A must see

My grandma sent me this sermon that one of her pastors at her church taught. I watched it once by myself and then I watched it again with Jason and both times I couldn't get through it without tears coming down. Not only is it an amazing story of someone deciding to give another person life by becoming a donor it also paints the beautiful picture of what Christ really did for us at the cross. I strongly encourage you to take the time and watch this and be reminded of the sacrifice Christ made for you. Of course, this sermon touched me deeply because it was a story of someone giving others a second chance at life through a transplant but it has a message for everyone to hear. I would love to hear your thoughts (through e-mail or click the comments located at the bottom of this post) from who ever is able to watch this video. You will be blessed!

http://www.cornerstonechandler.com/
If this opens, select media and click on it
Look for the identity series and click on launch media player
Look for Salvation and click on sermon.
The sermon should start and the bottom of the screen has the controls for the media player

Home

Just wanted to let you all know we got home today about 2 this afternoon, Praise the Lord! The doctors were very gracious to work with me and let me come home and finish my meds at home. Although it is nice for a change to have other people do all the medical things for you (bring pills, do IVs, start breathing treatments) it is hard to be away from my baby. I think Faith was a little upset with me for leaving her this week because she gave me the cold shoulder when I got home (made me feel really great) but by the evening everything was normal again. =) We got to do our normal bed time routine and that made us both happy!

I will continue IVs for a while though. I feel tired and still have some pain (thankfully not as bad as Sunday) but that should get better as the medicine fights the infection down. Thanks for praying!
Here are some things Faith has been up too.....

Hanging upside down

I think I've mentioned how much Faith loves to put things around her neck (scary) but here she figured out that her head bands look much better around her neck then on her head. She looks like one of those woman in Africa with those rings around her neck. =)

All I have to say about this is at least it is a clean diaper!

Update

After a CT scan we found out that my lung has not collapsed but that it is probably an infection that is causing the shortness of breath and pain. I'm thankful to not be facing a chest tube at this time. I am on IV's right now but we have to wait till the cultures come back to show if they are sensitive to the infection or if I need to change meds. Besides the pain the week has gone pretty well and although I'm getting antsy to go home I'm not going to bring it up to the doctors until we get the cultures back. =)

Callie and Faith have been visitng everyday (Cal, is so sweet to drive back & forth) which I look forward too. I think it is confusing at times for Faith that Jason and I are not at home all the time but I know Cal is taking good care of her. Faith seems excited to sit on my lap in the bed though.......or maybe it's just because she gets to watch home movies of herself on the laptop. (See older post) It's hard to entertain a toddler in a very small room and try to keep her germ free.
Thanks for your prayers and for leaving comments and sending e-mails. It always brightens my day!

In the hospital

We were able to get away this last weekend to Atlanta to visit some friends, which was a really nice time. I haven't been able to go on a trip since July so I was very excited to get away and of course it is always great to see friends! However, the night that we came home I started having more pain in my chest and back (which is usually the sign I have an infection or my lung has collapsed) and by the next day it was pretty bad. So, we are in the hospital at UAB (my favorite place). I'm trying to have a more positive outlook then I did last time. For those of you who remember last time I had to spend a week in the hospital at UAB, it was a horrible, draining time. I'm thankful Callie is still here so she can take care of Faith. They will be coming down so we can spend time together.
We are praying the doctors will have wisdom on how to best treat me and then hopefully go home on IVs soon. We'll keep you updated on how the week goes......

I Love Myself

I think obsessed would best describe Faith's constant need to watch her self on the Tv, computer, cell phone, & camera. Don't get me wrong I would want to watch myself too if I was that cute. =) Even though we limit her to how much she "watches" of herself that does not detour her from trying to find where we have hidden the lap top. I think we forget she is getting older and now remembers where something use to be. She is quick to look at the places that we use to hide the lap top. When we would hear her coming through the hall we would quickly hide it under the covers, under the bed, under a pillow or in a drawer. However, she is way to smart for those hiding places now and so our level of hiding has had to go up a notch.

We have also quickly realized Faith is growing up in a very different era then we did. Her ability to understand technology and how it works is scary and yet amazing. I guess given the world we live in with technology changing every moment she will be learning things about computers etc. faster then we do now. To sum all this up Jason and I had a conversation that went something like this-

Faith was watching a video of herself on the computer and as soon as it ended she leans forward toward the computer with her finger about to push a button and Jason jumps up and says,"No, Faith, don't push buttons." I call from the other room, "It's OK, she knows which one to push to turn it back on." I guess I failed to mention to Jay, that our 17 month (at the time) knew how to keep her favorite show going.......home movies of herself. =)

Thank You

Just wanted to say thank you for your prayers for Tricia and give you a quick update. She made it through the surgery even though the surgeons said it was a difficult one due to the extent of her disease. From what I gather she is off the vent which is a huge blessing since she has been on it since January 8. They got her up and walking to her chair (amazing since it's not even been 24 hrs. since the surgery) and sitting up. They are trying to keep her pain down which I can only imagine but other then that I think the first day has been ok. This is a true miracle for this amazing woman and her sweet family and my heart has been rejoicing for them. I hope you continue to follow their story and keep praying for them as this is just the beginning of a new journey.

Also, I just wanted to ask for prayers for myself. I have had some rough couple of days (emotionally) and I have been letting the what-ifs of life cloud my mind. If I don't keep my focus on the Lord and all the blessings I have been given it is easy to start a pity party. The verse that seems to keep coming to mind is- 2 Cor. 4:8-9, "We have troubles all around us, but we are not defeated. We do not know what to do, but we do not give up the hope of living. We are persecuted. but God does not leave us. We are hurt sometimes, but we are not destroyed." I appreciate your prayers.....

Asking for your prayers

I have been following the story of a family (through their blog) who shares a lot of the same experiences as we do. Tricia, has CF as well and by God's amazing hand she too was able to have a child. She has had a very difficult road as the doctors had to take the baby early (the baby, Gwyneth, was 1 1/2 pounds) and Tricia was put on a vent then and has not be able to come off of it since the birth of their daughter (3 months ago). Her husband, Nate, has been blogging about their story and I feel very connected to them even though I have never met them. Praise the Lord, little Gwyneth is doing well and gaining weight. I ask for your prayers for them as they have just taken Tricia in the OR for her surgery to receive "new" lungs. It was a miracle she was able to get on the list since she was on the vent (they usually don't allow that) but she has been on the list a little over a month I believe and this is her second call. I can only imagine how difficult these past 3 months have been for them as they have lived at the hospital and both mom and baby have fought to stay well. Please, pray for them during this exciting, scary time. I know they would greatly appreciate it! Here is they blog address if you would like to visit it- http://www.cfhusband.blogspot.com/. Thanks for your prayers!!!