A Fast and a Smile

We believe in the Law of the Fast, wherein we go without food or water for two meals, and dedicate that time to prayer, contemplation and seeking blessings for us or others in need. As a church, we fast one Sunday a month, and individually we might fast whenever we feel we are in need of further guidance or blessings. 

On one particular Fast Sunday, little Easton, who had walked all over with his walker or with assistance, suddenly stood without assistance, then took four steps by himself for the first time. All the family cheered and clapped, bringing a huge smile to Easton's face. But the biggest smile was on Colby, my first son's face. With a gleam in his eye, he said, "That's what I was fasting for!"

How grateful I am that God answers the sweet prayers of children.

Expect Miracles: the Followup MRI

When I went in my mission, a speaker in the MTC told us that the work we were doing was God's work and that we should "Expect Miracles" on our missions. Through experience I gained testimony to this fact.

 I've also come to learn that Parenting is God's work too, and that as we exercise faith, and acknowledge God's hand in all things, we can expect miracles in parenting as well.

Our most recent miracle came through an MRI Easton had to follow up on an earlier MRI about 18 months ago. Back then he was having "Infantile Spasms", which are basically a kind of seizure, and through their tests they found that his brain had problems. One was that the nerves weren't as myelinated as they should have been at that point. Though they hoped it was just a little behind, and would catch up eventually. The bigger concern was that there were two nerve clusters where they should have spread out. Our brains start with all the nerves bundled close to the middle, then they branch out and spread out throughout the brain. He had two bunches that had never spread out. They told us that by this time they should be done migrating, and that they would probably stay that way the rest of his life, with uncertain effects to his thinking and movements.

Well, 18 months later the MRI shows that not only are his nerves myelinating, but the nerve clusters have spread out and are no longer a concern. Their explanation is that the earlier MRI was a little fuzzy due to his young age, and that the nerve clusters may not have been there in the first place. Our explanation, we thank our Heavenly Father for His tender care. 

They also changed their opinion on the infantile spasms. Originally they said the seizures would come back at some point in his life. Now they say they don't expect he'll ever have problems with them again. He's still a little behind developmentally, but is doing well.

Miracles don't always come the way we want them to, or when we want them, but as we learn to recognize them and thank our Father for event he small ones, we'll be amazed at how much God blesses our lives. Especially in this, our most important calling, of Parent.

The Power of Home

Amazing. Just amazing.
Easton spent 4 days in the hospital (2 more than he was supposed to thanks to a nicked colon), and moaned and whined whenever it was time to get another pain medication. He was in such pain that he just laid in bed all day and barely moved.
Then we brought him home, set him down, and off he went, crawling and climbing over everything like he never had surgery. That's the power of home. A home filled with love brings peace to the heart and healing to the soul. It gives hope. It's a familiar reassurance that loved ones are near and all will be well.
Indeed, as the hymn says, "All the world is filled with love, when there's love at home."

Wow! You're kidneys are beautiful!

Said no one. And yet, we just paid for a cosmetic surgery to fix how Easton's Kidney looks. Crazy? Probably. But then again, we're parents. We're supposed to be a little crazy.
In truth, however, the surgery was less for how the kidney looks, and more about how it is shaped, and thus functions. He's just now waking from a 4 hour surgery to remove the blockage in his ureter that's stopping the kidney from draining properly. Because of the stoppage, the kidney ballooned out and was deformed, needing some reshaping.
During the process they accidentally nicked the colon, but fixed that and hopefully avoided any infection.Don't worry,  It just required a stitch or two. He's not a semi-colon now or anything :) unfortunately since they nicked the colon we need to wait till he has a bowell movement or passes gas before he can eat. We're told that could take anywhere between a few hours to a week. I guess whenever your intestines are even touched, they go into sleep mode and take a while to wake up. It is helpful to get up and move around, but he'll be somewhat limited in what he can do as he heals.
They also were able to find the hiding, right teste and, wonder of wonders, it was still alive and they were able to pull it into place.
Overall, things seem to be going well. So grateful.

Bundle of hyper joy

We're a little late in posting this, but wanted to share it anyway. Last month we took the family to spend a week camping on the beach. Every time Easton saw the waves he would reach out as far as he could, then flap his arms up and down excitedly and clap as loud as he can. What a joy it was to see such excitement and joy in such a little package! I loved taking him down to see the waves, something about it just invigorated him, and seeing his reaction lifted our hearts as well.
What a blessing children are to us old geezers. :)

Finally crawling & getting surgery too

Easton started crawling this week. Yay!  He's still a little behind in his development, but he is catching up!  His crawling is a little disjointed, probably because of his hip dysplasia, but having him wear his hip brace at night is working wonders.
On the flip side, he had a kidney scan this week.  His left kidney is doing great, and they both are functioning well, but his right kidney is draining less than it used to (which wasn't very much to begin with).  The Dr. wants to do surgery to remove a section of his ureter tube (which may have a blockage) & reshape his kidney.  He should be in the hospital for about 2 days.  The Dr. said Easton would have a tube coming out of his kidney which would drain into his diaper for 10-12 days until his body heals from the surgery.  We wonder how that will affect his crawling.  Who knows.  An interesting side note - we realized all his issues seem to be affecting mostly his right side - right kidney, right teste, & right hip.  We don't if that means anything.  He likes to "Choose the Right"  that's for sure.
Thanks again for all your thoughts & prayers!

Rockin' his Elvis Hips!

Sorry, it's been a while. Development Update: Easton is right on the verge of crawling! He's in the right position and started to move his legs forward to move! So exciting! He's also started pulling himself up to our Orange Juice Table (it's not a Coffee Table in our house) and into the standing position. And once there, he sways his hips around like he's Elvis or something. We call them his Elvis Hips. The orthopedic doc at Shriners calls it Hip Displasia (who knows, maybe Elvis had Hip Displasia too?) He now has a brace that holds his legs at 110 degrees (almost the splits) while he sleeps so that the ball joint will develop right. We're told it may require surgery, but they'll wait till he is a little older so they don't stop his development with the body cast it will require. In the mean time they say he might develop an 'interesting gait', and he'll keep rockin the Elvis Hips!
The ankles are also rockin, so we've ordered some ankle braces to help train his feet to work right. Luckily he'll only need to wear those while doing therapy and working on standing.
His MRI came back (they were looking for Spina Bifida), and they found a small conglomeration near the cord, said it might be similar to a Tethered Cord, but it's not Spina Bifida and they don't think it will affect him much. The neurologist said his brain stuff seems to coincide with people with strong upper bodies, but who struggle with their lower. We're not sure what that means or entails entirely, but it seems to fit him for now. He is strong and well developed in his arms, and struggles with his legs. But that might be the same with all babies--they all seem to develop that way. So we'll see.
So now we wait for a week till he gets his renal exam again to see if his kidneys are draining properly, or if they will require surgery. Hopefully his Kidneys will be working perfectly so we won't have to operate. My heart aches when I see him recovering from surgery, and this one would be bigger than what he's had before.
By the time we're done with him, he'll be the bionic man!