life

Life. There is joy, there is sorrow. There is excitement, there is disappointment. But in all circumstances we can rest assured that God is not surprised by anything that happens. And, when the storms come, He will see us through!


Andrew was born with a hole in his heart. He also has a condition called pulmonary stenosis (a valve in his heart doesn't fully open). January 20th we went to our 2nd pediatric cardiologist visit to find out that one of the two issues had resolved on its own - yes, the hole in Andrew's heart had already closed in just 6 short weeks of life. I think this is sooner than most if I'm not mistaken. And here's our little man...



That same week Daniel's dad was diagnosed with stage 4 lung cancer. He'd been having pain in his chest for about a year - the doctor thought it was a pulled muscle. Finally he was encouraged to get a chest x-ray. The x-ray showed fluid on his lungs, and everything went from there. The week following his diagnosis the Audis had planned a trip to see us. Despite the diagnosis, they came. And, we were so glad to have them here! What a special visit it was.

We got to process some of the diagnosis with them, we played games, shared meals, watched Josiah play, read books with Josiah, played in the snow, laughed, prayed, worshiped together. This was the first time Josiah had seen Daniel's parents since July. They are "Grandma" and "Grandpa" to their other 8 grandchildren. To Josiah, they are "Guh" and "Pa-pa". Eventually he'll join the others with the longer names, but for now, I think his names for them are kinda cute!

Here are 3 generations of Audis: Norman, Daniel, Josiah & Andrew Audi.

Yesterday...

Yesterday. Yesterday Josiah had his 2nd big mis-hap. The first was a couple of weeks before Christmas. He tripped in the driveway and ended up with this scrape on his nose. The scab finally went away a couple of days after Christmas.

Yesterday, like I said, was his second big mis-hap. And it was a double mis-hap.

It was about 5:30. Daniel's parents are in town and they were on their way to our house for dinner. Daniel had Andrew. I was in the kitchen catching up with Nikki on the phone while preparing dinner. Josiah was in the computer room next to the kitchen when suddenly I heard screaming and saw blood. I hung up quickly with Nikki to discover he had only busted his bottom lip, but he was pretty upset about it and the blood covered his bottom teeth and was pouring out of his mouth - it seemed worse than it really was. We got him settled down and got the blood cleaned up. Daniel's parents arrived and dinner was almost ready when suddenly, I heard screaming again. This time from the back of the house. Daniel runs in the room holding Josiah and says, "It's bad." I looked and a big knot was forming between Josiah's eyes and the area was already blue. "ICE!" I said to Daniel's mother. Josiah was screaming. I was trying to console him while not trying to panic, all the while thinking, "Oh no, his little head must be throbbing. This doesn't look good. How am I gonna get him to be still enough to let me put ice between his eyes?" We sat in front of the TV and put our PRAISE BABY DVD on (thanks, Molly, for a fabulous gift!) Josiah sat fairly still and calmed down quickly, though putting the ice on his bump was still a challenge. It was 6:25 when we finally sat down to dinner...

(see the black and blue between the eyes?)

Josiah went to bed just fine. A little banged up, but fine. He woke up this morning chitter -cattering away. Guess the black and blue between his eyes and the knot on his head and the fat lip are really only affecting me, he's quite resilient!

(see the knot between his eyes?)

Welcome to Mommyhood of 2 boys, right!?!?!? Guess I should get used to the bumps and bruises!!