Thankful Friday

1. Mike's dad has been completely off supplemental oxygen for a few days now, which is a total change from the intubation tube that went down his trachea just a few weeks ago.  We praise God for that!  There are still things that come up everyday that are keeping the doctors from going further with the cancer treatment, but we are praying that these issues will be dealt with soon and that the oncologists can continue to be aggressive with the radiation and chemo if necessary.

2. Audrey has gotten into a good groove with going to school and though it's only been a week and a few days, there have already been many opportunities to shepherd her little heart.  This week, she got a taste of what it was like to be in the mean girl society, and it was humbling for us as parents to address this in her, as well as have her seek forgiveness from her classmate.  Thankfully, the other parent, who is also a believer, was SO gracious and it was so neat to be able to talk through the issue with the girls right after the incident happened.  We are so grateful for this friend at school, and we are already forging a relationship with her mom with a sweet like-mindedness.  Making good friends was top on the prayer list for me and it seems like the Lord is already answering.  What provision!  And even sweeter, we already have gotten through a little conflict and the girls are fast friends once again.

3. Marcus had a bi-annual neuro-ophthalmology appointment up in Pasadena yesterday.  One of Marcus' vision issues is called Ocular Motor Apraxia (OMA), which has less to do with visual acuity and more to do with tracking.  In order to track an object visually, he has to turn his head because his eyes aren't adept at following a moving object from side to side.  Two years ago, Dr. Borchert did an ERG on him and thus also diagnosed him with Retinitis Pigmentosa, which means that he most likely has little peripheral vision, trouble seeing in the dark, and degenerative eyesight.  This news was devastating to as we imagined our son eventually going blind, plus dealing with his other motor difficulties.  However, each subsequent visit has been an encouragement and yesterday, the doctor was thrilled to say the least.  He thinks Marcus is seeing even better now than he did before and had he not done an ERG, would think that Marcus' vision is fine.  He even wants to perform another ERG sometime next year to see what's really going on.  Mike and I were incredibly encouraged and thankful for the doctor's input and grateful that for now, Marcus' vision is one of his strengths.

4. While we were in the waiting room at the doctor's office, we saw Marcus do something he'd never done before.  He initiated play with another child who was not his sister!  He kind of has a thing for older girls, so he crawled over to a girl named Erin (who happened to be the same age as Audrey) and just sat next to her, waiting to play.

Girl:  Hi!  Do you want to play with me?
Marcus:  Yeah!  Yeah!

Then they proceeded to peacefully play with blocks together.

Girl:  What's your name?
Marcus:  Maw-Cuh

Mike and I watched them play together and our hearts welled up with thanks because it was the first time he spontaneously interacted with another child  outside our family and actually engaged in verbal exchange without any prompting from us.  We were as proud as if he had made the honor roll.  Can't wait to tell his Speech Pathologist.  She's gonna go wild!

5. Today we had our last ultrasound with the perinatologist.  It was our last time seeing him until next month when we see him in flesh and blood.  He plumped up a lot (supposedly 5 lbs. 5 oz) and his cheeks filled out like crazy.   Apparently, he wants to rock the 80's look for Halloween because he's already sporting a mullet.  :-)  The doctor said that there is nothing that shows up on the in-depth ultrasounds that is cause for concern, but that we will only know for sure after he is born.  We are excited to hold him, kiss him, care for him, and introduce him to the fan club at home.