Goodbye, 25. Fare thee well...

I can't believe it's my birthday in just over 4 hours. Birthday's are always fun. I mean, let's be honest, who doesn't like a day that's all about them?? But I don't think I tend to really look forward to my birthday, as some people I know do. It has been a very long time since I've done anything big for my birthday, and I've had several pretty disappointing ones in the past that have somewhat dulled my excitement in the future.

But I'm not here to complain. Nor am I not looking forward to my birthday. Tomorrow I turn 26. That's a somewhat odd age. 25 is a nice round number and 26 is just, well, after 25. Plus, since I'm on this diet, we can't go out anywhere for it, so I'm stuck making my own dinner and without a birthday cake.

I think I'm just a little down today because I had a rough day... Crohn's wise. Symptoms were much worse today than they have been recently and it made me wonder if this diet is really working. I feel that I'm working really hard for it and giving up a lot and not getting any results. My doctor still says there're no other treatments he can recommend, so I'm feeling a little stuck. I'm not giving up or anything. I said from the beginning that I would give it a month and then reevaluate from there. And that's still another 2 weeks away.

But despite it all, I'm still looking forward to turning 26 tomorrow. I'm encouraged to see that I accomplished a lot of what I set out to during the past year of my life. I found a new job where I'm feeling more content; I'm definitely expanding my cooking expertise; and while I did not open a Roth this past year, Jarrod and I did have more time to enjoy being together.

I want 26 to be the year that I kick this Crohn's. I want to be able to look back years from know and know that at 26 - double the age of when I was first diagnosed - I was finally able to put this behind me. I'm doing my best to stay positive and stay on top of all of this cooking, buy some days are harder than others. I'm going to stick this diet out for another two weeks and figure out then if it's something I want to continue. Meanwhile, I'm praying and believing that I will walk away from this and leave it behind for good.

He said to her, "Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace and be freed from your suffering."

Mark 5:34