2000 gram party

Baby of Lucy was born 2 months ago.  She was very premature and just a tiny thing, weighing only 1200 grams or about 2.5 pounds at birth.  Her first month of life was quite a struggle.  She would gain a little wait, loose a little.  Her abdomen would swell or she would vomit, forcing me to hold or cut back on her feeds.  She was also treated for an infection or two.  It always seemed like one step forward and two steps back.

I need to pray for this little one, I thought.  So I prayed for her.  And I recruited my prayer partners to pray for her.  Wouldn't you know, she started growing.  The thin, wasted little baby began to fill out and plump up.  It was amazing to watch how the Lord answered this prayer.

Today we celebrated baby of Lucy's 2000 gram party!  As an added bonus we also celebrated babies of Janet and Francisca.  We snacked on mandarin oranges, which were a gift to me from another patient, and no bake cookies.  I shared from Psalm 139 where the author describes how Papa God sees each of us before we are even born, that our days are written in His book.  I think these little ones must have a special place in His heart.

Prayer really makes a difference.  So to all my prayer partners out there, thank you for praying.   This is only one of the many lives you have touched.

(If you are not currently on my prayer partner list and you would like to receive updates with requests, drop me a note!  I would love to add you.)

Australian holiday

Start:	Sep 10, '09
End:	Sep 18, '09
Location:	Cairns and vicinity, Australia

Wahoo! My first real vacation. Becky Wallace and I are headed to Cairns, Australia for a week. Going down under!

Green paw

Thursdays are my half days off.  After rounds I leave the hospital and doctor responsibilities behind for the rest of the day.  The remainder of the morning is occupied by piano lessons.  I am the teacher and I have two very excellent students, Allison Dooley and Lydia Radcliffe.  I will have to write a separate story about that someday.  Afternoons are filled with a variety of activities such as baking bread, catching up on emails and blogs, reading, and working in the garden.  Oh, and of course... keeping Brutus the Wonder Dog out of trouble.

During the other week days when I am working at the hospital and Becky at the field office, Brutus spends his time in what I refer to as "The Slammer" (a.k.a. laundry room).  When we are at home for lunch or evenings or days off, we try to maximize his time outside.  If I am around to keep an eye on him, he is allowed to roam around the yard a bit.  He is especially fond of the garden with all of the hills and barrettes and dirt.

Being that today is Thursday, I decided to spend the afternoon pulling weeds in the garden.  Due to a bit of neglect on my part and plentiful rain, there was a rather dense jungle attempting to take over the blackberry patch.  Not our precious blackberry patch!  Becky and I rather enjoy our blackberry pies, so these bushes deserve a little extra care.  Since I was working outside, Brutus was taken off his chain and given a bit of freedom.  He was curious as to what in the world I was up to.  Well, more than curious... he wanted to help.  Apparently my dog has a green paw.  We played tug of war with the garden gloves and fetch with the weeds (I would throw them out and he would bring them back to me).  He ate weeds and dirt and sticks and whatever else he could find to munch on, and then collected a pile of snails for dessert.  Really, watching Brutus weed the garden was so comical I made hardly any progress on the weed jungle.  It was well worth the fun :).