Upheld

Eli caught a bad cold and cough in the middle of last week. We took him to his pediatrician, who listened to his lungs and said they sounded clear. She went ahead and started him on an antibiotic just in case, though, and had us increase the frequency of the breathing treatments we give him whenever he gets a cough. By Saturday night he had seemed to perk up- running around the house and goofing off, convincing us that he had turned a corner. But Saturday night into Sunday morning he took a turn for the worse. By early Sunday morning we were all three sitting on the couch doing back-to-back breathing treatments to no avail. Eli was breathing hard and fast, unable to catch his breath.


(in the ER)

We went to the ER at Medical City Children's early Sunday morning. I prayed as we drove to the hospital for patience, strength, and grace, because I know how stressful these hospital visits can be, and I had a feeling we might be admitted. I wanted to honor the Lord with how I responded and how I treated those who helped us, and I knew I needed God to empower me to do this, because I was just an exhausted, concerned mom holding her very sick little boy. There was no way I could be a gracious testimony of Jesus in such a situation on my own.

God poured out His blessings on us while we were in the hospital. And it started from the very minute we walked in. We didn't even have to sit down in the waiting room- they took us directly back into a room. It was seriously less than five minutes between the time we walked in the door and the time they started giving him a breathing treatment. The staff was kind and generous, quick and compassionate. One nurse even went to the trouble of printing out coloring pages from the computer for Eli. We were admitted to the hospital about an hour after we arrived.


(in his hospital room)

And minutes after that friends and family started showing up. The flow of people in and out of our hospital room was nearly constant for the next few days. They brought balloons, stuffed animals, games, coloring books, movies, and other gifts for Eli. They brought Starbucks for me. One sweet friend loaded up her MP3 player with worship songs so I could fill my mind with Scripture. Another would call late in the night when she knew I would be up late, alone, just to check in with me and pray. They served us food and brought us groceries and lifted us up in prayer with tears in their eyes. We didn't have to eat hospital food for one single meal- every meal was delivered to us by someone who loved us. I could hardly keep up with the texts and phone calls we constantly received.

Through it all I felt so incredibly lifted up. I felt the work of the Holy Spirit within me, empowering me to be gracious and kind despite major lack of sleep and a stressful situation. And this is due to the constant prayers of our dear friends and family. Truly, this is what friends are for. I have always known that we have fantastic friends, but it is in situations like this that you can clearly see what friends are made of. And ours are gold. I am so humbled and so grateful to the Lord for putting us into a church where we can build friendships like these. I don't know how anyone could get through an ordeal like this without the support of friends. (And I am lumping in my dear, precious family with these friends as well!)

We even had opportunities to serve and minister to the staff that took care of Eli! This comes from God alone. I am so, so thankful.

We came home on Thursday afternoon with armloads of gifts and a phone constantly "dinging" with texts offering praise to God for getting Eli healthy enough to leave the hospital. And we came home just so thankful to the Lord for the overflowing love we experienced from Him, both through His Spirit within us and through the Body of Christ ministering to us. We are truly thankful for this experience.


(finally better and playing on the floor of his hospital room)

And I want to also say how proud I am of Eli. He had to endure some pretty miserable stuff throughout the hospital stay, from an IV in his arm, to an almost 24-hour, mask-on-his-face breathing treatment, to being woken up throughout the night every two hours for medicines, tests, and treatments. And through it all he had the sweetest, most compliant attitude. Every nurse and therapist that came in commented on how impressed they were with his behavior, and I was so proud. He was brave and trusting, and he was a blessing to every person who came into the room.

Once again, I am so humbled and so very thankful for the way the Lord blessed us this past week as Eli was sick in the hospital. I never want to forget it.

Home!

We're home! Eli managed to stay off of oxygen all night last night in the hospital, which was his last criteria to meet before coming home. He is weak and tired, but we are all so, so happy to be at home. We'll have a few low-key days here at home trying to get his strength (and weight!) back up, and then he will hopefully be good as new!

I want to write about the abundant blessings we experienced while we were in the hospital (including opportunities to minister to others!), but that will have to wait a little while. But let me just say that I am so thankful for the five days we were there, because we got to experience so much grace from the Lord, both through His Spirit within us and through our dear friends and family pouring out love onto us. God is so good.

And now I get to go take a shower in my own shower before crawling into my own bed! I am giddy with the thought! :)

Thank you for praying for our boy!

Pray, Please?

Our sweet Eli is in the hospital with a pretty bad case of pneumonia. We've been here since yesterday (Sunday) morning, and it looks like we'll be staying until at least Thursday. Please pray for our boy, and for grace and patience and endurance for Eric and me. We are so very thankful for the excellent care we've received and for the dear friends and family who have been serving us around the clock. Truly, God's blessings abound.

First Day

Eli started preschool this morning! He'll be going two days a week while I'm at work, and he couldn't have been more excited. We love the school because it's at a local church that teaches the Bible to the kids along with the other basics, and because Timothy goes there too and loves it.

I was nervous about how Eli would do, despite him telling me over and over that he was so excited and wouldn't cry. But this morning my shy boy gave me a hug, found Timothy, and marched right in to his class without looking back. I got a little teary-eyed once I got in the car, but his excitement and bravery just confirmed to me that he is so ready for this! And that makes me much more happy than sad.

Timothy being there makes a huge difference, too. Eli and Timothy have been on cloud nine talking about going to school together. (Timothy has been going for a semester already.) Timothy has taken it upon himself to "take care of Eli," and Eli is so confident with Timothy by his side. This morning Timothy gave Eli a kiss on the forehead and they were off to play. It melted my heart!

I can't believe that my baby is big enough for school! I'm so excited for him and so proud of my big boy.

(Sorry for the poor picture quality- this was just snapped with my phone!)

Merry Christmas

"The Word became flesh and made His dwelling among us. We have seen His glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth." (John 1:14)

May each of us remember now our mighty Savior born for us in a lowly manger. Merry Christmas!

"This is Supposed to be Special!"

As part of our family's Advent, we do one special "family activity" each week. (There are also service projects, Scripture readings, and tiny pieces to a nativity that gradually gets built throughout Advent.) So this week's activity was a family movie. I bought the "Polar Express," and Eli was so excited to watch the "Twain Movie." We had such a busy weekend, though, that we didn't get a chance to watch it until this afternoon after church and a church luncheon.

Our nephew Timothy came over to watch with us, too. He's more like a brother to Eli than a cousin, so he's a part of a lot of our family activites. Anyway... we got them all set up on the couch with hot chocolate and cozy blankets, and they were just so giddy. It was adorable!

And we cuddled up and watched that movie for all of 20 minutes before things started deteriorating. :) They just wanted to play! I kept telling them that this was "family time" and that they needed to sit down and watch the movie. Finally their goofing off led to an entire mug of hot chocolate getting spilled on the rug and a subsequent lecture from me about how "this is supposed to be special!"

And as they went scampering away to play with toys and I listened to them laughing and talking while Eric and I scrubbed the rug, I realized that I'm putting way too much pressure on Christmas "activities" to deliver the meaning of the season. Because it's not about a 2-hour movie watched all the way through. It's about two little boys playing so happily together that there was nothing else they'd rather be doing. And it's about the love that we have the choice to show to each other in gratitude for the tremendous love that was shown to us at the birth of our Savior.

So, as I apologized to Eli for my bad attitude and high expectations and lack of love in the way I treated them, I tried to engrain in my heart that the "everyday" moments are the special ones. I don't want to put any pressure on Christmas, because the center of it all is the infant who came to bring us peace!

So there will be no more "This is supposed to be special!" lectures from a frazzled mommy. There will just be happiness in the moments shared and the opportunites we have to love and share with others. And if we get to watch more than 20 minutes of a Christmas movie together, that's just a bonus. :)

The Heavenly Host

On Friday Eric and I drove to Norman, Oklahoma so that I could be in my dear friend Misty's wedding. We are friends and former roommates from college, and it was such a joy to stand beside her as she married the man who is so perfect for her! It was a great little whirlwind trip. Congratulations, Misty and Gerhard!

We drove back on late Saturday night so that we could be at church on Sunday to see the children's Christmas program at church! All the kids have been working for months on this program, and the whole church has been eagerly anticipating this. We are so thankful for the women who headed this up and spent so much time and energy getting it all together.



The older kids (5-11) were the "choir" and the speaking parts, and the preschoolers made up the nativity. Eli was an angel. They brought in each part of the nativity at different times in the program, and each time you could hear the whole congregation say "Awwwwww!" when they came in- they were just adorable!



In my biased opinion, I've got to say that the angels were the best part. There were about 10 of them, all 3 years old, all dressed in white with halos and wings and these tinsle pom-poms that they waved around. They sang their little hearts out to "Angels We Have Heard on High," and it was the cutest thing I've seen in a long time.


(This picture makes me laugh- that's Timothy, my nephew, picking his nose. :) )

Eli loved being a part of this, and I loved watching him, along with all the other fantastic kiddos the children's ministry has blessed with, praise the Lord at Christmas.