Giving Thanks

HAPPY THANKSGIVING !

Mic is especially thankful for cousins, aunts, uncles, new friends and most of all, GRANDMA! She has had so much fun on this trip playing and interacting with the many people that are so dear to us. I have a fun collection of "cousin pictures" so I decided to share a little sampling with you above.

"Thanks be unto God for His unspeakable gift." 2 Cor. 9:15 (KJV)

"Unspeakable" caught my eye and left me pondering. ...Of course, first and foremost is the salvation of my soul. And the peace that comes with it in these uncertain times. Thank you, Father.

Another tale to tell, while we are talking about thankfulness... we are thankful that Mom's house is still standing--we had a real scare the other day! The fire in the wood stove caught the creosote in the chimney on fire. The chimney was bright red hot, smoke was pouring, the house alarms were going, some sparks flew in the attic. Oh my! My adrenaline was high! I was running from the stove to the attic hole to the ladder up to the roof shrieking, "do I call 911 or not!?!". Just when hubby would say, "yes, call", my bro. would say "just wait, I think we got it". Then bro. would say, "maybe we should call" and hubby would say, "hang on, I think it will be OK". Well in the end we emptied the fire extinguisher, dumped water down the chimney too...and we didn't have to call 911. It did take me about 4 hours to get the knots in my tummy untied. ...Its very nice to be able to laugh about it now!

Past is history, Tomorrow is mystery...what will we do with today?

We've been on the go a lot in the last week. We spent about four of those days up at my sisters house and had a marvelous time with her and her family. Two highlights were late night Settlers of Catan games and seeing the cousins warm up to each other and really start having a hay day. While in that area we also took some time to visit some old haunts of ours like where we did VS for two years and visiting some of the members of Mic's medical team from that time. That her doctors and nurses have an on going personal interest in how Mic is doing even though she is no longer on their paying client list says volumes for them...and we love them so much for it! Oh, and as you can see in the pictures above, uncle M gives haircuts, so we took advantage of that and got baby D's first "official" trim. He behaved very nicely!

An interesting observation on culture I have been mulling over a bit is that speaking in vast generalizations, everyone is very busy doing their own life...to the point that in day to day living they often, without meaning to, do not stop and take time for those near and dear to them...knowing that "there is always tomorrow". However, when one comes from far off and will only be around a short while there is an overwhelming tendency to drop everything and do whatever possible to get some good quality time together. ...in no way am I criticizing anyone, except perhaps myself. I am just noticing a human tendency and contrasting it with God's Word which teaches us we have "no promise of tomorrow". As I return back to my own day to day flurry how could I better arrange my priorities to give proper place for the important instead of forever attending the "urgent"? I'm not sure...but I know I need to work on it.

Oral feeding is going well, as we got completely past her illness the numbers worked their way back up almost to what they had previously been. When visiting over a meal we are less diligent in giving Mic 100% of our undivided attention and that always does make a difference in that particular meal's success, but in general she is eating at least 300 oral cal. a day often more, sometimes a little less. We will just keep plugging away at it, and I have faith that over time the number is going to grow. In the meantime we, of course supplement the rest of her calorie needs with the blenderized diet through her tube. This is a marathon, not a sprint, and at the moment, in that perspective, spirits are hopeful and high.

Time for some picture journaling!

Its time to post some more pictures--they ARE worth a thousand words, you know! So chronologically, and starting while we were still in therapy....

Happy Birthday, Honey!!!

"How old?" you ask,...well, lets just say that two candles are very forgiving! : )

Fun at the Children's Museum!!!

She piloted a plane...

Climbing in, on, around and about...

She drove a car!!!

So did Mcqueen? :-)

Every time we got in the car Mic would wave and say

"Bye Bye Toft House, Bye Bye, Lorioux, be back soon"

And then...my BIL's team became champs!!!

Way to go, Matt, Way to go Spartans!!!

We are enjoying catching up with old friends...

and visiting with family.

Stay tuned...more to come!

As our visit marches on we are getting busier, and as a consequence I am blogging a little less. I don't want to bore you with too many details anyway!
The most invigorating thing we did today was spend time outside picking up more apples. These were the damaged ones and they went to the neighbor's cows. We gathered at least eight buckets of apples...and there are still more on the ground out there...and the tree is full too! Its amazing! But the weather was gorgeous and the kids sure do love to be outside...and so do I. The creation all around us is an amazing ovation of praise to our God!

Mic is doing well in general. Today meals went really well, she was so cooperative and sweet. However her calories for breakfast and lunch were low--this is the tricky thing when every calorie counts, a "good" oral intake doesn't always ensure a high enough calorie intake. Supper was higher, you gotta love hot dogs! 170 calories in one dog--YIKES! She is still having difficulties with swallowing. That has been a little frustrating for all of us--today especially. I know it will just take some time to find the best solution.

Today

After seeing her SOOO lethargic, it is especially nice to see my daughter playing and talking and being her cheery self again. There is nothing like an illness to make one appreciate health all the more!
We are slowly working our way back up the oral intake ladder now that she is keeping things (mostly) in her tummy again. Yesterday she still had one huge horrible vomit, apparently we hit the "over fill". But today it looks hopeful that we will have a vomit free day.
Today she had 104 oral cal. at breakfast and 70 at lunch so that has been encouraging.
I am loveing being back on the farm. Yesterday we picked apples and brought in the last of the tomatoes. Today we picked up walnuts until the rain ran us inside. The earthy smell, fresh air, the calling accross the yard to one another and watching the cousins run and play, the trees, grass and fields, and the beautiful open sky......its just all so invigorating to my soul. I can't help it, the country is in my veins and being in it is when I realize just how much I miss it.
My brother in law's team is in the state playoffs, so before long we'll be off to cheer them on! "GO SPARTANS, GO!!!"

Quote of the Day:

"It doesn't matter where you put it, you just have to have a decimal in there somewhere."

--My brother patiently helping me calculate how many calories Mic had and what percentage was free water after we served a 6.5 oz bottle of BD then added 2 oz. water then gave the first 4 ounces which she promptly vomited so we added 2.5 oz more of BD but had to find what percentage of the left over was water so that we could recalculate the calories. ...remember those story problems in math...I should have paid more attention!

Mystery Solved!

This evening we found a rash all over Mic's tummy and back...this lead to all adults in the house taking a look. A consultation in mom's medical books and online followed. The consensus is unanimous. Doctor Mom and associates says that the mysterious and scary illness plaguing Mic since Saturday is no longer mysterious nor scary, its just roseola (learn more at http://kidshealth.org/parent/infections/skin/roseola.html) . Nice to know now that she is basically better, eh!?
Today Mic still laid pretty low and didn't have an appetite at all, but it is obvious that she is finally on the mend and that is the important part. Tomorrow we will try to pick up where we left of with oral feeding and find out how much tummy stretch we lost.
I read a blip on Dorcus' blog (http://dorcassmucker.blogspot.com/) that made me laugh, but I could also SOOO identify! She said in reference to her daughters health struggle,

"People have been asking how she's doing and I hesitate to say anything positive because a) I've hoped and then been disappointed so many times and b) a lot of people have no concept of the long continuum from sick to well and so if I say "about the same" they think it's terrible and if I say "a little better" they assume she's well and will go get a full time job tomorrow."

I think that it can be difficult to truly comprehend the huge continuum that eating encompasses. In many minds you either "eat" or "you don't eat". I would love to be able to delete the question "so, is she eating yet?" from the mouths of those who are looking for a one word answer without details. There just isn't one. Its just not that simple, nor does it appear that it will be fast in Mic's case. I think we will be talking about this process for awhile yet! : )

I am, as usual, short on time...which means I will not go into the many things yammering and clammering through my brain. Not for now, at least.
After a short closure and goodbye with Lorioux on sunday, we hit the road and by 8:30pm or so we were home. This being WELL after dark due to the annoying time change. The kids behaved splendidly on the road trip--the are quick learners. The drive up didn't go nearly as well. I was so proud of them on the coming home stretch!
Mic is still sick, body temp going up and down...has thrown up twice...and, go figure, isn't eating much. I feel like we are doing a dance on a tight rope. Obviously can't force a sick kid to eat......also don't want to lose the ground we just gained over the last two weeks. Deep down I am pretty sure we won't, but its hard not to be nervous.
I chose my font colors based on the gorgeous leave we got to admire on our long drives to and from washington. Such beauty!

Laying Low

Well we payed the price for our fun (wobbly smile). This morning Mic woke up with a fever and by the lethargic afternoon was starting some cold symptoms too. I'm guessing despite our faithful airborn applications we must have picked up a bug at the museum. bummer! She has had a pretty peaked day, and every time her tylenol wears off her temp. shoots back up. Our last reading this evening was 101.7

We recieved another sweet gift from above today. A mom from my BD support group, whose son has also done this therapy stopped by "just to talk". I know that many people mean well but sometimes there is just nothing like being able to go over things with someone else who has lived it. You know how it is when you have your first child and suddenly you find yourself able to connect in a whole new way with all the other young moms around you. Well this was a similar sensation. And it was just what the doctor had ordered for my tired soul today.

Of course, since no one has much energy or appetite when they are sick, Mic's oral intake today was quite low. My prayer request is this. Lord please free her from the typical bout of vomiting and low volume tolerance that typically follows one of these illnesses. We ask for Your mercy and healing touch for Mic. Amen.

A little fun

Being here at Lorioux's practice most of the day, we have meet many wonderful people as they come through with their children for different therapies. There are some act like we don't exist and just sit in the living room with their nose in a magazine, but most strike up friendly conversation with us. The other day a sweet women was corraling her three sons through the door when I called to Mic. Out of the corner of my eye I caught her swing her head up. "So your Mic's family?" she asked, introducing herself. "We've been praying for you" she continued. What a sweet comfort and blessing--she had never even met us, but has been lifting Mic up in prayer. We chatted a little while her son was in therapy and then as they were leaving she invited us to visit the children's museum with them sometime before we leave. SOOOO, that is what we did today! We hurried in the morning to have an earlier lunch and to leave supper already prepared and waiting and off we went to have some fun! (click here http://www.imaginecm.org/ to see where we went)
Mic was a little overwhelmed when we first got there, but warmed up very quickly, and she had so much fun playing! Baby D even had a good time as there was a good mixture of age appropriate activities for the very young and for the "older" young. ...in fact, even the down right "old" like me had a good time! : P
We are so greatful to Leigh for being so kind to us--thank you again!

As for feeding, we continue to have some highs and lows as we go, but the averages really aren't so bad. Tomorrow I believe we will have some concrete averages to look at so I will try to share those with you here and give you a better idea of where we are at later.

In the meantime...my brain has shut off, so I think I'll be going to bed now. ...more to come...