For those interested in the progress of this pregnancy, we are now into the 2nd trimester and all is well. My energy level has risen, thankfully and I anticipate that in the next week or so, the other members of my family will get to feel the activities of our newest member! This Wednesday, we'll have the 20 week ultrasound which hopefully will tell us the gender of the baby. I have pink paint on my shopping list in hopes but those hopes aren't super high as I am trying to stay grounded in reality. If you see me this week past Wed. and my feet are floating somewhere off the ground, then you can be assured it's a girl, if I'm happy and a bit shocked, well then the news was a third boy and I'm preparing mentally for being completely outnumbered in our house (a husband, 3 sons, a boy fish and a male dog to boot!). Everyone says if we have three boys, the teenage years will likely be much easier on us. I'm just not sure I'll survive the toddler years! We'll let you all know!
I really try to not pass on forwards, etc, but this prayer request hit so close to home as the situation that this family in Indonesia is experiencing is so similar to our experience in Indonesia with Jack. Would you please mention this request to the Lord?
Joel
Dear Prayer Partners,
I am writing to ask you to please be praying for an 11 year old boy named Joseph, the son of co-workers. For several months now he has been battling some type of illness: bruising, fever, nausea, etc. A couple months ago he saw some Drs in Jakarta but nothing was determined. He and his mother have been back in Jakarta since this past Monday, to see the Drs again. They had hoped to be able to come home by Wednesday. However, I just talked to the mother by phone – they will be in Jakarta indefinitely until they can get some answers.
It has been narrowed down to 2 possibilities, both of which are not good.
One, he could have something from a new type of parasite that is only found in this area of the world. Treatment for this is virtually unknown at this point, since it is such a rare and new thing.
Or, he could have a form of leukemia (I’m sorry I’ve forgotten what she called it). The white blood cells are there in the blood, but they just aren’t doing their job.
Right now they are sending stool samples to the University Hospital in Jakarta. They will need at least 3 days of “negative” stools to determine that it is not the parasite. If it is the parasite, they will need to stay in Jakarta for treatment. However, if it is not the parasite, they will need to return to the States.
Please join with me in intercessory prayer for Joseph and his family (he has 5 siblings). (They are also hurting financially because of all of the medical/travel bills incurred with this.) Pray for wisdom for the Drs as they continue to try to figure this out, and wisdom for Ken and BJ as they make decisions on Joe’s behalf. My prayer is that the Great Physician will reach down and touch Joe’s body, and that His name will be glorified in this situation!
This was tonight's dinner. We made a big chicken/bacon ranch pizza and four small individual pizza's custom order for the boys. My mom, Lynn/Noni is here as are my 2 nephews, McGwire and Kael. We've had a great week together and we are so glad they came. Anyone want to join us? :)
We celebrated Owen's 2nd birthday today. My best friend, Jolene, her mom and daughter, and my mom all came up for the weekend! We've had a great time together and even got a trip to IKEA in yesterday!! The boys have loved having Kallie here and will be sad to see her go. THanks for a great weekend, Noni, Grandma Alice, Jolene, and Kallie. We love you!
Owen is getting so big so fast. Joel snapped this photo of him last week and as I just uploaded to the computer, I was amazed at how big he is getting. He's beginning to speak in sentences and is learning how to make faces that crack us up! If you ask him to make a cross face, he scrunches up his nose and furrows his brow into the most cross face you've ever seen! Where does the time go?
This was the first time we have done an egg hunt with Jack. After church, we had lunch with and spent the afternoon with our surrogate family here in Michigan, Richard and Joyce Eide and Rebecca and Tom Bertram and Anna and Noah. It was a perfect day with a perfect meal and well, they're not perfect but they're wonderful friends :)! After lunch, we hid the eggs and Jack had a splendid time finding them hidden all over the Eide farm. I wish you could have been there to see his face as he found each one. It was so much fun! The candy has all been confiscated and will be doled out little by little, much to his dismay! We had a wonderful day! Oh, and Owen slept through it all -maybe next year!
It was a lovely spring day here in Michigan for Easter. We are so thankful to be here and for the things God is doing in our lives and through our lives. It is all because of His resurrection that we have any hope or power to live this life. It amazes us every day that God has given us His Son and that the power that raised Christ from the dead is the same power we have to live in Him. That's some power!
I not only had the honor of hosting Carol's bridal shower and making her cake, but I also get to organize the decorating of her wedding reception. Carol is an amazing gal who has a wonderful future ahead of her. I have so enjoyed getting to know her and I look forward to her special day. Congratulations Carol! 65 Days and Counting!!! P.S. THe girls in the photo above are writing Carol little notes which she will get to read before her wedding, on her honeymoon and at her 1 year anniversary. Rachel, that was a great idea!
I hosted a bridal shower for one of the students this past Monday. I also agreed to make the cake. I love making cakes and thought it would be fun to try doing fondant this time, the first time. So, while we were in Indiana, we had a little get together with some old friends and it provided a perfect opportunity for me to make a practice cake. I think it came out pretty good. It wasn't without it's challenges and I ended up making a different kind of fondant for the shower cake but for my first time, I was pretty pleased!
We had a couple of opportunities to go for a walk while we were in the Village. We saw some amazing views of the flooding that has overwhelmed the little village. The lake is in many people's backyards, literally, closing off several streets. Although it is sad for many people whose homes will likely have damage, it provided for some amazing pictures and sights for us.
Joel and I were able to take a short weekend trip to Indiana to visit Joel's brother and his lovely wife. The boys stayed home with Owen's teacher Emily and had a great time! We also had a great time :). Going out to dinner, a double date, no kids, at a really nice restaurant and being treated to a most amazing dinner, well, I can't imagine it getting better than that! Jon and Christine live in Winona Lake, former home of Billy Sunday, current home of Grace College and location of a restaurant we would love to recommned to you! If you are ever in that area, check out Cerulean. It's in the Village at Winona Lake and it's amazing! Thanks Jon and Christine for a relaxing, enjoyable weekend. We were refreshed and recharged for a busy week!
We celebrated another girl in our dorm a few weeks ago. Rachel is a senior this semester which means we only have a few more months with her before she graduates. Rachel, we love you and are proud of who you are and what God is molding you into. OH and yes, her real last name is POTTER! Ironic, eh?
Today we had Jack's birthday party! His birthday was actually last Friday - a week ago, but Mommy was gone for the weekend and so the party was today instead.
The theme was fish... a fish cake, fish on the table, fish crackers, fish bowls and plates and well, keep reading and looking!!
We invited a few friends over and had a great time!
This year was really the first year for Jack to "know" what was happening with V day and what it was all about. He had a party at school where they exchanged paper valentines and they had a special party. I made each of his teachers a valentine too and he hand delivered them with a shy smile! Then on Saturday morning, we had a special breakfast together (and our friend David was also with us from North Carolina). The boys each got a Valentines bag and a special gift!. They had so much fun and Owen just couldn't resist eating everything right then and there. I'm sure by naptime, the sugar rush had worn off and he crashed!
It's hard to believe this is really our 7th valentines day together. The first was very memorable as we had been engaged for a little over a month, were flat broke but totally and completely in love! I made Joel mint truffles and a homemade card and he made me a bouquet of sharpened pencils (You've Got Mail fans know exactly what that is!). It was perfect. Many things in life have changed in 7 Valentine's Days but one has stayed the same and has even deepend and that's our love for each other. We've had a few less than ideal Valentine's Days. Last year for instance, we were enroute back to the US, AGAIN and pretty much feeling a bit less than hopeful. We skipped Valentines Day that year but I'm happy to say, we've made up for it this year.
We switch off each year as to who does the planning and the gift giving. Whoever has V Day, the other has our anniversary and then it switches the next year. This year Joel did V Day. We just had a yummy dinner (a spring salad, pesto and chicken fettuncini, bread and dessert has yet to be served), and then Joel presented me with my gift. And yes, he made it himself! Drool ladies, drool, he's all mine!! Husbands, you could learn something from this man, he's more romantic than I am. I am thankful for the almost 6 years of marriage we've had together and I'm hopeful the next six will be even better!
Have you wondered as you check back day after day to this blog,"where did the Potters go?" Sorry for the silence! Let me introduce you to our new housemates, the Michigan winter BUGS!
Hmmm? You don't know them, well count yourselves blessed! Beginning last Sunday, yes a full week ago, Jack, Owen and Bethany welcomed these very friendly bugs into our home, and our bodies! A full 7 days later (all of which were spent at home, no work, no school, and very little activity) and Owen is mostly back to good health but Jack seems to be welcoming the bugs into his chest, ie. a nasty croupy cough. I, Bethany may be coming out of it, but the jury is still out.
Poor Joel has been holding down his full time work at the school as well as covering the early morning shift and naptime, allowing me to catch some extra sleep.
So we'd love to have fun, interesting things to share with you about the many interactions with the students here but we had to cancel every single one this week. Perhaps we'll have better success next week. Oh, how I'm looking forward to seeing something other than the four inside walls of our house.
Jack, representing Owen and I and the positions we've held all week
The view from the sick bed - thank goodness for kids videos!
Wednesday, January 21, 2009
We'd like to introduce you to our new Daughters!! From Left to Right: Bridgette (Michigan), Grace (California), Rachel (Michigan), and Anna (Michigan) Here at the Bible School, each dorm is adopted by a staff family for the year and this year we have the privilege of being dorm parents to four great gals. Bethany thinks it's about time she had some girls around! We look forward to getting to know them each better and hopefully having a positive impact in their lives on a more personal level.
My wonderful husband gave me a wonderful Christmas gift this year! He sent me to see my family in Missouri - all by myself - for almost a week! I arrived in Springfield on Saturday morning and got to see my brother, Jeremy, his fiance' Shannon (congratulations you two!) and his two boys McGwire and Kael. We had a great time together and enjoyed watching old videos from when the boys were little! I also was able to go to services at our home/sending church and it was so nice to catch up with our friends here, surprising many, as we didn't tell but three people I was coming!
Today, Mom and I had a lazy morning at home (I slept till 9!) and then spent the afternoon at the mall. We didn't get much but it was just nice to be able to go from store to store without hearing, "Mommy, can we go now? Mommy, I'm tired. Mommy, I'm hungry!" Just to brag on what a great husband I have, he even secretly saved up money for the last few months so that I could have a bit of fun too! I'm still amazed that I am so blessed to have him as my husband!
Today, Mom and I also got photos taken together. We had the photo studio to ourselves and had such fun! You can see the end results here and I think they came out really well.
Thanks Mom for a great day and for letting me invade the house, yet again! I love you!
And Joel, you truly are the best thing, after Christ, to ever happen to me! I love you!
