Save the Bears!

Natania and Claire were pretending to shot bears and lions the other day. (I decided that if I had boys I wouldn’t be surprised that they wanted to pretend to hunt and shoot so I don’t want to have a double standard! Although I really don’t know where that idea came from, not me!) Anyhow, after they had brought us their 4th or so pretend dead bear, Daryl and told them they shouldn’t shot too many bears, only what Natania and Claire could eat themselves so that they didn’t waste. Claire then told me that they were having a big dinner and needed enough for Natania, Claire, mommy and daddy. We then said that they needed to make sure they didn’t shot all the bears because other people needed to see them too. Natania called down, (she was hunting upstairs) that other people could always look at pictures to see bears and lions!

They are quick! Maybe it was too early to be teaching them about conservation!

Daryl had his fundoplication surgery 2 weeks ago today. The first week of recovery was hard, he was uncomfortable, couldn't eat much and not sleeping well. This second week has been better. He's been able to eat more, sleeping a bit better (although for him with all his sleep issues "better" is still not very good) and he doesn't have much pain. They sent us home with two big bottles of serious pain med, and we never opened them! He was able to switch to children's Motrin (only liquids or crushed meds from now on) pretty early on, which we're grateful for. We do praise God that Daryl never vomited after the surgery. We and the Doctors were very concerned because the last several times Daryl has had a general anesthetic for an operation, he has reacted violently to it. If he vomited forcefully with this surgery, it could do damage to the operation! Thank you everyone who prayed, God answered those prayers! Please continue to pray that God would give Daryl good REM sleep - he is tired and doesn't have a lot of energy. Will keep you posted!

Endoscopy this week.

Daryl has his endoscopy on this Thursday morning and the last couple times he has been put out for procedures, he is sick for the next 24 hours. This time they are going to try some new medications to try to counter his negative reactions to the anesthesia. Daryl has been losing weight these days and so we really hope his body can handle it so that he can keep food down... thanks for praying.

Kidney stone day 6

It is Tuesday morning, Daryl is resting; he didn’t sleep that great last night. Still feels sore and uncomfortable. He had the procedure on Saturday to break up the stone, but apparently it can take a while for everything to pass through. There is also the chance that the other two stones that were in his kidneys are passing now. Ever since Saturday he has been very uncomfortable, with little spots of ease here and there.
I’ll be picking the girls up after work. They’ve been staying with Daryl’s parents since Sunday night. We miss them a lot, the house is so quiet without their playful voices, but it has been really nice to not worry about them and for Daryl to be able to rest and survive in the mornings instead of trying to care for them while I’m at work.
We have been more hopeful the last couple days, being reminded that God has given us this pain, it is not an accident or mistake- it is His good will for us.

I haven’t used this blog as an update for our current health issues with Daryl, but it seems convenient to do so. Right now, we are waiting for our insurance to approve the referral Daryl received for the surgery at USC medical center. (for more info about fundoplication surgery click here ) We’ve done some research on the surgery and it gives us some encouragement that USC is known to be the best hospital in LA for this surgery, since having an experienced surgeon is really important. Daryl and I have a range of emotions right now. We feel tired and long for God to bring this trial to an end. It has been 5 weeks since Daryl has been in his current low health. But it has been about 7 years (off and on some) that we have been dealing with health issues. We long for God to bring Glory to Himself and want to take courage that His timing is perfect. Some days we are filled with hope, some days we are discouraged. I will continue to post as new things come up. Thanks.

Natania cracks us up all the time. A couple weeks ago we had family from out of town visiting. Daryl's aunt from Colorado and Grandparents who live in Wyoming as well as his parents, brother and girlfriend were all over for dinner at our place. We had a great time together! At one point in the evening Daryl asked his Aunt Natalie how old she was. Aunt Nat teasingly said to all of us, "I'm old as dirt!" Natania who was standing right by her, looked at her and said, "Aunt Nat, you're not old as dirt," and then she pointed at Daryl grandparents sitting on the couch and said, "they're old as dirt!" We all had a good laugh at that one!

Sweet Claire

Last week we had a first hair cut... first hair cut by someone other than mommy that is! Natania got into the scissors and gave her little sister a hair cut. i was trying to find a good "before" picture but i just cut Claire's hair a couple weeks ago into a cute bob. and was probabably feeling a little pride about how adorable she was with her cute little hair cut. Well, as you see below, her golden tresses are rather short in some areas! We've tried to down-play the whole "oh Claire your beautiful hair is gone!" response while still taking the "playing with scissors" seriously. Even at this early age she is learning from us what beauty is and we want to be very intentional about treating looks healthily and without very much importance. I would love to raise girls who are free from the lies this culture and world teaches us from day one about beauty and needing to conform to a certain image that media and current fashion feeds us!

Ok, so here is the evidence!