Morgan Still Improving

It is good to have Morgan at home and all of us under one roof. She slept most of the day yesterday and thankfully did not need anything stronger than extra strength tylenol for pain. She is eating more and more and thanks to the Drummonds for providing some chicken and rice soup, she even got some solids in yesterday.

She has a follow up with the surgeon on Friday and we are working with her teachers about catching up on school work. She is still pretty weak and tired, but we hope to get her back in school at least part of the day beginning Monday.

Thanks for your continued prayer for her.

On another note, her basketball team played last night and they gave Shelbi's two points to Morgan in the Tennessean this morning. Pretty good to score from the couch about 40 miles away. Not good for Shelbi who does not get her name in the paper. It is a recurring mistake for the Tennessean so I think Shelbi is getting used to it.

Morgan is Home

What a great day today. After a week of the hospital and too much excitement, we got to bring Morgan home this evening. She is pretty weak, but is ornery and is on the computer trying to catch up with all of her friends. Email and IM may be slower tonight because she is hitting it pretty hard.

She has some follow up stuff to do of course and it may be next week before she is able to get back to school, but we are glad to have her home. Thanks for praying for her and please continue to do so that she will regain some strength and some weigth. A week without eating takes its toll.

Sunday Update on Morgan

Morgan had a really good day today. She got the drain tube out of her belly and is eating popsicles and able to drink some liquids. She even got to wash her hair today which made her feel so much better. Things are looking very good and her system is starting to wake up a little more. She has been walking trying to get things happening. Her stamina is not real high and she comes back and naps after the walks, but she is glad to be up and about.

Continue to pray for her system to kick in full scale and for continued strength. All in all, she is doing very good and hopefully can come home on Tuesday if she continues the way she is going now. Thanks for your continued prayers for Morgan and the rest of us. We appreciate you all so much and are thankful that you love Morgan.

It dawned on me that some of you may have not seen Morgan for a long time so I included this picture. Morgan is on the left and Shelbi on the right.

Saturday PM Update

It has been a very good day for Morgan. The ng tube came out tonight which means that at least some things are starting to wake up inside. The x-rays today showed no abcess or anything abnormal in her belly.

The next step is trying to drink and then get some food going. Things are looking up and she is feeling pretty good. Continue to pray and thanks for loving Morgan.

Saturday Morgan Update

Morgan had a good day Friday with less pain medicine, some time out from the ng tube drawing off her stomach and some walks through the halls. Sondra and I went to Shelbi's ballgame (they won) while our pastor's wife hung out at the hospital with Morgan. It was good to spend some time together outside of the hospital. Morgan and Shelbi's coach had a dvd of the game made immediately after the game so Morgan could watch it last night. She really enjoyed that, so thanks Coach Schierling and Gary of course for filming.

She seems to be progressing pretty well. They took some more x-rays of her belly today to see if there are any changes from Weds. (checking for any absesses, etc.)

Continue to pray that her system will continue to wake up and she can start taking some fluids and nutrition soon. That will help her recover more quickly.

Your prayers, calls, and visits have been a blessing to us. We are grateful to all of you. A special thank you to Peggy, Raymond, and Hannah for sitting with Morgan while we slipped off to the basketball game.

And to all. . . thanks for loving Morgan.

Morgan Friday AM Update

Morgan rested well last night and seems to be on the mend. Continue to pray for the antibiotics to keep the infection at bay, that her system would restart up, and that she feels well enough to get some walking in today. All of things combined would do her well to getting her back to full strength. Thanks for your prayers and for loving Morgan.

Morgan Thursday PM

It has been a pretty good day today. Morgan has not had a temp all day and only one minor setback with pain when they tried to give her potassium in the iv. It burned really bad and she and I both cried some until we realized that we needed to try potassium another way. They mixed it and things were good from there.

She had many school visitors and that really brightened her day. I think she got tired of just me being there with me. The surgeon came in and said that things were going as he expected and that even though she is progressing, it will just take some time to wake up her system. So . . . we are probably there through the weekend and into next week. But, we want her well and we will do whatever it takes for that to happen.

Thanks for the emails, phone calls, visits, gifts, flowers, cards, candy, cookies, snacks, etc. We greatly appreciate all that each of you have done. Continue to pray for no infection, for her system to wake up and get percolating, and for continued strength.

Sondra is still on night shift and seems to be holding up well. She is an incredible lady. Shelbi is doing well but fighting a cold and of course is concerned about her sister. I am tired but doing pretty well. Just need some sleep. India jet lag is lingering and my body is not as young as it used to be.

Thank you all so much for praying and for loving Morgan.

Thursday Morning Morgan Update

Thankfully Morgan rested pretty well. Getting that junk off of her stomach had to really help. Sondra and I are trading out time at the hospital and so far she has been gracious enough to stay the evenings and let me help through the day. I will head back up there after a short run and will update the blog this evening.

Pray for:

• the antibiotics to rid her body of the infection;
• for her to rest; and,
• for healing and strength.

Thanks to so many who have come by, called, provided food, and numerous other acts of kindness. Thanks for loving Morgan so much.

Update on Morgan

Morgan went in for emergency surgery for a ruptured appendix on Monday night. The surgery went well but the abdomen was pretty compromised with infection from the rupture.

Tues. was not too bad and she rested pretty well.

It is Weds. night now and it has been a tough day for Morgan. She has been pretty sick all day long and we ended up having to put a NG tube (to drain the stomach). She was very nauseated all day and the tube was the best for her. It was pretty tough for all of us and most especially her.

Please pray for her strong health, nausea to go away and the antibiotics to fight the infection. You all have been so good to call, come by, etc. Thank you. We are going to try and keep visitors to a minimum so she can regain her strength. Please feel free to call and thanks for praying.

A Long Night

Last night was one of those nights you experience at times with family. My wife and girls headed out to see Dreamgirls and got home about 10:15p and our youngest headed straight to the bathroom and started throwing up. After writhing around in pain until almost 11p we headed to the ER and all the joys that come with that experience. Thankfully, the problem does not appear to be too serious and we were able to get home around 245a and our daughter got a lot of relief from her pain and we headed to bed. She is feeling better now but still very weak.

I had been getting to bed around 1030p and sleeping well until about 3a and last night I got to bed around 3a and slept until 6 and then checked on our daughter and helped her get comfortable. Then it was off to church to do our announcements while our pastor was out and then teach in a 5th/6th grade girls' class about the India trip I had just made and then teach our adult SS class. Busy morning and pretty exhausted.

I am thankful our daughter is feeling better and hope she continues to improve. I will keep you posted.

Back in Country

I got home from India on Weds and headed to New Orleans on Thurs. am for a work assignment. Needless to say, I was not really looking forward to climbing back on a plane, but the conference went really well and I got a little sleep.

In fact, I get to sleep about 10p each evening and sleep great . . . until about 3a and then am wide awake. I know I will get through this but I would really like to sleep all night.

I missed all the ball games and found out about the NFL stuff when I got back and looked online on Thurs. I am pulling for the Pats and the Saints. In fact, New Orleans was crazy with Who Dat? stuff everywhere. New Orleans needs something to celebrate and I am glad they are in the Conference Championship and hope they win in Chicago tomorrow.

It was good to see our daughters play ball last night. I missed a couple of games while in India. They got a big win last night at home by 2 with 3 secs. to go. The team played fair but got the win which is always good.

I am looking forward to a relaxing weekend and catching up on 24. It is all TiVo'd so it should be fun watching it with the girls.

Poor Football

The Chiefs were embarrassing yesterday. The defense actually played pretty well, but
Trent Green and the offense was bad. Herm has to take some heat for some serious poor play calling in the first half. The good thing about it is that no one lost their life and in the end, it's just football.

I leave for India on Tues. am so this may be the last post for the next couple of weeks.

I do not have a team left in the NFL playoffs that I care anything about, so that frees up my time to start following more closely the college basketball games. I am a big, North Carolina Tar Heels fan and they play later today. Go Heels!

Feeling Stronger Every Day

Since the shot, the body seems to be responding and fighting off the nasty head cold and sinus infection I have. I ran 5 milers both Friday and today and feel like things are getting back to normal.

It was a short work week with Monday being a holiday and there was much to do to catch up and then try to get ahead for the time I will be away. I head to India on Tuesday and am looking forward to that trip. For more information on that you can keep up with our team at www.newhopeindiamissions.blogspot.com if you are interested. I will only be posting to that blog while I am away, so The Way, will be very static for almost two weeks.

Our girls opened district play last night with a 12 point win in our rival's gym. Our oldest stepped up and did a great job. The offense we run does not get her involved in scoring much, but she had a couple of baskets and some very key defensive plays and rebounds. I see her confidence coming back more and more lately. Our youngest is a freshman and she is one of the best stat keepers on the team. Once the jv schedule fires back up she will see quite a bit of playing time.

Pulling for the Chiefs to upset Indy today. We will see. I think the Cowboys go down today.

Shot in the Backside

Some things can jump up on you while you are not looking and that is what happened to me this past Sat. I was in the middle or latter stages of a 10-miler when I coughed and felt something weird and somewhat painful in my chest. Oh no! not the cold that our youngest has been trying to share with the family for the past three weeks.

You guessed it. I got it and with an international trip coming up I decided not to play around with it but to get to the dr. and get something done about it. So . . . yesterday afternoon, I headed to the dr. and got checked out. Sure enough, sinus infection, some bronchial crud, and general funk. He gave me some high powered anti-biotics, nose spray, and a shot right in the right hip.

Less than 24 hours later, I am feeling much better with the exception of a sore, right hip. I am hoping and praying to continue to get better so the flight next week will go much smoother in my head.

Ran a 9-miler this morning and felt pretty good. It is good to know that the body is pretty resilient.

Start Living

Maybe it is a mid-life crisis that I have entered, or maybe something I ate on Sunday, but I have really been challenged to really start living. Not that my life has been a blah! or ho-hum, but I really want to risk more and really live more. I am happy with my wife and children, my job, my talents and abilities, but I feel as though I have been holding back for some reason. I wonder if I am a little afraid of really succeeding or stepping out on something that does not make sense and it actually working.

This past weekend I preached out of Colossians 3:1-4 and two points stood out. There are many points in those four verses but I chose to concentrate on two.

1. Set your mind on things above - quit living in the past and focused on what is just around, but focus on what really matters to God.


2. Start Living - we can do that when we set our minds on the things that God determines are important. I am not talking mind over matter, but just honest obedience to whatever it is that God is asking me to do.

So, if I have a theme for the year, it is this: Start Living

I want to embrace all of that there is as God shows me. I want Him to do the unexplainable in me. I don't want any credit for it. I just want Him to do with me what He desires.

Happy New Year

I spent the day laying around, taking meds and trying to fight off this crazy cold I seem to be wanting to get. I watched way too many football games and finished off the OU-Boise State game way to late. What a game! and what a finish! Boise State ended up winning in OT by going for a 2-point conversion and getting it.

I am back to regular work now and have much to do before I leave for India next week. I have many sermons and conference topics to prepare and then a couple of conferences right after I get back from India so I need to be preparing for them now.

I am looking forward to a new year. It is time to start living. That is my theme for the year: Start Living. No more merely existing.