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for the sudden loss of their beautiful little girl, Maria.

The fellowship meeting that Jeremy and I have been working on starting for a while is having a session tonight. It is a time of dinner and discussion of the Bible with a small praise and worship song time afterwards. If anyone is near Calumet City, we are holding it in the First Baptist Church of Calumet City, IL at 6:30 pm tonight.

May I say that is seems a bit unreal to me at this time. We are hosting this and it is what we have felt is our mission for the last year and a half if not a bit longer. Sometimes it felt as if it would never come to be, but we kept praying about it and now it is. God’s timing is always best. It was hard waiting and with it taking such a long time, I sometimes questioned whether it would ever be. (Human nature) This is a place that people can come and relax and ask questions they might have about the Bible or discuss something they have read. We want to make this a weekly thing and sometime when we have a big enough place of our own, we’d like to hold it in our home, which would be a more relaxed atmosphere. Any prayers you offer for this mission of ours is appreciated. I’ll update you all later.

We went down and got some things from our old house and talked to the people who are moving in. The wife is a friend of mine and her two older children are friends of my kids. We still own the house, but we are doing a contract with them. We won’t have all our things (that we’re taking) out of the house for another two weeks, but they are okay with that. They have all our stuff put into the dining room for now as they are moving some of their stuff in. We are leaving a few things, like our queen bed frame and box springs. We already bought a new mattress and have a new bed frame that doesn’t need springs picked out to get sometime soon, so we didn’t want to have to move that one. A few of the dressers are staying there as well. They needed them, so they are excited about not having to buy them. We got our floor lamp up here. That makes it so much better in our living room up here… or maybe not, since I can see the dirt so much easier. LoL Just kidding. I also grabbed a small reading lamp because I needed it for our bedroom. I’m not exactly sure what else Jeremy grabbed, but I know he got enough to load up the van (which couldn’t be a lot since we already have it mostly loaded with 5 kids.) I enjoyed talking with my friend and holding her 2 mo old baby and the kids had so much fun playing with their friends and showing them the “clubhouse” they had set up when we had lived there. It is in a small shed-like building in the backyard. We never stored anything in it because the kids liked playing in it. It doesn’t have a door on it, so I could watch them playing in it from the kitchen window. I guess it will stay a clubhouse for now. My kids are happy since they painted the bench that is sitting in there.

Anyway, just pray for this situation.

until another niece or my first nephew is born! Jill is pregnant again! Woohoo! I’m so excited. Pray for a wonderful pregnancy and a healthy baby.

and his family. His Grandma Cross died 2 days ago. He really loved her and went to see her in the nursing home where she lived quite often.

My mom just called. My Grandma Martin has gone home to be with the Lord. My mom said that the family has been singing almost through the whole hymnal everyday. Around 4:00, they started “Precious Lord, Take My Hand” and Uncle Johnny said he was watching her and her last breath was taken when they sang the words, “Lead me home”.

Wow! What an amazing way to go to Heaven, to be ushered in with that song and all the love of her children and husband and other family around her.

I’m sure the family will appreciate any prayers.

I will have to wait to tell about her. I can’t do it right now.

This was sent to my mom and her brother and sisters from my Grandpa:

Dear Children,

Mom is still in Mercy Hospital. She has been unable to communicate since Thursday morning when she was taken in by ambulance. In the ER they did many tests including a CT scan for signs of stroke. She hadn’t had a stroke but her potassium was extremely high and she had high levels of ammonia. Her kidney function was at 5.4. Anything over 2.0 is bad. In September it was 1.2. The Kidney Doctor, Dr Fares, said that her kidneys had completely stopped functioning. In addition, her liver doctor, Dr. Whitcomb, said her liver has not been functioning for some time. Blood sugar has been going up rapidly. They were able to bring her sugar levels down to a reasonable point. Doctor Fares said that the only treatment left is dialysis. He did not know if it would be long or short-term. I told both doctors that I felt that Ethel and I would not wish to have treatment that could not improve her health but only postpone the inevitable but I would like them to do all they could to make her comfortable. Her brain function seemed to improve some today. She still can’t communicate but she reacted to discomfort and pain. Dr. Whitcomb said he believed that he could bring her potassium and ammonia levels down so that her brain function would be restored enough so she could communicate. He would like to continue that treatment for one more day. After that he would have all the tubes removed. They are going to move her to a private room on the fifth floor sometime this evening. The nurse said this was so that family members could come any time to visit and stay as long as they wished. They gave her another shot of morphine and that knocked her out. She seemed to be resting peacefully when Holly and I left about 6:00 PM.

Please to continue praying for Mom and Me.

With all my love,

Dad

From my mom:

I just talked to Holly and they were at the hospital. Mom cannot talk so she is unresponsive in that way, but she is responding to Holly singing to her and rubbing her feet. She is folding her hands as if she is praying. Also, she keeps trying to pull the oxygen tube out of her nose. Holly put the phone up to mom’s ear and I talked to mom. Holly said that mom did respond to my voice. Anyway, I thought we needed some clarification on her status. The doctors said that since she was so dehydrated it could take a few days to come out of it.

I’ve been letting you know every once in a while how she is doing. My sister went up to Massachusetts last week to help take care of her and do things around the house. She said that Grandma had a pretty good week until Friday. On Friday, she was in a lot of pain. Since then, my grandpa said she’s been sleeping a lot, but he’s been able to wake her up when needed. This morning, he wasn’t able to wake her, so she’s been taken to the hospital. I talked to my mom and I think she said they are going to try draining the toxins out of her body and see if that helps.

Just pray for her and my Grandpa and for my mom and her brother and sisters and the rest of the family. (No english majors are allowed to make comments about this last sentence)

She went to Heaven around 8:00 am today.

I’m driving back home tomorrow morning with the kids to feed the cats and get some clothes that we’ll need.

The visitation is on Thursday evening and the Funeral is on Friday afternoon. More details are on Read’s blog. Jeremy’s work did it’s best to help him get back earlier. He’ll be flying into Chicago early on Thursday morning and we’ll be driving down.

From Read’s blog:

The medicine wasn’t working so the family convened and decided that they should take her off of it, so they did.

its all in Gods hands now.

She is ready to go, I know no one else more ready to go. If it is her time, then the Lord can have her. We will all miss her though, she is a great woman and has left a great legacy.

they just moved her to a private room on the 6th floor, room 648. I think at this point there is nothing that they can’t do here for her that they could do in icu.

From Read’s blog:

well its a waiting game now.

she is asleep, but they can’t get her to wake up. the doctor says it may take her several days for the medicine to kick in. they did another cat scan but it is hard to tell, there may be a little more blood but they they think it is holding steady.

grandma is a resilient person but this may be the end of it, only time will tell.

———————————————-

the dr came in and explained to the whole family just now. the whole family decided that surgery isn’t an option even though it was offered.

this is the deal: there is no further bleeding in the brain but there isn’t any draining going on either. here is where it gets bad, her brain is replenishing its spinal fluid so the fluid buildup is creating a pressure buildup that has put her to sleep. she may wake up but the general consensus is that this may be the end for her.

they are not giving up, they are using medicines to help dry up the blood and water in the brain. hopefully it will work.

This is from Read’s blog:

she has NOT had a stroke,

apparently it was an aneurysm. She is also hydrocyphalic. So that means that in every area of her brain is flooded with both blood and water.

Surgery is not an option, so they are treating it with medicine. The doctor says that she may walk out of here in 5 days or she may have another one and that may be the end of it all.

more to come as it develops.

Jeremy’s Grandma had a stroke this morning. I don’t quite know all the details, but she is very confused and was having trouble with her right leg. I know the family would appreciate the prayers. My kids are very close to Grandma Anna because of we lived with his parents for a few years and she lives there too.

Our church is doing a public showing of “Facing the Giants” tonight and tomorrow. We know that lots of people know about it, not just in town, but in many towns around here. It is a free showing. The youth will be standing at the doors at the end for donations at the end of the movie. Donations, after the movie license fee, will go to the youth group to hopefully help with a mission trip this summer.

Pray for this movie to impact our community. I would love to see people saved or rededicated to Christ because of this movie.

I would have posted on here earlier, but I’m hardly on the computer right now. I was able to get on here and there with the laptop until a few days ago when the touchpad decided to stop cooperating.

My sister’s daughters both caught the roto virus. Naomi (21 months old) was in the hospital from Thursday night to Saturday morning and Tabitha (almost 4 years) went in Saturday evening and is still there. It hit both of them like a regular flu, but it was hard on them and they both became dehydrated. Naomi is doing much better now and Tabitha was able to finally eat something and keep it down this morning, but she still hasn’t been able to drink anything. My sister and brother-in-law are both exhausted. My sister was sick for a little while Saturday and Sunday, but is feeling much better now.

God has put on my heart to really pray for the youth group. I’ve prayed for them since I started working with them 2 and a half years ago, but not so deeply. I’ve felt led to pray for each kid, each activity, each leader, and the group as a whole.

He has also put on my heart to ask others to join me in praying for the youth. Pray for revival in their hearts. Pray for understanding of God’s Word. Pray for obedience to that Word. So, now I’m asking you to help with the ministry I have here by praying. God is working. I know it. I also know that it is in His timing and that things may not happen while I am a leader, but at the moment I am still in this position and have no doubts about being here. God wants me here and I will stay here until He is done with me in this position and leads me to something else.

Please make room in your prayers for a beautiful 10 year old girl. I know Crystal and Scott would appreciate them. Go to Crystal’s blog to read about Emily. There is a picture button on the side of her site that goes to all posts written about Emily’s cancer if you want to catch up.

My sister, Jill, as well as her husband and two girls have been out of power in their St. Louis home since Friday.  They have been staying with her mother-in-law, but it isn’t home and the girls are off of their routine, so it’s a little rough.

Say prayers for them as well as all the other people who have been affected by these power outages.  There is a town near where we live that has had some of it’s neighborhoods without power since Friday as well.

That’s what Jeremy has.  Anyone want to come let me have a couple hours of uninterrupted sleep?  He’s stuck either in bed or on the couch until Thursday.  It’s making his asthma act up bad too and he hasn’t had a problem with that at all since I’ve known him.  He’s on nebulizer treatments four times a day along with his medication.  He is able to help out a little with the kids’ schooling though.  He doesn’t like just sitting there with nothing to do.  James read to him yesterday and I think he’s going to work with Christine on her phonics today.

Oh, and today is his birthday.  Poor birthday boy.  I’m sure he could use some prayers from you all as birthday presents today.

Actually, her whole family needs them too. She’s only 2 and a half months old and, after 2 weeks in the hospital, has been diagnosed as a carrier of the chronic granulomatous disease. Her grandmother, who is the person I am in contact with, is extremely upset. I’m sure the mother and father must be even more so. She’ll be going to a specialist later.

Just keep her in your prayers.

Edit to add: She was released from the hospital today. Everyone is extremely happy about how she is doing at the moment. Since she is a carrier and not actually have it, it may cause some problems, but not as many as they thought it would at first. They have an appointment with the specialist on Monday to do additional tests and get more info.  Her big sister is happy that Momma will be able to come home again.

I am praying for the Godfrey family.  They have gone through so much.  Warning:  The link takes you to a story of birth and death.  The pictures were what really brought me to tears.

Lord, I’m so confused.  I don’t understand what all is going on right now.  I am sure You will get it all straightened out.  My service and my friend’s service to You here is being questioned by others and it is so hard to keep myself from worrying about it.  I know You have it all under control.  Please help me to be calm and figure out why You are letting this happen.  Thanks for Your presence with me at all times.  I can feel the Spirit working in me letting me know that You are working on this.  You had just the right scripture for me to read in my daily devotions last night.  I praise You for all that You are doing for me.  Amen.

For another Julie’s son, 12 yr old Sam, who had a seizure in the night.  You can read her post about it and see how God helped them through it.

I asked you to pray for W when she found out she had breast cancer. Well, her husband died this morning. There was no warning and at the moment, no one knows what happened. We were one of the first families called because she was really good friends with Grandma Anna and Jeremy’s mom. I took Amie and James up to visit with them about a week and a half ago and he seemed to be doing fine. It’s kind of a shock to her and she isn’t doing well at the moment with having bronchitis and a low white blood cell count, so please pray for her.

Things are seeming to go smoothly for us so far. I contribute it to all the prayers that are being said on our behalf. Please continue to keep our situation in your prayers. I will give you all updates as soon as I feel free to. Thank you.

He went to Heaven at 11 pm last night. Please pray for his wife, 13 yr old son, and family.

I know this is a lot of prayer requests in a small amount of time, but I know many of you are warriors for the Lord, so I bring them here.

Jeremy’s Chemistry teacher in college, Dr. Guimon, became a missionary to Uganda about 7 years ago or around then. He had cancer 30 years ago. When he and his family (wife and son) came home for furlough, they found 9 blockages and that his aortic valve needed replacing. It was a long term effect of the radiation treatment he’d had long ago. He had surgery and started feeling better, but then was feeling extremely bad. Apparently his heart isn’t functioning as it should and not enough blood is getting to his kidneys and liver.

Jeremy learned more than just chemistry from him and they bought me many of my maternity clothes when I was pregnant with Amie. Please pray for this man, his wife, son, and family.

Our family is probably going to have a big change coming up. Pray that it all goes smoothly for us. I’ll update as soon as things are more concrete.

Remember the girl who had the 4-wheeler accident back in September and shattered her ankle. She’s just been cleared to work again. She’s a CNA and works at a nursing home. It’s been kind of rough this first few weeks back and her ankle is noticably swollen at the end of her shift. Pray for God to strengthen her ankle.

A friend of mine e-mailed me to tell me to pray for his friend who just found out she is pregnant. (He’s not her boyfriend, but a very good and concerned friend.) She and her boyfriend have decided it is best to get an abortion. I’m sure you all know my ideas on that. I am actively pro-life. I support our local Crises Pregnancy Center in donations of clothes and cash when I can. The decision they are making is based on the fact that she doesn’t have health insurance and can’t afford to have the baby. If I could talk to her, I’d tell her to get state health insurance for pregnant women and later for the baby, get WIC, and if you qualify, get food stamps. Go to your local Crises Pregnancy Center and you can get help with diapers and clothes. Once you know whether the child is a boy or girl, I’m sure someone who has an older one will be willing to give you their hand-me-downs. I’ve hardly had to buy any clothes for my children because of hand-me-downs and other help and I’m extremely grateful to the people who have given us so much.

I could say a whole lot more on this last prayer request I have, but I don’t need to put a sermon on here. I’ve been in tears since reading his e-mail to me. I lost my first baby through health problems and I miss her and wonder about what she would be like now if she’d lived. I can’t imagine also having the guilt of knowing I was the one who didn’t let her live. No, I don’t know if I had a girl or a boy, but I feel like that baby was a girl. I named her Alexa on the day we knew she was gone. (October 17, 1996, one year minus a day from when Amie was born on October 16, 1997)

Noelle has had three more breakouts of hives since that one episode in the early morning hours of New Year’s Day. All of these have happened in these last few days. It’s getting a little worse each time. We can’t figure out what it is. It has happened everytime while in her bed. Three times at night and once at naptime. I’m re-washing all her bedding and have taken out all the toys. I have a big bottle of anti-histamine that I’ve been giving her a dose from everytime she breaks out and it works in about half an hour to help her. That first time, we thought it was just from eating the egg roll, but I’m thinking it was something else now. We’re scheduling her for testing. I hope we don’t have to run to the hospital before then. Please pray for her. This is really scary for me, not knowing what is going on with my baby.

Jill called this morning. Rob was having some pain Thursday and it got really bad yesterday. He went to the hospital last night and they told him that he needed to get his appendix out. His surgery was scheduled for 7:30 this morning. I’m still waiting on word from Jill. She said she’d call after it was over. They may have delayed the surgery time. I’ll update when I hear from her again. She’s kind of stressed right now. Tabitha was sick with the flu this morning as well, so she had to find someone to watch her girls that would be okay with a sick kid.

Edit:He didn’t have surgery until about 10:30 or so. There were no complications and he is doing fine.

Edit #2:He was in a lot of pain, but they doped him up on Morphine. Jill said he can barely stay awake long enough to listen to one sentence. I remember that feeling from after my shoulder surgery.

A good friend of our family, W, is having surgery today. She found out last month that she had breast cancer… a lot of it. Her husband has been in and out of the hospital the last year. He’s been doing a lot better, but even so this isn’t going to be easy. After the surgery, she’s going to have to travel about an hour and a half every week to go get chemo or radiation treatments.

She’s helped us out so much this last year. If she was able, she would take Grandma Anna to the dr and she’s always very encouraging at church. Her nephew is in our Sunday School class and likes to come to the youth meetings on Wednesday nights even though he’s past that age. He’s really concerned for them.

I told W and her husband to give us a call if they needed anything and we’d see what we could do to help.

Sometime during morning chores, I hurt my shoulder again. Not sure exactly how. Not many problems at all since the surgery in August ‘04 and this morning I was hardly able to move it without pain. As soon as I noticed, I used some ibuprofen, put it in my sling to rest, and put an ice pack on it. It’s been about 4 or 5 hours now and not hurting with small moves. I’m not going to try any big moves until tomorrow. I’m hoping a day of rest will help and I’ll be fine. Of course, I’ve heard a drop in temperatures is expected within the next 24 hours and a huge storm, so maybe it’s just predicting that. It’s bothered me a little every once in a while with weather changes, but never like this.

My kids like a certain blog by a girl from Baghdad because she posts lots of pictures of cats. She told a little of what’s been going on in her neighborhood recently in this post. I pray for her everyday that she will continue to be unharmed and also that she meets a Christian and learns about the peace of Jesus Christ even during the turbulence of the war there.

Today is her surgery. Remember her and her family in your prayers.

Please pray for my friend, Dana. She’s having major surgery on Monday, the 29th. She’s mostly worried about her 1 yr old daughter during this time. It’ll be the longest she’ll be in the care of someone else (multiple someones, in this case) and that’s not easy on a Mom’s mind as many of you other mothers know.

One of the girls in my youth group called me two days ago. Her cousin was in the hospital with bad complications from diabetes. He’s had diabetes all his life and it’s always poured it’s worst symptoms on him. She told me that his sister died 4 years ago from the same thing. Yesterday, she called and said he had been put on a respirator because he was barely breathing on his own, but the last time they’d checked, he wasn’t breathing at all on his own. I’m waiting for her to call today. I’m sure she will. He’s a Christian, so they know he’ll be in Heaven when he dies, but she said it’s still sad to see him going through all this. He’ll be whole in Heaven. No more insulin shots, no more complications like blindness. She said it will be such a wonderful transformation for him, but she’ll still miss him.

I’ll update when I hear from her again.

Update: I talked to her at youth tonight. She said his breathing is doing better and the respirator is only at 23%. He’s still teeter-tottering between life and death, but it’s looking like he’s still needed here on earth for a little while longer. She said she’ll keep me updated.

Another update: Now it’s Thursday. She called and said he’s been taken off of the respirator all together and doing fine.