Third Cast

Yesterday Matt and I consulted with two doctors from out of town to get their take on how we should proceed with Joel. We had been praying for clear direction and we got it. Both those doctors felt it would be best for us to go ahead with the planned recast here in town this morning. So we did. Joel is getting pretty suspicious of anyone in a blue coat, but all in all he did quite well. The anesthesiologist decided to put Joel under a general, so his recovery time was a bit longer this time. After the doctor told us the reduction had gone well, we headed up to the pediatric floor to wait for Joel. However, Joel was so upset in recovery, that they came and got us to be with him down there. I don't know who was more relieved to see us--Joel or the old man trying to recover right next him. After we got Joel back up to peds, he snuggled up to me and we took a snooze together. He woke up, ate some jell-o, drank a lot and then we signed the release papers so we could leave. We picked up the other kids at Grandma Dianne's. Grandpa Bob had spent the early morning hours with the kids at our house, then he took them to Miss Cami's, then Grandma Dianne picked them up there. Needless to say, the kids are a bit on edge with all that's been going on, just as we have been. Hopefully things will settle into a routine now. We requested that Joel be x-rayed on Friday as well as next Tuesday. We'd like to know a bit sooner if the bone slips out of place this time.

Matt's sister Lori made us dinner for tonight. We're going to let the kids eat it while Grandma Dianne and Grandpa Bob watch them so Matt and Joel and I can have a date night. We're thankful to have relatives living so close. They've all been a huge support to us.

Last night, as I lay in bed with sleeping little Joel, I cried out to the Lord on his behalf. No parent wants to see their child suffer. The Lord impressed up me a very deep truth--I was only experiencing a very small taste of what He suffered as He saw His only Son die on the cross. I know this sounds shallow, but I'd always focused on how much Jesus suffered on the cross in being separated from His Father. Jesus willingly died for me, a poor and wretched sinner. "The reason my Father loves me is that I lay down my life--only to take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down and authority to take it up again." (John 10:17-18) The flip side of the coin is, "God so loved the world, that He gave His only Son, that whosoever believes in Him should not perish, but have eternal life." (John 3:16). What kind of love is that? Unfathomable-- a mystery, one I will never fully understand this side of Heaven. Thanks be to God, that although I am chief among sinners, I have been redeemed by a loving Heavenly Father, who gave His only Son to die for me and that by the drawing of the Holy Spirit, I have come to know this love, even though I can't possibly understand the depth and breadth of it. I am so happy that I am His and He is mine. What's six weeks in a cast in view of all of this?