Release from Darkness

***This post is not for children or teens. It deals with some sensitive topics that I've recently witnessed and want to share with you. Please use discretion in allowing others to read over your shoulder. Thank you.

A couple of weeks ago we walked over to the Providence Mall after church to eat lunch in the food court with our friends A2 & M2. During the walk over the husbands noticed a couple of oddly dressed individuals. I was too busy talking a mile a minute to Amy to notice other people.

But later I noticed. Boy, did I notice!! In order to get back to street level from the mall Amy and I (with Ellie in the stroller) took the elevator. The guys, plus Mia, took the escalator. I've never been so glad my boys weren't with me.

Apparently there was a "le@ther c0nventi0n" going on at the nearby convention center. And by le@ther I'm not talking c0wb0y b00ts or H@rley D. jackets. I'm talking Hello, Jerry Spr*nger!! kind of le@ther!!

As Amy and I waited for the elevator we observed several people. One man was dressed in a le@ther military officer's uniform. Think German WW2 only all le@ther. A woman was dressed, ...well.., think prison guard meets Fredrick's of H0llyw00d. YIKES!! It was bad, but a nervous-laughable kind of bad. And then the elevator doors opened. And I didn't want to laugh any more. I wanted to cry and share the Word.

A relatively normal looking man walked out holding the end of a long chain (at least I think he was normal looking, I didn't really pay much attention to him). The other end of the chain was attached to a le@ther collar around the neck of the woman walking a few paces behind him. When I saw her everything in me screamed and wanted to share truth right then and there. Not just because of the coll@r and chain. It was far worse than that. Her le@ther skirt had buckles as though her legs were bound up. She walked with her hands clasped in front of her as though her wrists were tied (they may have been I'm not really sure). Her entire demeanor was one of subjection and enslavement to the man in front of her.

Even now my heart aches for her and I feel sick to my stomach. On the way home Joel and I discussed the various individuals we had seen. Thankfully my boys were oblivious to what was going on around them. I would have hated to try to explain to Will why the woman was wearing a chain!! But more than that I told Joel I felt sadness for those people.

I mean, if they are willing to go out in public dressed like that, what are they willing to do in private?! And if they are willing to participate in such extreme activities you have to believe it's because they think that lifestyle will fill the void in their hearts. That it will bring them happiness or satisfaction or fulfillment, even if only for a moment.

I know it won't and I know the One who can bring satisfaction and joy and fulfillment. His name is Jesus and his love neither humiliates nor enslaves. His love serves and heals. As I observed so many people so obviously bound by their sin and desires this scripture leaped into my mind:

"The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me to bring good news to the afflicted; He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom to captives and release from darkness for the prisoners." Isaiah 61:1-2.

Jesus quotes these verses in Luke 4:18-19. "The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because He has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor."

My prayer is that tall beautiful woman (and others like her) will find the one man, Jesus, who can give her the peace and fulfillment she craves. That she will allow Jesus to set her free from a life of sin and captivity. And then she will experience healing and wholeness in ways she never dreamed were possible.

Little Miss Emily, January Update

*** Email received January 23. If you are unfamiliar with my friends, Mike & Dawn and their baby girl, Emily just click on the "Little Miss Emily" label to read their story.

Hello y'all,

I know that it has been some time since you last heard from me and I'm sorry. There have been many developments in the past month, I don't know where to begin.

Emily is now three months old and we finally have a team of people working for her best interest. We have met with a Physical Therapist, a Nutritionist, and a Speech Therapist. We have a meeting next Tuesday to discuss what her daily routine is going to look like and each one of them have given us something to work on in the mean time.

The major problem Emily has had since she came home from the hospital has been her feeding. We have been struggling with the bureaucracy, trying to get the nutritionist here as soon as possible. We met with her today and we finally have a game plan to help her with her feeding. She agrees with us that the problem is more than the food that she is eating. She has suggested, and we have agreed, that she needs a second opinion about her digestive track. We have changed her food two times in the last week and there has been a difference in her bowel movements, but not in her pain during the feedings. We will be making an appointment to see a specialist sometime this week. This requires a trip to the Cincinnati Children's Hospital in Ohio (about 2 hours away) but if it gets us the help we need, it will be worth it.

For now, the nutritionist has given us a prescription for a feeding pump which will allow us to feed her over a longer period of time. We will be able to put her to bed at 11:00 pm and she will get the equivalent of three feedings through the course of the night, ending at 9:00 am. Because she will be getting the food over a longer time, it will give her body the time it need to digest it at a steady pace instead of getting a stomach full at once. We will also be able to give her less food at the other three feedings, making her stomach less full and thus less irritable.

God willing, we will receive the pump tomorrow and can begin this process tomorrow evening. I can't begin to tell you how excited I am that I won't have to get up at 1:00 to feed her. Most of the time she is more awake for this feeding than I am! Dawn won't even have to get up to do the 5:00 am feeding, so she is excited also.

Things are getting better, albeit very slowly.

Last week we had our three month appointment with the pediatrician. I basically bombarded the doctor with questions. Having seen the Physical Therapist and the Speech Therapist in the mean time, they asked me questions that I could not answer and she was the one who could tell me all the answers.

Emily has a large bump on her head where two of the bones meet and there is a fear that they are not growing together correctly. As with everything else, it may be too early to tell, but if there is something wrong, we need to be proactive about it. So, we can add one more doctor to our long list of doctor appointments. This one is a Plastic Surgeon! She is three months old and is considering plastic surgery. She is going to be one beautiful baby! On a similar note, she has a birth mark on her neck that seems to be getting bigger. It looks like a bruise that keeps on growing. The doctor said that they usually get bigger before they get smaller, but because it is on her neck, it may be interfering with her head movement. This is another case for the plastic surgeon. Since we are already going for the head, we will have him look at this also. Our appointment is on February 21st, so we won't know anything till then.

So...Dawn and I are glad that things seem to be coming together, but as always, only time will tell how things are really going to progress. She still isn't taking any food from a bottle, but we are working on it and by the grace of God, she will gradually improve in this area. One good thing is that because all her food is taken
through the tube, her formula can be paid for by the insurance company. I don't know the reason, but at $7 a day, I will take the savings. As it is, we are getting bills from doctors almost daily. For such a little woman, she sure gets expensive.

I guess that is all for now. I am sure there is something that I forgot, but I have given you plenty to pray for. Our biggest concern now will be meeting with a doctor in Cincinnati and seeing what they can discover about her. Our hope is they can come to some conclusion about what the REAL problem is.

Thank you for all your continued prayers and support. There is no way we can thank you all for the love and prayers that seem to be continually coming our way. God is good and we know that Emily is going to have the best life she can because we are continually being blessed in so many different ways.

All for HIS glory,

Mike
Eph 2:4-7

Playing the Pajama Card

Today finds me in my pajamas after lunch. Again. This is becoming an all too often occurrence. But I really do have good reasons today for playing the pajama card. Let me explain.

Reason #1. The children had finished their breakfasts and were playing downstairs while I finished my breakfast and puttered around trying to muster up motivation to tackle the day. In the middle of my mustering, Ben came upstairs and said, "I pooped." If you have an almost three year-old boy wearing diapers you know those words are seldom followed by a pleasant experience. Especially if the same boy pooped FIVE TIMES yesterday. Yes, I counted. 'Cause I changed all but ONE of those.

So, off we went to his bedroom to clean him up. Keep in mind he still had on his fleece footie pajamas. First, I laid him on his bed (he's WAY to big for the changing table and the bed is much better for my back than the floor), then I tried not to gag as the smell hit me square in the face. Oh, the smell!!!

Next I unzipped his pajamas and pulled out his legs. At this point my thought process went something like this: "My hand is wet. Why is my hand wet? Did his diaper leak again? OH.NO. IT'S POOP. ALL OVER HIS LEG. AND MY HAND. I'M THROWING AWAY THE PAJAMAS." Then reason kicked in, and my frugality. "I can't throw away the pajamas. They're Land's End and cost almost $40. UGH! I've got to clean them out."

Keep in mind I'm a veteran at this. I've got three kids four years old and under. I've been peed on, spit up on and puked on (multiple times and while first trimester pregnant!). I've used my own hand to wipe away snot and to catch vomit. All that for going on five years, and rarely do I gag or get squeamish. But today I was gagging.

I wasn't the only one. You know the smell is bad when the four year-old says, "Can I spray the stuff Daddy uses to make the room smell better?"

After taking a moment to compose myself, I carried Ben down the hall to the bathtub where I proceeded to rinse him off. I'll spare you the remaining details but will say that I ended up using some of my Bath & Body Works shower gel to clean his legs. He still has the faint scent of Velvet Tuberose. Which is fine with me!

After getting Ben cleaned up, dressed and rinsing out his pajamas, I decided to reward myself with another cup of hot tea and read a few blogs. Not long into this reward my cousin called.

Reason #2. I spent an hour on the phone talking to my cousin who lives in Kansas. Let me explain further. Cassie had her third daughter right after Christmas. She's home on maternity leave with a one month-old and a just-turned three year-old. Going back to work was looking really good to her today!

Reason #3. After getting off the phone I realized it was lunch time.

Reason #4. My mom called as the kids were finishing up lunch. Half-an-hour later we hung up. That was a short conversation for us.

Reason #5. I had to put the kids down for their naps and eat my lunch.

Reason #6. I'm writing this post, during which Ben has gotten out of bed 3 times and Will has woken up from his nap which means I'm interrupted every other sentence.

I'm sure if I waited long enough I could justify staying in my pajamas all day. But since I wrote about encouraging our husbands yesterday I probably should wrap this post up, go shower, wash the dishes, wash some laundry and cook supper. (sigh..) Staying in my pajamas sure sounds like the better idea.