 |
| Thanksgivi |
Sunday, November 25, 2007
Zach's Newest Cousin
Thanksgiving we went up to Ohio to meet Baby Thomas--Zach's newest cousin. I only have a few photos of him but they are cute!!
Thursday, November 15, 2007
Ministry Post 3/9
(I wrote this 11/15/07 but didn't post it until 12/30/07)
Everyone talks about life "Post 9/11". For us, it is "Post March 9th".
I guess this is a good time to venture into "what is our ministry now". The answer is, we don't know. As I said in a previous post, and I know I haven't done too many of those recently but I'll try to change my ways, the hardest part of who we are now is that it is a "secret". It isn't that people around us don't know that we have lost a child, it is that "IT" isn't a ministry. You know--there are groups for recovering addicts, for parents of kids with special needs, for parents of kids with congenital heart defects....and then there is us.
Our tangible ministry now has been working with our high school youth group. It is great fun (though a bit exhausting). Justin, my behind-the-scenes main man, has found his nitch as the "special events planner" of our still youth pastor-less group. We only have lay leaders currently so we are all pitching in. Anyway, I am on call tomorrow (yes, 24 hours straight at the hospital) then we are playing PAINTBALL on saturday. I am so excited! Justin is a bit nervous that I will get hurt, though another leader didn't understand why as he said, "You just deliver babies, right?" As if I don't need hands and eyes to do that!! Besides, I do more than just deliver babies but I digress. I am back on call Sunday but, hopefully, I can be part of our normal Sunday morning and evening youth activities. Overall, working with youth is safe for us because we rarely have to face our own grief--we just have to remember what it was like to be a teenager!!
I was part of a panel discussion for our college ministry on wednesday. The main focus was how we are living out Christ's mission in our everyday lives. I did briefly share about Luke--it was really in the context of this: God has burdened my heart for years for two overseas issues. First, for the lack of access to adequate health care and, second, for the plight of women being sold into the sex trade industry. Despite the tug on my heart, where I find myself is in this city, grieving the loss of child, trying to be a wife/mom/doctor/youth leader/friend/etc. And I am called to minister where I am, with what I am, to whom I'm with. I really don't like this ministry to grieving people--I am still there, I haven't processed stuff, it is too fresh. But, my encouragement to those college kids was to minister NOW to those where they are.
Everyone talks about life "Post 9/11". For us, it is "Post March 9th".
I guess this is a good time to venture into "what is our ministry now". The answer is, we don't know. As I said in a previous post, and I know I haven't done too many of those recently but I'll try to change my ways, the hardest part of who we are now is that it is a "secret". It isn't that people around us don't know that we have lost a child, it is that "IT" isn't a ministry. You know--there are groups for recovering addicts, for parents of kids with special needs, for parents of kids with congenital heart defects....and then there is us.
Our tangible ministry now has been working with our high school youth group. It is great fun (though a bit exhausting). Justin, my behind-the-scenes main man, has found his nitch as the "special events planner" of our still youth pastor-less group. We only have lay leaders currently so we are all pitching in. Anyway, I am on call tomorrow (yes, 24 hours straight at the hospital) then we are playing PAINTBALL on saturday. I am so excited! Justin is a bit nervous that I will get hurt, though another leader didn't understand why as he said, "You just deliver babies, right?" As if I don't need hands and eyes to do that!! Besides, I do more than just deliver babies but I digress. I am back on call Sunday but, hopefully, I can be part of our normal Sunday morning and evening youth activities. Overall, working with youth is safe for us because we rarely have to face our own grief--we just have to remember what it was like to be a teenager!!
I was part of a panel discussion for our college ministry on wednesday. The main focus was how we are living out Christ's mission in our everyday lives. I did briefly share about Luke--it was really in the context of this: God has burdened my heart for years for two overseas issues. First, for the lack of access to adequate health care and, second, for the plight of women being sold into the sex trade industry. Despite the tug on my heart, where I find myself is in this city, grieving the loss of child, trying to be a wife/mom/doctor/youth leader/friend/etc. And I am called to minister where I am, with what I am, to whom I'm with. I really don't like this ministry to grieving people--I am still there, I haven't processed stuff, it is too fresh. But, my encouragement to those college kids was to minister NOW to those where they are.
Pray for Blake
If you are an old friend or a new one just dropping by, please pray for BLAKE. He was born 11/13/07 and has HLHS and underwent his Norwood earlier today and tonight (as you can see by his dad's update) is not doing well. They have put him on ECMO and are re-operating to control bleeding. While all of that won't make sense to many of you, please understand he is VERY VERY SICK. His parents go to our church. He has a twin sister named Lauren. He and his sister are at Vanderbilt, under the care of the same physicians that we were.
This is the same road, the same place, the same everything that we were on just 8 months ago. Yes, it is hard for us. Mostly, it is just terrible that anyone has to be walking the same path--especially people that we know. The Huggins family only recently (4 months or so ago) moved to our city. How crazy is it that such a rare disease would find itself within the same church family twice in less than a year? Well, we don't think it is just a crazy coincidence.
So, SNAP to it! Stop Now And Pray for Blake, Lauren, Christie and Kyle! (I stole the SNAP thing from a friend, thanks Ben!)
This is the same road, the same place, the same everything that we were on just 8 months ago. Yes, it is hard for us. Mostly, it is just terrible that anyone has to be walking the same path--especially people that we know. The Huggins family only recently (4 months or so ago) moved to our city. How crazy is it that such a rare disease would find itself within the same church family twice in less than a year? Well, we don't think it is just a crazy coincidence.
So, SNAP to it! Stop Now And Pray for Blake, Lauren, Christie and Kyle! (I stole the SNAP thing from a friend, thanks Ben!)
Thursday, November 8, 2007
Welcome, Baby Thomas!
We have had lots of exciting events in our family this week! Today, Thomas Raass Spencer entered the world (my sis and bro-in-law's third child) weighing a whopping 8#12oz! Mom & baby are both doing well, for which we are a VERY VERY grateful family.
Thomas's big brother, Sammy, has Down Syndrome and was born with Tetrology of Fallot. For those of you that have a special needs or congenital heart defect child and are considering another pregnancy you know the emotional roller coaster Heidi & Spence have had during these 9 months. Hearing "He looks great!" from a pediatrician means so much!
For Justin & I, we FINALLY bought a new digital camera so I might actually be able to update my blog. We had dropped our old one in the hospital and just delayed getting a new one. Justin surprised me with the purchase last week, just in time for Lisa & Lee to come visit. We spent last saturday in Memphis--going to the Zoo, watching the ducks walk the runway at The Peabody Hotel, and going to dinner at Rendezvous. It was great! Look at all my photos for more!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
