fifty-five

Thank You for being a great provider while I was growing up dad, I am Blessed by having you as my father and could not imagine life without you. I enjoy all our laughing and joking together...wish I had a picture of the eight layer collapsed cakes I would make you for your birthday's.

Glad we could celebrate with you tonight!

Love you!

outting

So tomorrow I think we're going to try taking Julia to church with us. He spots are mostly gone now. She's not contagious...she can just pick germs up easier. She won't be able to play with her little friends in the nursery but we also know that we can't protect her from everything forever. Plus she's going nuts here at home...distroying our home by dragging EVERYTHING out of closets and drawers :-) I just hope that she does well. We won't know until we try I guess.

Judgement House started this week. How AMAZING is God?! People have come to know the Lord every night so far! God is soooo good and to see Him work in all different situations stops me in my tracks. Please pray for all those walking through JH that God's will would be made clear to them and their hearts would be softened to His word. Also if you could pray for strength and health for the actors as some are getting sick with the flu while others are very sore from the roles they play (being thrown around, carpet burns, lifting etc).

Dad's shingles are healing slowly which is a blessing. So thankful that they weren't worse then what they were and so far no one else in our family has gotten them.

Happy weekend to you!

ahhh fall!

Don't you just love to sit in your favorite chair with the windows open and let the refreshing and cool fall breeze flow through the house?! I just can't get enough of this weather. Fall and spring are my favorite!

It's been a busy and stressful couple of weeks but I'm trying my hardest to not let all the stress and mess numb my senses to life happening around me. God's BEAUTIFUL weather, plants and people He has Blessed me with. New little babies will be born this week and I am SOOOOO super excited to see their pictures! My sweet auntie has made us two meals in the last week as well as Shena and Jess. Thank You soooooo much you guys, everything was delicious and a nice break from having to worry about what to cook when I got home from work.

This week Judgement House starts at our church. Jeremy was going to help with Security but is needing to stay home with Julia. I am super excited to be involved with make-up again but an also very overwhelmed with work and feeling like I'm constantly on edge about Julia and all the "what if's" that could happen. I'm praying that I will be able to focus my heart on JH and the people walking through that need Jesus Christ as their Savior instead of worrying about me and my own needs. God is in control of this I am sure.

A quick prayer request...my Dad has shingles as of yesterday and they can be very painful. Could you pray for a quick recovery and that his pain could be well controlled? Also that no one else that has to be in close contact with him (i.e. my mom or sister) gets shingles as it could put Julia at risk for getting them on top of her hsp.

Happy Fall!

details

Yesterday I got to talk a while with a doctor that I work with and asked her some questions about hsp.

• She said (ask did our pediatrician) that the odds are in our favor of Julia making it through this disease with a full recovery and most likely without any lasting kidney damage, yet at the same she has a good chance of her kidney's being effected. Hope that makes sense.


• HSP is genetic, (not that Jeremy and I have ever had this but we could be gene carriers) since Julia has gotten it now, her kids some day have a probable chance that they will get this too. The doctor also thinks that if we have anymore kids there is a very high chance they will develop an autoimmune disease as well since Julia has.


• The last thing that was most significant in talking to this doctor is that Julia is a very high risk for obtaining a different autoimmune disease (since she has this one) at any point and time in her life. yuck. That was not anything I was wanting to hear.

On the bright side, we have discovered that Zyrtec is working VERY well for her in keeping most of her red/purple spots away. She is still in a lot of pain every now and then from her joints and stomach aching but the Tylenol seems to be sufficient for now. Although she may not feel well most of the time she still perks up to somehow find her way up to the top of the dining room table when we step out of the room.

God is soooo good. We have been blessed with meals, many prayers and Jeremy and I got to go to church today while my dad offered to stay with Julia. It was a very meaningful message. Pastor Dave spoke about worship and how it effects us and worshipping in EVERYTHING...in our trials, celebrations and failures.

Psalm 118:24

This is the day that the Lord has made,

I will rejoice and be glad in it!

hsp

What we thought were little red bumps starting out as the chicken pox last night took a very surprising turn today sitting in our pediatrician's office. Julia was diagnosed with an autoimmune disease called HSP or Henoch-Schonlein Purpura (if you know German). It is a disease where her blood vesicles swell. Her whole little body from head to toe is covered in bright red bumps that hurt and her joints (fingers and toes) can easily become inflammed and swollen.

Her doctor thinks that in about a year (the average time this autoimmune disease lasts) her little body will overcome it. There can be some very serious and even life threatening effects of this disease such as kidney disease/failure and her bowels can almost twist themselves into a knot (because the vesicles could swell so big inside her). She has a fever off and on, is very clingy and in the middle of playing she'll just lay down on the floor.

Could you please pray that she can remain as healthy as possible during this time. We're not sure how long the spots are going to last, most likely for several months. So you won't be seeing us in the nursery to greet you for a while and hopefully Jeremy and I can make it to church taking turns staying with Julia.

In less then 18 hours she went from no spots to this.