So Thankful...

This is a thankful tree I drew on our big dining room window
to help us focus on our blessings.

Aaron is doing well, like really, really well.  Not sure I should have said that out loud, but I did.  I need to document the good times as well as the rough ones, and if I'm afraid to admit the positives, they get lost and all we have are the negatives.

What's made the difference?  I really don't know.  We've made several changes, all of them small, so I couldn't say for sure.

I've made some changes to his diet.  Turns out that even the natural sugars in fruit can influence inflammation.  But you also need some of the nutrients that are only in fruits.  So I've cut back on his fruit and included more veggies.  I've changed his non-dairy milk to mostly hemp or flaxseed from almond to help with balancing his Omega 3 and Omega 6.

I cut out one of his asthma meds.  Yeah, a little nerve wracking.  I looked back through notes and we really didn't see any improvement when he went on it, and it made him feel sick to his stomach.  But I'm watching very, very carefully.  It's been two weeks, but it's a long-term maintenance med, so the next two to four weeks will be telling.

And we've tried to have him up and about more.  There's a scripture that says "by small and simple things are great things brought to pass, and small means in many instances doth confound the wise."  (Alma 37:6)  Now, I don't begin to profess that I'm wise, far from it.  But hey, whatever it is, it's working!  And I'm grateful.

And he's definitely been out and about a bit.  You know, last hurrah before locking down for the cold/flu season and all.  Big brother Michael had a merit badge powwow down at BYU on the same day that David was playing soccer and Jonny was dancing.  You know we had to do it all, right?

Andrew was in Timberline's show "The Best Christmas Pageant Ever."  It's the story of the town hoodlums taking over the church Christmas pageant.  Wonderful tale.  If you haven't read it, I highly recommend it.  Written on a grade school/middle grade level, it's an easy read with a great message.  Here are three of my own hoodlums afterwards.

Then there was a trip to Shriners for a wheelchair check up where Aaron was fascinated by the big fish tank, and thought Mike and James were hilarious. 

And last weekend we were privileged to attend a Star Raising Party for a special little girl.  She and Aaron have been hospital buddies so many times.  Her mom is part of my "posse" and last April we were even paired in the PICU.  That was a tender mercy for me.  I was working full time so I wasn't there during the day.  She lives down in Delta, quite a haul from here, and had her five-year-old son with her.  So she slept at the Ronald McDonald House during the night and was at the hospital during the day.  I slept in the PICU and was gone all day.  We both watched out for the other child and kept tabs on things for each other.  It was a huge comfort to me to have Mary Beth there when I couldn't be there.

On Sunday, we heard about being grateful.  (I mean, whoda thunk it?  The Sunday before Thanksgiving, right?)  Anyway, one of the talks really resonated with me.  She spoke about how we have a tendency to drink out of the Bottle of Bitterness instead of the Goblet of Gratitude.  And she was right!  I think as a society we tend to focus on what's going wrong, instead of what's going right.  We complain when things aren't following our plans, going according to our specifications, aren't fulfilling the dreams we had.  We drink, gulp, and sometimes downright chug that ol' bottle.

But how much better if we can focus on the good, because there ARE a lot of good things happening.  The world is reaching out to others, charities are helping so many.  Neighbors help neighbors, kids pitch in and help.  And some of them even think that breathing might be an okay activity.  We introduced Aaron to the piano last week.  Yep, should have done that a long time ago.  The kid loves music.  He wasn't quite sure what to do at first, but he's getting the hang of it.  The old cause and effect thing.  And to help you smile, here's a short bit of his debut concert.  Gotta love this bug.

 Those who set aside the bottle of bitterness and lift instead the goblet of gratitude can find a purifying drink of healing, peace, and understanding.

Deiter F. Uchtdorf