A Long Overdue Update

First, thank you all for your prayers on behalf of my family, and especially on behalf of my 3 year old son Gus.  Gus was very sick for most of May.  He was in and out of the hospital during that time, and doctors ran a number of test to determine the cause of his illness.  He was diagnosed with a rare GI disease, but there is still some uncertainty as to the exact cause of his recent flare-up, or the possibility of an additional underlying illness.  Overall though, Gus has made a remarkable recovery.  After losing 6 pounds and almost 20% of his body weight, he has gained most of the weight back (4 of the 6 pounds as of his latest appointment), he is eating better than ever before, and generally doing very well.  We are sincerely grateful for all who prayed for Gus and our family.

To add to the craziness of May, we discovered that we are expecting another baby, due in January.  Overwhelmed best sums up our feelings, but now that the weeks are passing and Gus is doing so much better, we are feeling very blessed with this new life and excited about our growing family.  It helps that I am not nearly as sick as I was with my last pregnancy!

As many of you are aware, we lost our first baby at full term to a severe and fatal neural tube defect called anencephaly.  On Thursday of this week, we have an ultrasound to rule out anencephaly.  And so I am again asking for prayers.  The days and weeks leading up to this ultrasound are never pleasant for me.  I am anxiety prone, sleepless, and emotional.  With each early pregnancy, it seems I relive our experience 9 years ago with Therese.   Five children later, it doesn’t seem to get any easier.  But I know your prayers are powerful, and so I humbly ask for them.