01 June 2008
Update on Paula
Wednesday June 04, 2008 Filed in: Life as we know
it
Mike
sent out this update last week:
I wish each of you could have been here to witness how God answered your prayers. Surgery the doctors told us would take 6 to 7 hours took only 3 1/2 hours. The doctors were very pleased with the outcome of the surgery. Paula's left leg has a plate and three screws holding it together and she will be able to put weight on it in about six to eight weeks. Her right leg was another story. It took a plate and eight screws to secure the broken bone and it will be eight to twelve weeks before it can bear weight.
She will be transferred to Vanderbilt Stallworth Rehab Hospital for about 10 days of therapy before going home.
Thank you for your faithfulness to pray, your many cards and emails and your phone calls of concern but most of all your expressions of love for my sweetheart. We never will understand, this side of heaven, why these kind of things happen but I can tell you one thing: her life being spared has already been used to share Christ and impact the lives of doctors and nurses at Vanderbilt. It is a joy to see the staff here come to our room just "to talk". What a great mission field!!!
We love each one of you and are privileged to have you as our prayer partners and friends during this vital time. You have truly been a blessing to us!!! We hope to tell you in person soon. Please continue to pray for a full and speedy recovery.
I wish each of you could have been here to witness how God answered your prayers. Surgery the doctors told us would take 6 to 7 hours took only 3 1/2 hours. The doctors were very pleased with the outcome of the surgery. Paula's left leg has a plate and three screws holding it together and she will be able to put weight on it in about six to eight weeks. Her right leg was another story. It took a plate and eight screws to secure the broken bone and it will be eight to twelve weeks before it can bear weight.
She will be transferred to Vanderbilt Stallworth Rehab Hospital for about 10 days of therapy before going home.
Thank you for your faithfulness to pray, your many cards and emails and your phone calls of concern but most of all your expressions of love for my sweetheart. We never will understand, this side of heaven, why these kind of things happen but I can tell you one thing: her life being spared has already been used to share Christ and impact the lives of doctors and nurses at Vanderbilt. It is a joy to see the staff here come to our room just "to talk". What a great mission field!!!
We love each one of you and are privileged to have you as our prayer partners and friends during this vital time. You have truly been a blessing to us!!! We hope to tell you in person soon. Please continue to pray for a full and speedy recovery.
Team retreat
Sunday June 01, 2008 Filed in: Life as we know
it
Shawna is about 15 weeks
along now and most of the evening sickness has
subsided. Just in time for our team retreat! We went
to the big city this week on a part team retreat and
part vacation. It usually takes about 7 hours but
when you add 20 more people to the equation. . .it
took us 10 hours. We arrived exhausted, but had to
hurry off as soon as we got our luggage in the rooms
to a "famous" restaurant - or at least our staff who
have been to this city before seemed to think so.
It's about 90 something degrees already and then you
sit at a table in front of an open fire with a clay
pot on top of it and cook your food. Needless to say
it was HOT! The food was great, but my immediate
family was too exhausted to enjoy it much. We had to
leave the party early due to some flaring emotions. .
.Aleah was out of her mind.
We settled in for the evening only to have Aleah get sick . One time wouldn't have been so bad, but the second time it happened all over her pack-n-play. Because of the time, we had to call the hotel manager on his cell phone and ask for some cleaning supplies. After the second clean up Blake and I were so exhausted! Our only option now was to cover everything with towels and put Aleah back in her slightly wet pack n play. Blake had to walk to the kitchen area in order to get some hot water to make another bottle for Aleah and while he was gone Aleah was just screaming. I think all three of us had a mental breakdown that night.
Breakfast was early the next morning. Aleah slept in so Blake and I went in shifts. Immediately after breakfast was our morning session. Aleah did great playing with the other kids who were all in the same room as our session. That is at least for the first 2 hours. Then she had enough of being inside so Blake volunteered to spend the rest of the morning with Aleah.
The afternoon plans started directly after lunch and this time Shawna volunteered to stay at the hotel with Aleah so she could nap and have some down time while everyone else went bowling. The timing of everything worked out great because as soon as Aleah woke up from her nap everyone was at the mall eating dinner. Once Aleah and I got to the mall to join up with them, we had 20 minutes to eat our dinner. We ended up eating our hamburger in the parking lot while we waited on everyone to gather for the next adventure. . . a trip to the NIght Safari.
This was great! It's like the zoo, but you ride around in trollies and most of the animals are lose in the areas you are riding through so they are right up next to the trolly. Aleah has a blast! We were all having such a good time until we stopped to watch this awesome laser show over the lake and Aleah got sick all over Blake. We rushed her to the bathroom and got everything cleaned up in time to realize we missed the laser show and everyone on our team had already boarded the next trolly ride. So once again we left the party early.
The next morning was breakfast, praise and worship and free time. We all played in the pool. Aleah really liked the kiddy pool and all the other kids. After lunch our team started the trip back home but Blake and I had made plans to stay a little bit longer. I'm glad we did since our last two night had been such a disaster. We stayed at our friend's house again and enjoyed the company of many of our friends and American food. The rest of the week was truly a relaxing time for us.
We settled in for the evening only to have Aleah get sick . One time wouldn't have been so bad, but the second time it happened all over her pack-n-play. Because of the time, we had to call the hotel manager on his cell phone and ask for some cleaning supplies. After the second clean up Blake and I were so exhausted! Our only option now was to cover everything with towels and put Aleah back in her slightly wet pack n play. Blake had to walk to the kitchen area in order to get some hot water to make another bottle for Aleah and while he was gone Aleah was just screaming. I think all three of us had a mental breakdown that night.
Breakfast was early the next morning. Aleah slept in so Blake and I went in shifts. Immediately after breakfast was our morning session. Aleah did great playing with the other kids who were all in the same room as our session. That is at least for the first 2 hours. Then she had enough of being inside so Blake volunteered to spend the rest of the morning with Aleah.
The afternoon plans started directly after lunch and this time Shawna volunteered to stay at the hotel with Aleah so she could nap and have some down time while everyone else went bowling. The timing of everything worked out great because as soon as Aleah woke up from her nap everyone was at the mall eating dinner. Once Aleah and I got to the mall to join up with them, we had 20 minutes to eat our dinner. We ended up eating our hamburger in the parking lot while we waited on everyone to gather for the next adventure. . . a trip to the NIght Safari.
This was great! It's like the zoo, but you ride around in trollies and most of the animals are lose in the areas you are riding through so they are right up next to the trolly. Aleah has a blast! We were all having such a good time until we stopped to watch this awesome laser show over the lake and Aleah got sick all over Blake. We rushed her to the bathroom and got everything cleaned up in time to realize we missed the laser show and everyone on our team had already boarded the next trolly ride. So once again we left the party early.
The next morning was breakfast, praise and worship and free time. We all played in the pool. Aleah really liked the kiddy pool and all the other kids. After lunch our team started the trip back home but Blake and I had made plans to stay a little bit longer. I'm glad we did since our last two night had been such a disaster. We stayed at our friend's house again and enjoyed the company of many of our friends and American food. The rest of the week was truly a relaxing time for us.