Thanksgiving 2009

Thanksgiving pictures!

14 weeks

4 generations

Celebrating Aunt Barb's 80th birthday

Great Grandma holding Dillon

Sister-in-laws

We will head back to PA after church tomorrow afternoon. It is a little more than 5 hours, depending on how many stops we need to make. Please pray for us as we travel.

One blessing I wanted to share... Thanksgiving night I went to put Dillon to bed and plugged in the suction machine only to discover the charger isn't workng. I don't know how long it was broken at home without the nurses paying attention because I have a different one that we charge it with downstairs during the day. So Thursday night I called CHOP homecare and they said they might be able to overnight it which would mean we would get it Saturday. But we needed it charged before then! I called a few placed Friday moning and was given the name of a place 5 minutes away who deals with these sution machines and they let us bring it in for 2 hours to charge it. What a blessing! It was enough of a charge to keep it going until we got the charger in the mail this morning. Praise the Lord for all the different people working together to make it possible that we did not have to go with out the suction machine at all.

Happy Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! We will be heading out bright and early (well probably so early that it won't be bright yet...) to go to Josiah's parent's house.

SOME of the many things I have to be thankful for this year....

1. Dillon's life being spared about two weeks ago when his oxygen levels dropped to 28%! Dillon is a reminder of how much our children are not in our hands, but in the Lord's. God could have easily taken him home that night, but He still has a purpose for my sweet little boy.

2. We have been taking a class at church every Wed night called "Growing Kids God's Way". It is excellent! I decided last week to start teaching JayDonn to obey me the first time (we are a LONG way away from it, but we are working on it!) Last Thursday JayDonn was helping me cook dinner like he normally does. He knows the stove is hot and not to touch but he was on a stool and leaned to reach for something and put his right hand on the burner that had been red hot only 2-3 minutes before. I saw it happen and threw his hand under cold water. I then put him on the floor with a container of cold water and told him to keep his hand in it so I could go find some homeopathic remedies and call my Dad to see what else I could do. He didn't want to keep it in so I looked at him and said "JayDonn, OBEY Mommy!" And he did! He kept his hand in the water for 2 hours! But he only has 4 small blisters that are healing great. We are keeping gauze on it to keep it clean but it is healing so nice. I really think if he wouldn't have obeyed it would have been a lot worse. So I am thankful for this class that is helping me be the Mommy I need to be so I can protect him.

3. I am thankful for God's blessings and provisions. Josiah just accepted a new job that he will be starting on Dec 9. I know a lot of people are out of work right now so I don't understand it... but God is providing for us. The job does have a pay increase and what looks to be better health insurance. Josiah really liked where he has been working but we were praying that God would close the doors if He did not want us to take this job. It looked like it might close as we were waiting for several days to get in writing that my pregnancy and Dillon's conditions would be waived from their 12 month exclusion for pre existing conditions. They were able to get it in writing to us though!

4. I am thankful another chapter of our lives, that I can't go into detail on, is finally finished. God's timing is perfect. This along with Josiah's new job could not have been timed better if we planned it! I praise the Lord for the Christians who generously gave of their time to help us through this chapter.

5. I am thankful for my family. I look at the world around us and see what a mess sin can make of lives. I am thankful for my wonderful, loving husband. I can't believe how God has blessed me with such a man to be my friend and husband. I am thankful for Dillon... well what can I say about all that God has done in my life through that little boy? I am thankful for Jay. He is teaching me a whole other set of lessons that Dillon can't! But he also brings such joy to my life. I am thankful for this sweet baby that I haven't been able to meet yet. I am thankful the baby seems healthy. I am thankful for parents who love us and sacrifice to help us as much as they can. For brothers and sisters that we can call and talk to and ask for help and advice.

6. I am thankful that I can have peace of knowing what the future brings. No, I don't know what tomorrow brings...but I do know what eternity brings! I am thankful I know where my eternity will be and Who I will be with. I am thankful I know peace from the Lord from having trusted Him with my soul. I am thankful that the God of the Universe loves me enough that He literally died on a tree for ME.

There is much to be thankful for. This list doesn't even include a lot of the "little" things that we take for granted (being American, having medical equipment/insurance, having a home, having food, Internet, phones, etc.) My mother in law told me if I am discouraged to think of 10 or 20 things every day that I can be thankful for. I haven't ever formally written the list but there is certainly enough to pick from!

What about you? Anyone who wants to share some of what you are thankful for I would love to read them!

Where have I been?

Wow, where have I been? I haven't been on my blog for FAR too long! I will fill in a few updates...

1. About 2 weeks Dillon had an episode where he was in his room and his night nurse was downstairs getting his formula ready and I went down for my allergy medicine. The nurse and I were talking then heard Josiah yelling for us. Apparently Dillon's machine was beeping but neither the nurse nor I heard it. Josiah heard it (he was also upstairs) but didn't know that the nurse wasn't in the room. By the time he realized that no one was doing anything Dillon's oxygen was down to 30%! We use oxygen to keep him above 92% and he went down to 28% before Daddy was able to help him! Josiah flipped him over, took the CPAP off his nose, did chest PT and was able to get him to start coming back up to a normal range. Praise the Lord for Daddy being there and hearing the monitor. Since this time we have had CHOP Homecare adjust his monitor so the beep volume is at 10 rather than 5. We also now have a self inflating ambu bag and oxygen tanks that go up to 15 liters per minute to use with the bag... just in case it ever happens again... but I pray it won't! Dillon had more seizures the next day and was a little jumpy for a day or two but other than that there doesn't seem to have been any long term effects. Praise the Lord! Another minute or two that low could have caused cardiac arrest!

2. My pregnancy is going well. I am 13 weeks today. The due date is May 27th. Last time I was at the doctor I was not quite 10 weeks and the baby was too small to hear the heart beat so the doctor turned on the ultrasound machine and checked the baby himself. We could see the baby moving all around so he spared me a 60 mile round trip visit in 2 weeks and said I didn't need to come again for a month. So I go again on Monday. I have had the first set of blood work done so I should get the results on Monday. (Just checking vitamin levels, thyroid, etc.)

3. Josiah was pretty sick this week. He came home from work on Monday and had a fever of 103.8! We took him to the ER and they did a chest X-ray - but it was clear. They checked for Influenza A (swine flu) and Influenza B - both were negative. So he has some other virus. They gave him pain meds and the family doctor gave him cough medicine and an antibiotic. So he is doing better and we are praying the rest of us don't get it!

4.I can't forgot about James! James is two years old, he is little and plays with Jay's stuffed monkey, has two eyes and two legs but is GREEN! James went home to be with his Mommy and Daddy though. (Jay's first imaginary friend)

5. Easter Seals in Reading has given us a chair to us use for Dillon until he gets his own. He loves it! He was in it for almost 2 hours today! Often when he put him in it he coos! It is so cute. It must feel good to sit in a full upright position with full support. I am so thankful for Easter Seals loaning us the equipment for Dillon while we wait on insurance! Josiah said we can take it with us to WV for Thanksgiving... for the first time Dillon will be able to sit at the table with us for a holiday meal. He even has his own tray and everything.

I need to get some pictures/videos on but I wanted to at least get the updates on. I think that is all the important things that have been going on in our lives! :o)