Father's Day

Mother's Day is special and gets a great deal of attention. I'm not here to argue against that in any way. I have a wonderful mother and I am married to a great wife who is the best mother to our three boys.

But unfortunately, Father's Day can almost be a "toke" day. We celebrate it in name, but not in deed. We celebrate the fact we are demonstrating equality, but we miss really expressing gratitude for our fathers and the significance of their presence (and absence for that matter) in our lives.

Today in the PARADE Magazine, our president, Barack Obama, wrote about the profound impact his father's absence in his life had upon him. Sadly, too many children today are being influenced and impacted for a lifetime by fathers who aren't there. Some are physically there and yet are still checked out.

With all that said, today I say 'Happy Father's Day' to my dad. He wasn't just there in body, he was THERE! He was there to talk, he was there to listen, he was there to correct. He was there. He would agree he wasn't perfect. I affirm that...and the fact that I too am imperfect as a father. But he was and is the best God-given dad for me and I appreciate him beyond what words can express!

Recapping for a Month

I find it increasingly difficult these days to blog. Oftentimes it is not for lack of thought or desire, but time. Either there is no time or the time I have available draws me to want to take a moment of rest. Furthermore, my heart these days is increasingly desirous to begin writing in a different direction. Writing family updates is important and I hope to in some small way continue to do so, for that is the reason and purpose this blog began in the first place. Therefore, do not be surprised if in the days to come a directional change takes place.

In the meantime, I am left needing to recap for the last month. The blog may have been quiet, but our house and lives have not been completely so. Our boys are growing up. Isaac is about to finish his first year of preschool. Ethan continues to grow, help his mom, try to take care of Micah and play ball. Micah is still continuing physical therapy. We hope to begin speech therapy in the near future.

There have been a few hospitalizations in the last month. The most recent was this past week when Micah had a fever and excessive coughing. Doctors believe he has pneumonia. He is at home now and we pray for that to be where he stays. Because of the fevers, the test to insure the bile duct repair surgery was as successful as it appears and hoped was postponed this last Thursday to another date.

Micah continues to have respiratory issues that were present before the pneumonia. He will at times cough until he throws up. It started last May (YES LAST MAY). I realize it hasn't been the most pressing issue. But the fact that it has persisted for a year now frustrates me. I'm ready to get some answers and pray once again God will grant wisdom to the doctors to know what it is and how to treat it.

All in all, things are all right. We aren't where we've been, but we aren't where we hope to eventually be. But praise God for bringing us through what has been, to be here, with the hope in Jesus Christ of pressing forward.

Here We Are

Here we are at home again! Micah was discharged this afternoon from the hospital. We remain cautiously optimistic that whatever he had is gone. Dr. Berman believes Micah had a virus that led to the onset of something called intussusception . Basically, a part of the bowels telescopes over another part causing extreme pain, vomiting, diarrhea and many other things not so fine and pleasant.

Micah has done well being home this afternoon. He even showed that sinful temper which is probably a whole lot like his daddy as opposed to his mommy. He enjoyed swinging and playing basketball with Isaac and Ethan.

We are not scheduled to go back until Monday. I hope Micah, all the illnesses and complications know what the schedule is. Thank you for praying. Please continue as often as God brings our family to mind.