Christy’s Blog

4 Years ago

Wed, 14 Jan 2009 10:12:38 -0600

4 years ago, January 15, 2005, Wes & I officially adopted Tiff into our family. Truthfully, she had been part of the family long before her adoption, but that’s the day it became official.

Wes & I knew that we wanted to adopt Tiff and have her be “our” daughter. We had no idea when we made that decision that everybody in our family (my parents, Wes’ parents, our grandparents, aunts, etc.) would love her just as much as we did. I am so grateful to the Lord for how he brought her into our family and continues to bless us.

Even though our family will not be together to celebrate this year, I just wanted to say, I love being Tiff’s mom!

11 years ago

Wed, 7 Jan 2009 08:15:01 -0600

11 years ago today, I was completely miserable. I was 35 weeks pregnant, had incredible heartburn and was recovering from Christmas and a sick baby (Madi was 18 months old). I still had one month before Geoff was due, but had a feeling something was not right. I felt so bad, I even called my mother who still lived in KC, Missouri and asked if she might be able to come down and help me take care of Madi. When I went to bed that night, the last thought I had was, you know, I should pack a bag for the hospital soon. At 1:30 am the next morning I woke up in labor.

Wes & I got out of bed, quickly packed a bag and waited for a friend to arrive to watch Madi. Since Wes’ best friend, Uncle JJ, lived 45 minutes away, we had another friend, Wes’ boss Bobby, come until JJ arrived. I remember it was snowing on our way to the hospital--just flurries, nothing big. Geoff was born 5 weeks early but weighed 6 lbs. 13 oz. (only 2 oz. less than Madi who was a day late.)

My mother flew in that day, and she and Wes spent the evening assembling Geoff’s crib. Have I mentioned we weren’t quite ready for his arrival?

The next day, we realized he wasn’t coming home soon. Geoff was transferred to a bigger hospital the next day before Wes & my mom even arrived at the hospital. Once Wes arrived at the hospital, I got dressed, we grabbed some lunch and headed to the other hospital. Before we could see him in NICU, we had to learn the proper way to scrub our hands. It was very difficult to see him connected to so many machines. He could not handle any type of stimulation, because that would affect his oxygen levels. They had to give him a drug to paralyze him, another to sedate him so he would rest, cover his ears and eyes to avoid light and sound. When we got home to go to bed that night, I remembered we didn’t pray over him. Every night we would pray over Madi when we put her to bed. At midnight, Wes & I went back to the hospital to pray over him.

We learned the next day that Geoff had pulmonary hypertension. His artery between his heart and lung was not staying open. He also had a small hole in his heart. The nurses who took care of him were amazing. He required constant attention to keep his oxygen levels up and this blood pressure normal. We weren’t allowed to touch him or hold him for that first week.

It was a very difficult 2 weeks. We had many people love and encourage us. We prayed Daniel 5:23 for him, “Honor the God who holds your breath in His hand and owns all your ways.”

Once the artery opened up, he was able to get off the respirator and got better quickly. After a year, the cardiologist said the hole in his heart was gone and he was perfectly normal (medically).

It was a very difficult time, that we wouldn’t trade for anything. The Lord taught us and changed us and we are so grateful. So as I look to celebrating the birth of my son tomorrow, I remember how the Lord gave him every breath he needed those first few days.

Today, Geoff is a constant source of laughter in our home. He loves bacon, beavers, Garfield, playing guitar, teasing Madi, and making people laugh.

Happy Birthday Son!

School is in session

Wed, 20 Aug 2008 13:14:20 -0500

Two days ago, we started back to school. I am still incredibly excited about our new math curriculum--Teaching Textbooks. It contains a student book, answer key and 4 cd-roms. Each day, Madi & Geoff put the disk into their computers, watch the lecture on the screen, answer a few practice questions, then have 20 questions to answer as their assignment. After they type in each answer--they know if they got the question right or wrong. If they want an explanation for any answer, they can get it immediately, on screen. When they are finished, they know what “grade” they received for that lesson. So far they have both gotten A’s every day. Two days were actually A+. This may not seem like a big deal, but this is the first time they have ever gotten a grade. Geoff, being highly competitive, loves it. Madi at least no longer despises math, so that’s progress.

The Prayers of a Child

Mon, 12 May 2008 08:36:10 -0500

So when Madi came home from the hospital as a baby, we started praying over her every night as we put her to bed. This still happens every night at our house. In fact, if we forget to go in and pray, Madi will come out of her room and say, “Aren’t you guys coming!”

So last Tuesday night, Wes & I are praying with Geoff. Usually Mom or Dad will pray, then it’s their turn. So when Geoff prayed, he ask the Lord for a simple request that meant so much to him, “Please let it not rain very much, so I can play my baseball game tomorrow.” There was a make-up game scheduled for Wed. night. We had rain on Tuesday and even more predicted for Wed. I, being such a wise mother, told him not to get his hopes up, because they were predicting a lot of rain. So I get up on Wednesday, with no plans to go into town, because I’m convinced there will be no game. About 2 pm, when we’ve just had a brief shower, I email the guy in charge of LP Sports (Geoff’s baseball league). All games are on as scheduled. Most of the storms had moved on through and Geoff had his baseball game. He was up to bat 3 times. He got 2 singles and a double and made it home to score a run twice! He played outfield and 3rd base. While at 3rd base, he stopped a ground ball and tagged the base to make the 3rd out for the inning.

After that, I then asked Geoff to pray that our engine would be mounted the next day, and sure enough it was.

Geoff’s hamster, Jerry, had a very large growth under his neck. I was afraid it was a tumor. Geoff prayed, and the mass, which was an abscess, went down. We are still waiting to see if he makes a full recovery, but he is doing very well.

I am just amazed at how the Lord is teaching my son to trust Him. I was thinking as I went to bed last night of the many, many prayers that God has answered in my life. Even before I was a Christian, the Lord was taking care of me and drawing me to Him. He is always so faithful.

The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective. James 5:16

My Guitar Player

Fri, 25 Apr 2008 14:49:15 -0500

A few years back, Geoff got a guitar for his birthday. In August of 2007 he started taking lessons. Last night was his first public performance.

Click here to see it.