Hard Few Days...

Its been a hard few days!

We are so blessed by our bundle of joy! Isaac is full of life and yet very laid back. He is definitely as laid back if not more than Isabella. We are really enjoying getting to know our new gift!

Monday 11:00 AM

We have had some tough news over the past few days though. My mom came in town to help with Carla and the new baby, which has been a HUGE blessing! Thanks mom! She even brought her own house (motorhome). We asked a friend to come over to help set it up so it could be wired into our house direct. He did that and also hooked up the sewage as well, so that she wouldn't have to dump it every few days! (Thanks Jonathan Banano!)

But, in the process he found out that ALL of the pipes under our house (Toilet, sinks, tub) are leaking directly under the house! He dug a little further and found that there was NO outflow at all going to the septic. It is completely flooded under the house and there is a severe sewage smell coming from under the house. Basically we are sitting on top of a out door sewage plant!!! He tried to fix, but was at a complete loss of what to do!

Unfortunately, as most of you know, we are living completely on Faith with our finances. With that said, we don't have the resources to have someone come out to fix it. It sounds like this is a MAJOR cost and we are doing everything we can to get someone out to come and look at it. We have a couple of people who have said they may be able to come by this week to examine, but there isn't anyone who we have found yet who can actually fix this week!

4:30PM

Carla calls from the hospital and says that they are going to release her and the baby from the hospital. We were excited except that we had just found out that we are not living in a safe or sanitary environment!

It gets better... I had sent my dad up to the hospital with the infant car seat. I didn't think to check it before it left, but apparently the seat belt harnesses had been removed to be cleaned (you know where this is going). When they got ready to release Carla and baby from the hospital I was at home with my left foot bleeding from the chaos from the morning discovery and my father in law had left to go to the store to pick up something to fix the air conditioner in the house (which was also not working properly).

Carla calls and lets me know that they won't let her or the baby leave the hospital because the Car seat doesn't have any seat belts. So, I get on the phone calling around frantically to try to get someone who can go buy a car seat and pick up my wife and new baby! Thankfully my dear friend Derrick Gill comes to the rescue and was able to get over there in about 25 minutes! Whew!

Then Tuesday...

I had a follow up doctor appointment with my surgeon who did my ankle surgery. He had to do x-rays of everything including my ankle to see how everything is doing.

I have been having quite a bit of pain with the front part of my left foot (bleeding, swelling,burning, etc). He was always confused when I would explain this because this is not the part heoperated on and he thought I was just having some weird pain radiating from the surgery on the heal. Well, he was wrong! Apparently it has been bleeding and now the front part of my foot has had hemophiliac arthritis set it and start deteriorating that area of the foot.

He then did a follow up x-ray on my right elbow and found that my arm bone going from my shoulder to my elbow joint has eaten a hole through the bottom of my elbow joint and the bone in gone through the joint! He explained that this has never happened to his knowledge and that he would report this to medical community as a new phenomenon! Of course I would once again be the pioneer or "guinea pig"

I have to walk on crutches to get into our bathroom due to the fact that it is not handicap accessible! This, over the past three months or so, has caused my left wrist to start bleeding again. So it has been difficult over the past few weeks to transfer from the couch to the wheelchair, from the wheelchair to the bed, and very painful to walk on crutches. He did x-rays on that as well and found that it has started the deterioration process. Fun!

Wednesday

We woke up this morning and were reminded that His Mercy is new this morning! (Lamentations 3:22-23)

We were also reminded that "The Lord IS MY portion... therefore I hope in Him!" (Lam 3:24)

Psalms 40:

1 I waited patiently for the LORD;

And He inclined to me and heard my cry.2 He brought me up out of the pit of destruction, out of the miry clay,
And He set my feet upon a rock making my footsteps firm.3 He put a new song in my mouth, a song of praise to our God;
Many will see and fear
And will trust in the LORD.4 How blessed is the man who has made the LORD his trust,
And has not turned to the proud, nor to those who lapse into falsehood.5 Many, O LORD my God, are the wonders which You have done,
And Your thoughts toward us;
There is none to compare with You.
If I would declare and speak of them,
They would be too numerous to count.
11 You, O LORD, will not withhold Your compassion from me;
Your lovingkindness and Your truth will continually preserve me.
17 Since I am afflicted and needy,
Let the Lord be mindful of me.
You are my help and my deliverer;
Do not delay, O my God.
I am not sure how we are going to pay for having our house fixed! I don't know how I am going to be able to provide for my family! I am uncertain on how God is going to provide for my physical deterioration and downturn! I am not sure how we are going to navigate the rough waters ahead... BUT, I do know that God is with us! We have chosen to "HOPE IN HIM"!
Please pray for us that God would pour out his abundant grace on us, that He would supply all of our needs according to His supply, not ours? Please pray that He would send help quickly? We are completely trusting in Him!
If you are able to help us financially, you can send a tax deductible contribution to PO BOX 2584, Mandeville, LA 70470, to "Hope for Hemophilia".
Thank you for standing with us, praying for us, and giving to us! Your support spiritually, emotionally, and tangibly has reminded us that we are not alone!
We love you all!