He's eatin' and breathin' and celebratin' life!!

Weird title, yes I know, but I just had to write a note to share our praise of God! Shiloh's allergies are doing so well here. In the last 3 years in the U.S., Shiloh has suffered from terrible food and pollen allergies that required him to use breathing treatments, epi pens, antihistamines, inhalers, and avoid all the many ways that corn, soy, nuts, wheat, rice and carrots (yes carrots) could be put into any edible substance. This was such a huge pain as the kid could never just eat out somewhere or go to a birthday party and eat the cake.

Well after many grueling, but effective alternative treatments (www.naet.com) - years of needle prick skin tests at the allergist and disappointments after avoiding food for years and becoming MORE allergic to it, Shiloh has now triumphed over all of it and is loving life. We decided when we got on the plane to London that we would have to just put it all in the hands of God as we couldn't "control" what he was eating everywhere that we would be going. I was armed with the emergency responder bag full of all kinds of meds to help him breathe in case of dire situation. You should have seen his face on the plane when we told him he could eat anything on the tray - he still read all the ingredients anyway. I told him not to look at them anymore, that he had to have faith and believe.....

His first exciting thing was the dessert, then the sour cream and chive pretzels, then.... anything he wanted!!!! He also has not had to take his antihistamines or nasal sprays once since he arrived. The doc in the US told us that if we could get coastal, the ocean air would blow away the pollens and that it would take generally 3 years to become allergic to the pollens in a new place. Let's hope he's right since there are about 900 different types of grasses in South Africa!! So as Shiloh happily eats the muffins, burgers, foods, etc. that he's avoided for so long, you wouldn't believe how his palate has widened and he's willing to try new foods. I think he thinks South Africa is the most awesome place purely because of this (and the beach of course). Now we won't be so bold as to eat a mealy (as they call corn on the cob here) or a nut and test our luck, but we will for now enjoy the pleasures of this freedom for him and pray that it will continue.

Funny, that when we would say our prayers together at night in the US, we would pray for God's kingdom to come and talk about how in the kingdom he'd be able to eat anything he wanted...... what a blessing that he didn't have to wait! A special thank you to all of our family and friends who for all those years grocery shopped and cooked to feed Shiloh.... I know you all are especially rejoicing with him now. If so - send Shiloh a note on the comments - he'd love to hear from you.