Sam is doing great!

Update on Sam ...

He is doing great. He is eating more as we offer food to him every couple of hours. I've never done that before since he can let us know by hitting his highchair if he's hungry. I'd never liked to encourage too much eating because I don't want my kids to be obese!

Thankfully all tests seemed to indicate that the seizure was caused by him having low blood sugar. We had suspected something like this because when he would get sick, he'd get so sick, he'd be unresponsive and always end up in the hospital on IVs.

We are concerned as this could be an indicator of other issues but we just take one day at a time and trust God to lead us and his doctors!

Harvest A/G Fine Arts Group

Sunday we had the Fine Arts youth group from Harvest Assembly of God. They did an outreach to the community with us on Saturday. Over 200 families were personally invited to visit our churh and given a door hanger with a flyer and a packet of microwaveable popcorn. It was great to see youth excited about reaching the lost.

Sunday they ministered in both services and did an awesome job. It was great to have them and uplifting to us personally. Plus a sweet family took our little boy kitten home to live with their little girl who is wheel chaired bound. I thought it was fitting that the little guy would go to such a great family, who like us have had to deal with some adversaty. It was a good day!

Sam's Seizure!!

Thursday afternoon I went in to check on Sam, who was taking a nap and found him having a seizure. It was awful. I grabbed him up and ran in to the living room, and called 911. He was cold to the touch and unresponsive. After an eternity, the ambulance arrived and took him to Lakeland Regional. On the way there he began seizing again. No one knew what to do but then I remembered he'd had low blood sugar last year so they checked his sugar and it was so low, it was not readable. He was immediately given glucose and the his sugar shot up. He still was not very responsive. From Lakeland he was sent to St Joes' in Tampa that night. They ran alot of tests on him and it was determined that he had low blood sugar and that probably his liver doesn't store the sugar very good. It's the opposite of diabetes. The day before, he had eaten and drank fine but didn't take a bottle at night nor did he take it the next day and he didn't want breakfast. So that caused his blood sugars to drop. We know what to do to prevent this in the future hopefully. If he has another seizure, we may have to do blood checks at him regularly...I hope that don't happen!

So now we are feeding him little meals every time he turns around! He may end up as a little Buddha before long! I'm a bit traumatized by all of this and may post more later but needless to say we are constantly watching him. For now he is sleeping with us, he seems afraid and we are a little afraid to have him out of our sight!!

Palm Beach trip

The pictures saved in the wrong order! the first picture of the storm should be the last one...So from BOTTOM to top is...Steve and Sam at a rest stop on the Toll road, south of Yeehaw Junction. The next is beautiful Bascom Palmer taken from outside the car in the middle of the road by Steve..., the next one is me holding Sam at BP. then Steve and his chips at Chilli's then the STORM!!

What a crazy trip. It is exactly 180.5 miles from my front door to the Palm Beach office of Bascom Palmer Eye Hospital. We love going there rather than Miami any time. Our joke is all the rich old people in the Palm Beach area raised money to bring Bascom Palmer Hospital to them so they didn't have to go to the 'hood to get help for their eyes. The building is like a beautiful hotel and it sets on the outer edge of the PGA. A far cry from the main hospital that sets on the edge of "Liberty City and Little Havana" in Miami!!

Anyhow a friend in the church kept Shad for me so I just had Steve and Sam to deal with. That was helpful. So we started off at 8:30 am yesterday and about 8 miles from home I see this big piece of rubber on the side of the road. Steve starts yelling "it's an alligator" so I do the "smart" thing and pull off. I really wanted to get a picture of him. I have this secret love for gators- it's really weird. (When Steve Erwin died, we all cried. We love his show and we love gators but I think I like them more than anyone else in my family.) I didn't get a picture of this guy. The 5 ft gator took off running for a nearby pond. He had to run about 150 feet. I have never seen anything like that. He ran with his tail and head up and he was booking it. Forget what the experts say about gators can only run about 20 feet, that's a LIE. I wish I'd videoed him! It was unbelievable!

So we get down with no problems. Sam's doctor saw him between operations, just a quick check in. It seems Sam's eye pressure feels like it is up. since he has implants, there are only two ways of checking his pressure, feeling the eye and putting him under anesthesia and taking pictures of his optic nerve. I had been feeling his eye and I thought it felt a little too firm. Unfortunately I was right. With kids that have Peter's Anomaly, glaucoma is sometimes a problem. Especially for a kid like Sam who has had so many eye surgeries and now the implants. On top of the normal danger, he also takes steroid drops to prevent his eyes from inflammation/trying to "reject" his implants and the drops raise the risk of glaucoma. It's such a tightrope we walk!!! So the plan is to schedule him for an exam under anesthesia in July with his glaucoma specialist Dr H, retina specialist Dr Berra-call, his corneal specialist Dr Perez and his pediatric opthmalogist Dr Mcquin. Since his eyes are clear, we're looking at the possibility of being able to get an exact reading on his eyes for glasses that he might wear!!! It'll be challenging to get everyone scheduled together.

We left and went to Chilli's for Steve and started home. When we got into Bartow and stopped for a minute, we saw some terrible storm clouds over Lakeland. They were rolling and green. I started calling everyone to see if there was some kinda of warning out but no one ws answering their phones. I decided I wanted to get home so off we went..into the WORST storm I have ever driven through in my life!!!! At several points there was NO visibility. I was petrified but I just kept going. Thank God for the truck in front of me, I followed it's lights all the wasy down Hwy 98. I was afraid to pull off because the ground was overfilled with water and I was in Jon's car and afraid I'd get stuck or hit by someone else so I just kept creeping along.

I thought about the storm and how it could be used as an example in our lives. Storms come and they can be fierce but we should just hold firm, keep following the right road home and we'll come through it!!

Mother's Day

Mother's Day was always awkward for me growing up. I loved my aunt but she wasn't my mother completely. Also her sister lived with us so I kinda was like "Yvonne has 2 moms" So anyhow I dreaded Mother's Day because it seemed to highlight my differences from other kids. Then as a grownup, I just kinda ignored Mother's Day. My aunt had passed away and my mother in law passed away just months after Jon and I were married so I really didn't have anyone to celebrate it with.

Then came my first Mother's Day as a mommy! Steve was about 6 months old, a happy fat little boy and Mother's Day became a happy celebration for me. I'm not one to make a big deal about holidays, I never have except for the kids. But my oldest, Steve, is a holiday celebrator even if it's not for him. He loves to celebrate! Steve is very thoughtful about buying gifts and he pays attention to things I look at in the store but don't buy for myself. Yesterday he bought me a Ped Egg. It's used to scrape the callous off your feet. He remembered me looking at it so he got it for me. Then today he wanted to get me pizza. Of course that benefits him also. So he took the whole family out to CiCi's for lunch today. Steve earns money by cleaning the church and mowing the church yard. A lady in our church felt moved to bless him for the work he does. It was so sweet of her and it encourages him to do the work cheerfully.

When Steve gets money saved up, he spends it but usually not on himself. A few years ago he had saved the grand total of $300. That year our district's mission project was building churches in Siberia. Steve watched the video and said he wanted to give all his savings. I tried to redirect him but Jon said to let him give it. So he did give it all at District Council and it touched the heart of the missionary so much that he included Steve in his sermon. Steve really like that! Although I told him that you're not supposed to get praises on earth but rather in heaven...

But that's his heart is to give. When he was younger, he'd try to give other kids his toys. I used to worry that he thought he was trying to buy friendships but we could really tell it was from his heart. I'm glad he's like that. We try to teach our kids to hold on LOOSELY to possessions/money. You really can't take it with you!

So being a mom is the best thing that ever happened to me. I'm so thankful that I have my boys. I always had such a hard time getting pregnant and maintaing the pregnancies but all the effort was worth it to have my guys! Life would be so lonely without the three of them. Although there are times I fantasize about being alone, I know in reality I'd be bored without my kids! They are worth everything to me. They've enriched my life and broaden my heart in so many ways. Thank you God for giving me my three "little men"

Kittens anyone????

I am looking for a home for this cute little striped guy. He is about 3 weeks old and won't be ready to go home with anyone for awhile but I thought I should start looking for a home now!

This is my one mommy cat who is never around when it's time to go to the vet. She and "her husband" Tom both seem to understand English when there is talk about going to the snip snip clinic, so every now and then, we get some new babies. I have told the children that Tom and Scardey Cat are married. They believe me... Anyhow I was feeding her in the back of our yard, where she eats a few weeks ago and I noticed she had been nursed on. So Steve and I went out in the woods and found the babies about 20 feet from our fence. Then we spent hours catching her! Once she is caught she's fine, she just doesn't like to give up control. Now they are in my laundry room in a big cage that I have to clean out daily. We are going to keep the little gray one as she has no tail, only a nub, so cute but we'd like to find a GOOD Christian home for little brother. Steve and I both have a hard time letting go of pets as we are always afraid the new family won't take as good of care of them as we do. That is why we have so many animals. Anyhow if you'd like a cute sweet kitten who is a chunky little guy, that already loves to be petted, let me know!!!

District Council

We're at District Council and having a great time. It's neat to come together with old friends and have the opportunity to make new friends at the same time. we've had good night services. Last night was the missions service where all the missionaries were honored. Our district is parterning with Cuba to help plant and build churches in the coming year. There was a speaker from Cuba who had lived through the revolution and the years that have followed. It was amazing to think all that that man had gone through. There was also a chorale group from Cuba. Most of the young people had never been out of Cuba before now. I could only imagine what they were thinking about America. It was a moving service.

We have 3 kids in a small hotel room, so I have to say I'll be glad to get home. Last night Sam wanted to sleep with me and no matter how far I'd scoot from him, he'd scoot right up to me. I ended up on the very edge of the bed with a little 30 pound midget taking over the bed!!!

I've been blessed to meet some new friends this week as well as seeing all out old ones. That's the funniest part of District Council as well as as the pastor's jokes because we know what each other goes through!!