Blog Resurrection

What better day than Easter to bring a blog back to life? We have a lot to be thankful for, and I just wanted to give you a glimpse into what's happening with Ben these days. It has been almost 10 months since his last surgery, and his airway seems to have healed perfectly. God has made it like nothing ever happened except for leaving the scars so Ben can always tell his story.

Ben is now in the process of working toward his new dream of growing up to become a race car driver. Originally, he wanted to grow up to be a race car, but he has set that dream aside for now until technology catches up. Right before Christmas our next-door neighbor gave us a Ben-sized 4 wheeler that his kids were too big for. Now that the weather is nice again, I foresee a lot of time trials up and down the cul-de-sac.

We were also fortunate to visit uncle Hal and Aunt Emilie in Montreal during Christmas break. Since we were already paying to bring along an extra suitcase of gifts, we tried others ways to minimize travel costs.

We also had a crazy snowstorm on the first day of spring that gave us a chance to practice the skills we picked up in Canada. I'm pretty sure that baby snowman is going to give me nightmares.

Here are a few videos of Ben learning how to be Canadian.

Bread Alone

It has been said that man can not live on bread alone. But we have discovered that boys can live on popsicles and gatorade alone for about two weeks with few apparent side effects (other than being extraordinarily sticky). The swallowing issues have finally worked themselves out for the most part, which means for the first time ever we don't have doctor's appointment on the schedule. Now that is a good feeling!

Over the 4th of July weekend, Ben had his first pool party at Uncle Chris and Aunt Michelle's apartment. When we first arrived at the pool, Ben latched onto me like an anaconda and didnt' want to go in. But after he realized he had the green light to splash his oupa as much as possible, he was hooked on aquatic life. I didn't really enjoy giving Ben baths for a long time because I was always concerned with water going down his trach so it's nice to be able to watch him float around in the pool for an hour without worrying that he'll try to go snorkeling.

Here's a picture of Ben and Adrienne in Italy. It could also possibly be the Philbrook Museum. You make the call.

Trailing Off

Today we'll go heavy on the media, with pictures by Jenny Connell for Ben's 2-year-old pictures. Our time at the hospital filming the commercial went great. Adrienne did most of the talking, Ben did most of the playing, and I was just there to be the trophy husband. I'm guessing it will probably be another month or two before it airs, but we'll let you know when it will be on TV around here. And maybe if I ask nicely, they'll let me post it here as well.

Miracle Minute

Here's Ben talking it up on his 2nd birthday.

On Ben's birthday, we decided to take a cake to the nurses at the NICU at St. John Hospital where Ben spent the first month of his life. We were also fortunate to meet the doctor on duty when Ben was delivered.  He started the procedure to put in Ben's trach before the surgeon arrived and was definitely one of the people who helped save Ben's life that day.  He was absolutely amazed that Ben had made it through all of this without any long-term health problems.

While we were there, one of the nurses said that Benjamin should be in a TV commercial for the hospital called "Miracle Minute".  We would get to tell Ben's story and share how the doctors and the nurses at the NICU took care of our boy.  We're scheduled to film it on the 19th of February so please pray that we're able to give glory to God and say the right things.

Step One

Today, we took the first and most important step toward successful potty training.

Audio Dictionary

I don't know if this has happened to you, but last week the fan on my laptop just stopped working. My computer would only stay on for fifteen minutes before overheating and shutting down. After further investigation, I found the cause to be a gigantic computer hairball which had been developing over the past five years. The clog was so big that no air could escape out the back of the computer. It had never crossed my mind before that electronic devices could have gastro-intestinal disorders.

Anyway, here's a promised video and some photos of the Benjamite. His surgery starts tomorrow morning at 10:50 and will last for several hours. Ben will lose his voice for a few months because of this procedure so this will be his last "talkie" for awhile. 

Books and girls...I'm have serious deja blog.

For Fall Festival, Ben dressed up as a small child being eaten by Elmo.

He can't stand the sight of seeing another child suffer the same fate.

Mystery

I finally got around to reading Phillip Yancey's book "Prayer: Does It Make Any Difference?" It felt good to finish something with a little more depth than Goodnight Moon (though I must say I wouldn't have minded an occasional pop-up page or velcro pig to keep things interesting). The book brought up some issues that I had tucked away in the months after Ben was born.

Many people associated with Oklahoma Christian University were praying for a little girl named Harper Hawley around the time that Ben was in the hospital. I didn't know the Hawley's well, but I was touched by all the struggles they were going through as their baby's health slowly deteriorated.

At times it felt strange to write about all of the answers to prayer we were witnessing while another faithful Christian family had to deal with God's silence and the eventual loss of their child. Both babies had legions of people praying round the clock for their healing, yet God allowed one to live and one to die. How can we say our prayers truly make a difference when we see seemingly arbitrary behavior on God's part? We serve a mysterious God. All I know is that I come home every day to a smiling, healthy baby boy who should not be alive after everything that happened to him. That fact prevents me from saying that prayer doesn't make a difference even though I understand so little about prayer.

On Friday, Ben goes in for his next round of surgery. Dr. Digoy will be taking a look at his vocal folds to see if they're still blocking his airway. If they are, he'll have to do some delicate work to cut back the vocal folds. We're hoping that he may even be able to tell us whether Ben will be able to speak someday. I don't know how prayer works, but I have seen the influence of your past prayers and ask that you continue to pray for Ben's complete healing. The two weeks after Ben's previous surgeries have been very stressful (little sleep, constant suctioning), and if you could pray for peace in our house during that time, we would love it.

Well, Jenny Connell has outdone herself again with Ben's 1st birthday photos. Her ability to bring out all of Ben's expressions is fantastic. I leave you with some of her latest work.

The Race

Thanks to many of you for the birthday well-wishes this past week. I received a special birthday present on the 3rd when Mike Huckabee was propelled to victory in Iowa due to an endorsement by Chuck Norris and the Huckabee bumper sticker on my car. I'm willing to split the credit 50/50 with Chuck.

After his poor showing in Iowa this past week, Ben has decided to drop out of the race in order to give his full attention to learning how to walk. It's unfortunate because we really wanted to unveil his presidential portrait to the world, but I'll go ahead and let you have a look.


Benjamin had his birthday party on Saturday so I'll leave you with some photos of the highlights.