We Need Your Prayers

There are some hard things that we are having to deal with in our family so I would like to ask you for your prayers.

First, Bryce has been suffering from something that has not been firmly diagnosed since he was 6 weeks of age. At first, the doctor thought it was acid reflux as he was obviously in pain when he was eating. He does not spit up but has periods where he can't be still when he eats, doesn't eat and just fusses and fusses and won't sleep. We never know from one day to the next or from one night to the next how he will be and if he or we will get any sleep.

Last Friday, we saw a GI specialist. We explained his symptoms to her and she immediately made some changes. She upped his acid reflux meds and added another. She also ordered a chest xray, at my request, to make sure his heart looks ok. That was done last Friday and we haven't heard anything yet. On the 25th, we are going to Texas Children's for an upper GI xray and ultrasound of kidneys, gallbladder, etc. The upper GI xray may or may not confirm acid reflux and the ultrasound is to look for any abnormalities due to his birth deformity, hypospadias. I haven't talked yet about his hypospadias. We see a specialist for that next month and he will be having corrective surgery soon. So I will talk about that more later. But, it can lead to other internal problems and we need to see if that might be causing his pain.

He does seem to be more alert since we changed his meds. He does smile and follow things. But, he is delayed in his interactions with others and in his cooing. Bryce demands a lot of attention because he doesn't feel well. Please pray that God would heal him. That we would be able to find a diagnosis and a solution. The last few weeks have been very tough for us and we really need your prayers. Bryce still doesn't sleep through the night but he is starting to sleep in in the mornings. Yeah!

Second, Shane is very busy with work right now. So, I am having to deal with a lot on my own. He expects his busy time to last another couple of weeks.

Third, for some reason, my arthritis decided it would be a good time to spread to my shoulders. I have been in a lot of pain and carrying around 13 lbs. of baby doesn't help. I am on some new meds but still feeling the pain. I have had this arthritis since Jacob was about 10 months old. Did you know that the most common person to get arthritis is a woman in her 30's? Well, that's me and it really stinks. Over the years the joints that it affects has spread. The only major joint I don't yet have it in is my hips....looking forward to that someday. Not!

Last but not least, we found out that our sweet dog Riley who we rescued and found a wonderful home for last Christmas, has lost her companion dog. According to her new owner, she is very traumatized and runs from her. Her new owner is thinking of getting rid of her. This just breaks our hearts. We thought we had a perfect forever home for her and we may not. I am encouraging her new owner to get her a new companion dog. We will have to see what happens. This is Riley's 3rd home. She has been through so much. If we could take her back we would. If you know of anyone interested in owning a wonderful, sweet border collie, please let us know.

God bless,
Laura