One day at a time

Hi friends,

Thanks so much for your continued prayers for Hulda, Agnus, Magnus, Hjalti, and the rest of their family. The baby is doing excellent. She is sleeping, eating, and pooping! The family adores her.

Hulda is not doing as well. She has had a lot of bleeding. They hope to get her off the artificial lung by Friday because that is part of the problem. However, she still relies fully on the artificial lung. Please continue to pray for healing. I wish I had more to tell you.

Peace,

Rachel

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Birthdays

Well, my wife is celebrating a birthday. And while we celebrated Josiah’s last weekend, and mine last week, all with presents and parties, or special meals, we’re taking time out to celebrate her.

Rachel is amazing in so many ways. She is wise, funny, kind and sincere, organized, motherly, loving, creative, respectful, intelligent, patient, and did I mention funny, very funny. Needless to say that if you have not had a chance to really meet and chat with my wife, you are really missing out; there is probably a hole somewhere in your heart or list of experiences that just refuses to be filled until you have met my wife. Amazing, truly amazing.

So as birthdays go, there’s not a whole lot of super-duper celebration going on, as it’s hard to get away with 4 kiddos for more than an hour, but thanks to

some great friends, we were able to go out on our “birthday date” to McGraw’s in W.Laf. Fabulous food, great conversation, great view (we were able to get a table overlooking the Wabash, right after the snows).  On a side-note, my steak was to-die-for, I had the smoked prime rib, very, very yum. After dinner we were able to go to a local coffee shop, chatted more, played a card-game, and just really enjoyed each other’s company. We had such a good time.

One of the best things about my wife is her organizational skills, intuition, and foresight. So, after being in a relationship with me for over a decade, she has dropped some not so subtle hints about what I am to do on her b-day. Things like, what kind of cake slice to get from O’Rear’s bakery, say happy birthday often, sometime during the day to get a Shamrock Shake, and say I love you often. Wow, what a great wife, she is so good to me.

In truth, she is really amazing; and if you haven’t, you need to meet her sometime.

Happy Birthday Rach.

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Baby Agnus

Hi friends,

Here is today’s update on our friend, Hulda.

The baby girl’s name is to be Agnus. She will be coming home today. Hjalti’s sister arrived last night. Hulda was not getting enough oxygen yesterday and the doctors discovered a problem in the artificial lung. They fixed it and she is stable again. After another X-ray, the doctor also said that he is willing to say that he does see some improvement in her lungs. Also, her swelling is going down.

Thank you so much for your prayers for her!

Peace,
Rachel

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“All my prayers are for Hulda” ~ one of our students

Dear friends,

Again, I thank you so much for your prayers for Hulda. I am excited to hear of all the places, people, churches, and small groups who are lifting Hulda and her family up to God. Wow!

As for Hulda, the doctors say she is doing as well as can be expected in these conditions. She is still sedated and paralyzed (medically). She is still on an artificial lung. However, one of the doctors who was reviewing her latest X-ray said although not conclusive, there might be some slight improvement.

The baby girl is doing well and is feeding from a bottle. She may be coming home this week.

I will continue to keep you updated. Thank you so much for your prayers.

Peace,
Rachel

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Pray for Hulda

Hello friends,

I am so encouraged by the prayers being offered up for Hulda. Thank you so much. I would like to let you know how things are going.

Hulda was airlifted to Indiana University Methodist Hospital in Indianapolis this past weekend to receive special care. She was immediately received by a team of specialists who attached her to an artificial lung. She is stable but obviously still in critical condition.

The baby girl is still in the hospital here in Lafayette. She is doing well although continues to have problems feeding with a bottle.

Please continue to keep Hulda, her new baby girl, and her family in your prayers. This is going to be a long road for them.

Again, thank you so much for your prayers.
Peace,
Rachel

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Pray for Hulda

Dear readers,
I am writing this post in urgency. Many of you know that Hulda (one of our Bible study and playgroup moms) went in sick to the hospital earlier this week and had to have an emergency C-section. The baby was brought to the NICU and she was placed in the ICU.

Since then, the baby girl is fairing well, but Hulda has continued to be seriously ill. She suffered respiratory failure and is on full life-support and on the highest level of oxygen possible. They are not sure of her sickness but are suspecting H1N1. She has been left medically sedated and has been medically paralyzed in order to place her in a rotational bed (to give relief to her lungs). The doctors are now saying as soon as she is stable they will fly her to either Indianapolis or Cleveland for advanced treatment.

Readers, Hulda is in a life or death situation. I and the family fervently ask for your bold prayers. Please pray for healing. Please also pray for Magnus. He is recovering from illness and is very confused right now. Please pray for Hjalti (her husband). Please pray for Johanna (her mother), who arrived last night and is exhausted and scared for her daughter. Please also pray for Hulda’s family at home. Finally, pray for abundant mercy.

Thank you Readers.
I will try to keep you updated and if we can help, I want us to be available to the family. Let me know if you can help in any way.

Peace,
Rachel

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Stir-Fried Mashed Potatoes

These past few weeks we have struggled with the influenza B virus in our household. It affected five of us and we are still not completely in the clear with the sixth. Although we are all recovering, I decided to cancel a dinner date that we had set with a friend and his new wife this past Saturday.

Before the second wave of the flu hit our family, I had promised them a good home-cooked Chinese meal (they are both from China). Well, I felt bad, but canceled via email, thinking that would be best for them and for us.

Guess who showed up anyway! Because they had not received my email and I had forgotten to check with them, they showed up with dumplings, chicken, and cupcakes at 5:45pm on Saturday evening. I was so embarrassed and didn’t want to embarrass them, so I said nothing and started stir-frying everything in the refrigerator. We ate leftover steamed rice, stir-fried pork, stir-fried spinach, stir-fried mushrooms, stir-fried green beans and potatoes, stir-fried tomatoes, AND stir-fried leftover mashed potatoes!

It was surprisingly a wonderful evening. We enjoyed each others company as we were delighted to learn more about his recent conversion to Christianity and his joy in finding a Christian woman to marry (who is equally delightful!). I could not have planned the evening better.

“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the Lord.  Isaiah 55:8

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