Thursday, February 4, 2010

It started out well...but now we have one sick boy.


Today
started out well.  I got to sleep in until 8am!  The kids played nicely all morning.  At 10 am the little ones had school in mommy and daddy's bedroom while Eryn had her music lessons in the school room. Elijah wrote his name all by himself.  He sat and colored while I taught a lesson out of the book of Numbers.  And our math lesson seemed to capture his attention.  Thank you Jesus.  After playtime outside, a yummy lunch of curried potatoes and a lively story about George Muller, Elijah ran to the toilet.  Within 1 minute he had a fever of 103.  A rapid malaria test proved what I thought was the case, the poor little guy has malaria. Please pray for a quick recovery so that we can begin extensive testing--hepatitis, infection, etc. He also has a hard mass on the upper left part of his belly.  I called the dentist today and the soonest they can get him in is at the end of the month.

On a side note, the Lord had been revealing a lot of chaff in my heart.  We have always brought home cute little babies or toddlers--easy to cuddle and love on.  Now, the Lord decided it was time to burn away some chaff and so he brought me a 7-8 year old boy, with a head covered in fungus, stinky toe nail-less feet, a mouth full of rotten teeth and no idea what it means to show love nor receive it.  To be honest, I cried the first night he was home.  I pray that through this precious soul we have named Elijah, I will decrease and my Jesus will increase.  

P.S. Notice the new blog header photo :-)

12 comments:

Jim and April said...

LOVE the new header photo up top! Precious! Thank you for being honest about the new child God has brought to you, how you feel and how you know God will use this to grow you because through watching your journey and your words, God ministers and grows my heart! Hope you have a wonderful day!

the Rackley family said...

Praying for you today!

love2bmom said...

Amen, praying the same for and with you.

Love,

C

Jewels of My Heart said...

Oh, I will be praying for your little guy!!! And for you....

I can do all things through Christ which strengthens me. Phillipians 4:13
Love the pic of your babies. They are beautiful!

Cari said...

In regards to an older child adoption or care-giving, God gave this to me last year "No one is beyond redemption".

God is always lovingly stretching us, isn't He?! :)

Cathy said...

Praying for strength and grace and that Jesus will give you His eyes more and more as you care for Elijah. Me and my husband have been on an adoption training course today, hearing about some of the potential challenges of adopting older children. So reading your post was especially poignant this evening as we consider the beginning of our own journey.
(PS Read a very helpful book recently, that I bought from Amazon, called 'Adopting the Hurt Child' by Gregory Keck and Regina Kupecky. Might not be your thing - don't think the authors are Christian - but I thought it had some really helpful insights)

"Are These Kids All Yours?" said...

Love the new pic....praying.

Jessica Pierce said...

Summer! Wowser mama of 10!!! Elijah looks sooooo much like ethan! crazy! and i love the look on enoch's face! haha i've missed those looks a lot!!!! thank you so much for the frequent updates! and your honesty!!! will be praying for elijah's healing and the protection of the other kiddos (esp. elyssa & enoch!)!! how are you doing? i'm mean i know you're saying on your blog, but i mean with the other sicknesses you've been healed of... i've been curious about you're own personal health? more the chronic stuff.... ok i should just send you an actual email! i love you guys!! thanks for lovin' on all the little children of the world! Jess... ps - don't mean to show favoratism, but if you could give me special little buddy ezekiel and hi from me.... missing him!

Adeye said...

LOVE the new header :)

Oh my friend, this really is a day-by-day journey, isn't it? What an amazing work the Lord is doing in your heart. Just beautiful.

Praying the malaria bows to the name of Jesus and FLEES his little body, and your home!

Kathy said...

The idea that some kids are easier to love than others is hard to admit to - but it reminds me of us! Some of us are harder to love than others - and yet Jesus loves us all passionately, to the full extent of loving. I want to be more like Jesus that way, too! Your honesty helps me to look at myself more honestly. Thank you!

What a beautiful family you have! Great picture. But I really loved the last one, with all the different foot coverings (or lack thereof)! Probably my all-time favorite blog pic!

;-) said...

What a great piture! Oh, we are praying for health, strength, wisdom, peace...

melissa said...

I'm super inspired by the simple truths you write about. Praying for your new little one and your family!