Prayer Request

Kyle was admitted to the hospital yesterday. What started out as a cold took a turn for the worse on Sunday night and Kyle’s breathing became quite labored. We took him to his pediatrician first thing Monday morning, and she called an ambulance to transport him to the hospital.

Kyle was admitted to ICU and it was soon discovered that he has some sort of infection in his lungs. Yesterday was spent running all sorts of tests to determine what type of infection he has, which will then let the doctors know how to treat him. So far his influenza and RSV tests have come back negative; we should have the results for the remaining cultures tomorrow.

We are hopeful that Kyle will be moved out of ICU and into a regular room sometime today. The next step will then be to start weaning him from oxygen support. Kyle has to be off of oxygen for 24 hours before they will consider releasing him.

In addition to blood work, vitals, etc., Kyle is receiving steroid breathing treatments every other hour to help open up his airways. While these have helped a ton, it also means he has had very little sleep. Kyle has a nasal cannula (breathing tubes) taped to his face/nose, an IV in one arm (which he has pulled out twice) and a blood pressure cuff on the other arm, heart and respiratory rate leads attached to his chest, and a pulse oximeter hooked up to his foot. The poor guy is covered in wires and does not like it one bit. It’s impossible to try and explain to a 21 month old that they are helping him get better, so he is spending a good amount of time trying to pull off the various contraptions. It breaks my heart to see him so miserable.

Please say a prayer, not just for Kyle, but for the other children here at the hospital as well.

.

Leaning on Him,

Rules of Dating...According to 3rd Graders

Let me start by saying that I do not allow my daughter to date. And she won't be dating for a LONG time.

We do however live in a wonderful neighborhood filled with lots of kids.

During a recent neighborhood bonfire, the upcoming Donut Man concert at our church was mentioned. I was going to be taking Madison and her friend Sophia, but we had two extra tickets. Ahem, I can not imagine why Joe did not want to go? A couple of boys Madison's age overheard and expressed interest in going with us.

As these kids have socialized together since preschool, this really should not of been a big deal. But suddenly, it became clear to me that this playdate was different.

While Madison and her friend feigned annoyance at the prospect of going somewhere with, gasp, BOYS, their non-stop talking about the big day betrayed their true feelings.

Really, that was all they seemed to talk about. They even went so far as to type up a list of rules for the boys:

The rules actually start off pretty reasonable and respectable. No touching -a rule I hope she always adheres to where the opposite sex is concerned. Be nice, say please and thank-you.

With the introduction of "do not talk to us in public", the rules went down-hill from there.

Thinking that the poor boys must have been hurt by this note, I was all set to make Madison apologize when we picked them up for the concert.

Apparently the boys were unfazed. They jumped in the car and promptly starting burping, as they smugly declared that "burping" was not on the list of rules.

At least they are learning early how bossy women can be.

Happy, Happy Birthday

Well actually, Madison turned nine last week. However; I have never been one to be on time.

My Dearest Madison,

As I sat down to write about your 8th year, one word kept coming to mind. Blossom. Blossomed. Blossoming. Well, technically those are three words, but you get the idea.

You have blossomed so much over this past year.

When you were in kindergarten, you received poor marks in music class. Not because you could not carry a tune, but because you were to shy to participate in class.

During our Parent-Teacher Conference, your kindergarten teacher said while you were an excellent student, you were shy to the point that she feared if something was wrong, you would be to bashful to let her know. And that is exactly what ended up happening. On the last day of school, you broke your finger during a relay race. But, you did not tell anyone. Instead, you suffered silently until you saw a close friend of the family that happened to be volunteering at school that day.

While you were in First Grade, your baby brother was born 1000 miles away from home under circumstances that were stressful for our entire family. Soon thereafter, I contacted your teacher to see how you were coping with things at school. Your teacher was not even aware, nor was any of your friends at school, that you had just become a big sister.

Fast forward to the 3rd Grade. When Daddy and I arrived at your conference this year, your teacher knew every little detail about your baby brother.

You have blossomed in so many ways….

During your 8th year, you received the Stolion Award.

This past summer, you not only wrote and starred in a play with your friends. But you went door to door selling advance tickets to the play. You then took the proceeds from the ticket sales and bought refreshments to sell during the play, hoping to increase your profit. Quite the business woman already!

Although you have only been in 3rd grade for a couple months, it has been a fantastic year for you so far. You have been honored with a “Raccoon Award” for kindness and responsibility. Your teacher also chose you to receive Student of the Month/Principal’s Luncheon for October. When nominating you, Miss Alexander had this to say about you: “Madison is an ideal role model for her classmates. She is always willing to help a friend or a teacher. She is extremely trustworthy and takes the responsibility to make sure her classmates are doing the right thing. Madison is committed to going above and beyond when completing assignments. Madison has a positive attitude and constant enthusiasm for learning."

You have been elected as mayor of your 3rd grade class. This feat is significant because in order to be considered you had to write and give a speech in front of your whole class.

And perhaps the most telling sign of how you have blossomed this past year. You have been chosen as one of the local winners for the PTA Reflections Program in the category of Dance Choreography. My little girl, who just a couple years ago was too reserved to sing along with her classmates, choreographed and performed a dance in front of her entire class.

To say I am proud of you would be an understatement.

You are compassionate, feisty, imaginative, sensitive, sassy and absolutely spoiled beyond rotten, and you, my dear, are the apple of my eye. You make every day better.

I am honored to call you my daughter. I am not only a lucky mommy, but I am a better person for knowing you. May God continue to watch over and bless you.

All my love,

Mommy