Saturday, 03 March 2007

I have officially

reclaimed

my KITCHEN!

Whew!  These past
few weeks have been hard on my little kitchen.  I have one of those
"galley" kitchens – long and narrow.  If you're standing in front of the
sink, you can just turn around and you're standing in front of the
stove.

My counters are just little bits on
either side of the sink and the stove.  With a microwave and a toaster
oven taking up two of those sections, counter space is at a premium.

It
was time to revamp, reorganize, and clean!

Here's the finished
project – all spic and span!

100_2868

100_2869

My mom always had this saying:

"A place for
everything and everything in its place."

When I can make
that happen in my little kitchen, it's a happy, happy place!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Isaac
is doing better today.  He's been awake and alert and has eaten well
all day.  Thank the Lord!

In Him,

Alesha

Saturday, 03 March 2007

Update:  Isaac is sleeping way too much and vomited again
yesterday.  We have a call in to the doctor this morning to see if we
need to bring him back in.  We'd appreciate the continued prayers.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I'm
so grateful for prayer this morning.  My pastor's wife prayed with me
over the phone and just ushered me right into God's throne room.  I
sometimes forget how peaceful it feels for someone to pray out loud with
you – FOR you.

I believe we rob ourselves of sweet blessings by
not asking occasionally for a friend, loved one or pastor to "pray with
me".  And just maybe we MISS blessings by not offering "let me pray with
you" to those around us.

A family is our church lost a loved one
this week in a shooting in a nearby town.  The funeral is this morning. 
Please pray for peace for Bro. Tyrone and Sis. Ruth.  I know their
heart's desire is for their family to know Christ.  Pray that their
family will hear and accept the truth of the Gospel this morning as our
pastor, Bro. Holmes, proclaims God's Word at the funeral.

Thanks,

Alesha

Thursday, 01 March 2007

An update on my boy – he had a seizure
on the way home from the hospital yesterday and we had to give him
medication.  So he slept all day yesterday, all last night and was very
drowsy today.  He ate minimally, and drank probably 2/3 of his normal
intake.  We'll be seizure free for a little bit while the meds are still
in his system.  We'll be taking it easy for a few days, and see if he
can recover his normal energy and personality when the meds wear off.

It's amazing how much one night's sleep can
make you feel almost human again.  I feel so much better today.

Let me tell you how good God is to me!  I
missed 3 days of work this week with Isaac.  When we got back, we had an
"escrow surplus" check in the mail, then today I received my February
bonus check from work.  If you add both of those checks together, they
are only $9 short of what I will lose from my check for this week! 
Isn't that something?  God is so good to me.

There have been so many times that, in MY
opinion, we have been in "need" of  financial help from the Lord.  Times
that I just knew any day now, I was going to walk out to the mailbox
and there would be an amazingly large check.  Many of those times, there
was no check.  We survived.  We eked by.  We walked slowly away from
debt one baby step at a time – paying off each thing at a painfully
slowly rate. 

God was
teaching me about grace for each day – making wise financial decisions
one day at a time, being frugal today, just because it's the right thing
today.  That $5 not spent wouldn't have paid off anything, but I was
learning to wait on God's provision.

Then, like this week, when I'm so worn to a frazzle caring for
this child of God He has given us, He just pours out His provision.  I
was concerned about Isaac's eating, drinking and fluid output, counting
ounces of milk – not dollars in my paycheck.  My focus was on my
ministry – my child – not on my bank account.  God took care of the
rest.

See?  It's like
this to my mind, possibly too simplistic, but it's working for me. 
Isaac is God's child.  We are God's family.  It's God's money, God's
jobs, God's house.  None of it's mine.  I am accountable for how I use
God's stuff, yes.  But ultimately, the care and provision for it are
HIS.  No matter how good I may be with making a dollar stretch and
balancing that checkbook, I can never do as good a job as God will do of
taking care of His own money, home, family and child. 

Anyway, that's what's on my mind tonight.  And
Isaac is already asleep this evening, praise the Lord.  I pray he
sleeps through.  He and Daddy are going to get out of the house tomorrow
and do something outside.  That boy needs to feel the sun on him soon. 
He's been inside too much this week.

Thanks for reading my long-winded rambles
tonight.  I pray you feel God smiling on your ministry today, too.

Alesha

Wednesday, 28 February 2007

Another loooooong night, but they are sending us home today.  I'm
sure Isaac will sleep better without someone coming in to take his
vitals every 2 hours.

I'm pretty much loopy from lack of sleep. 
Doug and I have decided we're going to write a joke/encouragement book
from our experiences.  I'll let you know when it hits the shelves.

Isaac's
color is much better and he is definitely hydrated.  We're praying for
no more vomiting once he starts eating full meals again.  His eating is
almost back to normal level.

Have you very noticed – birds look
really big when you're on the 8th floor looking out the window?  So do
the planes and helicopters.  A different point of view, to be sure.

I'll
update later if we have any changes.

Thanks so much for your
words of encouragement and prayer,

Alesha

Tuesday, 27 February 2007

We're still hanging out at Club Med.  (That's our
local hospital for those of you not up to date on "special needs kid
speak")

Isaac was awake all day
yesterday and ALL night last night.  It was incredible.  I took the
midnight to 4:30 shift.  My poor hubby couldn't hold his head up another
moment.  Then he took over and fed Isaac a little bit, then napped in
the chair while Isaac played with his toys. 

Finally, about 9 am, he just closed his eyes and went to
sleep.  Still asleep now.  We'll have to be big meanies in just a little
while and wake him, so we don't have a repeat performance tonight. 
Parenting is all about TOUGH love!

He did have some seizure activity last night – of course
nothing like we saw at home.  But he's also not eating/drinking like
they'd like him to, and he had more vomiting the first night he was
here.  So we'll be here yet another night.

We
don't mind being here, but praying that it will lead to answers soon.

We also have so much for be thankful for.  Yesterday I read
the blog of a mom whose little girl had a cancerous growth and has gone
through chemo and all that cancer brings with it.  Yep – I've got so
much to be thankful for:

  • The view from our
    hospital room is spectacular – the river and gorgeous blue sky.
  • Our dog was already in the kennel, so we haven't had to burden
    our friends with his care.
  • We weren't on
    the road when the stomach bug hit me
  • There
    are not one or two, but three comfy chairs in Isaac's hospital room.
  • My boss is an incredible woman, mom to 2 kiddos with CP, who
    completely understands and gives me NO grief when I have to miss work
    for things like this.
  • We had emergency money
    tucked away and will be able to use it for our trip to Miami in March.
  • Yesterday, when I fell down in my driveway while trying to get
    back to the hospital as quickly as possible, nothing was permanently
    injured and (I think) nobody was there to see me!!!!!!!

Yep, I'm thankful for many things today.

Our God is a good God.

Alesha

Monday, 26 February 2007

Well, at the risk of eliciting from my dear readers an exclamation of "What now?  You must
be kidding!", I'll share with you our latest escapade with Isaac.

We did not make it to Miami.  We
ended up in the ER here is town.  We are still here today and will be
spending night #2.  Isaac's seizure activity has increased and
changed. He has also continued with vomiting at night.  The "experts"
here have upped his meds and said, "Now go to Miami."

We have a new date for Miami, March
12.

While we
were in the ER, I was blindsided with a 24-hour stomach flu and had to
go home, leaving my dear hubby at the hospital with Isaac.  They are
both such warriors and two peas in a pod.  They did fine together, and I
almost felt non-essential, until I saw their faces when I walked in the
room.  Isaac even said, "hewwo."  I felt loved and appreciated.

God's timing is incredible.  I am so
grateful we weren't on the road when I got sick.  I would have gladly
skipped this trip to the hospital, though.

Anyway, Isaac has felt much better
today and is very hydrated due to the IV.  We're hoping they'll send us
home tomorrow.

I'll
try to update here as I can.  We appreciate the prayers.

Alesha

Saturday, 24 February 2007

We had more seizures and vomiting last
night with Isaac.  Doctor's visit and ER CAT scan today.  The
neurosurgeon's assistant doesn't feel it's shunt related at this time. 
We are to keep our appointment in Miami with the neurologist at the
Epilepsy center on Monday, then let the other doctors know what his
findings are.

Isaac is
napping now.  He had been awake since 2 AM, not vomiting then, but too
miserable to sleep.  We turned on his one Gaither's video tape that has 3
of their videos taped onto one tape.  He watched that happily until we
got ready for his doctor's visit this morning.

And yes, his sleeping now means he won't sleep
well tonight, but he was just so exhausted we couldn't bear to wake him
up yet.  We will do that shortly.

Doug took the dog (Newton, our black Labradoodle) to the Pet
Hotel this afternoon, so he'll get a little "vacation" until Tuesday
probably.  It's a pricey vacation, but the kennel's clean and well-kept,
and they take good care of him.  We did buy him a brand new toy to take
with him.   Then of course, we had to buy the bird a new toy, so he
wouldn't feel left out (Poppet, our Timneh African Grey).

Now it's time to make my packing list while my
hubby finishes the laundry.  Then we'll start packing.  We'll leave
sometime tomorrow morning.  It takes a while to get there.  We're still
praying for that room at Ronald McDonald House, but I did check out a
few hotels online last night.  Just so we'd be prepared for any
contingency.

We'd appreciate
the prayers for traveling mercies and also that Isaac would begin to
feel better for the doctor's visit.  Although the seizures continuing
would not be a bad thing, so that they can see them actually happening.

Thanks to those who just "surf" by and leave
comments that they are praying for Isaac.  That means so much more than I
can say.  I've felt very overwhelmed the last 2 weeks with all that has
been going on with him and at the same time I've felt very amazed at
how God has worked through it all.

Alesha