Cranium Caps by janelle

It was such a joy to deliver 36 hats to Children's Hospital. I have taken the last 3 months making them. I first made signs and asked for people to donate fabric so I could take on this project of making and donating hats to the Craniofacial dept. at Children's Hospital.
I would like to share with you how this all began.,
When my baby brother was diagnosed with Craniosynostosis it meant he was to under go a major surgery to correct it. He was basically going to have his head re-shaped. The doctors told us what it would be like in the hospital and what recovery was going to be like. One small thing they mentioned was he needed to wear a hat when going outside. They did not want the sun to shine on his incision. Well, a friend made and gave us a hat for Jireh. It was a bucket style hat with many different prints of fabric. We had Jireh wear it while he stayed in the hospital. We received so many compliments from doctors and nurses that we decided to ask our friend to teach us how to make the hat. I decided that I would start to make them and by Jireh's 3 month post-op appt. I wanted to have over 2 dozen made. I ended up with 36 hats completed and presented them to Jireh's doctor's on 2-8-10. My goal now is to make 50 more by the summer of 2010.
I wanted to do this because Children's hospital is an amazing place and I have personally experienced there care back in 2004 when I was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes. I remember the excellent care I received by all the doctors and nurses and then watching and hearing about the excellent care my baby brother got just made me want to give back in some small way to Children's. I hope that others who are going through this kind of surgery will be blessed by getting a hat and hoping it will make their stay more encouraging.

3 1/2 months after surgery

Jireh 9 months old. Waiting patiently in the craniofacial clinic at Children's hospital.
Jireh and mommy waiting for the dr. to come in. Also trying to keep Jireh from tearing apart all the paper on the table. So much for that.
Jireh with Dr. Birgfeld, getting his head looked at.

Jireh with Dr. Ojemann

All of Jireh's appts went very well. All the doctors were very impressed by how well he is healing. We are just praising the Lord for his speedy recovery. Jireh is doing everything like a normal 9 month old.

Interesting phone conversation

Mike just wants to be completely honest with everyone involved in our foreclosure process. So he called the company handling it. There was a mistake on our paperwork and he just wanted to them to know the correct legal description. He ended up talking to a gal and shared with her some of our plight with Indy Mac bank. After a few minutes of sharing, she asked if Mike would write a letter explaining all that we have been through. She wanted to "see" the documents that he had talked about and thought that she might be able to go through back channels and maybe, JUST MAYBE!!! get something done.

We are not holding our breath here. We really have no idea what she is talking about. We are still moving forward and organizing our thoughts and making plans to move. But we find this interesting that there are still so many "bunny trails" that need to be played out. This is definitely NOT a typical foreclosure here. We were even told that by the lawyer who looked over all our paperwork several weeks ago. This is a true God directed journey. We would never have planned nor desired to walk this road, yet here we are. To God be the glory, great things HE has done, so Loved HE the world, that HE gave us His Son. That is the story, not our little plight. It's the Love HE gave us, the strength that He is displaying through us, and the Grace HE continues to pour out upon us. That is the story! To God be the Glory!!!!!!!

we have a date

Its so bazaar to go through something like this. We get visitors from who knows where to drop off notices. We never know who will stop by. It was late friday night about 10pm and sure enough we have someone tape a 2 page notice to our front door without knocking then they take 1 picture of the place and drive off. Very strange. But now we know that our little house has a date to be auctioned off. April 30th. If the house sells we then have 20 days to move out.

The Lord has made it very clear to us that we need to take our other property off the market and make plans to live on it. We are stretching our minds and considering just about anything to live in. From free mobile homes, free garages to a travel trailer or 2. Its all still in the air right now. It makes the most sense to live there. Then we can concentrate on paying off debt that we have. We thought all along that the Lord wanted us to sell our other 5 acres to clear our debt and remodel our home. But after trying that for 2 years it just seems as though all along the Lord was saying I have already provided for you, its just right there!

Now we walk forward in faith that the Lord will provide a home for us to live in. I am not picky anymore. I can make just about anything into a home. I think our family will do just fine with this new adventure. It might look strange to others but for us, it will be our new home.

still waiting

All though we are still waiting upon the Lord for answers, I am blown away at how beautiful the week has been for us. So much sunshine for us washingtonians is just not normal. Could this be a new normal for us? Hope so. We are taking the rest of the week and weekend to continue to pray about a clear direction on what to do/where to live. I am so thankful that the Lord has given me much peace this week. I have been able to keep up with homeschooling and cleaning out some things. Its always good to get things cleaned and evaluated before a big move. We will have much to do in the weeks to come.

Be still

We still have no answers. Lots of ideas but ALL of them take money that we just do not have right now. So instead of getting really frusterated we are going to take a break for a few days and just be still and know that God is God. He will reveal the answers in His timing. We are to just trust and keep living life. Now, that is not easy for me. I have found that going through this kind of experience can very easiely cripple a person. You have to force yourself to live, get out of bed, be wife, mom, friend, daughter, homeschool teacher, caregiver & homemaker. These are all things that are very hard for me when I do not know what is going to happen. I do not know where I am going to live. I do not know what to pack. I just have to wait upon the Lord, pray and listen.

praying for a clear direction

We are so thankful for those who have responded to our current posting and have encouraged us. Thank-you all for your prayers as we travel this journey. Right now we have an idea that we are researching as to where we might live. We want to wait to say any specifics because the Lord might have a different plan and we want to be open to HIS will for us. The process is so overwelming to think about. I am constantly leaning on HIM and HIS word to get me through every situation that comes up throughout the day. I know that Mike is waiting upon the Lord for direction and will do some research in the next few days or so for some more concrete answers. This might be the direction the Lord has for us.
Currently with the forclosure, I was told by the bank that they are setting a date for the place to go to auction on Feb. 1st. Then we will have an idea of how long we have here. I will keep you all posted as you follow with us.
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p.s. Does anyone know of a FREE mobile home that someone wants to get rid of?