Jenni and Brandon

My sister Jenni and her husband Brandon came to visit from Florida last week. I felt so bad that they had to be here while I was in so much pain, but God's timing was truly perfect. You see Jenni is in nursing school and already working part-time as a nurse in training. It was only because she was here that I went to the Emergency clinic when things got so bad and was able to get the more powerful antibiotic that I needed as well as the topical numbing liquid that finally allowed me to eat and drink. She was also the one to bravely apply the numbing liquid to my wound because I couldn't see it to apply it correctly. God's timing was perfect and I think that He drew us even closer together because this was one of the first times that my little sister was in a position to truly help her big sister in ways that were so needed. We still had a great time together and they had a blast with the kids too. Every night while they were here I would ask Dane at bed time what his favorite part of the day was and he would grin and say "seeing Auntie Jenni". That says it all. Above is a photo of Jenni and the kids coming in from the boat and the other is of Dane and Brandon on Bald Head Island.

Beka's Half Birthday

We celebrated Beka's half birthday on 8/6. It is so hard to believe that she is one and a half. As you can see she is very much a little girl and she LOVES her cupcakes! For those of you who don't know, we celebrate half birthdays in our family (for the kids only!) because life is too short not to celebrate every chance we get. Instead of a cake they get cupcakes and instead of receiving gifts they give a gift to someone in need. This half birthday Beka is giving 2 gifts. One to the International Rhett Syndrome Foundation and the other to a missionary family in Uganda. We want to help the kids to think about the needs of others at times other than Christmas. It'll be really exciting to see what needs they choose to give to once they are old enough to decide.

Complications

Please pray. I've had some complications since my oral surgery on the 7th. On the 11th I developed an infection on the roof of my mouth which is where the surgeon took a large piece of tissue to graft in another area. The infection has eaten away at the tissue exposing the bone on the roof of my mouth and leaving me in a tremendous amount of pain and unable to eat or drink a whole lot. Today (Sunday) I went in for an emergency visit with the surgeon and she has scheduled me to go in tomorrow morning to have blood drawn. She is concerned that I am not healing even though I've been on antibiotics for a week. She will be taking blood to try a procedure that they use in extreme cases. They will use my cells to create a membrane to place over my wound and try to jump start healing. Please pray that this works! Please pray for healing, reduction in pain and for me to be able to get enough nutrition. Tonii left today and will be traveling for business for the next two weeks, so please pray for strength both emotional and physical for me. My mother-in-law is here with me tonight. I am so blessed to have family close by.

As Jimmie Rodgers sings, "Why There's A Tear In My Eye" on the Hi Fi, Hollis looks for the faulty phone jack.

Abner and Hollis

Abner Meecham needed his phones lines fixed and Hollis Pemberton was the man for the job.

Totally Toddler

She pulls out her changing pad and wipes and lays them on the couch for me when I tell her she has a dirty diaper, she leans back when in my arms to gently play with the eyelashes and giggle, she points to the oven when the timer beeps and says "heis" (German word for hot, that is another story in itself). She is no longer my baby, but totally toddler!

Oral Surery Success!

Many thanks to those of you to whom I remembered to tell that I was attempting oral surgery again. This procedure was attempted and failed twice in LA, but today it was successful in NC! Praise the Lord! I am swollen, in some pain and very tired, but thrilled that it worked. Please continue to pray that I will recover and heal quickly so as not to be a burden to my family and that it will truly "take" and truly be a long term success.

My Sunshine

My little boy is growing up. Mom, these photos are especially for you. Do you recognize the shirt that Dane is wearing?? It is my shirt from when I went to pre-school at the Sunshine School! I never imagined my child one day wearing it. Thank you for saving it and giving it to me and making me mindful of saving special things like that to give to my kids for their kids one day. I can hardly believe that he is almost 4! Just yesterday we got a newsletter from Scotts Hill Christian Academy where he will begin attending pre-school in the fall. I started getting all fluttery inside as I realized that he'll be leaving home, in a sense, for the first time in just 4 weeks. As I read over the scheduled events for the next 10 months I realized that life is about to change in a big way. He'll only be in school 2 days a week and then at BSF with me for a third day of structure, but I know that it'll be a major change in his little world.

Coast Guard Day

We decided to go to downtown Wilmington for the day since we hadn't done that since we moved here. Well we picked the perfect day because it just happened to be Coast Guard day and our boat loving boy was in for a real treat. Tonii and Dane got in line to go into the ships and Beka and I strolled through the farmers market and boutiques. I picked them all up a long chocolate dipped pretzel and we met up again on the waterfront. It was a fun, relaxed way to spent a Saturday. My sister and her husband are coming to visit next week and I think that we will take them downtown too.