For the first time in the history of the “Livin’ La Vida Low-Carb” blog, I’ve decided to get away for a few weeks. Since starting this blog back in April 2005, I have worked hard to never be away for more than a week at a time and to provide consistent, quality content for my wonderful readers to enjoy. For over six years and counting, that’s what you have always been able to count on when you visit here and I’m so very grateful for your faithful support of my work over the years. THANK YOU!
But the time has come that necessitates me stepping away from my blog, podcasts, and almost everything else I do related to sharing about low-carb living for a full three weeks and I appreciate your understanding in advance about this sudden short but sweet sabbatical from everything. Most of you know I genuinely love every single minute of what I do or I wouldn’t keep doing it. It would have to take a lot to get me to stop blogging for more than a few days–and indeed it has. This is as much about my wife Christine as it is me.
You’ll recall at the beginning of July I announced in this blog post that after 16 years of trying to have a baby naturally, through an IVF cycle, and, most recently in 2011, with an embryo adoption, that Christine had finally gotten pregnant. Everything was progressing as it should with the various fertility numbers as Christine was eating well, applying expensive estrogen patches, taking her vitamins, and getting all those daily injections of progesterone in her hind side that were causing her hips to swell up abnormally. She has literally endured daily pricks with lots of pain for the past four months, but it was all gonna be worth it to have that baby in the end.
But then we got news after our second ultrasound on Wednesday that wasn’t good:
Yes, we lost the baby. All those hopes and dreams of having a child of our own have been dashed again. It’s been an emotional up and down journey for us as we’ve gone through this entire process. We are very fortunate and blessed to have so many people who sincerely love and care about us to pray for us as we walk this path to healing from this loss. Although we never got to hold our baby, we already felt a connection to him or her and all the hopes and dreams we held for the future. Now those have all vanished. Needless to say, Christine and I are disappointed and devastated right now. This is a tough pill to swallow for anyone. But we are not depressed to the point that we forget we have each other as we shared in our final video about our embryo adoption on Thursday–the day after we got the news:
On Friday we hit the road driving three hours down I-26 from our home in Spartanburg, South Carolina to Charleston, South Carolina to spend a few days enjoying each other’s company there. We’ll return home on Wednesday only to hop on an airplane on August 4, 2011 to attend the Ancestral Health Symposium at UCLA in Los Angeles, California. Christine was not originally going to come with me, but we bought her plane ticket to be there as well. Our 16th wedding anniversary happens on Friday, August 5, 2011, so I’m glad she’ll be with me. Then we’ll return home to the East Coast again on that Sunday and will hit the road for the third time that next Friday to go to Indiana. Christine’s family has an annual reunion there that we usually attend anyway. While in the Hoosier state, we’ll also stop by Dana Carpender’s house for a low-carb get-together that anyone who wants to come is invited to. Our three-week adventure will end when we return from our week-long Indiana trip and I’ll be back to blogging and podcasting again on Monday, August 22, 2011.
This is unprecedented, but it’s the right thing to do. Christine needs me right now more than ever before and it’s my duty as her husband to be there for her. So that’s what I’m gonna be doing for the next three weeks. I love this woman who has sacrificed so much for me putting her body through the agony that she has over these past few months after doing it all in a failed IVF attempt just four years ago. She is one remarkable lady that I could never imagine living without. I appreciate her much more than I could ever express and she deserves every bit of love I can show her. Especially right now.
As per my usual tradition when I’m away, I’m leaving you with a whole bunch of links to new and interesting Paleo, low-carb and health blogs that I’ve discovered as of late and there’s plenty to keep you busy–56 LINKS! It’s a diverse list of all kinds of health bloggers, so browse around and see if any of these tickle your fancy and can become a regular part of your nutritional health reading. I encourage you to let the bloggers that you like know about it by leaving them a comment, writing them an e-mail, or bookmarking their page to come back to again and again. That’s gold for a blogger and you will encourage them to keep it up (too many bloggers just give up on it because they don’t think anyone reads their stuff). In case you may have missed any of my previous blog listings like this, you can see those too by clicking here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, and here.
Here are 56 more low-carb, Paleo and health blogs for you to check out while I’m away in August 2011:
1. DRNEMECHEK.COM
2. MY LCHF SWEDISH DIET
3. THE FOOD LOVERS’ PRIMAL PALATE
4. PROJECT GUINEA PIG
5. WHEN SUZIE HOMEMAKER ATTACKS
6. THE LABEL SAYS PALEO
7. KETOGENIC NUTRITION
8. INNER CARNIVORE
9. THE COMMON SENSE WARRIOR
10. FOOD SNIPPS
11. THE LAZY CAVEMAN
12. PALEO PANTRY
13. PALEO PLAN
14. THE PRIMAL SOPHISTICATE
15. THE PRIMITIVE DIVA
16. THE URBAN CAVE
17. PALEO TRAINER
18. DAN’S LOW-CARB JOURNEY
19. CHASING CAPACITY
20. ATKINS FRIENDLY EATING FOR LIFE
21. EXCEPTIONALLY BRASH
22. THE ANTIHOUSEWIFE
23. FITNESS IN AN EVOLUTIONARY DIRECTION
24. NUTTY KITCHEN
25. CAVEGIRLEATS
26. BICYCLE DELAWARE
27. THE NOURISHING GOURMET
28. LOW CARB WAY OF LIFE
29. AUSSIE PALEO
30. DEAF CHEF AT LARGE
31. HEALTHY INDULGENCES
32. PLATE BY PLATE
33. GIRL MEATS PALEO
34. PALEO PARENTS
35. THE PALEO BABY
36. WE ARE PRIMAL
37. THE PRIMAL DEN MOTHER
38. THE CAVE DIVA
39. LOW-CARB LIFESTYLE: THE THEORY & PRACTICE
40. PALEO PLAYBOOK
41. THE FIVE TRIBE
42. KRIS HEALTH BLOG
43. GOOD CALORIES-GOOD INSULIN
44. CRAVING SUGAR
45. MRS. ED’S RESEARCH AND RECIPES
46. LORETTA’S JOURNEY FROM 460 TO 199
47. JUST A PINCH
48. CAVE GIRL 101
49. BEING PRIMAL
50. THE DIVA OF DIET
51. MARINA’S PRIMAL/PALEO COOKING
52. PRIMAL EATING MODERN TABLE
53. PRIMAL FITNESS
54. PALEO VILLAGE
55. THE SUTHERLAND SOAPBOX
56. THE FITNESS LOWDOWN
Did you like these blogs? Don’t forget to TELL THEM by leaving a comment. It sounds so simple, but there’s nothing better than that when you are a blogger. It’s the payoff for the time and energy invested in writing new posts. You’ll probably spur them to write more often if you become engaged in their work. Try it and see! And if you or someone you know has a low-carb, Paleo or health blog or web site that you’d like to see featured in a future blog post here at “Livin’ La Vida Low-Carb,” then I’d love to know about it. E-mail me the name of the blog and the URL to livinlowcarbman@charter.net so I can add it to my next big blog update in a few months. If you’ve been successful in your weight and health eating a healthy high-fat, moderate protein, low-carb diet, then you should consider starting your own low-carb blog to pass the message on to a world desperate for answers. Who knows, you could be the difference-maker in the life of someone else who is struggling because you decided to care enough to share. If you do, don’t forget to let me know about it so I can feature your blog. THANK YOU for being a part of the “Livin’ La Vida Low-Carb” family. You can keep up with what’s happening while I’m away at my Facebook page where I’m posting photos, videos, and regular updates about how we are doing through this. We appreciate all of our prayers, love and support through this difficult time. God bless you!
