Eleonora's Surgery went well...

Hello and Greetings Dears!
How are you? I AM BLESSED!!!
This will have to be real quick because I am literally unpacking and repacking to leave tomorrow with Tim for 3 days to Eastern Washington ( 6 hr drive) for Joshua's 2 day State Track Meet for the 1 and 2 mile events! Do pray for us as we travel and Joshua's races, and the rest of the family at home with Elizabeth.

Eleonora's surgery went great with no complications and she is still sedated~ so as far as we know all is well. Do pray for speedy recovery so this little family can be together at home soon. Philipp and Sarah will need to learn how to use some monitors for her and it could all happen within the next few weeks if all goes well.

Thank you for your prayers for my last trip ~ GOD did amazing things and I can not start to tell you or I would not be able to stop but basically IT WAS A HUGE BLESSING and also a growing experience and I had a major healing crisis ( if you know what that is)....ask me sometime but basically in body , mind and spirit I FEEL GREAT and REJUVENATED!!!!


LOVE AND BLESSINGS to YOU ALL!!!!! and many tears of JOY !!!
yours,
Ruthie
Keep REJOICING and Trusting GOD NO MATTER WHAT !!!

Surgery Postponed ~ Keep praying

We got home SO late from Joshua's Track meet that started at 6 pm and that is why I can only tell you now that Eleonora's surgery was postponed until next Tuesday (we think at 1 pm Florida time).
We will try to keep you posted ( be patient while I am away from the computer for most of the next week!) and THANK you all for your continued prayers.
Philipp is officially graduated from Seminary today ! And Joshua came in 1st in the 2 mile and 2nd in the 1 mile tonight at his District meet ( we are off to State next week!)
Praise the Lord and have a blessed weekend.
P.S.
I will be traveling out of State to visit my brother and his wife until Wed because we will be going to a Memorial service for one of my dad's best friends*. They met over 50 years ago before they were married and served the LORD together! Then as young married couples they fellowshipped together constantly at and after church and then stayed in touch though many miles separated them after a move. May Jesus Christ be lifted up and praised at the Service as I suspect He will be and may Jesus comfort and physically heal the last remaining of the four, the wife of the departed,Beth Miller Self ( she has an excruciatingly painful knee condition) .Do also please pray for my witness for the LORD where-ever the LORD leads and guides this week.
Let's all " REJOICE in the Lord Always and again I say REJOICE" from Beth Self's favorite text Phil 4.4-9 and....

" MAKE LOVE YOUR AIM"~~~~
some final words to grandson by *Charles Wm. Self ~ 90 years young !
Gone to LOVE and LIVE in GLORY on May 16,2009 !!!!

Eleonra's Surgery

Dear Family and friends,

Eleonora is doing very well and getting closer to being ready to go home! Feeding seems to be her last big hurdle and due to her paralyzed vocal cord, being on the ventilator for several weeks and prematurity the Doctor has decided a G-tube (feeding tube surgically placed in her stomach) will be best for her continued growth and going home.

We ask for prayer as she goes over to Arnold Palmer (the children's hospital attached to Winnie Palmer) this Friday, May 22nd for the surgery to place the G-tube and at the same time repair 2 hernias. Please pray for the Doctors, Anesthesiologist, and all the hands who will be a part of this - that all would go well and Eleonora would stay strong and recover quickly. Also; please pray that she will be able to come off the ventilator quickly after surgery with no complications.

As Eleonora will be coming home on Oxygen, an Apnea monitor and the feeding tube we will begin receiving training for all of these things and preparing for our daughter to come home. These weeks have been long but we have been sustained by His grace.
Thank you for your prayers and encouragement!

May the Lord be with you,
as He has been with us
Sarah and Philipp

12 weeks old ~ 4 pounds even!

Sweet Eleonora is now 3 months old and still weeks away from her due date of June 8th. This has been a challenging week with some setbacks. We covet your prayers as Eleonora continues to have difficulty eating and might have to wait a bit ( weeks even!) to get back on the bottle feeding and nursing program. Her paralyzed vocal cord ( from the heart valve surgery when she was 9 days old) seems to be the main problem and she continues to have tests done. Sarah asks for wisdom for the Dr. as he makes important decisions regarding Eleonora's care. May God's PEACE reign in all our hearts and minds as we watch and wait.

Next to my computer is this poem:

Compensation
God always gives a better thing
Than that He takes away
Exceeding joy tomorrow
For the tears we shed today
Immeasurable treasure
For the gain we counted loss
Yea, an hundredfold of blessing
For the bearing of the Cross.

"It shall be well with them that fear God." Eccl.8:12

ELEONORA almost 4 pounds but needs prayers!

Well God is working! as usual!
Eleonora is back to trying to be fed by mouth ( YEAH!) and her Dr. wants to try the bottle and breastfeeding for 2 weeks to see if she can do it . PLEASE pray she does not aspirate any milk (meaning ~fluid in her lungs ~ NOT a good thing at all!) and That GOD would do a miracle and help this baby get the hang of it easily so she can go home.
She may never talk but the eating issue is what we are focusing on right now ~please ask GOD for a miracle here!!!! His will be done!
She weighs 3 pounds and 15 ounces and was so close to going home until this set back came along. BUT ...GOD IS STILL in CONTROL and ....

PRAYER CHANGES THINGS.... Thank you ALL so much!!!

The oral surgery went well for our friend's daughter ~ pray for QUICK healing!
The TRIAL CONTINUES back in Wisconsin for 10 days I believe and we have not heard an update on that yet.
We will be having " picnic" weather this weekend and we all are ready for it!
We had a challenging week , yet God faithfully heard our cries and brought peace to a situation needing His touch.
Today was a beautiful and sunny day encouraging us all!
Joshua came in 1st in his sub-District Meet for the 3200 and 2nd for the 1600 Next week he will run at the District meet and Lord willing go to state the following week! Once again we praise GOD for talented and determined children.
May they always Glorify the GOD who created and loves them.
I am praising God in the ups and downs of life ~ are you????
How can I pray for you?
lovingly
Ruthie

Mama Sarah's Prayer Requests

"Come what may to the dearest ones we have on earth, God and HIS upholding grace WILL BE THERE, and HE cares for them more than even we can do !" from my favorite devotional this week Daily Strength For Daily Needs .

Hello Dear hearts!
This is very similar to the last update and yet I thought you would
appreciate "hearing" Sarah's  "voice" .
Your prayers continue to carry us all through
Eleonora's challenges.
May GOD'S perfect will be done
in all our lives especially this precious little one!!!
Here is Sarah's email:

The Lord has been with us over these past 11 weeks
 since our daughter's premature birth; so many
 answers to prayer and He will continue be
 with us in the days to come
- for HE is faithful and never changes.

Eleonora now weighs 3lb 12oz and is 15 inches long!
Yesterday she had her 5th eye exam and her eyes are
getting better!
(There is a condition in preemies that is
monitored closely to make sure the retina
doesn't detach).

We do have some new prayer requests if you
would be willing to email to others:

Yesterday we found out that Eleonora's left
vocal cord is paralyzed
(it has been 4 weeks since she came off the
ventilator and still no sound
is heard when she is visibly crying or trying
to make noise). We do not know
at this point when or if this will get better.
Her Doctor still needs to talk
with the Ear, Nose and Throat Specialist
who daignosed this on Monday.
So our little girl is very, very, quiet.

We also ask for prayer regarding learning
to eat by mouth as there are new
unknowns in this area as well. Right
now she is off all nipple feeds
(learning to suck, swallow and breath
by bottle and/or breastfeeding).
She gets her 32 cc's of breastmilk by
gavage every three hours
(a small tube down her nose into her stomach).
Please pray that she can begin learning to eat
again by mouth
(she needs to be able to take all of her feeds
by mouth to come home).

As for her breathing she is doing wonderfully!
Only on "going-home"
settings of Oxygen.

Please pray for wisdom for the Doctors
and gentleness from the Nurses
as they make decisions and care for Eleonora.

In Christ,
Sarah

Our little Quiet Girl needs more prayers!

First the good news: Eleonora weighs 3 pounds and 12 ounces and the mild eye problem that they have been watching is improving. She is 11 weeks old and has only had a few of the complications of so many preemies. The Dr. and nurses and parents continue to watch her closely as there are a few things needing prayer and possible intervention. In a short time she will need a surgery for a hernia ~ so very common in preemies.
Tomorrow Eleonora will be transported over to the Children's Hospital next door for tests on her swallowing since she not been able to take very much from the bottle and because they confirmed that her left vocal cord was damaged during the heart valve surgery she had shortly after her birth.Her eating difficulties could delay her home-going. It can take time to heal, sometimes weeks or months and LORD willing it will heal and she will be able to make noise.May she one day sing to Jesus with a beautiful and clear voice. For now the nerve is paralyzed and she is a quiet little girl.
At first it is hard to hear news like this, yet we must focus and be grateful for all the positive things and answers to prayer. Just yesterday Sarah got a message that a baby born just a week before Eleonora started to have complications and died yesterday after a few hard weeks. Do pray for Michael's family in the loss of their preemie~ now heaven's gain. Sarah and this mom had visited often over the last 11 weeks so do pray for Sarah as she comforts this grieving mom.

GOD can be trusted at ALL times through the good and the bad and many times ( actually ALWAYS!) the things we call "bad" bring blessings we can not see right away or until we get to heaven's shore .
This reminds me of my Dad's favorite verse(s) from Romans 8:28-29...
" And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to HIS purpose. For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren."
We can and should TRUST and OBEY and when we can not trace GOD'S hand ~ we can still surely ...

TRUST HIS HEART!!!!
lovingly and prayerfully ,
Gran~momie Ruthie

ps~ Could you please include in your prayers my dear friend's daughter's complications in her 2nd trimester of her pregnancy ?!!!

For those of you wanting to hear more from my heart, I have a few thoughts and below is a special poem to share that I found in an antique book just weeks ago.
Last Saturday, May 9th would have been our Luke's 19th birthday! He lived with us for a week before the Lord took him to His heavenly garden of flowers and he IS waiting for us~I dedicate this poem to Luke and Michael , the ones that are REALLY LIVING along with my other 8 miscarried babies through the years:

The Reaper and the FLOWERS
by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

There is a Reaper, whose name is Death,
And, with his sickle keen,
He reaps the bearded grain at a breath,
And the flowers that grow between.

"Shall I have naught that is fair?" saith he;
"Have naught but the bearded grain?
Though the breath of these flowers is sweet to me,
I will give them all back again."

He gazed at the flowers with tearful eyes,
He kissed their drooping leaves;
It was for the Lord of Paradise
He bound them in his sheaves.

"My Lord has need of these flowerets gay,"
The Reaper said, and smiled;
"Dear tokens of the earth are they,
Where he was once a child."

"They shall all bloom in fields of light,
Transplanted by my care,
And saints, upon their garments white,
These sacred blossoms wear."

And the mother gave, in tears and pain,
The flowers she most did love;
She knew she should find them all again
In the fields of light above.

O, not in cruelty, not in wrath,
The Reaper came that day;
'T was an angel visited the green earth,
And took the flowers away.


" And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain....." Revelations 21 : 4
We're on our way to heaven are you on your way there too?

More Good News!

Now at 10 weeks,Eleonora is 3 pounds and 8 ounces and yes that means she graduated to a regular open crib!
She is on the lowest level of oxygen meaning she only gets a "whiff" once in a while and Sarah can hold her whenever she wants in many different positions!!!! She is SLOWLY learning how to nurse and gets to try to drink from a bottle once each day also and only receives the best milk in the world for her- Sarah's!
The main prayer requests now are that she will continue to thrive and have no set backs so she can go home soon and that she will easily and quickly learn how to eat . She is able to keep her temperature stable which means she wears clothes and a blanket just like a regular newborn.
Thank you again so very much for your prayers and love for our precious little miracle.
Many babies at the hospital have serious complications and Sarah is very thankful for how well Eleonora is doing and has done these last 10 weeks.

ps
Caleb had a great time in track this year and came in 1st place in both events ( the 800 and 1600) today at the District Meet. We are grateful to God for our talents and health ~ May GOD always be 1st in our hearts and may we always run our best for HIM in whatever we do!!!