Web address for Christmas in the middle of commercial chaos

PRELUDE: If you don't read anything else, just go to http://www.guidecraft.com/ and order from them, it's worth your while- TRUST ME (though they'd never brag about why). Below is an account of my eye opening experience with them.


I've been planning Layla's "big Santa" gift for some time now. It involves a yellow Belle (Beauty and the Beast) dress, which has been her first request and only consistent request to Santa this Christmas. Sure she asks for other things, but when pressed for her favorite thing, it always comes down to that yellow dress. Simple enough. She's starting to have a TON of dress up stuff and I had eyed a cool dress up center last year and decided this was the year and ordered the one pictured below...I ordered it two weeks ago (12/10)off of Amazon. Much to my dismay, a week later (12/15), on the day it was supposed to be delivered I got an email that the order was cancelled and the item was no longer available. I was SO upset -- it was so close to Christmas and I'd gotten a fantastic deal on the (expensive) item.

I looked all over the web and no one else had it available for delivery until January. At check out I would get the dreaded "back order" message :( I went straight to the brand - www.guidecraft.com and paid a little extra for it and at check out had the option to pay $25 for guaranteed delivery on the 20th - perfect!

Until the next day, when I got an email that they didn't have the item either and it wouldn't be available until after Christmas. I emailed them and asked if I would still have to pay the expedited shipping (they said definitely "no")etc, etc. I explained the nature of the situation, what happened with the previous order and asked if there was even a *slight* chance it could get here by Christmas. Nope. BUT- what did happen was amazing. After offering several alternatives -- all of which were very nice, but I still was committed to this item, he showed an incredibly overwhelming gesture of kindness and customer service (though this is so much more). I can't sum it up on my own, so I'm just going to paste some of the email responses from the Company's VP-Logistics here - they speak for themselves...

"I’m sorry that we weren’t able to get you this item in time. I even checked with some of our retailers and no one has any available.

I feel terrible that we are not able to get this item to you in time for Christmas. We’re a 46 year old, family owned and operated company and we constantly strive to exceed our customer’s expectations and I definitely think we failed you on this order. Please allow me to make up for it by sending this item to you at no charge. We are keeping your order open but I am going to make sure that we process a full 100% credit for your entire order total."

  

Wow!!! RIGHT?! I obviously was STUNNED and told him that was generous but unnecessary, but he held to it.

PART 2: I get an email today saying the order was cancelled, I figured it was an automatically generated message, but emailed to be sure and here is what he said this time!!

"No, you don’t need to worry about this email. It is an automated response from the company that handles orders on our website. It is just confirming that the order you placed on our website has been cancelled and your credit card should soon see a credit for the total amount.

Also, there’s good news! We are currently receiving our shipment of the Dress-Up Centers and I have your order out to the warehouse to ship today. I’m sending it to you via UPS 3 Day so you’ll receive it on Friday. I’ll send you a note a little later today once I have the tracking information so you can go online later tonight and see your items progress all the way to your door.

And, of course, he sent the tracking number not long after.

I can’t tell you how happy I am that these arrived to us today. I immediately thought of you and I dug through a few hundred orders to locate yours and make sure that we would ship it today in time for Christmas.

I’ll send over tracking in a little while."

Let's review -- even though we will still have the item before Christmas - they are not charging us for it AT ALL....and they could have just sent it slow and gotten it here whenever, but he personally selected our order from the stack to make sure we would get it in time for Christmas....again, FREE.

THIS is the ULTIMATE in customer service and it would be totally irresponsible of me not to share my experience. I would encourage all parents, grandparents, etc. to visit their site, view their selections, and order from them (www.guidecraft.com). They truly have GREAT products but their customer service has turned me into a lifelong supporter. I will buy from them at EVERY opportunity I get. We can all agree that your any town mega store not only doesn't understand service like this; but, they are paralyzed by a system of regulations that makes them incapable of it. 

PLEASE share this with anyone you know and support this business if you can. www.guidecraft.com This is the true spirit of Christmas, alive and well.

Merry Christmas all!!

"Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus." - 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18

Jackson

Last week was quite a wonderful week!! Piper had a follow-up appointment with the Infectious Disease team last Tuesday and they were extremely pleased with her healing. That is, NO MORE DOCTORS!! Woo Hoo! It's hard to believe it's been over a month since we were terrified for our little girl, camped out in the hospital and going on zero sleep. God has remained faithful and shown His great works in Piper, for sure.

Two weeks ago in school, Layla showed up and started writing words. Amazing! She wrote "Hi" and "Tall." We haven't taught her to spell/write words yet and neither have her teachers - she just figured it out by herself - so COOL! She's also been excelling with patterns - in amazing ways. We are so proud of her and are working to make sure she's in the right place academically. Every night when we read books we pick a couple words and teach her to sound them out. She's acing it!

Piper showed off in school last week herself - turns out she knows her colors! They were picking up at the end of the day and the teacher decided to ask her to put the green block away and she did! Then it was blue and yellow and she nailed them first try each time :)

We are so proud of our girls!

I took yesterday to have some 1:1 time with Layla while Piper napped. We went to the mall to pick up a couple things we needed and it just happened that Santa was there. She wanted to talk to him and while she won't tell us what she talked to him about, we have a feeling it involves princesses (fortunately, Santa is a "loud talker"). I'll post a pic of her with Santa later tonight (hopefully). We all went out for dinner last night and Piper's meal was mostly chips and a big bowl of salsa. We kept waiting for her to feel the hot and start crying, but that never happened and she kept going back for more!

In the middle of all this wonderful and fun stuff - perhaps the most exciting news is the addition of a pet chinchilla to our family!! Layla is the proud "mama" and named him "Jackson." He's four years old and very sweet. Layla is, of course, the foremost expert on all things chinchilla and Jackson now, so if anyone has any questions, she will be offering advice.

Looking forward to Thanksgiving this week. We will be staying in Nashville this year - had hoped to make it back to Iowa; but, we'll have to make that trip later :(

This year we are especially thankful for our health and the health of our children. God continues to remind me how faithful He is and how His plan shows itself. It's so easy to get caught up in our own plans and solutions; but, when it comes down to it, God is right there all the time and I need to just let go of all else.

Love,
KB

All Done

yeah - so I'm a little behind. Needless to say, with all the other things in our life, adding to the list (i.e. blogging) wasn't in the plan. BUT - it turns out lots of you are continuing to visit the site.

That said, I have been super tardy in posting a health update on the girls.

Piper had two follow-up visits last week - one with Infectious Disease and one with the Orthopedic Surgeon. Both were excellent and we stopped her antibiotic on Thursday at the direction of the Surgeon (he was, and is, heading up her care). We've all been sleeping much better since- that includes Piper. She has an additional follow-up with Infectious Disease next week and I'm anxious to ask them LOTS of questions about future risk. Bacteria like this is known to colonize in the muscles creating an increased risk of recurrence in the future from something as simple as the common cold.

Layla finished her antibiotic without incident and was back to herself quickly.

Mom ended up on antibiotics about 10 days after Piper was discharged - I suppose it all just caught up with me. BUT - better now! The latest is both girls have pink eye; but, it's SO minor an "illness" that we'll take it!! :)PHEW! Banking on a much healthier 2012!!!

Everyone enjoyed Halloween immensely and Layla was very proud of herself for (eventually) being courageous enough to go up to houses and knock all by herself...with a proud momma watching from the curb. She had a great time and everyone loved her costume, which meant a lot to her - she told me, "MOM - everyone really likes my costume!" Mommy win!

Mommy Fail

So - for whatever reason, the girls' school decided to do classroom Halloween parties today instead of on Halloween. Historically, kids wear their costumes to school on Halloween; but since the parties are today, they were supposed to wear them today.

For Piper's class we were told to just send the costume, if we prefer, and they would change into them for the party - keeps the costumes from getting messy/destroyed. I love that idea and thought that would be best for Layla too so her costume would still look nice for the official holiday. Sent her to school in a festive orange shirt and halloween tights/skirt and planned to bring her costume with me in the afternoon for the party.

Eric takes the girls to school this morning and wouldn't you know - ALL of Layla's friends were in their costumes. She was visibly upset about it and when I called school to  check on her around lunch time, she was still very depressed. MOMMY FAIL. *face palm*

Paying the Piper

...as opposed to Paying FOR Piper, which I'm guessing will happen in a couple weeks.

But - the whole not-able-to-sleep-while-in-the-hospital thing has caught up with me and I've got some kind of head cold thing. Hopefully it will be short-lived. Enough about me--

The Layla had fun painting/carving pumpkins with dad and a neighbor kid today while Piper took a 4 hour nap and I crashed on the couch. It was pretty relaxing. Layla's in some kind of funk the past week-- it involves not listening or obeying and being as contrary as possible. I think it's a little carry over from all the attention Piper got for being sick ad hope we'll get sweet Layla back soon.

Piper continues to do well -- she is still limping some, which is on my mind. We do have appointments with tons of different doctors coming up next week. Part of that process is deciding if she needs physical therapy. I would have never thought that would be a possibility; but, the way she's hobbling around has me wondering.

Looking forward to a great week!! NIGHTY NIGHT Blog-world.
KB

10/25/11- UPDATE- decided to go to the doc this morning. Hopefully the super charged amoxicillin they prescribed will help!!! Eric's the only one not on antibiotics now. Shall we take over-under?! Heh heh.

Fire Hooping Therapy

The perfect night of unwinding from all that's happened in the last 10 days. I've waited a long time to have MY OWN fire hoop. In fact, I started fire hooping right before I found out I was pregnant with Piper. I was all set to buy the fire hooping gear; but being pregnant kind of threw that out (temporarily). BUT- my quick wicks came to day and I was SO excited to get home and get the girls in bed so I could go out and play! "What are quick wicks," you ask. Great Question. Quick wicks are....well, wicks, but you can take them off the hoop, put them on a different hoop, put them on yet another hoop, etc. As opposed to the traditional hoops that have the wicks built in and the hoop is ONLY ever a fire hoop. The video is of my second burn with the wicks tonight. The first burn was MUCH better though. I dropped the hoop a couple times here; but, I feel quite certain a little wrap of grip tape and I'll be ALL set. I plan to give this lots and lots of use, so if you'd like to come out and enjoy some fire hooping, let me know!!

The girls are doing great. Layla had a rough day at school yesterday; but had a GREAT long night of sleep. She's still not 100% but she's a TON better. Piper...well, Piper is hilarious and seems to be completely back to herself.

I am still exhausted, but was able to sleep in yesterday and today. My boss and work, in general, have been so wonderful and supportive. Eric's great, of course...he's fortunate in that he requires MUCH less sleep than anyone I've ever met.

Until tomorrow! Sweet fire hooping dreams!
KB

Business As Usual...What Now?

Both girls were in school today - Hooray!! We found out late MOnday evening that after 3 days of culturing, the strep test they did on Layla finally grew a positive, so she started on some antibiotics Monday evening. Piper is a brand new kid (sort of) -  she's is giddier than we've ever seen her and was noticeably happy to be back at school again. There are a slew of follow-up visits in the coming weeks and months, and we'll get through those and hopefully past all of this very soon.

Layla's the sick puppy now and she's in desperate need of sleep. Hoping she sleeps well tonight - after all, she did pass out in the car at 5:45pm on our way home.

I took this morning to rest (at the request of my employer) and went in a little before noon. I am tired, but it feels good to get back to business as usual.

So - what's next for the blog? It seems a shame to just shut it down. SO- I hope you will choose to use the "join this site" button on the right of your screen and follow along as I continue blogging about our family but also my adventures as an imperfect Christian, a leader in my corporate America gig, and as my true deal as an entrepreneur (www.happyhoops.us -- I recently renovated and it was revealed earlier this evening), and as a generally curious person.

Stay tuned!

Weary

I stayed home with both girls today and neither wanted to nap, so another day comes and goes. Took Piper to her regular doc just for a follow-up from last week, which is silly to me because once she was admitted to the hospital, her docter was on an FYI basis only. OH well. Was looking forward to getting both girls to school tomorrow and I planned to stay home and sleep ALL DAY. Of course, the Vandy doctors called tonight and said that even though Layla's "rapid strep test" from the other night was negative, the culture did grow strep in the lab. Off to Walgreens we go for amoxicillin for her and she can't go to school tomorrow again.

Decided that Piper is doing well enough to give school a try. Her teachers will need to take some extra precautions though. She doesn't seem to realize that she can't yet do all the things she did before. Yesterday she fell flat on her back/head 3 times. Poor baby.

The Hershey syrup has run its course and we are realllllly looking for other ways to give her that nasty medicine. So, if you have any great ideas...please comment here. I'm going to try yogurt in the morning, I think. Another on the list is honey. We've got 4 weeks of this nasty stuff to be creative with.

I had subs lined up to teach hoop class this week; but, after sitting in a hospital room for 5+ days, I decided the best thing for ME would be to go and hoop wth some fun people. Aside from the physical benefits, it is really great mentally and I benefitted greatly from that 50 minutes tonight.

I'm still shooting to be back at work on Wednesday, though with Layla home tomorrow, I'll miss my day of sleeping before going back. Work awaits though and I really don't like the feeling of missing so much.

Hope all is well in your worlds. Thank you again for the continued thoughts and prayers.
KB

p.s. I'm captain for a team in the Susan G. Komen Race For The Cure 5k this year. The race is on October 29th. If you would like to support the cause with a $10 donation, please click here.

The List

We have been very overwhelmed this week with the friends God has put in our lives and how everyone has been moved to help in their own special ways. While I've been able to respond to many people, I've not responded to everyone -- BUT, I have read every email, facebook and blog comment, tweet and text message and listened to all your voicemails. Your outreach means so much and I have read, re-read, and re-listened to many of them. All of this is to say that if you haven't heard from me, it's not because I didn't hear you. I'll get caught up eventually, but until then, just know that all of your notes mean so much.

There is already a very long list of people to thank and I want to do a quick shout out here to those that have visited, brought meals, taken care of Layla, sat with Piper or me, and on and on:

Claudia Andl - first on the scene when things were scary on Monday!! And my daily provider of delicious morning coffee and scones!

Greta Day - organizing all the volunteers and handling the email traffic on that front, plus bringing meals and sitting with me and with Piper

Ashley and Chris Rodway- spearheading the meal plans post-discharge, entertaining Piper and bringing lunch for me to the hospital. The cookies are incredible!

Amber Compton - staying at our house with Layla, getting her to school and home. Basically, taking amazing care of our other princess

Eric and Lauren Murrell- Eric posted the prayer request on our church website right away and there was a LOT of prayer action from that. He was second on the scene Monday, along with another friend from church- and led prayer during the procedure. Lauren entertained Piper and kept me company Wednesday night.

Rebecca- our neighbor, who was the only person I could think to call at 1:30a from the ER and talk. Her church pastor was up that late too and she got him praying immediately as well

Adam Stroube - second on the scene, Monday, with Eric Murrell. He and his wife have been praying for Piper

Julia McAndrews - took me out to lunch during Piper's MRI. A great way to get through the 4+ hour time

Heather Andrews - baked fresh, homemade muffins for Piper and brought lots of delicious and healthy foods for Piper so she wouldn't have to do hospital food all the time

Robert and Andrea Bronaugh - yum! Which Wich - our fav!!

Heather Rogers- brought me Excedrin for my migraine when the hospital wouldn't give me anything

Amy, Lauren, and Tabitha - Some Primrose family came and brought smiles to Piper and let me get a shower - YAY!

Nichol Cobaugh - dinner for the family and staying with Piper so we could go home and spend some time with Layla

Ann Trammell-- 2 words: Smoothie King.

All the visits and baskets and flowers and balloons and those bringing meals and sub teaching Hoop classes:
Julia, Carla, and Patten
Poonam and Heather
Aegis
Southland Constructors
American Constructors
Long Hollow Baptist Church small group
Julie Woodruff and company
Tony Harris
AJ Durham
Aubrey Adams
The King Family
Bonnie Hall
Veronica Greene
Wendy Monday
Vannie Morrisey
Shelly McPherson
AGP Happy Hoops class
Christine Harvey
Amber Arthur
Bonnie Aldroft-Curran

And last, but not least, all our family for their check-ins, help with Layla, laundry, groceries, prayers, and on and on and on!!

I'll continue to post updates about Piper's progress. She's going to get her 15mos immunizations this week :( and we have follow up visits scheduled twice in the next two weeks.

Off to sleep I go...


Sorry if I've missed anyone-- there are an awful lot of people to thank!!

So far, so good

Layla isn't feeling too well today, but no fever at this point. Just a bad cough and her little voice is just a whisper.

Piper continues to do better. It's pretty obvious that she is still very glad to be home. She's done well with her medicine, though she does cry a lot. I can't smell it without gagging!!! It is SO nasty. She's taking it through tears and I tried mixing some chocolate syrup in this morning. She loved it!! Thank you, Hershey's!!!

Have a beautiful Sunday!!
KB

Phew!

Heading home soon. They think it's just some random virus. Will treat fever for now and keep an eye on her tomorrow. Thanks for the prayers. I was really hoping to sleep in my own bed tonight!

Layla

Heading to ER. She has a 105.4 fever and difficulty breathing, very lethargic. In course of 12hours she's been taken down. Pneumonia? Stay tuned. Need more prayers!!!

We're here. It's a full one in the ER tonight.

P.s. The time stamp is wrong-- it's 6:24p (CT) right now

Day by day

That old school song keeps coming to mind!! So true for Piper. She's ecstatic being home and now won't nap despite needing desperately to catch up. Can't say I blame her.

Poor Layla has a little head cold and has felt pitiful today-- she's almost lost her voice, so it's awfully quiet around here.

Since no one has napped yet, I'm currently using the toothpick approach to keeping my eyelids open!!

Happy Saturday!

Here we go

Piper got to go home Friday and we made it home around 1:30pm. It's pretty obvious that she is very happy to be home. She's sleeping right now and was very glad to be in her own bed!!!

I should be sleeping too, right? Yes, well, Layla seems to have a fever so I'm up with her now.

Here we go...

All hail, princess Piper!!

H-O-M-E...What's that spell?!?!

Cuz that's where we're heading....TODAY. They are even trying to get us out this morning!!! So great.

Piper and I both got a full night of much needed, uninterrupted sleep. I'm not sure who slept harder. She's back asleep right now after eating some stroganoff for breakfast, silly girl, (Thanks, Greta!!).

The plan is to keep her home from school this coming week so that she can get her strength up. She's still very weak and wobbly. I was so proud of her this morning though - she walked a lap around our wing. I had to hold her hand and she still favors her left leg, but it's more than she's walked since last week.

She's had 2 doses of oral antibiotic. I had stocked up on pudding and ice cream last night to mask the flavor, but we couldn't even get her to try the pudding or ice cream before mixing. We decided that wasn't going to work and we were going to have to just give it to her straight. I was so dreading that; but, once again, she is amazing. Turns out she take the nasty stuff straight and doesn't even grimace. Bizarre, but we'll take it.

We'll find out the follow-up plan when they get further into the discharge process.

I did want to share another story of how God has been walking with us and making himself known throughout this experience....Monday night, in the very wee hours, I decided I had simply had enough of the hospital and needed to get out. I drove home to do laundry and get a couple things. When I got in my car to leave the hospital, Mandisa's "Stronger" was just starting to play on the radio. I CRANKED IT UP!! It was really the perfect "theme song" to what we were facing. Came back and slept at the hospital that night. I'd brought a music docking station to the hospital and have played music for Piper almost constantly. I got up Tuesday morning and hit shuffle on my iPhone, which has thousands of songs....and what came on? "Stronger!!!" I knew everything was going to be great. So, every morning since, we play that song and dance around the room together. If you aren't familiar with the song, I suggest you check it out. I'm putting the lyrics below. It's a great song and you can listen/watch it on YouTube too. Click Here.

Hey, heard you were up all night
Thinking about how your world ain't right
And you wonder if things will ever get better
And you're asking why is it always raining on you
When all you want is just a little good news
Instead of standing there stuck out in the weather

Oh, don't hang your head
It's gonna end
God's right there
Even if it's hard to see Him
I promise you that He still cares

When the waves are taking you under
Hold on just a little bit longer
He knows that this is gonna make you stronger, stronger
The pain ain't gonna last forever
And things can only get better
Believe me
This is gonna make you stronger
Gonna make you stronger, stronger, stronger
Believe me, this is gonna make you ...

Try and do the best you can
Hold on and let Him hold your hand
And go on and fall into the arms of Jesus
Oh, lift your head it's gonna end
God's right there
Even when you just can't feel Him
I promise you that He still cares

'Cause if He started this work in your life
He will be faithful to complete it
If only you believe it
He knows how much it hurts
And I'm sure that He's gonna help you get through this

When the waves are taking you under
Hold on just a little bit longer
He knows that this is gonna make you stronger, stronger
The pain ain't gonna last forever
In time it's gonna get better
Believe me
This is gonna make you stronger

Pics from tonight

Smiles all around!

Home is in sight

Lots of meetings and conversations with the medical team of doctors throughout the day. Right now, they are very interested in seeing her fever-free without the aid of Motrin or Tylenol. She's not getting any kind of pain medicine - YAY! She still doesn't want to walk very much; but, her little muscles have gotten very week. It breaks my heart to see our little girl struggling and hurting to walk and yet still trying. She is very shaky on her feet and her balance isn't very good. I don't imagine it will take too long to get her muscles back in shape and moving again.

If she continues trying to walk and stays fever free we will get to go home soon! It is very, very, very final now that she will NOT have the PICC, rather 4 weeks of the worst-tasting oral antibiotic ever. They say kids will vomit, gag, start hating their favorite foods, all kinds of stuff from this medicine. She's about to get her first does in a minute because HER IV IS OUT!! I'm going with the "hide-it-in-chocolate pudding approach.

Once that is done - I'm hoping for some good sleep all around tonight. We both certainly need it.

I'm delirious and just noticed that I was starting to type stuff that I've already said in this entry, so I'll go  and get some rest (after I mix up her medicine in the pudding).

Where I'm at on the curve

For all my Amerigroup peeps...I went from stress this morning to strategizing this afternoon. So.....yeah! Let's get to energy and enthusiasm. STAT!

Smiles

Miss Ashley got some cheesy grins out of her :)

Field trip!

She's really enjoying getting out and about!! We found an outside playground one floor down and hope to make it later today!

Cautiously Optimistic

After consulting ID, the indication is that Piper will NOT need the PICC and will go home (at some point) with just oral antibiotics. Hoping that stays true.

Still no word on when she might get discharged, but fingers crossed for Saturday.

We've had a decent day. Since she's not got IV tubes connected to her 24/7 we have been out of the room most of the day - went to the play area, went to the patient playground (Fresh air!) and toured the hospital. We even got a little shopping done. After seeing all the toys and stuffed animals, the only thing Piper wanted was a pen covered in rhinestones. Choking hazard, anyone? She wasn't happy about putting it back, but finally decided on a bracelet. Not a kid bracelet - a grown up one. It goes nicely with the necklace she's enjoying (thanks for letting us borrow it, Greta).

Today has brought a number of visitors, which has been very helpful. Hoping she'll take a nice nap here shortly.

Discouragement, You're not welcome

The surgeon was just in for his daily check on Piper. He was really impressed with her progress, of course, but he still think we'll have a PICC placed today. That decision lies with infectious disease team, but he feels strongly that will still happen and be in place for 4-6 weeks.

Other than that, she had a pretty good night with NO fevers - YAY! She's been fussy this morning, but who wouldn't be?!

Please pray for continued healing, comfort and rest for sweet Piper and renewed energy for mom and dad.

More to come...

KB

Next up

...we don't exactly know, so that was misleading. BUT - we have been given very strong indications that no PICC will be needed....at all. It's incredible. The doctor's are astonished at how well and quickly she is healing. No word yet on discharge, but it was very encouraging to not have a PICC placed today.

Layla got to come visit and it did everyone some good. Piper couldn't stop handing out kisses to her big sister. Layla's main focus was, "I want to see a surgery!" The humor has been a great gift this evening.

Today had lots of visitors and it was AWESOME. So, please know that visitors are VERY welcome - it really makes the day pass and Piper LOVES showing off to everyone. Visitors really are a secret ingredient here.

Thank you againfor the continued prayers. Based on what everyone has said about engaging their churches, small groups, friends, etc. I can't even comprehend the number of people praying for our peanut.

IV or PICC? That is the question

Piper finally started napping around 1:15p today-- It took forever to get her down. BUT- as things would have it, her IV is failing and causing her some pain.

In the next little bit we will hear from the doctor on whether she'll get a regular IV or a PICC. Either way, poor thung has a rough spell coming up.

Before Psalm 10:12

The first entry, how the name of the blog came to be, is actually Part 2 of the story. Part 1 of the story is interesting in that the my arrival at the verse Psalm 10:12 is because of a relationship Piper had first.

We've been going to Long Hollow Baptist Church for a couple years now- but I hadn't gotten connected to the people yet. This summer, one of Piper's Sunday school teachers, Lauren, asked if I would want to join a small group that she and her husband, Eric, were leading. I was so excited and I said "yeah!" It had been on my mind for a while and it had been an even longer time since I'd been part of a small group. I was super excited on so many levels.

A couple months later, the book was distributed and reading began. Again, the book is "Walking with God" by John Eldridge. Two or three weeks into our reading is when I stumbled on the part about asking God which of His words we should read....et voila! Psalm 10:12

The timing of when the small group invite came, the channel (Piper's teacher), the reading chosen for the small group...all of it leads us to where we are right now. Another reminder of how God is in everything, not just at this moment, but in all the moments leading up to the present.

10/12

Yeah, so I totally missed the obvious one in this miracle....but our friend Ashley just emailed me the following: "I'm sure you've already thought of this, but in case you haven't...today's date is 10/12.

MIND. BLOWN.

Mom loves Miracles

I can't even count all the people that are praying. There are so many that I KNOW are praying; but, I also know that many more people, whom we do not know and will likely never met, are praying too. I know it not just because people are telling me that; but, because I feel it. And God is good....

We've heard from the doctors the last several days that there would be a PICC line coming home with us, arrangements made for a Home Health nurse, and six weeks of Piper-care at home. BUT- the doctors, with all their wisdom and ability to heal got one-upped by THE Great Healer.

After all the doctors have visited this morning - the verdict has changed SO much. Now they are talking about just a couple more days in the hospital and a chance she may not have to have ANY PICC line and only oral antibiotics coming home. UNBELIEVABLE!!! And yet.

When I woke up a little bit ago, I opened up the blinds in the room and saw all of 21st avenue covered in thick fog. The Holy Spirit has been described and depicted as a fog, vapor and looking out the window all I could think was "WOW - everybody's really praying...they got the whole Holy Spirit to take over Nashville!!!"

The latest victory is that they just took her off IV fluids. She still gets IV antibiotics, but there is no line now....I'm thinking today might be a fun day to get a walk around the halls.

KEEP PRAYING!!!!!!!!!
KB

Early birds and...M&M's?

Piper woke up very early this morning demanding food and toys- hooray!!

Everyone has been super impressed with how well she is responding to all the antibiotics.

I got a cute video of her this morning. Trust me when I tell you this is a different little girl from the past few days. Click Here.

She actually stood up this morning!!

KB

p.s. She may or may not be under the influence of M&Ms in this video. I refuse to comment either way.

Poor, Pitiful Piper

Last Tuesday, October 4, Piper had a low grade fever and I had to get her from school. She had slept HORRIBLY couldn't sleep the night before and it seemed her ears might be the culprit. Do the usual....take her to the doctor for an ear check. Nothing unusual in her ears and everything else seemed fine too. Not so bad, just a run of the mill virus fever-- I can handle that.

Wednesday? She's totally fine. Took her to meet some people at the office and joked that she was faking sick to play hookie.

Thursday? She's still good - goes to school, no fever, great! Toward the end of the day, she started not walking as much, but thought maybe it was just a phase that would be over by morning.

Friday? She crawled to her breakfast chair, which was odd; but, didn't really think anything awful of it. Still no fever. Take her to school and I get a call that afternoon that she wouldn't walk or stand and just cried/screamed in pain if they tried to stand her up and she seemed to be favoring her left leg. I took her to the doctor and they said it is likely "Transient Synovitis." Basically some joint inflammation that occurs after having a virus. They weren't worried too much because she didn't have a fever; but wanted check points over the weekend to make sure it didn't become something much more serious - specifically "Septic arthritis." We were told to treat the inflammation with Motrin for several days. Easy!

Saturday? A little sluggish in the morning, still no fever and by afternoon she was all over the place - walking, climbing, you name it! Hooray- she's getting better!)

Sunday? She woke up miserable and didn't want to be put down. We could tell she was in pain again but though maybe it was just some morning-related stiffness. By afternoon, she wouldn't stop fussing. We'd been on the phone with the doctor a couple times and they decided they wanted to see her Monday for some blood work and x-rays just in case. Still no fever, but better safe to check her out than sorry later. That evening, I noticed Piper feeling warm so I waited for the current dose of Motrin to wear off and took her temp-- 101.3. Called the doctor and we were off to the ER.

I honestly thought we'd come in, get some x-rays, get an antibiotic and head home. WOW. I was totally wrong.

After waiting just over 2 hours at Vandy Children's ER, we were seen and they immediately did an IV and drew blood to culture. Next, we were off for X-rays and then they decided to give her some morphine for pain. Still thinking it is septic arthritis at this point- and her pain and fever were pretty intense. The morphine helped, but it was very sad to see her all doped up.

After x-ray, the next step in the plan was to draw fluid out of the hip joint - (a "tap"). This requires full sedation and anesthesia-- Needless to say, I was pretty torn up over this. Normally they do an ultrasound of the area to see where the fluid is and guide the "tap" to the right place. Turns out ER doesn't get use of ultrasound equipment on nights or weekends (yeah, weird) so they decided to do it "blind" (it's 3am at this point). They didn't get much out and what they did get wasn't suspect though it was sent off for culture anyway since they might have simply not gotten the right spot going in blind.

I will add here that when poor little Piper was coming out of anesthesia for this procedure, she looked at me so sad and did the sign and said "all done. all done." It broke my heart.

Next up....MRI. This wouldn't be a fast one. At 4am they decided we should get her in for an MRI to REALLY see what was going on in there. They didn't know when we could get in for that so she stayed doped up on morphine. I've been told that the guy who runs the MRI department, Brad, spent his entire morning (Monday) re-arranging the schedule to get Piper in fast. They knew time was important - after all, she hasn't been treated for anything yet. The MRI wouldn't happen until 11:30am on Monday and I was super torn up. She would be anesthetised and the whole procedure would take 4 hours. Fortunately, I had a slew of visitors during this time and was able to "breeze" through the 4 hours (sort of).

The MRI results told us that it was NOT septic arthritis but rather a massive staph infection in her thigh and pelvis, with an absess in her pelvis that caused some temporary nerve damage so she was having no bladder response. Her bladder was huge and no doubt contributing to the pain.

So a catheder, more pain meds (morphine and toredol (sp?)), and a stat order (literally) of two big gun antibiotics got her started. Monday night was a little rough but I managed to get a small amount of sleep.

Tuesday was filled with frustration after frustration as we had numerous catheter glitches ALL day. Toward the end of the day, she really started rallying and has been babbling and even playing with toys. HALLELUJAH!

Just a few minutes ago, she got her catheter REMOVED!!!!!! Much earlier than they anticipated, but it seems she's a fighter and had started pushing urine out around the cath anyway. GO PIPER! They've also called off the MRI for tomorrow - not sure if that's just a postponement or a change of plans; but I don't care right now --- As I wrap up this entry, she's just playing with a book and some of the many toys she now has to play with!!! Love the happy sounds and smiling face coming back. It's been missed.

Here's to hoping for a good night's sleep...the 4 hours I've gotten since Saturday night don't seem to be enough.

Thanks again for all the love we're feeling. I'll post some more tomorrow - I have lots of stories and thanking to do!!

Good Night Blog World!
KB

Why Psalm 10:12?

I'm not much of a writer and certainly don't intend to start a world-class blog here. I do read others' blogs with much admiration and it seems the first blog everyone writes is how their blog title came to be, so I'll start there - it works for the pros, right?

So, I'm sitting at Vandy Children's hospital as I compose this first EVER blog entry. The result of Piper (youngest daughter) having a serious staph infection. I will blog about that journey next, I suppose; but, the context is important.

Psalm 10:12 first came into my mind about 4 weeks ago in the course of working through the reading for a small group at church that I am part of. We are reading "Walking With God" (John Eldridge) and the reading that week had a section in it about asking God to direct us to the scripture that we NEED to read. Asking God to be in charge of which of His words we need to hear. As a teenager I had certainly prayed the whole "show me the verse I should read" followed by a rapid opening of the Bible and a random finger point. Divinely directed? Possibly, though I don't think I quite had the talking to God and listening to God thing down at that point in life.  4 weeks ago, however, I was very focused in my conversation with God on this matter and He very obviously answered me. It was clear as a bell in my mind that God told me "Psalm 10:12." I was surprised (yeah, I know - surprise at hearing God's voice indicates the difference in my focus at this time in life), so I said back, "Really?...Psalm 10?.....Verse 12?" And there it was again, as clear as a bell..."Psalm 10:12." Looking back, I really think God had a sarcastic thought to the effect of "Why are you still talking to me? I already answered you.....GO!"

Anyway, I ultimately realized what had just happened and finally left my prayer zone and opened to Psalm 10:!2-- "Arise, Lord! Lift up your hand, O God. Do not forget the helpless." I remember thinking "Hmmm - really? THAT'S the verse? I think there's a mistake...we're not helpless - our lives are actually better than ever right now." I read it again and felt very confused, but ultimately decided God had some reason to give that verse to me and I should just trust that. I never did doubt it was God leading me to that verse, but I kind of (guilty confession time) thought He goofed.

Fast forward 4 months. Piper in the ER on Sunday night (10/9) and I felt helpless (yeah, yeah, you saw that coming)! Just as clear as I heard his voice before, there it was in my thoughts again-- "Psalm 10:12." Wow! I knew God was telling me something. I had very deliberately packed my Bible before we came to the ER so I got it out....I couldn't for the life of me rememer what Psalm 10:12 even said. So there I am in the ER, next to a finally sleeping Piper, and I flip to it "Arise, Lord! Lift up your hand, O God. Do not forget the helpless." Ummmm - yeah, God totally knew what he was doing last month and just had the ultimate "I told you so" moment.

I just had a great visit from a couple ladies from church (shout out to Long Hollow Women's Ministry) and I shared a couple stories like this with them and they said..."you need to write this down." Here I am. DONE.

So, this blog will be about what got us to the ER and ultimately all the other ways in which God has been revealing puzzles pieces leading up to this. It's pretty incredible. Plus, I'll update Piper's status here so everyone can check anytime they want to.

KB
Psalm 10:12.....what's next?