotional!!

 My kids were a wreck and I felt so bad for them and so helpless.

I was beginning to doubt whether or not it was worth it to go and see family over the holiday season and desperately wished our Christmas was in the summer.

Not seeing family was not an option ... especially for my husband, but he knew I was exhausted too.

I called my friend back and asked her if this would help my kids' immune systems. She said, "Absolutely!"

We started on the supplement in February of 2012 as a family and we committed to trying it for three months because the human body has a cell turnover rate of every 90 days.

Within the FIRST WEEK I was sleeping better, my mood had improved, my muscle aches (which had been progressively getting worse over the last several months) were a none issue which meant my headaches were gone and I had a lot more energy throughout the day even if I had to get up with my kids in the night.

Within the FIRST MONTH my kids' digestive systems were better.  80% of the immune system is in the digestive system, so their immune systems were greatly improved.  When they got sick the symptoms were so much more mild and the viruses were short lived!!!!! YAY!!!  My chronic constipation (which I had dealt with from infancy) was no longer an issue.  My husband's back is stronger and he'd regularly throw out his back and be down for a week without being able to exercise or function normally.

My oldest started kindergarten after he'd been using these nutritional supplements for 6 months.  He'd never gone to daycare or preschool.  But (despite what nightmares I'd heard from other parents in a similar boat with their first in school catching every virus under the sun), he missed only 3 days due to sickness.  And none of those viruses lasted more than a couple of days.  Not to mention that he has not had ANY migraines since starting this nutritional supplement.

More recently my husband unexpectedly herniated a disk in his back, but was able to avoid surgery and healed in half the time the doctors predicted.

A bonus result that I never anticipated is that my life long skin allergy to nickel is gone.  Earrings I could not wear for more than a few hours without them itching and hurting I can actually wear over night. My husbands pretty happy about that.

I've also been able to help other people,like my mom, but that's a whole other blog.  Yeah, I know ...

This is only the tip of the ice burg as to what this nutritional supplement has helped people with. There are SO MANY people's stories I'd love for you to hear. They are INCREDIBLE!!  Allergies, asthma, back injuries, fibromyalgia, digestive issues, migraines, kidney failure, acid reflux, chronic sinus infections, tendinitis, arthritis, cancer, diabetes, etc.  This company does not claim to be a cure or to diagnose.  The real miracle is the human body and this is just its high quality fuel.  What I'm mentioning here are purely people's personal indisputable health results.

I'm more confident than ever that EVERYONE can benefit from taking these safe and all natural supplements. I'm not using the name of the product or company here because this blog is not connected directly to the company and I have not sought for approval to write this blog.  I'm sharing this information with you ... my story ... purely out of genuine excitement and passion.  If you are interested you can contact me through my business website  (Corinne Fanning Doughan) so that we can set up a time to teach you more.

 Let's change the face of Cold and Flu Season and the health of the world one person at a time together!  How about starting with you?

What Jackson gave to his classmates for their party today. I think the glow bracelets went over well. I tried to upload the whole document I made for this gift, but I was unsuccessful. Here is the link to the image. I used Microsoft word to create the card that went with the glow stick bracelet. Have fun!!!