A Blessing From A Friend

Tuesday morning I was able to visit with a friend that I hadn't seen in several months. We've spoken on the phone several times, but this was the first time I'd seen her in quite a while. This friend is also someone that we worshipped with prior to our move in December. She was actually Sam and Sarah's Sunday School teacher the majority of the time.

I was with all three of our children and she was with one of hers. She had been supervising the children and then walked over to talk to me. Early in the conversation she said, "Janice, Sam has really changed!" I smiled and told her that it has been amazing to see how much more social he is now. He actually talks TO us instead of AT us. I can ask him questions and he will answer the questions instead of simply repeating some line from a tv show or movie. My friend's eyes got teary and she said, "Janice I can remember back when I had him in Sunday School. A good day was when Sam would simply pace round and round the table humming and patting his chest. Look at him now! He's over there playing with the other children! I've only seen him flap his hands once the entire time. What are you doing differently?"

When we moved we were already avoiding all artificial additives in our food and she knew this. I explained that we had only omitted gluten a couple months ago and so many good changes have shown up since then. Then, she asked if we were still planning on trying the GAPS diet. I told her that we were committing to a 30-day trial in October. She replied, "Well, if just going gluten-free made this much of a difference, I can only imagine what the GAPS diet will do! I don't think you'll be able to distinguish him from any of the other children once you've switched over to that!"

This conversation was such a blessing to me. Shawn and I see positive changes in Sam's behavior, but to have someone else notice it is such a huge deal to us. I can remember a day, back in February or March I believe, when Sarah and Drew were napping and it was just Sam and I in the living room. Sam was lying in the floor staring out the living room window. I sat next to him and asked, "Sam, how old are you?" I received no answer. I asked again, but again, no answer. The third time I asked him how old he was and held his chin so he would look at me. He replied, "Sam." I said, "No Sam, how old are you?" He replied, "Sam." I said, "Sam, look at momma...how...old...are...you?" He said, "Sam."

There was NO getting through to him back then. He knew I was speaking to him, but I don't think he understood what I was saying. Now I can ask him how old he is and he will look at me, hold his hand up and say "Five years old."

So, Jill, I want to thank you so, so much for being a wonderful blessing to me Tuesday. I really do appreciate your kind words, they meant a lot to Shawn and I.