For Dave's Exel Friends!

Little Tank says

"Thank You!"

to Daddy's friends at Exel in Carlisle

for the wonderfully yummy box of goodies!

Nathaniel's "Bath"

Tonight we gave Nathaniel a "bath" at the kitchen sink. He got his hair and upper body and feet washed as best as we were able. He didn't seem to mind it too much! It probably felt good and at least it was a change of scenery!

"The Waiting Room" - Photo Essay by Benjamin Fisher, age 4

While we were waiting on Wednesday morning for Nathaniel to come out of the operating room, Benjamin snagged my camera and took a bunch of photos in the waiting room. Ever since participating in Art Camp (check out the August Kinder photos!) at HATCH, he has been interested in taking photos. Perhaps we have a photographer in the making? You decide...enjoy!

Nathaniel's Very Eventful Day

I chronicled the events of today with photos so I could share them with family and friends. Before I begin, however, I want to thank everyone for their prayers and concern for us. Nathaniel came through everything with flying colors, and is adjusting as well as can be expected to his immobility. A really cool thing that happened at the hospital that was definitely a "God thing" was that our anesthesiologist was a gentleman from our church...when he walked into the room our minds were instantly at ease--and he even prayed with us! God is good! Here's Nathaniel's Very Eventful Day in pictures:

This is the before shot as we arrived at the hospital at 6:30 a.m. I got a good, hearty "Cheese!" out of our unsuspecting patient for this photo!

Big brother "Benjamin Fisher" (as he told everyone who asked him his name) was pretty well behaved at the hospital. He even got to have a bagel in the cafeteria with Daddy, and took his own waiting room photos which will be on a future post!

They gave Nathaniel some sort of drug to sedate him a bit so that he wouldn't remember too much about being taken into the OR and be traumatized later. We couldn't help but laugh at how loopy he got!

Check out those droopy eye lids and the drug-induced grin! He went away with the nurses with not even a backwards glance after having this drug in his system for a few minutes!

Here's our boy after his procedure. He ended up not getting an IV because they couldn't get one in, so he was given gas instead of anesthetic drugs. This allowed him to "come to" much faster and we much preferred it! Thank you Lord!

Here's another side view of the cast. The poor guy wanted "out" and when he realized we couldn't take him out, he cried. Other than that, he was a real trooper!

Ready to go home! We actually were able to get him into his car seat and even got a grin from him again...not the hearty "Cheese!" like the "before" pix, but a grin nonetheless!

Here we are back at home with a tired and grumpy patient! The bean bag chair works well to prop him up, but he gets tired of not being able to move. Right before this photo he had chucked some matchbox cars across the room...his arms are all he can move!

Benjamin tried to console his brother by joining him on the floor, but a few minutes after this it was nap time for both of them. I think we were all exhausted from Nathaniel's Very Eventful Day!

Hide N Seek Woodland Frock GIVEAWAY!!!!

This is a beautiful dress being given away on a blog called Shabby Apple. As I want to learn to sew someday, the blog intrigues me. This little dress is just magical, in my opinion. Check it out: Hide N Seek Woodland Frock GIVEAWAY!!!!

When It Rains, It Pours!

Ironically, I began my day and week yesterday by reading in the book of Job. Specifically, I was reading about Job's wife and how less-than-encouraging she was to her husband and how we, as wives, should be careful to encourage our husbands in their walks with the Lord. But anyhow, in reading various passages from the book of Job, I was intrigued by Job's response to God at the very end of the book in Job 42:2 where he says, "I know that you can do all things; no plan of yours can be thwarted." No typically we think of God's plans as being great and wonderful things in our lives, but if you look at God's plan for Job's life, the experiences he allowed to happen in Job's lives were much less than great and wonderful! Yet Job realizes that God ultimately sovereign, and in being so, who are we to question His plans? Little did I know what the next 48 hours were going to bring to our lives!

Fast forward a bit and you have my youngest three kiddos playing on the school playground for literally 5 minutes while I finished up in my classroom and Nathaniel falls, hurting his leg. We spend the entire afternoon in the ER only to be sent home with the instructions to see a pedatric orthopedist in the morning because the x-rays are inconclusive as to whether the bone is fractured or not.

Fast forward again to today. We go to the orthopedist who again deems the x-rays to be inconclusive, but the physical examination shows that something is indeed wrong with his upper, inner leg, sort of in the groin/hip area. In order to not incur further damage by waiting unduly for an MRI or bone scan results, his recommendation is to put our little almost two year old in a full body cast to immobilize his pelvic area and allow whatever the problem is to heal. I guess when you have a very active little one, this is the best you can do for him. Of course, he will have to be anesthetized and taken into the OR in order to put on said cast. And of course, I am supposed to be at in service meetings the next three days and school starts on Monday.

But of course, God knows all of that and His plans can't be thwarted! And I thank God that my children are alive and well (unlike Job's children!), and this bump in the road will only make us stronger as a family and as individuals.

But we would covet your prayers! Thanks!

Happy Birthday, Dave!

Today is my husband's birthday. We celebrated last night with lasagna and German chocolate cake...yum! I have photos but it's late, so I'll post them later. I just didn't want to let the day end without wishing my best friend a very happy birthday!

I love you, Honey! You are the best Dad and husband I could ever ask for...I thank God for you!

Super Kiddos!

"Super Benjamin"

"Knight Nathaniel"

Vacation Photos...Part 3!

Here are the photos from our ride on The Arcade & Attica Railroad. You can read the original post that I wrote on the day of our excursion here. It was quite the trip! Nathaniel was pretty scared on the first half of the journey since we were right behind the noisy engine, but on the return trip he just chilled. Our friend, Ruth, went along...you will see her in the photos, too. It really was a lot of fun and a day our younger sons will never forget!

Vacation Photos...Part 2!

One morning, while Dave and Sabastian were out fishing, the younger boys and I went on a little walk around the grounds of Odosagih. The conference center is located right on Lime Lake in Machias, New York, a deep, spring-fed lake used for recreational water activities of all kinds. Our friends, Matt and Ruth Stephens, have been coming to Odosagih for many years. They opted to stay in a cottage right on the lake so that Matt could fish 24/7 if he wanted to (and he wanted to!). Benjamin, Nathaniel, and I walked over to their cottage and went down the stairs to the lake and walked for a ways around it. These are some of the photos I took that morning...