Author: Evan Glenn

TIF Procedure and GERD Journey: My Reflections

Posted on by Evan Glenn

TIF Procedure and GERD Journey: My Reflections and Addressing GERD, Post-Surgery Challenges, and Spousal Support

In July 2020, amidst the challenges of the COVID era, I underwent the Transoral Incisionless Fundoplication (TIF) procedure to address my Gastroesophageal Reflux Disease (GERD). Now, nearly three years later, I want to share my TIF procedure and GERD journey with you.

Back in the room after procedure.

After the procedure.

Waiting to go back for the TIF Procedure
Waiting to go back.
Filling out the paperwork for my TIF procedure and GERD journey.
Filling out the paperwork.

If you’re curious about the most recent developments in my recovery, I encourage you to watch our latest video where my husband, Evan, and I discuss the ongoing aspects of life post-TIF. This video provides valuable insights into the physical and emotional aspects of my journey, addressing both positive outcomes and the ongoing considerations post-surgery.

 

GERD & US How We Still Fight It 3 Years Later 

 

For a comprehensive understanding, consider exploring the entire playlist, including pre-surgery videos, the surgery day itself, and the subsequent recovery. Each video captures a different phase of this my TIF procedure and GERD journey and its transformative experience, offering a holistic view. Your curiosity might find answers, and your support is always appreciated. Join us on this informative and supportive exploration of digestive health. 

 

Lisa’s TIF Procedure 

 

Understanding GERD Symptoms

GERD had me struggling with constant throat sensations, dry coughs, and a racing heart. Post-TIF, about 75% of these symptoms have alleviated. However, occasional challenges persist, as highlighted by a recent episode at a restaurant where reflux symptoms resurfaced. 

 

 

Weight Struggles Post-Surgery

Thankful for coffee and no artificial sweeteners.
Thankful for coffee.
5 months post TIF procedure and GERD journey.
5 months post procedure.

Adapting to a liquid and soft food diet for eight weeks post-surgery posed a significant weight challenge. Returning to regular foods led to a struggle with weight regain. My journey emphasizes the importance of listening to your body during recovery. 

 

The Impact of TIF Procedure on Lifestyle and Diet

Returning to regular foods involved stretching the valve, contributing to weight regain. Challenges with artificial sweeteners due to allergies added complexity. Coping with GERD post-surgery involves navigating dietary adjustments and understanding one’s body.

6 months after TIF procedure
6 months after TIF procedure.
3 years after TIF procedure
3 years after TIF procedure

 

Spousal Support in My TIF Procedure and GERD Journey

Evan, my husband, shares his perspective on supporting a loved one through my TIF procedure and GERD journey. Initial reservations transformed into acknowledgment of the positive impact on my well-being. Mutual support and understanding during the recovery period are crucial. 

“It’s always hard to see your spouse go through pain. When it’s GERD, things are not comfortable. You just don’t feel good.”

“Knowing that she’s had this success with it has really been good for us.” 

– Evan

 

 

Specific Challenges and Occasional Reflux Episodes

Specific challenges, like the inability to vomit post-surgery and the impact of a stomach virus, added layers to the recovery process. I also highlight occasional reflux episodes triggered by specific foods like tomatoes and pineapple. 

 

Overall Satisfaction with the TIF Procedure and GERD Journey

Despite the challenges, I express overall satisfaction in my TIF procedure and GERD journey, stating that I would undergo it again. The journey provides insights into the physical and emotional aspects, addressing both positive outcomes and ongoing considerations post-surgery. 

 

Reflections and Looking Ahead

As I reflect on my journey, I recognize the relief from GERD symptoms, but also acknowledge the need for ongoing management. The TIF procedure has been transformative, yet the path post-surgery involves continuous adjustments and awareness. 

 

Conclusion

In sharing my experience, I aim to provide insights for those considering the TIF procedure for GERD. It’s a journey with ups and downs, requiring patience, resilience, and the support of loved ones. If you have questions or want to share your experiences, feel free to leave a comment. Together, we navigate the path to better digestive health. 

 

Connect with Us: Have Questions or Want to Share Your Story?

We’re here for you! If you have questions or simply want to share your own experience, drop us an email at theglenns@theglennhome.com. Find us on Facebook @theglennhome, catch us on Instagram @theglennhome, and make sure to hit the subscribe button on our YouTube channel The Glenn Home. We’re all about sharing our life together to offer insights into Marriage, Family, Relationships, Health and Wellness experiences, and making the most out of life’s adventures. Looking forward to connecting with you!

How You Can Help Your Community

Posted on by Evan Glenn

In our last post, we said that we are a few weeks behind on our posting. This is working out for us, because we have had several things happen that needed our attention and gave us an opportunity to work on something that we have been wanting to do for a while. Read on to find out what has kept us from staying connected and what we want to do to help our community. 

On Saturday, October 26, 2019, a bad storm blew through our area. Some say that it was straight line winds. Some say it was a tornado. Some say it was remnants of a tropical storm from the gulf. Whatever it was, it caused a lot of damage to our area. There were trees blown down all over the county, knocking power lines down, landing on houses and blocking roads. Thankfully, there were no major injuries or fatalities. 

Picture via Humphreys County Sheriff’s Office Facebook Page
Picture via Humphreys County Sheriff’s Office Facebook Page

The pictures above were taken from the Humphreys County Sheriff’s Office Facebook page. This a small sample of damage. There were rooftops blown into trees. Semi trucks blown over while on an interstate bridge. Many people were without power. There may be some still without. We were fortunate to only have one small tree fall in our yard and not cause any damage. However, we were without power for 6 days and nights. Luckily we were able to borrow a generator from a family member, allowing us to keep some lights on , the fridge running, and to cook food. Thank God for family! However, with the power poles and lines down, that meant that the Internet lines to our house were also down. Where we live, even though it is within a cell tower range, the cell signal is terrible at our house because of a large hill blocking its reach to us. On a good day, we may have one bar of 3G service.  When the Internet is out, we are disconnected from the outside world, sort of. Communication was limited to coming into our town and being able to use our cell phones.  I, Evan, worked with my team to ensure that the school system IT infrastructure was ready to go as soon as school resumed. 

I am afraid that we are kind of use to situations like this, and as I said, Lisa and I were very fortunate. This is not the case for many, and still many are in need of help. Lisa and I have been trying to figure out how we can help our community more. We are able use our hands to help by checking on our neighbors and offering our assistance, but this only limits us to those we come across in passing. We have been trying to figure out how we can help more people on a larger scale. This brings me to what we have been working on. We have opened a merchandise store to help support our efforts. You can access the store from the top of this page. Yes, we will benefit from the sale of the products in our store, but the real reason is to give to our community. You can browse and select one or many of the products, currently shirts and hoodies, and the proceeds from your purchase will go toward helping your neighbors with financial needs. Certain items in our fundraiser section, that when purchased, 50% of the proceeds will go toward a non-profit organization that we choose needs help at that time.

shop.theglennhome.com

Our current fundraiser will be going to the Humphreys County Long Term Relief Organization. This organization helps those in our county with monetary and labor needs that are and have been affected by the recent storm in our area. The HCLTRO reaches out to find those that can’t physically clean up and repair their property and then provide the relief that they need to “make their homes a home again.”  If you would like to help them and aren’t able to be a volunteer to help, then a monetary donation will go a long way. They provide furniture, appliances, roof repairs, removal of duct work for HVAC systems, and many other ways to attempt to give relief. That’s just a brief sample of what they do.  If you want to help, you can through The Glenn Home store above. The purchase of one of the “Bless Our Home” shirts (T-shirt, Long Sleeve, and/or Hoodie) will help families that are in need. 

Picture via Trull Family Pharmacy Facebook page.

We have also teamed up with Trull Family Pharmacy. They are a family owned pharmacy in our town, and together with them, are wanting to make the effort even better. They are going to have an anniversary event on Saturday, November 16th to celebrate their one year of being open to the public. Inside their  beautiful store is a gift shop. On that Saturday, they also are going to donate proceeds from sales of their gift shop to help the Humphreys County Long Term Recovery Organization.  We have talked with them since the day they announced their plans of wanting to give back to the community that supports them and came up with this partnership. We will combine our proceeds and present a donation to the HCLTRO.  Both Trull Family Pharmacy, Lisa, and I appreciate your help in our effort to help the neighbors in our community!

Be on the watch for many other fundraisers that we will have in the coming future! 

The Journey of Building A Community

Posted on by Evan Glenn

 

What a busy summer it has been! Yes, I know it is already October and close to Halloween, but we just got back from our annual beach vacation…and that brings Summer to an end for us. If you have followed along on our journey through our social media, YouTube, Facebook , and Instagram, then you have enjoyed some of the fun we have had. Lisa and I do a lot of things together. It may be just the two of us or with the company of family and friends. Life is a journey and it is better when we share it with someone, and even more so when you have a community that you can lean on as you travel through life. 

 

We haven’t kept up our side of the journey.

First, we want to apologize for the lack of posting on this blog and more recently, not uploading our vlogs. I, Evan,  had a technical issue with my computer  and thought that all of the photos and videos that were copied to the editing hard drive were lost. My typical routine is that as soon as we finish with the cameras at the end of the day I copy all of that footage to an editing hard drive on my computer so that it can be fine tuned before being posted/uploaded.  Once it is exported, I then move it to an external storage drive. We had been so busy with work and going on our trips that I had been putting the footage on the drive until I had time to edit it. When the time came for me to start editing, the hard drive was not showing up. I am a computer tech/nerd(25+ years), so it took time to recover the data from the drive, copy it our external back up, purchase a new hard drive, and finally move the recovered footage back to the new drive. Even though we had this issue going on, we continued to keep the cameras rolling and used our external hard drive for storage. Whew! That was a close call.  If you want to learn more about the technical side of how to capture your precious memories, I have separate website and social media platforms to help you learn more about them at casuallysharpmultimedia.com.

 

The reason for the journey.  

Second, let’s be clear. We are not a vain couple who wants to show ourselves to the world in a selfish way. The true reason we do this is to be an example to those who care about having a loving, caring, fun, and meaningful marriage themselves and to build a community that encourages one another. In doing so, the hope is that you will find the posts to be interesting, entertaining at times,  thought-provoking, challenging, encouraging, and conversation starting.

 

 

Onward with the journey.

Third, we have a lot of catching up to do. The technical issue put us behind on our posting. We will be several weeks behind on current activities, but this will allow for us to enjoy the activities and not feel rushed to come home and start editing right away. We also work full-time. With this in mind, we are thinking about making our posting on a regular schedule instead sharing a lot and then being silent for periods of time. We have an idea as to what that schedule will be but don’t want to put it in black and white just yet. Please be patient with us as we get this routine down. 

 

We hope you have had a great Summer as well and that the Fall brings you warm thoughts as the season changes.  If you would like to be on the journey of building a community with us and be involved in our community, please subscribe to this blog, follow us on Facebook, Instagram and subscribe to our YouTube channel!

 

 

Its time to eat, and eat, and eat!

Posted on by Evan Glenn

This is going to be a long post. Let’s discuss how nutrition works with our bodies. I am going to try to keep it simple and easy to follow.

Losing weight is simple. There are a couple of things you need to first understand. The first of these is how your body survives, and another is what RMR is.

Your body knows how to survive and keep working.

A little analogy:  Imagine that you were going to be going to the desert but couldn’t take anything with you. You could prepare for the trip though. You should drink lots of water. When you get out in the heat, your body might expel some of the water in the form of sweat, but after a while, it recognizes that it is not getting any more and will retain the water in your body to survive.

satisfied-waterThis is how it works when not in the desert as well. Drinking little to no water throughout the day, your body retains the water in your body to survive. The more water you drink and on a regular interval throughout the day, your body says, “I am getting water every so many minutes/hours so I don’t have to keep it. I will expel it.” This causes calorie burn.

The same goes for food. When you only eat once a day, your body holds all of those nutrients, because it goes into survival mode. It doesn’t know when it will get its next meal, so it holds it. The more times that you eat throughout the day, your body processes/digests the food, which causes calorie burn.

Did you catch what I said happens when drinking water and eating often throughout the day? Your body has to expel/burn it. The most important part of losing weight and trimming down is eating. When you eat several (4-6) times a day, your body begins burning calories all on its own. No exercise needed!

Now before you repeat that last sentence out loud with exclamation, you have to look at the drinks/foods/meals that you are eating 4-6 times a day. If it is sodas, candy bars, and chips and large

Name calling...Bad, Bad food
Name calling…Bad, Bad food

helpings of fried foods, then your body turns all of that into fat. Consuming more calories than your body can burn becomes extra energy that becomes fat.

Calories provide fuel your body needs to function, whether it’s from protein, carbohydrates, or fat. Each day you expend a certain amount of energy based off or your metabolic rate (RMR) and by doing daily activities. This energy is fueled from the calories you consume or breaking down energy stores— such as fat. Therefore, the more active you are, the more calories you will burn.

 

Your Resting Metabolic Rate (RMR) usually accounts for about 60-70% of daily expenditure of calories. Energy to maintain cardiac function, neural function, and repair the body’s cells and structures are included in your RMR. In addition, the more muscle mass you have, the higher the RMR—so you will burn more calories.

So how do you figure out your RMR? There is a very long formula based on metric units of measurements that then have to be converted to standard measurements so that you can get the number of calories that your body needs just to maintain/survive.  An easy, simple version of this is for you to stand on a scale and read your weight then if you are female multiply by 10. If you are male, multiply by 11.

How can you turn eating all day long into losing weight? Yes, you eat less amount of calories. But you do it the smart healthy way. You still need to eat from all of the five food groups so that your body can function properly and you remain healthy.

 

Now I will tackle the “No exercise needed” statement. In order to achieve results of weight loss, exercise will need to be engaged. Physical activity burns additional calories. We can discuss the different ways and levels of exercising later. I will end this post by saying if you consume less calories and add exercise to your day, the scale will not shout when you stand on it. Also, be patient.  Your body does need to adapt to the new routine. Those “quick diets” and other schemes will get you results, but they are stopping your body from functioning how it is supposed to in order to survive.

 

 

 

New Adventure!

Posted on by Evan Glenn
gemstonetech.co.uk
gemstonetech.co.uk

The way that multimedia and technology have become such a commonplace in everyone’s lives today and continues to grow in leaps and bounds each and every day.  I have decided to take some of my knowledge that I have acquired over the last 20 years and share it with the world.

I have been pondering doing this for some time and finally decided to give it a go.

My reason for beginning this adventure is to share with you the knowledge that I have learned to help you enjoy the multimedia and technology in your life. Do I think that my opinions or unbiased views are the only authority in these fields? No. There are many great sites and blogs that cover most of the topics that I will speak on as well. I hope that I can provide advice for you in connecting, turning on, setting up and using the media and tech in your home that will stand out from the crowd.

I have set up a website and a facebook page to help with getting the advice out to everyone. I do ask that you help share the sites with your family, friends, and peers. Also, I ask that you give me some feedback on the site and the posts. Keep in mind that this is a work in progress and will continue to grow. Please be patient as I put more information together and present it to you. Thank you for your help in advance.

www.casuallysharpmultimedia.comFacebook-fan

facebook.com/casuallysharpmultimedia

Living In Freedom

Posted on by Evan Glenn

When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.  – Declaration of Independence, 1776

4 America
4 America

As the 4th of July is approaching, I have noticed that there are more and more American Flags being raised, fireworks stands coming up, and decorations set up for the holiday that we know as Independence Day. On the day of July 4th, we Americans celebrate our independence from  Britain. This was earned by our ancestors who fought for our freedom. Freedom to live separately from the rule of another government. To form our own government… “That these United Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States; … and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do. – Declaration of Independence, 1776 … and make our own laws. “We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish the Constitution for the United States of America. – Constitution of the United States of America, 1787

This holiday now extends to paying homage to all of the men who still daily fight this battle today for our country. Because of this independence, we are able to live in a country that is free to make our own choices. We can choose what we give and who we give it to in terms of our time, money, devotion, and love. In our society today, I believe that we have let this go to our heads, and it has become a feeling of entitlement…entitled to everything that we see and is within our reach. But this is not a rant about entitlement. This is about what we have received because of the fight for our freedom, and the great joy that comes with it. We can enjoy having B-B-Q’s, watching movies, listening to music, and enjoying time with family, friends, and neighbors. We also have the right to work in jobs that we enjoy and pay for things that we need, want, and desire.  We can spend as much time doing these things as we want and then move on to another.

However, when we began to set our own laws and standards, we began to see that we can also break them and then do so. Why wouldn’t we? We made them because we are free, right? With our freedom to choose, we have set our own boundaries, which can be pushed back and back until there is no clear distinction between what is law and what is not. Then, the joy of living becomes mundane, and we strive to have more and more to fill up the boring or unfulfilled lives that we once enjoyed. We then become a nation that is running around trying to find happiness, which is never filled. And that journey leads to greed and destruction. Without a clear set of boundaries, there is not a firm consequence for our actions. We then take for granted the freedom and boundaries that were sought after with such vigor.

What boundaries am I referring to you ask. Think for a moment about a school house with a playground next to it. Inside the school, you see children working and learning of how our country was created and how to become more intelligent. The children have rules to follow in the school, and if they follow them, they will not get into trouble, be given structure on how to become good young men and women,  and grow up knowing how to live in the adult world. Now, let’s look at that playground. There are swings, monkey bars, slides, a basketball net, etc. for the children to enjoy playing on and playing together. But if you notice, there is a fence around the playground. If  there wasn’t a fence and those children are left to their own devices (setting their own rules), they have the choice run outside of the school property and get into trouble and even lost. The fence is also there to protect them from  the trespasser from coming inside the school property. Let’s not look at this as a prison for children or anything of the like. Rather let’s look at the freedom the children have to learn and play within a safe and fun environment.

I realize that this may be a bit puzzling, but stay with me while I bring it together.

I would like for you to take a minute and think about the sacrifice that was made on our behalf to live in a free world. Men and women have served, fought, and died so that you can feel free to make your own choices and live life to the fullest. While you are thinking about that sacrifice, are you also thinking about what cost was paid for that to happen? Men and women loved their country so much that they died for what they believed in, freedom. They choose to stand against a powerful military government and to leave their families, friends and love ones. They sacrificed their lives so that their families could have joy and peace living in their homes. Laws were then made to keep us in check and hold us responsible and accountable. To keep us from getting hurt and in trouble and to give us a safe, peaceable place to live.

A side thought: have you ever watched some older TV shows, such as Andy Griffith, and noticed that when there was a need for Andy to arrest someone, that person didn’t run. They knew that they were caught and had to pay for the crime that they committed. Yes, that was a TV show. But look at the news today. Criminals are running from the police all the time. Why do they do that? They don’t want to get caught, and/or they feel that they don’t have to suffer consequences for their actions. There is no “manning up” and taking responsibility for wrong actions. But why are they even taking those actions? Because they have been setting their own rules. Before you jump at me with comments about how our laws can be corrupt, let me say that there have been some people put in place throughout our history that have pushed the boundaries and twisted the laws to allow things to be blurred.

While I have used the United States and schools as examples, the purpose of this is to bring to light the real freedom that we have on this Earth. The freedom to choose to live for God. He has given us boundaries because he cares for and loves us. We are His creation.  “that the creation itself also will be set free from its slavery to corruption into the freedom of the glory of the children of God.” Romans 8:21.  He knows that there is evil in this world and there are influences that we encounter on a daily basis. He gave us instructions and laws, His Word, to live by. He sent His Son to Earth who turned men into Apostles and they then turned people into disciples to fight for our freedom in Him, who sacrificed their lives for Him. This is what we are to do as well. We are to become disciples of Christ and fight for our freedom from the evil that will enslave us. The evil that will corrupt us. The evil that will twist our boundaries and get us into trouble. We are not free from this evil unless we are living for Him. “For you were called to freedom, brethern; only do not turn your freedom into an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another.” Galatians 5:13.  We are free when we are serving each other and by holding each other accountable. When evil enslaves us it corrupts us and allows us to think that we can make it on our own. But we can not do this ourselves. Look at our world today and see where living for ourselves has gotten us. Hatred, Murder, Envy, Greed, Pride are all results of the corruption of evil.  We have a choice. We can make it better. We can enjoy the freedom of living within the boundaries set by God our Father. This freedom is a blessing. In order for us to have this freedom we have to walk by the Spirit. “It was for freedom that Christ set us free; therefore keep standing firm and do not be subject again to a yoke of slavery.” Galatians 5:1.  When we are living within in these boundaries we can enjoy the blessing that are from our Father. It is amazing when our eyes are opened to how God does bless us when we live for and in Him. What is freedom to you? Are you still enslaved by evil?  Why not fight for your freedom? Will you enjoy your freedom today and the rest of your life?

I Owe, I Owe, Off To Work I Go…

Posted on by Evan Glenn

Bondservants, obey in all things your masters according to the flesh, not with eyeservice, as men-pleasers, but in sincerity of heart, fearing God. And whatever you do, do it heartily, as to the Lord and not to men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance; for you serve the Lord Christ.

(Colossians 3:22-24 NKJV)

Image

Let me first start with a reason and an expectation for this post. When I first sat down to write this post, I was really irritated and frustrated at the way things were going at work. So, I decided that I would vent and try to put a life lesson into play. Now, as I write this, I am not looking for a pat on the back, “good job”, or “yeah! that’s what I feel too”, or even “at-a-boy”. This is simply a post of how life seems unfair and a way to share how the mindset of a Christian steward should be. Also, I am not looking for a soapbox to stand on. (My dear wife stole mine so she wouldn’t have to listen to it anymore. ha ha) This is just a reality check for me and anyone else who is struggling with what would seem as unfairness in the world of work.

As with any study, I found many resources for my “lesson”.  But instead, I would like to share with you one that hit every point that I wanted to make and knocked my irritation and frustration down many levels. After many deep breathes and studying and praying… I will admit that I have thought, “if you can’t beat them, join them”. But what kind of attitude and example would that really be as a Christian. I can also see where Satan has lead me to believe that mentality on some occasion. However, I must be stronger and better. I can be and will be with the help of God.

Below is a link to an article that I found while looking for resources on how to be a Christian steward. As I read through this article (be prepared because it is very long but very enlightening), it helped me to calm down some and to step back and realize that I am to do what God asks of me. Which is to bring glory to Him by working honest and hard. And to also enjoy the results of my hard work. And to be the example of a Christian steward.

An Honest Day’s Work http://bible.org/seriespage/honest-days-work.

W.A.R. – has been initiated!

Posted on by Evan Glenn

The fact is, I am a geek. The idea of this is not new. I spend a lot of time “geekin’ ” according to Lisa. I like to read about, research, and play with new technology. Lisa has known that I am a geek, since we first met. She says that she accepts this fact. I believe that at first it was cute to her. Now, however, this may be something that she tolerates.  There is more of me that I will reveal at a later time. However, for this post I will keep to the the topic.

If you are a tinkerer, a player of gadgets, widgets, what nots, a builder of sorts, and just like to create and make things around the house, then there is one other person that will have to live with your ideas and creations other than you, that is, if you are married. They are usually the first person that will be the “guinea pig” that you will use to try it out and see if it works and looks the way you had “it” in mind. Your spouse will definitely be the one you will first show off your new, modified, or recreated projects to. We like to brag and show off, humbly of course, about what we have completed or in some cases almost completed. That person will either love, accept, tolerate, dismiss, or just be down right critical of your so called inventions. Will they allow this “thing” in the house and use it to what you believe is full potential or will they ask you kindly to remove it from their decor.  If it is allowed, this is what is called the approval factor. Then comes the question of whether or not the spouse will use or not use this new this “thing” in everyday life.

To be fair, men are not the only ones that have this quality about them. Women are just as creative and gadget friendly as men. Sometimes though, the women have already made the house accepting of the new “thing” before it even has entered the front door. Where as men just throw an out of place, wrong color, and ugly object into an already warm inviting place.  Men, one day we will finally understand how to do it their way the first time.  Seeing that I am the man, and the tinkerer of our household thus far, I am the one that will bring these things into our  house and everyday living.

When I introduce something to Lisa I will usually try my best to have all the kinks and quirks worked out of it before I present it. But for some reason, after I have tested it and played with it, it never fails that it will  not work when i “turn it on”, fail within the first few tries that she gives it or just doesn’t fit into what already exists in our house.  After my bubble has burst and the disappointment has subsided I will work on it again to improve upon, give more power to (insert Tool Man grunt), and dress it up. I will then ask her to answer honestly if she would use it or  tell me she wouldn’t so that I can remove it.

What all of this really boils down to is, does she finally accept it and how well does she accept and use this “thing”? In the words of Daffy Duck, this means W.A.R.!

Wife’s Acceptance Rating (W.A.R.)  The idea is that when something at its final result is presented and is not turned away will this be accepted and will it become enjoyable or tolerated.   This is not something that I have come up with on my own, nor it is something new. I have borrowed this from others who, like myself, try to get our wives to give feedback on the ideas that we have and how they are working in their routine in, out and around the house, car, truck, work, and etc..

In short, after the above long winded babble, I am going to share with you some of the “things”  I have introduced to our home. They have been tested and are ready to be rated using a scale of one star (being that “it” is never used by her) up to five stars(that she enjoys “it”). In the post to come, I will answer do my best to stay under these criteria; What is it and what does it do? Where’s the reasoning behind it? Why did I come to conclusion to use it in our lives? And How does it rate with her? So look for newer post on how the W.A.R is going!

Have Cake and Eat it too!

Posted on by Evan Glenn

I do realize that I am behind on this particular post. And this post is kind of long. But I am at least posting.

On June 25, 2012 Lisa and I celebrated our first full year of being married! It has been a wonderful year! Bringing our two lives together and learning to live as one is beautiful, awe-inspiring and life changing. She is still and will always be the beautiful bride that I first saw coming through the back door of the church and walking down that long, long isle. I remember trying hard to control myself and not run down to pick her up and carry her myself back up to where the minister and wedding party were standing. And I still need to control myself every day that I leave from work and not speed home, like a race car driver headed to the finish line on the last lap, to see her. I know, I know  what some of you are thinking, still in the “honeymoon” phase. It will change. But the reality of it is, it has changed!

According to tradition, the first year anniversary is also when the couple is supposed to pull the top-tier of their wedding cake out of the freezer and eat it, although not all couples indulge

in this practice. Our cake top was wrapped up and sealed up tight and had many layers of cellophane and aluminum foil and then put into a freezer bag. When we opened it up on the night of our one year anniversary it still had its beautiful appearance and shape nothing was out-of-place nor lost is brilliant colors.  Let me just say, that a one year old frozen cake with fondant icing tastes gross! And I like me some cake. However, we indulged in this tradition with happiness because if that cake had made it stored in a freezer for one year untouched it deserved to be eaten, at least some of it.

One-year wedding anniversaries are particularly special for many reasons. Couples are still considered newlyweds when this anniversary rolls around and this is the first anniversary that couples can celebrate as a married couple. Completing the first year of marriage is definitely cause for celebration. As I just mentioned above, things have changed. But for the better! In the last post 40 More Years, Please. , I stated that,  I had not been married before, nor have I experienced the happiness, excitement, and even frustrations of marriage. I look forward to each and every moment to experience with my bride. And continuing that wonderful thought, I am looking forward to many, many years of excitement, frustrations and happiness. The first wedding anniversary is a significant event because it celebrates the fact that the couple is still together after the first year of adjustments to married life.  Reaching the first wedding anniversary means that the married couple has weathered the adjustments to married life so far. The benefit to celebrating this event is the recognition of a couple’s love as well as their resolve to stay together as a married couple.

We have resolved! We have resolved to adorn each other with devotion of love to each other. That cake did look good when we first opened it up. I remember how it tasted, the little bite of it she shoved all over my face. It was yummy! And so I was anxious to try it. As we started to cut it and it began to melt and all of that icing became a gooey mess and the cake inside had lost its fluffiness. It was awful and sad. But cakes that are made for eating do not last forever. No matter how well you wrap them up and seal them up.

So why have I gone on and on about that cake? To me it is a symbol of a couple of things.

First. It bothers me that I hear married couples with years of experience behind them speak about how things change in a negative way. Why are you showing the younger, inexperienced generation an unenthusiastic view of such a beautiful union. The union that God created! The husband is a blessing for the wife and the wife is a blessing for the husband. A gift from the Creator to each of you. How do you think He wants you to show others His work? With happiness and willingness and an attitude of love!

Second, Are they the ones that have left their cake in the freezer and get it out for special occasions expecting it to be just as fresh and delightful as the day they first tasted it? We are to enjoy the cake. We are supposed to share the cake with each other. By feeding each other unconditional love and be willing to sacrifice selfishness to make the other happy. The cake will never run out as long as God is making the cake in your marriage.  Just as Christ made more wine for the wedding he will make more cake for you. Notice that I did not say another cake will be made, I said more cake will be made. And each time that you taste it, it will be more fulfilling and more sweeter.

I pray that Lisa and I continue to have our cake and eat it too, every day! And some days we may even have some ice cream with it!