Merry Christmas!!

Praising God for the birth of his Son, and for our THIRD Christmas with both of my girls (: He is GOOD!

the Body of Christ...

Hi Friends!

Well our internet is hooked up... but according to the cable-internet-man we are getting about 1/1000 of the signal we should be getting... so no photos today (SORRY) but hopefully we will have that fixed up tomorrow.

I have been dying to write this post for a while now, it has been whirling around in my head as we start to sink into our new home. You hear a lot about "the body of Christ" in church. What does that really mean?... One meaning of the "body of Christ" are the people in the church (any church) who love Jesus, and serve Him.

This past weekend we got word that we could start moving furniture and boxes into our house a day early (Sunday). So I texted a friend Amy on Saturday afternoon, who mentioned she and her husband could help us move. She also had mentioned that her Bible study group was interested in helping (which honestly I thought was a little weird since I hadn't met any of them and they don't even go to our church!). So I gave her our new address and told her we would be there around 1:30pm on Sunday. We loaded up the U-Haul Sunday after church, got to our new house and started to unpack. At 1:30 Amy, her husband, and 5 of their friends came, giving us a grand total of EIGHT men, and FIVE women to move us into our home, five of whom we had never met. These people gave of their time on a Sunday afternoon to serve a family who needed help moving. Men hauling heavy furniture, women making beds and putting away clothes. Something that could have taken us several hours was done in two. I was humbled and overwhelmed by their willingness to give of their time, expecting nothing in return. My dad asked one of the guys on his way in the house "so how do you know John and Linds?" His answer... "I don't, just thought this would be a good way to serve." Amen brother, praising God for you!

When we started looking at building a home, I called a man from church who builds in Omaha. From start to finish he has helped John and I plan and build a home that fits Evie and our needs beautifully, in a wonderful neighborhood, a great school district, with amenities we never thought we would have. He linked us with a realtor who was willing to work with us very fairly on both sides of the sale and a lender who helped make the numbers work. This man gave of his time and resources to BLESS us immeasurably with a home that is a total dream come true.

I couldn't forget our amazing family and friends and the countless hours of packing, loading, unloading, babysitting, listening, picking out colors, unpacking, buying dinner, visiting, etc. they have done over the past 6 months.

Those are just a few examples of the Body of Christ and the wonders that God does through people who answer his call. I hope that God will open a door for us to repay all of these wonderful people their kindness and hope I can serve them with an ounce of the humility and unselfishness they have shown us.

THANK YOU for serving our family, through prayer, help, notes and words of encouragement these past few months. I am constantly blown away by the giving hearts of the people that God has used in our lives to love us! Evie's quick recovery from surgery is just another testimony of God's goodness and his listening ear to our prayers.

Love you friends, pictures of Evie AND our new house coming soon!!!

Moved in!

We have closed on our house! There are boxes everywhere an I love it! My goal is to be unpacked by Christmas (: we feel blessed beyond belief to have such a wonderful place to live. I am dying to post photos of Eves surgery and our new home, the cable guy comes today to hook up the internet... Stay tuned!!!

Love you friends!

Home.

We are home! We actually were discharged Wednesday morning. Wed night and Thursday were pretty hard and last night lyla had the stomach flu so I haven't had a chance to update.

Evie is doing wonderful. She was almost back to her normal self today. She can crawl and play around by herself, she was afraid to move much yesterday.

I will update more with some pics soon. Thanks for your prayers, they were answered!

Better afternoon

Eve had anothr breathing spell this morning but shes getting a blood transfusion right now and is feeling much better.

Thanks for praying!

Day 1

Hi friends,
Surgery went well, we are all exhausted, especially Evie. The docs found a little pressure so they made some cuts going down the sides and front of her skull to "open things up."

She had a few episodes tonight where she got upset and held her breath until her lips turned purple. It was scary. Please pray that these will stop. She is in pain, but mostly uncomfortable and scared.

Pray also for her swelling, we have noticed it starting to increase more as she is laying down to sleep.

Thanks for your love and prayers for our sweet girl.

Pre-op

Evie decided to measure her own head before surgery (: she just went back, and did pretty well.

Trust...

Hi friends (:

Evies surgery is tomorrow morning at 7am, we need to arrive at the hospital at 530. The sermon this morning was about Trust, it was very applicable. Honestly, I'm not as 'nervous' about tomorrow as I am just plain sad. Its almost harder since we've done this surgery before, because her recovery was so awful. We are hoping this incision is smaller and the swelling won't be as bad. In case I forgot to menton before, they are fixing the bump of bone on the top of her head left behind by her last cranial reconstructive surgery.

Prayer requests:
Evie doesn't panic as they take her away
I don't panic as they take her away
Anethesia goes well
Surgery is sucessful
No emergencies
Extubation and recovery go well
We can control her pain afterward
She doesn't get scared
She doesn't swell too bad
We can adequately comfort her

Thanks friends, love you.