May 24, 2010

Hello friends,
       Good afternoon, I pray everyone is doing well today.  I just talked to the Dr. in Franklin and he, thankfully, canceled tomorrow's appt. as we have not noticed any difference in Micah since last week.  Five hours of driving for a 20 minute appt. is a lot.  They are going to start the processing for Micah's trip to St. Louis and I will let you know what is going on as soon as I hear back from them.  This month we are going to put Micah into a summer program through the public school system.  He will go Mon. - Fri. for 4 hrs. and will get all the various therapies he needs each day.  If this goes well then we are looking at putting him into to this program (a program for the medically fragile) during the regular school year.  They will pick him up and bring him home, he will get his therapies, there will be nurse on hand if necessary.  We met with the people (at least a dozen) last week and were very impressed with them and the program.  Before leaving Thomas prayed for all of them (not one of them protested), principal included.  One of them told us later that that was the first time they had ever had a parent to pray for them.  Micah will start the summer program on Wed. morning and probably the most difficult part of this will be getting him ready to go by 7 something in the morning and once again trusting him into the hands of someone else : (
     While in church on Sunday, I felt impressed to share something with you back from the St. Louis days.  I have lately been asked by a few people how I am able to handle this happening to Micah.  In their eyes, I seem to have just taken everything in stride.  Well, this is not so.  I have days where the emotions are nearly uncontrollable, the least little thing can set me off to crying.  For example, at the end of getting Abigail ready to leave I had a meltdown and mainly because I was realizing the feeling that I am already missing one child.  That's what it feels like to me most of the time, the Micah we knew is not here and we miss him terribly.  Most of the time, if I stay busy, I am fine.   Anyway, what I experienced during that time was an overwhelming sense of security.  Honestly, there were times that I felt like I could have driven through rush hour traffic in St. Louis blindfolded and I would have arrived at my destination unharmed.  I believe that God knew that I was stretched as far as I could go at that time and I needed that sense of security to just be able to function.  Even now there are times when I start to worry about something (finances, time, you name it) and it usually does not go beyond the starting point because God has proven Himself more than able to take care of us far beyond anything that we could ever do on our own.  

"Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life,what you will

eat or what you will drink;  nor about your body, what you will put 
on.   Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing?

Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather 

into barns, yet your heavenly Father feeds them.  

Are you not of more value than they?"

Matthew 6:25-26

     For those of you that do not have the answer to that question, it is yes.  You are, no matter what you think, of great value to your Father.

Many blessings,

Tina 

May 17, 2010

Hello friends,
     I sorry I've been away so long.  It's been a very busy few weeks.  We didn't have any damage from the flooding that was going on here, though we did have a lake that reached from the neighbors driveways to within 15 ft. of our front door.  Our prayers are with those who have lost everything during this time.  
     My eldest is just about to get on a plane headed to India to spend the next couple of months with her family there.  She will be visiting both India & Nepal.  She will be greatly missed here, but I'm so glad that she is getting this opportunity.  
     Around here, we are trying to finish up with school, fix up the new house & get this one ready to sell.  It has been busy & I don't see that ending any time soon.
     Micah has been doing well and is still enjoying being around the house with us.  I took him to the dentist the other day for a cleaning, he did pretty good.  The good news is that most of the teeth he has lost (other than the 2 front ones) have been baby teeth!  I was so happy to hear that.  
     As for his pump, I think I said in the last blog that they weren't able to see any leakage.  His Dr. in TN called the Dr. in MO (that did the pump surgery) to talk about Micah and they are both in agreement that it is not working.  The surgeon asked if we would first try changing his dose before doing the last test which will end (no matter the outcome) with a surgery.  Tomorrow, 2 pm we go to Franklin to let the Dr. reset the pump.  Instead of getting a continuous amount all day he will get a large dose every few hours.  If there is no noticeable difference with this then most likely we will be headed to St. Louis for the other test.  
     Lastly, I wanted to share something that I read today:
     
When something big happens - a blessing or a tragedy - we recognize it immediately and respond with praise or pleadings to God.  But, in the little things - the routine, the mundane, the details - it's easy for us to overlook that He is working.  
  
   "You are great in counsel and mighty in work, for your eyes are open to all the ways of the sons of men, to give everyone according to his ways and according to the fruit of his doings."                         Jeremiah 32:19

     As in a forest, the  big stuff which is visible and colorful (the partly decayed organic matter of leaves and sicks that covers the forest floor) is an important part of the forest, but if you dig a little deeper to what is beneath you will find all sorts of important little things happening.  It is here among all these little things that God is building the future forest.  
    
      It is in the little things of our lives that God builds us as His people.  The everyday routines of life, the mundane tasks those jobs that seem to go on in an unending cycle of boredom, these are the things that grow us and test our character.  Our whole lives are an offering to God, an act of worship to our Creator.  God built our physical bodies out of small things, so we too are to take the small things of our lives and build, with His help, something beautiful that will bring glory to God.  Don't think that you have to be a pastor or a missionary to do the "important work", everything we do is important in the building up of the kingdom because everything we do affects someone else.  Maybe, we get the chance to do these little things over and over everyday because God knows that those are the things we need the most practice in doing to the best of our abilities.  
May God bless you today with the opportunity to do a little thing well.
Blessings,
Tina