Carmen update: Carmen had her feeding tube replaced on Tuesday and all went well. This was the original tube that was placed in January and had an inside piece that was larger then the hole in her stomach. The inside piece kept the tube from falling out but also meant that a doctor had to pull it out to replace it. Now, we have a tube with a balloon on the inside that can be deflated so that we can replace the tube ourselves whenever it starts getting gross. Pulling the old tube out literally took about 1 second. Carmen was asleep and woke up when the tube came out but did not appear distressed.
Carmen’s gastroenterologist asked for another round of C-diff tests. Carmen still has the same symptoms (diarrhea and mucus) so we are certain she still has C-diff but will do the tests again.
We had a very nice Thanksgiving. Our former neighbor dropped off a home-made pecan pie. Thanks Salih! And some friends came over and brought most of Thanksgiving dinner. We had turkey, stuffing, gravy, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes (with and without marshmallows), corn, butternut squash, green bean casserole, creamed onions, collard greens, rolls, cranberry sauce, pecan pie, apple pie with ice cream, and butter rolls. I ate and ate and ate the collard greens. They were soooooooo good. I guess my love of collard greens comes from my Texas roots! Thanks to C.F. and Indira for being so thoughtful and including us in your Thanksgiving!
I was looking through some pictures today and found this picture from November 2007. I was running Carmen’s bath and had stripped her down to her diaper. Lauren covered her up with baby washcloths! She said she didn’t want Carmen to be cold.
We hope you have a very Happy Thanksgiving!
Love,
Dave, Lana, Lauren and Carmen
Lauren’s Turkey Craft
I often write about pastors who influence me. Today, I’d like to take a brief moment to write about my pastor, Pastor Dale O’Shields of Church of the Redeemer.
Lana and I moved to Maryland during the summer of 2002. Right before we moved, a good friend of Lana’s gave her a tape of some pastor in Gaithersburg, MD. “I’ve never been to this pastor’s church but someone gave me his tapes and he’s really good,” Lana’s friend said. So we looked up the church and decided to visit it the next weekend.
Sunday morning arrived. The service was just about to begin. We sat down in the balcony. The music started and everyone started singing. Five minutes into the service, Lana and I turned and looked at each other, then smiled. Neither of us said a word but we both knew exactly what the other was thinking; this is the place for us!
It is not coincidental that I have made tremendous strides forward in my spiritual journey since moving to MD and becoming part of Church of the Redeemer. It is not coincidental at all.
Thank you Pastor Dale! Thank you for listening to God when he directed you and your family to move to Maryland in 1986. Thank you for starting Church of the Redeemer. Thank you for your unwavering commitment to Christ! Thank you for the deep love you have for this local body. Thank you for your continual investment in us.
Here is a picture of Pastor Dale and his wife Terry that I stole borrowed from the Church of the Redeemer website.
What pastor or spiritual leader do you want to thank?
The first of a few Thanksgiving journals…
Thanksgiving is my very favorite holiday. I just love that we have a national holiday focused on being thankful. I love spending time with family and friends. I love the food! I’m not sure why I only eat sweet potatoes on Thanksgiving considering how much I enjoy them!
This Thanksgiving we are very thankful that Carmen is doing so well. So many times this summer we did not think Carmen would make it through the day or week. Several times Carmen’s pediatrician asked to be paged if Carmen passed away over the weekend.
We don’t know how many more Thanksgivings Carmen has so this one is bittersweet. We are so thankful she is here with us and doing so well. But I do wonder if this will be her last Thanksgiving. Only God knows. Psalms 139:16, “All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.”
Here is a recent picture of Carmen. Doesn’t she look lovely in yellow?! Oh to have beautiful golden skin!
What are you thankful for?
We got snow flurries yesterday!
Lauren ran around on the deck and scraped up every snowflake. Then she ate the snow.
She came inside and we had hot chocolate.
I was busy working on something and Lauren was bored. I found her in the kitchen, surrounded by Styrofoam “snow.” Ah, what a mess! A big, delightful mess!
Totally Yummy Hot Chocolate- one serving
2 Tablespoons sugar
2 Tablespoons Hershey’s Cocoa powder
Dash salt
1 cup milk
1/4 tsp. vanilla
Put all in saucepan. Cook and stir over low heat until hot. Do not boil.
Does it snow where you live? If so, has it snowed yet this year?
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