Valley Trip

This past weekend, we visited the place we'll call home sometime next year! Emma was so excited about visiting her friends~ Andrew, Jonathan and Annamarie~ that she couldn't fall asleep on the way there. It was a short visit, but profitable in so many ways. We have been amazed to see God's working and are humbled to be His servants! A good friend of ours, John Collins, met us Sunday evening and took pictures for our prayer cards that he is also going to be designing. On Monday morning, we woke up to a dreary rainy day and were thankful that we got pictures the day before! John also took time before meeting us to go downtown Staunton and some other surrounding areas to get some great shots for us to use for the church plant presentation~ what a huge blessing that was to Michael, because he had planned to do that very thing on Monday(and John takes great pictures)! On Monday, Michael and I spent a few hours driving around Fishersville, Staunton, Stuarts Draft & Waynesboro~ all are towns/cities right at the crossroads of I-81 and I-64. Even though it was rainy, it was helpful for me to be able to visualize the specific layout of the area. And, Chrissy watched the kids for us, so we had an extra-profitable time!

Sean & Chrissy spent a couple late nights up with us, sitting around their kitchen table and discussing church planting details, goals, time-lines, sharing possible contacts for co-laboring and support and praying for continued wisdom in God's leading.

These girls are already best buddies!

There are three kids on this slide! If you look carefully, you'll see Annamarie's hand in the middle :)

The view from Sean & Chrissy's back yard: A full rainbow right over the town of Fishersville

These are some pictures we took while driving around the area. Being situated near the Blue Ridge Parkway and Shenendoah Mountains~ it is absolutely beautiful!

On Monday afternoon, Chrissy took me to two different stores that sell foods that cater specifically to Michael's new diet. We have been keeping a detailed log of what foods he is trying and whether he likes them enough or not for me to buy them a second time. He has tried gluten/wheat free pretzels, soy butter, gluten/wheat free waffles and so many more things we've never had in our pantry or refrigerator before now!! I was able to find some different baking ingredients that are wheat and dairy free: rice flour, oat flour, soy butter & rice milk- now to find some recipes!

We know that we are taking a bit of a gamble trying this natural remedy route, but Michael has been feeling significantly better since this diet change last Thursday!!! We are praying that he continues to regain strength and that this will put his Crohn's in remission. His gastro doctor is a little bit skeptical and insists that Michael will need to be on meds for the rest of his life. We had a consultation with him yesterday and he thinks that the reason Michael is feeling better is becuase the mecaptapurine is finally metabolizing. It seems pretty coincidental that it happened the same exact time we've made diet modifications! Usually the mecaptapurine only takes 2-3 months to metabolize. Michael has been on it for 5 months. His doctor has also told us that diet really doesn't influence this disease- which is contrary to everything that we've ever read and heard from others facing similar issues. So, we continue to do our homework and try to make wise decisions. The Remicade treatments are always available and we would not avoid medical treatments at the cost of Michael's health. We have been super encouraged by the support we've received from friends and family ~ thank you so much for your prayers and help!