I would like to ask everyone to pray for a friend of mine, Heather Weed, and her family. They are in the process of adopting a beautiful little girl from China they have already named Hannah Grace. They are hoping to go in June or September to bring her home with them. Please pray for Hannah’s health, for travel mercies for Alan and Heather, and mostly, for God to be honored through it all.
Archive for March, 2008
The Power of Prayer
Many of you know about what happened with our daughter Kyleigh when she was born. Actually it is the reason she and Riley were born on that day. During my weekly fetal stress test on that Thursday morning, Kyleigh’s heart rate was extremely high (about 230-250 bpm) so the doctor wanted to deliver them that afternoon. After delivery the doctors were unable to convert her heart to a normal rate and rhythm so she was transferred to a hospital down the street with a NICU. After several doses of medicine, they were able to keep her heart rate normal. The condition is known as supra ventricular tachycardia (SVT). The doctors at that hospital were in contact with a pediatric cardiologist at University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) on several occasions faxing EKGs and other test results. She stayed in the NICU for a week before coming home on daily medication. At that point, we were referred to the doctor at UAB for follow up and made the first trip on November 6 when she was only six weeks old. After reviewing Kyleigh’s previous EKGs and the one from that day, the doctor diagnosed her with Wolf Parkinson White syndrome or WPW, for short. That is a long name which basically means that her heart has an extra electrical path that caused it to race.
Today (Tuesday), I am actually typing this in the back of our van on the way home from our second trip to UAB. Kyleigh had another EKG and the doctor described it as NORMAL! Praise the Lord! He answers prayers! The doctor said that it looks like she is probably outgrowing the WPW. Although she will remain on a very low dose of her medication until she is one year old, if the next EKG is still normal, and she has not had any episodes of SVT, then we can discontinue the medication at that point. We are so grateful to everyone for their prayers over these last six months. Please continue to pray that Kyleigh will not have any episodes of SVT, and that she will outgrow this condition. We know that God is the Great Physician, and we give him all praise, honor and glory for this miracle!
Getting weighed
EKG time
Pictures, pictures, pictures
Here are the rest of the most recent pictures we have taken. Several are already in other posts so I didn’t add them to the slide show. Hope you enjoy!
Hoppy Easter
This year I decided to start a tradition of making a bunny cake for Easter. My mom said that she used to make them years ago. I figure as the kids get older they can help more and more with the mixing, baking, icing, decorating, etc. Ashleigh helped put the coconut and a few of the jelly beans on this year. Of course, only a few of the jelly beans actually ended up on the cake. Most ended up in her mouth. Until she found a cinnamon one anyway. She didn’t really like that one.
Ashleigh also experienced her first Easter egg hunt this year. On Saturday, our church had a community-wide egg hunt for the first time in many years. We had a great turn out, and the kids had fun. Before the kids went out to hunt for the eggs, we shared the real reason we celebrate Easter with them. Luke used the Resurrection Eggs with the older children, and the younger ones watched a Miss Pattycake video about Easter. We pray that one day our kids will understand what Easter is all about and know Jesus as their personal Lord and Savior.
We were surprised at how well Ashleigh did finding the eggs since she had never done it before Saturday. I think she might be a little OCD like me so she wanted to “clean up” by picking up the eggs off the ground and putting them in her basket. That’s my girl! On the other hand, she loves dumping out all the toys from the toy bins in the middle of the living room floor. Oh well.
She also enjoyed what was inside the eggs she found. A little too much I’m afraid. Yum, candy!
Riley and Kyleigh attended the egg hunt as well, but they slept through most of it and didn’t get to join in the festivities this year. Next year, Babies.
Then, on Sunday, after a beautiful celebration of the resurrection of our Redeemer, we came home to eat lunch and have our own little Easter egg hunt in the front yard. Ashleigh saw the first egg as soon as we walked out the front door and was very excited. When she would see another egg, she would exclaim “MORE!” We only hid about 14 eggs or so, and she found them all with little help. She has become quite the little egg hunter. Next year we’ll see how a little friendly competition from her brother and sister affects her hunting abilities. They were watching her every move.
We hope everyone had a very blessed Easter. Alleluia! He is risen!
Twins at Six Months
It is hard to believe that Riley and Kyleigh are six months old already. I know I, and all parents for that matter, say that all the time, but time just seems to fly by so quickly. They are half way to one year old. It just doesn’t seem possible.
Here are their latest growth stats from their six month checkup:
Riley
22 lbs 4 oz
28.5 in
Kyleigh
17 lbs 12 oz
27.5 in
Riley was in the 95th percentile or above for everything, and Kyleigh was in the 90th percentile or above for everything. Needless to say, they are both thriving. They have been eating cereal, fruits and veggies for a couple of months and are starting on meats now. For the most part they have enjoyed the baby food except for maybe peas. I have learned to hide the peas by mixing them with another veggie they enjoy, like carrots. Very sneaky. Dr. Scotty says they are doing great and not to change a thing. We have been blessed with three beautiful, healthy children. Thank you, God.
Latest Obsession
No, I’m not talking about the iPhone or Guitar Hero. It’s not even my obsession, it’s Ashleigh’s. For some reason she enjoys looking at church directories, you know, the ones with pictures of all the church members. We have several of them both from previous churches and our current church so she has plenty of faces to study. When she sees a face she recognizes, she proudly exclaims the person’s name. Some of her favorites are Daddy, Mommy, Anye (Randy), Bobby (Bob), Nina (LaNita), Illa (Priscilla) and Hubba (Hubert). I can’t tell you exactly how long, in minutes, she will sit and stare intently at them, but I can tell you that it is exactly long enough to empty the dishwasher, load it again, and if you hurry, start a load of laundry. I learned that today. That may not sound like much, but some of you understand just how much that excites me. Typically unloading the dishwasher takes a lot longer than that because I have to try to keep two little hands away from the clean dishes including the knives. And typically starting a load of laundry takes longer than that too because my little shadow loves to “help” me put clothes in the washing machine and/or dryer.
So…..thank you to all of you who had your pictures taken for one of our church directories. I greatly appreciate it!
Yesterday
Lane Invasion
Last weekend several of Luke’s family members made the short trip from GA to MS to visit us. The visitors included his oldest brother Russ and family (Karen, Hayley, Jacob), his brother Paul and family (Sherry, Austin) and his parents Frank and Jackie. Except for Luke’s parents, this was the first time the rest of the family had seen the twins.
Left to right: Austin, Jacob, Ashleigh, Hayley
Grandbud and Uncle Paul with Riley and Kyleigh
Uncle Russ with Riley and Kyleigh
That weekend happened to be the annual Loose Caboose festival here in Newton. It has actually become a pretty big deal. It’s an impressive festival for such a small town. Our church handed out free bottles of water with labels on them including information about the church and how to have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ.
There was also a 5K race early that morning, and our niece Hayley was the first female to cross the finish line. Go Hayley!! She would have been the first in her age division if it hadn’t been for “that boy.”
We all had a great time. Y’all come back now, ya hear!
