Groovy Sputum

What Does A Geek Get His Wife For Their Anniversery?

A Google Map of all the places they have been together in their 13 years together, of course! Last year I made this list for her, and I wanted to keep the list theme going, but with a twist. The first pin I put on the map was the place we met: the LU cafeteria in 1996. From there, I just mentally walked through our life together and put a pin in any location that I had a memory of. I didn’t put on routine things like Meijer in Marion, but if it was a place that brought back fond memories, it made the map. Google lets you chose the pin colors for each point, so I kind of color coded things a bit to make it easier to read. Overnight tips together are teal, family trips are yellow, day trips are blue, and so on (I can’t tell you what all the colors are for, if you know what I mean! It is a private map, after all.) I also listed the pins by date as best as I could remember so that we could go year by year through our life together. Google lets you put notes into the pop up windows for each place marker, too, so I jotted down my memories of each location for Valerie to read and she is going to share her memories with me as we go through the map together. Over 300 pins made that map and so far, I have only missed one significant location: the Upper Room in Lynchburg. The conversation Valerie & I had there in 1996 kind of kick started this love thing we are sharing (it happened to be the same day as this, by the way!)

I took a few screen shots for you to look at:

Anyway, happy 11 year anniversary, Valerie. It’s been a wonderful journey, Love. Thank you for pushing pins with me for the last 13 years. I hope you have enjoyed it as much as I have. I can’t wait to see what our map looks like 50 years from now!

Merry Christmas!

The Lord has truly blessed us this year: our home is nearly finished, He gave me a great new job, and we are joyously awaiting the birth of our eighth child, Micah Kathleen. God is good. Don’t forget to take time this Christmas to thank Him for all that you have and all that He is.

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Sad News

I am sorry to have to write this post, but Valerie and I went in for a check up this morning and the doctor was only able to find one beating heart. Sometime between last Saturday and today, Micaiah’s life ended. Valerie expressed our feelings much better than I ever could with “When The Answer Is No”. Please continue to pray for Micah. There is still a long way to go before she is able to live independently of Valerie and we appreciate each and every time her name is lifted up before the Lord.

Two Hearts

Dr. Rink just did a quick ultrasound and we saw two strong heart beats! That means that the surgery didn’t damage the placenta too much and that both girls are still getting nourishment. The question now is did the surgery do enough to even out the blood supply? Only time will tell and Valerie will be on bed rest for a while to try and prevent early labor. The doctors will also be following up weekly from here on out to look for TTTS returning. Please continue to pray that the twins grow evenly and that they can remain in Valerie until term.

So Far, So Good

Pastor Mike just left after reading Psalm 103 and praying with us. I spoke with the surgeon around 1:00 and he is pleased with the outcome up to this point. He mentioned that both girls hearts were beating strong when the procedure ended, but that we will know more in terms of how successful thing really are when he does an ultrasound tomorrow morning. Until then it is just a well deserved rest for Valerie.

Prepping

Valerie just went in for surgery prep. She should be in surgery until about 12:00 or 12:30.

Surgery

The three options to correct TTTS are: 1.) do nothing, 2.) drain some amniotic fluid, and 3.) operate on the placenta to try and correct the imbalance of blood flow to the girls. We have a great sense of peace that the third option is the best because it increases the chances that both girls will survive and it reduces the chances that they will be born pre-term should they survive the surgery.

The doctor just gave us an update and said that his team can be ready to operate between 10:30 and 11:00. Valerie will be awake but with an epidural. She will be in OSU hospital overnight and should be allowed to go home to bed rest tomorrow.

Twin Girls

I know we have been secretive about the gender of our twins, but we have been trying to wait until we had their names picked out before blabbing. After the doctor visit yesterday, we can officially announce them: Micah & Micaiah.

Because the girls share a placenta, they are identical twins. Their names are actually the same in Hebrew and mean “Who is like God?” The obvious answer to that is: no one. These girls may look alike, act alike, and be the same age, but nothing is like our God, the Creator, Sustainer, Redeemer, and Healer of life.

Please pray for these little girls. They are 20 1/2 weeks along and have developed Twin Twin Transfusion Syndrome (TTTS) which basically means that the blood flow from the placenta is not equal. One gets too much and the other not enough. This is a fatal syndrome if treatment is not done, so we are meeting with a surgeon at The Ohio State University Medical Center this morning at 7:00 to get his recommendation on the type of surgery to have done. The surgery team has an opening around noon today and most likely something will be done then, so we need wisdom…in a bad way.

The hospital has Wi-Fi and I will be updating my blog through out the day. Please pray that God’s will be done in the lives of Micah & Micaiah. We selfishly want to see two little ones crawling around our Christmas tree next year, but that may not be His plan.