… were on the front page of the St. Louis paper today. Here’s the article – be sure to watch the video as well as read the article!
Can you carve out 15 minutes in your day today?
If so, then please read this.
Good idea for Christmas…
I’m mulling over this idea from Malia Russell at homemaking911.com
Here’s the intro:
Several years ago I heard about an easy way to narrow down Christmas gifts for children. Instead of buying a bunch of toys or other clutter, each child receives the following:
Something to Read
Something to Wear
Something to Play
Something to Share.
She goes on to give some thoughts on how to implement this. Like – if four gifts per child is still too many gifts for your budget, considering asking people you know will be buying gifts for your children to choose a category (or two). And – if they’d like to spend more, ask them to contribute to a savings/investment of some sort for the children.
Any thoughts? I like the idea, but would welcome some more practical implementation ideas.
Set Me Free – woohoo!
One of my favorite Acapella albums has always been Set Me Free. It is packed full of fabulous songs, and is, in my opinion, some of the best road trip music ever! Wonderful music for adoration of our great God and Savior, for refocusing our thoughts, and more. The fact that it was the soundtrack for the Arizona trip when God first started pulling together the hearts of Jonathan and I – icing on the cake!
We lost both our copies of it years ago, and I’ve longed for it without spending the energy or money to get another copy. A week or so ago, in a spontanteous moment, I found it used on amazon for $.80 (yes, 80 cents!). A few bucks for shipping was well worth it, and our “new” cd arrived today.
Love it, love it, love it!!!
I’m considering making a video for one of the songs with some of my favorite “scenery” photos that we’ve taken over the last few years in various places. But not till after we’ve moved, of course.
BBC Family Camp
Our chapel (Believers Bible Chapel) had our first Family Camp this last weekend; we rented Dayspring Bible Camp. Though Papa spoke at Dayspring when I was younger, he didn’t take Mama, Eric, and I because it was so primitive back then! So this was the first time there for all of our family.
It was a special weekend of fellowship for our chapel family. John Jimo from Emmaus Bible College came and shared with us from God’s Word. He was obviously led by the Lord as his messages were very much what we needed, both as a body of believers and as individuals (at least it was for this individual!).
Jonathan and I both were drawn to Dayspring, and I expect that you’ll be hearing more about it from me in the future. As many of you know, Kansas Bible Camp is home to us, and I don’t think that will ever change, no matter where the Lord leads us in the future. I found myself surprised by the tug on my heart toward the camp itself. I don’t mean the grounds, but the Dayspring staff and the feel that I got about the camp and the way the Lord is at work there. Hard to describe…
I’ve posted pictures in a couple of Picasa Albums – One for pictures from the weekend that include People, and one for pictures that are of the beautiful grounds and Scenery.
Here’s one of my favorite pictures from the weekend, just for a teaser…
It’s on the Market
The Byrds’ Nest went on the market this week.
I don’t know what else to type… sitting here with my fingers hovering… but no words.
Update on Noah Estes
Please keep praying for Noah and his family. Here is Kate’s latest update:
This morning the head of the pediatric service came in and told us that Noah’s newest blood cultures are continuing to grow out this still-unknown bacteria. This means that the antibiotics are not succeeding at killing the bug. He said that we should know what the bacteria is within 24 hours, and that he suspects that it is MRSA (antibiotic resistant superbug). The antibiotics Noah is taking are big guns and *should* be providing coverage for all gram positive bugs, but for some reason they don’t appear to be doing the job.
He also said that Noah is in what is called a catabolic state which means that his body is being broken down instead of built up. This is basically an acceleration of his mitochondrial disease caused by the severe stress of the infection. Whether this state can be reversed, and how long it takes to reverse, will be determined by the length and severity of the infection.
The doctors are exploring the idea of removing Noah’s central line, which is a catch-22. It is *possible* that removing the line will make it easier to clear the infection from his blood (if the line is harboring bacteria). It’s also possible that removing the line won’t make any difference. If they do remove it, they won’t want to give him a new line until the infection clears, because putting a fresh line into an infected body will just cause the new line to get infected. Noah can’t get his TPN (nutrition) through an IV – it must go through a central line. Most of us could get by with IV fluids for a few days, but children with mitochiondrial diseases must absolutely be kept from fasting . . . .
Noah is still spiking high fevers, and when he is feverish he is either sleeping or very, very out of things. When the fever goes down lower, he perks up enough to take an interest in his surroundings, watch a DVD, get carried to see the fish tank, etc. He is even walking a little when he really perks up.
It seems hard to believe that things are going this way. Noah has had sepsis and line infections and other horrible issues, but he has always responded beautifully. I guess we’ve always known that there could come a time when he didn’t respond as well, but it still seems hard to believe.
We should know more tomorrow. They drew another blood culture a few minutes ago and there is still hope that this one will show that Noah is winning and the bug is retreating. If any other big event or change happens, or if we receive any new news, I’ll update – but I don’t expect that until tomorrow. Again, please pass this on to anyone who might be praying for Noah.
I want to get back to him (you could pray that we can get our in-room internet figured out!), but I want to close with a song that has meant so much lately.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-_38RfYrFYA&color1=0xb1b1b1&color2=0xcfcfcf&hl=en&fs=1]
Note to Self – Master Bedroom
(because if I don’t post it, I’ll forget all about it)
In Large, Friendly Letters…
I make no claim to economic brilliance, so this will likely be the only post I make about the current economic panic. This post says it so much better than I ever could. Please go read.
(My apologies to those unfamiliar with Douglas Adams who will be baffled by the title of this post and by a tiny portion of the referenced article. Read it anyway. Please.)
Please Pray for Noah Estes!
Sweet little Noah is extremely sick. From his mom:
We are rushing to the Greenville ER. Noah is vomiting, shaking uncontrollably, and running a fever of 103.5. He is extremely sick. Please ask everyone you know to pray. I’ll update when I can.
Kate
Please keep Noah and his family in your prayers. To become familiar with him (if you aren’t yet), and for updates, see their blog, Our Quiverfull.