Anna's Home

 

 

Dear prayer warriors,

I ran into an overwhelming amount of things to do and a double dose of fatigue once we got home. But we are home!! Simon and I pulled out the Slip and Slide what fun we had as Anna and Renee watched on. I stepped on a wasp and got stung on the foot, it was worth it! Thank you for sharing our burdens and helping us lay them down before the Lord.

While in the hospital there were so many distractions removed, my focus was so specific: seek God and pray for Anna. Anna's long napping allowed for some prayer updates. I know I pushed the limits of our email relationship:) thank you for reading and praying. The power of prayer is awesome. Yesterday, I received a reply that struck me from one of our prayer warriors. It read:

 

 "Except for the negative of poor health for Anna, the time you spent with her consoling, encouraging, and loving her must be treasures in your heart." So true, only God can do that, He turns bad into good. Perhaps this is what that famous pastor means when he said: "don't waste your suffering".

We learned that we can walk away from a hospital stay feeling like church just got out. I spoke with Lindsey about it a little, we noted that God's grace visited us, drawing us to Him. Our hearts and mind toward our Savior. This makes me think that God answered this prayer request I asked just before the trial started:

- increased time with Jesus. Lindsey and I both feel our prayer life is estranged from more fervent times of devotion. Joining the church has helped. Thankfully we started up BSF and CBS this week. “Just a closer walk with Thee, grant it Jesus it’s my plea”

 

Please Pray For:

-Anna to strengthen and rid herself of the infection completely, that no fevers or illness would complicate her recovery

-Lindsey and I to communicate well, the fatigue has challenged my character today, we do have a date on the calendar though!!

-Renee to sleep better at night, she is getting more teeth in. up like 5 times at night

-my return to work to be met with God's grace, my company rolled out a new paid leave when immediate family is sick perhaps my absence will qualify for this new benefit. but also that a supernatural amount of freight got worked in my absence!

Humbly thankful for Jesus and His grace through this storm.

The Currats

Mercy Showcased

Prayer warriors, 

Praise the Lord who returns the joy in Anna’s personality after it was subdued by illness. Saturday night we entered this place pale and limp, disconnected from all that was going on. Her sicknesses can overwhelm her sweet personality for a while, but God’s grace is showing itself strong in the return of the kooky-coos, harmonic-hums, and squeaky squeals. Anna and I shared a sweet time of singing to the Lord together. She was singing in her language and me in English. It was a grace-filled moment last night amid the storm.  Her smiles are breaking through and even the nurses are delighted. 

Other than that moment of worship, Last evening was rough with still much excessive mucus coming up needing to be managed out. Thankfully we have all we need at home to manage that. So optimistically we seem to have one foot out the door this morning although no signal yet from the medical staff. Her bowel cleanse is almost complete.  The fever has left for more than 30 hours now. She had a good nights sleep.  We switched to an oral antibiotic. 

The only complication was that her IV got dislodged from her vein and remained under her skin. It was caught in time before lasting damage could incur. Her fingers and wrist seem to be working great.  But her left forearm arm is 3 centimeters larger than the other one. It looks like a water balloon. So we are waiting for her forearm to return to a normal size. Pray that her body would absorb the excess. We are thankful for the nurse’s vigilance to catch it as soon as possible because I was busy sleeping in. 

In other news, Lord has answered our prayers; remember the neurosurgeon’s office that we called five times to set up an appointment and they did not even return our phone calls weeks ago? Well that neurosurgeon showed up in our hospital room to adjust Anna’s shunt and assess whether or not the infection was impacting the shunt. So now we established care, have an upcoming office visit, and received an apology. 

God is working. I am encouraged by the display of Christ’s unity that my BSF men’s group is showing my family in concern and prayer. We are united in Christ! I literally met them all once for like a hour, and they are believing God for Anna’s healing with us. I told them via group text last night that  “It comforts us to see the show of mercy from saints crying out to God on Anna’s behalf.” That truth is actual for years now, true of every enlisted Anna prayer warrior! thank you!!!

Lastly we joined a large church and had yet to develop relationships therein and by God’s grace they sent a pastor/elder over to pray with us, anoint Anna with oil, and fellowship with us! 

With love, 

Nic, Lindsey, Anna, Simon, and Renee

A mighty Fortress is our God

Good Morning prayer Warriors, 

The fever persisted all day, much suctioning and repositioning. We were limited to cold compresses and Tylenol, it was a long afternoon and evening.  Lindsey, Simon, and Renee came to bring meals and keep us company. Lindsey is so good with the medical lingo, she is excellent at knowing Anna’s needs and what our options are; often the medical team needs to make second rounds on us because I didn’t ask some key questions. Thank goodness Lindsey is on the case!

 I snuck out by myself to be with the Lord for a little while; I took a slow walk around the medical campus on a beautiful Colorado night. It’s those moments that allow for my heart to come to grips and be in check with all that’s going on, there is usually some productive tears to find greater surrender to God, my dependence on Him becomes so tangible in moments like that. The Spirit always lays on me that the appropriate time to work on heart matters is now, and once I go back up stairs it’s time to lead with faith, and care for the needs of the family. That sentiment always encourages me onward in the Lord during these storms. The Lord calls me to be emotionally available to my wife and kids, for me that can be a real challenge. 

We initiated a bowel flush which is still ongoing double diapers and all. the doctors suspect that the persistent bowel backup Anna has can press against her  urine track and cause urine to build up in the bladder leading to the urinary track infection. Pray that we would find a more permanent solution to Anna’s constipation problems. 

We took labs right at bed time to see if the kidneys were still working overtime and irritated.  Praise God, the levels of inflammation have decreased and the doctors felt comfortable giving medicine that is filtered through the kidneys to take a more aggressive stand against the fever. All night Anna has been without fever. Add to that, the saliva reducer kicked in, she slept rather well. The bacteria culture that is growing in Anna's urine has been identified so the antibiotic is especially tailored for attacking it.  we are in the right direction. 

Please pray that the infection and fever would continue to be cast out of Anna. That her shunt would be protected from infection. Pray for my relationship with the day nurses as we have had some miscommunications. For wisdom in the care plan and treatment of Anna’s condition. we are hoping for a Tuesday discharge should the fever stay away. Thank you for walking with us in prayer believing that God has good in store for Anna. 

God is so very good and we are in the refuge of His wing.

the Currats 

"Child of weakness, watch and pray"

Dear Prayer Warriors, 

I wish I had some deep nugget of Truth that the Lord revealed and impressed upon me to share with you to encourage you along in the faith, but really we are in need of prayer. Anna is not doing well. In my nervousness I have been identifying with that lyric:

"I hear the savior say
Thy strength indeed is small
Child of weakness, watch and pray
Find in me thine all in all.

'Cause Jesus paid it all
All to Him I owe
Sin had left a crimson stain
He washed it white as snow

child of weakness watch and pray find in Me thine all in all."

As I write, Simon is next to me laying track on his 200-piece train set, and Renee is busy tasting the tracks. Anna and Lindsey are taking naps. It’s a quiet afternoon. We are coming out of a week of family-shared viral illness.  Anna has been progressing through it and she’s the last one with lingering complications. Actually she is still running a fever of 102 and spitting large mucus balls for nearly a day. I think her symptoms are flu-like. She certainly is getting sicker than what we were. We have her on oxygen, we are suctioning and repositioning her.  Pray for God’s grace to steer us clear from this illness; That Anna’s fever would go down and her o2 level up.

Join me in praising and thanking God for our new beginning out here in Colorado Springs. He is working and His plan for us is unfolding. Even though we were excited at moving we remained unsure what exactly God is up to. As we grow in this new place and wait for Anna to feel better, I think it’s a great choice to celebrate answers to prayer.

I remember asking for prayer for a new home church, this was tricky because we needed a fellowship that met on Saturday or Sunday nights because of my work schedule. The Lord provided Calvary Worship Center, where we have been seeking God in community prayer meetings, and celebrating the diversity of Christ’s body with the blessing of a multi-racial congregation. We prayed for a new night nurse, and God made a way for that. These two pieces of our family the Lord has provided, and how much better we are now thanks to them! God knows our needs. In other answers to prayer we finally got a doctor’s prescription for a new stander. So hopefully we will get it in time for Christmas. Anna is continuing to do great with bolus stomach feeds. We are now giving her more muscular stimulation around her mouth, and mini tastes of foods. May the Lord increase her abilities.

We miss our family, dear friends, and how well resourced we were in Littleton. It took moving to realize that our case manager was exceptional. Out here we have yet to receive services for Anna’s specific waiver these things would include respite, home care, music therapy, home modifications, and massage therapy. Please pray for God’s favor in activating these things. 

God is looking into all these things for us!

Please pray for:

-full healing for Anna from this illness and the brain damage. She is not currently hospitalized but we are ready should anything deteriorate.

-the right therapists and companies to help us. We are looking to switch our PT. 

-the only pediatric neurosurgeon in Colorado Springs to return our calls and take Anna on as a patient. The new Children’s hospital has a neurosurgery clinic but nobody who can reprogram Anna’s shunt valve after she gets an MRI. So we need this guy to partner with us.

-our case manager with Medicaid is a new hire and just moved to Colorado Springs. Pray that she would be our advocate and become familiar with Anna’s waiver, the companies who service our area, and especially that she would have compassion for Anna. We are meeting with her again this coming week.

- increased time with Jesus. Lindsey and I both feel our prayer life is estranged from more fervent times of devotion. Joining the church has helped. Thankfully we started up BSF and CBS this week. “Just a closer walk with Thee, grant it Jesus it’s my plea”

-us to find ways to serve our new church to the glory of God according to His gifting and equipping.

The Lord Bless you richly for these selfless prayers.

The Currats