Garty update

Garty's fever is making a comeback. Combined with his wetting, the nephrologist thinks it might be a urinary tract infection. Easy to fix, but potentially a sign that his disease is progressing. There's something wrong with the phone at the pediatrician's office, so Peter decided to take Garty over for a urine test after I tried calling a good part of the afternoon. He just called and said that they wouldn't do anything without a full appointment, but they were able to give him an appointment for 5pm. I'll let you know when we have a report one way or the other. Thanks for your prayers.

dental drama

Patience lost her first tooth on Saturday. It's been loose for a while, and the new one has been growing in behind it. We've been wiggling forever, and Daddy finally was able to yank it out before bed. Saturday Patience also developed an abscess above her top front teeth. You may remember from early photos that she had serious decay on the front teeth and had to have them capped. Evidently an infection developed inside, so Monday we had an emergency dental appointment that took care of tooth #2. Almost too much excitement for such a short time. The tooth fairy has been very busy. Actually, she hasn't been busy enough. She forgot to show up last night because she was so tired, but she won't make the same mistake tonight. Here's our girl now.

 

prayers for Garty

We would really appreciate it if you could pray for Garty tonight. He's had an unexplainable fever all afternoon, and that's one of the big warning signs with his kidney disease. The doctor always reminds us to call if he gets a fever without any other symptoms of illness. On top of that, he's been having lots of wetting accidents, which isn't normal for him. I don't know if the accidents have any significance, but the timing is making us nervous. Please pray that his fever would disappear in the next hour or two, and pray for wisdom for us. If it doesn't break before bedtime, we need to decide whether to call his nephrologist. We really don't want to land in the ER overnight while the doctor's office is closed, but we also don't want to wait too long on something that could be serious. In an effort to avoid overreacting to situations, we tend to err on the side of not enough caution most of the time. Tonight we need to make the right decision for our baby. We'll let you know the results of your prayers as soon as we know anything at all.

a recommendation and a report

I've thought several times recently that I should write a post and recommend an amazing Bible storybook to all the parents out there. We just finished our first read through The Jesus Storybook Bible: every story whispers his name with the kids. The subtitle says it all. Peter loves to help people see how the entire Bible is one connected story, and this book does it for kids. I seriously have gotten teary eyed numerous times reading it. It's just so beautiful. In fact, it started to happen tonight as I read the last story, the story of John's vision, when it says:

There are loud cheers and clapping, clapping and bright laughter like a thousand waterfalls and everyone bursts out singing a new song. 'This is our King! The Lamb who died so we don't have to - our Rescuer. All Honor and Glory! Forever and ever.' ... And the King says, 'Look! God and his children are together again. No more running away. Or hiding. No more crying or being lonely or afraid. No more being sick or dying. Because all those things are gone. Yes, they're gone forever. Everything sad has come untrue. And see - I have wiped away every tear from every eye!'

But then we finished the story and on the last page, they have a paraphrase of John 1:12-13.

For anyone who says yes to Jesus

For anyone who believes what Jesus said

For anyone who will just reach out to take it

Then God will give them this wonderful gift:

To be born into

A whole new Life

To be who they really are

Who God always made them to be –

Their own true selves –

God’s dear Child

And Joshua asked how we say yes to Jesus. And we talked about it. And because I don't believe in pressuring kids into things they don't understand, I told all 3 kids that if they decide they want to say yes to Jesus some day, Daddy or I would be happy to help them. Then I moved on and we prayed our regular bedtime prayers. When we were done, Joshua said he really wanted to say yes to Jesus now. Of course, the other two immediately wanted to as well. So we talked about it some more. Then we all said yes to Jesus. And after some follow up discussion, I'm pretty sure Joshua really did. The other 2 are quite questionable, but that's OK. I'm pretty sure God can handle my children's souls better than I can. But what a moment that words can't even express! After goodnights, I ran downstairs, called Peter, and told him the news through lots of tears.

proud momma

2 years ago our little boy was afraid of so many things... the slide, water, dogs, ladders... and he didn't trust us to help him one bit. We've still got a long way to go with some of those issues, but look what he accomplished on his first day riding a 2 wheeler!

this afternoon

Peter came home this afternoon and laid back on the bed hoping to relax for a few minutes...

Easter weekend

We had a busy but fun Easter weekend. We spent Good Friday with Peter's side of the family, Saturday with Becky's side, and Sunday with some friends at our house. Click here to see some of the best pictures from all the excitement.

Unfortunately, a busy weekend and a not-so-smooth Sunday morning made for a not-so-worshipful Easter service for Peter and I. Last night when all was quiet, we decided to pull out our Book of Common Prayer and read through "The Great Vigil of Easter" together. It was a good time to remember why we were celebrating all weekend. Both of us were struck by the part of the liturgy that read, "How wonderful and beyond our knowing, O God, is your mercy and loving-kindness to us, that to redeem a slave, you gave a son." Thanks be to God for his amazing gift.

adventures in missing the point

Patience is downstairs showing Joshua the picture she drew earlier today of baby Jesus in the stable. She pointed to some people standing on the side and said, "These are the disciples. No. This is Santa. Santa and his reindeer."

Gotcha Day recap

The fact that Gotcha Day fell during spring break this year made it extra special. We were able to hang out at the Please Touch Museum, enjoy a leisurely Liberian dinner with dear friends, and then visit the playground in Clark Park before we headed home. What fun! You can check out all the pictures from our celebration in my album. Below are our family pictures from April 9, 2007 & 2008 & 2009. The kids are so much bigger, but the most noticeable change is that it has become so much harder to get Garty to smile and look at the camera at the same time. I hope it's just a phase!

Happy Gotcha Day to us!

Two years ago today we met our kids. What a day! Here are some pictures of our first moments with each of them. There's a small chance I might even figure out how to get video footage off our DVD tonight to post as well. We'll be celebrating with Liberian food at Memdee's again, but this year we have the added advantage of spring break. Peter will be taking off work a little early this afternoon, and we will use our reciprocal museum membership to spend a few hours at the Please Touch Museum on the way.

Easter's coming

We just finished a late dinner and opened our Resurrection Eggs for the day. When we finished, the kids all jumped up to play. Joshua said excitedly, "Let's play dying on the cross!" Patience was chosen to be Jesus. Evidently Patience wasn't playing her role correctly because as I left the room I heard Joshua tell her, "You're not dead yet!"