Christmas Cheer

I've been meaning to post a couple of things, which I will now roll into one. Just before Thanksgiving the boys and I went to a discount grocery store, then on to Krogers to get the remaining items we needed. Ian was asking me some questions about why we went to the two stores - about money - who has it, who has to shop at discount stores, trying to categorize our family somehow. I asked him if he had ever gone hungry - no of course not. I explained that there are some families out there that don't have nearly as much as we do. Some go hungry, don't have a safe or warm place to live, aren't healthy, etc. I said we need to be thankful for what we have.

A few minutes of silence from the back seat (thinking) and then he says, "Mommy, sometimes I feel like the special-est boy in the world."

A short week or two later, we were back at the store again and we passed by the Salvation Army bell-ringer on our way out. I gave the boys some change to put in the bucket, they got a sucker, and we went on our way. Ian wanted to know more about what that red bucket was for, so I explained.

Remember the lemonade stand he did last summer, during Caleb's potty party?

Well sometime mid-December he pulled out the tray table again, and made this sign:


He taped on his Polar Express bell, got an empty ice tea mix container from me and asked for a hole in the lid.



He put a flashlight up to himself and sat in the window, ringing his bell. I had to explain that people weren't going to come up to the door in the ice and snow the same way they came over when he was at the end of the driveway with his lemonade stand. But, his daddy and I put some coins in there, and left it at that.

Well the next week at preschool one of his teachers, Miss Julie, did a lesson on the Roman census. She gave each child a coin and had them come down the hallway to her, to "Bethlehem", to pay their "tax" and be counted in the census. Because of the coins, the story came up about Ian's salvation army bucket. Miss Julie was impressed with him, and started telling the other teachers about what he was doing. She asked him to bring his bucket in. So, the next time we went he made an announcement to all the teachers at the morning meeting (this was a sacrifice for him - sometimes he acts like he wants to be the center of attention, but that was more than he had bargained for!) and put his bucket in the lunch area.

For a couple of weeks he was telling everyone he visited with about his "salvation army" that he had set up.

The other day he decided that the bucket was getting pretty heavy, and that it was time to take it in. He wanted to put every coin and dollar in individually -

$31.99 of coins and dollars later - he shook Sandra's hand and rang the big bell himself, and we came home.Regardless of whether he started out his project with a full understanding of what it meant (I doubt it) it was heart-warming for us to watch him, with help*, stumble onto the secret of "giving is more fun than receiving". We hope that he will always remember the way he felt when he made his donation, and that he'll come to understand even more as he grows. I just wanted to share this story to hopefully warm some other hearts as well. I hope that you all are able to rest and enjoy the true meaning of Christmas this season!

*Thank you Julie, Sandra, Grandma Nancy, and everyone else who contributed!

Surgery Successful!

I am shouting from the proverbial online rooftop here... Samuel came through his surgery great! Leyla said she was so excited she could dance... that this marks the beginning of her boy's recovery! She is focusing on the word "recovery" and is looking forward to a good night's sleep after this exhausting day.

I'll leave the medical details to Greg's blog but couldn't help posting good news and answered prayer.

surgery

UPDATE - correction - the surgery will be sometime after 7 tonight. Samuel is stable - the doctors have just decided that he is ready for the surgery! So - things are not as dire as we thought - but prayer is still needed. The surgery is expected to take 2 hours or more, so it will be a long night.

One very positive thing: Greg was able to hold Samuel today!

As a mom who has had to hand her child over for surgery for something very minor in the past, I can only imagine that feeling 100 times stronger in this situation. I am praying for peace that passes understanding - peace that replaces fear in Greg and Leyla's hearts.

I'm sure Greg's blog will have an update later on.

update and reminiscing

Samuel is doing a little better today praise God! You can read more specifics on his Daddy's blog. We were able to go and visit him today. Leyla and Greg needed to rest and recuperate at home and have some family time, so we went to be with Samuel and to pray over him just for a short time. I have heard him called many things in the past few days - gorgeous, an angel, a fighter, a warrior... all true. He really is sweet. Soft, precious, lots of thick dark hair. We felt the peace of God there in the room with him. Just after we prayed a chest x-ray was taken, and the thought occurred to us - it will be interesting to see the results of that just after prayer - ours and everyone else's. In any case we are hopeful for him that he will continue to show signs of improvement as he has been doing.

This situation has got me thinking. I was remembering this morning about sitting at the dinner table in Greg and Leyla's house, almost 6 years ago. Greg and Jen and I had just finished helping to put up a border in the new nursery, since Leyla's ankle was severely sprained. None of us yet had children - Leyla was growing round with Crystal inside. It was all new to all of us, and exciting, and Leyla was describing some of the physical sensations she'd experienced before taking her pregnancy test. I remember taking a bite of pizza and listening to her words and realizing, hmmmm... everything she's saying is how I feel right now.... and sure enough we soon found out that Ian was on the way. I remember how excited she and Greg were for Matt and I when they found out, and how Leyla would take my hand as she got even closer to her due date and let me feel Crystal's movements, both of us sharing the excitement of anticipating our firstborn babies.

I remember sitting on the edge of the hot tub late at night at a church women's retreat a couple years later, Leyla by my side telling me that she was expecting Jasmine. Then one Sunday morning when she and Jen, with very round tummies, were going from class to class giving some kind of announcement, and Matt timed his news that we were expecting again just perfectly so they could be there to hear it. I remember how they both ran/waddled over to me with excitement and hugs.

I remember a shopping expedition with Leyla a while back, when she shared with me that she and Greg were hoping for #3... and many many months later a phone call to tell me that finally the test was positive! I remember being at the beach some weeks later and Matt checking his e-mail and calling to me from out on the deck, "guess who is going to have a boy!!!" and I knew that Greg and Leyla's prayers were answered.

I have always felt warmth and welcome in Leyla's presence. She carries with her a joy and a hearty laugh, a fantastic accent (Puerto Rican) and plenty of spunk. She was one of the first women at the church to welcome me and make me feel a part of things. I hurt for her now that she is hurting so much. I long for her to be able to hold her long-awaited son, to rock and sing to him. But at the same time I feel that we've shared together in miracles past, and that it is an honor to be included in her life now and in what God is doing through and for Samuel. We don't yet know the outcome, but I do know He is working.

My prayer tonight is for strength. Strength for little Samuel, strength for Leyla both physically and emotionally, and strength for Greg as he tries to meet the needs of his family and keep going himself as well.

update - Baby Samuel

I just spoke with Samuel's Daddy. Right now he is still at Children's in critical condition. He is on the "severe side" of this condition, but there are some pluses. He is 7 pounds 11 oz, and his heart is healthy. The diaphragmatic hernia is on the right side of his chest and his liver is moved up through to the lung's position. He is on a ventilator right now - was switched to an oscillator ventilator overnight and was responding better to that this a.m. The doctors are cautiously optimistic at this point, saying it may take days or weeks to wean him off his ventilator and then they will perform surgery to correct the defect. He is not out of the woods yet though. His two big sisters have not been able to visit him because visitation is currently limited to parents and grandparents. Greg said that things were very rough last night - that he was blue on the table after delivery and it took a full minute to get him breathing at all. He said that he looks like an angel from the outside you wouldn't be able to tell that anything is wrong.
Specific prayer requests are that Samuel has enough lung tissue to survive, and that he will continue to respond well to his ventilator and be able to come off it to have the surgery.

I am off to visit with Leyla now.
Thanks and keep the prayers coming!

Baby Samuel

Hi - if you are reading this and are a person who prays - please pray for my friend Leyla, her family and especially her baby Samuel. I just received this message:

Samuel was born last night @ 7 PM. He has a diaphragmatic hernia in where there's an abnormal opening in his diaphragm that is causing little or no air flow to the lungs. He is at Children's Hospital in critical condition. Apparently, the doctors are preparing the family that he may not survive. This is a very rare condition that occurs once in 250,000 births. Please pray for wisdom and guidance for the doctors as they treat baby Samuel. Pray for the Finzer family as they seek to find God's strength and peace through all of this.