Button Boy

We have endured many struggles with Button Boy’s eating since he was born.  At five weeks old, he stopped eating.  Just stopped.  Instead of drinking the 2 – 3 oz of formula he had been eating every 4  – 5 hours, he began eating 1/2 to 1 oz….for a developing baby, that is a MAJOR thing!  We immediately got in to see our pediatrician and they scheduled an upper GI.  It was a scary thing to think that my baby was going to have to not eat past a certain time, try to get sleep during that night, and then drink barium out of a bottle to be x-rayed.  Amazingly enough, he made it through the night and gulped down the barium!  The test revealed slight reflux and no other anomalies.

Skip the next few months, lots of stress, and many sleepless nights.  We ended up at Children’s Hospital and seeing a wonderful doctor.  Dr. Saeed admitted us the week before Thanksgiving and began running tests and getting Button Boy fed.  He came a visited us everyday, even taking little boy on walks around the floor and bonding with him.  We treasured our relationship with Dr. Saeed.  He retested the upper GI and performed an endoscopy.  The result was nothing new….we still did not know why Button Boy would not eat.  He was then diagnosed with Failure To Thrive. 

His G-tube was place on January 13, 2004.

His G-tube was removed June 2007…we thought our eating battles were over.

We returned to Dr. Saeed June 24, 2008.  Button Boy’s eating has declined, his weight has dropped, and he has complained of a “bone in his throat.”  Dr. Saeed has ordered a new upper GI…and will decide after seeing it where we should go and what we should do.  Button Boy is on new medication, and we are praying for God to increase his desire to eat and take away the pain in his throat when he swallows.

I will update Bloggyville after we know more…

 

God Glorified

Yesterday we attended a wedding.  I love to attend weddings….it makes me reflect on my courtship with Mojo, it makes me thankful that God brought us together, it makes me see how far we have come in our walk with our God — as a couple, as well as individuals. 

If Mojo and I were to be married now, being where we are as Christians, I believe our wedding would look somewhat different than it did a little over 10 years ago.  We had the flowers — but didn’t go overboard, we had the caterer — but didn’t go overboard, we had the string trio, guitar and flute — didn’t seem to be overboard, we had two songs — “Surely the Presence” and “The Lord’s Prayer”…fulfilling…but I don’t remember thinking of the wedding ceremony itself as a worship experience….That is the only thing I would change about my actual wedding day.  I would make sure the Glory of God Almighty was proclaimed from beginning to end…not the actual exchanging of vows, and kiss being the focal point.

One of my most memorable moments of being a part of a wedding recently (well, in the past few years)  was doing a reading at my college roommate’s wedding….I now refer to these passages on a very frequent basis, to remind me of my calling as a wife and helpmate of my  husband.

Please read through these, reflect on them…pray over them….and if you are married, or getting married, or hope to be married one day, incorporate their truths into your life.

Genesis 2:21 – 24; Ephesians 5:25 & 28; 1 Peter 3:7; Ephesians 5:22 – 24; Proverbs 31:11 – 12 & 30; Ephesians 5:1

“So the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall on Adam, and he slept; the He took one of his ribs and closed up the flesh in its place. Then the rib which the Lord God had taken from the man He made into a woman, and brought her to the man. And Adam said, ‘This is now bone of my bones, And flesh of my flesh; She shall be called Woman, Because she was taken out of Man.’ For this reason a man shall leave his father and his mother, and be joined to his wife; and they shall become one flesh.”

“Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself up for her. {So} husbands ought also to love their own wives as their own bodies. He who loves his own wife loves himself.” “{You} husbands {in the sameway}, live with your wives in an understanding way, as with someone weaker, since she is a woman; and show her honor as a fellow heir of the grace of life, so that your prayers will not be hindered.”

“Wives be subject to your own husbands, as to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife, as Christ also is the head of the church. He Himself being the Savior of the body. But as the church is subject to Christ, so also the wives ought to be to their husbands in everything.”

 “An excellent wife, who can find? For her worth is far above jewels. The heart of her husband trusts in her, and he will have no lack of gain. She does him good and not evil all the days of her life.” “Charm is deceitful and beauty is vain, But a woman who fears the Lord she shall be praised.”

“Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children; and walk in love just as Christ also loved you and gave Himself up for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God as a fragrant aroma.”

Teach Them Diligently…

 

Tonight during our worship service, we had the wonderful opportunity to hear from our youngsters and what they have been learning the last 10 weeks in our M.I.T. time (discipleship training).  We have a new children’s curriculum developed by our church staff that has a different emphasis each M.I.T. quarter…this quarter G321’s curriculam was TAG catechisms.  Each child came home the first night of G321 with a ring of 22 catechism questions and answers, and space for signatures.  It was so much fun to see the children practice their catechisms and TAG adults and other children for signatures!!  Girly Girl quickly learned hers, but she had a head start since they are learning them at Cornerstone Classical Christian Academy…., but Button Boy!  OH MY!!  What a blessing to see that 5 year old (he was 4 when the quarter began) absorb the Word of God and be able to speak Biblical Truths…for him to ask questions and begin to understand answers and explanations!  It is absolutely amazing to see God work in children’s lives…to see them begin to have a foundation in trying to understand all God has given, all Christ sacrificed, and to (especially in Girly Girl) see a repentant heart begin to emerge….It absolutely makes me want to stand up and dance in celebration of what a great and wonderful God we worship!!!

If you would like some information on the catechisms we are using, you can look at a book by Dr. Tom Nettles, Teaching Truth, Training Hearts:  The Study of Catechisms in Baptist Life.  Chapter 5 is “A Catechism for Girls and Boys” and we are using it as a guide.

(example:  Who made you?  God made me….What else did God make?  God made all things….Why did God make you and all things?  For His own glory….How can you glorify God?  By loving Him and doing what He commands….Why ought you to glorify God?  Because He made me and takes care of me….)