Maggie’s Birthday Party
We had lots of girls over today to help celebrate Maggie’s 13th birthday – thanks to everyone who came. You brought joy to our home.
More pictures can be found here on Facebook.
Archive for March, 2009
HE Cares for ME
A good friend a mine, a pastor in Pensacola, Florida, sent me the following text written by Charles Spurgeon – what wonderful encouragement.
“Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you.”—1
Peter 5:7
It is a happy way of soothing sorrow, when we can feel—“HE
cares for ME!” Christian! do not dishonor God, by always wearing a brow
of worry! Come–cast your burden upon your God! You are staggering beneath
a weight–which your Father would not feel. What seems like a crushing
burden to you–would be but as small dust to Him.
Nothing is so sweet as to,
“Lie passive in God’s hands,
And know no will, but His.”
O child of suffering–be patient! God has not overlooked you in His providence.
He who is the feeder of sparrows–will also furnish you with what
you need. Do not sit down in despair.
There is One who cares for you!
His all-seeing eye is fixed on you!
His all-loving heart beats with pity for your woe!
His omnipotent hand shall yet bring you the needed help!
The darkest cloud–shall scatter itself in showers of mercy.
The blackest gloom–shall give place to the morning light.
If you are one of His family–He will bind up your wounds, and heal your broken
heart. Do not doubt His grace, because of your troubles–but believe that He
loves you as much in seasons of distress–as in times of happiness.
What a serene and quiet life might you lead–if you would leave providing–to
the God of providence!
If God cares for you–why need you care also? Can you trust Him
for your soul–and not for your body? He has never refused to bear
your burdens–He has never fainted under their weight. Come, then, soul!
Be done with fretful worry–and leave all your concerns in the hand of
your gracious God!
Stuff I’m Reading and Doing
Since selling GottaBeMobile, I’ve been really enjoying just “being” – sitting in a chair without the glow of a laptop screen lighting up my face, sitting on my driveway soaking up the sun, rocking in my porch swing, taking some long bike rides, and having the mental bandwidth to finally get in to some books.
At times, I’ve found myself aimlessly wondering the house feeling like I should be doing something, checking technology news for some breaking story, or some other thing that “must be done”. For the last six or so years, my life revolved around “being online and making myself available” and it feels very strange, but freeing, to unplug those areas. I’ve thrown myself into reading scripture, other books, and just enjoying the “quiet”.
I just finished reading Tim Keller’s “The Prodigal God” – highly recommend it. Last night, I started Jerry Bridges’ “The Respectable Sins”, and found myself so engrossed in his writing that I was close to halfway finished before I finally put it down for the night. Next up on my list is John Piper’s “A Hunger for God”. If you don’t own an Amazon Kindle reading device and read a lot of books, I highly recommend it, too. It is a great device for long form reading.
One of the other things I really missed over the years was cycling and mountain biking. The exercise is great (and much needed), but I crave the solitude and time to think. There is nothing like the grueling climb of a long hill – just you, the bike, and the hill.
Dance Night at the Bushway’s
It was an interesting night at the Bushway’s…Maggie turned 13 and asked me to breakdance for her. Truth be told, I think Kathi talked her into asking me. Regardless, it is a scary picture watching an old white guy do stuff he used to do when he was 15 – there should be laws against this kind of thing. We had fun, though – enjoy.
Happy Birthday Maggie!
Birthdays are quite special in our house – they can sometimes go on for a whole week. Maggie turns 13 years old today ( a teenager :-0 ). She opened up her presents first thing this morning, and later tonight we’ll be going to Cracker Barrel to celebrate. Enjoy today Maggie!
Here is Maggie unwrapping 13 presents from her grandparents while sitting in a fold out chair we got her. Oh the wonderful, leisurely life of a teenager!
Appt With Neurologist Went Well
I’m finally getting over the flu, which hit me big time on Monday night. I ended up driving Kathi and the girls to Denver for the appointment today after Maggie started having some problems right after leaving for Denver. Another long story…
The doctor is pleased that this latest seizure / post-ictal cycle appears to be petering out. Maggie is still trembly and still appears fragile, but overall she is much better than earlier in the week. This latest round of seizure episodes appears to be related to low blood pressure problems brought on, ironically, by Maggie’s anti-seizure medicines plus a family history of low blood pressure problems. Kathi and Dax both have low blood pressure problems and often exhibit similar vasovagal symptoms that Maggie has just prior to having a seizure. When tested this morning, Maggie’s blood pressure was quite low. While we wait for the results of some blood tests, we are going to increase Maggie’s salt intake to help raise her blood pressure and see if that helps.
Needless to say, it has been a “Jello Week”
God, The Flu, Snow, and Windshield Wipers
It’s a long story that involves God, the flu, snow, and windshield wipers that wouldn’t work. To keep it short ( because I’m having a lot of trouble thinking right now), we didn’t make it to Denver today for Maggie’s appointment. It has been rescheduled for Thursday.
Communicating How We Feel
In the middle of Maggie suffering through one of her post-ictal episodes yesterday, Kathi and I noticed Zoe sitting alone in the living room playing a game. I knelt down to talk with Zoe and couldn’t help but see this gloss over her eyes. She was clearly upset at what had been happening in the house during the day and was doing her best to “cope” with it.
I sat Zoe down in my lap and cradled her, and just let her cry. She was very worried that we were on our way to the hospital and that she wouldn’t see us for another two to three weeks. In her words, she said “that’s what always happens…”.
Knowing her love for drawing and painting, I asked her to draw me a picture of how she felt. I communicate in words, Zoe communicates with touch and pictures. Her face lit up and she quickly scampered off to get all of her supplies. Before we knew it, she had boxes of pens, markers, crayons, and all sorts of paper. Then, she sat for about 5 – 10 minutes thinking about how to draw her picture. This is what she drew:
Zoe described it as a cloudy, gloomy day when it is constantly
raining. I think she captured her feelings really well, as well as the mood
that enveloped our home on Sunday. This opened up some really good
opportunities….
A Rough Night and Day
After coming home from Dax’s debate tournament last night, Maggie started having a pretty rough seizure. The after-effects (post-ictal) of that seizure lasted past midnight and then throughout all of Sunday, along with having other seizures on / off throughout the day. It looked like we were going to have to take Maggie in to the hospital, but her local doctor decided we had enough heavy-duty meds on-hand to treat her at home. We’ve been doing that and keeping in regular contact with the doctor through the day.
As of 6:30, she’s doing better, but has clearly not recovered. Fortunately, Maggie has an appointment with her Denver Children’s neurologist on Tuesday.
Our larger concern is that Maggie’s seizures have been getting more frequent and intense lately, and we are praying that this isn’t the beginning of another cycle of hard-to-control seizures / post-ictal episodes.
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