(((hugs))) from God...

Happy Sunday, sweet Village!  As I posted earlier in the week, we are elated and grateful that it seems as though we have ruled out the initial "scary stuff," as it relates to the cause of Andrew's pneumonias and sinus infections.  He got a booster of the pneumonia vaccine (remember he didn't have adequate titers, meaning he wasn't being protected from strep infections) and he is scheduled to get an allergy test (poor little honey, that's going to be no fun... picture getting poked with 50+ needles on your back and then more on your arm), a repeat CT scan of his sinus' to make sure it's cleared up, and repeat blood work next month.  Will you please pray for wisdom for the Dr.'s and that the treatment is easy and straight forward (especially that nothing scary pops up)?  THANK YOU!!!

Grace going for a drive with Andrew's helmet on...  These two together are all kinds of crazy :-)

I just want to reiterate how much your prayers and support for Andrew means to us!  As I mentioned before, the roller coaster with Grace has become our "normal," however, when it's one of your otherwise healthy kids it literally feels like a sucker punch, knocking the wind out of you, so when God uses y'all to breathe for us when we have trouble catching our breath, it is a priceless gift.  It's all too easy to give into the temptation to think that this isn't fair, but God quickly reminds us that He is above our circumstances and if we keep our eyes focused on Him, we will get a glimpse of His glory and grace, manifest in precious life lessons and "(((hugs))) from Him".  Here are just two super special (((hugs))) from the Lord...  1) Through this most recent scare with Andrew we have had a chance to see Andrew cling to and live out his love and dependance on the Lord.  He has had to take several YUCKY tasting medications that practically make him gag every time and many of them are dosed 3 times a day (which means we have to wake him up in the middle of the night to take it), and he has had to endure MANY pokes and prods that aren't comfortable at all.  Each time he has to do something that is undesirable or scary, he will always ask if we or he can pray first, so from every time he takes his yucky medicine (he's been taking a 3 times a day, yucky medicine of some sort for almost 2 months now) to every shot/blood draw we get to hear him cling to the Lord.  At the same time, Andrew's other half (Abigail) is heart broken anytime he has to endure anything, so she too has not only prayed diligently for him, but she recruits friends, teachers (the kids have some seriously special teachers in their lives), and anyone else that will agree to pray too.  Seeing there faith lived out makes this crazy journey some sweet and is a faith builder for David and I (love how God uses little people to minister to grown up's :-).  2)  You, Village... each comment, text, pizza, or card practically brought me to tears because they each served as reminders that we are not alone on this journey. Our pastor prayed for Andrew and our family last Sunday, and through his prayer, I was reminded of just how powerful God is, not that it was a new concept for me, but God used him (our wonderful pastor) to give me a new sense of "awe" for Him (God).  Unbeknownst to me at the time, a sweet friend caught a picture of this sweet moment.  Abigail is there too, she is just covered up by Grace and I :-)...

Abigail had her last soccer game of the season on Wednesday night where she scored a goal and made a couple of plays that David and I love to relive in our minds (so bummed that I'm awful at video taping games).  We love getting to watch her turn on the jets to come from behind and run someone down who would have otherwise had a breakaway goal.  It was impossible to get a picture of Grace looking at the camera because she was too busy looking at and kissing Abigail that she didn't have time to look at me :-).

David and I had TWO date nights this week (it's rare for us to get one, let alone two back to back)!!!  One was an amazing fundraiser for The Rise School (Grace's school)!  The Rise School is seriously a little slice of heaven...  that's all!  I know that Grace agrees because every morning when we get close to school, she starts clapping and saying "SCHOOOOOOOL" with a giant smile on her face (the kind of smile where she's smiling so big, she can hardly see).  The second night was a night out with some dear friends where there might have been some karaoke involved (in lieu of our campout that got rained out).  

WARNING...  with Thanksgiving around the corner, if you see Grace eating some no bake pumpkin pie (or anything pumpkin really), DO NOT make any sudden moves that would cause her to think that you might steal some of her food because you will see "Grace the crazy banshee" come out...  keep your distance and you will see one MESSY and HAPPY child :-).

Grace is coming to give you a big (((hug))) and kiss to thank you for all of your support, Village!