the report

Well we heard from the nurse , the xray showed some small improvement but her blood gasses were not that great so they have turned up the O2 . So the plan is to wait and see. Thank you for all your thoughts and prayers. i Have been thinking over the past few weeks about all the ways God has taken care of us and I thought I would share a few of the big and the small. First the big , the house the Lord has provided is perfect its quite and just the right size for our family. Also the couple that owns the house had some of the people from there church stock the fridge and the cupboards, what a blessing. They have also setup meals from another ministry , this will make it so easy on Amy while I am not there. Now the small which seems to me to be the most special , because of the way God tends to are needs no matter how large or small . Here is a small example , I needed to get a rechargeable camera battery the friends that had loaded us there's were going on vacation and need it back. So we went looking for one , no one carried the chargers for that model anymore so after a few stores I was walking out the door and saw the charger on the clearance rack for 4 dollars , I know its small and means nothing but I believe that God provided it . He is so good to us , what a God we serve that He would think of that . As a I was writing a big blessing just happened . A ministry call Micah House just deliver a huge amount of food , what a great GOD we serve. So if anyone would like to help this ministry here is there website MicahHouseofSpokane.com...Thank you all so much Love Mike

A mixed report

Talked to Hope's doctor again this morning. He had good news and bad. For the good..... for the second day in a row her blood culture has come back negative. This means she is most likely kicking the infection. He wants to watch for one more day to be sure. Also, the ultrasound of her head looks good. There is no bleeding. They keep telling us she is stable. Now for the not so good - she had blood in her stool and her bowels are enlarged again. The tube they have down there to suck air out of her stomach had become dislodged and was up in her esophagus. They were going to fix that and see if it helped get the gas out of there. As for the blood, they don't know if that means there is infection there, so they are starting her on more antibiotics to be on the safe side. She was not able to come down at all on the ventilator, which makes him want to revisit the whole surgery vs. steroids argument come Monday. So we still have the weekend to pray that she is able to start weening off of the vent. Please pray also for her bowels - that the air gets out of there and there is no more blood. We should find out something about her bowels this afternoon as they are taking an x-ray at noon. We will try to post later and let you know.

A good report

Just got off the phone with Hope's doctor (Dr. Barsoti). Hope had a good night. The blood culture came back negative, meaning it looks like she's knocking down the infection. The doctor wants to watch it and make sure. She pooped again last night and was looking much less distended. When they x-rayed her bowels this morning they looked better. Again, the doctor wants to watch it to make sure. Thank you, Lord! Now the concern is getting her off the ventilator. Dr. Barsotti is thinking we might need to do surgery to close the valve. Dr. Gretebek told us yesterday that she thinks it might be more of a lung problem which would require a certain type of steroid. This steroid can only be used at low doses for short periods because it can impede brain growth and cause cerebral palsy. So the doctor is going to watch her over the weekend and try to decide which it is - a lung problem or a valve problem. But before getting off the phone he said, "You know, we might be able to ween her off of the vent. I'm going to check her blood gases again and see if we can lower it." If they can ween her off, she won't need surgery or steroids. This is what we're going to ask everyone to pray for next. I told the doctor we had people all over the country praying for this girl. We'd put out the word and see what happens. Thank you all for praying.

Were in

Hey guys , we have now moved in and are loving it . The move has tired Amy out but she is happy to be here and so are the kids. Here is the latest on Hope, we talked to the doctor this morning and it wasn't the best news . It seems to be very easy to slip into a negative attitude when we hear "bad news", we need to constantly remind ourselves that God is in control and we are not. His plans are perfect and we have to yield to Him. Anyway about Hope her infection is better but the new concern is her bowls they are still dilated and the doctors are getting concerned . The problem is the bowl could have been compromised or it or have a small injury to it , they said this could be serious and my result in a surgery . The next course of action is to wait and see , they want to give her a chance to heal on her own. So if you can please pray that the bowls would start to work and she could eat , also that Amy would not feel guilt and start second guessing all of our past decisions..Thanks for your prayers Love Mike

We're so proud

Mike already updated on Hope, so I won't spend much time on that. Let me just say, though, never have I been so excited by one of my children's bowel movements. :) She also is sitting at 1 lb. 12 oz. right now. That is just fluid, but it is still exciting to me that she is almost 2 lbs. Other than that, she is stable and not many other changes. But we are thankful for all God is doing with her.

Now for our other children.... they are getting a little too familiar/bored around the hospital. They've found a total of 60 cents under the vending machines. We just pretend we don't know whose children they are. I also wanted to tell you about their prayers for Hope last night. We thought they understood most of what was going on, but apparently not. They all prayed for her "vowels" last night. Amen. And her consonants too.

Thanks

Hey just wanted to say a quick thank you to Matt B for your words of encouragement , and thanks to the Nelsons for the gifts they were great. Here is Andy with his new toy.Also Hope seems to have an uneventful night, but I almost forgot she had a big poop which might be a good sign which is great. Thank you all for your prayer's GOD is good...Love Mike

We have a plan

Hey all here is the latest on Hope, her infection is still there and its not going away as quickly as they would like also her bowls are still a concern so please pray for her. Amy is doing better today she has been pushing herself a little to hard and needs get more rest . We will be moving into are new place on Thursday , we are looking forward to getting in to a nice safe place. As for me I don't know what I am feeling , sometimes I just feel numb maybe that's normal I don't know , Just pray that God will hold me together so that I can take care of the family. PS we are still having Internet problems and posts will be slow maybe it will be better at the new place ...Thanks God bless Mike