OK, so the title didn't fit...

I tried to upload a picture of my three boys and hence the title of my last post. It didn't work and I didn't change the title :) Sorry to confuse anyone. Today was a more difficult day for me and Isaac would say for him too. His spirits are down. He's tired of his "diet" but with the latest flare-up we are going it slow and adding foods one at a time. We are listening to his body more closely. He did eat more than usual and after the initial upset in the morning went on to correct 4 math lessons and complete all his other school, play legos, watch Prince Caspian again and stay up until almost 9 p.m. His only BM today had changed some so that was encouraging in a way. The blood is still there. We are seeing less BM's though and that is a great praise. This week we even saw several where there was no blood at all that we could see and that just isn't normal. Keep the prayers coming because I am positive God has healing planned for this kid. It may take time but he is working, we can see it! I say it was a difficult day for me because I used to give Isaac pep talks a couple times a day and now it has increased to more than 10. I turned to God's word a few more times today for counsel and that helped "calm" me. If he was my only child this would be so much easier but I have 7 others who need me. If I could find a live-in maid/cook for a time I would have it made plus maybe she could do math and English too. We will get through this and be stronger for it. Someone said that soon I will just barely sway in the wind. Please pray for strength. This is getting harder than I anticipated. Isaac needs prayer to keep up his spirits. I have quoted him the verse "A cheerful heart is good medicine but a broken spirit dries up the bones." He's not so appreciative of that when all he wants to do is eat everything. I keep reminding him of the goal: good health without pain. Thank you for your prayers! God Bless You for thinking of us.

My Three Sons

Today, Isaac is doing fairly well. He again put in a fair amount of liquids and felt good most of the day. He didn't have a "stomach" ache until evening. I say "stomach" like that because it really is more is large intestine that gives him the pains, it just feels like a stomach ache. He played computer, watched the new Narnia movie again, Prince Caspian. I like it but I agree with other people who have said the first was better. Prince Caspian was much more violent! Still, it was a good theme, we can try to do things on our own without God but it doesn't usually work out so well.

I cleaned out Lena's closet of all the newborn baby clothes and size 3-6 months. She is officially 6-9 month clothes now. I also packed away the baby boy clothes that took up a good portion of her closet and dresser. It was sad to think of the "might have been" but also I know God is taking us down a different road right now. I still have hope that adoption will be a part of our future but God has told us "not right now". I am so thankful for Lena. She gives me that extra boost when I am down. She's so perfect and sweet and when I talk to her she smiles the most beautiful smile. She really give the whole house a peace. I praise God for giving her to us at this time.

Christmas Blessings!

I tried updating Tuesday but updating on Isaac was getting to be so painful. I already write down every ounce, every BM, every everything that I decided to take a break from it. For two days I didn't write about it on here or on paper. Yesterday was a wonderful day for Isaac. He was able to take in more than any day previous and I think he could tell the difference. He had more energy for longer. He is improving in many little ways. We see less blood in his BM's (Oh, what a praise to the Lord), less pain with the BM's and after them, and a general feeling of everything is going well. Nighttime is still the worst for Kevin and I, especially me. Each morning dawns bright and shining and full of hope but with the night comes the fear and anxiety. I am working through it with lots of prayer! We are incredibly blessed with the prayers others are offering up for Isaac and we are thankful. Whenever I tell him of someones call saying they give him a hug or are praying for him, he smiles and feels encouraged.

Again, through the Lord's guidance and leading some neat things have happened. We have received bags of apples and carrots and celery. A strainer for the juiced carrots, more yogurt, a gift certificate to buy more carrots and apples from Wal-mart, plus more. It is amazing to us and humbling. When we got the juicer Kevin planned to send those people money for it but then we got another care package with the exact amount of money he was going to send to them and that answered it for him, he was going to have to accept this as what the Lord intended, God meeting our needs again!!!

These are things we are praying for with Isaac now; to see the blood in his BM's gone, to see less pain with them, for God to continue the healing process in his intestines and for Isaac's body to absorb his nutrients to give him more energy and wellness. Thanks again for thinking and praying for him and our family during this time. God has been doing mighty things in our hearts and in our lives through all these things so we can only give God the glory right now.

When I am down...

he will lift me up. I am reading the Psalms out loud to Isaac or out loud to myself. They are so perfect for troubling times. I am encouraged by them and enjoy being in the Word. I feel like I could write my own Psalm crying out to the Lord in my sorrow and troubles. We continue to call on him for strength and peace.

Isaac was running down the hallway today just because he had so much energy. He was smiling and happy today. He played downstairs and was up most of the day. We are much encouraged. His evening turned a bit on the downside with some cramping and pain. We have seen some signs of healing in his body though and will continue to praise the Lord and call on him for continued healing. Please pray for Isaac as we work at nourishing his body with healing foods and supplements to help clean out the stuff that is causing his problems. We see some of this coming out now and are thankful his body is working this way. Pray for strength for all of us. These days can be emotionally draining and we all need some extra rest. We are thankful for the naps Kevin and I got to take today. We are thankful that God provides what we need and sometimes without our asking for it. Thank you to all who are praying for Isaac and our family. We know many of you are sharing this prayer request with others and we are grateful for that. With so many people petitioning for him we know God will be glorified.

God's working...

God has shown his loving kindness to us in a new way. Isaac is going through what I call an episode or a "flare up". He is having a lot of stomach cramping and other things. We believe it may stem from the iron pills he takes. They may be irritating his system. We've been praying for him as usual but we do pray more when he is having troubles like this. When he has an episode it is difficult to know what to feed him that won't irritate him and that he will want. The next morning (Friday) after a night of praying our phone rang. It was someone we have met 2-3 times. She lives a few hours away and had information to help someone in Isaac's condition. She heard about our situation from a mutual friend. She gave me the number of someone who had Isaac's condition for several years and is now free of all that. This woman's advice was so helpful and I can only say that God sent down his love for Isaac by putting these people in our lives. The first lady had a care package of yogurt, juicer and several other things to help Isaac. Through a network of friends in their area Kevin drove and met someone last night around 1 a.m. to get these things to us before the coming snow.

We are so blessed and are saying thank you to the Lord for this direction. I have wanted someone to come into our life that could relate. From talking to this lady, she is what we needed. She wants to help us through this and her heart is turned to Isaac in prayer and caring. The first person was going to borrow us her juicer for a time since she doesn't really use it much but instead of doing that this morning I opened up a brand-new juicer. Their heart said they needed to do this for us. I can tell you we are humbled, thankful and so very encouraged that God would answer in this way. Isaac is not healed but these may be the very steps that we need to get him well again.

He is sweet, he said he'll smile at Christmas even if he has a stomachache like today's. He is very excited for it to come. Keep praying for God's healing on his body. God is so good to us. We read Psalm 30 and 31 today. Verse 2 of 30 says, "O Lord, my God. I called to you for help and you healed me."

It just keeps on being a different season for us...

I packed up all the children and took them in to have a strep culture. I suspected three more kids had come done with my strep throat. This is the thing though, I was planning on leaving Bekah at home with Jordan and only one kid tested positive for strep and you guessed it, it was Bekah. She's now isolated for today, until she is on antibiotic #14 for 24 hours. I had wanted them just to put us all on antibiotics because this is stressing me out trying to keep them separated, hands washed, don't touch anything, etc. The doctor wanted to only give antibiotics for a positive test, so everyone had to be in close quarters with the sick kid in the van, sit in a waiting room with possibly 20 other sick people and go in a small room with the sick kid!!! :O I could have screamed for the stress of it all! I keep praying for protection from the strep for the other members of the family and anything else that we could have picked up at the clinic. The parking lots were completely full. I had to go to a different parking lot than the clinic one. That tells me a lot of people are sick right now. Should that make me feel better? :)

My husband is taking this all like a rock. He is so sick but he's at work. He's missed so many days taking Isaac in and helping me when I was sick that he really doesn't feel he can take any more days off right now. The coughing at night has slowed way down with the children so we are thankful again for that.

I hate to continue on the "sick" saga but this is my life. Christmas is coming, the kids are getting excited and I pray it lives up to their expectations. Spending time with family will be a welcome after all this time spent at home.