Shayna is a little girl who just turned one. She had heart surgery today to fix a problem with one of the valves in her heart. I won’t go into a detailed medical explanation here… but i want to ask you to pray for her, her sister Jessica who is the same age as Josh, and her mommy and daddy, DJ and Brad. Today after her surgery, Shayna’s heart rate raced up to 220 bpm, and she needed a bit of CPR. She’s on a ventilator right now, still sedated. We’re hoping she will be able to wake up soon and breathe without the vent. It seems there may be further problems with her heart, as well.

Please pray for this family, that Shayna’s body will heal up quickly, that her doctors will have wisdom, and that her family will experience peace during this really hard time. Thank you!

***update December 2/07 ***
Shayna is off the vent, off her pacemaker, and off IV! She’s able to eat, sit up, and from what DJ says in her updates it sounds like she’s doing so much better in her recovery now. She will hopefully be able to move from the ICU to the Cardiac floor soon. Thank you for praying for my friend and her family!

**update December 6/07***
Shayna is home now! She’s got a lot of doctors appointments ahead of her, but the important thing is she’s home with her mommy, daddy and big sister. Please keep praying for them as they help her continue to recover. She seems to be dealing with some depression, which is not uncommon after a situation like this… pray that her spirits would be lifted and that she’ll return to her happy little self quickly.

okay, so i never officially named my minivan Betsy! but since she has met with an untimely (for me) demise, i figure she deserved the dignity of a name at least.

it seems that everything underneath that could rot out was on the verge of collapse, and given that it would cost more to fix her than she was worth… we decided it was the end. we sold her to a scrap metal place which gave us more in cash than we would likely have gotten on a trade in.

i felt bad leaving her there… but she got me in the end. i stepped out of the van after parking it next to the other vehicles in the scrapyard… into mud up to my left knee.

i took another step, hoping for solid ground, and stepped in mud up to my right knee.

then i fell forward (but not flat on my face!)… my glasses fell off, and Brian was standing there laughing at me. well really, what else could we do but laugh? it was so ridiculous! here we are in this scary scrapyard down by the river, i’m up to my knees in stinky mud, it’s on my hands and face, my glasses are lying on the ground… not the kind of place i usually spend a Friday morning!!

it is, however, the kind of place that Matt Foley might live…

sorry. i just couldn’t resist!

i’ve heard a lot of people complaining lately about the fact that Christmas marketing starts right at Hallowe’en now. well, okay, the commercialism of it all does bug me… but the fact that our digital cable music channels already have TWO channels dedicated to Christmas music and it’s not even December does not bug me one bit. it makes me want to dance with glee, drink hot chocolate and get going on all of the handmade gifts i have yet to complete!!

welcome Christmas!!!!

words are important. they have the ability to build up, tear down. they depend on facial expressions and vocal tones to give them extra meaning and emphasis.

and when you don’t hear any words coming out of your little guy’s mouth, it can be cause for worry. we’ve been on a bit of a journey with Josh over the past few months, trying to figure out what was going on with the lack of “english” coming out of his mouth!

his time at preschool thus far has been really profitable in many ways – his speech is just one area that has improved exponentially on a daily basis since beginning his program. i think that some people think i’m a little crazy for pointing out that my 3 year old son just said “sank you” or “i a king!”… but when you’ve been waiting longer than most to hear things like that, it’s cause for celebration. just this morning, i was trying to get him to put his shoes on and get ready to leave – he was playing with his broom and dustpan and said “no, i cleaning!”. moment of defiance aside, i was really proud of him! not only are the words coming, but understanding right along with them. it brings tears to my eyes when i watch him carrying on conversations with our friends and family, prouding telling them about “My cake!” or “my banoon (my balloon)”.

all that to say… i’m bursting with pride and happiness at the progress he’s made, and i’m thankful beyond words for the prayers and support that we’ve been given by so many people. Josh’s issues are tiny in light of what many other children face, but each child is precious and nobody wants to see their child struggle.

Check out the full sized video here.