Laughter Is the Best Medicine

Thank you so much for your prayers. You all must have been praying for Jackson. I had an appointment scheduled for him on Monday to see a speech pathologist. Over the weekend, the stutter all but vanished and so I was able to cancel the appointment. Thank you all for praying and praise God! Frankly, I did not fear being a couple with two kids with special needs. It was simply that I did not want to cause Jackson to start stuttering because I did not handle our circumstances well. It may have helped that last week was the most normal week we have had since Jonathan's birth.

Jonathan is doing very well. We go to the cardiologist tomorrow for a check up and to have his staples removed. Some people who have seen us have asked if Jonathan has gotten his staples removed yet. Jamie looks them dead in the eye and says, "Oh, I already took them out with my needle-nosed pliers. It didn't hurt him at all!" You can see this look of horror and incredulity cross their faces until he starts laughing. :) We are definitely on the up and up - we are laughing more and more. That is definitely a good sign. For a while there I thought I may never laugh again and if I did, it would be wrong.

I took Jonathan to the Bell Center today. He did well and I have things to work on with him at home. I asked to weigh him. With just a fresh diaper on, he weighed in at nine pounds, thirteen ounces. I think this may be more than when he went in for surgery! Yeah! He is eating like a champ. For those of you who have breastfed your kids, you probably have no idea how much they consumed at each feeding. Right now I pump and give it to him in a bottle so we can keep tabs on how much he is consuming. Before the surgery, he would max out at around 550 mL or so. He might hit in the 600s every so often. Now he is in the 700s and is inhaling the milk. It is so wonderful to watch and to listen to that noisy snorting as he eats! AAAHH! What a wonderful sound. He eats like he did before but now we know it is staying on his body rather than burning up immediately upon consumption.

Jamie and I were on the phone one day last week. He was with someone who was taking pictures for a project. Jamie wanted the guy to take the pictures differently but the guy was not open to suggestions. As Jamie was telling me this, I interrupted and said, "Is the guy still there?" Jamie said, "Yeah, he's here." I said, "Did he hear what you just told me?" He said, "Yeah, he heard me." Then he said, "Yeah, I'm talking about you! I don't like the pictures you're taking. Why can't you take some from a different angle? I am paying you good money and would like you to take some of my suggestions. I don't care what has worked before!" I started to shrink inside myself and could not believe he was talking like that to anyone. Then I realized that was just it. He would not talk to anyone like that. At least, I hoped he wouldn't. I started to laugh slowly, hoping it was a joke. Jamie got back on the phone and distractedly said, "Honey, I've got to go and take care of this." I still thought, "Surely not. Please don't let this be real" and continued to laugh, hoping he would start laughing, too. He started laughing and said, "Gotcha!" I cannot tell you how good it felt to laugh like we used to - I laughed to myself all day thinking about it. Thank goodness for humor!

I truly believe God will not protect me from harm just because I have been "good." I know He is in control but that all things happen within His plan. Please pray that I find the strength to continue to let go of my dreams and my will and to replace them with what He reveals His dreams and plans to be for me and our family. Pray that we continue to adjust. Pray for our health.

Thank you for your prayers, thoughts, encouragement, and friendship.

Julie
juliewarren@mindspring.com