Thursday, March 20, 2008

Good Friday

Good Friday is a time that many Christians will purposefully spend time reflecting on what Christ has done for us on the cross. Some will watch The Passion of Christ; others will attend Passion plays at their church or participate in one. Still others may have ritualistic type things they do in the quiet of their home to reflect and remember what Jesus sacrificially did for us on the cross nearly 2,000 years ago. We have laser treatment appointments!

For the last two if not three years, Judah has had a laser treatment scheduled for Good Friday. If I didn't believe in the Sovereign Hand of God working all things together for my good, I would feel like I and my family are the target of a cosmic joke. And, while my faith certainly does waver, I do, nevertheless believe and by God's grace, stand firm in the truth that even this small detail is not coincidental.

I guess in a way, it's become our family's way of commemorating Good Friday (or God's way of having our family remember it). I do not schedule this way on purpose, by the way; it just happens. Crazy, isn't it?!

The timing actually provides quite an amazing opportunity to grow in appreciation for what my God, the Father, did on that first "Good Friday". He willingly SENT His Son to die on a cross to receive His wrath in order to pay for my sins. Isaiah 53:10 says it was the LORD's will to crush him and cause him to suffer. I consider that when I willingly subject my son to pain and suffering during his laser treatment, and for really noone else's good but his own. I consider that and am led to worship the God, my God, who is so different than me...so incomprehensibly loving.

Then, I consider the Holy Son of God, Jesus, who on that first Good Friday, willingly WENT to the cross to suffer and die, to know abandonment by His Father and to take the full cup of God's wrath that my sin deserves. And, I consider how He did this: Isaiah says, He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth; he was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth. And, then there is Judah who screams bloody murder to take on relatively mild suffering again for noone else's benefit but his own. And, again, I stand amazed by how different Christ is from us and what a glorious, amazing thing it is that Jesus died on the cross for my sins.

I will likely be tempted tomorrow to feel sorry for myself at some point or to think Judah and our family got a raw deal. But, the truth is Jesus is the only One who ever got the raw deal. He was perfectly righteous, had never sinned, had never known anything but perfect fellowship with His Father. But, as Philippians says, Christ Jesus...made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death—even death on a cross!

Thank you, Jesus, for humbling yourself by dying on the cross for my sin. Thank you for choosing to carry through with your Father's plan to redeem my life from the pit, even though it meant that You'd endure the most horrific pain and injustice known to mankind. In light of that, help me to have a grateful heart tomorrow when I drop off my kids one more time at a babysitter's and travel down I-95 one more time to see Dr. Cohen and nurse, George. Help me to communicate to my sons in a way they can understand that even in the midst of our circumstances, You have been and are being kind to us by not giving us what we deserve. Help us to carry the light that you have graciously shown into our dark hearts into Hopkins tomorrow, into that laser room that we typically dread. Help us to see that place as the platform You've given to us to shine Your light and radiate Your truth.

Monday, March 10, 2008

A New Business for Me...

Hi Friends!

I'm writing to let you know that I am starting up my own business through The Pampered Chef!
From one of the first Pampered Chef shows I attended at Lydia England's house, I thought that this would be something I'd like to do someday.

I was immediately impressed with the practical nature and quality of Pampered Chef products, and I loved the concept of "shopping" while in the comfort of someone's home, enjoying good friends and good food that I didn't have to prepare myself! :)

If you are unfamiliar with Pampered Chef, you can check out their website to view all their products here: http://www.pamperedchef.com/.
Even if you are familiar with Pampered Chef, you might enjoy seeing some of their newer products at the website. So, check it out!

If anyone is interested in hosting a show or learning more about The Pampered Chef business, I would love to serve you. For anyone who books a show with me in the first 30 days of my business will receive a free gift of your choice:
Lemon & Rosemary Hand Soap http://www.pamperedchef.com/our_products/catalog/product.jsp?productId=7923&categoryCode=KW OR
a Cranberry Hot Pad/Trivet http://www.pamperedchef.com/our_products/catalog/product.jsp?productId=16606&categoryCode=KW
That would mean booking a show with me before April 17th.

If you aren't interested in hosting a cooking show in your home, but still would like to take advantage of all the host benefits that come along with hosting a Pampered Chef show along with the free gift I'm offering, you can opt to do a catalog show whereby you simply hand out catalogs and collect orders from friends and family who are interested. (This would be a great way for some of my long-distance friends and family to be a part of the action!)

Feel free to give others my name and contact information. Keep this in mind especially for brides-to-be or newlyweds. The Pampered Chef even hosts wedding showers which is a great way to introduce someone to The Pampered Chef and stock their cabinets with quality cookware/kitchenware from the get-go.

Hope to hear from you soon!

Saturday, March 08, 2008

Found a Penny

Found a penny,
Found a penny,
Found a penny just now
Just now, we found the penny
Found the penny just now

We're so happy
We're so happy
We're so happy just now
Just now, we're so happy
to not have to look through poop again!

Friday, March 07, 2008

This Week's Update

Sorry to keep ya'll hanging. (Yeah, I'm sure you lost sleep over it!) ;)

NO Penny yet.
I have to say hands down that searching through poop has been the worst parental duty yet for me.
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Judah did amazingly at his EUA on Monday. Truly, it was probably the best one yet. What makes something like this "the best one yet"? Judah didn't cry too much throughout the process of getting him into his OR clothes, waiting for the procedure, talking w/ the anesthesiologists and receiving all the pre-op check over's. The outcome of the evaluation was positive, and wake up from anesthesia was the quickest and smoothest yet with no vomiting and really little disorientation if any. We were wheeled out of recovery and down to post-op. in record time.

It always helps to have our dear friend, De, with us. She makes any chore not seem so chore-like. She brought along her digital camera and took pictures of each step of the process for Judah to share with his brother and others who don't get to go along. I thought that was super sweet and thoughtful of her. And, I'm thinking about trying to put it into a booklet of some sort to send to the Sturge-Weber Foundation for them to possibly publish and make available to parents to share with their son or daughter to help prepare them for what is a very common experience for SWS kids, that being trips to the OR and/or being put under anesthesia for evaluation.

De may go along with us to a laser treatment and try to do the same thing as that is also a very common experience for SWS kids. Perhaps having a little booklet of pictures of a real person going through the procedure may help some children not anticipate it with such fear. I personally think my little guy is the perfect model, and he's getting to the place where, even though he doesn't prefer to go through what he does, he'll actually smile throughout the ordeal if asked.

In fact, when I took Judah into the OR this time, I thought I would formally introduce him to the doctor. Typically, he doesn't see this doctor because he's 'out' by the time the doctor sees him. And, since Judah asked on our way down to Hopkins this time what doctor he was going to see, I thought I would make a point of actually introducing him to Dr. Jampel. As soon as we step foot into the OR, Judah starts to cry (always....he knows what's going on at this point). But I introduced him to Dr. Jampel and asked if he could shake his hand. Through tears, Judah stuck out his hand to politely greet his doctor. What grace! I love my little, brave, amazing boy.

So, thank you for your prayers. We always need them and always feel them throughout these ordeals that are just "normal life" for us. Just because it's normal, though, doesn't mean it's easy by any means. And, we certainly appreciate your ongoing support to us through your prayers. Thank you so much. I don't know how we'd live our life apart from knowing God and having the support of His people.
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I'll end on a 'funny'...
I try to take the kids to the library on Friday's for a half hour story time. The boys resist participating with some of the finger plays and other interactive parts of story time. So, for a while I've been trying to encourage them before hand to be ready to participate with the librarian and other children. Today, Judah beat me to the punch with instruction. As we were getting ready to walk out the door, Judah said, "Mom, do you want us to "recitipate" today at story time? ;)

Sunday, March 02, 2008

EUA on Monday

Judah will have an EUA (evaluation under anesthesia) Monday morning to check his eyes. These are regular checks, and the past couple have gone well...meaning, no surgery needed. We don't want to take that for granted, however, and ask that you would please pray that the evaluation would show Judah's eyes to be in good condition. Thanks.

And, please additionally pray for our other two, Tucker and Bella, who will be left with our caregroup leader's wife, Kathleen, an example in service as she has 5 of her own, 2 of which she homeschools during the day! Tucker has not been doing well being left with others lately. I will have to wake them up rather early to have them over to Kathleen's by 6 a.m. Please pray that will go better than I'm anticipating it to, especially for Kathleen's sake.

Thanks!

Saturday, March 01, 2008

Missing Penny

There's a penny missing in our home.
It's in my son's stomach!!
Yes, one of my 3.5 yr. old sons swallowed a penny today!
Nevermind he's been told the story about his grandfather who swallowed a quarter and had to have it surgically removed. Nevermind the countless times I've instructed them that we only put food and drink into our mouths.
Thankfully, it seemed to have gone down his throat without being lodged there for too long. It did give him a scare (me, too!), but it was quickly down the hatch and into his stomach.
I immediately called our pediatrician who informed me that he should be alright and that I get the pleasant duty of poopie inspection for the next 24-48 hours. Lovely! I'm noticing a poop theme lately in my life.

We were told that he shouldn't have trouble or pain passing it, but to call if he starts to complain of any stomach pain. Please pray (and I can hardly believe I'm asking you to pray this, but if you're a mom, you'll understand)...that my son will pass this penny safely and quickly and never swallow any coinage again!