Meanwhile, back home....

Thank you all so, so much for loving Noah, Amber, Dennis and Landin and for all your prayers and support.  It means so much.  I am so happy to report that they are doing amazingly well.  I knew they would.  People would say, "I worry so much about how they will cope," and I would say, "with this many people praying for them, God is going to send them what they need- peace and joy."  And I'm happy to report that they are doing well and are happy for Noah's complete healing in spite of missing him. They are living out their faith and having "confident assurance concerning what they hope for and conviction about things they do not see."  (Hebrews 11:1). 

I didn't tell you, but we had a bit of drama going on at our home this week as well.  Marky has complained about knee pain for a while now and part of the reason he played goalie during the end of Lacrosse season was because he said it hurt to run.  We thought he was just sore and had growing pains (he keeps having growth spurts and big Marc's legs hurt when he was little).  When we were at the beach, however, we were taking pictures and asked him to sit on his knees and then saw tears in his eyes.  He hadn't told us, but he couldn't bend his right knee back or straighten it all the way.  By the end of the trip he had a real limp.

We had consultations with two orthopedic surgeons and after an MRI learned he had a torn meniscus and needed surgery.  The surgeons told us it is relatively rare to see a torn meniscus in a child so young, and we are still not sure when it happened.   Marky has a high tolerance for pain and doesn't complain so we never know when he's really hurt. 

So Tuesday, as I take Marky to surgery I am texting with Amber and knowing this is Noah's last day.  It was a surreal experience.  On the way to the surgery center-




Getting ready to go in. I had a sick feeling in my stomach about him going under when I knew Noah was unconscious.



The staff commented on what a sweet boy he was and how he had good manners. :)



They had only one magazine to read in the room-



Waking up. The tear ended up being a "best case scenerio" type of thing and he has to keep weight off of it for at least four weeks and go to physical therapy, but should fully heal.



The nurses were telling me about giving him "a little morphine" to take the edge off the pain and how he should be good as new soon. I knew that my precious nephew was getting "a lot of morphine" at that exact same moment and would also be "good as new", but in a whole different way. And now as Marky is healing, it's like his injury reflects our family right now- our hearts are injured- we aren't 100%, but we are getting better every day.


We are doing the therapy and ice treatments and Marky has mastered the art of flying around on crutches.





It's been kind of nice to be forced to stay home more. I sat in the playroom for hours today- something I rarely do anymore. And I am having to rely a lot more on Julia because my "go-to" boy can't do what he used to do. As usual, she rises to the occassion when I entrust her with more responsibility. This picture is of her with her "diary". Someone gave her a blank journal for her birthday and she has decided to keep a diary (yes, she just turned 6). She told me, "I'm just going to write what I see." So as we were eating lunch at Panera Bread yesterday she wrote, "a boy is sitting by me" when a boy sat in the booth beside us. :) I just love this sweet girl.