Andrew's Birthday

Andrew's 8th birthday fell on the second day of our vacation.

The coolest thing ever was Andrew's second butterfly hatching for his birthday.

He went on his traditional breakfast out with Dad and then came home to open cards and presents.

Three special boys!!

Then we all went out to let the butterfly go. Unlike the last one, this one flew off right away.

High up into the sky....
In the evening we had all the neighborhood friends over for cupcakes and ice-cream.

Andrew loved having everyone over.

And a few of us adults were present too.

One year ago on Andrew's birthday we announced to the kids that they were going to have a new brother or sister. This year on Andrew's birthday we found out the disturbing news about Laura's heart problems. Hopefully next birthday will bring a much healthier little Laura!

What We Did on 9/11/10

Last Saturday we attended a wonderful parade in Zionsville. The theme was "Heroes" which was appropriate for something held on 9/11.

The kids were very excited and ready for candy. :)

Here's Laura with her silly grin, decked out in her newly knitted cardigan.

After waiting for more than an hour, the parade finally came down the street! Very appropriate to begin with all the firetrucks.

There were many tributes to 9/11:

And there was even a pipe band! Andrew told me later that when he saw them he "almost cried because it made him miss Scotland."

After we ate our picnic lunch we let the kids each choose one ride in the Lions Park carnival.

Rachel and Andrew loved the swings:

James used will power and resisted all the fancy rides to wait for a ride on a sweet little pony:

I think we looked a sight: umpteen balloons and almost umpteen children walking through the park.

It was a great outing for our staycation.

Today we started our first week of Homeschool Group. The kids loved their classes, which include German, Science Dissection, Gym, and various other things.

Laura also started her first physical therapy. She did a good job, and hopefully this will help her gain some muscle strength.

We are looking forward to a visit from Michael's mom and sister and her family next week!!! All the ladies are going to the True Woman conference, Michael is headed to Chicago for another conference, and somewhere in between we are going to enjoy each other's company!

Back to the Grind

Vacation (or Staycation) is over and we are back to the grind. So much so that there isn't a moment to stop and breath. Between homeschooling, feeding and clothing 7 people, medicating 4 of them, and trying to keep up with all my other responsibilities, life is CRAZY just now.

I have so many pictures to post, so hopefully I'll get the chance. Here we are on the last night of our vacation, eating a picnic dinner on the Circle downtown.

And then, as a big treat to end the vacation, we all went on a carriage ride!! It was so much fun, and hopefully will be very memorable. Thirty minutes of riding slowly over the streets of downtown imagining times gone by.

We all loved it!!!
Tomorrow begins our homeschool group and Laura's physical therapy. I have this feeling that I need to cram my entire fall into one month since September was taken up with vacation and November will be taken up with hospital stays. Oh the joys of a busy family!!! :)

Laura's Hospital Stay

I am so behind on posting. This is our vacation so we've been doing various things and I've been taking pictures and just haven't posted yet. Oh well. At least we are having fun and taking pictures. :)

Here are some photos from Laura's hospital stay. The rooms were very nice, and Laura had a hospital crib instead of a bed.

The hospital brought in toys for her to use (and even gave her several free toys). She LOVED this fisher price toy (and I think Michael wants to get her one).

She had to be monitored the whole time, so there were lots of wires, a red light, and a small unit we could take on a walk:

The kids came for a visit:

Look who is happy to be going home!!!

Laura's been doing well with her meds. She takes 3 meds each day (some twice a day) and hates them. She gets most of it down though. The next checkup with our pediatrician will be in two weeks and with the cardiologist in 3 weeks. At that time we'll get another echo and we'll see how the meds are working.

I've been reflecting on how perfect Laura's name is for her. Laura means "victorious" and Elizabeth means "consecrated to God." We do pray that she will come through these troubles victorious, but more than that, victorious in spirit. And, as her parents, we have committed her to the Lord's hand to do with as He pleases.

One of our pastor friends, who visited us in the hospital, shared some verses from Isaiah 49: Can a nursing mother forget her child? No. But more than that, God will not forget you. He has inscribed you on the palm of his hands. This is a special reminder that God does not forget us but sees exactly what is happening in our lives right now and is orchestrating it for His glory and our good.

In the mean time I'm very behind on my email and other such things. I'm not even really supposed to be doing much on the internet on vacation, but our plans have pretty much gone to the wind. We made it over to Dayton on Monday last week to see the Air Force Museum -- so awesome!!! Then, we had a lovely picnic at the Art Museum gardens on Sunday afternoon. Today we enjoyed Conner Prairie all to ourselves!!! I think there were only 15 other people there the whole time we were!!

We're Home!!!

We made it home at 10 p.m. tonight!! I think Laura will be very happy to be in her own bed and away from all the hospital sounds and interruptions.

Surgery will be November 8th to repair the large VSD (hole) in her heart. Lots of tests and checkups in the mean time. We still don't know the cause: genetics, virus, etc. Nor do we know if she has another underlying syndrome, disease, etc. That all scares me and it is hard to wait to know the answers. Laura is small and has weak muscles, which all can be explained by the heart trouble, but could also be explained by added problems.

Thank you for your prayers and notes, and comments, and practical help. We can't imagine going through this on our own.

Update

Laura is doing very well here in the hospital. She's here for a bunch of tests and is enduring blood tests, hearing tests, eye tests, and visits from the doctors. We are so thankful for such amazing health care and such great doctors! The cardiac team of 8 was in to see her earlier and we are confident of their good care.

At this point, we are looking at heart surgery in October or November. The doctor doesn't want her going through a winter with possible infection from things like RSV with such a big hole in her heart. Surgery and recovery will be a 7-10 day stay back here at Riley. Surgery should fix the holes and allow Laura to start growing much faster.

Right now Laura is on several meds that help the heart work better and take fluid away that may be causing problems. She will continue on meds after her surgery to help with the myopathy. There is a possibility that she could completely recover from the myopathy. This is what we are praying for. In any case, the most likely prognosis is that she will be able to do well on meds that help to manage the problem.

Thank you all for your prayers and concern and help. God is definitely upholding us with His peace and we are thankful for no more complications thus far. Going through trials is part of life, and this is the next trial God has seen fit to put in our path. We believe that God is sovereignly in control of everything and works all things for the good of those who love Him.

Providentially, the two sermons last Sunday from Galatians first and then Judges focused on 1) the fact that we can know God as "Abba Father" (Abba being the Aramaic term for something akin to "Daddy"). That is a comfort in these kinds of situations, knowing that God is personally involved in every detail and loves us more than we can imagine. 2) Walking in complete trust of God in difficult situations rather than doubting God (Gideon doubted God in the face of enemy armies and asked for two signs to "prove" God would give victory). I'm thinking of these sermons this week and the lessons they teach.

I'm hoping we might be able to go home tomorrow. If not, then Saturday. I'm going to be more nervous than normal of Laura, but must try to live life normally. I am very nervous about open heart surgery on a tiny baby, but everyone here thinks the surgeons are amazing and that things usually go just fine. We can keep all this in prayer.

Our World Upsidedown

I never thought we'd be spending part of our vacation with Laura in the hospital. She was diagnosed with a murmur on Friday and had an echo yesterday. Today we're at Riley and after another echo and visit with the doctor, she's been admitted for a few days with several serious heart issues.

1) She has 2 VSD's (holes in her heart). One is minor, the other quite large. The large one will require heart surgery in a few weeks or months. This condition is putting pressure on her lungs and so she's receiving meds to help with this.

2) She has cardiac myopathy which means her left ventricle is enlarged and not formed the way it should be. She is in the hospital partly to try to figure out what caused it (genetic testing and metabolic testing).

Fortunately, although these are very serious issues, we are still expecting that she might be able to live a fairly normal life. We are SO thankful for that news.

However, there are still far too many unknowns. I know it's going to be hard to live life normally when I'll be waiting for the next test, the next appointment.

Anyway, we are here at the hospital for the next two or three days. Everyone is helping with the kids and meals at home and we are thankful for everyone's prayers.

There is much to be thankful for: being in a city with such an amazing children's hospital and cardiac pediatricians, lots of family and friends to help, and time of off work for Michael.