Home from Oahu and greeted Nikki and her friend Debbie
who were staying here. This was the first time meeting Debbie
and she was experiencing strong vertigo. We were sad that
her time was so marked by sickness.
Homeschooling presentations, always looking
for an audience so we snagged our house guests.
Just want one of these stuff board showers!
I love these kind of notes!
Love having Nikki with us! A good old friend!
The Ferguson's stayed the night with us the day
before they left. SO we had a crew downstairs!
Aloha Ferguson's! You will be missed!
Aloha to this speech teacher through Imua Services for Cambria, she will start
speech through the elementary school in the fall.
And then this....Dev had been sick for about a week
but Deveraux often takes colds prey hard. She wasn't
recovering and so Drew decided to take her to
the doctor as he was going to the other side.
I went to the ocean with our guests and Bobo.
I got a call that Deveraux was in the hospital.
They had checked her oxygen levels and they were so
low and they brought her into the ER. Once I
got to the hospital, we ended up staying for about 7 hours
and we were uncertain if we would have to travel
to Oahu, but her numbers got better and she was
transfered to a room. thank you Lord!
Our Starbucks run on the way to the hospital, just stuck by the view.
Making lemonade out of lemons!
Reading "All of a Kind Family."
Getting up and walking as well as thumping Deveraux
on the back were all good as she had a collapsed lung
from being sit and therefore being sedentary.
Our view.
Bringing goodies.
Just hanging. Then Drew would take the kids out
for awhile and I would stay with Dev. Then everyone
would come back and Drew would stay the night.
Drew and I make a good team!
Fluids and chapstick!
Just feeling thankful this hospital room.
So much of life is just learning to respond well to the things
that come your way. We have such little control
except for how we choose to live in the moments.
Aunt Heather is here!
And she brought gifts for our girl which is so
good because we haven't had time to think about
gifts!
But we can get cake pops!
Happy Birthday Cambria!
Off to the hospital we go!
Cheers!
Teaching how to play checkers.
"Happy Birthday Cambria" from Bobo
on Deveraux's chart.
Having Lou is special!
She's up and showing signs that she is better!
We are so thankful to be leaving! The doctor came
in on this morning and was thinking she wasn't going
to discharge, but we had a long talk and she decided to
let us leave!! She said she believes Dev is like her,
stoic, and she has to communicate with us when she
starts to feel bad. They said Dev has asthma brought
on by viruses. We have our plan in place for next
time and we are ready to head out!
Learning to say she is three!
They both fell asleep on the way home from the hospital.
The sign us up, lets begin the celebration!
Kimberly came up with the idea for a Pajama
dance party. Cambria loves her pajamas!
So much love for this one!
This was a picture of the borrowed jeep whose breaks went out
on Drew and Bobo down a big hill! This was a
couple days before Dev went into the hospital!
Miraculously, they were without scratch or bruise!
Aloha to Nikki and Debbi...what a trip. Not what we
had in mind for Debbie to be so sick or for the jeep
accident or Dev to end up in the hospital! What a week!
My thoughts at the end of the week...
Healing from pink eye.
Guests home to the mainland after experiencing sicknesses during their stay.
Andrew and Bobo thankfully without bruise or scratch after a fearful accident in a jeep without breaks.
Van is working (it was not on our way to the hospital one morning)
Safety at home while we were not all together as a family.
Our nephew staying for the summer and navigating life with him.
What a summer.
so far.
We have had near misses and new experiences we have not traversed as a family. Our blessings still very much outweigh our burdens. I see many opportunities in the last days for growth and closeness as a family. I see healing and I see saved moments.
And.
I also see we are not always protected and we are susceptible to the pain this world extends and that has been hard for me in these days.
It had been hard for me to get connected to Jesus. To stop long enough. Then when more darkness came my fortress felt weak and unprotected. I began to let fear take up residence and pull up a chair. Fear didn't stay overnight but was willing to keep asking. I realized we are not promised protection from harm. That is hard for me to swallow as a Christ follower. That reality can turn my heart very cynical very quickly. I ask those hard questions like, "Why pray?" "If life is going to come after us and hard things will befall us, why pray?" "If all I have to hope in is how God will use this tragedy, that doesn't feel very hopeful and I don't want to tell that story, that testimony."
I simply want a guarantee. I do. I don't want to fear the intruder that may come at night while my husband is away and I want to believe the healing came for my girl because prayers and not because of time working with medicine and hospital staff.
Tested faith.
Where will I land.
Sometimes, its okay to take a break from asking they why of suffering and fear and simply allow it to be so. But to gain faith from other places. How our friend overheard a dad (Drew) telling his daughter (Dev) an encouraging story from where she lay in her hospital bed because "he is the best comforter in the family" (according to Bobo and I tend to agree).
Feeling distant recently from my daughter a bit as she forges ahead in new "teenage coming" independence and here we had nothing but time as she laid in that hospital bed. We found hair braiding, card playing, book reading, and back rubbing. Closeness.
Car rides to and from with a boy I love so much but don't always feel we have enough time. We had captive audience with one another. And the VBS camp song about Joy was on repeat as we drove helping to make our hearts a bit lighter.
A husband where we have learned each others rhythms, strengths, and the ability to move in new spaces with familiarity because we belong together.
Celebrating birthdays in a different way, not having to be perfect and planned, but salvaging the day and pressing on as we click click click down the hospital hallway in our new 3 year old high heeled shoes from a loved Aunt.
A hospital room that offers a singular focus. Just tend. Just be. What matters gets small and focused and that feels really good sometimes.
Maybe this is God.
And this is how He speaks to me right now as I write. And some of the wall lessens.
