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.

The latest from Nate

I wanted to share this link with you because it takes you to a video of Nate holding his daughter for the first time. It's an amazing video that had me crying like a baby. I cry pretty easily these days (being that I'm pregnant), but this one was more than just an average tear jerker. I am in awe of how small she is and how she is thriving! God is taking such good care of her! On the video Nate says that her stats went right where they should be when he was holding her, which shows you how much they need the touch of Mommy and Daddy. I am praying for Tricia to be able to hold her soon. Gwyneth is almost a month old, so I know that Tricia is needing to hold and be close to her daughter. God will answer her prayers shortly. Tricia is also now on the double lung transplant list, so please pray about that. This family has been through so much, and their faith is amazing to me. I know that it's only by God's grace that they are able to be at peace. I pray that God will comfort them more each day and give all 3 of them the rest they need! Please pray for them!

Praise and Prayer Request from Jaden's grandmother

This was posted on my church's online prayer list:

"I want to thank everyone for their prayers and response to my need for a dog sitter. I found someone and now I am going to California to help my family. I need prayer for travel, strength,and comfort. God bless you and I will miss everyone here and CBC. Cheryl Kramer"

Please keep Jaden, Cheryl, and the rest of Jaden's family in your prayers.

Thanks!

big prayer request from now until Sunday, Feb. 2

I wanted to give you an update on the attempt to sell our house:

On Saturday, we had a good showing. We are in this couple's top 3. They are moving because of a job transfer, so they definitely will be buying a house. They told their realtor that they will be making a decision by the end of next week. From now until Sunday, Feb. 2, we are going to be praying. We know that the Lord is going to bring a buyer for our home. Maybe this is the one.

By Feb. 2nd, I pray that I will have a post with a big SOLD sign.

Will you pray with us? We would appreciate it!!!

Baby Jaden update and plea for prayers

Awhile back, I posted about a baby dying of Krabbes disease. His name is Jaden Del Taylor, and he's only 6 months old. Please pray for a miracle. This Del Taylors need the FDA to give them emergency approval for the drug Aimspro. The Del Taylors went to London for Jaden to receive the Aimspro injections, which worked wonders, but they only came home with 4 more injections. Jaden needs one injection per day. Since they only came home with 4 injections, they gave him one injection a week, but now those have run out. There are 60 vials of this drug waiting to be shipped to them from Australia, but without FDA approval, that won't happen. This family needs this drug because their son will die without it. The only cure for Krabbes is a bone marrow transplant, but Jaden doesn't qualify for the transplant because he is in the last stages of this disease. He will qualify for this transplant if they get Aimspro because Aimspro puts him back into the early stages of the disease. To read more, keep up with their blog, and know how to pray specifically, go Saving Jaden.

One more thing that is super important to this family is newborn screening. Only New York screens for Krabbes Disease at birth. If Jaden had, had this screening at birth, he could have have the bone marrow transplant soon after. The Del Taylors talked to a local tv station about this: http://www.10news.com/video/15079882/index.html They are trying to get the word out that more states need to be screening for this in order to help save lives.

Thanks for praying!

God is working in the lives of Tricia and Gwyneth

This is a photo of Nate touching his daughter's hand for the first time. He wasn't allowed to do this until Friday, Jan. 11. (She was born on Tuesday, Jan. 8.)

If you haven't been keeping up with the family in Nags Head, NC, I thought I would post part of Nate's update on his precious girls. God is so good! He has those 2 in the palm of his hand, and they continue to progress. They aren't out of the woods yet, so please keep praying! Nate included prayer requests.


Tricia is becoming more responsive every day, which means she's doing better on the vent and needing less sedatives. I am able to have short conversations with her by asking her yes and no questions. She's opening her eyes more, and even communicating when she wants/needs something. She is definitely aware of Gwyneth...this morning, as I was telling her that I was going to go see the baby again, and that I wanted her to wake soon so I could show her pictures and video, she suddenly frowned and looked about to cry, knowing that she was not going to be able to see the baby for a while...I have to tell you that almost broke my heart. I lost it right there...our nurse saw it as well and was tearing up a little. I can't wait until she wakes up!

Gwyneth was taken off the UV light (which was fighting off Jaundice). The only times I've seen her under normal lighting is when the nurses are working on her. No more "goggles" either. I sat for a long time, just watching her sleep...she moves her face all around, wiggling her ears, and scrunching her forehead. It's beautiful. She may be off of the vent in just a few days, which means I'll be one step closer to holding her. That will be a beautiful moment.

Here are some specific prayer requests for the next few days:

Tricia
> To continue responding well while being weaned off the vent and sedatives.
> NO Infections!
> Patience as I think she's consciously ready to wake up and learn what the rest of the world has been doing.

Gwyneth
> That she will poop soon...I know, I said "poop". It's not uncommon for preemies to go a while without pooping, but it needs to happen before they can give her a feeding tube, which she needs to really begin growing.
> That her blood work for the CF screening will come back negative.
> That her PDA will close soon.--It closed this morning, so Praise the Lord!
> That she will be free from any difficulties.

Gwyneth

Nate is updating his blog regularly, so stop on by. If you don't know what I'm talking about, read yesterday's post asking for prayer for a mother and daughter.