This enrty has a two-fold purpose... First of all, I want to give a shout-out to Eathan to tell him how proud I am of him. Secondly, I want to record a very real miracle that has happened in our family.
Let me take you back about six years... Around the time that Eathan turned 1 year old we entered the phase of life where babies begin to eat grown-up food. So, we gave him anything we could find that was easy to eat and not too flavorful for his inexperienced palate. (I'm sure all parents are familiar with these foods) At the beginning, he would eat it all... Whatever we put in front of him, he devoured. But, I distinctly remember a point at which he no longer wanted to try whatever I put in front of him. The main things he wanted were Ramen Noodles and oatmeal. Eventually he broadened his horizons a bit and he would eat cereal, bananas, french fries, crackers, applesauce, yogurt, cheese, peanut butter, and of course any junk food that I would allow. I continued to give him whatever he wanted instead of urging him to eat what everyone else was eating. As the years went by, we realized more and more that this was a serious problem. Until a few months ago Eathan's entire diet consisted of the foods I listed above. He was eating no meat, no vegetables, no bread, etc. No matter what we tried, we could not get him to even try anything new.
So, when Eathan was 5, I made a special appointment with the pediatrician to get some advice on how to solve this problem that I had started 4 years prior. His advice gave me hope at the time, but never panned out to be anything that actually helped Eathan. He even ate Cheerios for dinner every night for a while and then eventually ate nothing for dinner for even longer. He would rather be hungry than try anything new. He would begin to vomit at the very sight of a new food approaching his mouth. Seriously! Nothing was working!! I was losing hope and constantly worried about Eathan's nourishment. He was one of the smallest children at the entire school when he was in first grade. I feared that he would be a senior in high school and I would still be packing him a lunch with Ritz crackers, cheese and applesauce. I worried that I would have to make him Ramen or allow him to go to bed hungry every night for the rest of his life!
After more than 5 years of dealing with his eating problem we were at our wit's end. This is when we decided to take matters a step farther. We began to pray that Eathan would get better at eating. At every family prayer and in Eathan's own prayers, we asked Heavenly Father to help him with his eating so that he could be healthy and strong. After all of the professional help failed and our own ideas and bribes didn't work, this was the only other solution we could see. Well, soon thereafter, we (especially Todd) were blessed with an immense amount of determination and patience to finally kick this problem. The first milestone was about nine months ago one night when were having Chicken Divan with rice for dinner. After much persistence and about a half-hour of throwing-up and crying Eathan ate a bite of rice!! We cheered and hollered (and cried). We continued in our vigillance until he succesfully tried many new things over the next few months. It was nothing short of a miracle! He was slowly beginning to eat healthy balanced meals and I no longer had to make two dinners every night! We literally saw the hand of the Lord ease a burden from our family.
Now, Eathan doesn't love everything, but he usually eats whatever is given to him without too much fuss. He doesn't like to try new things, but he will after a little bit of prodding. We still have to force the issue once in a while, but usually meal time is fairly peaceful. He definately hates pizza (ironic I know) and beans and we don't make him eat those things (for now :). But he has a whole new variety of favorites, including but not limited to... mac and cheese, chicken, grilled cheese, banana bread, strawberries, green beans, and cheese crisps with meat.
The reason why I am writing about this now is because it all hit me like a ton of bricks the other night. We were having beef chimichangas for dinner. We gave him his plate and geared up for the usual banter consisting of his slight defiance when it comes to trying new things. Before Todd and I even finished preparing ours' and Chansey's plates and sat down to eat... Eathan had finished all of his food!! Without saying a word he ate the whole thing and loved it!! We wanted to sing Haleluah!! It was another moment at which we realized how great a blessing it was that the Lord helped us overcome this burden.
So, last but certainly not least, I just want Eathan to know how proud we are of him. I know it has been very hard for him to overcome this challenge. It was like expecting a child to walk who had never crawled before... and now he is running! He is brave and strong and growing very fast after months of eating healthy things. We love him very much and are thankful to have him in our home!
P.S. - What's for dinner... all this talking about food has made me hungry!! :)
covered in a red sticky mess! 
Now was a good time to ask myself... why did I give him that?!