FPIES & Mud Pies: Our Boys, Our Journey, Our New World...: God Bless the Farmer

Mothers Intuition

Have you ever had an instinct? An instinct that begins as a gnawing...Then grows into a raging burn; a burning instinct that something is wrong...

Your baby continues to get sick from the very foods he is supposed to thrive on. I did. I am a mom of a little boy just diagnosed with FPIES.

And that burning feeling now? Extinguished. My instincts? Stronger than ever. Guiding me, with my faith, as we navigate through the murky waters of our new world created by something called FPIES.

"Faith is not about everything turning out OK; Faith is about being OK no matter how things turn out."

Monday, December 22, 2014

God Bless the Farmer

This season is a season to be thankful -- Thanksgiving, Advent, Christmas, and a New Year on the horizon. I would love to say that Little Man had outgrown his FPIES or at least advanced his diet beyond his dozen foods but that is not God's will at this time. However, God gives us the graces to get through our trials and He never breaks His promises to provide. "Give us this Day or Daily Bread" is not just a line in a prayer, it is a promise from Above. A promise that He will provide. God has provided our family in so many countless ways, some I have recorded either here or shared in other places, some I hold simply in my heart but not a day goes by that His graces are not showered upon us through any struggles that are sent our way.

One such powerful and life changing grace has been the pork Sam has had 'safe' for 2 years now. A farmer referred to me from a friend as someone who cared for her animals and raised them naturally, not feeding them corn or soy. A farmer I picked up the phone and explained Little Man's sensitive allergy to and who took the time to explain every step of the process from raising the hogs to interviewing the butcher in how the meat is processed. A farmer who I have visited right at her farm and who Little Man has met. The Farmer who makes sure before all her meat is sold, that there will be enough for Little Man. A farmer who cares. This pork, pureed into a liquid enough to go through his feeding tube, has been instrumental to his thriving, his not needing a hospital stay since his feeding tube was placed, his getting to be a boy discovering the world at the pace of any other 5 year old, not disrupted by frequent doctor visits, hospital stays, sick days and therapies. He still has reactions to foods, symptoms from other foods, still needs to avoid more foods than he can safely eat; but we are so thankful for how far he has come and for each and every one of the few foods he does have to provide the nutrition he needs to grow and thrive. One of those foods being the pork from this farmer.

God Bless the Farmer.