Dwelling In His Richness: March 2017

Broken Hearts

30 March

This past Saturday, the beautiful woman in the middle of this picture left this earth very suddenly to be with her Savior. It's so hard to understand why the Lord needed to take Corina home so soon- and leave behind a family who still needed her. Please pray for them as they struggle to learn how to live without her. Corina was very special to the Hampton Gospel Hall, and to our family, and to say that she will be missed would be a huge understatement. She was incredibly hard working, giving, encouraging, and living in complete service to the Lord in El Salvador. I greatly admired her loving relationship with her husband, Craig, and how she raised 3 thoughtful, God-fearing young men. We feel so honored to have known Corina, and look forward to the day when we will get to see her in Heaven.

Holidays

All Things Green

23 March

Thanks to the kids' pre-k teacher, Claire and Max think they need to make leprechaun traps every year (See Claire's trap in pre-k here, and Max's here). They never seem to be able to capture a leprechaun, but that doesn't stop them from trying.

Another failed attempt, but at least he left them some Lucky Charms and party supplies.

Tessa

9 Months

22 March

9 months old already.

Ben and I were just talking about how I was getting weekly ultrasounds at this time last year, just praying that her little heart would still be beating each and every time I sat in that chair.

And now here she is-flashing that big, happy, gummy smile at me.

Living proof that our God is sovereign.

Her malformation looks to be the same size as when we left the hospital after her sclerotherapy. If the cyst is filling back up with fluid, it's doing so at a very slow rate, which is great. She returns to Mayo for a check up in April.

At 9 months, Tessa....

Loves: eating, being held, watching her siblings, playing with toys, and being pushed around in the toy truck.

Is able to: roll from front to back, push up on her arms, sit unassisted (until she reaches for something...then gravity gets the best of her), say "da-da, ba-ba, and ma-ma" (just the sounds...not associated with anything yet), and sleep from 7-7 (🙌🏼)

Dislikes: bottles, being on her tummy, and getting dressed

(It's a shame we don't have many bows in this house)

Claire

See Ya Later Winter

21 March

While we all enjoy a good snowfall, a roaring fire, and hot chocolate...we're all ready for some warmer temperatures now. So here's hoping this was our last snow day and the signs of spring will begin to appear soon!

Tessa

Tough Like Tessa

06 March

Recently, Tessa spent three days at Mayo hospital as she received sclerotherapy treatments to reduce the size of her malformation. She was poked, prodded, sedated, and bothered every couple of hours for those three days. She had a picc line in her arm, a catheter in her abdomen, and an IV in her foot. It was a difficult three days, but she did so well despite all of that- and her malformation has gone down in size. We're so thankful for the many prayers that were sent up on this little girl's behalf, and it was amazing to see them at work!

It was during this time that we could really see the power of prayer. Tessa had not eaten anything for 7 hours at this point. The hospital was backed up, and her procedure kept getting pushed back. We just had to sit in one room and wait. But she didn't fuss once. She napped, and then played with toys, and then napped some more. It was such a blessing.

The circled portion is the part of her malformation that they would be inserting a catheter into and injecting with medicine. The medicine would sit in that cyst for 6 hours and scar the lining of the cyst. After 6 hours, they opened the catheter and let the medicine and other fluids drain into a bag. As the lining of the cyst gets scarred from the medicine, it eventually collapses, and hopefully just gets reabsorbed into her body instead of filling back up with fluid.

Heading down to her first procedure

She would be very sleepy for awhile after her procedure as the sedation wore off.

But then she would feel a little better later in the day and would even give a few smiles (ps...she's not bruised here, that's just dye from the procedure).

Heading back home after everything was finished. 🙌🏼

My heart goes out to the moms of children who have long hospital stays. It's not easy, and I lift them all up in prayer that they would receive the strength they need to tackle each day.

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