Terribly Poetic

The journey on Norah continues, read the whole story here if you haven’t yet.

So today was another appointment for Norah at the cardiologist. She got weighed again, got another ultrasound/ECHO to checkout how her heart is doing. Not much has changed with her heart. In fact, they believe she has another very small heart issue, however, this other problem is actually benefiting her by lessening the issues caused by the hole in her heart. This other small problem isn’t something they are concerned about and aren’t even treating it. So it’s kind of a blessing in surprise.

So with no change they are once again going to up her medication as well as we are increasing supplemental feeds to help her continue to gain weight. From her previous checkup she had gained weight, just not as much as previous. We got alittle bit more of an answer about possibility of surgery, but the answer was “we’ll wait till January to decide”, so it was really just prolonging this, but it does give more chance to allow her body to “fix” itself so she still has a chance of not needing surgery. So right now we will continue to give medications, extra feedings, extra doctors appointments, extra everything it seems. We are really getting exhausted and could use a night of really good sleep. Please continue to pray for our energy and stress levels as it is all still overwhelming even as it has set in.

The last “fun” thing is that we found out this week about RSV. Before this week I had never even heard of this. Anyways, RSV is basically a type of cold virus. In fact, many adults, and children have had RSV or have at least been a carrier of it without knowing it. They probably just treated it like any other cold. However, to an infant with a Congenital Heart Defect catching RSV could be rather life-threatening. So if you are around us and have a cold we won’t let you hold her. Sorry, it’s not your fault, but Norah could get really sick from you. Don’t take it personally, but our kid is MUCH more important than your feelings. I’m sure you’ll all understand. The good news is that she can be immunized against it. Thankfully Sask Health covers this immunization if your child is “at-risk” like Norah, otherwise it costs $1000 per shot and she will need it every month, especially during cold/flu season. Thanks Universal Health Care!

Thank you to everyone for your prayers and support. As this journey continues we know that we will need more of your prayers and support and know that our wonderful friends will be there for us when we need it.

First off, I must say that we are extremely thankful for the overwhelming support and prayers. After last weeks post we have received an outpouring of prayers for Norah. We are feeling those effects. For what should be a much more stressful time, God seems to continue to grant us His peace as we watch over Norah. So we know that many people will continue to pray and will be looking for updates, so I will try to do that here.

Today was another check up with the cardiologist. We learned that one of the medications is doing its job and is allowing Norah to breathe much easier. However, the size of the hole in her heart hasn’t changed. In fact it may be bigger than they thought. We got an answered to our biggest question… “How long will they try medication before we have to look at surgery?” The answer we got, about 1 month. They increased the dose of one of the medications and we will continue with regular checks to monitor what’s going on, but if nothing changes in the next few weeks then we will move on to surgery. Please pray that God would work a miracle and close up the hole in her heart. While the surgery is “safe” and “common” we would love to avoid it if possible.

Related to Norah’s heart is her growth. She hasn’t been gaining weight due to the extra strain her body is going through and we will be starting to supplement her feedings to help her gain weight. Pray that she will quickly adapt to this new feeding and that all the extra work Dawn has to put into feedings would be as stress free as possible.

Again, we are so thankful for your prayers and support. May God be Glorified!

Just wanted to let all my readers aware of something significant in our lives. Something that is impacting our family right now and something that needs your prayers. On Monday we had a appointment with a pediatric cardiologist. We had been referred to meet with the specialist because our family doctor had noticed what they call, a “noisy heart.” Our doctor was unsure if it was just a loud murmur or what, so off we went. So on Monday the cardiologist did an ultrasound of Norah’s heart and a few other tests. (Thankfully Norah was a pro star during all the tests) They have determined that Norah has a hole in her heart. For those medically in the know, its a VSD. Needless to say this came at abit of a surprise to us, however, we are told it isn’t uncommon. Right now she is on some medication which hopefully will help. But if these drugs don’t work, then she will have to goto Edmonton for open heart surgery. (Which again we are told isn’t uncommon) We are told the surgery is done quite abit and is very low risk. But if you have kids, then you know that open heart surgery on one of your kids is the furthest thing from what you want for your kids. We have another appointment next Monday to see how the medication is working. Please pray with us that the hole in her heart would close and that God would protect her through this. Pray as well for our family during this stressful time.

Awhile back I was asked to make a large typographic treatment of the Shema to be printed on a large canvas. While I had intended on changing colours, background, etc, this is what I came up with and I still really like it. While I choose to use each word only once, I had thought about redoing it and using different words more often. What do you guys think?

I know, hearing all about my life is exactly why you all read this isn’t it? Okay you probably just check the site, or subscribe because I know you or I twisted your arm to do it. Sometimes I think my blog is more like Creed Thoughts but then I realize that I am not nearly that creepy, weird, popular of a guy. But for whatever reason I still enjoy coming back to this site and putting out an update, a thought, or whatever else strikes me; even when I have know idea how many people actually read it, know exactly how few of you actually read it. Yes, that’s right I am also a geek (duh right), and I track my blog’s stats quite often and know how many of you there are. Wow, that may have been my longest pre-blog I have ever had. Nonetheless, I will care on.

So it has almost been 1month at my new job and I gotta say, I LOVE IT! It has been a challenging month just learning the ins and outs of Ranger Lake, but I have so much to be thankful for already. I am working with so much more purpose and direction than I have been in awhile. I feel that my skills and giftings are being tested and that I am being pushed to use them to a greater potential. While its hasn’t been all easy, no its been challenging, but I love that. I want to be challenged to be more effective in the things God has given me. It’s nice to be working with a small group too. The full time staff consists of only four people, one of whom lives out at the camp and I don’t see him much. So between myself, Greg Benson, and Dave Thiessen it makes for a very fun atmosphere to work in. We have had a lot of laughs already, but between the laughs, I get to see a man with a clear mission from God push me to use my gifts to be apart of that mission. The amount of “God Moments” in the past month has given me a new outlook on prayer. WOW is all I have to say. In this short time I have seen some amazing answers to prayers. I can’t wait to see what God is going to do this summer. Man its great to be working back in camp ministry. I forgot just how the environment of camp ministry pushes one to rely solely on God for EVERYTHING. So with that said here are some prayer requests that we have right now.

• Female Senior Cabin Leaders
• Leader in Training (L.I.T.) Director(s)
• Volunteers as we have TONS of work projects to do before camp
• Greg and I as we are in the midst of developing the summer discussion curriculum