More on Baby Ally

These last two days have been very busy...lots of calls, emails and at times caring for extra pairs of feet. But it's been good work and hearing Ally's mom report on her progress makes everything seem easy and light.

The first day post surgery was pretty tough. Ally's surgery itself went really well. The doctors were able to get in and make adequate room in her skull for her brain to continue to grow. Everything went beautifully. However, with any sort of surgery, especially one of this magnitude, major swelling is a big part of the healing process.

So, pretty soon after the surgery was over, the swelling and pain started to kick in and continued to worsen as the hours ticked by. Yet, despite these things, her mom (who is an amazing and strong mom) found excellent ways to comfort her. And the good news is that as the swelling goes down over the next few days, Ally will be able to open up her eyes again.

Day by day...hour by hour...things are slowly starting to look a little bit better.

And we're thankful.

We're so thankful.

She has incredible care. The surgeon's hands did what needed to be done. The craniosynostosis has been corrected. Her recovery so far is occurring without incident. She is off IV fluids and is drinking a bottle!! Her Mom and Grandma got to hold her today. And we're only two days out.

There is so much to be thankful for.

Our family is thanking God for His grace and mercy today in protecting our little Ally. Or as her brother brother calls her, his "sweet girl". We can't wait for her to be able to come home.

Continue to pray for strength for her parents and continued healing for Ally. And thank you to all who have been lifting Ally up and remembering her in your prayers.

Ally Update

Thank you to all who prayed for our niece Ally. She was out of surgery this evening after a six hour surgery!! Everything went really well. Currently she is sedated and sleeping peacefully. Thankfully, both of her parents are able to stay with her tonight in the PICU (Pediatric Intensive Care Unit).

God is so good to us.

We're thankful for this very good news.

Pray for Our Sweet Ally

"Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in our affliction..." 2 Corinthians 1:3-4

A few weeks back I introduced you to my niece. If you want the full story, you can find it here and here.

Lift her up in prayer. Today at noon she gets life-changing skull surgery to correct the craniosynostosis she was born with. She's got some of the best doctors in the country working on her but it's still a HUGE deal. Pray for the surgeons' hands to be precise and diligent. Pray for every aspect of the surgery itself to go off without a hitch from the anesthesia to the blood transfusions. Pray that her recovery will be swift and without incident. Pray for her brothers to have a good stay with family over the next week. And pray for the hearts of her parents who will be waiting to see Ally once the surgery is completed.

So we pray and wait but not without hope.

We find comfort in knowing Ally is in His hands.

I'll keep you all updated.

A Little Bit of This...

Means a little bit of that.





What's that?

It's what we call around here a Jammy Ride. Stole the idea from these guys here.

Don't do it often and rarely during the winter BUT super fun to do when celebrating a good report card.

Our kids were none the wiser when we told them it was late and that they were going to bed right after dinner. And then we waited a bit...only to burst in and scream "Jammy Ride!" We then threw them all in the car and announced that we were going to none other than THE Baskin Robbins for some ice cream.

Pure elation.



Fun was had by all.


Even the little darlin'.

He did all the work...but all were blessed.

Not a bad start to the week.

My One Weakness

Every night, after the kids go to bed, I pull this trusty old friend out of my freezer and let it sit out to soften.

Then I drag out my 1/2 cup and pack it as tight as I can--always putting some extra on top. You know, just so there's some portion control (I learned that trick from my Weight Watchers days post college).

Some nights I have one half cup...some nights two. It kinda depends on what kind of day I had.

I do this every single night and I NEVER tire of it. There's just something about Safeway Select, Light Moose Tracks Ice Cream that I simply adore. I don't know what it is. It's comfort food to me. It helps me unwind.

It's my "one weakness."

What's yours?

Loving the Standard

"When it comes to parenting, you have often heard me say that our parental responsibility does not consist in getting young people to grit their teeth and conform to the standard. The task before us is to bring up our children in such a way as to love the standard. This is not possible to do with externally driven rules. It is a function of loyalty, and loyalty is based on love and relationship." Doug Wilson

This was a great little missive on parenting. I haven't been parenting for very long but the more I do, the more this sort of thing makes sense to me. We can force our kids into obedience for sure...but for how long? And doesn't Christ say, "If you love me, you'll obey my commandments."? Isn't that our goal in training--to get them to want to obey because they love us and are loyal to us?

How is this accomplished?? How do we get our kids to love the standard that we've set and not just woodenly adhere to it?

I guess that's the whole point of Doug's post-loyalty and relationship.

This whole idea challenges me tremendously-seriously it does. I'm a rules person. I like my rules and I stick to them. Although consistency is a huge part of parenting well (at least from my very little experience), it's not the whole picture. It can't be. There has to be more to the equation...there's simply too many variables.

I don't necessarily know how to get there or what it all looks like. But I pray for wisdom in this. Because I think the whole point is that we want their hearts, not just their good behavior.

Our pastor always uses this analogy in parenting: Clean the whole cup...the inside as well as the outside.

Challenging and good. And great for rule followers like me. Check it out.

Ally Update

First of all, I want you to know how thankful our family is for all of you and your prayers for our little Ally. Her parents and brothers felt such an overwhelming amount of love knowing that so many were lifting them up in prayer. The body of Christ is an amazing thing is it not?

Currently, Ally's surgery has yet to be scheduled. There is the possibility that they might be able to get her back in this coming Friday. That would be the best case scenario since her family is already geared up logistically, mentally and emotionally for the surgery. Pray for this!! But if they can't get her in on Friday, then it will probably occur sometime next month.

We're thankful. We're thankful for an excellent team of doctors. We're thankful for their wisdom to hold off. We're thankful that although it won't be easy logistically for Ally's family to do, that the surgery can be rescheduled at a future time. And we trust that God's hand is in all of the details.

But most of all, we're thankful for this little one...

She's the reason we continue to pray, petition and ask for God's protection and grace.

I'll keep you updated.