My Family

This picture was taken this summer, June 2011, on the beach down the road from my in-laws.  It took a monumental effort to talk everyone into taking the picture, and I was so surprised at how easy it was once we got there.  I treasure this family picture.  So here we are.  We are the Dustin's.  My husband Mark and myself (Becky) have been married for 16 years.  We have 3 children, who mean the world to us.  We would do anything for them...little did we know that in 6 short months, we would be faced with a life changing event.

My husband is a hard working railroader.  Though he has 13 years on the property, his seniority is still so low that he continues to work nights...which makes him a day sleeper.  Blergh...not fun.

I am working as a librarian's assistant in one of the high schools in our school district and taking online college courses, waiting for an elementary librarian position to open up so I can begin the career of my dreams.

I was a stay at home mom until my children started full time school, at which time I began working for the school district.  I feel so blessed to have been able to stay home with our children until then.

Our oldest daughter, Ashlyn lives in Utah.  She is taking a break from college while she decides what she actually wants to be when she grows up.  She plans to return home this summer and work for one of the local tourist companies.

Seth is our middle child, he turned 12 in November and attends the local middle school as a 6th grader.  Seth joined the wrestling team in November, which turned out to be a HUGE blessing as it allowed us to track his weight loss and see that we had a problem much sooner than would normally be caught.  My condition for his joining the wrestling team was that he not drop weight to make a weight class.  Our family is a bit on the "pooh" side and we struggle with weight issues, so I didn't want to create body image issues in our 12 year old.

Leah is our youngest.  She is 10 and will turn 11 in April.  Leah loves to sing and by love, I mean LOVES to sing.  (She is singing in the shower upstairs as I type).  Leah is super sensitive and very compassionate.

Along with our children, we have 4 (yes 4) dogs.  Dixie a Brittany Spaniel, Mitzy (Seth's) a weiner dog, Fritz (Leah's) weiner dog and my baby...Peanut, a yorkie.

This makes for a pretty crazy house and I seriously do not know how hubby sleeps during the day when the dog pound starts barking, but we love them too, so we make do.

I decided to start this blog to document our journey with diabetes.  I know it will help me to have a place to lay it out in black and white and to have a place for my feelings.  It is my desire to be honest and open and to educate so that family and friends can use this as a resource to understand our life and how fully it has changed with this.  Lastly, maybe it will help someone on their families diabetic journey.

Thank you for joining me on the journey!

~Becky