Caleb Update

On the first day back to school Caleb and I were talking about the last time he was in school...six months ago.

He missed four months of school due to his intestinal problems. In spite of that, the principal was gracious and understanding, allowing him to graduate (he was in 9th grade, the last year before high school) and move on to high school.

Therefore it was a happy day for him to be at the high school yesterday...there were times along the way we wondered if that would happen.

Much has gone on for Caleb in these past six months. He's weathered a very difficult time in his life with great maturity. We're super proud of him.

While he's made progress towards healing, it's not as far along as we'd like it to be at this point though. He has one more month of treatment and then is supposed to be done, yet the pain persists. Granted it's not as bad as it was six months ago...but still, it's there every day.

As we evaluated his health at the end of the summer we came to the conclusion that we need to take even greater measures towards his healing process. Mainly what that means is going on a strict diet.

After reading a book my mom sent me, and being inspired by how people's intestinal problems have been turned around by a complete change of diet, Dave and I felt like it was time to make some drastic changes in his food intake.

So as of this past week-end, I've totally revamped our kitchen and my cooking skills in order to follow the Specific Carbohydrate Diet for Caleb. You can look it up if you want to - there's lot of info about it on the web.

The nice thing is that they say to try it for 30 days and see if it makes a difference...if it doesn't, all you've lost is a month. But if it makes a difference, then it's all good for Caleb.

The good news? In four days on the diet we've already seen a dramatic change in his pain level. I'm stunned by this. We've been eating fairly healthily already...but I guess it wasn't enough for what he needed. Now it seems we're on a better road to healing.

Thanks so much for your prayers and concern for Caleb and us as a family as we continue to deal with his health situation.

Already Come and Gone

Oops! The first day of school has already come and gone and I didn't get the picture posted! I know, it's not as big of a deal when your kids are as old as mine are....but still, it's fun to have a back to school photo here on the blog!

By the way...Claire started 9th grade, Caleb 10th, and Tyler is in 13th (senior year)...that's how they do it here in Czech.

The second photo is all the American kids who go to school here in Frydlant. It's rare that they're all together so had to get a photo on this first day of school occasion! These are the Pitcher, Till and Patty children in front of our house...sure love those kids!