Things heard around here

Here are a few fun one liners that have caught my attention recently.

Molly, sitting naked in the bath tub surrounded by ducks and frogs:
"Dad, can I have some water? I'd like warm water this time!"
As if we regularly bathed her in cold water unless she begged. lol.

Andrew after Thanksgiving dinner:
"I eat food. I drink water. My stomach is BIG!"

Elaina every night about 15 minutes after she has gone to bed:
"Um, guys? Um, I have a question..."

And baby Margaret she just laid there an' she don't say nothin'.

The Promise

Emily and I were just listening to the newest Sara Groves album (if you don't know her, she is simply the best artist out there and has ministered to us for years in amazing ways.)

And recently we have both been under attack in our own hearts and from the outside to give up on the promise of healing for Noah and Andrew. We have heard God speak about their future, seen prophesy come to pass exactly as it was said, dreamed, worked and believed that God was doing an amazing thing with them both today and ultimately. But, it's also been very hard to hold on. Getting them into school has been very difficult and costly. Noah has stopped sleeping through the night again and all of the changes of moving show again how different they really are from what the world calls "right."

Anyway, we were listening to the second track, "In the girl there's a room" when we got to this line and our hearts were shored up, yet again, to the hope of healing. Reminded that the best definition of hope isn't being able to see into the future it is, to quote Kendal Harmon, "Hope is an unshakable confidance in the character of God."

We have all heard God say, "Noah has already been healed." And, though we haven't seen it, we know that it has already been accomplished in the mind of God and so is as solidly reliable as if it were in the past.

Back to the song:

In The Girl There's A Room

by Sara Groves

in the girl there's a room
in the room there's a table
on the table there's a candle
and it won't burn out

in the woman there’s a song
in the song there is hope
in the hope revolution

in the boy there's a voice
in the voice there's a calling
in the call there's a promise
and it won't quiet down

in the man there's vision
in the vision is a road
it's the road to his freedom...

oh, tell me what you know
about god and the world and the human soul
how so much can go wrong
and still there are songs

in the man there’s a plan
in the plan is his future
and the future’s for his child and he won’t slow down

in the girl there is faith
and the faith there’s a prayer
in the prayer there’s a promise

in the boy is a dream
in the dream he is standing
and he stands without falling
and he won't back down

in the woman is a picture
in the picture is a girl
in the girl there's a room...

chorus

in our hearts and souls
an unstoppable refrain
hope stands in defiance

in the girl there’s a room
in the room there’s a table
on the table there’s a candle and it won’t burn out
it won’t burn out...

Settling Down

There's settling in which is where you put your stuff away and figure out who to call to get a phone line. And then there's settling down which is where you start to get comfortable with the basics and start exploring what life is really like now.

In the words of Douglas Adams:
It said: "The History of every major Galactic Civilization tends to pass through three distinct and recognizable phases, those of Survival, Inquiry and Sophistication, otherwise known as the How, Why and Where phases." For instance, the first phase is characterized by the question How can we eat? the second by the question Why do we eat? and the third by the question Where shall we have lunch?

We have answered how quite to our satisfaction, kind of skipped why and are greatly enjoying "where shall we have lunch?"

Mom and baby are both doing very well. Margaret is growing more slowly than the other kidz did at this age, but that's nothing to worry about. In fact, it's nice to have a small baby for a little while. Don't get me wrong, there's something great about a nice 12-lb infant, but the small size is a great change. At least for the moment.

And, while we aren't yet attending church all together, we got to gather in the Chapel of the Palms (a 125 foot walk) and spend some time worshiping as a family on Sunday. It was wonderful.

Elaina is attending Jame Island Christian School and is going very well, especially since she was out of school for most of the first quarter and is playing a bit of catch up.

Noah and Andrew are making some progress as we work with the Charleston School systems to get them into the right placement. After six weeks of absolutely no progrss at all, we finally are getting some cooperation and are hopeful that they will start to transition into the classroom soon and well.

Well, that's it for this schizophrenic news report. Now it's off to help Elaina with a report on Honduras.

All Five Kids

A new baby Haiku

elaina, so tired
sleeping doing her homework
i wish i wasn't driving

Complications...

The Conclusion:
We are home safely after another 36 hours back in the hospital, and Emily is going to be fine.

The Story:
Emily woke on Tuesday night with a great difficulty breathing. She was already very swollen from her hips to her feet. (Very swollen means she weighted the same on Tuesday evening that she did before the baby was born). The doctor wasn't too concerned about the swelling, but told her to keep an eye on her breathing and watch for headaches and nausea.

Wednesday morning came the nausea and terrible headaches and we rushed to the emergency room under the doctor's orders. Fearing post pardum Pre-Eclempsia, all kinds of tests were ordered. Drugs to flush the water from her system and to stabilize her blood pressure brought everything under control, but there were still fears of heart or clot issues being a possibility. We stayed over night (mom, dad and new baby) and by this afternoon everything was declared OK since the water had been reduced enough that it was no longer a threat to her heart or blood-pressure. I am deliberately being a bit obtuse so if this is confusing, go read the conclusion up at the top again and relax.

Anyway, it wasn't any of the terrible things that they were testing for, so since the symptoms have subsided, we are back home and resting. Thanks to Em's mom, Sandi, for being with our kids while we were in the ER. And thanks for all of the support from all over!

"They say we are made up of 98% water. So, at any given moment, we are all this close to drowning." -steven wright