Gabriel's birth story

As Wayne mentioned in the last post, Gabriel arrived very quickly! We were supposed to go to the Kaiser hospital in San Francisco, but when I called at 5:15 am, the nurse told me they had no beds available there and that we would have to go to Oakland. If you're not familiar with the bay area, the Kaiser hospital in SF is about a 15-20 minute drive and Oakland is a little "iffy" with possible traffic on the freeway, crossing the bay on the Richmond bridge, etc, so it can be a 30-40 minute drive. So, I was a little nervous and told the nurse "I delivered my first son an hour and a half after starting contractions," to which she replied "Well, you better get moving, then!" So, Wayne drove 80 mph on the freeway and we even ran a couple of red lights once we got to Oakland. Thankfully, it was early Sunday morning and not much traffic! My water broke in the car just before we got there (nice). We pulled up to the ER entrance around 6 am and he was delivered at 6:33! I think I pushed 4 or 5 times, and out he came! Wayne and Micah had gone back down to move the car and when they walked back into the room, Gabriel was coming out!

He's a tiny, beautiful little guy. Our newborn clothes even swallow him! He's doing well, and I'm doing well. Yesterday, I felt like a zombie. Today, I feel more like a normal person. I think I had about 5 hours of sleep last night which is 2 more than the night before at the hospital. We came home yesterday afternoon. Continue to pray for Micah and for us to have grace and patience with him; he's having a hard time. He seems to have a real attachment to Wayne, following him everywhere crying a lot, wanting him to hold him, and he's not having a lot to do with me and certainly not the baby right now. I think it will take some time.

I'm glad the baby's here and that all went well. Rejoice with us over this new blessing from God!

Gabriel Aaron Womack

Gabriel was born on June 29, 2008, weighing 6 lbs 15 oz and measuring 19 inches.. His entry into this world was very fast. Kelly was wakened by contractions at 4:45 am. We made it to the hospital just in time--after getting there just before 6 am, Gabriel was born at 6:33 am.

Pictures will be posted very soon.

Waiting for Gabriel

One of Micah's favorite things: playing in the water accumulated in dishes in the sink. Yes, he can reach into the sink!
One of his other favorites: opening the microwave. At least now it's only when we are using it and not over and over for 8 or 10 minutes at a time.
One of the photos at "Breathe." I talk about that event toward the end of the post.
He's sitting in a pool of plastic balls. He had a great time at this event!



A couple of weeks ago I had asked you to pray that I would make it at least to week 37 and that’s right where I am now! My doctor said he could come anytime and it would be fine. So, we are anxiously awaiting Gabriel’s arrival. I even have my hospital bag packed, and if you know me and my habits of procrastination, you have to be proud of that. Wayne’s sister Janel is coming on Sunday, and so it would be perfect if the baby decided to make his appearance then.

I do want to put out an appeal and ask for you to please pray for Micah to adjust well to his new baby brother. I can’t describe to you how anxious/nervous I am about this. I am trying not to be (Philippians 4:6-8); trying to pray about it and remind myself that God’s mercies are new every day and will continue to be once the baby is here. It’s just that Micah is SUPER SENSITIVE to crying babies, crying children, even laughing adults. Yesterday was a strong reminder of that. One of my dearest friends from college and seminary was going through town on her way up to the northwest. Micah cried almost the whole hour and a half that she and her brother were here. The scene involved him crying hysterically, so loud that I couldn‘t hear Rebecca or myself talking, and crawling up and down out of my lap (which at 37 weeks pregnant is not so comfortable). He had moments in which he would settle down, but would always start up again at the slightest laughter.

It has been a really hard week for me in terms of dealing with Micah. He has been out of school for a week and a half and I think he had gotten so used to going that he’s been bored at home. And, of course, I’m limited as to how much I can do with him right now. I have gotten frustrated with him more than a few times as he has gotten handy at throwing little temper tantrums and has been into just about anything he can get into. He will start his summer school session next week and will be going from 8-11:30, M-F until we move.

Our church hosted a respite event last Saturday called “Breathe” for families of kids with special needs. It was free event for the kids and their siblings so that parents could go away alone for 4 hours. It was hosted by an organization called Green Pastures out here in CA. This was the first time of hopefully many for our church to host this and I’m so glad. It was and will be a great ministry in San Francisco.

A lady from our church took lots of photos and sent the ones of Micah to me. As I watched the slideshow of photos of him, I could only cry. I don’t know if I can even describe why. I think part of it was once again being reminded that our son is a child with a disability. He is developmentally delayed and some of his physicians/therapists have even used the term “mentally retarded,” which in this day and age is hard to hear even if it’s true. Part of the tears though were tears of compassion, realizing he can’t help that he is so sensitive to noise, and he can’t help his lack of understanding of so many things or that he can’t communicate with words just yet. And lastly, part of those tears were just realizing what a beautiful little boy he is, how we and many people love him so much, and how he brings so much joy to others and to Wayne and myself. We covet your prayers as we continue to be loving parents to him as we wait for and then welcome our new little one.

Funny story

Last night Wayne had gone into the bathroom and turned on the water for Micah's bath. Anytime Micah hears the water come on and start filling the tub, he runs for the bathroom. Usually, Wayne quickly follows behind and redirects Micah's attention to his bedroom to take his clothes off first.

I was in the bedroom doing something and Wayne says "Where's Micah?" "I don't know" I reply. He says, "Oh, I thought he was in his bedroom but NOW I know where he is." Micah had gotten into the tub, shirt, sweatpants, socks, diaper, everything! He was happily playing in the bath as usual, just fully clothed this time. We both could only laugh for quite a few minutes and then began taking his drenched clothing off. I should have gotten a picture, but we were too involved in the funny moment.

Arkansas, here we come!

Micah loves plastic; it must be a texture thing.
Suds gotee.

Micah with his backpack; Wayne was lucky to get a few pictures along with this great shot in the thirty seconds he had the backpack on!

Most of you know we have been trying to move closer to our families since Micah was diagnosed with TS. Many of you have been praying for that and though we have very much enjoyed the bay area, we are moving on.

Wayne accepted a job earlier this week at University of Arkansas, Ft. Smith as the registrar there. Though this is a somewhat similar position as he is doing now at GGBTS, there are about 7,000 students there and he will have some different responsibilities. He is excited about the new challenges.

As far as location, Ft. Smith is in the northwest part of Arkansas right on the border with Oklahoma. Though I grew up in AR, I’ve never been to Ft. Smith. Wayne was there last week for his interviews and said it is a pretty city located in a valley on the Arkansas River. I have been a little further north in the Ozark Mountain area and it is very pretty part of the state. It is almost centrally located between our families; Wayne’s parents are about 3-4 hours away in OK, and my parents are about 5 hours away in northeast AR. We are excited about being able to see our families more than once or twice a year. Ft. Smith is the second largest city in AR, so we are hopeful that there will be good services for Micah.

When is this happening? Glad you asked. The job starts August 1; Wayne plans to work at Golden Gate until mid-July and we will likely move in the few days or week following.
The baby is due July 8th, but I really think he will come early. At my last Dr. visit, she said if I can “make it” to week 36, that would be ok. I am at week 34 now. Please pray that he stays in until week 36 or 37, I just want him to be as healthy and “cooked” as possible! Though there is much to do, I am trying to take it as easy as possible.

Praying for Micah's speech

This past Monday Micah had an EEG followed by an appointment with Dr. Raja. The great news is that the EEG revealed no seizure activity. He hasn’t had the horrible infantile spasms (which he had since 4 months old) since last April of 2007. On occasion he has some staring moments and other suspicious looks that have made us and his teacher at school wonder if he might be having what are called petit mal seizures. Anyway, so none at this point (at least none that happened during the EEG), Praise the Lord.

The appt. with Dr. Raja was fairly typical with the usual examination and questions about his development. He asked about Micah’s speech, if he had any words yet, and we said no. When we probed a little further, in terms of timing, his future development, etc., Dr. Raja said that if he has no speech by age 5, it isn’t likely he will get it because the brain is fairly set at that point when it comes to speech. My mind immediately went back to the first week of his diagnosis in August of 2005, when we asked what life would be like for Micah. Dr. Raja had said, “Oh, these kids (with Tuberous Sclerosis) walk and talk, though it’s often slow to develop.” So, needless to say, we were a bit surprised by the possibility that he might not develop speech.

This was very upsetting to me and I feel like I have been processing it all week. We have such a longing even now to communicate with Micah. We want to know what he’s thinking, what’s going on in his mind. We want to know what he’s so obsessed with outside that he stands at the sliding glass doors saying “EEEEEEEE!!” and flapping his arms for minutes at a time. We want to know what is making him so upset when there seems to be no obvious reason, as well as what makes him laugh so suddenly. I realize that even if he could say a few words right now, he probably wouldn’t be able to communicate these things to us. Yet, I never considered that he may never talk at all.

He is getting some speech therapy within his class at school, but we may be looking to get more one on one therapy for him in the near future.
What I want to ask of any of you who may read this is to consider being committed to praying for Micah to develop speech in the weeks and months to come, or however long it takes. I know many of you pray for him anyway, but it never hurts to pray for something specifically. I feel like Wayne and I have sort of lived between a tension of faith and reality. We absolutely believe God can do anything and we can and have prayed to that end for many things concerning Micah. We also believe, and have seen, that God sometimes chooses to give a “no” answer. So, we are going to pray and ask for God to do this in him with the understanding that it might not happen for reasons we may never know.

I have been reading (slowly over the past several months) “Prayer” by Philip Yancey and would highly recommend it. In a chapter called ‘Unanswered Prayer: Whose Fault?’, he says “…prayer does not work according to a fixed formula: get your life in order, say the right words, and the desired result will come. If that were true, Job would have avoided much suffering, Paul would have shed his thorn in the flesh, and Jesus would never have gone to Golgotha. Between the two questions “Does God answer prayer?” and “Will God grant my specific prayer for this sick child or this particular injustice?” lies a great pool of mystery.’

Better school days

Micah with friends Madeline and Lillian ( friends' Ryan and Marian's girls)

Micah and Olivia on Easter Sunday (Olivia is 4 month old daughter of friends Stacey & Elijah)

The boy sure loves bath time!

Sporting his shirt that friends living in India sent.

If you read the last post, you know that Micah was having a hard time adjusting to school. Thankfully, he is doing so much better at school. In fact, his teacher called me last week to say that Micah had a great week. He said he was engaged in what was going on, was grabbing books and pointing to pictures in them (pointing is very new, and he doesn’t do it a lot), and that he had laughed some too. He still gets a little upset when he first gets into the classroom, but they have a little routine for him now. There’s a cow puppet in the classroom he’s attached to that they give him and they put on some classical music. He sits in a certain place for a few minutes and then he’s fine. So, thank you for praying for this!

Another note of encouraging news is that Micah is learning to do some things on his own. He has started to feed himself with a spoon and fork. I went to his class for an open house two weeks ago and the parents were to have snack with their kids. So, I started feeding Micah his yogurt like we always do at home. One of the teacher’s aides looks at me and says, “Oh, Micah had been feeding himself the yogurt.” I was so surprised and said “You mean he knows how to dip the spoon in, get some out and everything?” To which she replied “Yes, it isn’t always pretty, and doesn’t always completely make it to his mouth, but he’s getting it, he understands the concept.” So, we have been so excited and have let him feed himself more and more. He still isn’t great with the mechanics and coordination, but that will come!

He is also understanding how to help us when we are putting his clothes on. He isn’t quite coordinated to pull his pants up yet, but likes to try and thinks it’s funny. He also understands what it means to brush his teeth though it will be a while before he can do it by himself.

All these things are very encouraging and hopeful to us. I think Wayne and I have both wondered how long it would be before Micah could have some self-care skills, just like we wonder how long it will be before he can talk. What I’m learning is to be thankful for little bits of advances and progression. I have to say, I think him being in this half-day school has been great for him. It’s been since he started that we have seen all these new developments. I was also reminded recently of what one mom said in a book called ‘The Elephant in the Playroom’. It’s a great book about raising kids with special needs. She said “I need to remember that my son didn’t ask for this. I need to remind myself that it is harder to be a child who struggles with a disability than it is to be that child’s parent.”

3 Micah!

At Golden Gate park

St. Patrick's Day outfit

3 Micah

Since the last post, Micah turned three years old on St. Patrick’s Day! In some ways, three years has gone by quickly and not so quickly in other respects. The “Three Micah” cake is because I forgot that when you buy icing in the store, you also should buy the plastic cake decorating tips. Well, I didn’t even think of that. I just thought we could make a nice, decorative Happy Birthday message with the icing. It would have helped if the icing hadn’t been so hard I could barely squeeze it. I think it must have been living on the shelf for a while at Safeway. Anyway, Wayne squeezed with all his might to make the “Three Micah” message, it was the best we could do for the moment.

He had a nice birthday; Grandma & Grandpa Womack were here to celebrate and we drove up to a little town in Sonoma county. We looked in shops and ate at an Italian restaurant. Some ladies at a shop told us about a little grove of redwood trees off the beaten path that probably only locals know about. I think the grove of trees was the highlight of the day for Micah. He ran (rather, walked quickly) all throughout, so much so that I could hardly get a photo. We stumbled upon a little swing and that’s where this one photo at the right came from.

Micah was dressed in all his St. Patrick’s Day gear, courtesy of his Aunt Kim who also has a son with a St. Patrick’s Day birthday. He has his shamrock shirt, “Top O’ the morning’ to ya” green bear, and his socks which look like little leprechaun shoes on the front, but he refused wear his “Lucky O’Days boys club” hat .

After church on Sunday, we went to Golden Gate Park. It was a beautiful, warm day in San Francisco. We had sandwiches and then went over to the massive children’s playground. Micah had so much fun there and did not want to leave.

Three days after his birthday, Micah started preschool at Marindale, a school for kids with special needs (ages 3-5). He started out with a hard adjustment for a few days and then got better. He was only in school for 12 days and then had spring break last week. He was sick this past weekend, Monday and Tuesday. So, he went back yesterday and is not adjusting well to being there again. He cries a lot and doesn’t want to participate in group activities with the other students. His teacher told me that the only successful times have been one on one with a therapist or taking him outside on the playground.

I have spent some time on the phone with his teacher the past two days trying to offer some suggestions or help. I really feel at a loss though. We’ve had similar experiences with different therapists or his class that he used to go to in San Francisco, in which he would cry every time for weeks on end and then one day he adjusted and was fine. It’s hard for the teacher and aides because Micah can’t communicate with them and they don’t know why he’s so unhappy. Wayne and I fully understand that frustration. All we can figure out is that it’s a strange place with people he doesn’t know and who don’t know him, in addition to the fact that he’s going five days a week for half a day and riding a little bus to and from school. I would ask that you please pray for him and that he adjust soon to all of this. Going to school is now his only way to get any kind of therapy; they do physical, occupational, and speech there, all of which he was doing one on one before his birthday. Once a special needs child turns three, the school district takes over and it’s the only way for him to have help, aside from us paying out of our own pocket for therapy which is not an option for us right now. Anyway, thank you for praying. I believe God knows his little mind and what’s going on even if we can’t.

Another Womack Boy!

We’re having another boy!!! So many people have asked if I wanted a girl, and sure, it would be neat to have a girl. I know my parents were sort of hoping for a granddaughter since they have FOUR grandsons already and will now have a fifth! However, I got teary eyed as I heard the news on the phone that it is definitely a boy. I think it will be great for Micah to have a little brother, and great for the new one to have Micah.

Other great news is that everything with the baby is normal thus far. I had a procedure done in late January to test the baby for any chromosome abnormalities. None were found whatsoever and there are 46 chromosomes like there are supposed to be. The baby was also tested for tuberous sclerosis (the neurological disorder that Micah has) and we just found out at the end of last week that he does NOT have that either! I honestly wasn’t worried much about it as I knew the chance was small (one percent-the same as anyone else). Of course at all this news, I breathed a sigh of relief and praised God.

I am now in my 21st week and the baby is doing well. I had the major sonogram last week and all his organs and everything looks great. I feel him move a lot, but it was so amazing to actually see him move around during that.

As for Micah, we tell him all the time that he’s going to be a big brother, but he doesn’t understand. He probably won’t understand until he’s here and then he will wonder what just invaded our home! He’s making lots of new sounds and will sometimes imitate sounds we make if we prompt him. He is understanding more words and phrases and we pray this happens more frequently in the months to come. One of the most frustrating things is not being able to communicate with him, especially when he’s upset. It’s always a guessing game.
Some of his favorite things right now are peek-a-boo ( he knows how to do it himself now), baths (he gets so excited that he beats on the bathroom door wanting in while we are filling the tub, and he loves open spaces outside. We don’t have a lot of space outside our apartment, so when we go somewhere with a lot of open, grassy space he runs around and squeals until he wears himself out.

Soon to be Four Tall Womacks!

Yes, it’s true, the three tall Womack’s will soon be four! And just to put your minds at ease, I’m not one of those women who go a long for 4 or 5 months not knowing they are pregnant. We have actually known for quite a while, since the middle of October. I haven’t necessarily been purposely keeping it a secret, I think I have just been cautiously excited because of having had a miscarriage this past summer. The due date is July 8th. We should be finding out the gender in a few weeks. I am about 16 weeks along. The first trimester I was nauseous a good portion of the time, but that has pretty much passed. My days now consist of feeling tired and persistently hungry. One exciting little fact is that four of my friends (three from seminary and one with whom I went to China in ‘99) are also expecting in early to mid July!

We had a great time visiting our families over the holidays and arrived back in the bay area just in time for the storm that hit northern CA. We had no electricity for four days. There’s nothing like being without that to make you appreciate having it! We have gas heat and water, so that was a blessing. We attempted to read by candlelight and small flashlights. I wouldn’t recommend it.

Micah is doing so well; he still is seizure free (as far as we can tell). I can’t believe he turns 3 in March! The day after he turns 3, he will be going to a pre-school! It is strictly an early intervention school for special needs kids age 3-5. We met with our case worker and the principal of the school two weeks ago and we were very impressed with the school and their commitment to the students’ individual needs. There are 10 kids at most per class with one teacher and two aids in each class. What we have been told by several of Micah’s therapists who currently see him is that many families who have kids with special needs from San Francisco move to Marin county just so that their child can attend this school.

We are still seeking to move closer to our families, but still have no lead of a job for Wayne in sight. It can be discouraging because Wayne has consistently been looking for a job for 7-8 months, has applied at numerous places, yet nothing happens. We are praying something happens within the next few months. It would be nice to make that transition before the new baby comes. We would appreciate you praying about that with us. I know many of you are. We are asking God to show us clear direction. I feel like much of the time I am consumed with the fact that we still haven’t been able to move. As I’ve said before, the bay area is not a bad place to live; it’s beautiful. Expensive, but beautiful. However, we feel that we are to move on. I know though that God doesn’t want me to be consumed with this, so I am asking for His help in this area and to be content until we do have an answer.

These are just a few pics from time with the Womacks's. I don't have any of my family b/c our camera was not working. When I get some from someone in my family, I post those!

Thank you, thank you very much...

Most of you who know me, know that I (Kelly) am an Elvis fan. I'm not the crazy, addicted kind. I really only have a few of his CDs, don't care for any of his movies (who does?), but I do have some Elvis memorbilia that I've collected and that others have given me over the years. I still love his music and love to see any movies about his life (not the ones he acted in). So, my dear friend Marianne made this adorable shirt for Micah!! She surprised me with it when some of my dear friends from seminary days and I met up in Boston back in September. Isn't it precious!! I've had so many people comment about it and wonder if they could get one too. Then to their disappointment, I have to tell them my friend MADE it. Then, they look at me in utter disbelief as if they can't believe anyone actually hand sews clothing anymore! So, I asked her to please make my some PJ bottoms from the same material and she did!

It has been too long since I posted, I know. I started a part-time job a few weeks ago at The Container Store and it has taken up a lot of my time. I only work two evenings a week and Saturdays, which is enough. I had lots of crazy training times before I settled into a regular schedule and even one over night shift to do. That was only a one time thing, setting up for the "Gift Wrap Wonderland." If you live near one of the stores, you should see it. It's every kind of paper, bow, bag, tag, ribbon, trinket, sticker, etc you can imagine to possibly wrap a gift and so much more. I like the job, but don't plan to do it forever. In fact, I was hired as seasonal, which is now through February and then they evaluate if they still need me, if I still want to work, etc. It's a fun place to work and I'm learning lots of stuff and uses for containers I never would have imagined!

Micah is doing well. Since the last post he is tolerating the horseriding therapy so much better. He actually likes it now. He giggles, makes his happy noises, and even reaches down to pet Poppy's hair.

Oh, and the title "thank you, thank you very much" is what Elvis often closed his shows with, just in case you didn't know.

Micah tolerates Poppy

This is Micah’s newest form of therapy, therapeutic riding. We have been going out to this place called Halleck Creek ranch. It’s a non-profit organization that provides horseback riding for mentally and/or physically disabled people. They allow people from ages 2 to 62 and they offer trail rides on Saturdays which is the day most people go, and then they have individual sessions for others on other days of the week. The trail rides are an hour and a half long, which would be way too long for Micah. So, we go on Wednesday afternoons for half an hour. It’s out in West Marin in a town called Nicasio. It’s a beautiful drive out there and the ranch is literally out in the boonies. Micah rides Poppy, a 6 year old Shetland pony. She was too big to be a show horse, so her owners donated her to Halleck Creek ranch. Micah is getting used to the riding. He probably tolerates it at best. He is annoyed by the helmet and usually doesn’t want to get on the pony. Once Poppy starts moving, things are better. Micah generally loves being outside and loves movement, so eventually I think he will enjoy it more.

As for other news, Micah had an EEG on Tuesday. It revealed no seizure activity, which is great news! The last one he had in June had shown 2 seizures. We haven’t noticed any physical manifestations of seizures either. Micah is not yet saying any words, but is making a lot of different sounds, consonants and vowel sounds and putting some of those together. He now has some type of appointment every day with Speech, Physical Therapy, Occupational Therapy, his weekly program for developmentally delayed kids, and one appt. with a man who comes from Easter Seals every week to do interactive play. Micah deals with some of those appointments better than others. I think he realizes when he gets to Speech and OT that they are going to make him work and then he gets upset. He cries and reaches toward me. His Occ. Therapist said to me about 2 months ago, “I’m going to politely kick you out…go get a coffee or something.” To which I replied, “Hey, no problem. I’d love to do that.” So, now I go run errands or sit and read while Micah has OT. It is much more successful when I am not in there.

I’ll attempt to post the link about Halleck Creek in case any of you want to read more about it.

Childlike Praise

This photo was taken by a friend at church. It's actually old, from back in December, but I think it's a beautiful picture of Micah. I saw it for the first time a couple of months ago during our worship service. It was a Sunday in which there was a focus on the children of our church. There were several photos of kids posted on the large screen as we sang. Micah's picture was behind the words to the song "Let My Words Be Few" by Matt Redman. The first verse goes like this:

You are God in heaven
And here am I on earth
So I'll let my words be few
Jesus, I am so in love with you

Chorus:
And I'll stand in awe of you
Yes, I'll stand in awe of you
And I'll let my words be few
Jesus, I am so in love with you

It was a sweet surprise to see this photo as we were worshipping. Micah looks like he is in a posture of praise to me. We pray that Micah will understand and know who Jesus is in this lifetime; we will do our best to teach him how wonderful He is. In the meantime, he already praises him with his sweet little life, the way he explores the world, his laughter, and his precious smile.

Back from the blog break

Well, I guess I’ve taken a little vacation, or rather, long vacation from blogging. It wasn’t intentional, I suppose we had a lot going on. The last time I posted on the 14th we left that day for a visit to our families. We went to Arkansas to see my family for a week and then down to Mississippi for a Womack family reunion. It was good to see every one although a bit strange in Arkansas because two of my aunts whom I loved dearly had passed away in the two months before. They had always been a part of my visits to Arkansas and for them to not be there was so strange. We enjoyed seeing Mom and Dad and my brother Gary and having some of Mom’s great cooking as always.

The weekend in MS was fun. We were glad that Wayne's Mom and Dad and sister Janel were there. We stayed with Aunt Nora and Uncle Taylor and had lots of good ol’ southern cooking and plenty of vegetables from Aunt Nora’s garden. I had only met a few of Wayne’s aunts and uncles at our wedding 6 years ago, and you can’t get to know people at a wedding. So, it was good to get acquainted with some of the Womack family. I absolutely love Aunt Nora! She has a similar personality of my Mom Johnson (my grandmother who passed away 17 years ago); so funny, says whatever is on her mind, and loves people. I felt so welcomed by the Womack side of the family. Many of them I had never met and some of them acted as if they had known me all my life! I think it was especially good for many of those folks to meet Micah since they have been praying for him for so long and had only seen pictures. Of course, he was still fairly new at walking, but he had a great time walking around outside in the grass. We were in TX for a very short few days. I had the shortest visit ever with my sister, later in the week spent the night at Janel’s house and surprised Paula (she didn’t know Micah and I would be there), and lastly, I spent one day with my dear friend Betty.

Changing the subject, but to keep folks updated on our quest to move to TX, OK, AR or somewhere closer to family and those of y’all who are like family…we’re still no closer! We found out that UT Tyler hired someone else. So, we continue searching.

Micah is doing well; still no seizures as far as we can tell. He has started a new seizure med and we’ll be slowly weaning him off of Vigabatrin in about a month. He’s walking really well and even trying to jog/run with a few quick steps here and there. He’s mastered climbing on the couch and is especially good at this whenever Wayne or I have some food. He used to stand in front of us and lean in. Now he’s usually sitting next to us on the couch with his face about half an inch away from our plate, as if we don’t know he wants whatever it is that we have!

I took the last picture of Micah because he just decided to crawl in the laundry basket one day!
For some reason, I guess he thinks it's fun to hang out in there! He also enjoys taking things out and throwing them on the floor one by one, dirty or clean!

I’ll write again soon…gotta tell you about his new therapy on Wednesdays, but I need a good picture first!

Juarez stories

One of the first kids I saw in Juarez was Abi. It was our first full day. She was walking down the street in her jeans, turquoise blue t-shirt and flip flops. She stared at us as our two vans drove toward the building that will be the community center. As soon as we pulled in she was there to greet us, smiling and quick to grab on to anyone’s hand. In the first hour, she attached herself to me, wanting to sit in my lap, and hug and kiss me. Though some of us could communicate little with words, our team wanted to reach out to the kids as much as possible. We soon learned that Abi had a brother named Kevin. He was a fun kid with a great personality. Those who could speak Spanish said he was quite funny and smart. He had a great time playing games with the assistance of others. We learned that Kevin is blind, and I was astonished because I had seen him wandering the streets with absolutely no one with him. Later that evening, Steve, the facilitator of our trip had told us that Kevin and Abi have parents but that they aren’t very involved in their lives. Their father is an alcoholic who isn’t around much and their mother doesn’t pay much attention to them. So, they are left to fend for themselves and pretty much roam the neighborhood. Steve also told us that the community around there had sort of adopted them and allows them to eat with them and hang out in their homes. I was glad to hear this, but hurt for them just the same. I then understood why Abi was so eager for the affection of total strangers; anyone who was willing to love her became a new friend.

Carmen and Juan are a couple who work for Amigos Ministries and have a huge heart for the people in their community. Several years ago Carmen began to notice the poor kids in her community who were thin and hungry. She felt God speaking to her “You aren’t so poor that you can’t help others who are poor.” She also new that many of the kids only had dinner and that children always perform better in school and socially if they have breakfast. So with this she began to talk to her husband about feeding the kids in their community. He was a corn truck driver at the time and made $10 a day. For two months, Carmen bugged him about it and finally he agreed to give her his salary for one day out of the week. So, Carmen started feeding kids breakfast in their home. Eventually, she began cooking and taking food to the school. People outside the community began to find out and wanted their kids to come to this school so they could have a free breakfast. The school officials began to get involved, started cleaning up and improving the school and helping Carmen financially with the meals. Others have donated funds to help out as well. In just the last couple of years, a group who came from Colorado built Carmen a kitchen. They brought kitchen and cooking equipment, and booths from a restaurant that had gone out of business. Now Carmen, Juan, and Juan’s sister Betty all help with the breakfast. Carmen now feeds 300-400 kids every day of the school year a free breakfast when they would otherwise only have their dinner meal. I was so touched at Carmen’s story. What an example of how God can take someone’s obedience and do great and mighty things.

Recent photos of Micah

I just wanted to show off his curly hair



Father's Day with Daddy...Micah picked out a book Daddy has been wanting

Results of tests last week and Kelly to Juarez!

Hola (Hello in Spanish) to everybody!


Why am I saying Hello in Spanish? Because I am going to Mexico tomorrow! I’ll get to that in a little bit. First I want to give a brief update on Micah.


We had good news and disappointing news last week.
He had an eye test last Thursday to determine if there was any loss of peripheral vision (a potential side effect of his medication) and also to check for abnormalities on or around his eyes and nerves. Everything looked great- again a praise to the Lord because we have been concerned, as he has been digging in his eyes a lot lately and has been on the med for a year and a half. So, we breathed a big sigh of relief!


The disappointing news is that he is not seizure free. Immediately following the eye test, he had an EEG. During that test, he had two seizures. We were with him and did not see them. Dr. Raja said it looked like the seizure activity was coming from the back left side of the brain, which means there is possibly one or more tubers that have developed back there. Micah will have a MRI in early August and we’ll know more then. So, these past two months that we had thought he wasn’t having seizures, but that isn’t the case it seems. However, he has improved leaps and bounds in the past 6 months-year!


I am going on a mission trip with my church (FBC of San Francisco) tomorrow. Some of you know about it and if you don’t, I apologize for not telling you before now. But now you know and can be praying for us this week! We are going to Juarez, Mexico. Actually, we are flying into El Paso, staying there and driving into Juarez every day. We come back on Saturday. We will be doing a Vacation Bible School Wednesday through Friday. It’s a short trip because we are taking 7 kids with us. This is the first family mission trip our church has taken, meaning we have some entire families going, some taking one of their children, one young couple without kids, a couple of single moms, a couple of single gals, and myself. I am not taking Micah since he is too young. Two of my dear friends are taking care of him tomorrow and part of Wednesday. Wayne will have the rest of the week off with him.


Well, the day is slipping away and I still have much to do to get ready.
A few quick requests to pray for concerning the trip:
-safety traveling there and as we go in and out of Mexico every day
-God to prepare the hearts of those we will encounter
-that our team will serve Amigos Ministries (the main organization we will work
With)
-for God to use this trip in the lives of all our team, and our children in particular

I include that last part because I know my first trip to Mexico in 1995 was what sparked my interest in missions, and ok, I wasn’t a child (24), but I was really effected.

Thanks for your prayers!
Much love,
Kelly

Lookout world, Micah's walking!

Yes, Micah is taking steps these days! He is getting bolder and taking more steps all the time. As recent as two weeks ago, he would only lunge toward the recliner from the couch (which was about 3 steps). Now, he’s taking as many as 10 to 12 before he collapses on the floor. He can’t yet stand up from the floor, he still has to pull up to something, but once he’s up he is eager to try and walk. He is still quite unstable and without a lot of balance, but we are so thrilled to see him walking!! I see a day coming in which I will not be carrying around a 33 pound child and this makes me glad! He has had NO seizures in about 7 weeks! Can somebody say Hallelujah?

We took Micah to have an EEG today; you may remember that the last one was in April and was completely normal. The goal was to have another one to see if his brain waves are still normal and he isn’t having any seizure activity. Although we aren’t seeing any seizures, it’s possible that he could still be having mild ones that we don’t see. Unfortunately, this EEG wasn’t successful because Micah was screaming and crying and eventually pulled off two of the electrodes and then the test had to be over. Even the EEG tech’s singing couldn’t calm Micah. He sings and hums from start to finish, usually unintelligible words like “Didle dee diddle dum, di-dee dee do diddle dum scee,” over and over he sings this. Wayne thinks he is a little too quirky to make a person comfortable. I actually think he’s quite entertaining, but then if you know me, you know that I am easily amused! And then he tells Micah “Oh, you’re beeeeuuutifull!”

We happened to run into Dr. Raja after it was over, told him it wasn’t successful, etc. We were glad to see him because we showed him how Micah could walk and he was so thrilled! He commented on how big he is getting as well. At a Dr. appointment a few days ago, the nurse tried to measure him using a 40 inch chart that he could lie flat on and he was off the chart! So, we know he’s over 40 inches tall. What a surprise, right?

Micah will be having an eye test a week from tomorrow. Please pray that we actually get to keep the appointment; we’ve had to cancel the appt. twice in the last two months because Micah was sick. They will be giving him general anesthesia, so he has to be well. Dr. Raja said he is going to try and coordinate an EEG at that time as well. The purpose of the eye test is to see if he has lost any vision. You may or may not remember that one of the potential side effects of his medication is loss of peripheral vision. He has been on this since February ‘06 and we haven’t been too concerned. Recently, he has been digging in his eyes a lot. We’ve already been to an ophthalmologist last week (yes, we visit doctors frequently) who said that his eyes and nerves look great. That was a relief, but I’ll be glad for him to have this eye test which should be a little more revealing.

Well, for you Texas folks, or even if you aren’t, you should know Wayne has applied for a job at UT Tyler for the registrar position! He sent in his application two weeks ago, so now we are hoping they will call him for an interview. It would be a great location, as it’s only 40 miles from my sister and her family!
I’m trying not to get my hopes up too much, since we had a similar situation last year really close to Kim and Thomas and it didn’t work out. God knows though, and we are just praying for his direction and will.

Why, oh why, do I blog?

I’m participating in a fun little survey among some internet/blogger friends today, so if you came looking for an update on Micah…look tomorrow. A friend took an incredible picture of him and I'll be posting that once I get it! I do intend to give an update!

How did you start blogging?

My husband and I decided to start a blog to keep friends and family updated on our son Micah. He was diagnosed with a serious neurological disorder when he was five months old. He’s now 2 years old.

Did you intend to have a blog with a following? If so, how did you go about it?

Well, I expected that some family and friends would read it, beyond that, I never expected that total strangers would be interested in reading it. At first, we sent an email to folks letting them know we had a blog and every now and then we remind people.

What do you hope to achieve or accomplish with your blog? Have you been successful? If not, do you have a plan to achieve those goals?

Refer to the answer in question one. I believe we have been successful in keeping people updated about Micah. I could be a little more consistent in posting though. My plan to do better is to get off my lazy duff and post once in a while. OK, I’m really not lazy; I just go through blog slumps, I suppose.

Has the focus of your blog changed since you started blogging? How?

Not a whole lot, really. Since I have been reading other people’s blogs and have been inspired AND entertained, sometimes I think about posting my thoughts on something and then it usually doesn’t happen.

I don’t think it has changed that much because I will always write about Micah since it is my main job to take care of him. And SO many people have been and are praying him. Yet, I think I need to free myself to write about other things too, because there really aren’t any blog police coming to get me. At least, I don’t think so.

What do you know now that you wish you’d known when you started?

I can’t think of anything; I’ve just been learning as I go. I have just had fun reading some of my friends’ blogs and new internet friends’ blogs. There is such a wealth of information (like great recipes), inspiring stories, and entertaining posts that make me howl with laughter.

Do you make money with your blog?

No, but I’m open to suggestions. : )

Does your immediate and extended family know about your blog? If so, do they read it? If not, why?

My immediate family (on both sides) does know about it. I know that at least a few of them read it. Extended family, I really have no idea.

What two pieces of advice would you give to a new blogger?

Enjoy it. Be encouraged by reading some of these other folks’ blogs.