My Faith and Joy… and Boys!

I can’t imagine anything better than my three children playing outside in the sunshine…

…except my FOUR children playing outside in the sunshine. 

That’s right – I’m pregnant! 

The newest member of our family will, Lord willing, make his or her appearance in early September.  We’re thrilled with this amazing blessing and can’t thank the Lord enough for making our arms so full.  Yes, it will be overwhelming and exhausting at times (I’m tired just thinking about a 16-month-old Jimmy wreaking havoc around his newborn sibling!), but we wouldn’t have it any other way.  We have longed for and prayed for each of our children, and we are humbled by the Lord’s faithfulness in entrusting these little lives to our care.     

Even her pigtails are blowing in the breeze!

Yesterday, I finally took Jimmy to get a “sweat test” to rule out Cystic Fibrosis (he’s a genetic carrier, just like Susie and I are, and for some reason our carrier type requires this extra test.  Early blog readers may recall my recounting of Susie’s experience here).  It’s not an easy test for a 10-month-old wiggle worm to endure because it involves nearly an hour of sitting in a lab while a special “bracelet” collects sweat that has been stimulated by mild electrodes.  By and large, though, he did remarkably well and we got the call today confirming that his sweat contained the normal amount of salt, meaning he thankfully does not have Cystic Fibrosis.  He never displayed any symptoms of that devastating illness, so I wasn’t seriously worried that he suffered from it, but it was nice to get the extra reassurance. 

Here’s a picture of the collection bracelet (minus the coils that contain the sweat):

And here’s a picture of my little trooper, who was just too tuckered out by having to sit in one place for so long:

Speaking of troopers, we have a few more in this house.  We’ve battled countless colds, viruses, ear infections, and other maladies this winter, and now we can add high fevers to the list.  Susie wasn’t acting like herself when she woke up from her nap today, and so I checked her temperature and was shocked to see she had spiked a fever of 105.  Tylenol quickly brought it down to 100 degrees, and she was happy and energetic by the time she went to bed. 

Here she is sporting the cold washcloth I had carefully placed on her forehead.  I don’t think it was doing much good at this point!:

On a whim, I checked Becky’s temperature later tonight, and she was also registering at a mild 100 degrees.  Who knows what we’re going to pass around next, but I am just so thankful that all we have to worry about at the moment are a few minor childhood illnesses.  Even though it’s no fun for anyone to deal with these frustrating bugs, I’m praising the Lord tonight that right now, I can meet all my children’s medical needs with Tylenol and Kleenex!