Works of God Monday

Yes, I am back. :-) It's a LONG story, but I haven't been on my blog for quite a few reasons. The week that I started reminiscing about our move out here to CA and wanted to post more on that, I couldn't get into blogger. I have a draft saved from WEEKS ago that I was going to add more pics to of our farewell reception at Calvary, but it wouldn't let me post it. For the next couple of weeks after that, I still couldn't get blogger to work. I gave up and didn't think about it again for quite a while, and then life got really crazy! There were some overwhelming situations one right after another that took up a good bit of my time and emotions, and I did not want to get on the blog at all during that time. I am happy to say that God has definitely been working in our life here, in others' lives, and He is getting the glory!

The most recent difficulty here has been Emma's and now Olivia's sicknesses. Basically, Emma's lungs haven't been functioning well for over 3 weeks. I believe it all started with particles that blew in from the Santa Barbara fire last month that added to our already smoggy air. I have never seen the smog so bad since we moved here as I did in that week to follow. The dr. informed me that Riverside has more asthmatics than L.A.! She also told me that we are pretty much in the worst part of Riverside, as far as air quality, because we live close to several freeways that connect. After 3 office visits and an ER visit in between, Emma's asthma/allergy problems went into pneumonia (at least the "walking" kind). The dr. didn't even do a chest x-ray because she could tell Emma's lungs sounded bad, and she "hit" her with lots of meds to kill infection, get her breathing better, etc. Today is the last day for prednisone and zithromax, and we get to back off some of the other things completely or go to smaller amount--inhaled steroid, nose spray, rescue inhaler. Singulair will be our "friend" for a long time though. Oh, and doubling Emma's dose of that was not a good idea! She HALLUCINATED, two nights in a row! The first night was the really bad one though. I hate this much medicine but know we were desperate and had to do this. We haven't had one normal night for 3 wks. and have been so sad watching Emma suffer and struggle to breathe! We are going to have to build up her immune system for sure after all of this.

Olivia does not have quite the same problems as Emma, but she sure is coughing badly now, a very "junky" cough. It started as a dry cough just over a week ago. She was at the last dr. appt. with us last Thurs., and the dr. said that even though she had a cough, it was just allergies. I wasn't so sure about that then and am definitely not now. She's been on Zyrtec since last week and all she's done is gotten worse. :-( I'll be calling in the morning. We certainly appreciate your prayers for our girls. We would love to get out of the house, do something fun, be active, but that's not been best for them. I know this is just for a time, and I have had opportunity to grow through this and also have sweet time with Emma sharing God's love and faithfulness from His word when she has felt very discouraged and without hope. It is really hard to keep telling your child that you are doing everything you know to do to help her get better and watch no changes. Praise the Lord that we have seen some change in the last few days and think we've turned the corner!

In other news. . .Kris has encouraged anyone who wants to join him to read the New Testament in 90 days, following a schedule that he has. We started today, and I was so encouraged reading through the first four chapters of Matthew. We have an amazing God! Here is the blog Kris has started where he can post his thoughts as we read. There is a new couple in our church who has been coming faithfully for many weeks. They have not trusted Christ as personal Savior yet, but we have seen Him working in their lives and are so excited about the opportunities we have with them and their little girl. The wife asked Kris yesterday for a reading schedule to go through the NT with us! :-) Please pray for this family. Thanks! With that I'll close. Hopefully I'll be back soon! I have been so "stop and go" with my blog but hope to become more consistent. (Facebook has been my place of update on a regular basis.) Hope all of you are well and seeing God work in your lives. Grace to you!