On the move...

We are all on the move today... my mother-in-law arrives from Norway tonight, so I am busy running round like a headless chicken getting everything ready!

And today, I am on the move too. I'm not blogging here! My lovely blogging friend Jess is away on holiday, and invited me to blog over at her place, so come on over and take a read...

CATCH A SINGLE THOUGHT GUEST POST

Happy Father's Day...

I'm so grateful for all the Dads in my life. My own Dad is wonderful. A voice of wisdom in our lives who we respect and love so much, and who is our very own "Mr Fix It". I genuinely believe he can do anything - he is ultra creative, a problem-solver and I have big plans for all the wonderful projects we can undertake together when he retires (which is, sadly for me, still quite a while away!) Dad is loyal and generous and wise. I'm so grateful to be able to call him my Dad.

My Father-in-law is another Dad in our lives. He has so much time for people and we love that about him. You are never a nuisance to him and he's always good for a cuppa and a chat! Robert... thank you for being who you are, we love you.

And finally, the third Dad in my life; the Father of my children.

These were the faces of my girlies on Wednesday night...

Yes, they were pondering what on earth to get Papa for Father's day. These two are big fans of their Papa... he has been an absolute star this past month... somehow being a solid, stable figure for Ava at home, while still coming in for lots of bonding time and cuddles with his little girly too. They adore him. And we wanted to say a BIG thank you that was meaningful, rather than just a gift for the sake of it...

Lol. Dave and I had a conversation earlier about love languages. He was laughing at the way I wrapped up his presents... this is the way I would like my presents wrapped. It's pretty and it looks nice and he couldn't care less. Ha! It made me chuckle!! I take such joy in wrapping it all up, only for it to be undone in seconds! And really, what guy wants drink cans wrapped up in flowery paper? But I wanted it to match and make a nice little display for this morning!

Little gifts from the girlies - a new CD for Papa and a notebook for him to write his sermon notes in. One happy man! Wrapped up in his paper shirt bag was a tonne of chocolate. Each bar with a little message...

He doesn't fudge it up... not really ever... he is just a fab Daddy to his little girls and I couldn't be more grateful for him.

We love you, Dave.

PS- this may look like a picture perfect Father's Day... it wasn't. The waffles got stuck in the waffle iron, and it was only on my third attempt that I got something semi-decent out of it. Poor Dave spent half the morning scraping waffle remnants from the iron and was left with a sore thumb. The thought was there! Oops!

How does your garden grow?

Our Scarecrow

Spring has been a little late in coming this year... I'm still not entirely sure it has arrived. I'm sort of hoping it will just decide to skip entirely now, and suddenly next week we'll be in summer. I've a nasty feeling summer might decide not to exist this year.

Still, this past week we at least saw a little bit of sunshine... even if only briefly, allowing us the luxury of some garden time...

A few weeks ago, I posted this post about all my ridiculously overexcited ideas for our garden... well, this is how far I've got with it so far (bearing in mind a month got written out of my life!) Our scarecrow was literally knocked together in about 5 minutes, and he is mine, and Ava's, favourite addition to the garden. Literally two bits of wood forming a cross, a nail banged into the centre, some little charity shop clothes and a bale of hay from the garden centre, and voila! Ava runs out into the garden every morning (weather-dependent) shouting "Guten Morrrrrrrrrgen!" at him!

Our other garden project, that we have been working on together, is our bug hotel. I started work on it at the end of April and we finally finished it last week. We are giving it a couple of weeks to gain some inhabitants, and then our explorations of all outdoor creepy crawlies will begin...

Beginning our bug hotel back in April

The finished product! I'll get some more slightly photogenic pictures of it with Ava another time!

Last year I had a lovely beautiful homemade herb garden that served us all summer long with yummy fresh herbs for the kitchen. This year, its looking a little worse for wear... I stocked up last week on some rocket, oregano and coriander and need to plant them in this week. The chives, rosemary and parsley are still serving us well, but they just need tidied up a bit! There is something lovely about fresh picked herbs... they just add a little something, and I find I'm far more adventurous about chucking some extra flavour in when it's just outside my kitchen window!

Anyway... the garden still has a long way to go... mostly because its planted with all these gorgeous colourful geraniums, busy lizzies and giant daisies, but the sun isn't shining enough for them to grow.

Grrr...

 All we need now is some sunshine, and then we can get out and enjoy it!!!

I've hooked up with

Gearing up for Father's Day...

This morning, Ava will head off with her Nanny to her beloved "Tots" group... Nearly two years of going twice a week, now, and she can't get enough of it...

Meanwhile, Heidi and I are hitting the town.

Our challenge? Father's Day presents.

Anyone else find guys particularly hard to buy for??

Well, I had a good ol' brainstorm last night, and I can't give too much away (my hub is a regular reader!) so you'll just have to watch this space...

Needless to day, he is in need of something a little bit special from his girlies this year. He has been an absolute rock, this past month, and I genuinely don't think I could have got through it without him.

So I'm happy to have a morning with my Heidichen. She is so bright and perky these days, so different from that sick little baby two weeks ago, and it is such a relief to have her back. Of course, looks can be deceptive, and I can't escape the fact that underneath the surface, her little heart is not as it should be, but it is wonderful to be able to return to some kind of normality again.

Any of you have any ideas and inspiration for Father's Day? Or done/bought/made anything in the past that has gone down a treat?

Please do share!

Two very concerned little girls pondering what they should get Papa for Father's Day...

One month since it all began...

One month ago, today, I sat out at the back of church trying to feed my baby girl. She kept crying and wouldn't stop...

"This is weird," I remarked to one of the other Mums, "she's normally so contented"

It was the start of a nightmare.

This past month has, without doubt, been the hardest month of my entire life. I don't think it would be exaggerating to say I've probably cried more tears this month than in the rest of my life put together. I've also prayed a lot more. And been a lot more grateful for the little things.

This blog has been so helpful for me in getting the jumble that has been in my head out. Thank you so much to all of you who have read your way through this journey with us... you cannot know how much every single comment has meant to us. It has been incredible to see how many people, from all over the world, have been praying for our little girl. More people than I could have dared imagine. Many of you have never met us, and yet have taken our little girl into your hearts. Thank you. Thank you for caring for us and ministering to us.

And so we continue on this long road. We don't know where it's heading, and at times it feels scary, having no map. I'd much rather follow the highway with its clear signs and streetlamps than this winding, untrodden road. But this is where God has called us. Our little family. And so we walk it, knowing that we never are, and never have been, alone.

THIS song has been the anthem of our souls this past month. Every single word rings true. He is faithful.

Good news at last!

Heidi in her little hospital cot

Today, we returned to the Brompton with a lot of trepidation and a lot of prayer. I wasn't going naively this time. I had packed Heidi and I some stuff just in case we had to stay in. I was prepared for the worst, knowing that they had said it would take 4-6 weeks for the extent of the damage done by the Kawasaki Disease to reveal itself. I knew there was a good chance her coronary arteries would have further dilated. I was desperate for her not to have to go onto a stronger drug...

We entered the Brompton, the emotions so different to last time. Last time we entered so naively... so hopeful - concerned, yes, but with NO concept of how bad things were. And then we had the shock and our world was turned upside down.

This time, I was determined to be prepared.

We went for the Echo first... the sonographer sat and looked at Heidi's heart for about 20 minutes. She was so good, lying there happily kicking her little legs, cooing and smiling. My heart was in my mouth for most of it, my eyes flitting between the screen of blurry images that meant nothing to me, and his face. Watching, desperately, for some hint of an expression that would give away what he was seeing. He gave us nothing. I preferred it that way. We left the Echo with no clue what they had found... somehow we were reassured by that.

Then onto the phlebotomist. Heidi was not feeling generous. After three disastrous attempts at getting blood out of her, a lot of needles in and out, and a lot of screaming, they gave up and went for the heel prick test. It was so distressing seeing her so upset - not even the sucrose worked for her this time. If I had had to endure this a few weeks ago, it would have killed me. Weeks in hospital of them draining more and more blood from my little girl has meant I now realise it goes with the territory. It doesn't make it any less distressing though.

Then, the wait. An ECG, a weigh-in, obs and sitting and waiting for the blood results... longing, hoping, praying that her platelet count would have come down so that she could move onto the low dose aspirin.

After a little while, one of the Doctors, who we have got to know fairly well, came to see us. She said she had glanced at the Echo report and it looked pretty similar... she would go and look at it properly now, but reassured us that no change was a good thing. I was so relieved. We had been praying things wouldn't get worse.

David nipped out to get some food, and while he was gone, the Doctor returned with Heidi's notes.

"I was wrong," she said. My heart sank. "Her coronary arteries are looking much better..."

Nearly halved in size.

Nearly halved in size?

I felt like dancing... I literally could not stop grinning... I called David and told him straight away...
"Her right artery has come down from 5mm to 3.3mmm and her left coronary circumflex has come down from 5.6mm to 3.5mm at its widest point"

First trip on the train!

We were in utter shock. So different from the shock of two weeks earlier. So much more welcome. I picked our baby girl up and gave her the biggest squeeze, praying my thanks to our heavenly Father who has heard every prayer we have prayed, in the dark times and in the joy-filled moments. He has heard them all. He has not answered them all in the way we expected or would have chosen. But we know he is faithful, and does all things for his glory and our good.

Heidi's arteries are still twice the size they should be, but they are heading in the right direction.

Praise God!

We travelled home with smiles on our faces, and not even a nightmare trip across London with delays and diversions could dampen our mood. Our baby girl still needs so many prayers. We return in 4 weeks for a meeting with the consultant and another Echo. We are trying to remain realistic. This could be as much "deflating" as her arteries are prepared to do... but we can hope, and pray, that perhaps, just perhaps God might continue to do a miracle in our baby girl's heart. He has already. He is so good.

We are so very grateful.

Returning to hospital...

Today we return to the hospital. I won't pretend to be strong. I don't feel it. I'm terrified. Terrified of what they'll find... terrified of what that will mean for us as a family... terrified for my little girl.

But there is a peace that surpasses all understanding when we give our prayers and petitions to God. He has promised us that. And so we go, in faith, knowing that he will give us that peace.

Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God, and the peace of God, that transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

- Philippians 4: 6-7 -