Thursday, February 2, 2012

Lessons Learned From Little Ones

Last night I sat and watched my youngest son fall asleep.
I have always loved watching my sons sleep. It is the sweetest, most angelic thing to see. This child is especially sweet and especially angelic.

He is about to turn five in just 20 days and has always been my *hero*. Really he is!

My youngest son began his sweet little life without a care in the world.
At three months old, he began crying inconsolably and had such horrible eczema that he looked like a little burn victim. He would nurse and cry and scratch and cry and nurse some more and begin the whole vicious cycle over again. Sleep would not come easily or very long to this little one and that is one of the reasons I always rejoice seeing him sleeping well.

I had try to eliminate the typical allergens from my diet individually with no relief to him, not knowing that it was all of the allergens together bothering him.

We finally were referred to an allergist when he was 11 months old to discover he was indeed allergic to all nuts, wheat, milk, egg yolk and egg white. I immediately removed those from our diets as we continued to nurse and he was a different child immediately!

You would never know to look at him that he was allergic to all of these foods that most of us place in our mouths daily without batting an eye! For him, some of these foods can cause anaphylaxis and we are forever vigilant about food from that day forward. He is a fun loving, sweet little boy who wants to marry his Momma and loves his family and Jesus with all of his heart. He is incredibly smart too and has always understood that certain foods can make him sick, so he stays away from them without fussing at all. Seriously if someone told me (and they recently did) that I cannot have chocolate for example, I would most likely fall over. But, he does not think twice and it really does not bother him.

A year and a half ago he faced another challenge as we traded the chronic eczema for asthma. I knew that was always a possibility, but, like the food allergy diagnosis...it truly frightened me. Again...something we all take for granted....BREATHING. Simple, right....inhale....exhale.....
Well, not so much if you have asthma :(

He takes daily inhaler treatments (we call "The Duck" as it looks like a duck) and from time to time we have to use a nebulizer (which we named "Darth Vader" since he can make cool Darth Vader sounds while using it.)

Again...this innocent little person takes it all in stride and just does not complain. He even thanks me for "feeling him better" when the nebulizer treatment is complete.

The lesson I take away from my little hero is that we are all have our crosses to bear. I believe that little ones that begin their life with a cross to bear have extra grace given to them. I have always felt that this child is extra special. I know that all of our children are special, but, there are times I can almost feel grace radiate from him! I have recently picked up another cross and am *trying* to be more like my little man and trust Jesus to walk with me and be childlike in His presence that He will heal me of what ails me. I wish we could all be like little children when it comes to crosses or sickness. When our children are not well, they immediately call out to us for help and *have faith* that we will help them be well. Somewhere along the way, we grow up and lose the childlike innocence that embraces faith no matter what.

So... as I am trying to increase my faith about my condition. I am asking the Holy Spirit to guide me along the way and Jesus to walk with me and trying to remain as childlike as I can.
Fortunately for me I have a few children to help me learn this lesson.

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