Eat Mor, Sy!

Check this out! Some of the fantastic people at Sy's school have done something amazing to bless our family.

By partnering with a local Chick-fil-A, Sy's school will be selling their calendars as a fundraiser for Sy. Everyone loves their calendars and the coupons inside pay back the cost of the calendar multiple times. Through Chick-fil-A's generosity, the calendars will cost $7 and $4 of this will be going directly to Sy's medical account. The Cows will be generating a lot of Moolah...get it? You can laugh. No? Geez, tough crowd!

Each calendar sold covers the cost of one of his elemental formula juiceboxes. Sy currently needs to drink 6-7 per day for his nutrional needs, so we are hoping for great sales! We will let you know the final outcome!

Sorry Chick-fil-A, that Sy can't pay you back by eating your food, but he does like the smell of it!

Consider It Pure Joy...

My heart is heavy and these words keep ringing in my head tonight... "Consider it PURE JOY, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything." James 1:2-4

Pure joy? Not blemished or partial, half-hearted joy but PURE, unadulterated and authentic JOY?

How do I exude this joy as I tell my son that he's failed this food trials today? How do I explain to him that he is allergic to ALL foods--that his body battles itself every time he takes a bite? How do I break the news that I have to take away the 5 foods he's been able to enjoy and go back to solely a liquid, medicinal formula diet? And all the while, he has to stay joyful in the process? ......................................................

Because God tells me to. Sometimes I get frustrated that God is having to use my son to grow MY character but then I think about how God has used these "hurdles" to deeply grow all of us. Strength in weakness... Beauty in brokenness...

Food is a basic necessity of life--we deal with it every day--at almost every social event, play date, school function, the list goes on and on. The only way to walk through this valley is to have HOPE and JOY in ALL circumstances.

Recently when talking to Sy about heaven, his big, blue eyes lit up as he asked, "Will I be able to eat all 'fewds' in heaven?" Needless to say, he has great hope and is stoked to get there!

So I trust... I have faith that God is using this for the greater good, for OUR greater growth, and HIS greater glory!

So even tonight as I sit here and struggle to feel it, I. CHOOSE. JOY!!!

A way to cope!

For the last few weeks, Sy has started a strange habit. We were all ready to start eating (and drinking) dinner one night as usual. Before we began, Sy made a request: "Poppy, can I smell your food?".

At first I thought it would just make it more difficult on the little guy and started to refuse it. Then, I talked to him and asked him if he thought that might make it harder for him to not eat. He said no and that he just wanted to see what it smelled like. With hesitation, I pushed my plate over to him as he took one large, long sniff of the evening's meal. He finished and then stated, "Mmmm, that makes me full!". Without complaining or getting upset, he went on to drink his elemental formula with a smile. What kind of kid with this kind of illness does this?

Since Sy has started, he occassionally asks to smell the day's food items and it seems that it's helping him (somehow) get through his crazy no food diet. Like it wasn't enough to show us self-control by undergoing a liquid diet without a single complaint, he now shows us that with the right attitude, you can still enjoy food without putting it in your mouth. I think it's harder for all of us who watch than it is for him!

Thank you, God for one special little boy!

Another round of elemental formula, bartender!

Well, Sy’s elemental diet started this past Sunday! He can only consume special, amino acid-based formula and water—no food. Yep, that’s right NO FOOD! Fortunately the formula comes in this juice box type packaging so it makes it a little more fun for him. Our latest game is asking Sy, “So what’s in your juice box today?” He smiles and says, “Milk, eggs, yogurt, “samwich”, ice cream, gum…” The list goes on and on but tends to include those foods that he hasn’t been able to eat (the boy has never had ice cream)!

We had some tears the first morning but haven’t had as much a one complaint since. He understands that this is to help him get better. We spend much of our time teaching and training our children about godly character attributes. However, I am finding more and more that God is using Silas to teach ME about true joy, patience, long-suffering, trust, hope and self-control. Granted it’s only been a few days, but his willingness and sweet spirit in all of this just blows all of us away.

Sy will be on this diet for a minimum of 3-months. We will travel back to Cincinnati in September and he’ll have another endoscopy. We’re praying for radical improvement and healing! If so, then we’ll be able to introduce one food (like apples) for two weeks and then travel up to Cincinnati for endoscopies every 6-weeks indefinitely… The goal is to figure out exactly what foods are causing the high white blood cell count and swelling in his esophagus.

So this is Sy’s life for a while… If you live locally and think of it, high five him or give him an extra hug. If you’re lucky, maybe he’ll even tell you what’s in his juice box today!