Happy New Year!

Update:

Our appointment with Dr. Tufaro was uneventful. He looked over Judah's MRI's from last May, inquired about Judah's medical history and took a brief look into Judah's mouth. Apart from the purple exam gloves, which Judah hates and the doctor kindly decided not to wear, Judah did great with the visit. Dr. Tufaro requested that when Judah has his annual CT Scan for his brain shunt done, I ask to have the technicians take a few scans of his entire face to include Judah's jaw so that Dr. Tufaro can better assess when/if surgical intervention is needed. It's not possible to predict how the Port Wine Stain will affect Judah's bone growth, so it's a wait and see and pray that God will mercifully spare Judah of any more surgeries.

Christmas:

We traveled to Pennsylvania to spend Christmas with my family this year. Once again, my parents put out a lavish spread of food, no small feat with as large of a family as I have (7 children, 5 in-law spouses, 7 grandchildren and always a handful of friends). It is such a labor of love on my parents' part as they typically have a full breakfast, lunch and dinner all planned out for as many days as all of the kids are home. We go from one meal to the next, resting in between to either sleep or play games.

The boys definitely understood the opening presents thing this year, particularly Judah who thought anything wrapped was intended for him to rip open. They are now enjoying their many new toys, and I am trying to figure out where to put all the new stuff!

Unfortunately, we all got sick with head/chest congestion over Christmas and this past week. The boys seem to be faring better than Lawrence and me. They have run some low grade fevers throughout the week and have had a few bad nights/naptimes of sleep, but now seem to be doing better. I, however, cannot remember experiencing a cold this miserably. Sparing you the detailed sketch of all my symptoms, I think after 7 days of enduring it and trying every home remedy including sitting over a steaming pot of hot water, I will be going to the doctor tomorrow, God willing, to find out if my symptoms may be an indication of something more serious than a cold that requires more intervention than I've already tried. Lawrence was the last to get it and is trying to fight it off with major doses of zinc. We'll see how it works for him.

Lawrence took vacation days this last week of the year, and while we had quite a different agenda for his time spent at home, we are both grateful that he has been available to help me care for the boys and keep our home running as smoothly as possible. He has been quite amazing, running errands for me, staying on top of caring for and disciplining the boys, fending for himself for meals and his needs as well as ensuring that I have all I need to be as comfortable as possible while I get through this cold. I don't know that I would be as willing or able to take over his responsibilities in his domain, the workplace, if ever required to do that, as he has been in mine this past week!

He has been wonderfully aided by his parents who are always ready and willing to step in and help us whenever the need presents itself, which in this season of having young children has been quite often! Lawrence's parents have prepared and dropped off a box of food for the last two days for us, and graciously put off celebrating Christmas with us until we are feeling better.

Baby Update:

Last but certainly not least, baby #3 is soon to arrive. Only 5 weeks to my due date! This baby rolls and kicks like crazy which is so reassuring, especially in the last several days when I've been eating very little. We are not mentally or physically prepared to receive this baby yet, but trust that when the time comes, he/she will find his/her way into our home and hearts quickly.

We have decided to try for a VBAC and would greatly appreciate your prayers for this. I desire to proceed with "faith in God's faithfulness"(as my friend, Karen, put it the other day) rather than run to fear over all the things that could possibly go wrong or be difficult as I am too prone to do. Please pray that I would spend the next couple weeks filling my mind's meditations with remembrances of how faithful God has been to me and my family thus far, anticipating that he will again be good to us.

Thank you for all your prayers on our behalf! We pray that in this next year, you will come to know God's goodness and care for you in greater measure through His Word, His Abiding Spirit and your circumstances, too!