Catching Up!

No, I didn't fall off of the face of the earth, but it kind of feels like it. I'm a bit ashamed that I've not written in almost a month (Yikes!), but in my defense, my summer so far has been beyond chaotic. The boys and I also just returned last night from a 2 1/2 week visit with my parents in Alabama. If you have read any of my recent posts then you know that we (which really means Phillip) are in a major remodeling project. We have been staying at my sister's house until our new house is ready for us, so the long visit to Alabama was a nice escape for us. While I was away, my husband made some serious progress on our house, including quite a bit of painting, new windows, new hardwood floors, and other odds and ends. We're hoping that in the next two weeks, we'll be able to begin the moving in process. Fingers crossed!

While we were gone, Mom and I spent most of our days running around, shopping and eating out almost every day. Considering how much we shopped, I mostly was window-shopping, but we definitely came home with more than what we left with. It was nice to be away from some of the stress around here, although I wasn't able to escape it completely. It seems like I have a very difficult time keeping my mind from running crazy and overwhelming me with the possibilities, many of which aren't good. However, with Mom's help, I was able to sneak away to my parent's church right next to their house almost everyday for some quiet time with the Lord. That was a blessing, since quiet time of any sort doesn't exist much around here, and my prayer time is often interrupted, rushed, or split up into mini-prayer sessions as I can manage.

When he wasn't running around with us, Bryson spent the days playing in a plastic swimming pool and riding the 4 wheeler with Dad. He thinks Mom and Dad's house is Alabama - not the name of the state - and that the Cedar Creek church sign by their house says, "Alabama." Every time we would get close to their house and catch a glimpse of the church sign, he would say, "There's Alabama, Mommy!" He actually invited a few little kids he met in a store one day to come to Alabama and ride his pappaws big 4 wheeler. One little girl sai, "Silly goose, this is Alabama!"

Avery pretty much did what he does everywhere else. He pretty much goes with the flow. One great thing was that I found him sitting up in his bed one night, which has never happened before or since. I'm not sure how he managed it, but I hope it's a sign of things to come. The feeding situation has been declining, and Mom and I spent countless hours trying to force feed him. He's lost over 2 pounds in the last couple of months and is fighting food more and more. It's so frustrating to have to worry so much about if he's getting enough calories at his age. He also managed to scare me once again by having a seizure on the Friday before we left. This was his first seizure without a fever. We were riding in the car on our way to shop, of course, when Rebecca noticed Avery's face. His eyes were opened but rolled to the side and he was turning grey. I started calling his name and scrambling to get him out of the car seat, but he jerked his arms up and locked them, which made getting him out difficult. While Mom headed for the hospital, I was trying to get his attention and get him to come back to us. After his seizures, he gets really listless and tired, and if he isn't forced to stay somewhat alert, he usually has another one. So, off we went to a hospital where they didn't know anything about Avery or his medical history and had never heard of Diamond Blackfan Anemia. Being away from home and him getting sick is a huge fear of mine. Thankfully, he recovered after a couple of hours and seemed back to his old self. The doctor said he thinks Avery has an underlying seizure disorder and put him on daily anti-seizure meds. We're going to be seeing the neurologist in a week to see what she thinks.

I'm glad to be home, but part of me wishes I could have stayed a little longer until my house was ready for me. I would have, but Avery has appointments beginning today that I just can't miss. So, it's back to the same old routine for us! I am glad to be back to Phillip; I missed him so bad, and I feel so disconnected after not being with him for so long. He's not a great communicator on the phone, so we have a lot of catching up.

Before I end this incredibly long post, I do want to say that while I was gone, the Lord did answer a prayer for us. In my previous posts, I mentioned that we had a new situation that we were trying to trust the Lord with, and it had us pretty overwhelmed. Actually, the first week I was in Alabama, I was almost physically sick from worry. A couple of days before I left, Phillip called me and told me that God had worked it out for us. Our lives definitely aren't stress-free now, but God is working. God is teaching us to depend totally on Him. He seems to want us not to rely on anyone or anything but Him, and as I'm attempting to have the faith that I need, I am learning that God WILL take care of us. It might not happen when I want, but he's not going to forsake me. I'm so thankful for that.

Until next time...
Bethany