We’ve had a sobering reminder of the frailty of our plans in this life.

Isaac cut his right thumb fairly seriously while we were working today. Michael accompanied Isaac to the local emergency room, and now they are being sent to Springfield, IL to see a specialist there.

I don’t know many more details than that. Suffice it to say, we won’t be accomplishing much more this weekend on the Monroe house project.

I rest in the confidence that Our Loving Shepherd is in perfect control of this situation. I am feeling weak though, so as the Lord brings us to mind, we would appreciate your prayers.

Update: 4:30 pm.

Michael and Isaac stopped by home to pick up a few things before heading to Springfield. It was good to see Isaac, even though he had a big bandage on his right hand. He was able to come into the house and see everyone.

We are humbled and grateful by the outpouring of love and prayer from all of you. I will post updates here as I have them.

Update: 5:30 pm.

Last I heard, Michael and Isaac had arrived at the hospital and were checking in. I’m so anxious to hear further news, such as when Isaac’s thumb will be operated on, etc. I don’t know if they’ll admit him to the hospital or if it’s an outpatient surgery. There’s so much I don’t know.

Interestingly, one of our pastors went with Michael and Isaac to Springfield. It’s hard to believe how loving our church family is during these times. We are so grateful.

Update: 6:30 pm.

Michael just called and said that he had turned Isaac over to the operating staff. They said it could be an hour or two, or it could be longer. So now we just wait and see what they’re able to do. They’ll knock Isaac out completely, so it will go quickly for him. The rest of us will wait and pray.

For me, the mundane things of life demand my attention. Some children want supper, others need to be sent to bed. Squabbles must be settled, and laundry is running in the background. Isn’t it interesting how the mundane things of life can be rather comforting during stressful times? And these same mundane things aren’t nearly as irritating when there are bigger issues hovering.

I can best summarize my feelings right now with this that I just wrote in an e-mail to a friend:

I don’t know what the next few days hold… but I do know that we rest securely not only in God’s hands but in the care of His people who are surrounding us with earthly reminders of our Father’s love.

Update: 7:30 pm.

Surgery is done! The doctors had originally said it might be several hours, but the whole thing went much faster than they anticipated. Isaac has four pins in his thumb, and everything is reattached. Since the cut did go through the growth plate, Isaac’s thumb might not grow properly, and his range of motion may be more limited in that thumb. But it sounds like everything else should be fine. I get the impression that the tendon and nerves and everything else is going to be fine, and I’m sure he will learn to use that thumb and compensate for any deficiency in growth.

Isaac needs to go back to Springfield a week from Monday to see the doctor again.

They will be at the hospital for a few more hours tonight and then will come home. Is it possible that this nightmare will be over before midnight? I will be glad when our family is reunited.

Update: 9:30 pm.

Michael just called to say that they are in the van on their way home. Isaac is pretty groggy. The surgeon was surprised that the hospital did not admit Isaac and keep him overnight.

Not only was Isaac under general anesthesia, but they also gave him a local anesthesia on his thumb as well as a dose of Tyenol with Codeine. Isaac needs to take the Tylenol every six hours for a while, even through the night. The nurse said that it’s important to keep ahead of the pain, because it’s much harder to take care of the pain after it gets bad. We’ll have Isaac sleep in our room in my recliner so it will be easier to take care of him.

Michael and Isaac should be home within a few hours. I will be so glad when this day is over. It has been unreal in so many ways.

Update: 11:00 pm.

Isaac is home. Michael will be home soon. He asked to be dropped off at the Monroe house so he could bring the blue car home. He’ll stop and get Isaac’s pain medication on the way home.

Isaac seems chipper and talkative. The first thing he said to me was that he was able to keep his thumb. I hadn’t realize that he was worried that it wouldn’t be salvageable. He also told me he hasn’t seen his thumb since the surgeon fixed it. Isaac’s hand is all wrapped up in a huge bandage, so I’m guessing none of us will see that thumb for a while.

Laura was still awake when Isaac got home, so she has been visiting with him. It is interesting to me how well these two kids can get along sometimes. They are better friends than they realize, and they love each other more than they realize. Maybe someday they’ll understand.

I wish I could thank everyone who has been supportive of us during this very long day. I’m sure I’ll never be able to adequately express my thanks. No doubt there were people praying that I will never know about. Still, let me say thanks to the Crumbaugh’s for being there for us; thanks to Pastor Dave for driving Michael and Isaac to and from Springfield; thanks to Melissa J. and Bethany R. for offering to bring meals to us; and thanks to our mothers and other family members for praying and checking in on us. Thanks above all to God for guiding us through this day and reminding us that no matter what, He is with us in the tough times.

Update: Saturday morning

We settled into bed last night with great relief and exhaustion. Isaac was awake after sleeping on the way home from Springfield, so Michael started a movie for him before we fell asleep. We had alarms set to remind us to give Isaac his next pain pill at 3 a.m.

A little after 2 a.m. Isaac woke me up begging to have his pain pill early. His thumb was hurting him so badly he was crying in pain. We gave him his pill along with some food and encouraged him to be patient while the meds did their job. Unfortunately it was still a rough road for Isaac for several hours after that. He tried to be brave and patient, but I could hear him crying softly as the pain was just more than he could bear. Finally he was able to sleep, and he didn’t wake up until it was time for his 8 a.m. pill.

This morning his thumb has been hurting quite a bit, but not with the same unbearable pain as last night. Still, I suspect that as he gets closer to being ready for another dose of medication, the pain will be worse. Since our fingers are so full of nerve endings, I suspect it’s just a very painful place to be injured so badly.

Michael and I are trying to figure out what to do with ourselves today. We have agreed that for now, until Isaac is stabilized, we will not all go over to the Monroe house to work. Instead, Michael and I will take turns going and doing the things we do best. In some ways, it might be easier to work without interruption if we aren’t trying to corral all of the children and work at the same time.

For a long time I’ve tried to explain to Isaac that when one member of our family hurts we all hurt along with them. He hasn’t believed me, so I pointed out again to him how his injury has affected our whole family. We are not capable of proceeding as before. We all cringe with him when he is in pain. We all check on him and give him things he needs. We all feel somewhat handicapped when we see his big white bandage. We are a family.

Today Michael is off work again to focus on the Monroe house.  We are hoping to accomplish much today and tomorrow.

I woke up early this morning (NOT typical for me!) and decided to go ahead and get up rather than dozing back off.  I made coffee, washed dishes and made some oatmeal.  Amelia came out of her room blinking in the light and asked me why I was up so early.  She quickly joined me at the sink helping with the dishes.  It was nice to work together.

So, we greet another day; we prepare for hard work, and we hope for good progress.

Today Michael is off work so he can focus on getting lots done at the Monroe house.  But as he headed out the door to start for Monroe, he found that the car has a flat tire.  So now he’s out there on his back working on changing a tire.

I hope the rest of the day goes a bit more smoothly than this…

We are staying home this morning to get some of the boring things in life taken care of. Things like dishes and laundry and piano practice aren’t glamorous, but they do need attention, so we are here paying attention to them.

This morning as I was holding Lilly Jane, I made the comment that I wished I could get a photo of her. Luke offered to take photos with my camera, so I let him. I didn’t think the photos would work, since we had to use the flash, but I was pleasantly surprised by Luke’s photography skills.

Lilly is more alert these days, and getting a bit more demanding. She’s also showing a definite preference to being with me instead of anyone else. That makes it a bit tough for the rest of the family to help out, but we humor her as much as we can. Sometimes she just has to cry and wait for me to be available.

It’s hard to believe that Lilly is four weeks old today.  Was it really a month ago that we met for the first time?

This afternoon we’ll head back to the Monroe house to work, and tomorrow I think Michael is going to take the day off to work at the house. We’ll see how this week plays out. Meanwhile, I’m glad for a little break.

What a beautiful day here in Central Illinois! The children ran around barefoot, tracking mud into the house, and having a wonderful time enjoying the fresh air.

We spent almost the entire day at the Monroe house. At 1 pm we met with our realtor, Judy Glenn, to get her suggestions for what needs to be done before we list the house. We walked through each room noticing every little thing that needs attention. I wrote a separate list for each room. Now all we have to do is work through the list.

This past weekend has been a very productive one for our work project. Todd helped us out two nights in a row taking children home so we could stay and work uninterrupted. And today we worked even more intently knowing that Judy would be there soon to look things over.

Fortunately, Judy thinks we are definitely on the right track, and she feels we’re close to being ready to list. She was very encouraging, and the best part was when Judy, Michael and I bowed our heads and prayed that God would direct our paths. It’s so comforting to be on the same page as our realtor, knowing that the whole deal is in God’s hands.

Tonight I am so tired. We have worked harder these past four days than we’ve worked in a long time. But it’s good for us! Sure doesn’t hurt us to work hard and honor God with our labor. Also, it’s good for me to stay busy and active and not sit around all day munching on chocolates.

This evening we have some vigorous thunderstorms rolling through. How funny to have thunderstorms in January! There was even a tornado warning earlier this evening. All we can do is smile and shake our heads at this funny Central-Illinois weather.

The one thing that sticks out to me most about this day is a comment that Michael made as we were eating supper. He said that he still feels very confident that we are following God’s leading. So, we follow on, and it feels like we’re wandering in a wilderness, but as long as we follow the path God has us on, we can “wander” in confidence that we will actually arrive in the “Promised Land” someday.

Tonight Michael and I were able to spend the evening at the Monroe house working, thanks to Todd taking the kids home around supper time.  What a treat to be able to focus on our work without having to worry about getting kids fed supper or bathed or sent to bed.  (Thank you, Todd!)

Michael ran out to grab supper for us, and decided to try the Chinese place just around the corner.  We sat on the kitchen floor eating hot, delicious food, and eventually we made our way to the fortune cookies that are routinely dropped in the bag.

The first cooky fortune read, “You shouldn’t overspend at the moment.  Frugality is important.”

How interesting!  Just what we feel God has already been trying to hammer into our heads recently!  Hmmm.

Next cooky?  “A pleasant surprise is in store for you soon.”  That would be nice.

There was a third cooky, and of course we were curious to see what else was in our future.  So Michael broke the cooky open and read, “You will find your solution where you least expect it.”

What interesting words.  What interesting bits of encouragement.

So now we can’t help but wonder, does God ever speak to us through funky ways like fortune cookies?  God can use anything to get messages to His people, so we decided to just be encouraged and realize that no matter what, God is in control of our situation, we don’t know how He’s going to work everything out, and we certainly should be frugal.

Today Lilly is three weeks old. What a wonderful three weeks it has been, too! Not only do I get to hold and delight in my baby, but I can now eat, sleep, walk, bend over, climb ladders, and everything else like I used to do without having a huge tummy getting in the way. What a great sense of relief that has been!

It seems like, in many ways, life has gone back to how it was before, with all of our extra attention being focused on the Monroe house project. We got sidetracked when it was time to have a baby and then get ready for Christmas. But by Christmas night, we were back at work, and we’ve been busy at it almost every day since then.

Today, on the way home from spending four hours working hard at the Monroe house (those four house sure seemed longer than that!), I told Michael that I hope we can continue our push to the finish line. We are so close. The kitchen project is almost done. The floor is beautiful, the crown molding is up, the wainscoting is going up, and there isn’t much more to do after that. But this is the stage of the project where it would be so easy to slow down and lose heart. It reminds me of being at the end of labor and not wanting to make the final push to get the baby out.

My big job in this project is to get the crown molding painted. Then I’ll move on to painting the wainscoting. Michael’s job is to do the construction, such as putting up the wainscoting and finishing the trim around the kitchen.

I’m eager to get some photos taken and posted so you can see what we’ve been doing. Maybe next time we head over there I will remember to take the camera. Until then, you can just imagine a beautiful 100-year-old heart-pine floor that shines with a rosy complexion. I can’t believe it was hidden all this time.

Christmas Eve I took the three oldest children to church so they could participate in the service as part of the Junior Choir. The service was beautiful and it was fun to see friends and celebrate the season.

When we got home, the children watched a movie and played games while Michael and I wrapped presents. Each of them wanted to help wrap presents, so we saved a few for them to wrap. Finally, around 11:30 pm we started chasing kiddos off to bed. But when they realized how close it was to Christmas, they couldn’t hold in their excitement, so I put them to work straightening in the living room. At midnight they hopped up and down with glee and wished us all a Merry Christmas. Then we really did send them to bed.

Todd spent the night with us so he could enjoy the whole Christmas-morning experience. It was nice to have another adult here to play with and supervise the children.

Thanks to the late night, the children slept in on Christmas morning. We had a nice peaceful waking up time with our younger set, and finally, when we were ready, we woke up the older children.

We enjoyed a leisurely morning of opening presents and unpacking stockings. Since we had decided to give fewer gifts this year, we didn’t hurry anyone along if they wanted to sit and enjoy playing with something once they opened it. Judah had help opening and enjoying the new pieces to his Mr. Potato Head. Miguel had lots of friends wanting to make things with the Zoobs he got. Laura couldn’t believe we really gave her a tin of sardines in her stocking. Isaac was tickled with the sauerkraut he got in his stocking. Luke was eager to play a game with the Spiderman Monopoly set he opened. And Amelia’s gift of supplies to start hosting her own tea parties was just perfect. She couldn’t wait to get into the kitchen.

Once we were done opening gifts, it was time to start playing some of the new games. Luke beat Uncle Todd in two games of Pentago before Uncle Todd turned the tables and started winning. Then they set up the Spiderman Monopoly and turned into real-estate tycoons. Meanwhile, Amelia and I headed to the kitchen to whip up a few things. First we sliced bread to make cheese toast. Amelia spread the butter and sprinkled the cheese. She was very eager to do every step she could. While the cheese toast was in the oven, we made a batch of rice crispy treats. Later on, I made some chocolate frosting so Amelia could decorate the cookies. Everyone enjoyed sampling Amelia’s creations.

Isaac disappeared from the party for a long time while he put together a set of Star Wars Legos. It’s a set of Michael’s that he’s been admiring for a long time, so he was tickled to discover that it was a gift to him from his dad. Finally he could open that box!

Once things quieted down, I took a nap, and when I got up, I loaded up Lilly to go see some relatives who were in town for the day. We had a delightful visit, and then hurried home again to rejoin the party here.

After supper, Todd offered to stay with the children so Michael and I could go to the Monroe house to get a little work done. We really want to have the house close to ready for listing by the new year, so we’re making another push to get the last things done.

So, that was our Christmas Day.  You can see photos here in my gallery.  It was a good Christmas celebration.

This morning Miguel finally got a turn to hold Baby Lilly.  He feels like those turns just don’t come often enough.  While he was sitting in my chair holding her and watching a movie, I grabbed the camera to capture the moment.  Even though he was distracted by his show, he was still holding on to his baby sister and making sure she had her pacifier when she wanted it.

I think this is a wonderful picture of his protectiveness and love for Lilly.

Merry Christmas Eve!

Today my parents came over to celebrate Christmas with us. We were so excited to have them as our honored guests! We planned a fun brunch with some of our favorite foods. We had waffles and biscuits and cinnamon rolls and fruit & dip and hot cocoa and a cheese tray. Each of the older five children took charge of a different part of the meal, and they did a great job. Laura made the biscuits without any help from me. Isaac worked on the cinnamon rolls and the old-fashioned hot cocoa. Luke was the main waffle man, while Miguel was the waffle assistant. His job was to mash the fruit to make topping for the waffles. Amelia was the cheese-cube lady and the fruit-dip maker. She also arranged the cut fruit on the platters around the fruit dip, and she made sure the fruit-dip containers stayed filled. I can’t help but remember what Michael’s dad used to say, “Welcome to the Lyons Den… we’d love to have you for dinner!” But of course, we’d have to modify that and say, “…we’d love to have you for brunch!”

Our day was so pleasant. The children behaved rather well; the food was delicious; meaningful gifts were exchanged; Grandpa told a sweet Christmas story; and the day was relaxed and full of interesting things. I don’t know how it could have been any better. (You can see photos from our day in my gallery.)

Tonight the children all took their baths in anticipation of church tomorrow. Luke asked if he could take a bath in the jacuzzi tub, and we said that was fine.

Later, when Michael went in to tell Luke to finish up, he opened the door, stopped short and then hurried away to find the camera. What a silly boy Luke is!  I guess that the suds really pile up when the jets are running.

Even though I’m quite tired tonight, I’m happy with our day and our celebration. I’m also eagerly looking forward to Christmas next Tuesday. I can’t wait to see what the kids think of our gifts to them.