davejenbarnes

They’d look much worse if I let myself rub them.  I’m exhausted from being sick and pregnant at the same time…. Oh? And we’re not out of the duplex yet so, technically, we’re still moving.  You’d think that moving and being pregnant would be quite enough to handle but God thought I could handle a viral double eye infection (not to mention a yeast infection too — ICK!) on top of it all.  Maybe I should consider that a complement from Heaven?  Maybe I should eat better and keep things cleaner?  Maybe I should go to bed?  Hmm…

*typed 1-handed due to feeding Lowell, so please forgive all the lower-case

we have to turn in a letter of intent in a week and have yet to receive renewal notice from the management.  i was very (and still am) upset by the management’s lack of professionalism.  after a phone call or two or three, i got word-of-mouth conditions of the renewal status.  basically, rent is going up by $25 per month and they’re only offering us an 11 month lease.  this means we’d be at the end of our lease on May 31st — and David’s school year won’t be out until the middle of June.  I would rather move in June/July this summer than in May next summer, so we’re looking.  even though we don’t have the renewal proposition in our hands, we’re pretty sure we need to relocate.

so, please pray that we find someplace closer to David’s school that we can afford and that we find it quickly.  also pray as we start to get serious about buying in the next 2 years — that God will be preparing our home (the ones we eventually end up renting and buying) and guide us in our home searches.

Pray for my dad. Please.

He’s in surgery right now as doctors are trying to save his left leg.

Okay, let me back up and give some background to this prayer request. I drove up to my folks’ place on Thursday with the boys since David had U.I.L. competition with his band on Thursday and with his boss’ band on Friday. Competition days are long days and I didn’t want to be alone with a 20 month old and a 1 month old from sun-up to sun-down without any other adult interaction so who better to pass some time with than the grandparents?

Friday was another rainy day in our streak of rainy days but it was much worse in Lampasas County than in surrounding areas. We ended up with a flash flood that was pretty much along the lines of what happened on May 25th, 1994, only without the hail. My dad was driving home and waiting for the water level to go down before he could get across the road when the water level rose suddenly and swept his car off the road. He managed to open the car door but the car pinned him to a tree and his leg was caught. After the water swept the car away, he swam to a taller tree and climbed it. Some neighbors eventually found him, threw him a line, and got my mom as well as having an ambulance sent for him. He received slow treatment and was sent home that night from the E.R. with 31 stitches in his left calf.

Today he went back for a check-up and it was decided that he needed more treatment than is available at a rural hospital so he was transferred to a bigger hospital with more resources and has been admitted to the hospital until the doctors can get the infection in his wound under control. Last I heard, part of getting the infection under control is surgery. I am anxiously awaiting news, but would like anybody reading this to please pray in the meantime.

Thanks.

UPDATE - he had surgery on his leg early this morning and is resting now.  The doctors were able to do a culture on the infection so they could fight it with the right medication.  I got to talk to him and he sounds good.  Praise God!

David and I talked it over and after some prayer we decided that getting the work done where my parents live would be a good way to solve the lack of a rental car (our insurance took that part out of our policy to keep the monthly premium down) and getting our car worked on at the same time.  Plus it comes with the added benefit of James being with his grandparents.  We’re looking at Thurs night/Friday before we can make it home.

Our car needed a total brake job replacement, some miscellaneous parts, and new tires.  We got the tires replaced at NTB which fixed 80% of what I was complaining about but knowing that the brakes were shot, we still needed the work done.  The total bill for all of that is pretty much exactly our total savings.  THEN on Sunday, at church, the air conditioner died.  It’s another $1,000 to fix the air conditioner and we just can’t afford it, and we are NOT WILLING to charge it on a credit card (**shudder, just the thought of credit cards just gives me the heebie-jeebies**) since we’re working so hard to pay cash for everything and stay out of debt!

Please pray for God to provide the $ to get our air conditioner fixed before the weather turns hot again next year and to provide the $ to build our emergency savings fund back up.  We’re totally trusting Him to provide for us right now and are full of praises that we could afford to get the important work done to the car when it needed to be done.  It is really scary to have $0 in life savings and to have a baby on the way, but it is such a praise to have the mindset of staying out of debt and trusting God to provide for our every need.

I’ve always been guessing on James’ weight since we sold our bathroom scale at a garage sale when we lived in Rio Grande City. At one year old, he weighed almost 23 pounds and we expected him to slow down quite a bit when his pediatrician said she only expected him to gain around 4 pounds in the next YEAR. That’s 2 pounds every 6 months, people. Three months to gain ONE pound; a third of a pound a month! He had been gaining over a pound a month his entire first twelve months alive.

We still have another month until his 15 month check-up, but I can tell you that he will gain more than his alloted 4 pounds this year. It’s been two months since his 12 month check-up and he’s gained exactly 2 pounds. Yep, we went in to see the pediatrician’s nurse practicioner for a strange rash and when she weighed him, he was 24 pounds, 10 ounces. We’re getting close to having a 25 pounder.

Some prayer requests:

• That James’ rashes go away, completely. The nurse said that the full-body rash was a viral infection working its way out of his system. I had no clue he was even sick because of the teething going on, a similiarity of symptoms between teething and really being sick, and the fact that this is really only the first time he’s ever even been sick.
• That James’ bottom two cuspids will come in quickly so we can get his digestion back to normal and get rid of this awful diaper rash (yes, he has multiple rashes on top of each other) before it gets any worse.
• We have a friend, I will call her Cathy, who is waiting for some blood test results pertaining to a pregnancy. Please pray for God’s will and for strength for Cathy as she desperately desires to start a family.
• And pray for God’s will concerning the employment of David’s brother, Philip, as he has applied for a ministry position within a church in their new community.

Our close friends, the Walkers, had their triplets today. Please keep that whole family in your prayers as there was an emergency with the new mom’s bleeding. She’s in stable condition right now and we are praying for a speedy and healthy recovery. All three babies are doing wonderfully.

UPDATE: 1/24/06
The new mom is still in ICU, but is no longer on the ventilator. She had to have a hysterectomy to stop the bleeding and is now recovering. Please keep this family in your prayers, all five of them (all 5 of the family members, not all 5 of your prayers).

UPDATE: 1/24/06, evening
there are three pictures up on our flickr account since I had a hard time emailing them. I did not take the pictures of the triplets; I think a teacher-friend of the Walker’s took the pictures.

UPDATE: 1/26/06
The new mom was up and walking today and even had enough strength to shower. She’s been visiting her babies and trying to get all three of them to nurse, as she’s been having the lactation nurses in her room to help her as she got a late start to nursing.

James has a head-cold, or, officially, an upper respiratory infection. Dr. Wacker said it would take about 7 days to run it’s course. The words “upper respiratory infection” sound so specific when coming from a mom but they sound so generic when coming from a Doctor.

On the other hand, at 5 months old, he is weighing in at 18 pounds, 8 ounces.

Looks like we will be staying home this Christmas eve and will miss David playing his trombone in church on Christmas day. Let’s pray that James feels better by then.

UPDATE: 12-22-2005
James slept the night in his swing which worked because the swing keeps his head above the rest of his body and his congestion can drain. He only woke up for real at 4:00, his usual wake-up time to eat. I’m sure he woke up periodically through the night as well, but he never cried. Either that or he is still pretty hoarse and we never heard him cry. He did cough a ton though. I remember that. At least we all got some more sleep. Tonight we will try the swing again, but I am putting mittens on his hands because they were frigid. I’m also going to move the swing away from the outside wall of his room… that part of his room is always cooler than the inside walls.

UPDATE: 12-23-2005
James is doing much better. Thanks for the prayers if you prayed one for James!

Yesterday, James came down with his first cold. David came home sick from school on Friday and didn’t feel great for about 4 days… then I came down with it on Sunday and didn’t feel great (and still don’t feel great, to be honest) and yesterday, James was the one to get sick. He slept a lot yesterday. He nursed a lot yesterday. I am glad to still be nursing him because he relaxes so quickly no matter what is bugging him when he nurses. I was glad to have that time with him yesterday. Last night was hard. I knew it would be. Anytime he is laying flat, he can’t breathe. So we only got an hour or two of sleep before he was awake and unhappy. James and I spent two hours rocking in the rocking chair before I got too tired to keep the chair moving. I set him back down in his crib and went back to bed. But neither of us slept. I could hear him through the monitor. When he started crying an hour later, I was up again with my little boy, nursing and rocking - rocking and nursing. All in all, I got maybe 2 hours of sleep last night total before David got up this morning and took over and let me get another hour of sleep in.

Hopefully tonight will be more sleep filled. James has a 3:30 appointment with the pediatrician and I am praying she will have some kind of medicine to clear up his coughs and all the mucous so he can sleep on a flat surface… like his crib mattress!