Update on My Grandfather

As Kermit updated, they gave my grandfather a temp pacemaker on Saturday morning. By Sunday morning, it was already not working to the full capacity that he needs. He has gotten to the point that the pacemaker is needing to work 6-8 times a minute. He also has developed a touch of pneumonia. They tried to wean him a bit from the ventilator. He was not able to keep up his breathing on his own, so he remains on it today. They have kept him somewhat sedated with his arms restrained so that he does not try to pull out his tubes. This is hard for us all to see since my grandfather is a very proud man that would never want to be seen in such a frail, helpless state. This morning they are going to put in a permanent pacemaker. At this point our prayer is that they Lord would either heal him or take him home. As difficult as this is for all of us to pray, we would much rather him be in the presence of Jesus than here with us suffering.

We KNOW that God's love for my grandfather is beyond measure and that He has his very best interest in mind, no matter what is happening. Pray that God's perfect will will be done in this situation.

Also pray that the Lord would continue use the situation to allow us to minister to others inside and outside of the family. We have already had the opportunity to share Christ with others who have family in the Critical Care Unit. Pray that the difficulty of this situation would also draw unsaved family members to the ultimate comforter, Jesus Christ.

Prayer Request for Candy's Gandfather

Well, here we are again lifting up Malvis (Candy's Grandfather) in heavy prayer. We received a call this morning at around 8 am telling us that Candy needed to get to the hospital right away because Malvis's heart had actually stopped this morning. Thankfully God had a nurse in the room at the time or this could be a posting about a death. During the day, Malvis was given a temporary pacemaker and should (Lord willing) be getting a permanent one later in the week. Candy is staying with her Grandmother as much as she possibly can. Tonight, I talked with her over the phone and she told me that Malvis did not look good at all and requests that you folks continue to cover him in prayer.

How Time Flies!

So among the things already mentioned that have been going on with us over the last week, a few other things have happened.

First...Jacob turned 12 today! 12!!! This just does not seem possible! It is just really hard to swallow that he is 12 and in the 6th grade. He has grown up so much in the last year that I should have been prepared...but I'm not. He has finally come to the point that he does not like PDAs from mom (especially in front of the Boy Scout Troop, I found out the hard way), but I have found that this change in events offers a new way to get to him...all I have to do is threaten a kiss in front of the guys. Ok, so I wouldn't do that seriously, but it is fun to mess with his mind now and then. I am comforted, though, by a few random comments he has made. First, the other day I told him to go climb into bed. After a few minutes of me not coming up to throw blankets over him, he came down and said "aren't you coming to tuck me in?" When I responded that he was probably getting old enough to put himself in bed, he replied "NEVER! I just can't get to sleep unless you cover me up." I just smiled, danced a little jig (inside, of course) and went up to tuck him in. When I got to his room and tucked him in, he then asked me to sing him this silly song I made up for him when he was just a baby. I asked "aren't you getting to old for that?" and he replied "I'll never be too old for that! It's a song about ME! What could be better than that?" I guess we will be just like the book "Love You Forever" and I'll be sneaking into his dorm to sing to him when he is in college! He has also let me know several times over the last week that he really misses me when I am not at home (been at the hospital quite a bit). It really is encouraging to have a tender hearted little guy (ok - he's 12 - not so little anymore!).

Then, Hannah informed us that she has been invited to the Halloween dance by a little 4th grade boy who thinks she's cute. Luckily it is on a night that she cannot attend, but it is now obvious we are going to have to kick some of the dating/birds & bees conversations. up a notch. We always thought we would be cool with this...but...not so much. By the way, when did 4th grade boys start asking girls out?

Last, but certainly not least, Kermit received a postcard regarding his High School 20th Reunion in April '07. Enough said : )

Continue to Pray for Candy's Grandfather

It has been a long few days. My grandfather went in for open heart surgery on Thursday morning at 7am and came out at 5:15pm. He was then rushed back to surgery at 9pm due to internal bleeding. After 3 and 1/2 hours they were able to stop the bleeding and get him stabalized. Since that time he has come off the respirator and walked around a bit, but has not been able to come off the external pacemaker and they are talking about going in to put in a permanent one (it is going off several times an hour).

Please continue to pray for both him and my grandmother who is trying her best to take care of him even though she herself is dealing with some big health issues right now. Pray that the Lord's will will be done, regardless of what that may be.

Thanks for the prayers for my dad. His leg is doing better, although he is still pretty tired and worn out. He will continue the IV antibiotics for the next six weeks at home. Hopefully this will get rid of any trace of the infection.

Update on Candy's Dad

Thanks to everyone who has been praying. John's surgery went well today. When they doctors got into his leg, they saw that the infection on the bone itself was only superficial, which was great news. He will still need plastic surgery to cover the hole that the infection has left behind, but this is much better than bone grafts or removing the prosthetic knee. Please continue to keep him and my grandfather (Malvis) in your prayers.

On a lighter note, we are constantly entertained by our kids. Today, as I was taking Lily to the sitter, she started quoting lines from a bizarre Weird Al song that she has heard a few times. The fact that a three year old was quoting the lyrics was funny enough, but the fact that she actually understood the humor in what she was saying really got to to me. When we got to the sitter's, Lily saw jack-o-lanterns on the porch and said "Look mom, pumpkins. What do you think those are made of?" As I'm typing, I realize that the humor of the moment is lost in the translation to those of you reading this, but trust me, at the time it was really funny.

Right now I am listening to Hannah practice the trumpet. Mind you, she has only been playing for a month, which should tell you everything you need to know. But she is playing with gusto...I am telling myself that's all that matters.

As I type and listen to Hannah, Jake is avoiding working on his Spanish project. Since when do you start taking Spanish in the 6th grade? Sign of the times, I guess. Scary piece of info for Jake. We bought him new shoes yesterday... a MEN'S SIZE 9!!! He has now officially passed up his father in shoe size.

Prayer Request

We wanted to take a second to ask everyone to pray for Candy's dad and grandfather, this week.

Her dad has had a recurring staph infection in his leg. Last week it returned with a vengeance and he has been in the hospital since 10/11. They are going to go in on 10/16 and scrape the infection from the bone in an effort to get rid of it once and for all. This could pose a few risks for him since the infection is directly below his prosthetic knee (the doctors are trying to avoid removing the knee) and he is diabetic (so his leg may not heal very quickly). He will then need plastic surgery to cover the wound left by the infection. Please pray that he will heal quickly and be able to get back to his church soon.

Her 81 year old grandfather is going in for a triple bypass and valve replacement on 10/19. His heart decreased from working at 68% to 40% in the last three months. He is very weak due to a digestive problem that is keeping him from getting enough nourishment. Please pray that the Lord would work as He sees fit in this situation.

Thanks!

Our First Post!!

Ok, so we are just now getting with the program. A lot of our friends and relatives have blogs, so why not us? We hope it will be a great way for us to stay in touch with all of the 'techies' that we know and maybe even the 'non-techies' that at least know how to maneuver the internet enough to find our spot!

We can't promise a lot of deep, intelligent or thought provoking material, but with Kermit helping post, I can promise that there will be times that it will be a bit off the wall and possibly (probably!) a bit corny.

Anyway, thanks for stopping by and visit again soon!