Sunday, 25 March 2007

I'm feeling a little overwhelmed
today.  We've had 2 odd days with Isaac.  I told Doug when things are
going like this, I start watching for some new insight from the Lord. 
You know, when you are "done" – physically, emotionally exhausted,
spiritually looking for God to move or act or speak – when you have no
way of offering anything to the situation -  God often shows up in a
very real way.  I don't know – maybe we're just paying better
attention at those moments.
 

Isaac had something happen Friday night, after we put him to
bed.  We didn't hear anything.  Doug just went in to check on him, like
we so often do at night.  He was laying there – eyes wide open, tracking
from side to side, sweating, snoring and as limp as a dish rag.

Now you have to understand.  Isaac has CP and
very high tone.  He is very stiff most of the time.  He can bend and
relax occasionally.  However, even in his sleep, he is never limp.  His
hips especially along with his knees never relax, never lay flat.  He
sleeps with them bent up or we put a pillow under his knees.

But Friday night, I changed his diaper and his
legs were laying completely FLAT.  When I picked up his legs to change
his diaper and then let go, they just flopped.  It made my stomach lurch
and I thought I might throw up – it was THAT weird.

So, we surmised he'd had a seizure that we
didn't hear.  That freaks us out and we're definitely looking into a
video baby monitor so it doesn't happen again.

He finally closed his eyes and slept.  Then
Sat. morning he was weepy, then had extended staring seizures all
morning.  He fell asleep around noon and slept until about 5 PM.  The
staring seizures continued, so we administered the big meds.  They did
not stop the staring.  He fell asleep around 10 PM and woke up this
morning at 6:30 and was STILL staring.

So we took him to the ER.  As soon as we got
him in a room and there were 3 nurses standing around his bed – he WOKE
up!  Started his normal flicking his hands, kicking, vocalizing, etc. 
It was amazing and EXTREMELY irritating!!!!!  I couldn't believe how mad
it made me that he was acting normal!  Isn't that awful??? 

(Doug says, though, that we're reaping what he
sowed as a child – when his mom took him to the doctor, she would tell
the dr. about the ear ache, sore throat, etc., and Doug would say, "no,
that doesn't hurt.  I'm not sick."  He said he was so afraid to get a
shot, and thought if he said he was fine, the doctor wouldn't poke him
with the needle!!!!)

Anyway,
they contacted our neurologist, who upped one of Isaac's seizure meds. 
The ER dr. gave us a script for eye drops (Isaac had stared open-eyed
for nearly 24 hours, except when asleep, and his eyes looked awful,
blood shot and dry.) Then they sent us home.

I'm so tired.  Two nights of barely sleeping,
then early to the ER.  We're trying to get everything ready for our trip
to Miami next week.  Doug and I are both weepy and a little grumpy –
just feeling very stressed.

I
am amazed at God's goodness to us.  I was thinking today of those old
country western songs.  The verses are sometimes long and sad and
enumerate all the awful things that are going on.  But then the chorus
eventually has an upswing in tempo, some decision is made and the singer
decides that life will continue. 

My life is like that.  Sometimes the verses of my life are
sweet and happy, and other times they might be sad.  But my life cannot
be one verse after another.  I must have a refrain, a chorus that brings
a culmination to my story song. 

I get to choose my chorus.  It can "gloom, despair and agony"
or "he stopped loving her today" or "the next time he cheats, it won't
be on me" or "you picked a fine time to leave me" or all about "friends
in low places".

BUT as for
me and my house, we have to choose another chorus.  Our refrain is
filled with "how great is our God" and "holy, holy, holy".  "God is so
good", "when we all get to heaven", "what a day that will be", "the
blood's still there" or "Hallelujah!  Praise ye the Lord!" – my chorus
has to praise my Father and testify of His goodness to me.

Does your "refrain" praise Him?  What is the
"chorus", the soundtrack so to speak, of your life?

Alesha

Some Thoughts on Lighting…

This
morning as I was getting ready for work, I was trying to fix my hair. 

(For those of you who don't know me, I have very thin
hair.)
 

I just couldn't seem to get the right side to do
what it was supposed to do.  It was sticking out in every wrong
direction and I was getting frustrated. 

Then I
realized that behind me on my bedside table was a lamp that was turned
on.
 

Usually this light is not on while I'm doing my
hair.  I walked over and turned it off, then went back to finish my
hair. 

Amazingly, there was nothing wrong with the right side of my
hair.  It looked just fine.

That little thing got me to thinking…

The Christian community is
notorious for embracing a little too easily all the new and exciting
rays of "light" that come along – personality catagories, famous
prayers, alliterative bracelets, spiritual diets, 40-day-programs
and books of the month – just to name a few. 

Do these things really bring peace
to my life?  Or do I find myself "hyper-focused" on one little tiny part
of my Christian walk?  Do these flickers of "light" actually cause me
to stumble? Even more troublesome, do they enable me to judge and
condemn others who have yet to see the "light"?

Am I spending so much time, money,
effort or thought on that little bit of "light" that I am overlooking
the big picture?

Don't
forget, II Corinthians tells us that the Evil One himself
is transformed into an "Angel of Light".

Be sure that the "light" you are
focused on today is that of Christ Himself, and clarify that through the
Word of God. 

We may
have to turn off that other "light" we've been spending so much time
in, so that we can clearly see what the Lord would have for us today. 

Maybe that aspect of our life that
we've been so zoomed in on is just fine as far as the Lord is
concerned.  He may want us to take our eyes off that and look around
us. 

Satan
would much rather me be focused on my own little light than for me to
see those in darkness around me. 

Alesha

Tuesday, 20 March 2007

Praise the Lord – we
were able to go to church together on Sunday.  It was so nice.  Isaac
started "singing" as soon as we got inside. 

He has been having quite a bit
of seizure activity, but not grand mals.  It's more of the smaller
seizures that take him out for only a few seconds at a time – over and
over.  He has many of them in a cluster. 

When he's experiencing these, he
doesn't sit very well.  He topples over suddenly.  He also has a hard
time drinking from his sippy cup.  His toungue wants to "hump" and the
liquid rolls out.  We just have to keep at it though and eventually he
can get the sipping part down again.

Isaac's also been staying up and
partying all night again!  Last night he stayed up until 6 this morning! 
Then he slept until noon!  What a life! 
Seriously, we suspect its seizure activity that keeps waking him up just
as he tries to drift off.

Doug has been reading the info from the hospital
about what to expect when we go.  I'm getting a little anxious about
it.  Not a good state of mind, I know.  I'm going to the Lord with it. 
He's working on me.  

I also made a really stupid mistake at work the end
of last week.  I wasn't slacking or doing something I wasn't supposed to
do.  I just forgot to do something that was really important.  I just
HATE when I do that!  I want to run home and never go back!  Then I get
mad, and after that self-pity tries to settle in.  Grrrrr…  

So, the Lord has been merciful
and given His Word and words of encouragement to me all along and I do
feel better today.  Still irritated with myself, but not dwelling on it
too much in my mind and singing praises to keep my focus on Him.

I guess that's it for today. 
Hopefully, something more interesting tomorrow.

Alesha

Sunday, 11 March 2007

I guess I've been tagged.  So here are my answers.

Four jobs I've had:

1.  Church secretary

2.  School teacher (4 years 4th and 5th grades;
1 year 4 & 5 year old kindergartens)

3.  Church bookstore

4.  Lawn mowing

Four
movies I could watch over and over:

1.  Arsenic and Old Lace

2.  The Chronicles of Narnia

3.  Seven Brides for Seven Brothers

4.  Almost any other Cary Grant romantic
comedy

Four places I have lived:

1.  Haines City, FL

2.  Warsaw, VA

3.  Palm Bay, FL

4.  that's it!

Four
of my favorite foods:

1.  Crab legs and other seafood

2.  My mom's chicken and dumplings

3.  My mother-in-law's broccoli salad

4.  Anything chocolate and peanut butter

Four places I would rather be right now:

1.  On a balcony overlooking the beach

2.  Visiting with my family in my hometown

3.  Visiting with Doug's family in his
hometown

4.  Hugging Virgina
who recently lost her sweet Amber

Ok, there are my answers.  I can't tag 5 more people, because I
don't really know that many bloggers.  Feel
free to answer these if you haven't already done them!

Alesha

Just a thought for this morning

Thanksgiving is good but thanks-living is better. 

Matthew Henry

 

Thou
hast given so much to me…Give me one thing more – a grateful heart.
 

George Herbert

 

Gratitude is born in hearts that take time to count up
past mercies.
 

Charles Edward Jefferson

Friday, 16 February 2007



100_2858 solo gerber daisy

Don't you just love gerber daisies?  I think
they are very friendly flowers. 

My hubby brought these home on Valentine's Day.  I love that
they have to have little plastic sheaths for their slender stems to hold
up those beautiful huge blossoms.  It seems so self-sacrificing of them
to blossom so beautifully.  Hmmm…

Are there times you feel if you don't take a few moments just
to drink in something beautiful your heart will just wither and dry up? 

God's creation holds so
many beauties for us.  I am guilty of not taking enough time to stop and
notice.  It's as if all at once I realize I'm starving for beauty.

I want to pay attention.  I don't want to miss
the beauty.  I need the beauty.  It feeds my soul.

God's Word holds many beauties.

Zephaniah
3: 19- 20

Behold, at that time I will undo all
that afflict thee: and I will save her that halteth, and gather her that
was driven out; and I will get them praise and fame in every land where
they have been put to shame. 

At that
time will I bring you again, even in the time that I gather you: for I
will make you a name and a praise among all people of the earth, when I
turn back your captivity before your eyes, saith the LORD.

Isn't that
pretty?  Doesn't that just make your heart well up with gratitude for
the loveliness of it?

So many things He has given to make our lives
beautiful.  Let's make the time to stop and take them in, let them
linger awhile in the dark corners of our heart, until they begin to
light us up from the inside out. 

His beauty –
shining from us. 

 Hmmm…allowing His sheath of the Holy Spirit
to hold our stems straight while we sacrifice ourselves to show forth
His beauty in the blossoms of our life.

Friend, blossom
and shine for Him today!

Alesha 

Thursday, 15 February 2007

Isn't it amazing how non-Christians react when they are faced with
their own mortality?

A co-worker today was told of a relative's
diagnosis with a possibly-contagious disease.  Immediately she panicked
as she thought of her herself and her own children who had been in
contact with the relative.  Her terror was palpable.

She had been
faced with her own mortality – and worse, the mortality of her children.

As
the parent of a special needs child, I face my son's mortality on a
regular basis.  It is sobering and freeing all at the same time.  I
can't keep my child alive.  Neither can doctors, specialists or
medications.  Only the Lord can do that.

My child's life is not in
my control.  My own life is not in my control either. 

So I can
just relax, enjoy, roll with the punches, living each moment AS
it happens.  The future is completely out of my hands.

We can
enjoy life and have God's awesome peace throughout everything.  Life is
meant to be savored.

One of my best friends says, "Don't forget to
wear your party pants!" 

Each day is a joyous celebration of
life, love and God's goodness.

How has God showed His control in
your life today? 

Oh, how much He must love you then!  Don't
every doubt it!

Alesha

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