We are Glad!

In an a surprising and amazing twist of events the doctor came into my room last night and said, "Guess what! The virual panel came back positive." This was a specific test a specialist from Georgetown wanted them to do. What this means is that he did not, after all, have bacterial menigitis, instead he had viral menigitis, which is far less serious, and did not require us to stay in the hospital for IV treatments any longer. The doctors were very surprised because they were all sure that it was bacterial.

So.... we are home! They took him off the IV last night (praise God we didn't have a central line put in) and monitored him overnight and this morning released us.

Psalm 126: 2-3

Then our mouth was filled with laughter,
and our tongue with shouts of joy;
then they said among the nations,
“The Lord has done great things for them.”
The Lord has done great things for us; we are glad.

I had been reading through these verses the last few days, trusting God's promises for us and now I can truly say, with shouts (and tears) of joy, "The Lord has done great things for us; we are glad!"

Thank you so much for praying for us. We were sustained only by the grace of God that we experienced through your prayers, your love and your care.
A few special thank yous:

• To Skye who literally picked up her own baby and walked out her door to come and care for our kids on Friday when we needed to go to the ER. We ALL love you and Dan and are so grateful to you.
• To my parents, who have our 4 oldest kids in NJ, thank you for taking them without question.
• To Esther, who probably texted with me 1,000 times over the past 5 days, visited me twice, made me food, brought me fruit, prayed for us and carried our burden, so grateful for you!
• There are so many others who prayed and cared for us who remain nameless here but your crowns are in heaven.

love my men

Loving my men

IVs

This is a photo of our little man's first IV in the ER. It is so sad to watch him get these put in. Yesterday afternoon, the one in the picture blew (meaning it wasn't able to be used anymore) so they had to put a new one in. The new seemed to make him really uncomfortable and by the middle of the night he was pretty inconsolable about it. It broke my heart but I was really glad that they pulled it out and put a new one it. He is now back to his quiet sweet self and is sleeping again.

At this point it seems like we will be here 7 to 14 days. They are pretty confident that it is bacterial meningitis (because of how high the white blood cell counts were) but they are waiting on one more culture to see if it a specific viral meningitis.

Thank you for your continued prayers and care for us.

Another...

You can't see much in this sonogram picture (it is a face shot) but for those of you waiting to hear. We are expecting another boy. His name will most likely Titus but we are still debating on a middle name. Some of the contenders are: Abraham, Ephraim, Awe, Blizzard, feel free to leave a comment and vote or suggest a few one.

1

On January 6th, Jedidiah turned 1 year old. It amazing to me that one year has already passed since he was born. He has been by far our easiest child. He is sweet and affectionate, he sleeps great and though his eating has been an issue he seems to be improving. I love how his eyes light up with joy and pleasure when someone gets down on a ground to play with him. I love how he loves playing with his siblings and tolerates their roughness very well. I truly can't imagine how our life would be without him.

On another note I think this year having Jedidiah has given me a new perspective on mothering. I used to see older people out and they would say to me, "Enjoy them, it goes by quick." In my haste, I would usually move quickly from their comment to the next thing I had to do. In God's kindness and grace I can say that right now I enjoy my children more than anything else. There are, of course, daily challenges but even admits all the work that needs to get done I am in a season of really loving them for who they are and not for what I hope they become. If I could I would keep them all exactly the way they are right now, 6 and learning to read, 4 and wanting to be brave, 3 and love everything about life, 1 and totally dependent for everything. I am sure there are days when it wouldn't be true but for the most part if someone were to say to me, "Enjoy them, it goes by quick." I can say, "I am and yes it does."

Car Accident

Yesterday I was in a car accident. I had all four kids and my best friends daughter in the car. Today we are praising God for his amazing mercy on us. No one was hurt and the kids were only scared. I am experiencing some pain (soreness really) in my neck and arm (I hit my head during the accident). We are pretty sure the car is totaled (since the front end is basically missing). It truly is amazing we all walked away from the accident. If I had been forward in the lane another foot I am sure I would not be writing this today.

Please pray for us as we work out all the details with insurance and for my quick healing. Please especially pray that kids will be amazed at God's kindness toward us.