A Light at the end of the Tunnel

So many people have been asking me about Kyler and how he's doing. Thanks for your interest! It really does mean a lot to have friends that care!

He was back to the Dr yesterday and we got some good news and some bad news. The good news is that his numbers have gone from 3 to 14 in 6 wks, which is extremely good!! Something IS working!! The test shows his appendix and gallbladder to be normal and 6 wks ago they were very weakened. It is an answer to prayer! It's amazing to me what can happen in a little person's body in just 6 wks!!

The bad news... Well, the lead is still in his body. And aluminum is also showing up now. We really need to get that out of his system! And we need to find out exactly where it's coming from. We have city water, but we drink spring water. So we will start by getting both waters tested.

We have seen some very positive results and that is thrilling! The first 2 wks were very bad and hard. But around the wk 3 mark, we started noticing change. He was calmer, he had better control of his bladder, (whew!!) and was just all around kinder and sweeter. It was tremendous! And in about 6 short days, my memory about how bad things actually had been, began to fade. Until.... he had a muffin. one muffin. A sugar free muffin. BUT, a wheat muffin. That set him back to base one for about a week. It was depressing and sad. After about 6 days, he changed again, just like that. Seriously, Monday was horrible; Tuesday was a total different story. So it obviously took about 8 days to get that muffin through is system. In some ways I'm almost glad it happened, though. It taught me how important it is to NEVER, NEVER, NEVER cheat!!!!

He loves to go to the Health Food Store. Partially because there's a little cart for him to push around. And partially because he finds snacks. Down on his eye level. With animals on the front of the box.  \"/ He takes the box off the shelf and places it in his cart. It makes him proud. \"/  The ingredients are organic corn and evaporated cane juice. Both are technically not gaps legal. But, I haven't noticed any bad reaction to a little snack occasionally. And somehow it seems like every child needs something fun to eat every now and then. His snacks are, in fact, SO good, that his mother could empty a box in a short amount of time. But she refrains...   \"/

And so, I do believe we are seeing some light at the end of the tunnel! It gives us hope! I'm discovering just how much my prayers consisted of,  " Help Me!!! I can't do this ANYMORE!!!" I think my favorite verse is Isaiah 40:11.   " He tends is flock like a shepherd: He gathers the lambs in his arms and carries them close to his heart; He gently leads those that have young." God is a gentle God, and I am grateful!! He has been faithful to give us wisdom when we lacked, or rather, had NO wisdom. He has calmed me heart and given me renewed strength over and over. He is good. He never fails. His mercies are new every morning. And I am amazed at his goodness to us!!!

The things we miss the most are bread, good bread,  \"/ and ranch dressing. Aubrey really thinks she has to have ranch dressing. She hasn't appreciated my attempts at homemade ranch. I guess she takes after her Grandpa Schrock. Everything is better with Ranch!  \"/  I have made bread that they like, now. It tastes more like a sweet bread, but they can have honey bread again, and that makes us all happy.  \"/  I think the biggest adjustment for me is the amount of time I spend in the kitchen. If you know me at all, you know that I am/was a huge fan of freezer food. That approach to cooking has somehow faded. Sigh. I miss it. I spend LARGE amounts of time in the kitchen. After tripling our grocery budget last month, I'm praying for wisdom on ways to cut it down. Because, quite frankly, we can't spend that much money a month on food!!!! Or at least I don't think so. Wes seems to be much more forgiving over the grocery bill then his wife is. She cries and agonizes over it. We used to eat lots and lots of rice. Rice is cheap, in case you haven't noticed.... 

You can find the recipe for the Chocolate Peanut Butter Brownies that I talked about in my last post, here. It's actually a cookie recipe, but to make things quicker, I substitute some cocoa for some of the coconut flour and omit the chocolate chips. Spend in a pan and bake!  \"/

Chocolate Bean Cake and Vanilla Bean Cake WITH chocolate frosting!!!!!!!!! Ah how very yummy!!!!!! and healthy!!! And it's CAKE!!!   \"/  I had to redo the recipe slightly to make it GAPS legal, but you can find it here. Just substitute coconut flour for the cocoa and you have a Vanilla Bean Cake!! And the awesome frosting can be found here. I love the bean cakes because they don't take flour, which tends to be expensive! Kyler can't have black beans, so I use white beans and you would never know the difference!

Hope you have a wonderful day!!