Some Answers, but Waiting on the Plan...

Andrew continues to have excruciating tummy pain twice a day that lasts 4-5 hours, unless we give him pain medication.  On Friday, Andrew had a HIDA Scan which is a 2 hour test that tests the function of the gallbladder.  Andrew had to be fasting for the test, so the hardest part was not being able to take pain medication for one of his terrible awful tummy pains (it is literally like labor pains that lasts 4 hours), he was starving (didn't get to eat anything until 1:30 pm that afternoon), the rookie tech had to stick him THREE times trying to place an IV, and he had to lay completely still for 2 hours.  This whole experience with Andrew's health over the past 3-4 weeks has been something that has tested our faith and driven us to our knees, but I haven't seen Andrew's heart as tender as it was last night when he broke down and said "I'm just so sick of my tummy pain!  Why do you think God is allowing me to have it?"  We talked about all the different reason that our limited/earthly brains could come up with, but we both agreed that we know God's character well enough to know that his suffering is not in vain and that God is doing something big in and through him/us through this trial and we can hold on to the hope that God will make this test a testimony.  Andrew said that if him going through this would allow just one person to come to a saving faith in Christ, it would all be worth it.  Tears welled up in his eyes and he said "did you know that Papa (my dad) made me really happy today and it actually helped my tummy feel better?"  I asked him to tell me more about what he was talking about and he shared how much it meant to him that "papa" told him that he has been praying for him, he just got down on Andrew's level, spoke softly to him, and wanted to know how he was doing and told him how proud of him he was.  I told him that I knew exactly what he was talking about because Papa has a way of making me feel like the most special person in the world too, that is one of his biggest gifts.  Andrew then said "I'm just blessed that he is my papa!"  In that moment, I was reminded once again of the simplicity of touching that sweet boy's heart.  His love language is words of affirmation and time spent (whether that is a few purposeful moments or a whole day).  Andrew wanted to call my dad to tell him how much he appreciated him, so we did and they planned a date today to put together legos.  I just wanted to encourage y'all with what the Lord reminded me through this...  it is so much simpler than I make it sometimes, with all of the demands in life fighting for our attention, nothing is more valuable than purposeful time spent investing in those you love (and biblically speaking those that aren't so lovable too:-) and it doesn't have to be anything fancy, just purposeful time.

Sorry, that was a long story to get us to the results of the test... the test showed that his gallbladder is working at 10% when normal is 35%+.  The results at least explain the gallstones, but the doctor isn't certain that is the sole cause of his tummy pain.  His team of doctors plan to discuss the findings early this week and come up with a next step.  In the mean time, we are trying a low fat diet to see if we can take some of the pressure off the gallbladder and I have a suspicion that the low fat diet (that we have only done for less than 24 hours so far) is helping, but boy is that hard when it comes to an 8 year old boy...  but we are willing to try anything for a little relief.

Abigail had an indoor soccer game on Friday night that was a hard fought game, but I am afraid the other team's parents were interested in making it a hard fought game in the parking lot too.... literally.  This was my first experience at a child's sporting event when I heard a parent from the other team say to one of the parents from our team "let's take this outside!"  What?!?!  Fortunately, I was busy chasing Grace around most of the game, so I didn't see her daughter slam Abigail into the wall (the worst of multiple nasty fouls) because I'm not sure my heart and mind would have been in the right place to be able to go over to the mom doing the threatening and graciously remind her that there were a lot of little ears around that didn't need to be exposed to that level of aggression and that at the end of the day we all have the same goal; we want our kids to be safe, have fun, and learn/grow as an individual player and as a team.  It was a crazy night to say the least.  Both the big kids had basketball games this weekend.  Abigail's game was especially exciting because they won by a basket in the last couple seconds of the game.  We also got to watch David play in an indoor soccer game, which was a treat for two reasons.  First, I don't think I've been able to watch one of his games since we were in college and I forgot how much I loved getting to watch him.  Second, it blows my mind how similar David and Abigail play soccer!  They have identical body types, mannerisms, hustle, etc on the soccer field!

Grace has come down with some sort of respiratory infection this weekend and is pretty miserable, so we are praying that it passes quickly and we don't end up in the hospital with her.  We would greatly appreciate your prayers for Andrew and Grace!  Thank you!!!

Grace is crazy blessed to be in the PPCD/Pegasus program at Velasquez Elementary.  It always blows my mind with all the little trinkets and treats she comes home with daily.  This week they studied the letter "D", so here she is in her disco attire from the disco party they had.