Two Boys = Two ER Visits

For those of you that don't know, we are currently in Chicago on a missions trip with our teens. The teens are working with Vision for Youth and Inner City Impact doing a soccer camp. The kiddos and I are staying with Brent's sister Alyssa and her family and spending part of our days with Daddy and the teens.

Sunday the teens were all at Alyssa and Shane's house helping with a move and as they were getting ready to leave on Sunday night, Colby fell and smacked his mouth on a shelf. He screamed and was bleeding and missing part of his tooth. We called our pediatrician's office and after talking to the on-call physician, decided Colby needed to go to the ER to get check out. Kyle and Emily stayed with Alyssa and Shane while Colby and I went to the hospital. They checked him all out at the hospital. He has four teeth... he broke both of the top two.... The ER doctor said he was fine to wait until we got home to go to the dentist, but will probably need root canals and crowns on both teeth!

Today Alyssa and Harper (her 3 month old) joined the kids and I when we went to hang out with the teens. The kids were sitting on the bleachers and Alyssa and I kept telling Emily and Colby to sit down because they were climbing all over. At one point, Emily got her arm stuck and I had to get her some ice. Kyle was sitting still on the bottom bench (about a foot off the ground) and somehow fell. I hopped right up to him expecting him to start screaming but be fine. As soon as I saw his arm, I knew it was broken and most likely badly broken. 

Brent called 911 and Kyle screamed the whole time we waited for the ambulance to get there. As soon as we got into the ambulance, he calmed down and didn't cry again until they set his arm. 

Luckily Alyssa was there and took care of Emily and Colby. She, along with one of our teens (Gabby), got the kids into the van and met us at the hospital. 

I thought Kyle would be excited about the ambulance right, but at the time he didn't really seem to care. Once we got to the hospital, we got checked in and not to long after that a PA saw Kyle in triage and said the same thing as the EMT's... it's was broken, but the real question was how bad. Once Gabby was inside with Kyle and I, she went with Kyle to get his x-rays (since Mommy couldn't stay with him because of the baby in my belly). Gabby and the tech both said he did really good while he was getting his x-rays. 

A little while later the doctor same and showed us the x-ray. He broke both bones in his right forearm. Normally when little kids break bones they just kind of bend them... but Kyle completely broke both bones. 

The plan was to sedate him so they could set the bones. They got him all ready with his IV and hooked up to all the monitors and stuff.. and then they gave him the meds and nothing happened. After three doses, he was a little silly, but still WIDE awake. They pharmacist came in, and her and the doctor were both very confused why Kyle was still awake. They tried a different drug and within seconds he was asleep. They set his arm and put a temporary cast on it and then we had to wait for him to wake up. It took a little longer than expected, but eventually he woke up. He was kind of crabby, but that was to be expected. After he went pee, ate some crackers, and drank some juice, he were finally able to be discharged. 

Alyssa was AMAZING and kept Harper, Emily, and Colby content all afternoon between the car and ER waiting room! She was waiting for us when we came out... and we got some food and took Gabby back to the teens and headed home!

On the way home, it was funny listening to Kyle tell Emily all about riding in the ambulance, getting x-rays taken, and showing off his cast! When I put him to bed, he was really excited to go show the teenagers tomorrow! 

So, next week when we get home, Colby will get to see the dentist and Kyle will get to see an orthopedic for his BLUE cast!  

An Update on a Few Things...

House
We decided over the weekend that we were ready to just be done with our house in Delaware. In December it will be two years that we've been trying to sell it. Brent called the bank yesterday to see what we need to do to do a "deed-in-lieu." This is kind of like a foreclosure, except we just sign the house over to the bank and don't have to do through all the normal foreclosure stuff. We are waiting for a phone call back from our short sale specialist before we can proceed. Hopefully this won't take as long as all the short sale stuff took.
As Brent was hanging up with the bank, we got an email from our Realtor saying there was someone possibly interested. So, I guess we are going to wait until we get a for sure yes or no from that person before pursing the deed-in-lieu.

Brent's Employment
As of October 1st, Brent will be employed part time by Shiloh Community Church! Yesterday he found out that he was going to be able to work part time at his current job for the time being. He will work Monday, Thursday, and Friday at Maxima and then Tuesdays during the day at church, and then we will be at church on Wednesday nights and Sunday mornings.
The plan is for him to find another part time job in the area of the church once we move so that he is not having to have an hour commute.

Housing
We have spoken with the manager of our apartment complex about getting out of our lease. She said that only way we can get out without having to pay lots of money is if a new tenant is found to rent our apartment. She has listed the apartment as available, posted adds, and is trying to get into contact with some people she has on a waiting list. She sounded confident that she could find a new tenant to sign a lease starting November 1st.
Next Wednesday on the way to church we are going to look at an apartment near church that will be available towards the end of October. So if it all works out, that would be great timing for us.

It's A...... BOY!
We did find out the gender of the baby, but didn't want to tell right away. I went back and forth on the decision so many times. In the end I decided that if we could find out, we would. But we weren't going to tell people right away. I decided that we would tell Emily and Kyle and talk to them about the baby using the baby's name, and once they were able, they could tell people. I didn't take Emily very long and she started telling people! She's one smart girlie!
So we are having another little boy....Colby Thomas :)

Back in Ministry!

Today Brent accepted a position as Youth Director at Shiloh Community Church in Orleans, MI!!

The church is about an hour from where we currently are living, and about an hour from both sets of our parents.

He starts October 1st!

The position is part-time. Brent will need to be at church Sunday mornings, Wednesday nights, and Tuesday during the day.

We are excited for the opportunity, but are still trying to figure out some of the details.
We would like to move near the church, but our current lease goes through March. We can get out of our lease if our landlord find someone else to rent our apartment, otherwise it sounds like we are stuck. We have asked her to start looking for a new tenant, and we are going to start looking for somewhere near the church to live. Hopefully God will work it all out for us.
We also need to figure out employment. Brent is going to talk to his current boss and see if part time an option until he finds something else near the church (because if we do move, he doesn't want to have to make an hour commute a couple days a week).
We trust that it is all in God's control and that He will work out all the details for us.

Church Visit

This past weekend we went to Versailles Christian Church in Versailles Ohio for a visit/interview.

We left Saturday after breakfast and got there about lunch time. We had lunch in a sports bar in the little town (one of the few places to eat) and then headed over to the church to meet with the pastor. We had a tour of the church and then sat and talked with the pastor for a little bit while Emily and Kyle played in the church nursery. We then were given a tour of the town and were very impressed by how much the town had to offer.

After our tour, we were checked into our room at the Inn of Versailles. It was kind of a cool hotel... but wasn't very toddler friendly! We got settled into our room and put Emily and Kyle down in their pack'n'plays with hopes they would take a nap. I think we all slept for about a half an hour, and then the kiddos wanted to get up and play and continue to explore our room.

Around dinner time, we headed back to the church for dinner with the search committee and their families. After dinner, Emily and Kyle very happily went to the nursery to play while the committee interviewed Brent.  The kiddos did wonderful, considering it was past their bedtime and they hadn't slept much that day. Towards to end, they started to get fussy and wanted Mommy, but they lasted a lot longer than I thought they would.

We went back to the hotel and have the kiddos baths in the jacuzzi that we had in our room. Because it was so big, we decided that one of us needed to get in with them. Emily and Kyle LOVED being in the HUGE bath tub and loved that Mommy took a bath with them. Once they started to get pruney, we got them all dried off and ready for bed. They took a little bit to fall asleep, but did.

About midnight, Emily woke up and wasn't very happy. Brent brought her to our bed and she snuggled right up with me and fell back asleep. I'm pretty sure she was just cold, because once she was sleeping, she didn't want to really cuddle anymore, just wanted to be between Mommy and Daddy.

About 4am Kyle woke up and I figured he was just cold too, so Brent brought him to bed with us. He didn't want Daddy; Kyle only wanted Mommy and didn't want Emily to be touching Mommy while he was cuddling! He wanted me laying on my back and to lay on top of me. Every time I thought it was asleep, I would move so that I could be comfy enough to go to sleep... and he would wake up.

About 5:30, we gave up and trying to get Kyle to sleep... and if Kyle wasn't sleeping, no one was. We decided to let the kids take another bath... there wasn't really much else to do and we didn't want them to continue to scream and wake everyone up around us. They played in the bathtub for about a half an hour and then we gave them a snack... and then tried to put them back to bed in hopes they would take a nap. That idea failed and we played in the room with the few toys that I had brought for them... and then got things packed up and ready to go.

We had breakfast at the Inn at 8:00 and then were on our way to church. I was worried Emily and Kyle were not going to do well in the nursery because of the lack of sleep, but we got to church and they headed to the nursery and wanted to play.

During the first service, we got another tour of the church and saw the different Sunday School classes and then sat in the service for most of the sermon. During the second service, we sat in the service the whole time.

After church we went to someone's house for lunch. At that point our kids were beyond exhausted and weren't the best guests... but that's okay, they are still cute even when they aren't happy! After lunch, we put the kiddos in the van and headed back home. I think they were both sleep within five minutes of when we left and slept all the way home for the most part.

We enjoyed our visit (minus the lack of sleep) and liked the church and the people we met. The church has four men they are looking at and bring in for a visit; we were the second to visit. After the other two men visit the church, their committee with make a decision as to who they want to pursue further. So, we should hear something back from them in the end of August or beginning of September.

Please continue to pray with us as we seek where God is calling us for our next step in ministry.

A House and Ministry Update

Bank of America has had our offer since April... and we still haven't received an answer if they are going to accept it or not! Originally the offer expired the end of June, but the buyer extended it until the end of July. We learned yesterday that our appraisal and approval to participate have expired.. but no one is really sure what that means. Our attorney's office is diligently trying to talk to someone at the bank that can give us answers, but so far, all they get is voicemails and no one ever calls back. We're hoping to hear back soon... but not really counting on it.

We do have some exciting news in our ministry search. Brent had a phone interview a couple weeks ago with a church in Ohio. The phone interview went well and the church seems to be the type of church we are looking for. They called last week and invited us to come down for a visit and an in person interview. We are going the first weekend in August!

We're Moving!

It's been a while since I've done an update on the "big stuff"... and we have exciting news, so I thought now would be a great time for an update!

We still haven't sold our house. We've had several different people interested, but no one has actually come through and submitted an offer. We are officially listed as a short sale with Bank of America and everything has been approved, so we really are just waiting for an offer. Everything finally went through in January and we have until May 25th to sell our house or we will go into foreclosure. Hopefully we will have a buyer in the next two months, but we're not getting our hopes up.

We currently are not talking to any churches. Brent is still searching and looking at job postings and church websites on a regular basis.

When we were in Michigan last week, Brent had an interview for a warehouse job in Holt. It's not ministry, but it's something that would get us close to our families! Yesterday we found out that Brent got the job! So we are moving back to MICHIGAN!!!

We are planning on moving the first week of April. Brent gave his two weeks last night at Pat's and gave his two weeks today at Primos. My parents are going this afternoon to look at an apartment in Mason for us, so hopefully they will think we'll like it and everything will work out with that. We are still trying to figure out for sure what day we are going to head back to Michigan for sure, but we are thinking it will most likely be April 6th (Good Friday). My Mom and Mike are going to come out here and help us load up a moving truck and Mike will drive the truck back to Michigan for us. Brent's mom is planning on coming out to help us pack up and such too! We are still trying to work out the details. First we are trying to find a place to live and then we'll start to work on the other stuff.

A Door Closed

We heard a couple days ago... the church in Ann Arbor hired the other guy...

Please pray for us as we continue the search process..

A Ministry, House, and Health Update

Sorry I've been blow with updates about the "boring" stuff (aka- stuff that doesn't really have to do with Emily and Kyle).

Ministry
We heard back from the church in Ohio. They hired someone else. The pastor told Brent that he was very impressed with him and would recommend him to anyone...
The church in Ann Arbor told Brent that he is in their "Top 2", but that wanted to only focus on one candida at a time and they had already started talking to the other guy in the top 2, so they were going to pursue him first. I was stalking the church website and the other guy is being presented to the church the first weekend in February. They are also voting that weekend, so I'm guessing we should know something about where we stand the following week.
Brent is still sending out his resume and search for churches to apply to.

House
We have officially been approved for a short sale and are now in "Phase 2" of the process. From my understanding this is where we stay until we have an offer or too much time passes. If too much time passes, then we have to sign our house over to the bank in lieu of foreclosure.

Health
Brent is feeling all better. His CT results came back negative - meaning everything looked good. I think the best guess was to what was causing the headache was a sinus infection
I've decided for the time being I do not need to go back to see the neurosurgeon for my back. I'm feeling good for the most part. If I move just right or twist funny, it really hurts. I still am having some muscle soreness, but it is way better than it was and I am for sure having more good days than bad day. I am still using heat and my TENS unit, so that helps.
Emily and Kyle have been congested and had a cough for about two and a half weeks. It doesn't really seem to be getting any better or any worse and it doesn't really seem to bother them (except for the constant sucking their noses). If they are still the same on Monday, we're going to make an appointment with the doctor.

Please keep on praying for us!

What A Long Week!

It's been one of those week that feels never ending....

Tuesday morning Brent started to get a headache, but figured it was from not having any caffeine, so he drank some pop hoping it would just go away. It started to get worse as the day went on. Tuesday night, Brent hardly slept (which means I also hardly slept) because he was in so much pain. Wednesday morning, I canceled my physical therapy and the babies and I took Brent to the medical aid unit (if you know Brent, you know it's REALLY bad when he actually wants to go to the doctor). They didn't really give us much of an explanation for his headache, but gave him a shot of pain meds and told us that when the meds wore off, if he head still hurt to go to the ER.
Brent pretty much slept all day on Tuesday from the pain meds. Around 4:30, they finally wore off and Brent's headache was back and worse than before. I called our friend April to see if she could come stay with Emily and Kyle while I took Brent to the ER.
The ER wasn't much fun.... but we didn't have to wait too long considering it was the ER. Once we got there and got him all checked in and stuff, it would only about an hour before he Brent was put in a room. When they doctor finally saw him, she was kind of clueless as to what might be causing the headache. He wasn't really having classic migraine symptoms, but that was their best guess. They gave him some migraine meds through his IV, but they didn't really help a whole lot, so they gave him some other pain meds. They were talking about doing a spinal tap to make sure that he didn't have a bleed or meningitis, but then decided against it because the pain meds seemed to be working. After he was able to keep down some crackers and ginger ale, they sent him home with an Rx for migraine meds and told him to follow up with his PCP the next day.
We got home around 11:30pm and Brent went right to bed. I washed bottles and diapers and pumped, and then went to bed. Around 3:00am, Brent woke up and his headache was back. He tried to take a bath to see if that would help and I looked online to find a 24 hours pharmacy... but there isn't one close to us and the roads were really bad. Also around this time , Kyle and Emily decided they were hungry... then after they ate their bottles, Kyle decided that he wanted his mommy... and would not stop crying if I put him down. So I sat in my chair and rocked with Kyle for about an hour and once I thought it was sound asleep, tried to lay him back down in his crib. But as soon as I let go of him, he woke up and started screaming.So I brought Kyle into bed with us and we all slept on and off until about 6:00, when Emily woke up. The babies and I played for a while, while Brent tired to sleep. A little before 8:00am I went to the pharmacy to get Brent's Rx filed. When I got home, he took his me and went back to bed.
Brent had an appointment at 2:15 with his PCP. Our friend April came back over to watch Kyle and Emily, so we didn't have to take them with us. Brent's PCP was also kind of clueless as to what was causing the headache. He said to keep taking the Rx that the ER doctor gave him and ordered a CT of his head. Our insurance requires a prior auth for the CT, so it is scheduled for Tuesday so that the prior auth can be done. (The ER doctor should have really done a CT so that we wouldn't have had to wait for a prior auth because if it's done through the ER, one isn't needed.)
We got home shortly after the babies woke up and they pretty much clung to me for the rest of the day until they went to bed.
Brent had his Skype interview Thursday night with the church in Ann Arbor. The interview went really well! After his interview, we washed bottles and I pumped early and we went to bed early... or at least tried too. I was so tired, I had trouble falling asleep. It around about 11:30 before I actually fell asleep, and then around 2:30, Kyle woke up screaming. He wasn't hungry, he just wanted to cuddle. I sat and rocked him for about an hour and he finally was sleeping soundly enough that I was able to lay him back in his crib. It was also 4, but the time I was able to fall back asleep. Then at 5:00, Emily woke up and was hungry. So I pumped, fed the babies and then they both went back to sleep. Around 6:00, I went back to sleep, but had to wake up at 7:00 for physical therapy. Brent said that he and the babies woke up around 8:15.
They took a good morning nap yesterday, but did not take an afternoon nap. Luckily, when Brent got home from work he was feeling okay enough that he could play with Kyle and Emily while I took a short nap before Kyle's physical therapy. I took both babies with me to Kyle's appointment so that Brent could take a nap before having to work again last night.
Last night at dinner Kyle and Emily were little piggies and ate a ton. Then when they went to bed, they both drank their whole bottles that I put an extra ounce in. I was very excited that they ate so much and hoped that meant they would sleep through the night. I ate dinner, washed diapers and bottles, finished folding laundry and putting it all away, pumped, and then climbed into bed. As soon as I feel asleep, Kyle and Emily both started screaming. I made them bottles and Emily sucked hers right down and Kyle wouldn't take his. They were still crying and both just wanted to be picked up. I ended up bring them to bed with me after they cried for about a half an hour. They were both almost asleep, then Brent called to say he was on his way and that woke them both back up. When Brent got home, he got Kyle to drink his bottle and we put the babies to bed. Brent took another bath to see if it would help his headache, and shortly after he got out of his bath, both of the babies were crying again. They came to bed with us for a bit, but wouldn't lay down. Finally around midnight I got more milk for them and they finally went to sleep. They both woke up at 6am this morning and have been awake every since. They are currently in their cribs and staying there until lunchtime (noon) or if they fall asleep, I'll let them sleep until they wake up!

So... please pray for us. Brent's headache still hasn't gone away. It's tolerable now with the medication, but he still isn't feeling up to par and isn't sleeping great. I woke up this morning with a headache and am exhausted. I'm pretty sure my headache is just from the messed up schedule we've had this week and from being so tried.
Also, please pray with us about the church in Ann Arbor. The senior pastor called Brent yesterday and told them they are interested in pursuing him further. The next steps involve a theology discussion, called Brent's references, and a visit. We are praying about it for a couple days, and then we'll go from there.
We still haven't heard back from the church in Ohio yet, but are also still praying about that ministry as well.

Welcome 2012

The first two days of 2012 have been pretty low key for us. Brent had to work on New Years Eve, so we didn't make any plans. He got home from work about 10:00pm and we went to bed! 

We went to church yesterday morning, then came home, ate lunch, took naps, and enjoyed time together as a family.

Today Brent had to go into work early, and it's Monday, so he went to both jobs today. Emily, Kyle, and I hung out at home and played. We had a couple visitors stop by to drop stuff off, and Daddy played with the babies for a little bit when he was home in between jobs. 

Here are a few of the pictures we have taken so far this year....

Emily's favorite spot when playing in her room.... she likes to reach into her crib and play with Lilly. She's  only  allowed to play with Lilly in her crib... otherwise I don't think we would ever get Lilly away from Emily!

The normal sight Mommy finds after nap time! Two very happy babies!

I was trying to take pictures of Kyle and Emily... and Kyle just wanted to sit in my lap!

The rail in Kyle's crib... thanks to his new teeth :(

At one point they had a clean room.... that is, until they got out of their cribs took everything off the shelves again.

The new toy shelf. It's in the closet so that Mommy and Daddy can decide how many toys Kyle and Emily get to play with.... until they figure out how to open the closet doors, then we will have to come up with a new idea!

Other updates...
The offer that we thought we had on our house fell through. When the people originally made the offer, they didn't realize that it was a short sale. At first they said they were still on board, but when it came down to it, they backed out because of the short sale.
Brent has a Skype interview with the church in Ann Arbor on Thursday evening.
We are still waiting to hear something back from the church in Ohio. They told Brent we should except to hear something in the first couple weeks of Jan.

Opening Doors

Brent's interview on Tuesday with the church in Ohio went very well. They are interviewing four men and then going to bring their favorite for an in person interview and all that fun stuff.

Last night Brent received an email from the church in Michigan (Ann Arbor) saying they would like to do an interview with him over Skype the first week of January.

Please pray with us about these two possible opportunities.

Update on Life...

Last week I wrote that the church in Ohio had contacted Brent about a phone interview. His interview is tomorrow afternoon.... so if you think about it, please pray for him and the pastor interviewing him.

Other exciting news... we are finally moving forward with Bank of America with the short sale process. We were originally told in March that we didn't need to do anything with the bank until we had an offer for a short sale. We then found out in June that we needed to get approved first.... and we have been trying to get approved since June. We have been having all sorts of issues (the bank is stupid and keeps changing policies and losing paperwork and blah blah blah). Last week after still being given the run around, I emailed the CEO (after a friend suggested it), and finally as of Friday we are officially in Phase I of the short sale process!

To go along with that...someone submitted an offer last Tuesday! Unfortunately they weren't aware that we were doing a short sale. Our realtor contacted theirs and they said they were still interested, but have yet to return the short sale addendum to us, so we're really not sure what's going on with that....

My back is finally starting to feel better. I'm still having tingling in my arms and pain in my back, but it's better than it was. I've still been going to physical therapy three mornings a week. Tomorrow I go back to see the neurosurgeon, so we'll see what he has to say and if he wants me to continue with therapy.

A couple days ago Kyle figured out how to undo the Velcro on his helmet. After he undid that a few times, he figured out if he pushed enough on his helmet, he could get it off his head. So now when he has his helmet on, all he does is try to get it off. This afternoon, within an hour, Kyle had his helmet off five times. I finally just left it off of him. We are going to AI before we go to Michigan to get new Velcro put on his helmet, so hopefully that will solve the problem.

We're leaving in a couple days for Michigan! We're very excited to see family and friends... but not really looking forward to the LONG drive with the babies. I think the longest we've been in the car with the babies has only been two hours. We are planing on driving through the night, so hopefully the babies will just sleep. Please pray for us as we prepare to leave and as we make the long drive.

One Door Shut... Maybe A Couple More Open

A while ago I wrote about a possible ministry opportunity at a church about 20 minutes north of where we currently are living. Brent had breakfast with the senior pastor and was excited about that, so we went to visit the church. We enjoyed our visit at the church and enjoyed getting to know the senior pastor and his wife a little bit. We visited their youth group and loved the fact they had a great group of teens. When we left the church on Sunday night, we were excited about it. We prayed that God would make it clear to us if this is the church He wants us at or not.

When we got home, Brent had an email from a church in Michigan that said after reviewing resumes, they had chosen him as one of the men they would like to continue to consider for their youth pastor position.

The next morning, Brent had an email from a church in Ohio that pretty much said the same thing.

Over the next week, we continued to pray that God would make His will clear to us about the church out here. Brent talked to a couple Godly men to seek their advice and when it came down to making a decision, we decided that the church out here is not where God is calling us. It was a great opportunity, but we were hesitant to pursue it farther because we weren't "jump up and down" excited about the church. So, on Sunday, Brent emailed them to let them know how we felt.

Today the church in Ohio emailed back and would like to do a phone interview with Brent.

Please continue to pray with us as we seek God's will for our next step in ministry.

A Ministry Door Open?

One day last week Brent got a phone call from the pastor at a church about fifteen minutes from us. Their church is looking for a new youth pastor and the pastor was given Brent's name. He asked if Brent would be willing to send him his resume and cover letter. Brent e-mailed it to him and a little while later, they had a breakfast meeting set up.

This morning Brent had breakfast with the pastor and really enjoyed talking to him; getting to know him a little bit and getting to know a little bit about the church and the ministry that takes place there. The pastor asked if we would come visit the church on Sunday to see what it's like and if it's a place we would be interested in serving. 

Please pray for us and we explore this possible opportunity and seek to see if it's God's will or not.