Discouraged...

Oh goodness gracious. Sometimes life is just discouraging.

The beginning of last week I decided to try to give M some sunflower seed butter, as I thought most kiddos are not allergic to sunflower seeds. Well... I believe he had an allergic reaction to it (I should be super thankful that I'm not saying "he had a reaction and we ended up at the hospital"). If it wasn't the sunflower seeds then I don't know what it was that caused the increased eczema and bumps (whatever they should be called). Thankfully I was able to get into the allergist quickly and we go in a couple days.

This next trip to the allergist, hopefully I'll be armed with questions and hopefully I won't forget to ask questions before we leave. No... I haven't had that happen before... who would do something like that... o.o

This evening, I finally got to the grocery store. While I was there I realized if I think M is allergic to sunflower seeds, then I should probably check for sunflower seed oil. Did you know that sunflower seed oil is in a TON of stuff?? It is, take a look next time you're shopping or just when you're eating things. Several things I checked said they contained sunflower and/or safflower seed oil - and from what I've heard that just means they use whichever the company can get for cheaper at the time of making the batch of the product. Oh joy. I don't even want to count how many items that I picked up, read the ingredients, and then put back down. D-e-p-r-e-s-s-i-n-g...

My grocery trip and trip home at least had some positives too. I found some "Fig Newmans" which are wheat-free and dairy-free! (This was after I finally found the Fig Newtons and found they have dairy, whomp whomp). I tried them after we got home and they aren't bad; they definitely aren't your normal Fig Newtons, but they are yummy enough to eat (unlike some replacements, like personally I'd rather be without cheese than eat vegan cheese - yuck!!).

Via text, my mom encouraged me that we will get through this, that I should pray and that M is a healthy boy. I know she is right. It just may be difficult. I guess we are never promised an easy life. If someone has promised you an easy life, whatever they are telling you is a lie; this is a fallen world and so it will be full of problems and heartbreak, along with some amazing things too.

On my way home, I heard two songs that reminded me that I'm not created to be independent in my life. The first was Matthew West's "Strong Enough" and the second was Sanctus Real's "Lay it Down." Both are reminders that we will feel like we will encounter situations/problems that we won't feel suited to face and that the best thing to do is to depend on God to be the strength to persevere. Now that I've said that, I need to let go, or as Sanctus Real said, I need to lay my problems down at the cross. (by the way, if you haven't heard either of those songs you really should listen to the youtube videos of them that I've linked to this... just sayin'). 

This little momma needs to pack some lunches (mine and M's) as well as bags (again, mine and M's) for tomorrow so we can not be too late tomorrow morning.