We'll try no eggs...

I did decide we should try no eggs for now since they said highly reactive. He had strawberries, a hamburger and some goat cheese for breakfast. He was moderately reactive to goat's milk so again what to do? If eggs are making him sick then I can't in good conscience keep giving them to him. People have three types of allergic reactions: 1) stuffy face, nose and throat, runny eyes 2) Skin (hives) and 3) gastrointestinal. We know that Isaac has the third type of reaction. Although he isn't having stomachaches or diarrhea from the eggs I think this is best while we improve his immune system. In my daily devotional email today it said this: When Satan tempts you as a homeschooling parent to become discouraged and feel sorry for yourself, claim the promises in God's Word to defeat this enemy of God. "For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh: For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds" (2 Corinthians 10:3-4). I can tell you I am feeling a bit sorry for myself. I feel terrible for Isaac and what is ahead for him. I just want a "normal" life!!!

Isaac is having a good day again so I'm thankful for good days. Riah finished her school (which has been difficult to prod her to do) so I'm thankful for kids learning. Caleb found 2 eggs today so I'm thankful for the new chickens to start laying for the first time. Baby Lena is always sweet and adorable so I'm thankful for God giving us this incredible blessing. Bekah is learning to read!!!!! Very thankful for that as it is helping her do some of her school on her own!!! The older girls went with friends to help with the Hallelujah party scheduled for tomorrow night. I'm thankful they can go and I can stay home.

I'm thankful for God's provision. During morning devotions each person takes a card and prays for what is written or who is written on it. Yesterday I wrote some new ones and one in particular said to pray for God's provision for our family according to His wisdom and plan for us (as opposed to my plans). Just 3 short hours later I went to get the mail and someone sent some money with a note saying she thought this would help with the extra supplements or food needed to have someone on a different diet. I am always amazed at God's work in my poor, wretched, sin-filled life. He cares for us even when we can't see why he would.

Some test results are in...

Today in the mail we received the allergy workup on Isaac. Oh, my!!!! Nothing much was a surprise, he's really allergic to everything!! It's amazing really that we started him on the diet we did and when we did because the things he is allergic to we have already removed from his diet! I am giving thanks to God because I have been praying for wisdom and he gave it. He's allergic to all milk products, wheat flour and wheat gluten (???? we tested for this so I'm confused???), peanut butter, oats, honey, cane sugar, oranges, garlic, yeast, eggs and some other minor things. You know, these are the things that are the staples of our family meals. He was quite upset when I read them to him. He was looking forward to bread and milk again. We'll adjust I told him and by the time bread can be added on the Maker's Diet I'll figure out a kind he can have. A friend at AWANA tonight said that once you build up the immune system some allergies go away. I'm encouraged by that and will pray that we can do just that. His testing did say to retest in April of 2009 so it must be something you keep checking to see if anything changes. We don't go in for a consult on the test results until his stool sample comes back but she wanted me to be able to start eliminating these things :) Done that already!

I am confused about something else though. It said he was highly reactive to egg whites and moderately reactive to egg yolks. Is this raw eggs? On the Maker's Diet eating eggs is a big part of it since it is high protein. Well, he eats eggs for breakfast every morning and has been feeling really good and so much better than before the diet. I'm not sure what to make of this.

Thanks for any prayers you said on our behalf. We will be calling on the Lord much in the next few weeks for guidance and praise and strength. He had a really good day again!

On a roll...

Since my computer works right now I'll just update a little on the diet thing. 3-4 weeks ago I put the kids and me on a diet that is completely normal foods just eliminates anything with additives and preservatives and certain chemicals used in processing. You follow a list of products that someone else has already researched and found to be "approved". It is called the Feingold diet. It is wonderful in that this is the way we have working our way toward eating. It is a little challenging in that most everything I make is homemade from scratch which takes a bit of planning and time. Who has time!?!?! I really didn't have to change much from the products we were using just couldn't buy some things that I like to keep on hand for those "in a pinch" moments when it is 8 p.m. and you still don't know "what's for supper". In addition to the diet we add flaxseed meal to anything and everything. The kids like it. A big "problem" for us also with the diet is the first 6 weeks is no tomatoes, apples and certain other fruits. Tomatoes is the biggie for us since we can a lot of that kind of stuff.

God in His infinite wisdom prepares us for these times though. I can't remember if I said before that we found Isaac (the kid with frequent stomach-aches) is allergic or sensitive to tomatoes. So, we started him on this diet before we actually knew that. Well, since then, I put him on the Maker's Diet. We are singing praises to the Lord today. He is feeling wonderful today. He's been on a detox program and some days were tough with him not feeling good, tired, headaches, etc. Today, he is great!!! I completely believe it is the diet he is on. The way he is eating is the way everyone should eat; fresh fruits and vegetables for every meal. No additives at all and mostly organic foods. He eats things like Baked Salmon, Chicken salad, meatloaf, lots of eggs, nutritious smoothies with all the right kinds of oils, salads, raw sunflower seeds and pumpkin seeds, steamed veggies, strawberries and raspberries (his favorite part). It is getting easier to find a variety for him. He can't have bread, oatmeal or rice at this phase of the diet and his stomachaches almost went away. We did test him last year for Celiac disease (gluten allergy) but it was negative. I wonder though if he is gluten intolerant. What could be the difference? Would an intolerance show up on the test? These are questions I don't know where to go to look. It does seem as if breads and the tomatoes were the triggers for his problems.

Two sweet babies

Samuel (1 week) and Lena (almost 9 weeks). We were able to take Karma's girls again on Thursday and when she came to pick them up she came in to visit with new baby Samuel. Her little girl says, "Stephanie, come see my baby!" She was so proud of him especially after seeing us ooh and aah over our baby all day.

Do you just have those moments, (moms anyway) when you didn't even know you were emotional? Last night (Friday night) we went to a bridal shower. Well, since we are on this certain diet we couldn't eat what was there. I prepped the kids before we went and we ate so we wouldn't be hungry. Someone said go have something to eat. I didn't want to be rude and just sit down and ignore that so I tried to say lightheartedly, "Oh, we are on a diet that won't let us have that right now." Then someone else asked how that was going and I burst into tears!!! I was mortified. My normal "I'm in control of everything" was gone. I tried to get it together in the bathroom but have any of you figured out how to get rid of the red rimmed eyes before you go back out in public! I'm not sure why I am sharing this but maybe someone else wants to know they aren't the only one.

I tried to write this Saturday and send in but alas my computer pains me again and again.....

My honey pie is trying to talk!

Berry smoothie

So, now I have my child on a different diet to help his particular symptoms. I made him this Berry smoothie. He liked it very well, you can tell by his messy mouth. I read the Maker's diet some time ago and now am following the plan for this child. I do believe he is improving. We are also reading the Psalms when David cried out to the Lord for help and for healing. Psalm 19 is a favorite of both of ours right now. It sounds like it was taken right out of Chronicles of Narnia or The Lord of the Rings. The Berry Smoothie is made from coconut milk, flax seed oil, honey, organic blackberries and grass fed chicken eggs. Very soothing for his irritated stomach and also contains some good healing pro-biotics and live enzymes and live proteins.

Please continue to pray for his healing! Thank you!

Hello

Not much has been happening I see! We were busy nonetheless. We put ds#1 on a no milk diet with some other restrictions to see if that will relieve him some. I think it has been less intense but the stomach-aches are still there. Blood tests and stool samples have been sent off to see what could be causing this. We are praying for speedy results and for God's healing on his body. DS#1 would like to feel well soon! :) Please pray for wisdom for us and for healing for him. Thank you!

We are having a nice quiet day with my friend's little girls. Karma (hope I can use names) had a baby boy, Samuel, on Thursday. Her husband and mine had to go work on a house to get it ready for the power company to come tomorrow so we took the girls to hopefully let her get a few naps in. Her girls are ages 2 and 1. She has a busy life! Praise God for a safe delivery and for such a cutie pie. I held him today and am amazed at how big Lena is at 8 weeks. Oh, how they change too quickly.

Finally, I have a minute...

I am sitting with my little angel on my lap and she is smiling big time. If I tried to find the camera to take a picture it would be over so I'll just enjoy the moment myself and not share :)

Please pray for DS #1 as he is having stomach-aches. We are doctoring for him and trying an elimination style diet to find out what is going on. Please pray for his healing and/or for us to find what is causing this.

Where do they come up with these things?

I was doing a room check before breakfast and the little girls room was a disaster as usual. I usually ignore it but figured it should get a check too. Little 4 year old had all these clothes she changed from but were clean, you know those kind of kids. Actually I think all the girls were like that at this age. Well, I was getting on her to hurry and get it done so we could do devotions and eat breakfast and she says, "Do I have to be your maid all the time?" What!!!! I let her know who washes her clothes, feeds her and other things. Plus, they were HER clothes! She is usually trying to get out of work blaming someone or telling me to do it. Her newest thing is that she can't make the bed she just slept in because there is a spider in her room.

Too Cute

OK, I have to post this picture Jordan captured.

Also, cute saying from 6 year old. "Do I have to like everything you make?" This was in reference to the potato pancakes I made for lunch. They were very nutritious; wheat germ, shredded potatoes, onions, liquid aminos (a healthy soy sauce), and eggs. Fried on the griddle and yum. And in answer to her question "No, you don't." I told her I don't even like everything I make but I do like to try new recipes!

Again, not what we wanted...

The baby in Texas has found a home. This is a praise item. It was not our family so again we are disappointed. It is in God's hands and timing as to when he will place a child with us and who that will be. I feel right now is the best time to have another little one, but it isn't meant to be this time. Please pray for God's leading us to the child that is right for us. Please pray for us to know clearly when this happens.

Hello...

No news about the baby in Texas. We are sending up the prayers to heaven waiting for a yes or no answer! I might have to be a pest and check with our agency. I assume they'd call or email if they knew but maybe they are just busy, like who isn't?

I was a bit stubborn this week. My uterus was giving me trouble and instead of reaching out to our prayer chain at church I thought I would wait until it got better. Well, I finally emailed it to the prayer chain Thursday after trying to stay in bed all week. Staying on bed rest didn't move it at all!!! So get this, staying in bed doing kegels every chance I got didn't move it. After I called it on to the prayer chain and people started praying for me I started feeling a little better and by Sunday afternoon I had almost no back pain!!! Stubbornness does not pay. It has ascended a small bit and isn't completely healed but I am praising God for helping me to see my pride. Like I could do it all myself. John 15:5b ...for without Me you can do nothing.

Almost got it...

I almost got the whole smile. She had a big mouth grin on her face and I caught the end of it. It is a bit hard while she's laying on my lap. Riah was sitting with me and says "she's a happy baby like all the rest." Does she mean the rest of the kids are happy? or the rest of the babies were happy babies? Because she is the next youngest. Very cute anyway!

We are waiting again for news of a baby that needs a placement. Our profile and home study are to be presented at the end of this week which I take to mean today. Please pray for God to direct this as there are two other families being presented. I won't presume to be the best for this baby, only God knows that so I pray that God would place the baby in the best home for this particular little boy (he's about 2 weeks old right now). We also pray for God to prepare our home and hearts to receive him if he is meant to be ours. Thanks.