Friday, June 12

Hope you have had a good week. The weather here has been pretty nice. Steve has kept busy with the yard and with some work. His roofing business has done fairly well this week. Some friends, neighbors, and church family have been kind enough to give him some jobs. This has really been good for him physically and mentally. (Although he has lost 4 pounds this week - he is pushing himself a little too hard I think.) Thank you and may God bless you for helping him out in this area!

Good news about our friends the Mikkelson's. Emily's surgery was not as serious as they originally thought it would be (she will need the more serious surgery in about 3 or 4 years). Her operation was successful and she has already been released from the hospital! Praise God. She is already feeling better than she has in quite awhile. Such a sweet, brave young girl (only 12 years old!). Continue to pray for her recovery.

Becca left today for a church beach retreat. She was soooo excited - her first time to get to go on this annual trip. Of course my last words to her were, "I love you! Make good choices." The mother in me comes out : ) She laughed and gave me a big hug! She is a good girl (and so patient with me - ha) I pray she will have a good time. She deserves some time away from this crazy household!

Steve and I hope to see the speech pathologist some time next week. She seemed very optimistic about being able to help Steve. She said she would start by doing a swallowing study. I have had a similar test before when dealing with my stomach issues. I reminded her that he cannot even swallow his saliva and she mentioned that she would need to meet and evaluate him first then and decide from there the next step. We are hopeful that she will have some good ideas and advice for us. We are just waiting for her assistant to call and give us an appointment right now.

I have decided that the insurance companies are out to test my patience! After sending in a second appeal (marked "urgent" as instructed by one of their agents) for Steve's formula, they still have not made a decision. They are also balking about paying for some of Steve's surgery. Both Dr. Grist and Dr. Roser are trying to help us with these issues. Then last week I started having to deal with my dental insurance about Alli's braces and my teeth cleaning! Ugh! If you don't laugh about it, you cry - right??

Each time we start to feel sorry for ourselves, we are reminded how fortunate we are. For example, at the dentist's office we met a 2 year old little girl who is blind and has cancer! Can you imagine? I was talking to a cashier at Wal-Mart who has a son with major medical needs and another child with downs syndrome. She was telling everyone "God is good!" My devotion today said to thank God for each problem you encounter in your day and watch to see how he transforms trials into blessings. Amen to that!