Feeling Thankful for These 10 Things!

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Thanksgiving is of course a time to reflect upon the things for which we are thankful. But like I told Faith the other day, I think we both thank God every day for the blessings he has bestowed upon us.  Each night, we read a scripture together (it's usually one Faith has memorized such as Psalm 23 or John 3:16-21). After our scripture, we recite "Let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven" (Matthew 5:16). At the end of that verse, we add our little cheer, "Do good deeds! Say nice things! Be kind!"  This little cheer is just a way to remind both of us, that's how God wants us to act every day. Then we pray, which often begins by thanking God for all that He has done for us and then we pray for others. But the other night after prayer time, I asked Faith to tell me some things she was really thankful for. I told her what I was thankful for as well.  This year, we are feeling especially thankful for ...
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The Ups and Downs of Faith and Food

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This past week, Faith did something for the first time ever at school - she ate lunch. She tried everything on her tray, which included a turkey sandwich, glazed carrots (which she ate the most of), strawberries and a few bites of a breadstick.

Because Faith still needs help eating solids, her occupational therapist had Faith and a few other girls eat lunch together in a separate room. Faith has made the comment when we feed her that "that's for babies" meaning she knows that this is how babies eat - being spoon-fed by someone else. 

Since we know she is sensitive to this, we decided not to have her join her classroom at lunch for the time-being. But the fact that she actually got to have her lunch replace one of her tube feedings at school was very exciting. The next day she got to eat one of her favorite foods - mashed potatoes and gravy.

Each day the kids at school get a choice between a chef salad, ham or turkey sandwich, and a hot meal. Each of them comes with different side dishes. We knew that one day an enchilada bake would be too much for her, so she opted for the turkey sandwich again.

Faiths loves to bake cookies - and eat them too!

While eating lunch has been a big step forward, it has not come without consequences. Faith became constipated and over the weekend on top of that, she came down with a cold. Yesterday she was not able to keep anything in her tummy and threw up throughout the day.

Now today, we are sort of back to square one with her feedings. This morning, she tolerated about 4 ounces of Pediasure diluted with water which is a good sign. Hopefully we'll be able to get her feedings back on track and then try a few more school lunches this week. 

She may not be able to eat lunch everyday if she gets constipated - for her it's just one more thing that requires the perfect balance. She is on her way though, and as she continues to eat more solids, maybe one day she will eat school lunches every day of the week without any negative consequences!

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