Sunday, April 12, 2009

Yesterday's Visit / Easter Sunday for Joel

Sorry for the late post.....I try to post every night but last night I was just so exhausted from battling this illness that I went straight to bed. I'm feeling better by the way and can get up and move around the house, but my stomach still isn't right and I"m not eating a whole lot more than liquids right now. Thank you for all of your prayers!

Asher is doing GREAT! He is such a strong little man to have come through all this as well as he has ;) After Friday's Cath-lab results, we have the clear to go home.......the only thing that has to be done now is to get little man eating, which I hear is no little task!! The swallow study will happen this coming week sometime, after the oral motor specialist evaluates him and depending on the results, it could be a week or a month plus still before his release. The concern is "silent aspiration" if he eats by mouth and milk trickles into his airway, which could be deadly if it builds up in his lungs...he could in essence drown to death slowly. If he fails the test, they may work with him and test him again, or they will do surgery to insert a "g tube" through his tummy and into his stomach, through which all his feedings will go through until he is strong enough to be fed orally.

Pray that he passes the swallow study and AMAZES everyone!!!

Pray that he remembers HOW to eat and is able to orchestrate a "suck, swallow, breath" response.

Blowin on Asher's little face

Look at that Gaze! ;)

Easter Sunday
Today....was Joel's third Easter, but really the first one he will remember. Matt and I have discussed how we want to teach our family about holiday's....and although we haven't come up with a clear gameplan yet, we do want to teach our kids about the importance of the Jewish Feasts and Jesus' relationship to them.....and not just easter bunnies or christmas trees. That being said...I did buy Joel some candy for his little basket, but that was secondary to his "Resurrection Day" presents: A new picture Bible all his own as well as a little picture book of trucks and tractors. He was Elated to say the least! I wanted to treat his tastebuds and make good memories all at the same time about this holiday. I remember hearing once that Jewish fathers would dip the holy scrolls in honey and let their little kids lick it off...all to develope a love for the scriptures! What a neat way of hooking the youngsters who are too little to really grasp the stories. So, I figured I would do the same thing and only give him candy on Jesus Holiday's where we are trying to teach him about scripture. It's an experiment....we'll see how it turns out. Right now it is 2pm and he still isn't down for his nap.....maybe a little less sweet enticement next time!

Joel and his daddy looking at his new picture Bible.


Joel looking at the pictures ... in between lolli pop licks.

This boy LOVES trucks and tractors of all shapes and sizes. He especially loves "Babba Guck" ..or Garbage Trucks!

3 comments:

fixedonHIM said...

What a joy to receive such great news on Resurrection Day...thank you Jesus! We're standing with you on the swallow test!

Erika, so happy you are feeling better! Matt, no hair looks great on you! What precious moments with your two boys in the pics, thanks for sharing. :)

Love you guys,
Roy & Denise

Dixiemom7 said...

Matt, really enjoyed your Worship with the Word devo on Sunday. Erika, I'm so glad you are better! Love the pic of you holding Asher, beautiful. We are praying in agreement for Asher's swallow test to be a success! Thank you God! Joel is just precious, you are doing a great job with him. He will continue to delight in the Word and find new adventures in it's depths.

We are.... said...

I do LOVE holding that little guy!! And thank you both for the well wishes...I am feeling MUCH BETTER!

Blessings!
~Erika~