Micaiah ISR

Here is a video of Micaiah swimming.  I took it a couple weeks ago.  I mentioned in one of my blogs awhile back that he was doing the ISR swimming lessons.  I also posted a link to the website on the side of this page.  

I wrote about it in the blog titled "It is Well" on 10/12/08...you can go back to that post on the archives.

I don't like storms...

                                                 Micaiah likes to lay down in Caleb's bed with him...
Micaiah naked in our lo'i...(his clothes were soaked so he took it off)
My surprise 25th birthday party!  This is my best friend Kristi who planned it all for me! ...and then she lovingly shoved some cake on my face :)
Micaiah loves his big brother!  (I love this picture)
    The boys with Uncle Patrick...

It's been quite hectic since I last blogged.  Many storms have come our way in the past month.  But clinging to God and giving it all to him has paid off.  We've gotten through much of those trials and some still "pending."  But I know all of it will work out in whatever way God has planned for us if we keep trusting in him and leaning on him for strength.

We recently have had some new nurses...and great ones at that!  So far for July, our nursing hours remains the same.  I think Caleb's case is still being reviewed as far as his nursing hours is concerned.  (Due to the recent furloughs here in Hawaii, medically fragile children and their families are going to be greatly affected...from what I've been told.)  I got a call today from a company that is managing the switchover in medical.  They were specifically asked to review Caleb's case and do a home visit and assessment in his care needs by the medicaid director and the evercare director (that's the new managed care).  I'm looking forward to that and praying that it will result in a more positive assessment.  They said that they have only been doing random assessments but was specifically asked to do one for Caleb.  Thumbs up for that one!  So please pray that they will not cut our nursing hours...or that it is not cut too drastically!  Right now we are alloted 260 hours/month and they had said it was going to be cut down to 56 hours/month!  That's 2 hours/day...but what nurse would want to do a 2 hour shift?  so it's more like one and a half nursing days/ week!  I'm not as concerned for us as I am about other families.  There are many single parents who have medically fragile children who have to work and have no one else to help them care for their children!  These furloughs are going to affect so many people.  So please pray for our state and all those families out there.

Brandon and I are looking for a place to rent out.  This is a huge step of faith for us financially, physically, emotionally, and spiritually.  Our lives will change a lot but at least we're not moving to another island or state.  We'll still have lots of family and friends around.  If the nursing hours are decreased it will affect us even more in our move but we are trusting that God will provide all the strength we need to make it through as he's done so in every situation.  To be honest, I'm scared because we've never been on our own but I know that it will bring me closer to God (since this is only going to work because of Him) and will make us mature more and rely on one another more.  Could you please also pray for our move?  We are still looking for a place but have applied for a few already.  It's hard to find a place without stairs and that is wheelchair accessible and has enough room for all of Caleb's equipment on our budget.  But I know we'll find something...

Caleb's been doing great.  He had a little cold a couple times in the last couple of weeks but he quickly bounced back.  He was exposed to the swine flu but didn't catch it!  Thank you God!  I spent many nights praying over him in the past month and had some walks with Caleb in the neighborhood as we prayed together and talked together.  He's been great through all of the "storms" that have been coming our way.

Brandon's 1st cousin, Ryan Egdamin, passed away on May 31st.  Brandon and all of his family flew up to Seattle for his funeral shortly after.  Please pray for his entire family and his friends that are dealing with this sudden loss.  Please pray especially for his mom, dad, and brother.  Thank you for praying through my long list of requests!  God Bless...

Ryan Egdamin

                                               A precious gift...March 6, 2009

                                            Blessed Parents we are!
                                              Caleb and his best friend Uncle Patrick
                                            Apparently, Micaiah really likes his brother's food.
                                        Yeah that's kind of gross...but I guess it does taste good!

Jarrett, Patrick, and Brandon planting kalo

                                           This is one of our two taro patches, after just planting

Micaiah likes to help pick luau for his brother...and himself.

Hiking up Makapu'u

I'm hoping that somewhere out there someone is still checking in on this blog.  My computer totally crashed, I took it to Geek Squad and found out that it wasn't worth fixing.  And I finally got a new computer!  Yeah!  The one I wanted too! :)  So hopefully I will still get some readers here.  

It's been almost 3 months, where do I begin?  I don't have any bad news so that's great!  Caleb's Re-Birthday was fun and we had many people come to celebrate his life with us.  Brandon and I are very grateful for those who shared that day with us and for those who lifted Caleb and us up in prayer.  Thank you very much!

Recently Caleb hurt his ankle which we discovered after he started to scream and cry when we would stand him up.  He had an xray done which led his doctor to believe that he could possibly have a stress fracture but they couldn't tell for sure.  So they scheduled a bone scan to be certain.  (A full body bone scan.)  In the mean time I was getting lectured about his diet and being told I needed to see a nutritionist because he probably wasn't getting everything he needed and therefore his bones would have density loss.  There are so many reasons why he "should" have bone density loss.  So I was feeling a little condemned and felt I needed to start studying on what to add to his diet.  But when I totally dove into that huge task, God told me to stop and to focus back on him.  So I did and it relieved all that pressure that was bogging my spirit down.  I devoted all my spare time to reading the Bible, prayer, and worship.  Two weeks ago Caleb had his bone scan done and the results showed that his bones are COMPLETELY NORMAL...Amen!  Thank you Jesus!

I've also started a daily routine of reading to Caleb from the Bible...(mines, not the children's version).  I pick a book in the Bible and we read a couple chapters a day.  Sometimes if I don't get to it in the morning or later in the day I read to him while he sleeps.  I absolutely love it.  It's a peaceful time for us and it gets me to be more in the word, really understanding it (because I need to explain it to him after), and it's my time to spend with Caleb and God.

Adversity has been flying our way but I know God is above it all.  

I constantly feel like I need to focus on his diet or get him to do more school work things which I do really need to do because it's important.  But God has to come first.  The spiritual things need to come first and then I can focus back on the other things which will then naturally fall into place.   

There has been two times in the last couple months where there were those "scary moments" but through prayer God turned that all around.  The first time it was early in the morning and Caleb sats were dropping quite quickly and his lips did turn a little blue.  I had pulled everything out in preparation and called for some help.  Brandon was still home and getting ready for work.  He ran in and as I got oxygen hooked up to Caleb, Brandon laid his hands on Caleb to pray over him.  Well after about five minutes of oxygen and after Brandon's prayer Caleb was fine.  We thought he was getting sick but he didn't.  He was fine.  

A few days ago I awoke in the middle of the night to Caleb's pulse ox alarm.  This was when he got sick and instantly got a fever.  His heart rate was really high and he was pretty agitated.  I climbed into his bed beside him and prayed with him.  His heart rate dropped down to a more reasonable number and he calmed down.  I did end up giving him some motrin a little later but after that one dose he didn't need it anymore.  He is still sick but didn't need any oxygen this time and he's been sleeping pretty well considering that he normally doesn't when he is sick.

Caleb has been doing absolutely wonderful in speech therapy but there is a possible threat that insurance may deny him more visits.  So he could use some prayer for that.

Well I can go on and on with this blog but I will end it here till next time..Enjoy the many pictures!