The Refuge

Going to Help in Haiti

2010-01-19T18:54:00.006-06:00

I am leaving on Sunday, January 24 to go to Haiti to help earthquake victims. If you would like to donate toward this cause, please click on my PayPal link in the right sidebar. Our team has already purchased a $2000 water purifier to leave with the Haitian citizens, and I will be taking a suitcase of clothes and whatever money I receive directly to Port-au-Prince. This is a great avenue to not just provide for immediate supplies, but to give emotional support and hands-on help to those in need.

I hope to be able to write a bit about what happens when we are there, though I don’t know if I’ll be able to contact the outside world until I return. If so, I’ll post something, but if not, I’ll do it when I return. Please keep Amy and the kids in your prayers as well during my time away. It won’t be easy, but it will be good.

Thank you ahead of time.

Olivia’s Update: 2 August 2009

2009-08-02T13:50:00.002-05:00

As of last night, Olivia is in the PICU again with excess fluid around her heart and lungs. The medical staff is trying to get that fluid out of her body by medication instead of drawing it out with a needle. So far it is working, but we were told we'd be here for another two or three days as they monitor her.

Thanks for keeping her in prayer!

Olivia is Home!

2009-07-25T15:10:00.003-05:00

Sorry for not posting, but we were able to go home the afternoon/evening of the 21st and it has been maintenance mode since then. Here’s what happened in the meantime.

Olivia’s 12th Day: The day began at 3:30am with lots of people coming and going, full assessments, vitals, meds, the leaking neck IV had to come out, x-rays, projectile vomiting, removing the drainage tubes (very painful), more x-rays, and lots of tears and screaming. But because her drainage has decreased and the tubes are out, she could be going home very soon. Incredible!

Monday Afternoon: After a few rounds of x-rays, they saw a large pocket of air trapped in her chest that needs to be absorbed or dispersed. She’s back on oxygen and an O2 monitor whenever she is in bed. We’ve been trying to keep her moving and walking to deal with the trapped air. Amy is on the way to the hospital with the kids for play/interaction time!

First Evening at Home: At some point in the evening, Olivia was apparently standing between Kayla and the show on TV. Instead of asking her to move, Kayla kicked her in the chest. A long, serious chat ensued.

We returned to the hospital two days after leaving to take the stitches out and get more x-rays. The stitches didn’t hurt coming out and the x-rays show no change: still a pocket of air in her ribcage area, but it is not alarming. Olivia complains of leg pain and sensitivity at times, but she is mostly good. Mornings seem to be the worst because she hasn’t had any pain medicine through the night. At the appointment they said we could take her off the ibuprofen, but she still needs a little something throughout the day. We’re gonna keep her on it.

We have been blessed by such an overwhelming show of support these last few weeks. Thank you to all who have prayed and served us in the hundred practical ways! We are so grateful to see everyone’s heart for our little girl and we appreciate all the prayers. Thank you!

Olivia’s Tenth Day

2009-07-18T15:53:00.003-05:00

Olivia is napping at the moment. Over the past few days we have had many conversations about which labs to draw, if any, and when and how to draw them. The options of a mid line or a PICC line have been discussed at length, but we have found other options that did not involve poking her again, so we have chosen those. Her one and only IV, which is in the left side of her neck, has held up so far. I did notice today that is has come out about one-quarter inch, but it is not leaking so I hope it will still hold for however long we need it. The options are not fun.

Amy has come out every day and played with Olivia a lot. Yesterday they got out of the room and spent the day meandering the hospital. There are lots of lights and colors, a toy train that rides on an overhead track, and large Seuss-ish plastic creatures that hang from the ceiling and slowly turn. These seem to keep her attention pretty well and take her focus off how she feels at the moment. Olivia loved being carted around so much yesterday that she was quite unhappy to be put back into her bed that evening.

Design thought for a children’s hospital: putting fun things just out of reach is a great way to get kids up on their feet and working their bodies in a way they haven’t done for a little while. It’s just enough motivation to encourage movement, which helps the healing process. Good job, Children’s Mercy!

In just a bit, Amy will be arriving here at the hospital with Kayla and Maddie. I’ll have the three girls in the hospital for a few hours. We’re gonna play a few games, have a small meal, and allow them to be around each other for a bit.

I spent time at home with the other kids yesterday; first time in nine days. While Amy was with Olivia at the hospital, I came home at nap time and stayed until all the kids were asleep. The kids were having emotional meltdowns so we thought it would help for Amy and me to switch spots for a few hours. However, it seems that they now know exactly what they were missing, whereas before it was only a generalized frustration without knowing what was missing. It’s very hard to know what the right strategy is in this situation. Should Amy and I switch places every few hours or every few days, or is it better for us to stay in our separate locations until it’s all over? There is not a definitive answer in this situation.

The schedule is going to get real crazy starting today: I still have school, Amy needs to work, I need to work, the kids need attention from both of us, one of us has to stay with Olivia at all times, the lawn and housework needs doing, etc. Many, many people have already pitched in and we are exceedingly grateful to all who have helped already in what ever way they could. Thank you so much!

Blowing It (Veins, That Is)

2009-07-16T02:47:00.003-05:00

Thursday Morning, 2am: And things were going so well. Out of two active IVs, the one in her hand just blew to smithereens. [Notice knuckles and forearm in the picture.] I wish I had known that potassium has a tendency to degrade veins in “heart babies.” It would have come in handy three hours ago before we gave it to her. Especially since we’ve had such a hard time getting IVs in and keeping them working.

I hate to do it, but the PICC line must go in pronto tomorrow. In the long run, it will save Olivia more heartache and needle sticks than the alternative that we have been trying to do.

Olivia’s Wednesday Night Update

2009-07-16T00:15:00.004-05:00

We were moved to a single room today. Olivia has been through so much, she was convinced we were going back into surgery. It wasn’t until we actually got in the room and got settled that she started to calm down—just in time for more assessments, in-processing, blood draws, a breathing treatment, and visits from every medical personnel on the floor. Okay, not every. Moving floors is a tough afternoon.

The nurses took out the feeding tube that went down her nose (nasogastric, or NG tube) and unhooked her from the vacuum drainage system for her chest. She still has three tubes (called Blakes) coming out of her chest, but they are attached to individual compressed bulbs that continue the suction on a lesser level.

There were issues with drawing blood again; seems to be the theme for this round of surgeries. Several “professional blood-letters” were called in and we even used a sonogram to locate a good vein. After a needle poke and a lot of fishing for the vein, I called it off. Drastic options were considered (anesthesia team, mid-line, PICC line), but we finally settled on calling in the transport team—the Red Cross meets the Navy Seals of Children’s Mercy. They managed to salvage an IV already in place and within three minutes we had the blood samples needed. Olivia didn’t feel a thing.

The samples came back with the same results I’ve heard several times: her values are on the low side of good, but not decreasing in any way. Awesome. We’ll take it.

I met the night nurse and we discussed the schedule. She’s all about keeping Olivia comfortable and minimizing the interruptions so she can sleep more than she has to endure interruptions. That’s a good nurse, people: do what is necessary, but do only what is necessarily beneficial.

A few friends dropped by the room with gifts and hugs for the three-year-old super trooper. Bubbles, stickers, and balloons are today’s winners, but Amy was the MVP. The mother’s presence, her songs, and reading to her recovering daughter have no equal. I think that’s in Proverbs. Probably chapter 31.

Olivia is sleeping well now and will only be interrupted once before the sun comes up. It’s a far cry from what the norm has been for the last week.

Here’s two pictures: one right after the first surgery this week and the other this afternoon as she hid from the falling bubbles.

Hospitals are Weird

2009-07-15T09:42:00.004-05:00

Hospitals are weird.

The TV that is paid the most attention to is the one with no entertainment. Ladies with bright colored outfits are expected to interrupt every two hours. Night time in the worst time to try and sleep. A very uncomfortable chair is the best bed in the house. Showers are a luxury. Everyone is in pain, but no one talks about it. The rudest professionals are the best at what they do. Asking a question may get you an answer, but understanding it is a whole other conversation.

Olivia’s Wednesday 9am Update

2009-07-15T09:17:00.003-05:00

From blood work this morning, all values are steady, x-ray is same as the last two days, and her drainage isn’t doing too bad. We will be moving her to the regular recovery floor any time now.

Just gave her some chocolate milk—first drink that is not water or apple juice. She really likes it. Gotta work her back up to solids after not having anything but juice for the last six days. Nothing like forced hospital fasting!

I have been able to help out a bit with her care. Yesterday I got to help with switching out a catheter in her left jugular artery and with taking out her foot IV. Good experience—and a good way to get over being nauseous—for when I actually start working in the NICU.

Olivia’s 1am Update, Wednesday Morning

2009-07-15T01:10:00.002-05:00

Well, we were moved into a room with another patient today. They are generally quiet, which is nice, but of course everyone would like their own room.

We will almost certainly be moved from the PICU to the regular cardiac recovery floor tomorrow. Blood work, x-rays, and how she is handling recovery will determine that. So far, her levels are on the low side of good, but that doesn’t appear to upset the surgeon or the medical staff at all. It’s just a matter of her body working back up to its normal state once again.

Amy was here for quite a while today and Olivia loved it. Amy read to her, sang songs, played with stickers and balloons, and prayed with her before she left for the night. She’ll be back early tomorrow morning while I go to school for my summer class, after which I will resume my bedside position.

A video of Olivia playing with a balloon, obviously feeling better.

Olivia’s 9:30am Update

2009-07-14T08:42:00.004-05:00

’Twas a bit rough last night. Olivia cried whenever anyone came near her; the first time this has happened consistently. I’m sure the the nurse didn’t feel too great about that.

This morning’s X-rays came back with a bit of swelling from yesterday’s surgery, but seemingly nothing out of the norm. Blood work was drawn again this morning, but they returned some slightly off values. More blood, calcium, and platelets are being given.

She is very sensitive to having the chest tubes emptied. To do this, the flexible tube is held with one hand at the end closest to the body while the other hand pushes the blood away from the body and down into the collection unit. This creates vacuum pressure inside the abdomen and can be painful if done too quickly. Releasing the still hand slowly is the key to not increasing the pressure too fast.

They wanted to move her to a regular room, but I discussed my concerns with moving her too quickly. I’m trying to finagle one more day to have more focused and constant care in Pediatric ICU. Some of the issues that have arisen over the last several days have done so quite quickly. I feel more reassured in a “constant care” type of environment with one-to-one care than I would on a floor with one nurse for four or six patients.

I have fallen into a pattern of discussing two issues with each nurse at the change of shift: (1) Keep pain medications on a steady schedule so her pain doesn’t get overwhelming, and (2) cluster the care whenever possible. If respiratory therapy and radiology are coming soon, and the nursing assessment must be done around the same time, I'm trying to get them to all come in at the same time rather than interrupting several times over several hours. If they can, they are more than willing to work with that request than most people think.

Olivia’s 1am Update

2009-07-14T00:56:00.004-05:00

I’ve been trying to monitor the whimpering that Olivia has done. There seems to be a correlation between how much vacuum pressure is present in the drainage tubes in her chest and the amount of moaning she does. After a surgery such as this, there are small, flexible tubes stitched into patient’s chest. These tubes are hooked up to a powered hoover-like contraption (or, Dyson-like, for the younger, cooler folk . . . except not as powerful . . . so I guess it’s closer to a dustbuster. Anyways . . .). The machine creates suction that pulls the extra blood and fluid from the open abdominal cavity so infection is less likely, distention is minimized, and the healing process is pushed along. Of course this vacuum creates internal pressure, which is not comfortable. Hence the moaning.

I noticed some duskiness (grayish-blue coloring) creeping back into her face and something that looked like a section of capillaries which had burst at Olivia’s neckline. I talked with the physician and we ran a bunch of lab tests. We found out her hemoglobin and hematocrit (H&H) levels were fine, but on the slightly low side of fine. Not a problem. However, we found that her blood was too thin so we added two helpings of platelets. This will thicken it up a bit and assist with coagulation. We also found a need to increase some electrolytes, so calcium gluconate was given. Her color looks better now and the neckline issue has basically disappeared.

She has some pain meds on board, so she should be able to sleep decently for the next several hours. A few moans here and there, as far as I am concerned, are more than allowable right now. Her breathing treatment is done for the night.

Even in the midst of her pain, Olivia smiled a few times tonight, which is great. And she really loves her juice. She asks for it at every opportunity—and I give it to her.

Olivia’s 10:15pm Update

2009-07-13T22:13:00.003-05:00

Olivia has had a heck of a day. She’s in some pain now, so we are working to control it and minimize the side effects of pain meds (slowed breathing, intestinal issues, etc.). She moans every thirty minutes or so, so it could be a long night. Surgery seems successful though. I'm gonna eat as soon as she’s asleep.

In the meantime, here is a picture of her now. It’s sad and cute all at once because the scowl doesn’t go away, but it has a real good reason for being there.

Two Quick Updates

2009-07-13T15:59:00.004-05:00

2:45pm: Olivia is done and being wheeled to the room as we speak. They pulled out a clot the size of a potato and got the old adhesions out. If you make an oval shape with your two hands, that is how big the accumulation was. And if you put your left hand (the wrong hand) over your heart as if you were doing the Pledge of Allegiance, that's where it was located.

3:30pm: She’s doing well. Pain medications are in, a blood transfusion is being piped in, she has been washed down and is clean, is in her bed, and not complaining of any serious pain at the moment. She should be asleep in a bit. Strike that, she is asleep.

Thanks for praying, everyone!

Olivia Back in Surgery Now

2009-07-13T12:52:00.002-05:00

Olivia is in surgery right now. She went in at 12:30 and it will last about an hour or an hour and a half.

The surgery is removing blood and adhesions caught between her ribcage and her lungs on her right side.

Olivia’s Monday 11am Update

2009-07-13T10:58:00.004-05:00

Olivia is going back into surgery in about 2 hours.

The blood accumulation between her lungs and ribs on the right side is bad enough to warrant another surgery. He said he has done several hundred of these surgeries, but has never had to go back in on the 3rd post-op day. He has only gone back in to do repairs on the first post-op day. I don’t know if that’s a good thing or bad thing, but it should be a relatively short surgery. This will be exploratory: clearing the accumulation of blood, removing adhesions from prior surgeries, and looking for slow leaks.

Relieving this pressure will improve recovery time, improve oxygen exchange, give her more energy, and the like.

Olivia’s 1:30am Update: No News is Good News

2009-07-13T01:16:00.003-05:00

For the first time in what seems like a long time, there’s not anything significant occurring.

Breathing treatment is done for the night, pain meds done, nursing assessment done, one nap down and another on the way for Olivia. I finally had some food that had been sitting in the fridge since 2pm. In another few hours we’ll be taking x-rays, drawing blood, and seeing what the next twelve hours holds.

Breathing treatment: Some of you don’t really know what this means, so I’ll take a minute to explain. Depending on the age and understanding of the patient, a treatment plan may be suggested to help a patient regain adequate respiratory function. This could be two minutes of blowing a pinwheel every hour, or it could be forced-air inspiration, which is the treatment Olivia is getting.

Every six hours a respiratory therapist comes in the room and turns on a big machine. The machine has a tube hooked to a large, soft-seal mask that is placed over her nose and mouth. The machine begins a rhythm that forces a large volume of air into and out of Olivia’s lungs for about fifteen minutes. It is basically forced deep-breathing.

It is not painful, but it isn’t comfortable either. She whines in rhythm with the air pulses, but never increases her tone because it doesn’t hurt. After it’s done she can usually take a little nap, which is nice for her.

We’ll find out more within five hours after all the tests are run for the morning and the physicians make their rounds.

Olivia’s 7:30pm Update

2009-07-12T18:54:00.004-05:00

After a whirlwind morning that started at 4am and went til about 11:30, the afternoon has been relatively uneventful. Amy got here around noon, along with some other friends who came to pray for her. The transfusion was successful, bringing her Hemoglobin and Hematocrit waaaay up. Her hemoglobin went from 4.6 to 11—yes, those numbers are correct—then up to 14.9 with the second infusion, so her body can work on healing itself more effectively. Her hematocrit went from 14.6 up to 40 currently.

Even if you don’t understand those numbers, you can still see that there is a major difference. Olivia had been getting more and more pale over the past 24 hours. That matches the fact that she did lose somewhere in the neighborhood of 720ml of blood in that timeframe, which is a lot for someone so small (35 pounds). Compare that with the expected blood loss for a full grown, 150-pound woman who is giving birth: 500–1000ml, depending on whether it is a live birth or a cesarean.

“Lucy, you got some ’splainin’ to do.”

As far as the blood accumulation between the ribs and the lungs, there is the hope that it will just dissolve. If not, it will have to be removed surgically in the next day or so before it becomes a clot and causes more problems.

Thanks for all the prayers and support. It’s great to have such good friends and family in this with us.

A Turn for the Worse

2009-07-12T08:44:00.005-05:00

I only got about 3 hours of sleep last night, so I’ll make this quick. We've been up since around 4am with lots of commotion and coming and going.

6:30am: Drew blood and took x-rays this morning. Lab results this morning were not believable because they seemed too low, so they attempted to draw new labs to confirm values. It took no less than three attempts just to get something useable. The x-rays were seemingly as bad or worse than yesterday (no improvement shown). Explanation coming soon hopefully.

7:30am: Been trying to draw blood for the past hour; four people have been unable to find a good artery. They’re ordering a transfusion for her now because she has lost a lot of blood in the past 24 hours. X-rays confirmed: no improvement.

8:15am: She still hasn’t been able to rest. We are trying to let her sleep right now. New info: she apparently has an accumulation of blood on her right side between her ribcage and her lung. If this doesn’t drain by today, they will have to remove it so it does not become a clot. This will be a minor “surgery.” They will be watching her closely over the next 6–8 hours to see how her body responds to the transfusion and to see if her labs improve. If they don’t, then there is something else going on. Possibly a slow bleed coming from somewhere inside that needs a stitch. Within eight hours she could be in the operating room again to remove the accumulation and repair whatever needs repair.

9am: Blood just arrived. They’re hooking it up now. Labs will be drawn again in a few hours. If there is no improvement in her lab values, then it could be a bit more serious.

Olivia’s 1am Update

2009-07-12T00:56:00.002-05:00

Well, she’s sleeping right now. I’ve been holding her all evening, but she asked to get back in bed. I’m trying to keep her as upright as possible to encourage beneficial coughing and circulation within her lungs. We’ve done another breathing treatment, but this time it was on my lap instead of in the bed. It seemed like she did better that way.

Olivia is drinking apple juice like it won’t exist next week. And she has had multiple wet diapers, which is a good sign that her body is getting back into correct function on its own.

Amy was here until around 9pm. Hopefully she will get some good rest back at home. I’ll be trying to do the same.

Tomorrow at around 4am Olivia will have another round of x-rays to check out her lungs. They’ll be able to tell us what the day will look like—whether we’ll be getting a regular room or still have to stay—within a few hours after that. You’ll know when I know.

Thank you again for all your prayers.

Olivia’s 4:45pm Update

2009-07-11T16:51:00.003-05:00

Amy got here around 3:30 and held Olivia for a while. She does quite well sitting up. In fact, she asked me to help her stand earlier today. The more she can sit upright, the better she will be overall.

Olivia complained of stomach pain; suppository in, #2 out. She’s comfortable enough to rest now, which is good because we’re staying in ICU tonight. This is a good and bad thing. Good because we get special treatment with a nurse focused on Olivia and one other patient only, and bad because it’s a negative enough situation that we have to stay here.

The situation is that they take an x-ray each morning. This morning the x-ray showed too much fluid in lungs (no change from yesterday) and a small collapsed portion. If they can help this clear out and pop open that one part, that will help a ton. This is done by breathing treatments, which are continuing every six hours.

Anther issue we are watching for is possible infection. Olivia’s abdomen has been somewhat distended since she arrived here and the drainage from her chest has increased in the past day. Both are within normal bounds, but if accompanied by a spike in temperature, it could indicate an internal infection. Keep this in prayer.

We both got more sleep last night than any other so far. They’re lengthening the time for vitals checks and whatnot, so that is good.

Earlier this morning—talking 3:30 or 4am—was the first and only time Olivia has smiled since the surgery. That is what the ancients called hope or expectation. It is the ability to see a glimpse of good that will soon come. If she can smile now, that means she feels she is doing better.

Olivia's 1:45pm Update

2009-07-11T16:49:00.001-05:00

I was just told she'll be staying in the ICU at least one more night. The x-rays they took this morning showed too much liquid in her lungs still. She has had 3 breathing treatments today already. The leapfrogging pain medication cycle seems to be effective. Starting last night, she has been sleeping better than when she first got in here, so that's good. I'm going to shower while she sleeps.

Olivia’s Midnight Update

2009-07-11T00:26:00.003-05:00

Another breathing treatment done. They seem to be helping. The less pressure you have to apply to get the same volume of air in, the better. We were able to take it a step down tonight, so that’s good.

More pain meds in the system. Oxycodone to the rescue!

Amy was able to be here until about 9 or 9:30pm and held Olivia the entire time. Olivia was very happy to see her mommy. I've been holding her since then, so I haven’t been able to update as often as yesterday.

One concern right now is that she is not urinating since the catheter was taken out. That’s a bad thing because it causes abdominal distention, pain, and her body is simply not getting rid of waste. We don’t know the cause right now, but we’re hoping we don’t have to place the catheter back in. That’s no fun.

So far this night has been better than last night. Vitals were changed to every 2 hours rather than every hour. That means she can sleep more in one chunk . . . and maybe I can, too. She hasn’t been disturbed much, so she hasn’t been whimpering as much. I think the leapfrogging medication cycle is working quite well also.

This will be the last one for tonight. I need to have a little something to eat and take a nap before the next room invasion. At least they are helpful.

Olivia’s 8pm Update

2009-07-10T20:02:00.003-05:00

We have been able to hold her for the last several hours. After removing so many IVs and such, it is easy(er) to get her in and out of bed.

On the subject of pain medication, I have arranged to have leapfrogging medications. The two main meds are ibuprofen and oxycodone, with small quantities of morphine for breakthrough pain. The first two have 6 hour cycles; so I have asked to give one at hour 1 and the other at hour 3 and the first again at hour 6 so her pain is minimized continually. It also means that when one is peaking and waning, the other is getting ready to kick in.

But, again, we are watching her body’s reaction to what she is receiving: intestinal activity, breathing ability, lethargy, and the like. It’s important not to give her body more than it needs for pain control, but provide enough relief so the person is resting and can do what it must to progress with the healing process.

Thanks to some awesome friends on the homefront, Amy has been able to be at the hospital with us since about 3pm.

Oxygen saturation levels: Olivia is sitting now in the 90–95%, which is great. Prior to the surgery she was between 75–80%. Besides her color change, this is one of the main indicators that the surgery was successful. However, it will take a while for her body to self-regulate that high of an oxygen level due to it having to “re-learn” a new route for pumping blood throughout the body. For comparison, regular folk have an oxygen saturation level of about 100%.

Olivia’s 2pm Update

2009-07-10T13:49:00.002-05:00

2pm: They removed the arterial IV in her wrist (that sucker is a bleeder), took out her catheter, more pain meds given, the IV in her neck is still in. Just got word they are keeping her another night in the ICU; too much fluid in her lungs to move her to a regular room yet. Breathing treatments every 6 hours, maybe more often.

Strike that: the IV in her neck (intrajugular PICC line) is coming out right now. She won't like this, so I'm gonna help.

Local Starbucks Supports Olivia

2009-07-10T12:03:00.003-05:00

This morning my friend Shawn stopped by the Starbucks where Amy works. On the counter sits a whiteboard with updates of Olivia and a picture. Let me just say these baristas have been amazing—supporting her every step of the way. But an unimagined surprise also came about. The customers that Amy serves every day are going beyond the well-wishes. Some are making meals, some have brought little gifts, some are bringing flowers, and some have written cards. It has been awesome to see such genuine concern from such a wide range of people.

Thank you.

Update at 11:30am

2009-07-10T11:24:00.003-05:00

Many of the IV lines, fluids, and medications have been detached. She’s getting enough fluids through what she is drinking right now to suffice.

The emergency pacemaker electrodes were take out of her chest this morning. These wires are attached directly to the heart in many heart surgery patients just in case there is a need to stabilize or regulate the heartbeat. A single stitch holds it to the skin as it goes from outside to inside the body. Her catheter should be removed soon as well.

Other than that, she still whimpers every 45 minutes or so, and has asked me to hold her several times. She has asked for mommy a bit as well, so she'll be happy when Amy shows up in a little while.

Friday Morning Update

2009-07-10T11:17:00.003-05:00

Olivia’s morning update: Last night was rough; she was up at least every hour whimpering. She just had her 2nd breathing therapy of the day. Apparently there is fluid build-up in her lungs (could lead to pneumonia), so they are trying to break it up a bit.

She has had two cartons of juice and a glass of water. Confession: I cheated last night and gave her a few sips from a sponge before it was ordered from a physician. That's because she hadn't had anything to eat or drink since 5am that morning. They provide miniature sponges on a stick to brush your teeth, so I brushed hers, then got a new sponge for her to take a few sips of water. I did this several times throughout the night but made sure it was enough to moisten her mouth and lips without sitting in her stomach and making her nauseous.

Midnight Update

2009-07-10T00:15:00.004-05:00

Olivia is doing well. Sleeping mostly. She just received another helping of morphine.

To all hospital-goers: ask about the orders for pain medicine. Sometimes it’s once every 4 hours, but sometimes once every hour. Just ask what the schedule is. It’s the nice way of making sure they’re on the ball.

The shift change happened at 7pm, so I figured the nurses memorized Olivia’s case since she is their only patient tonight. I just took that for granted. Olivia could have been having more pain medicine every hour. I won't miss that again.

Ten o'clock Update

2009-07-09T22:11:00.002-05:00

Olivia has woken up a few times . . . maybe five or so the whole evening. Right after we took the tube out she asked for juice. “Yes, my queen.”

Another time she asked me to hold her. The best I could do was put my arm under her head and kind of stretch across her body. Not easy to do, but it seemed to help.

Right now she’s got a line of pillows to her right side—her puppy as well—and her blanket to her left. She’s snuggly.

In Recovery

2009-07-09T20:30:00.005-05:00

Pictures after the post. Olivia has been in recovery for about seven hours now. Amy and I saw her right after the surgery, and we had to admit that she looked better than immediately after the last surgery she had. Less swelling, less tubes and attachments, less medicines, and yet she seemed better than last time. A few things:

7:00pm: Took out the ventilation tube. When we asked her the first few times if she wanted it out, she said no. Obviously not with it. As soon as it was out, she asked for juice. Poor girl . . . that won't happen for another five hours. In the meantime I am wetting her lips with a washcloth and trying to rinse out her mouth when she will let me.

8:45pm: First dose of pain meds (morphine) since the operation. She had enough sedation during the procedure to last for quite a few hours after, so this is normal.

9:00pm: Dang, that morphine works quickly! Asleep.

She's got her puppy next to her head; she has two vacuum drains coming out of either side of her belly; the other two thin, brown lines are just-in-case direct lines to shock her heart in the case of emergency; she has multiple IVs in each hand and a direct line in the left side of her neck (a PICC line); she has a urinary catheter in; she has no staples, but some dissolvable sutures in her chest which are covered by a large bandage; she has peeling pink nail polish on her nails. And she's asleep. Click the pictures for mural-sized versions.

Olivia's Surgery Complete

2009-07-09T12:28:00.002-05:00

Noon: Olivia's surgery is complete. They are stitching her up. She will not have staples in her chest like last time; only dissolving stitches and a bandage covering.

No complications during surgery! Over the next two hours the hospital staff will wean Olivia off her anesthetic, take out her air tube, maintain pain meds as necessary, give her a sponge bath, and keep her as comfortable as possible. We'll meet with the surgeon soon and be able to see her within that two hours.

I'll see her first just to get a feel for whether Amy will be able to handle it right away. Last time Amy almost passed out because she is quite a sight: tubes, IVs, beeping machines, a ventilator, swollen appearance, and the like. She should be awake for a bit today. though.

On Bypass

2009-07-09T10:31:00.002-05:00

10:30am: Olivia is on full bypass, all the old scar tissue has been cut away, and the surgeon is about to start sewing in the Dacron tube into the inferior vena cava.

Cutting Through

2009-07-09T09:45:00.002-05:00

9:42am: Just notified that they are only now cutting through the layer of her chest to begin the repair. Not on bypass yet, but she will be soon.

Olivia is in Surgery Right Now

2009-07-09T08:45:00.005-05:00

5:30am: Woke up, showered, put Olivia in our bed to start waking up.

6:00am: Drove to hospital for early check-in.

8:30am: Gave Olivia Valium at 8:10. Loopy within ten minutes. Just dropped her off in the long hallway to her operating room. Anesthesiologists were very nice and reassuring.

They'll give us updates every 45 minutes.

Note to all parents: if a hospital ever tries to place an IV before your child has been put under, go somewhere else. There's no need for that. Children's Mercy does it correctly. They're great.

Good morning to ya!

2009-07-08T23:58:00.004-05:00

I haven't posted here in over six months, mostly due to schooling and staying busy with the family. But today, Wednesday the 8th, we took Olivia (3 years old) in for her pre-op processing. She'll be having another heart surgery on Thursday, July 9th, which should be when you are reading this post.

Pray for her during this time. It'll be quite a big deal. More details on that later.

Here's a few pictures for before the surgery. I'll be posting throughout and some after shots as well. Click them for the mural-sized view.

On this one above, notice the blue webbing pattern that sits just below the skin. This is quite pronounced in person, but still noticeable here. I wonder how much this will go away once she has completely recovered. She also has a dusky gray/blue color on her skin called cyanosis.

Stay tuned for more updates throughout the surgery and the subsequent month of recovery. And thanks for praying for her.

I Love It When a Plan Comes Together

2008-12-26T12:04:00.005-06:00

You could call it a goal, a desire, or a calling. I would like to retain my sanity as much as possible under impossible circumstances—four kids under 4 years old, all vying for the same loud toys the others have in a 960 square-foot house. This means minimizing the toy cacophony. How do you make toys quieter without raising the children's suspicions?

Enter: clear tape. I know clear tape’s cousin, duct tape, receives most of the accolades when it comes to fixing things, but let’s show a little love and give a little credit where it’s due. You see, kids can see duct tape pretty easily. Not so with clear tape. The clear stuff is incognito . . . covert silencing ops, if you know what I’m saying. You know it’s quieter, but the kids have no clue. That’s my kind of win–win situation. Merry Christmas and a quiet New Year.

The Day After

2008-12-26T11:49:00.006-06:00

It’s amazing how much the day after Christmas in a house full of kids is like being in Vegas: out of nowhere, there are blinking, glowing, noisy things demanding attention, but there’s no real interest in any of it, and you can’t stop thinking, “Oh no! What have I done?”

New Type for IHOP–KC

2008-11-10T23:49:00.003-06:00

My primary project here at the house of prayer for the past few months has been researching new typography. We’re picking new fonts to represent who we are. It has to feel as historic as prayer, but as accessible as God.

From working with bad fonts, I have also figured out that it needs to have all the right characters and options within the font library. Or else you get this:

Then it takes a talented designer to use the fantastic fonts. Or you get this:

This Is Why I Edit

2008-11-08T00:21:00.003-06:00

No, this is not an ad for IHOP–KC, but we have seen some bad stuff go out in email blasts as well. Alas, we are still human.

Words from the Wife

2008-10-31T13:33:00.004-05:00

My amazing wife has a brand new blog. I have agreed not to edit as I read, which is just fine because I do too much of that as it is. She has something to offer young mothers; she has experienced hurt, she has been broken inside, she has overcome, and she is wise. I can’t tell you how many times a day she takes calls from those with twenty questions at a time. She takes it all in stride and speaks from a position of having read from the breadth of book knowledge available, and from having lived through so much already. Her gracious tone and willingness to help brings people back time and again to draw from the well of her experience.

The questions often return to the theme of raising children who are in love with God amidst the busyness of life. Too many Christians withdraw into the safety of the religious bubble: four safe walls, too little interaction with the outside world, a lack of true life-long relationships—meaning having Christian and non-Christian influences in your life and not having any fear about that, but rising to the intellectual and spiritual challenge—that encourage and challenge each thought you entertain, studying themes that have extrapolation but not interaction with anyone but other Christians, and finally justifying this lack in spiritual terms. Sorry, but you won’t be coddled by Amy (or myself) if this is your stance. We must be able to live life with all its joy and pain, its suffering and exhilaration, and still be in love with God or the Gospel is of no use. The Gospel is for all people in all cultures at all times, in history and in the future, and in every situation of life. If this is not the outcome of what you believe, what you study or how you act, then it is not the Gospel.

No amount of egocentric excuses can justify a hands-off approach to the world or to refusing to interact with those who disagree with you. This bubble is antithetical to Christianity itself. And thank God that Jesus did not take an egocentric, hands-off approach to us.

Thank God.

Patting Myself on the Back

2008-08-07T09:16:00.005-05:00

I have mowed the front lawn, but not the back. Instead, I pulled up the three- and four-foot trees by the roots that had planted themselves there. It took two days to rip them all out, but it needed to be done.

I scraped paint off some kitchen windows. Difficult to do with a dull blade.

The laundry is done, as usual.

I have held the hair of my puking daughter, and cleaned up the couch after we figured out she wasn't feeling so well. Three words: pro jec tile.

I have put together an oak table and chairs. This is the first time in almost seven years of marriage and family that we have all been able to sit down together for a meal.

I have taped off Samuel and Olivia’s room so I can paint it.

I have gotten shots and shot records for school, faxed several copies of things to the Nursing Division, completed a background check (not on any federal psycho lists. Yay!), and switched my classes around a few times.

I have been to visit the financial aid offices at school several times already. We need all the help we can get. We’re behind, I believe, by about a few hundred dollars per month, even with all the help from my military benefits. That’s why Amy and I are both working part-time. But even with that, we’re still not breaking even.

I have completed several exciting projects for the International House of Prayer in Kansas City, and am now assisting the Creative Director in revamping our choices of typography for the IHOP–KC brand. Right now, our main fonts are Perpetua, Gill Sans and Helvetica Neue Condensed Bold. We’re looking at getting two serif and two sans fonts (a loose and tightly kerned of each, giving us 4 total) that all work well together, and can translate easily to any media (Web, TV, print, postcards, etc.). It is a tough goal to hit, but I think we can do it.

Life is crazy right now. And my semester hasn’t even begun. This is gonna be nuts.

Lists

2008-07-28T10:41:00.006-05:00

I’m supposed to be making lists of all the chores to get done over my two-week break from school.

Just wanted to give my summer school grades: C in Algebra and B in US History.

And Sam just had his first birthday. Here’s a before and after.

AfterEden Movie Trailer

2008-06-19T21:43:00.004-05:00

Professional snowboarders discuss the pursuit of their significance, purpose and identity.

Check out the trailer.

http://www.afteredenthemovie.com/

Like Flynn

2008-06-09T09:35:00.005-05:00

I received a call telling me I made it into the Nursing Program, so I am officially in. But I’ve been given a list of impossible missions to complete before then: lots of vaccines, CPR certification, background check, summer school . . .

They said they would meet me halfway on the slaying of the dragon though. I’m allowed to bring in a store-bought gecko.

Definition

2008-05-17T02:22:00.002-05:00

Split-second: n

The time it takes Olivia to eat two hot dogs = the time it takes me to put a single piece of bread in the toaster.

What Good Is The Internet If You’re Dead?

2008-05-10T15:47:00.003-05:00

I feel sorry for all those third-world kids with the laptops who can now see the bazillion or so blogs of “What I Ate Today”.

Bazillion is so a real number. Google doesn’t lie.

. . . In A Handbasket

2008-05-10T15:38:00.004-05:00

Breakfast: leftover chocolate chip pancakes.

Lunch: handful of marshmallows.

Dinner: unknown, but probably the leftover Orange Chicken concoction (which I love).

Yes, my amazing wife is out of town.

Yes, it is Finals week.

Yes, I have all four children.

Sure, we’re doing great. Pay no attention to that fire.

Why?

2008-05-07T14:20:00.003-05:00

Why is it that as soon as we put the kids to sleep—and they actually are sleeping—the ice cream truck comes by with its annoying ringing bell, the mailman dumps junkmail in our box with a loud thud, the street sweeper truck takes his sweet time on our part of the street (not that I mind a clean street), and the neighbors have a friend who shows up and blares their horn?

Public notice to Kansas City: you are not an island; you do not live by yourself; you do have neighbors. I’m one of them, and my kids need their nap.

Thanks for listening.

Hard Hitting

2008-04-26T14:25:00.002-05:00

Our four-year-old daughter, Kayla, fell out of her bunk-bed a few nights ago. I was concerned that she might have hurt herself pretty bad, so I asked her, “What did you hit?” Through her tears, she answered, “The floor.”

Which Store Was That?

2008-03-06T23:17:00.005-06:00

I’m looking for an easy, enjoyable part-time job just to keep our family on the positive side of the bills. For the second time in as many days, my wife was talking with another woman about the transition. The chat went something like this.

“Josh is thinking about getting a small job at the Mac store.”

—“Really? That’s interesting.”

“Yeah, I’m just concerned he would buy a bunch of stuff and we wouldn’t see a dime of it on a paycheck.”

—“Why would he do that?”

“Because he likes all of their stuff. If we ever have extra money, he starts dreaming about what he can get from the Mac store.”

—“But . . . what does he do with it all?”

“He uses it. He doesn’t have much now, but if he worked there or if we had the cash he would.”

—[slight giggles] “But . . . what does he do with . . . makeup?”

“I meant the Macintosh store, not the MAC store.”

I don’t know, maybe my wife is onto a new model for a husband and wife business. We can call it “Fruit/Face,” a new Apple and makeup combo store.

Madeline’s Birthday

2008-03-04T22:12:00.005-06:00

Our wonderful Madeline turns three on Wednesday. In the past few months she has turned a corner to become one of the most voluntarily loving kids that we have. She regularly kisses everyone within arm’s reach—even if they are too busy to be stopped in their tracks. She’s a great girl.

Happy Birthday, Maddie.

The “guess what I’m thinking” look

The “about to lick the zoo glass” look

The classic look

Heart and Wisdom: Thoughts From My Grandmother

2008-02-08T22:32:00.000-06:00

I talked with my grandmother for several hours tonight, touching on many subjects.

Money quotes: “Too many people want God to be theirs, instead of being God’s.”

“More and more, I have stopped mentioning all the little details in prayer. I just pray that the Lord will fill up our family so full of His love—like a cup that will overflow if one more drop is added—so there is no room for anything else bad. The love of God makes no room for our bad stuff.”

My grandfather (D-daddy, as he is known to the family and a few outsiders) has the beginning stages of Parkinson’s, three microphones in each ear, a bad back, and prior cornea surgery. My grandmother (Mom-mom) is spunky, outspoken and thoroughly able to complete any task as long as it falls beneath the level of a triathlon. She has the particular gift of hospitality. Seriously, even a PB&J snack looks as if it was prepared for a king. And Thanksgiving? I’ll just say her meals are the only ones I know of that get five-star critics to make house calls. Visiting them was like going on a progressive dinner tour of Zagat’s.

My grandparents still love each other dearly. After mealtime prayers, D-daddy always pulls Mom-mom’s hand close, kisses it, and then waits for her eyes to meet his and for her to feel how his heart feels toward her. Always. Even considering the effects of Parkinson’s.

My grandmother related this story to me. One evening after dinner, she sat down at the table and announced to my grandfather that she would like some pie. The pie was right behind her on the counter, so she was fully able to get it herself. Grinning from ear to ear, my grandfather got up, made her some decaf coffee and brought her the dessert—as if he was the most chivalric knight in shining armor from age-old enchanted stories. He knew she still wanted him to be her hero.

Hedging Bets

2008-02-06T17:21:00.000-06:00

Let’s say John McCain gets the nomination. His best bet is probably to get Huckabee as his VP to almost guarantee pulling in the evangelical nomination. If it’s the other way around with Huckabee as president, I would still say the same. Huckabee needs someone with strong foreign policy experience, and just experience in general. [Sorry, but at this point I just can’t see Romney being a viable . . . anything.] McCain is seen as a problem by the republicans. Gee, maybe it’s because when they had the democrats in a tight spot and were about to make a killer deal, he stepped in the middle and fouled it all up. Several times.

For democrats, the ultimate ticket just may be an Obama–Clinton clincher. I say Obama first because he is the visionary, while Billary has the experience and clout on the Hill to line up all the ducks in a filibuster row. They just have to get over their exploded egos and the tension that has built up over the past almost-year.

Of that ticket, the real problem is Billary. Even though she’s got connections, you’re just sure you can’t trust her. She’s like old toothpaste with new packaging; promising fresh and clean, but your intuition tells you there is a real reason why it hasn’t gotten the Dental Association’s seal of approval. Or like pharmaceutical companies; you know they’re scalping you and that you are bound to end up with more negative side effects than the original problem gave you, but you’ve got to take something for your ills.

This is pretty much the best positioning for each party as far as I can tell. And they each need to figure out how to get their side elected. From now until election day, electability is the game.

Beyond One Commonality

2008-02-06T11:36:00.000-06:00

The first major round of primaries is done.

John McCain has over half of the delegate votes needed to get the Republican nomination. Mitt Romney, the Mormon sugar daddy, has spent more than $35 million of his own money to get to where he is now. At best, he could only hope for a VP appointment. But, you never know, maybe he could help America pay off its deficit. Between Clinton and Obama, a decided leader hasn’t really emerged.

Looking at the polls, we see that most people are initially attracted to a certain candidate based on one feature or a commonality the voter feels they have with the candidate: Hillary attracts the women; Obama attracts blacks; Edwards attracted the “sick of government business-as-usual” crowd; McCain attracts the veterans and strong military types; no clue about Romney; and Huckabee attracts the evangelicals.

Mike Huckabee has shown to be a resilient campaigner and evangelical front-runner. My only concern is that most evangelicals see him through rose-colored glasses: he was a pastor, so he must be an incredible politician. Not so. If I go in to have heart surgery, I don’t want someone who is “just a Christian”, I want a great surgeon. If I go to record an album, I don’t want someone who is “just a Christian”, I want great musicians and producers. When it comes to politics, I don’t just want someone with whom I have a starting point to relate to them (religion, philosophy, issue agreement, etc.), I want a great politician. Whether they are Christian or not only lends me to attribute more commonality between us and more solid of a starting point from which to investigate them further. A single commonality does not a good __________ make.

The question—politically, for me—is not whether we should have a Christian leading America, but how the candidates stack up on certain issues. Obviously an atheist is going to feel the same way about how the country should be led, but from an opposite perspective (“The less god-freaks in government, the better.”). For Huckabee, I just hope we can look past his halo to see:

his foreign policy with Iraq, China, the Koreas, the Middle East, Israel, etc.
how he grants favored nation status to countries guilty of inhumanities to man
how he will deal with terrorism and our security
how he will deal with radical Islam
his economic plans (mortgages, jobs, various stimuli, avoiding recession/depression, etc.)
his social security, welfare and healthcare overhauls
his tax system overhaul
his illegal immigration response

As with all things, politics has more to it than, “Do I have an item of significance in common with this person?” Somewhere famous there is a good quote about being as wise as serpents but as harmless as doves. As a whole, contemporary Christianity seems to have the impotent thing to a science; it’s about time we get wisdom.

Historical Imperialism

2008-02-06T09:49:00.000-06:00

For those thinking I was not being reasonable in my assessment of evolution and slavery, do not forget that my very assertion was one of the main arguments for Imperialism in America in the mid– to late 1800s.

Immediately upon Darwin’s convergent scientific release, Imperialists seized upon it as such an elementary and obvious understanding of class, and, therefore, of inherent value, position and rights. Well, that should actually be in reverse order: they recognized it as such an elementary and obvious understanding of inherent value, that it gave weight to their bigoted system of position, rights and class structure.

What was that time like?

The Civil War had just ended; Lincoln was still the BMOC, but VP Johnson was about to get a raise
Reconstruction had begun; it was the president’s job to put the country back together and start the healing process between the north and south
Darwin released his evolutionary theory in 1859
Only 25% of the south owned slaves; early in my life I was led to believe it was almost 100%
Only 8% of the south had more than two slaves
When the slaves were freed, their numbers totaled between 4 and 4.5 million; definitely a lot of people, but still less than half of all the losses and murders of WWII
Blacks and whites were not segregated until between 1810 and 1830; therefore . . .
Slavery was not originally an issue of race, but an issue of economics; many whites were slaves
Many who were anti-slavery (and fought to end it) were still not pro-equality

As slavery transitioned from an economic impetus to an ethnic impetus among the general population, Imperialism provided the necessary tools (yeah, um, that would be “prejudice”) to apply inherent value to certain groups and not to others.

Fodder Alert

2008-01-29T18:10:00.000-06:00

For those who missed the annual presidential spin machine, here’s CNN’s State of the Union video page. Notice to all Christians who missed it: in the first two minutes of part 4 Bush says there should be peace in the Middle East by the close of this year—2008. Well, at least he’s doing his part to make sure it happens this year.

Fire up the rumor mill, folks. This has “next bestseller” all over it.

History’s Lesson: Good and Bad

2008-01-23T11:53:00.000-06:00

This continues the line of thought from the last major post.

If you recall from WWII history, the Nazis performed an unparalleled number of experiments on humans in a very short amount of time. They kept meticulous records, as they did in all circumstances, and built entire libraries of scientific information based on their results. Granted, they were aiming at a predetermined conclusion, so it was rigged, but they utilized “science” as their justification for murder and mutilation. That’s just as bad as people doing the same in the name of religion. The Nazi’s scientific conclusion was, for instance, that those with darker skin, with larger noses, from Jewish ancestry, or with darker eyes were predisposed to criminality. Since being a criminal is a bad thing, those who fell into those categories were sequestered and dealt with in ferocious ways.

[By the way, their data collection was that of correlational studies—that there might be a correlation between physical traits and criminality—which is completely different than strict cause-and-effect studies. Correlational studies many times are inconclusive at best because there are not effective ways to account for known and unknown variables. You cannot gather correlational data and say that it shows a definitive cause-and-effect.]

I am concerned whenever science is allowed to place value on certain individuals due to ethnicity or genetic make-up. I do not think assignment is within the domain of science. Yet, it seems we are headed back that way, down the road most traveled.

The catch-22 is that I don’t think science has a real choice in the matter. The advances in genomics leads down the path of investigating genetic predisposition, whether they want it to or not. Find the future alcoholics, flag them and get them in a program at an early age—show the detriments of alcohol and scare them straight. Find the future criminals, flag them and get them in a program at an early age—teach them to empathize by six months old and they will even cry at puppy commercials. Find the future abusers, flag them and get them in a program—empathy training with a heavy dose of familial and societal attachment. These ideas are such a small leap from where we are now.

We already use intelligence testing for placement (SAT or college entrance exam anyone?) and promotion, so why not utilize “the gifts God gave us” and include genetic testing as well. Find the sports star at age six and train them for the Olympics. Find the born leader and groom them to take over your multi–billion-dollar company. On the flip side, if we find the felony-minded, we have the opportunity to make our part of the world that much safer. Who wants to live in a bad neighborhood, anyways?

Problem is, who decides bad and good? Not the scientist; they can only say what is or isn’t. Good and bad are beyond their scope. But so far, they are the only ones speaking up.

This brings us back to the Nazis and evolution. The Nazis pursued justification through scientific means, making them seem like the voice of authority. The evolutionist’s claim of science currently positions them as the authority . . . but they come up empty when confronted with ideas like “all men are created equal”. How could you arrive at equality when evolution clearly states that all are not equal?

And, more poignantly, Martin Luther King, Jr. is hailed as a hero of the entire human race and as one who fought for justice. But if, according to evolution, he was not equal because of his ethnicity, why would evolutionists call him a hero? What do you do with a man who fights for equality when equality, according to evolutionary belief, is a myth? By their standard, he would be considered a subverter who was fighting for something that did not exist and was not his to obtain. This puts evolutionists in a tough spot.

If evolution is true, then we are not all created equal and King is bad. But if we are all created equal, King is a hero and that is good.

I am thankful that scientists cannot dictate what is good or bad, including which people are good or bad.

MLK Photos

2008-01-22T15:42:00.000-06:00

One of the many presentations available online about Martin Luther King, Jr. This one is hosted by Slate.

An Evolutionary Argument for Slavery

2008-01-22T00:56:00.000-06:00

I think it is interesting how you will not hear someone arguing a pro-slavery position nowadays, even though it has only been a little over one hundred years since slavery has been abolished. This post comes from an exchange with a prior psychology professor (a black female) about race and slavery.

My argument is for slavery from an evolutionary point of view. In other words, if humans are believed to have evolved from apes, I think it is arguable that slavery is an allowable, logical deduction. This is obviously not what I believe (either that humans came from apes, or that slavery is a good thing), but it is an interesting thought exercise.

The thought goes like this:

Evolution states that various species came into being from random or selected mutations over long periods of time.
It states that these changes are positive in that “survival of the fittest” is ensured through the changes.
It also states that these subsequent species came into being precisely because they were better in one way or another, regardless of how you categorize that: faster, smarter, stronger, smaller, more venom, more protection, more egg-laying capacity, ability to breathe in both air and water, ability to fly, etc.
These statements give rise to a flow of thought related to species hierarchy: a human is better than an ape, which is better than a weasel, which is better than a frog, which is better than an amoeba. This flow can be stated in reverse order, like this:

amoeba —> frog —> weasel —> ape —> human

So far, so good. Pretty generic stuff. We will quickly admit that an amoeba does not have the same rights, value or position as a human.

Following a great many articles and vast research, including, most interestingly, genomics, scientists have concluded that the first humans were located in Africa and subsequently spread from there in several waves. The first wave was into Egypt, the second was into various regions of Africa. The third was into the Middle East, India, Australia (the Aboriginal tribes), and Asia. The final wave, they say, was into the European nations, which would make caucasoids the latest “race” to evolve, while Africans would be the earliest.

With this in mind, the entire flow could be stated like this:

amoeba —> frog —> weasel —> ape —>

human {African —> Egyptian —>

Middle Eastern/Indian/Aboriginal/Asian —>

Caucasian}

If we can readily admit that an amoeba does not have the same rights, value and position as an ape, and that an ape does not have the same rights, value and position as a human, it should not be difficult to think that later iterations of humans are therefore higher in the hierarchy of human evolution.

And if we admit that, then it is a short leap to say, therefore, that certain humans, based on the evolutionary scale, are more progressed . . . better, in other words, according to evolutionary assertion #3 above.

Let’s talk about slavery for a minute. A slave, in short, is a person who is held in non-compensated servitude by another. By definition, the slave, is “less than” the owner in at least one way (position), but is usually considered “less than” in many ways. We may treat the family pet as if they were dear to our heart, but we would not grant them the same position, value or rights as a child within the family structure. The animal is still property and may be treated as such. And if it came to a choice between the pet or the child, it shouldn’t be difficult to agree which should be saved. Property can be replaced, but people can’t.

As far as slavery goes, they were considered property. They had no recognized value, rights or position because they were less than. I can’t imagine the average person saying that a Black person is “less than” today, but it almost seems that this is what some of the sciences are insinuating if we follow their line of thinking through to the end.

I think a serious evolutionist should look at this argument. Glibly saying that all humans, regardless of ethnic ancestry, have equal and inherent value is a serious misappropriation of evolution’s main tenets. Evolution clearly shows that one is better, and the other worse. So if you think slavery is wrong or bad, you can’t expect evolution to help prove that. Why? Well, because evolution will always highlight progress in successive iterations, not equality from the earliest to the most recent. The most recent is the most fit, the earliest is the least fit.

On the other hand, if evolution is taken to be true, then there is no grounds to say that slavery is wrong or bad. Slavery would be, at the very least, logically allowable. If evolution is true, it is no worse for the better and more recent iterations of humans to rule over the earlier “less than” iterations, than it is for an owner to rule over a dog. I think that if evolution is true, this could be one logical deduction.

I hope your emotions are pricked by the thought that evolution provides logical and (most notably) scientific grounds for slavery. And I hope you are repulsed by this thought. If not, then I fear we have learned nothing from history, but instead have accepted something sinister without greater scrutiny. More on that later.

MLK Day

2008-01-21T01:30:00.000-06:00

Hope is one of the greatest gifts ever given to the human race. I believe that mankind has been given one of clearest pictures of true hope in the African American heritage, but especially as it is seen within the Black churches across the world, and specifically by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Here’s to you. Here’s to hope.

Can They Sue Us?

2008-01-19T17:22:00.000-06:00

Is it considered slander if a child equates their latest “porcelain deposit” to Thomas the Train?

See the mugshot of the accused below. See how she tries to blend into the background. Obviously guilty.

Everyone’s A Comedian

2008-01-13T20:12:00.000-06:00

Amy took Kayla to run some errands the other day. While they were out, Amy had Kayla try on a few pairs of shoes and asked her which ones she liked. As Amy narrowed it down to two pairs, Kayla made her choice clear with one, shall we say, word of warning to her mother.

“You can get those shoes for me, but I won’t wear them.”

Thought

2008-01-12T23:52:00.000-06:00

Without love, man finds no great home.

Samuel’s Fauxcut

2008-01-09T12:21:00.000-06:00

Samuel was born with a natural fauxhawk. It has grown to the point where it won’t stick straight up, so it ends up being his first comb-over. Now, at about six months old, we decided to give him his first haircut. It’s kinda funny when you notice for the first time that a third of his cranial height was due to hair.

Hair to spare:

Post-cut:

Books

2008-01-09T11:27:00.000-06:00

“Those books weren't made for walking!”
—Said to Kayla as she walked across books she had piled on the floor

NYTimes Slideshow

2007-12-29T15:18:00.000-06:00

From the NYTimes, here is a slideshow of just before and after Bhutto’s assassination. This was a suicide bombing, so don’t expect G-rated images.

Atrocious.

It’s frustrating that those who disagree with another would resort to the lowest form interaction: violence.

And Pakistan's official position is not that she was assassinated, but that she bumped her head and died. Yeah, because that's what happens to the opposition. They bump their heads.

“I Shall Return,” Said Someone Famous

2007-12-19T11:39:00.000-06:00

It has been a long four months since I last posted. Kudos to the twelve of you who check in vain hope that I will have posted something that week.

This being in school thing is . . . all-consuming. It’s even harder when you have a big family and have to figure out how to make money in the mean time. Note to future generations: the big flub of the last fifteen years of my life was neglecting to do school while I had the freedom of being single with no kids. It would have been so much easier. And I would have remembered algebra and geometry.

This past semester (I took my last final yesterday) was the hardest so far: Psychology (Development Over the Lifespan), Algebra and Microbiology. In psych I submitted a position paper that was pretty decent. I got an A for the semester. In algebra I got a B, and I didn’t even do any homework. Sooner or later I’ll have to figure out how to factor and divide polynomials. But I’ll never use it in the real world.

This is one of the frustrating things to me about higher math . . . it is rarely used in real life. When is the last time you had to divide 2–7/4ths by 11/13ths? Sure you could do it if you absolutely had to, but most real world situations are quite simple.

I had an epiphany during math class. Most other subjects have natural problems that can be figured out. Science looks for DNA structure and enzymatic interactions, for instance. They didn’t create the problem, they’re just trying to figure it out. But math creates its own problems. It’s built-in job security.

More to come.

Micro Grade

2007-12-19T11:37:00.000-06:00

I’m still waiting on my Micro grade. Really bad stuff will happen if I don’t get a C. I’ve been on the edge the whole semester, so we’ll see. Twenty more minutes til it posts.

And counting.

Update: I got a C. Home-free.

On to the next semester.

And 1

2007-08-14T02:12:00.000-05:00

By the way, we had a baby boy on July 19th. The score is now 3 to 1 in the final quarter. No overtime is expected.

Named him Samuel Michael. For his nickname, we’re going to call him “quits”. [Think about it for a minute.]

Yep, I’m almost a month late in posting this . . . many apologies. If I listed out our month you would call me a liar. A friend quipped that we need our own personal intercessors for the family; she wasn’t kidding.

Back to Samuel. He’s been awake every night from about 11PM to 5AM. I think it’s called colic. It sure ain’t called “a good night's rest”. Amy and I have switched every few hours so we get at least a little sleep. It’s my shift right now.

You see this in sitcoms: ugly baby and nobody wants to break the news to the happy parents. Can I just say we’re not like that. We had two cute babies and two “precious” babies (that’s code for “take it back now, I just can't stand to look”).

Samuel didn’t start out so well, but he’s working out his issues. One thing in his favor is that he has had a full head of ultra-soft hair since day one; we’re talking jealous silkworms and stuff. And he eats like a champ, thus the colic-ish-iness.

The still-life slideshow starts below.

A Thousand Pardons

2007-04-14T14:34:00.000-05:00

My most desperate apologies go out to the few readers left who still sneak a peek at this blog. Obviously I haven’t kept up with it, even though I had good enough intentions.

I could go through the reasons, but that would be boring.

I could make up a fantastical story, but that would take a lot of time. And I’m short on that at the moment.

So how about a peace offering of sorts ... a thought I had the other day ... something to ponder.

I told one of my girls that I love them and they said, “Love you, Daddy.” After a minute of gushing, I had a strange thought: what would a two or three year old know about love? While it doesn’t diminish the way I feel as their father when they say it to me, they certainly do not know the depth of emotion or lengths I would go to when I say “love”. In a way, it almost seems silly to hear young children say “love”, but as their parents, it moves our hearts even though we recognize that they do not know the extent of what it means to love.

And so it is with God.

He says He loves us—with a depth of emotion incomprehensible, and the lengths of eternity He would go to is unimaginable—and we say we love Him back. Our intentions are true, but they are still short of His reality. He knows what He means (and what we mean), but we don’t know the depth of what He means ... sometimes we don’t even know what we mean. Really, now, how much could we possibly comprehend compared with the God whose name actually is Love?

Yet, even with knowing all of that, God’s heart is still moved to the point of gushing whenever we glance His direction ... whenever “love” crosses our lips.

He is moved by our love.

Olivia Is Coming Home

2007-03-24T10:46:00.000-05:00

We were told Olivia could go home today, Saturday. It’s just a matter of the highly secretive and enigmatic “Blue Team” writing the orders. Which makes me wonder, does it take long for an entire team to write “Go home” on a sheet of paper?

They took out Olivia’s chest drainage tubes yesterday, which I hear feels like burning. Thank goodness for morphine.

Olivia has been playing peekaboo with herself, grabbing at her toes, and doing a full-body squirm when she gets excited. We’ve been playing a bit and I’ve gotten to hold her a little as well.

Overall, seeing that she’s just had a major surgery and discounting the “smoker’s husk” her voice has going on, she’s doing quite well.

One picture below: Olivia awake with the staples in her chest.

Silver Lining

2007-03-20T23:10:00.000-05:00

I'm at the hospital and Olivia has been asleep for most of the day, but when she woke up tonight around 9PM, she graced us with her personality again...

She started to whine a little, but when I said her name and walked toward her, she turned to me and smiled.

She's getting back to herself already. And only thirty hours after her surgery.

Amazing.

Olivia's Surgery, Day Two

2007-03-20T21:04:00.000-05:00

Alrighty, here's an update. I'll use bullet points so I don't ramble.

—Olivia's (bi-directional) Glenn procedure is done. The complete Fontan repair will happen between 2-1/2 and 3-1/2 years old.
—Her O2 sats average 78–85, which is great for her, but bad compared to normal people; everyone else's oxygen saturation levels in their blood hover right at 100%. She'll average 95–100 after the Fontan.
—She is still a bit blue-ish, which is normal for right now since her body is getting use to the passive blood flow from the top of her body due to the mechanics of the Glenn procedure.
—Her puffiness from the procedure is going down.
—She still has staples in, of course.
—As of about 4PM on Tuesday, we have been moved to a regular room.
—She was on a few meds to stabilize her, but she's dropped down to a mix of Morphine and Oxycodone (codeine) and Motrin for pain, and a bit of Lasix which helps wick away excessive moisture from organs.
—She hasn't given us any urine since this morning, so we put in a catheter and got a bit out.
—Other than that, she's sleeping well.
—She hasn't shown us any signs that she really recognizes us yet, but she hasn't been awake for that long at a time either, so I'm not too worried. She still probably has a massive headache, and she's very sore. When she is up, she is limited in her movements due to pain and IVs and stuff, so that has to be frustrating.
—Even though she gets a bit upset when she is awake, she calms easily.
—She has two Blake drainage bulbs for either side of her chest cavity; these pull out liquids that are running loose. So far they said our stay has a lot to do with how those keep draining. The sooner they clear up, the sooner they will send us home ... but at the moment it looks like Monday or Tuesday since they are still pretty chylous (cream colored instead of red/pink, meaning there's drainage from her lymph system that seems to be more than the blood concentration).

Time to try to feed her.

And now, for the weak of stomach, avoid scrolling down. I am posting a few post-op pictures below. Click on them to enlarge them.

Olivia’s Midnight Update

2007-03-20T00:35:00.000-05:00

I just talked with the nurse:
—Olivia woke up on her own and fussed a little. I would if I had a tube down my throat, too.
—So they extubated her (no more breathing tube).
—She’s been breathing on her own now for a little while.
—She went right back to sleep.
—She may get her arterial line taken out tonight or tomorrow morning. This is the line that is basically floating in an artery to measure pressure and heart rate.
—Her central line may come out tomorrow. This is inserted under her collarbone into a main artery so they can administer meds quickly if need be.
—She has been weaned off ... something that starts with a D. It helps her heart.
—She is on Nipride®, a vasodilator which helps open up the vasculature to take pressure off that system (stemming hypertension) after things like major surgery.
—She is also on Nitroglycerin, which is a vasodilator as well.
—Olivia is also on something else that begins with an M. I think it’s for pain management.
—She is turning a bit more pink since they have given her some blood.
—They may try to give her some clear liquids (Pedialiyte®) tonight if she seems hungry.
—One more piece of great news. If she keeps doing as well as she's doing now, they may move her to a regular room tomorrow! Incredible!

I’ll be there by about 8:30AM tomorrow morning. So I need to sleep. I’ll get pictures tomorrow.

About Olivia's Procedures

2007-03-19T21:56:00.000-05:00

This is a post for the info-minded. And it's not short.

Many have asked what kind of surgery Olivia had, what makes it different from the next surgery and how it all works. While my understanding is still limited, I'll try to point you in the right direction.

First, here's a normal heart, followed by a Tetralogy of Fallot heart, which is what Olivia has been dealing with.

Olivia has a heart defect called Tetralogy of Fallot (rhymes with shallow, with the emphasis on the last syllable). Also see here and here and here for great info on TOF. “Tetra” means four, as in the popular game Tetris in which four squares are arranged in shapes that must be fit together in rows to gain points. Tetralogy, then, is the study of a series of four heart defects categorized by a frenchman named Etienne Fallot around 1888.

As some of you have noticed with Olivia, infants and children with tetralogy of Fallot usually have blue-tinged skin (cyanosis), lips, nail beds and any other part of the body where blood flow is close to the surface of the skin. It is more pronounced especially during times of exertion. As you can see from the picture, Olivia had a ventricular septal defect (VSD), which is a hole in the wall that separates the left and right ventricles. This hole can be small or large, but Olivia's was quite large; more than three-quarters of the entire span of her heart, which made it impossible to repair the hole. [Click here for some key points about TOF.]

As seen in the last link, a week after Olivia was born, she had a Blalock-Taussig shunt (BT shunt) put in. It's an artificial Gortex™ artery intended to put more oxygen-rich blood into her heart to be pumped out through her body. The problem is, with that VSD, once the oxygen-rich blood was pumped into her heart, it mixed with the blood coming back from the body that had already delivered its oxygen payload ... oxygen-rich blood + oxygen-depleted blood = oxygen-diluted blood. She wasn't getting enough oxygenated blood pumping throughout her body, which brings us to the current surgery. The BT shunt was just buying some time until her body could handle some major open-heart surgery.

The surgery she just had is called a Glenn and the next one will be a complete Fontan repair, which is the final step in this two-step process.

From the Mayo Clinic site:
“Often, children with [TOF] require more than one surgery. The goal of these surgeries is to create sufficient blood flow into and out of the heart and lungs, allowing your baby's body to receive the proper amount of oxygen-rich blood.”

“The first step, sometimes called a bi-directional Glenn or hemi-Fontan, is typically performed around four to six months of age. It reduces the work of the right ventricle by allowing it to pump blood mainly to the aorta and allowing most of the blood returning from the body to flow directly into the lungs. After this operation, all the blood returning from the upper body is sent to the lungs, so blood with more oxygen is pumped to the aorta to supply organs and tissues throughout the body.” And another paragraph: “The Glenn procedure: When babies have outgrown the [BT] shunt, they often require a surgery that sets the stage for the Fontan procedure. Doctors usually perform the Glenn procedure when a child is about 6 months old. It connects one of the large veins that return blood to the heart (superior vena cava) to the pulmonary artery. This allows oxygen-poor blood to flow directly to the lungs. The procedure reduces the workload on the left ventricle, decreasing the risk of damage to it.”

“The second step, called the Fontan procedure, is done between 18 months and 3 years of age, [but they are planning on doing this between ages 2-1/2 and 3-1/2 in Olivia]. It allows the rest of the blood coming back from the body to go to the lungs. After this procedure, there's no mixing of oxygen-rich and oxygen-poor blood in the heart, so [Olivia's] skin will no longer look blue.” And another paragraph: “A surgery called the Fontan procedure is the best option for treatment ... During a Fontan surgery, the surgeon creates a path for the oxygen-poor blood returning to the heart to flow directly into the pulmonary arteries, which then pump the blood into the lungs.”

Summaries are supposed to be shorter, I know, but hopefully this better explains what she's going through.

Thanks for all the prayers and calls. The surgical team was outstanding and Olivia is doing well.

Olivia's Surgery Complete

2007-03-19T16:05:00.000-05:00

Friends and Family,

Olivia's surgery is complete. It went very well and the surgical team is very happy with the results. They chose not to insert the middle wall in her heart; instead, they basically rerouted all the blood to make it go in the top of the heart (the atriums) and come out the bottom (the ventricles) to the rest of her body.

Olivia will be fine until about two or three years old, at which time she will need to have one more surgery to complete the re-routing of the blood (called a Fontan procedure).

Reasons for not putting in the middle wall:
—Not enough heart muscle to sew on to.
—Too much wall to reconstruct.
—Reconstructing the wall would most likely have led to a heart attack.
—Reconstructing the wall would have been more of a "messy" procedure, and it would have led to at least 3 or 4 more surgeries through age 18.
—Doing the in-the-top-out-the-bottom surgery will only necessitate one more surgery at age 2 or three.

The plan for the rest of the day:
—Olivia has enough anesthesia to keep her comfortable for a few hours, so they will let it wear off and allow her to rouse herself and start breathing on her own (she's on a breathing machine now).
—They will take out the breathing tube this evening once she has proven she is breathing on her own.
—She will be given enough pain medicine to keep her comfortable (and sleeping) for the rest of today and into tomorrow morning.
—She is on three normal medicines now, but they should be weaned by tonight or tomorrow.
—Amy and I are spending time with Kayla and Maddie. Once they are in bed, we will go back to the hospital.

Olivia will be in the hospital for about the next week or two as she recuperates. Thanks for all your prayers!

Pre-op Done

2007-03-17T00:38:00.000-05:00

We were at the hospital today for a total of ... too long. Now I know why they set up an entire day just to get you checked in—because it takes an entire day just to get you checked in.

EKG, lots of walking, find the “elephant” elevator, ECG, X-rays, find the “unicorn” elevator, blood draw, more walking, find the “rocket” elevator and the six stair steps, RSV test (negative ... yeah, boyee!), consult with the surgeon, walk some more, find the same day surgery clinic ... no, the same day surgery admin clinic, consult with the nurse anesthesiologist (anyone want to make $170,000 starting salary?), how many times is someone going to take her blood pressure, measure her head circumference, her height and her weight?, walk even more, are we done yet?, one more thing and I hear it includes walking...

We found out that Versed, normally a sedative, did not sedate Olivia for more than about five or ten minutes.

We found out that when she hasn't eaten since 2:30AM, she will drink or eat anything ... weak apple juice, the shoulder you prop her on, or the random finger of a nurse. Nurse Cathy, how are those stitches looking? Yeah, sorry about that. She was famished. I think I even heard Olivia said, “Carrrrrrrne asada!”

We also found that Olivia's colorful and inspiring butterfly toy is only inspiring in short bursts ... meaning, for those two hours between naps. In the same vein, we found that daddy is only funny to her between naps as well. And needles are never funny.

It's 1AM and I need to wake her up and feed her. Verse for the night: “We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed.”

Olivia's Surgery Is Scheduled

2007-03-09T23:10:00.000-06:00

Just wanted to give a quick update on Olivia.

She has been getting more and more blue on a regular basis, so we have scheduled her heart surgery. Her pre-op is on Friday March 16th (heavy-duty EKG and such), and her surgery is on Monday the 19th. She should be at Children's Mercy Hospital downtown for around two weeks or so and we'll be in and out each day, with one of us staying overnight each night.

What will they do for this surgery? Glad you asked.
—Cut open her chest
—Put her on heart and lung bypass
—Take out her heart
—Cut it in half
—Insert a synthetic middle wall made of Gortex or Dacron
—Sew her heart back together
—Put it back in her body
—Jumpstart her heart again
—Sew her back up
All this will take about 5 or 6 hours.

Olivia is the happiest little girl we've ever seen, so we hope this whole ordeal doesn't change that ... I can't imagine why it would, but it sure is a lot for a seven-month-old to go through.

We would appreciate your prayers for Olivia (and pitch one for Amy, too ... moms have a unique way of carrying more than their fair share).

I'll give more info soon.

Wish I Could Claim It

2007-02-24T16:26:00.000-06:00

Amy is away for the weekend with her mom's group, which means I have the girls all to myself. It should be a great time for them. I wish I could say I came up with the idea, but how about if I just take partial credit for letting her go?

Now, let's see, what's for dinner? Waffles are easy.

Captions Game

2007-02-24T14:06:00.000-06:00

Welcome to the captions game. Take a look and come up with a caption or three.

Check It Off The List

2007-02-23T00:29:00.000-06:00

—Completed an assignment for a Philosophy class, complete with my choice of words: non-sequitur, apophatic philosophy, axiom and surd. Where else can you quote Descartes, Einstein, Ecclesiastes and C.S. Lewis, and throw in an avalanche and the 1755 Lisbon earhquake as examples? I love this stuff.
—Made a John Mayer station on Pandora.com. Free music of your choice is awesome.
—Talked with my younger brother. Ten years difference; still chasing after God; everything is yours if you are God's.
—Regrouted and caulked our bathroom tub. For a perfectionist, this takes longer than it sounds like it should.
—Wrote a busy schedule for tomorrow ... including playing drums at IHOP.
—Played with my girls. Some of the best times of my life.
—Encouraged Amy to buy makeup—the once a year purchase. [UPDATE: For all the confused guys, it's skin care, not makeup. The difference is makeup is what you paint on (which can either be good for your skin or bad for your skin), skin care is the in between stuff like cleanser, toner (whatthe?), astringent (again, whatthe?), eye cream and the like.] How many husbands actually do this? Gentlemen, three questions for you: what do you want her to look like in twenty years, or fifty? And how much is her self-confidence worth to your relationship? Lastly, how many things do you spend money on that can last an entire year? The cheap stuff makes you paint it on heavier each year to cover the damage being continually done. But the better stuff continually reveals the beauty residing in her. This isn't “slather it on so you look good,” this is taking care of your body while drawing out inherent beauty. Like most people, I am moved by beauty, but Amy ... oh, she compels greatness in every area of my soul more than the passing of the moon compels the greatness of daybreak.
—Bartered for fair wage at a part-time job.
—Worried that Kayla knows more about Starbucks than about shapes and colors.
—Listened to a little Marc Broussard.
—Caught the mouse. Amy stayed on the couch and screamed while I chased it down the hallway, both of us slipping on the wood floors like a cartoon, and finally caught it under a spaghetti strainer. Easier to see that he's still there with a strainer. Slipped a glue trap under and waited for him to get stuck. You'll have to imagine the rest. RIP.
—Discussed with Amy when and how to approach a fellow Christian friend about their foray (if there is such a thing) into homosexuality.
—Stayed up too late for my busy day tomorrow.
—Got an iced peppermint mocha. Good stuff. Iced is great for spring or summer, hot is great for autumn and winter. It's the do-it-all drink for each season.

House For Sale

2007-02-21T10:07:00.000-06:00

Does anyone want to buy our house? Spread the word: we are selling and moving to Washington state sometime in the middle of May or so. We will sell or rent, we just need to figure it out soon so we can plan Olivia's surgery and a few other details.

More to come, but the short version is we are getting ready to have our fourth child in under three-and-a-half years, so when Amy's family said they might be interested in helping out a little bit, it was music to our ears.

Olivia's Procedure

2007-02-16T12:03:00.000-06:00

Everything went quite well. She was swollen due to the IVs and anesthesia they used, but once she woke up she was flailing around like normal and really happy.

They told us they will be able to completely repair her heart with the better of the two surgeries, meaning she will be normal when it is all finished. They are not completely sure of the surgery date yet, but we should know within a few weeks.

It's A Boy!

2007-02-15T11:42:00.000-06:00

Yes, one and all, we are having a boy! The sonogram was conclusive. Thanks for playing "Guess the gender".

Olivia

2007-02-15T10:51:00.001-06:00

Olivia is having a cardiac catheterization today. Basically, they cut into her leg and insert a tube in her femoral artery to run a bunch of tests on her heart, like testing the various pressures between each valve and the volume they are pumping, as well as a 3D diagram of the chambers, aortas, etc. They are trying to figure out which kind of surgery she can have and how soon.

There are two types of surgery being considered. The first type will completely repair the hole in her heart so she will be "normal"; it's the best type she can have at the moment. The second type won't repair the hole, it will just reroute all the bloodflow so it will go in the top and out the bottom to the rest of the body, instead of making a figure eight while using both sides of her heart (one big chamber instead of two).

Amy and Olivia are at the hospital and I am at home with the girls since we couldn't nab a babysitter in time. One of us may have to stay overnight if they don't release her, but since it is a straightforward procedure, we're hoping to bring her home this evening.

We want to give a shout out to Lindsey, Olivia's nurse at St. Luke's. She was amazing. She wrote us yesterday to see how we all were doing ... she's just that kind of person.

We'll let you know how it turns out today. Thanks for all your prayers for Olivia.

We Know What We're Having

2007-02-13T13:51:00.000-06:00

Amy went to the doctor's office today and had a sonogram. Sign in with your guesses and we'll let you know who is right. Keep in mind, we have all girls ... so what are our statistical chances? Hmmm. Lots to think about.

Ode to a Mouse

2007-02-08T09:37:00.000-06:00

It's been three weeks now; you're superior, I'll admit.
I've seen you and heard you, but you won't take a hit.
With each trap we've tried, whether glue or spring-type
You've dined at Chez Farmer's on PB and cheese—so ripe.

I remember the time you ran down our hall
Kayla was scared, but you were having a ball.
Rumor has it you hide in toasters, like bread.
I start mine each morning in hopes you'll turn up dead.

You gnaw and scratch and run within the walls.
Remodeling—with a flame-thrower—I feel is my call.
With one last attempt, some PB on glue,
The sticky buffet at Chez Farmer's awaits the frustrating shrew.

TinkerTool

2007-01-28T14:40:00.000-06:00

A Mac will let you customize a lot of things, but it could still do a bit more. That's where TinkerTool comes in. It's freeware that gives a whole new level of control over your Dock, Finder, Safari, fonts, etc. And you can revert back to how it was before you started tinkering with it by clicking one button.

For instance, any font in your font book can be used anywhere on your system, and can even override webpage fonts. For people who are particular (like me), this is a good thing. My favorite fonts on my Web. I love it.

Quote of the Day

2007-01-28T14:10:00.000-06:00

"Please consult your physician before using this or any other exercise equipment. The manufacturers assume no responsibility for improper use or any injury that may result."

This disclaimer is on the back of a pair of ultra-thin, super-slippery $1 microfiber workout socks from Target. Talk about covering your bases.

In layman's terms, please don't use this sock to:
—function as a helmet
—cover your entire body like an impervious shield as you dive into a volcano
—cover your entire body like a life-giving bubble as you search the Titanic wreckage
—cover your entire body
—be your baseball glove
—protect yourself in a paintball game
—keep you safe so sticks and stones won't break your bones
—shoo away lime disease

Amy's Birthday!!!

2007-01-28T14:09:00.000-06:00

Today is Amy's birthday.

She's at an Aveda salon getting a facial and loving every minute of it, I'm sure. She definitely deserves every bit of pampering she can get.

Happy birthday, hun.

Speak Klingon?

2007-01-28T13:55:00.000-06:00

For those using a Mac (which should be all critical thinking types), did you know your system is bogged down with needless languages for every program on your hard drive? Yeah, the only bigger waste would be to bog down your computer with the bloated Windows OS.

There's a complicated way to get rid of the eighty languages you will never use, but simple is always the way to go.

I just got rid of everything but English, German, French and Spanish (just in case) and it gave me an extra gig of free space. (Thanks to R-Boh for the link.)

Pictures

2007-01-14T21:17:00.000-06:00

Our kids are the flippin' cutest you've ever seen. And they're not camera-shy, so I added a few pictures to our Flickr account. Look to the right where the snapshots are cycling, click on "Farmer Family Pictures" and then on jfjudah. Here's a few not up yet.

Names

2007-01-12T00:51:00.000-06:00

Seeing as this will be our fifth baby in less than five years, we're fresh out of names. We don't know if this baby will be a boy or girl, but if you've got any suggestions, let us know. Otherwise we may be stuck with something from Beowulf that begins with an H ... and trust me, that doesn't work so well outside of an epic poem set in Dane-land.

And, no, Leroy isn't in the mix, you IHOPers. But, what else you got?

You Know You've Hit the Bigtime When...

2007-01-08T14:10:00.001-06:00

...none other than this guy comes calling.

We in the IT office at IHOP received a voicemail today (well, two actually) that went something like this.

"Hi. I'm looking for Mike Bickle, but the phone system dumped me to this extension. My name is Stephen Baldwin. I have been an actor for over fifteen years and now I have a ministry. If you need to find out about me you can go to stephenbaldwin.com ... that's Stephen with a P-H. Ummm, I am trying to reach Mike Bickle ... and Corey Russell if I can. I connect different Christian ministries together. My number is XXX-XXX-XXXX. That's XXX-XXX-XXXX. And that's my personal cell number here in New York."

Then he called back a second time and left almost the same message. In case we didn't get it the first time.

We laughed because we thought it was a prank. But it was real apparently.

You heard it here first.

Pregnant

2007-01-01T16:36:00.000-06:00

We are.

Happy New Year!

New Stuff In the IHOP World

2006-12-28T09:57:00.000-06:00

Check out the brand new redesign of IHOP's onething website. Big props to Joseph Taylor and the onething crew that pitched in (I'm sure Josh Inkenbrandt has a little consultation fee coming to him as well).

Also, IHOP has a new front door for the onething conference. This is your way to connect with what's going on: webstream, free and at-cost MP3s, highlights and a way to submit your prayer requests to the twenty-four hour prayer room. We'll be adding more throughout the conference.

And keep watching IHOP's homepage for a brand new design there as well (my sources say sometime after the new year).

onething™ National Conference 2006

2006-12-27T18:37:00.000-06:00

The onething Conference starts in less than 24 hours. You can come to KC for it, pay $40 on the IHOP website to get the live webstream, or get it for free (you didn't hear it from me) on www.god.tv. Their schedule is located in the left sidebar. The "Watch Now" tab is mid-screen.

I'll be slaving away in the IT netherworld with a team that makes sure everything goes smoothly. Tap in however you can.

Enjoy.

Giving (and Control), Part Tres

2006-12-21T00:55:00.000-06:00

I'm going to (over)simplify this to make one quick point:

We believe certain things about Love, and we aim for them: Love is not love when you force someone to love you back, when it isn't freely given, when it isn't voluntary, or when it is coerced.

Why do we as Christians believe that giving is any different? Giving isn't really giving when we are forced to give, when we force someone to give back to us, when there are strings attached, or when we place demands on the receiver before we hand it over.

Verse For The Night

2006-12-21T00:25:00.000-06:00

This one brought to you by Olivia, the non-sleeper.

“Listen, I tell you a mystery: we will not all sleep, but we will all be changed.”
— 1 Corinthians 15:51

Why Spend $300?

2006-12-18T23:37:00.000-06:00

For all the IHOPers. In-ear headphones can get expensive ... anywhere from $100–400 easily.

Here's a tutorial on how to do it for about $20 (just don't ruin your ears, okay?). Hope it's not too late for you.