The First (Minor) Setback

Hey everyone. This is Monica, and I just want to say in advance that I do not have my journal with me, so this might be the most raw blog you will ever read from me. =)

Many of you know that the last week has been a dream as far as the twins are concerned. They have eaten relatively well, never developed any sleep apnea, and never even developed very severe jaundice. We have been shocked and overwhelmed by how well our little preemies have adjusted to life. Nonetheless, we were shocked to get a phone call on Friday telling us that the boys would be coming home Sunday (today). We were far from prepared for them to come home. With all of my hospitalization and uncertainties, a baby shower never happened, and we didn't expect them to be home so soon so we hadn't done any of the shopping we needed to do. So, my mom took care of Cade on Friday; I missed the Egg Bowl for the first time in years; and Austin and I spent all day shopping and trying to organize. I was exhausted beyond belief, but everything seemed set for the boys to come home. Overnight Friday, however, David lost weight. Long story short, they didn't eat enough throughout Saturday, and even though he has regained his weight, the doctors do not want to send them home until they have a solid 24 hours of better eating.

When we first found that out his morning, I was devastated. I had just gotten so excited about them coming home and me finally getting some rest with them at home. However, the plan the doctors have for today is really good, and we are confident they will be discharged tomorrow. Despite the disappointment of this morning, as I type I am brought to tears by God's goodness. I am talking about two babies that almost came 2 months ago. We have seen babies in the NICU that are that premature, and it is overwhelming to know that God answered all of your prayers so that our children are not in that position. Even for 33 weekers, they are healthy. Their lungs and hearts are strong, and their bodies even had the strength to fight off the jaundice and keep it from getting to high. They've never even had a severe apnea episode, which is a miracle all on its own.

What I'm trying to say is that we've had a really hard time. During my bedrest and hospitalization I even had a hard time reading Scripture or having alone times with the Lord. I've been scared and stressed and in pain for longer than I knew was humanly possible. But here we are. I'm healthy, our boys are healthy, and it's all because of specific answers to prayers. I may not have had the easiest time spiritually, but I never felt abandoned by God. Our situation has been really tough, but it has not been the worst it could have been. And for the first time in a long time, I have seen God's overwhelming answer to prayer in my own life. In fact, He has proven that He has the power to do even more than I think to ask. He has taught about His love for me; He has taught me about walking with Him through pain and fear; and, as icing on the cake, He has given me the most precious children and the most wonderful husband.

Thanks to everyone for your prayers. I believe that each of you has played a vital role in the lives our little boys, and I am so grateful for you faithfulness to us and to the Lord.

David James and Jonathan Richard

Hey everyone!!! They are here!!! The boys were born at roughly 6:16 and 6:17 respectively. As expected they are in the NICU, but David has not needed any Oxygen, and Jonathan has only needed a little, and neither are on a respirator!!! They were 4 lbs and 4lbs 2 oz respectively. They are precious.
We came in last night contracting alot, and assumed that this would be it. However, by this morning the doctors figured not much else was going to happen, so they decided to just watch us and admit us to the hospital, figuring that things would stay pretty docile. Obviously, this was less than an exciting option for us. God however, had things his way. Monica's water broke around 4 o'clock or so, and that was all she wrote. By 6 pm we were cutting.
Monica is doing great and just resting, and dad is about to do the same. We figure the little guys will be here 3-4 weeks or so which means they could be home for Christmas. This raises another concern/worry. The boys being as young as they are, they are much more prone to lung problems. Smoking near or around them is a big no no, even wearing clothes that have been smoked in is a big no no. Monica's parents are smokers and there is really not much of a way that this is going to be easy. We have arranged a meeting with the physicians to discuss all of it, but pray that everything is handled with grace and that there is no strife as we all wish to keep the babies safe, and everyone feeling loved.
Thank you all so much for your prayers, we are so excited to welcome our two new little lifes into the world!

Home Sweet Home

Hey guys! This is Monica; I finally have the ability to blog a little. As most of you know, we were able to come home on Friday afternoon. Yay! It was such a huge shock. We had taken two tests that morning to determine whether or not we could come home. One had come out perfectly, the second not so much. We thought for sure we were stuck there at least another week or two. But, about 3:00 the nurse came in and said I was being discharged! I'm still on pretty strict bedrest and I have to us an at-home monitor once a day to measure my contractions, but the fact that we've gotten this far is such a miracle.

It's amazing what God has done. The doctors and nurses really thought I was going to deliver the night I went into the hospital. Now, 4 weeks later, they're talking about reaching 32 and even 34 weeks and beyond. What's really great is that my stress level is now significantly reduced. I feel a lot like I did the week before our wedding. In that case, I still had errands to run and small things to do, but all of the stress of planning a wedding was over. I figured if it wasn't done at that point it wouldn't get done. Now, I've worked hard for 5 months to keep these babies in. I still want every day we can get, and I'm going to keep doing all the things I need to keep them safe. But, the stress of whether or not they'll be okay is gone, and I can focus instead on being excited about their arrival.

Thanks so much to all of you who prayed for us and provided for us while we were in the hospital. It is truly thanks to your prayers that we made it this far.

So Close

Hey everyone...we were so close to going home yesterday, but alas, everything did not go according to plan, and here we still are, it was pretty tough, but the Lord is sovereign. Other than that, not much else is going on...the babies are getting bigger and as far as we know are doing great! We would still love to see anyone who wants to stop by!

Touching Base

I was just letting everyone know that things are pretty stable right now. The babies look great and Monica is doing well.
Thank you guys so much for all of your prayers. This week was a little more normal, I was able to have a couple of meetings that went pretty well.
Please pray as this time as we have mentioned, have put a strain on our relationship with Cade, and is beginning to strain the budget as well. We know the Lord provides all the we need, and we will continue trust Him.
Thank you all for your continued support and concern.

True Community

Well everyone, it has been quite the last week and a half. We are still here, the babies are still inside, and now we wait.
I just wanted to take this quick moment to thank everyone for being as great as they have been. People have brought us meals, emailed us, and just come by to chat, and it has been such a blessing!!!
There is something that a truly awesome man by the name of Scott Ketrow taught us this summer while we were in Colorado. We studied Galatians probably more in depth than any other book I ever had before, at least in a large group setting. There were countless things that were revealed that have truly affected the way I live and believe, and this is one of those things, and it applies to what we have been seeing over the past week and a half. In chapter 5, we are all familiar with the fruit of the spirit, peace, patience, joy, love, kindness, goodness, and self control. Those are found in verses 22 and 23. However, if you look up at verses 14 and 15, Paul talks about loving one another, and not devouring each other, and then you can see he is transitioning to tell us about the Spirit's work in our lives. His work is meant to be shown and displayed in community, amongst other believers, and non believers. We are called to show all of these things towards each other. The Holy Spirit living in us produces these good things so that we can show our faith in the faithfulness of Christ. Mind boggling.
Anyway, all of that is to say, thank you everyone. Thank you for showing your love for Christ and us as we seek out how to best glorify Him during this more than interesting time. We love you all and look forward to hearing from, or seeing you soon!

Cats and The Cradle

Whew, today was quite the day! We could not stop contracting, again...and they upped her tribudline again, and it still did not work, so they put her on some other meds, which more or less worked, but not entirely, but good enough for now. Good news is that they do not think we have dilated any more and the babies look great!! Tomorrow will be 28 weeks, which is a good number, but now that we have arrived here, everyone keeps talking about 30 weeks, while this is understandable, it gets a little tiresome, its like, man, isnt this goal good enough? But the Lord is good and the babies look great, so there is no complaining here, well not much.
The toughest thing right now is dealing with not having our son around us as much anymore...every second I get with him feels very cats and the cradle. I miss him, as does monica and we worry so much about him knowing his mommy and daddy love him. We just want him closer and more accessible. For those of you who do not know, our hospital is about 30 minutes away from his daycare, and 45 minutes from where we have been living. Even then when I bring him by, he can only handle so much being in this little room. Please pray that we would be able to continue to bond with him as he grows and we go through this time apart. Talk to you all soon!

The Wonderful World of Antepartum

Even up here we seem to always have some kind of issue, but things are much better. Twice so far we have had to do extra doses of the medicine she is already on but both times it calmed everything down, and now we are just getting comfortable in our new digs. I got to spend some time with Cade last night, as we went to my brother's cross country meet, and he saw his mommy some, so that was good also. We are really bummed because we do not know how we will be able to see him everyday this week.
I am so proud of my wife! We found out yesterday from someone who has been on both magnesium sulfate, and had breast cancer, that chemo was better than the magnesium, and my wife made it through with flying colors!
The babies are doing fine and moving around, which is great!!Fell free to call us or come by and see if us if you are around!

Movin on Up

Hey everyone, well as before, I could be wrong, but we just might make it past tomorrow. We are on the trib pump now and it is working out pretty well, so we will see how it progresses. Beyond that we have moved up stairs to the hall for women they are trying to stop from having babies, so now we have some company, and a room with a window, and all kinds of stuff, so we are pleased. We just had an ultrasound and saw that both the babies are breathing!!!This is a huge developmental step that puts them way ahead of where they are supposed to be at this point! We are very excited at their great development. Although we think the babies will come soon, we are glad to be in more comfortable surroundings for now.
Please continue to check, I will be constantly updating!

Sleepless in Labor and Delivery

hey all, well if you read the last blog, and then you read what I am about to tell you, then you might begin to think I am some kind of doctor, because everything I said would happen did. About 3 o'clock, they came in and gave Monica three shots of a drug called Tribudaline in the course of an hour at 20 minute intervals, not very fun. All of this while her body was trying to come off the magnesium sulfate stuff. She was and still is having a good bit of chest pain, and it is a little difficult to breath, but it is a little better than say an hour or so ago.
What we are going to try and do today is put Monica and a Tribudaline pump. Basically they take an insulin pump that diabetics would use and instead of insulin, they put the Tri in there and it constantly feeds the body the drug, which should, and again I should, hold off the contractions. Some people take very well to this and everything gets better for a couple of weeks, others however it doesnt really help it all. IF you are asking my opinion on this, well I think we will still have babies on Saturday, if that is any indication of what I think this stuff will do. The drugs are really beginning to affect Monica, and so is lying in the same position for four days without real food, and for Monica, who is a pretty healthy person, this is really tough for her.
We will see our specialist soon, and will have more information from him as well as to what kind of time line we are looking at. IT was funny this morning because when we talked to one of the regular doctors, she said that we would try to get to 34 weeks, yes we all know this is the best, but whether we are pessimistic, or just plain arrogant, we kind of laughed. Something I did not note yesterday when we talked to the NICU people was that it is actually good that Monica has been laboring for so long now. She said that babies will know when the body is trying to get rid of them and their little vital functions will start kicking in and working the way they are supposed when they come out. Basically they know that they have to step up to the plate, to which I responded, "Thats my boys". Talk to you all soon.

Not quite back again....yet...

Well I am about to call it a night, its roughly 12:15, I know I need to sleep, but there are times when you just cant.
We are officially off of the magnesium stuff now, however not for good reasons, as Monica was getting readdy to go to sleep she began seeing double, a bad side effect of that particular medicine which is something we watch for. They stopped the mag immediatly, and guess what...we are having the consistent uterine irritability again. This generally leads into full on contractions. I have been telling everyone all day that I think Saturday will be go day, but this might change things. Like I said we are all still positive, and praying for the best for our soon to be with us sons. I have every confidence that they will be fine and wrestling with myself and their brother in no time. I got a chance to sneak away from the hospital today and take Cade to a park and play with him for a little bit. It was great! I miss him so much and just want him to know that his daddy loves him, and he and mommy have not forgotten about him.
I assume you guys will here from me again later tonight, but wont get anything until when you get up, so i will try to keep the remaining things short. Good night all!!!

There and...

For all of you Lord of the Rings folks, you know what the next title will probably be...that is because they have tried to step monica back off the drugs again, and we pretty much know that this evening the contractions will probably start back up again and she will have to have the doses upped again.
The day has been pretty uneventful otherwise though. So many of you have visited or called, or sent emails, and we thank you so much for your prayers, care, and love. We had our consultation with the NICU people today, and felt pretty good after that. They told us the different things they have to do with preemies this young, and it was not near as bad as we thought it might, they may not even have to be on ventilators!!! As far as coming home, that will be a while, but we know they are in great hands here. They have a great crew and we feel very blessed. For those of you who want particulars on what they have to do with preemie babies you can email me with your questions, cause there is alot, but now i am informed and can pass that information on. If anything drastic happens tonight, I will let you know, and I will also give a final report whenever we turn out the lights for the night.
A word from Monica: ~As typed by Austin...Hey everyone I just wanted to send out a little note to let you know how I am, though completely exhausted, I know the Lord is taking care of and watching over us, between the peace the Lord Himself is giving me, the great NICU doctors here, and our amazing Specialist Doctor, I know that myself and the babies are going to be fine, although I will be happy when this time is over, I feel so blessed that the Lord has counted me worthy to suffer for His children's sake, thank you so much for your prayers and thoughts, if you are in town please come by and visit or call, I would love to see you guys...talk to you soon.

Not much to Say yet

We just had the ultra sound, and so far there has not been much change in her cervix, but there is still bleeding that probably is coming from the placenta, which is not a good thing, but the babies still look okay. They have had to re-up her Magnesium Sulfate again, which bluntly speaking, really sucks. So we are really just in a holding pattern until we know something else, which really is not much. Our specialist doctor is great and does a good job at telling us what is going on and what the next logical steps are.
Pray for Monica as she has pretty much been in labor since tuesday, even though the doctors have not termed it that, it has been really rough on her. This medicine does not help you feel good at all. Like I said, I will keep the info coming as I get it, feel free to contact us or come visit if you are in the area.

Thurs. Morning 9:45 AM

Hey everyone...we are currently waiting on the ultrasound people. There has been a little bleeding and that is not anything to necessarily be concerned about yet, but we are going to continue to be cautious. We just spoke with the specialist and we are going to do some more tests, one is actually to determine whether or not she will deliver soon or not. So the next time we check in we should have a whole lot of information. Our doctor is really impressed with us because we have done so much research, so that helps things from becoming too scary. The really good news is that the babies heartbeats and tests on the monitor look more like 32 week olds instead of 27, and they measure like 29 week olds on the ultrasounds. So God is taking control and making everything work out to His glory just like we prayed and knew would happen. This is just another exciting chapter in our story and His as well. We will continue to keep everyone informed.

As of 10 PM Oct 3rd

All is well. Still having some contractions. Just took some nite nite medicine, and we are winding down. I promise more info as things happen. Thanks everyone.

Sultan Table

If you are ever in Spring Hill, TN, I have the ultimate restaurant suggestion, Sutlan Table. It says it is a Mediterranean Cuisine place, but it is much more like a Turkish restaurant. I felt like I was sitting down to one of my old places in Central Asia. The Turkish places there were like my McDonald's.
Our server, Jingiz, is from Istanbul, so I got to practice my Turkish with him. It was just such a blessing for God to give us a little glimpse into our future lives by providing us with the opportunity to eat at this place.
We are going back tonight for some baklava and coffee, and to say hello to our friend Jingiz. I do not know where his heart is at, or whether or not he is a Muslim, but I know I will pray for him, and will always visit this place when I come to town.
Some very dear friends of ours recommended this place to us, which just continues to show what great blessings the are in our lives. I pray that maybe Jingiz will get to know them, and that prayerfully they will develop a relationship. I was just reminded of the gentle nature of people from Turkey, and what great things they do for the kingdom when they come to know Christ.
It is such a blessing to know that the Lord has not at all taken anything from my heart about reaching the Turkish and Turkic people for Christ.
By the way, try the Turkish Combo and have some Humus for your appetizer, it rocks!

In Christ Alone

As many of you have read in our newsletter, the past few weeks or so has been anything but ideal, at least in our earthly human perspective of things. The miscarriage, the car that will not sell, and the various other things, all seem to just add up. Even this past week, Cade came down with rota virus, and ran a little fever for the first time. The fact that he was so sick and wanted to cuddle was cute, but everything we had to clean up wasn't so much. Then Monica got sick, while Cade was still sick. Ugh, talk about a momentum killer. When two out of three are ill, things just are not looking up. Everyone is better now, and although Cade continues to chew on everything in sight, which i just know will get him sick again, Monica and I are doing our best to try and restrain ourselves from doing the same : ).
On top of this, we have just experienced alot of disappointment from people. It just seems for whatever reason, many of the people we are meeting with and talking to, have just seemed to shut down to us, or even begun to judge us. While we understand that our lives are out on display with what we are doing, it is tough to handle sometimes. This whole support raising thing is really interesting on so many levels. The growth it causes. The necessity to depend on God however, is the greatest.
Tonight I sat down with my guitar and started playing a new praise song, that sounds like an old hymn, In Christ Alone. It is so beautifully written, and right to the point. With all that is happening, with all of the people essentially letting us down, it is so amazing to know where our power and strength reside. The last line of the song says,
Til he returns, or calls me home
here in the power of christ i'll stand
And that is what we must do, until it is all over, until we are in His presence, no matter what, we must look to Him as our strength and our power. I encourge everyone to check out the lyrics to that song online, they are quite powerful.
Thank you everyone so much for your prayers, and all that you do. Continue to also lift up the people of Central Asia in your prayers. It breaks my heart to know that so many people walk daily in darkness overthere. When i sit and think about it, i am further resigned to doing whatever it takes to get there sooner. Not just for the sake of these peoples souls, but for the ultimate and boundless glory it will bring the Father. It is His glory we work for. It is His glory that we boast in, it is Him and only Him, and praise HIm that He is worthy of so much!

Bad Diapers, 120 Hours, Huge Task, The Kingdom

You haven't truly gone through a traumatic experience until you have dealt with your first child's stomach bug. Absolutely no concept of running to the toilet or garbage can, will leave quite a mess on your hands, well and everywhere else! Cade is recovering from his first stomach bug, and doing quite well now. He never really acted like he felt bad, it was a time where I got to learn a little bit about life from him.
The first time he was sick, he just sat in it and talked happily for about 15 minutes. This was because he was in the back seat, and we had no clue, then we discovered he had thrown up. We as humans can be like that so many times. Just sitting in our own filth, and not even realizing it. Cade needed someone to tell him about his mess, clean him up, and help him into new clothes. Isnt it awesome how the Holy Spirit does that with us? He reveals our sin, through Christs work we are cleaned, and now we walk in the new clothes of the spirit.
The last couple of weeks have also flown by, mainly because we have spent roughly 120 hours completly devoted to our support raising. It has averaged out to about 60 hours a week. Praise the Lord that we do not have to worry about having a second job!
The other day as I was doing some things to prepare for our next prayer letter, I realized some daunting statistics. There are 91 million people in Central Asia, only one half of one percent know Christ!! Only 455,000 people in this area of the world larger than the US know our wonderful Lord and saviour!!! If this is not a ripe field, I do not know what is.
Finally, in my personal time with the Lord lately, I have really been pursuing and intimate understanding of the Kingdom of God. Not just to know it, but to communicate it, to live in it, and not become crippled by thinking it is only a thing of the future. The most incredible thing that I have found so far, is that the Greek root word for Kingdom is walk or pace. When the Bible is telling us to seek first the kingdom, it is not telling us to seek after a place we go when we die, but, in context, it is saying dont worry about life, dont worry about what circumstances have befallen you, seek his kingdom in your walk!!!Pursue Righteousness, Pursue holiness, pursue His fame on the earth. Dont just become downcast and say woe is me, but love others in spite of those things, provide whatever you can for a brother, or unbeliever in need, do as Christ did and go and meet the people where they are at. That is where we find the kingdom, that is where our walk takes us.

God's Abundance

Wow!!! I honestly did not thing I would be making a post the day after making the initial one, but hear I am!!!It is quite a lengthy story, and I dont want to name any names because many of you who made this possible will be reading this, but God showed up today!
In one day a lone , we raised 10% of our monthly support. What a rich blessing!!!!God is so great!!God has an amazing plan for Central Asia. This is obvious. He wants to work in these peoples heart to raise up a great movement of His people there. As more people continue to be faithful, the closer we get to sharing Christ with Central Asians!!Please continue to take this journey with us as we have already seen God's fingerprint today!!
Also, dont forget to let us know how we can pray for you.

Starting Out

Well our family has returned from a month of new staff training in Daytona Beach Florida. Word on the street is that we are official. We are exhausted and trying to recover from a long, but fruitful experience. We are so thankful for the past months experience. Let me share with everyone just one in particular.

It had already been a long day when we were traveling into Daytona Beach. We were ready to get to our hotel and crash, however, this would be far from what would actually happen. None of our bags showed up in Daytona, and we had to stand in line forever trying to sort everything out. We left in a cab headed for our hotel. Things had to be on the way up right? We would get to go to our room and not have it cluttered with a bunch of our stuff, and we were on the beach, sounds great right? Well as we stepped out of the taxi we realized there was something missing that should not be. Our laptop case was missing. Gone. Not in our possession. In the case was obviously, a laptop, my new XM radio I had received for Christmas, a portable DVD player, and some other small things.

Monica was devastated, and so was I. With a baby that was becoming increasingly fussy, I left Monica behind at the hotel, going in faith that our laptop bag was just sitting somewhere near baggage claim. I prayed and prayed that the Lord would perform a miracle. He was planning on it all along, but it would not happen that night. I spent almost three hours there filling out a police report, looking under and behind everything. I returned empty handed and feeling quite dejected.

Remember however, that God did have a miracle planned. Over the next few weeks we began to process our claim with our insurance company. The thing with them was that, having just sold our house, we did not think our home owners insurance would cover it, but they did, and we got a check for everything. Most of us would think well that figures, that is how it should be. Here is the amazing thing. We learned that we could reimburse the purchase of a new computer through our new staff position with Crusade. This meant that the insurance check we recieved could be put away to help us through our time of support raising.

I encourage you to read this blog as much as you can. God is going to be doing things on a pretty regular basis, and I would love to be a blessing to everyone by sharing these stories with you. Until next time, Praise Him who blesses all the time according to His will and timing which is infinatly greater than any other way we could have designed it.