Update on Stellan

Stellan made it through surgery. Praise the Lord! If you would like to know more about the surgery, please read his mom's post.

Continue to pray for Stellan. Pray for this to be the end of SVT. (If it's not the end, he will need medication or more surgery.)

Thanks for caring, thinking about Stellan, and praying for him!

4 sweet boys on my mind

This morning I have 4 sweet boys on my mind- Samuel, Vance, Dawson and Stellan.

Samuel and Vance are always on my mind since they are my babies!

Precious Dawson and Amy are doing well. If you would like to read more about Dawson's birth and see pictures of him, check out Amy's blog. As I expected, he is adorable! You can still be praying for Amy to have a smooth recovery and for her to get some much needed sleep. (She lost a lot of sleep during her pregnancy.) Also, pray for tiny Dawson as he eats, sleeps, and grows. He is a tiny baby compared to Bryce at birth; Dawson weighed 6 lb. 4 oz..

If you have been praying for Stellan, keep it up. He is still in SVT (high heart rate). The doctors don't know how his heart and body are still tolerating it after 4 days of SVT. I know how it's possible- the Lord has been working! He's a miracle baby! Please pray with me that the Lord would heal his heart. MckMama posted about his heart condition yesterday. He has an extra electrical pathway in his heart, which causes the SVT. If things don't get better (like Stellan going into heart failure), he might need an ablation, which a very risky procedure on babies. To read Stellan updates, click the Praying for Stellan button on the right sidebar.

Have a great day!

Marianna

It's Dawson's Birthday

Amy is at the hospital and will be having Dawson this afternoon, so please pray for her and Dawson. She is 37 weeks 3 days. She went to a routine check-up this morning to find that she was 6 cm dilated!?!?!? She has no suspicions that she was that far along.

Here are some prayer requests I came up with for Amy and Dawson if you would like to pray for them:

1. Amy would be at peace and her nerves would be calmed
2. Amy would be able to get an epidural for the pain (She's already 6 cm)
3. Smooth labor and delivery
4. Dawson would be completely healthy
5. Smooth recovery for Amy and lots of support and help from friends and family.

Dear Lord,

I ask you to be with Amy right now. Calm her nerves and give her a peace that only comes from you. Lord, please allow Amy to get an epidural and be in as little pain as possible. We ask that she would have a very smooth labor and delivery. May she sense Your presence and Your hand on her. Protect Amy and Dawson throughout labor and delivery and bring Dawson safely into this world.

Lord, please send Renee to the hospital ASAP to make this process as quick as possible. Please guide and direct Renee and the nurses. May the nurses take excellent care of Amy. May Amy have no complications from delivery and may Dawson be completely healthy. We know that both of them are in your hands. We commit them to you!

In Jesus Name,
Amen

Please continue to pray for Stellan

Stellan's condition has not improved, and he needs your prayers. I am praying for the Lord to heal Stellan's heart,and my heart is heavy. I look at Vance and can't help but think about sick Stellan and cry out for God to heal him. Read MckMama's blog for the most recent updates. Thanks for caring enough to pray for this precious baby boy. He is in need of a miracle!

Baby Stellan needs your prayers today

I found My Charming Kids through Confessions of a CF Husband . I have been intrigued with Stellan's story, and I have followed the blog ever since then. Today Stellan (4 months old) is in Pediatric ICU and in need of prayers. Please take the time to pray for the Lord to heal his heart and his precious body! The doctors said he wouldn't survive when he was in the womb. (To read Stellan's story go here.) He is a miracle baby, and I know that the Healer can perform another miracle today. I am praying for him, will you join me?

Stellan or MckMuffin, as his mommy calls him on her blog:

Praying for a Tenant on a Sunday morning

This morning I am home from church and watching the kids because Jeremy isn't feeling great. I actually expected to go to church with Samuel, but since Jeremy still hasn't gotten out of bed, I feel like I should stay here. I am finding it harder and harder to get to church with 2 kids and 2 adults; it seems like someone is always sick. Last week I took Samuel and Jeremy stayed home with Vance since Vance had been sick a few days before, and I didn't want to risk him catching something else in the nursery.

This morning is a good chance for me to catch up on some things I have been meaning to do and haven't. I've got the washer running, which I need to do everyday, but I skipped yesterday... I have Vance down for a nap, and Samuel is in the room with me watching Scholastic books on video- a short 20 minute video that includes his favorite book- Click Clack Moo. I'm on the couch and just finished a Craigslist ad for this house (our 2nd ad this month). I'm in prayer that someone will rent it between now and when we move because we really could use our deposit for our emergency fund. I'm praying for the Lord to bring someone soon.

Ok. Samuel's video is over, and I need to get him a snack

Parents ought to be concerned

If you're a parent, do you ever think about how legalizing same sex marriage would affect your family? The following video shows how the legalization of same sex marriage in Massachusetts affected one family. All families with kids in public schools will be affected if same sex marriage is legalized. This video was put out for California, but it is a national issue. The hearts and minds of our children are at stake! Our little ones are so impressionable...

Samuel has a sore throat

Samuel woke up from his nap with a 102.4 fever. I do NOT like fevers. I assumed that he still had the ear infections and immediately called the doctor. Jeremy took him to see the doctor, and he came home quickly saying that it was viral pharyngitis (sore throat). I was happy it's not his ears or strep throat. (They did a swab for strep, and it was negative.) I was also shocked that a high fever comes with the sore throat...

Please be praying for Samuel to feel better soon and for none of us to catch it (me, Jeremy, or Mom). I read on the internet that it is spread by the time the sore throat develops, but that it is still good to keep a child at home until the fever subsides and the sore throat is gone. Samuel will be spending the next few days at home alone. No playmates for Samuel... I guess that means no church on Sunday since the last thing we need is another illness making its way into our home... Oh, and thank the Lord for Tylenol because that took care of the fever right away. YAY! I can rest better knowing he doesn't have a fever.

Five die as Honduras jet overshoots runway

Now 5 are dead and 80 are injured. See the article below:

Five die as Honduras jet overshoots runway

We pray for those families that have lost loved ones and for the injured, that they would recover completely.

Trouble at the Tegucigalpa, Honduras airport

Jeremy and I have flown in and out of this airport many times. How scary!!! Please pray for the pilot's family as well as one Nicaraguan's family. It is also reported that 18 are injured. I know all of the passengers would all appreciate your prayers since I'm sure they are suffering mentally and emotionally. Thanks!

Passenger jet overshoots runway in Honduras

buyer decided not to buy a house right now

This is a follow-up to my post below.

I just got another e-mail stating that the buyer that looked at our house on Thursday has decided not to buy a house right now. They are going to look for a house to rent.

We will continue to pray for God to send a buyer for our home.

Thanks!!!

Heavy hearts

(our home in Beaufort)

Today Jeremy and I have heavy hearts and would ask you to pray. We put our house on the market one year ago. We were immediately told by our realtor that even before the housing market took a dive, Beaufort was never the place to sell a house in the summer. Beaufort is mainly a town for retired folks and military, so there isn't the summer demand for homes like there would be elsewhere. It's also a very hot place in the summer, which deters buyers. I forgot to mention that a lot of military has decided to rent because of the bad housing market, which I can understand since they know their stay in Beaufort will only be a few years.

Please take a few minutes to pray. Pray for the Lord to send someone to look at our house who will fall in love with it and want to put a contract on it. Pray for this to happen quickly since summer is now here. You can also pray for the Lord to send more work Jeremy and Spencer's way since we are paying for two residences and the bills that go with a house. Jeremy thought he had a roofing job that would have started yesterday, and the guy isn't returning his e-mails or phone calls. They also put a bid on a condo job near our house, and they never called Jeremy back. This is very discouraging for all of us involved.

**UPDATE- Just a few minutes after I posted this, I received an e-mail from our realtor. It was an e-mail from another realtor stating that her clients like the house and the floor plan. They said it was well-maintained and in good shape. According to the e-mail, they saw the house on Thursday and might have gone back over the weekend. Please pray!!!!

Thank you in advance for your prayers! God bless each and every one of you!!!

On bedrest

Well, my life changed drastically on Tuesday afternoon. I was on the couch resting and blogging, but I kept having contractions. I had decided to rest like that because I had been having more contractions than I was comfortable having at 33 weeks... Well, my instincts kicked in, and I called the doctor's office. They told me to go straight to the hospital. I thought the nurses would monitor me for a few hours and send me home. Boy, was I wrong. I was having contractions a minute or two apart, and I was also 3 cm dialated (externally). I spent almost 24 hours in the hospital. The good news is that Vance is about 5 lbs. 3 oz., and doing beautifully. When I was discharged at 2PM, I was put on bedrest for at least the next week; although, I will probably spend the rest of my pregnancy on bedrest since I can't do anything without having contractions. I don't expect to make it to 40 weeks at this rate... We are praying that Vance stays in until at least 37 weeks. Will you please pray the same? Thanks!!!

It kills me to say...

that I still haven't gotten news about the Charlotte couple. I am tired of waiting... I would like my realtor to call the other realtor since she hasn't responded to e-mail. Let me leave it at that and continue to pray for the Lord to SELL THIS HOUSE!!! I can't tell you how many times a day I have this talk with the Lord. I will post on our "step of faith" on Monday.

No news yet

We still don't have any news from the Charlotte couple's showing. We actually had 2 showings yesterday. A truck was stopped in front of our house around 3:30, and I decided to go outside and encourage them to come in since I saw that it was clients with a realtor. The house was spic and span, so why not? Our realtor is going to follow up with that realtor soon. The more exposure we have, the better.

Last night at 1:30 AM Samuel's temperature was low again. -95.6 degrees. I brought him to bed with us for about an hour, and then I checked his temperature since Samuel wasn't interested in sleeping. Since it was 96.6 at that point, I put him back in his crib, and he slept again until 7:15 when I heard him crying. That's early for Samuel, which made me wonder if he was having stomach issues again, so I went to get him. Thankfully, he seemed fine and had a perfect temperature- 98.6.

Today we are home from church since Samuel and Jeremy are sick. I thought about going alone, which I've done before, but I decided to try to avoid any germs that are lingering in that mass of people. I don't need to add any more germs to this household or my body. Please pray that I don't come down with anything. So far, I feel tired, but that's about it.

We're excited about the showing between 1-2 PM. We'll hang out at my parent's house. That way Samuel can nap. I think all 3 of us will end up napping.

When we have news, we will share it! Thanks for caring and for praying!

Bring on the showings...

So, we've been working around here getting ready for our 2 showings despite Samuel AND Jeremy being sick. We thank the Lord that we've been able to get most everything done since Jeremy was in the bed until noon today. Just 2 more things to do- mop the hardwoods and clean the kitchen cabinet doors. We say bring on more showings now that it's clean on the inside and the outside!

Please pray with us for the Lord to SELL THIS HOUSE!

1st showing- Saturday between 4 and 5 PM
2nd showing- Sunday between 1 and 2 PM

2 Showings this weekend and a nasty virus

My sweet boy when he was feeling well...

Ok. So, we have 2 showings lined up for this weekend. The first one is the couple from Charlotte and the two buyers they are bringing with them. We don't know the exact time; it will be on Saturday or Sunday. The second one is on Sunday between 1PM-2PM and is a first showing, of which we don't have any details. Please continue to pray for the Lord to sell this house! We are praying without ceasing around here...

I was so thankful that Jeremy came home last night because Samuel has been sick with a virus that looks and acts like the flu but isn't. We're praying this virus passes quickly. Yesterday my mom and I were at the doctor and the hospital having him checked out to rule out the flu or some other illness. Well, Jeremy came home just in time last night... He got home around 11PM. Samuel went from having a 104.7 degree fever on Wednesday night to a 95.1 degree temperature last night around 11:45 PM. The only reason I realized he had a low temperature was because he's been running a fever for two nights, and I've been checking his temperature every few hours. We don't think last night was virus related though; we think he got cold because he hasn't been wearing sleep sacks and was wearing 2 piece pjs with wide legs... At 1AM we called the ER and our doctor (who didn't even think the thermometer was working if he was still conscious and himself) and decided to give him 30 minutes in bed with us to see if it would come up before we spent the night in the ER. 30 minutes turned into 2 1/2 hours. It took that long to get his temperature up to 97.4 degrees. Since it went up one degree within 30 minutes, we stayed at home. He didn't sleep during those 2 1/2 hours, but we were SO thankful that his temperature went back up. I've always said that Jeremy could heat a small village with the body heat he puts out, and last night that came in handy. (Now I'm praising the Lord for his body heat!) Between our body heat, the flannel sheets, blanket, and down comforter, Samuel warmed up! At 3:30, I put him in his crib because I realized I could safety pin his sleep sack shut to keep him warm. (He had been unzipping the sleep sack and getting out of it, so we quit using it about 2 weeks ago.) I am lmost glad this whole thing happened though because he has probably been cold for a few nights without us realizing it. Poor guy! Please pray that Jeremy and I don't catch Samuel's virus.

We SO appreciate your prayers!

Valentine's Day bug

It looks like we will be celebrating Valentine's Day (and the weekend) at home. Samuel has some sort of bug. He hasn't been feeling great since Monday afternoon, but he didn't get a high fever until last night. At 7PM he had a higher fever than I've ever seen in my life- 104.7 degrees. Thankfully, my mom was here, and we were able to nurse it down without going to the emergency room. Between medicine, cool washcloths (he wouldn't tolerate a bath), advice from an on-call doctor and my ER Nurse neighbor, a sippy cup of Pedialyte (only one because then he realized it didn't taste so good), and some tlc, it went down to 101 degrees by 10PM. At that point I felt comfortable putting him to bed, which is something he had been asking me to do for over an hour... (You know Samuel is sleepy when he asks to go to bed!) My mom spent the night with us to help me out and make sure that she didn't need to drive Samuel to the ER (since I didn't want to have to be around all of the illness there). I checked his temp 3 times in the night and gave him more medicine only once since after that dose his temp was close to normal. I got decent stretches of sleep from 1AM-4AM, and then 4:15AM-8AM. I am tired though. This pregnant body definitely craves sleep!

This morning his temp was 100 degrees, so I decided to take him to the doctor. The good news is that he doesn't have the flu. The doctor thinks it's probably a virus, but she decided to be on the safe side by doing some blood work and a CT scan of his lungs. Samuel cried a whole lot while 2 of the doctors took his blood, which caused me to cry... Then, we went to the hospital for the CT Scan, which didn't cause him to cry as much. I was thankful that the 2 techs were so sweet with him because I wasn't able to stay in the room for the x-ray since I'm pregnant.

After that, I decided to take him to the store for some goodies and beverages since he hasn't eaten well since lunch on Monday. The doctor said that all rules go out the window, so I bought him Sun Chips, Jello, Gatorade, Sunny D, and some Pedialyte pops. We'll see if he will even eat the Pedialyte pops. They might be as bad as the drink. He was especially thrilled when I bought him a cheeseburger from McDonald's. He didn't eat much of it, but I figure that some protein is better than none... Thankfully Samuel doesn't know how to fake an illness to get these yummy snacks and meals... Can you imagine???

We're praying he feels better soon! I pray Samuel's temp doesn't go up again tonight like the doctor predicts it will, but if it does, I will know exactly what to do. Jeremy is able to come home late tonight, which is good since I might need some extra sleep tomorrow.

I almost forgot to add this- For the first time, I felt Vance hiccup last night around 1AM. I had laid back down after taking care of Samuel, and I felt the hiccups. I don't remember them this soon with Samuel. I guess that makes sense though because now I know what they feel like. Those hiccups brought a smile to my face. It was like Vance was telling me that he was ok in there and happy that I was taking care of his big brother. Maybe that's a little far fetched, but it made me smile... :)

The BIG Ultrasound

On Tuesday, Jeremy, Samuel, and I went to my ultrasound appointment. The baby looked great at 14 ounces. We are pleased that everything is going well. Jeremy actually figured out the sex of the baby before the tech said anything. It's a good thing we wanted to know the sex since it was so obvious.

Samuel needs to get used to sharing his trucks because...



Vance is due on June 23. We can't wait to meet him!

The latest on our house

I spoke to our realtor yesterday, and that couple hasn't been able to make a decision yet. It's between our house and one other house. The couple is coming back the weekend of Feb. 15 to look at both houses again, and they are bringing 2 other buyers with them. We don't know anything about the other buyers, but their realtor mentioned that it could be that one of them would be interested in our house if the original couple isn't. Since this couple took a CD Rom with pictures of our house back to Charlotte with them, I imagine they could have "introduced" the other buyers to our house. Thanks to George Haynes for that marketing tool! I made CD Roms when we first put the house on the market, made some more last week, and love it when buyers take them during a showing!

Please be praying for this showing the weekend of Feb. 15. You could also pray for other showings between now and then because we would be more than happy to sell it sooner!

Thanks for your prayers! I will update as I have news.