15 ml at a time... and 2 Corinthians 8

It isn't much when you think about it, but 15 milliliters at a time is what Daniel is getting through his new feeding tube. That is just about three teaspoons of liquid, or half an ounce, and that only every three hours! I can give him some sips (or little squirts of  his syringe) of water by mouth too and he is doing well. We don't want to give him too much a tine time to start out so that the stitches at the top of his stomach/ bottom of his esophagus won't be stressed by too much fluid at one time. He has an IV running so he is getting lots of fluid and electrolytes  but this morning I could tell that Daniel was HUNGRY! Hunger is not something that he exhibits typically  but he has not gone this many hours without being fed either! It made  him pretty cranky to be so hungry! The morphine didn't seem to do a good enough job of managing Daniel's pain so Lortab via his feeding tube was substituted and that seems to help him quite nicely. There  have been no signs of infection, and we are keeping his body temp up with layers of blankets and socks on his hands and feet. I didn't have a cap for him but he has a towel covering the top of his head.  Its so good to know that we've kept him warm during this surgical experience. We should be coming home tomorrow, and from the number of phone calls and emails I've received today, I can be assured my family is VERY READY!!

Thank you all so very much for your prayers for Daniel at this time. We have been so aware of God's presence !!

As we continue to pray over  our children,JOSIAH BENJAMIN  and KEREN JUBILEE, as we fund raise for them in the here- and -now, and for the future, God continues to be so faithful in showing His providence for them! People gave to our car wash and we will be able to provide the necessary funds for clothing and food. HALLELUJAH!  People have continued to bless us through my friend Jill's CHIP IN Fund. I know that ONLY  God can move on people's hearts to give to a family essentially sight-unseen because someone else, essentially sight-unseen, asks them to.Yes people that she and I  know have blessed us, but mostly people who know God, but not us. As I  was thinking about  that this week,God showed me a verse He had put on my heart  over FIVE YEARS AGO for these children!!!We were still nose deep in trying to get our Isaiah home and reunited with his BIO-sisters whom we'd adopted the year before. A series of not-in-the -best-interests-of-the-child decisions had been made  and those caused us to dig in so deep in prayer and political activism for Isaiah's very life. GOD PREVAILED and the three siblings Charlie and I met in 2002 WERE finally home by August 2006. In May 2005, God gave me a challenge from 2 Corinthians8:8-15"...It is to your advantage not only to be doing what you began and were desiring to do a year ago but now you must also complete the doing of it that as there was a readiness to desire it so there may also be a completion out of what you have,....." We had been talking about  a sibling pair in Africa  even before Isaiah came home. We were not ready quite then, Charlie in Iraq  for two years and  Isaiah then coming home, but God was really calling us to COMPLETE what He had called us to. We won't stop praying and trusting God until this chapter of our life is completed and THEN we can start praying and trusting for the NEXT chapter!!!