Mandy's party

Mandy had her fifth birthday party on Saturday and she had a blast! It was so wonderful to see her having such a great time with her friends from school. When I think back over the last five years of her life, I start getting teary-eyed! You see, Mandy was born with some pretty serious kidney issues: she has two right kidneys (not a good thing!) and a left kidney. When she was just over a week old, we were told that they might have to remove part of her right kidney as it was obstructed and urine wasn't able to drain. Thankfully, we moved back to Michigan (we lived in Missouri at the time as I was doing graduate work) and found a urologist who was willing to try and reconstruct the kidney so that it would drain, rather than just removing the top part. Between the time of her birth and her surgery, however, Mandy was in the hospital 9 times with urine infections. One of her infections was so bad that she had to be sent home on IV antibiotics with home health care (and that was at 6 months of life). It was a very difficult time in our lives. When Mandy had surgery at almost 10 months of age, her right kidney was the size of an adult males; after the surgery, her kidney was able to drain properly, and it became just slightly larger than normal. Shortly after Mandy recovered from her kidney surgery, she started in with ear infections, and 4 months after her kidney surgery, she got her first set of tubes. Luke and I honestly felt like we were unable to breathe at that part of our life. As her mom, I felt incredibly helpless to take pain away from my daughter, and it killed me. Seeing your child suffer is one of the most awful things ever.

So that's why seeing Mandy so happy and full of life on Saturday meant so much to me. Seeing her enjoy life, healthy, happy, and energetic, was the best gift. Mandy has no memories of her health issues from her first year of life and except for the scar on her right side, there is really nothing anybody else can see that would clue you in to her struggles. Her kidneys still aren't perfect, and she's still followed by a urologist, but for right now, everything looks really good! And for that, I am extremely thankful to the Lord.

And, to my sweet Mandy: Happy birthday tomorrow! I love how you were born on April Fool's Day; I think it suits your personality perfectly!!

No more fever!

Finally! I still had a slight fever yesterday, but today I feel great (minus the cold that I have!) My house is slowly recuperating from my illness, too! A mom on the couch for a week = disaster!

The big excitement at our house is getting ready for Mandy's birthday party on Saturday. She's having her first really big party with lots of friends and her excitement is at a fever-pitch level! She's so excited about the grab bags, the games, the art project, the food....and I'm wondering how I'm going to cram 11 little girls (that includes my own!) in my house! I've called my sister and asked her to come for crowd control purposes!

Add onto THAT excitement that fact that we're having a new roof put on (our current roof will be torn down to the rafters)--it's just going to be a mess everywhere in this house, in and out! I'm not looking forward to the noise and chaos that this roof project will bring, but I AM looking forward to not having our office leak and not finding pieces of our roof on the grass!

My list of things I'm thankful is very long, but I'll list just a few:
1) Finally not being sick
2) Mandy and the blessing she is to our family. Her life, especially her first year, has not always been easy, but she remains joyful and good-natured!
3) This semester of school is almost done. One month from now I'll be getting ready to go on a cruise with my mom!

Been a little bit

Well, I've been SICK for almost a week now. My fever started on Tuesday, March 18, and on Monday, March 24, I STILL have a fever! I finally went to the doctor yesterday (Easter Sunday) and was diagnosed with the flu. The 7-14 day variety. Oh, PLEASE let me have the 7 day kind (then I'm almost done!) But, I'm in nursing school and have been plugging away, even getting to my clinicals (I bet all the patients there would LOVE knowing their student nurse really runs almost a 103 degree fever without the 4 motrin, 2 tylenol, and sudafed she's taking). Don't worry, I washed my hands a LOT and didn't touch anyone (other than one patient's belly)

Today is a special day for me and Luke: Nine years ago he proposed to me. And, I think he's still glad he did it! I'm sure glad I said "yes!" to him, too! This June will be our 8th wedding anniversary!

The kids are doing great. Kayla is keeping me VERY busy, doing things I expected her to do a year ago (climb on the counter and turning the water on in the sink, for example). The Easter candy is in a bucket on the counter, and I saw her sifting through it this morning while singing the Sunday school song, "Oh be careful little hands what you touch!" She somehow is missing the connection between her actions and her words! Mandy is now reading and is looking forward to her birthday party on Saturday (PLEASE pray for health!) Think of me often as there are going to be a LOT of little girls at this not-so-big house!

Time is flying by!

I'm sitting here realizing I am just 13 months away from college graduation (again!). The difference between last time and this time is 6 years, 2 kids, a mortgage payment, and a usable degree!

And, as easy as it is to dream about how life will, in the very near future, not require that I spend hours on the computer writing papers about syphilis, pregnancy-induced hypertension, and the benefits of breastfeeding, I am thankful that God has put where I am for this time.

I have been asked if I ever regretted not getting a nursing degree the first time around. The answer is a resounding, "NO!" God put me at Central Michigan University (which does not even HAVE a nursing program) for many reasons; He used that time in my life to mold me into the person I am today. God knew that being at CMU, involved with InterVarsity Christian Fellowship, and attending our church there were important for me and Luke and our first two years of marriage. I grew in my faith more during that time in my life than any other time (although I still continue to grow and seek!). The friendships I made from that time are the most dear to me, even though we've all been separated for the last 6 years.

Was I even ready to be a nurse at 22? I could've done the job well, but I am going to be a better nurse at 29 because I have experienced pain. I know the pain of having a scary pregnancy; the pain of seeing your baby extremely ill; and the pain of being a patient. I will be able to better empathize with my patients and their families.I have a maturity (hey, no laughing at that part!) that I didn't have at 22.

And the main reason I wasn't ready at 22? Because God hadn't completely broken me and molded me to make me ready. He knew that, for me to be used as His instrument, I needed to be transformed. That transformation process has been painful! Going through the trials, especially when it came to Mandy, HURT. I don't ever want to go through them again, but I am able to see how God used them to make me who I am today.

I don't even know if this blog makes sense; a lot of it is random ramblings that have been inside my heart for awhile. I know that, as exciting as the future is, nothing beats the present. Hearing Kayla laugh her big belly laugh and hearing Mandy read (yes, she can READ!) me Bible stories is amazing. Seeing Luke love our little girls makes me love him all the more.

So, I'm extremely thankful!!

One more thing...

Mandy, Kayla, and I went to build-a-bear a couple weeks ago. The girls each picked out a bear and were excited to see it come "alive." They picked out outfits and had a grand 'ol time there (and I left a little poorer!)

Well, fast forward a few days. Mandy is holding her bunny creation and she says to me, "I chose bunny bunny, I gave him life, I love him. I'm GOD!"

Um, I think I know how cults are formed!

In the meantime, I have some theology to straighten out!

So many hurting people

That's what Luke and I feel right now. Not us, but people we love dearly, who are going through enormous struggles.

There's my friend, Lorelei, who's daughter, Maia, suffered a brain aneurysm almost 6 months ago. Maia was 20 months old when it happened and her survival at the beginning was very uncertain. She survived, thanks to thousands of prayers and medical advances. Now she is going through the long road of rehab. She has vision deficits, has problems with muscle tone, is unable to communicate, doesn't have control of her movements, and cries often (from pain, frustration, etc). Maia is currently in intensive rehab at a hospital here in Grand Rapids, and please pray that all of the issues just mentioned can be resolved. The therapists all feel that if Maia's tone could be better (she's very stiff and rigid all the time--hypertonic), she'd made huge progress. Pray for her parents, too--that their marriage would be strengthened and that they would continue to seek after the Lord. Pray also for her big sister as life has been very different for her the last few months.

Then there are our friends, Jessica and Jonah. They are in our small group Bible study and are a couple that love the Lord passionately! They have a very run romance story (it involves thousands of miles of separation and a lot of patience with immigration here in the US!) and the two of them together have spiritual gifts that complement each other perfectly. It is very clear that the Lord put them together to rock His kingdom! Jess is currently 22.5 weeks pregnant (pregnancy is 40 weeks) and is on bedrest at the hospital fighting to stay pregant. PLEASE PRAY that her body can stay pregnant for many, many more weeks! Jess is 1000% committed to doing anything needed to have a healthy baby, and please pray that she and Jonah can have this. Pray also that the Lord will sustain their marriage as they deal with all the hardships of this high-risk pregnancy. Oh yeah...if you could pray that we, as their friends, can find ways to encourage them and keep them company, that would be awesome, too!