Ebbie's Scope

Ebbie had her follow-up scope today. Dr Shannon said her esophagus looks so much better. The pictures show no inflammation and there are none of the visible white patches. So.... we're praying that the biopsy results show that her EoE is in remission. If so, we can stop the steroid and see how that goes! Still cutting out most of her high allergy foods and hoping that once we stop steroids her symptoms won't return. 
Thanks for all the prayers and support! 

Ebbie's 8th Birthday

We celebrated Ebbie's birthday by having lunch with her at school. Later...a birthday party at Fat Cat Ceramics and lastly her BFF Rosemary spent the night to help play with all of her new gifts. I'm so thankful for this sweet, loving, kind-spirited little girl. And very grateful for sweet friends that she loves so much.

Good News

We followed up with GI doctor today and got some good news....we can add back some of the high allergy foods that Ebbie didn't test positive to!!! Y'all don't know- this is so freeing! While she can't guzzle a gallon of milk or eat ice cream every night she can definitely have butter on baked potatoes now! And a birthday cake on her birthday! 

Dr basically said that with eliminating all the foods at once it's setting us up for failure (ummm...yes!) and that in the end the medicine should help with the healing of her esophagus. While that is the immediate goal the long term goal is to find out which one or two foods cause the eosinophils. She also put her on an additional medicine to help promote the healing. 

I also just want to thank you all for the prayers. And I want Ebbie and Bo to read this later in life and know that God is good-even in trials. That He will meet you where you are! But also, to know that Satan too is real, and evil, and will attack you while you're down and try to steal your joy. Ebbie's condition is not life threatening but it definitely affects her quality of life and as a mom it's hard to watch and not fix it immediately. I've felt very condemned by guilt that I didn't catch this sooner, or that I'm not doing what I need to do to fix it now. However I know that condemnation is from satan and that sweet conviction is from the Lord. That all of life is a roller coaster and that though satan is real-God is bigger, and good, and a provider, and sustainer. 
So, I appreciate the prayers and I know that God will equip me with the tools I need to provide and care for Ebbie.

Frustrated

No pictures today...just wanted to update since it's the end of Thanksgiving week.
We had a great Thanksgiving with good friends who were not afraid to try my untraditional food and stand in solidarity with my daughter....Even though they probably left hungry ;)

Ebbie has had a really hard night and day. Her stomach started hurting last night and as you can imagine, after a week of avoiding foods, this caused a lot of frustration. I know it's going to take a while but it's hard to explain that to a seven year old who is just hungry.
Then today.....after church they get a piece of candy, of course she wasn't able to eat hers. She cried for about 30 mins. That was just a lot of anger and frustration coming out. She kept saying "I'm just sad". Breaks my heart for her.
So.....we need prayers. That she would feel better physically and emotionally, that I can keep up with this diet for her even though she is hungry and frustrated, that Bo and Austin can continue to be supportive by not eating certain things in front of her and trying the crazy concoctions I'm cooking these days.
Grateful God meets us where we are!
Deidre


Sent from my iPhone

Words can not express how proud I am of this crew!!

Everybody's eating broccoli together! 

Day 1

We started our elimination diet today! In true Ebbie fashion, she woke me up this morning with a smile and said "Moma, it's day one!"
I thank God for this little girl and her positive spirit!

Summer Trip - part 3

We went on a Ride -n-Fish while in Idaho.  Our planner, Sherry was so nice to make us peanut butter, jelly, and butter (yes butter!) sandwiches.  Her son and the other guide, Rich were so nice and patient with us and our kids as it was their first time to ride horses.  They really faced a lot of fears on this trip....from jumping off boulders to riding horses by themselves.....while on the side of a mountain!

 I wish the pictures below could accurately show just how close we were to the side of the mountain.  We were riding horses on a 12 inch trail that literally fell off into the river.  We were able to use this as a great teaching moment about God giving us a spirit of courage not of fear.  We chanted "I will trust you Lord" a lot!

Finishing up the day

 In Grangeville at Idaho's Oldest Rodeo....we did see somebody get gored which is obviously unfortunate for that poor fellow but the kids were very entertained.  (And although the guy had to get airlifted out I believe he was gored in the leg so fingers crossed, he is all recovered by now)

Looking down at the valley coming back from Grangeville

 We thought this little sign welcoming us to Lowell was pretty sad (and maybe a little funny - bc really, 23 people live in this town!)

We loved horseback riding so much when Sherry called the next day to ask if we wanted to go again we happily agreed!

We finished up our trip by going on a hike........

Ebbie being silly - pretending she's old like us!

.....and rafting. I CAN NOT believe this is the only picture I have of our last rafting trip.  This makes it look like we had a GREAT time! Y'all let me tell you a bit of advice....if you want to go rafting in the afternoon and you notice there is NOBODY else on the river.....please don't think to yourself "isn't this neat - it should be so peaceful this afternoon!" Instead, think to yourself "uh, I wonder if there is a reason nobody's out on the river? Could it be that the river is TOO LOW to have any movement to it and we'd have to paddle the entire 3 miles?!?"

We were in a 4 person boat with 5 people, we were dragging the bottom of the river, it was getting dark and the kids were scared that wolves would eat us thanks to our horseback guide Rich telling us about the Canadian Wolves that are bigger than our children.  FUN TIMES!!!! There were tears (by the kids) and lots of laughing (me and Fran) and I wouldn't have wanted to be miserable with anybody else!

 Idaho is so beautiful. I've said it before but I can't say enough how blessed I feel to have made this trip with my kiddos and our friends.  And even though this trip was great, the kids and I got to spend the next week driving back to Mississippi with Austin, making lots of stops and seeing some AMAZING sites.....stay posted.

Summer Trip - Part 2

We were scheduled to go rafting the morning after we arrived in Idaho but of course we slept in because we were so exhausted.  We did make it to the water and get to see some of the beautiful views!

Finally on our rafting trip.  Rich, our guide, was really nice to let the kids stop and play.  The water was pretty low and it made the trip very relaxing.  Of course, the views were unlike anything we've ever seen.  We were literally in awe of God's creation!

I tried to get a pic of the kids floating but the sun was so bright I only got feet!

I did get one of WP and Ebbie

On their way up the Boulder

These videos make me SOOO proud of the kids.  I love when they face their fear and do something adventurous - especially when I know they will love it once they do it.  (Fran even got in on the action!!)

To be continued.....