Blessings In The Small Things

When we lose one blessing, another is often, most unexpectedly, given in its place. - C.S. Lewis

I probably won't post till sometime Sunday since tomorrow will be a late night, so I thought I would give you just one more post before tomorrow's BIG day!! Hamilton is a mess -the snow came, iced over & it took Adam 2 1/2 hours to get back here from home tonight...long story short I did not make it back in time to go out with the wedding party to get our nails done. After my emotions kicked in & I shed a few tears, Adam decided we were going to find a place around the hospital to get me a manicure! Thanks to my loving & totally understanding hubby! We found a place that stayed open late just for me & it was the most expensive manicure I've ever had, but totally worth it! To top it off we got a Gingerbread Latte from Starbucks on the way back. I'm disappointed that I didn't get to be with all the girls tonight, but talk about making the most of a bad situation! :)

What started out as a bad start to our weekend, turned out to be full of wonderful blessings. I was still able to have a fun night (despite the fact that I missed going out with the wedding party), we feel blessed to be able to share in Mike & Hannah's special day tomorrow, we are finally moving on with the MRI for Logan on Sunday and to top it all off...Logan got a DAY PASS!! We are so excited to  be able to go together as a family to the wedding & enjoy a day of freedom from the hospital, tests and worries. Thank-you to all the incredible family & friends that were lined up to take shifts with Logan here tomorrow, although we don't need you to stay with him anymore we appreciate your generous offers to help us out!

Lastly we'd like to mention another special blessing we received. Since being admitted a month ago we have shared a room with many different people, some good and some,um... not so good. We prayed that the Lord would bless our stay here at Mac & that we would have some friendly room mates (this is something huge as you really get to know the people you bunk with!). Well we feel the Lord answered our prayers when we met Geoff & Tarra Gritter, our new neighbors for the last week. It was so great to share a room with another "dutch" family who were so sweet, friendly & of the same faith as us. We got to play some dutch bingo and help eachother out in small ways. We are so happy for them as they were discharged today & got to head home again. Not gonna lie, I shed a few more tears after they left. As happy as we are for them that they were able to take their adorable little girl home, they will be missed and we are so incredibly gratful to have met such an amazing family! We look forward to our weekend & we will find out who our new room mates are when we get back here tomorrow night.

On Sunday, along with doing the MRI we will also be doing more blood work. Remember how I spoke with the doctor from Endocrinology this morning? Well he confirmed that there are a few things we need to start looking at. First, the adrenal glands, which are a pair of small endocrine glands that sit above the kidneys and release their hormones directly into the bloodstream. They will also be checking the pituitary gland, which is located at the base of the brain and is part of the endocrine system. My understanding is that if something is wrong with either of these, it could be a good reason for why Logan continues to vomit & isn't gaining weight. The doctor explained it like this to me tonight: the endocrine system helps regulate and maintain various body functions by making and releasing hormones, chemical messengers. The major areas of control include responses to growth and development, absorption of nutrients, energy metabolism, water and electrolyte balance, reproduction, birth, and lactation. Most if not all of these apply to symptoms that Logan has, so it is very important that we test these things.

We are so happy that we are moving forward alot quicker - running tests & figuring out what's going on with Logan. This is a big answer to prayers! Praise the Lord for continuing to listen to our prayers & for watching over us every step of the way. We've learned that sometimes things find their way into our lives which are unexpected and may prove to be difficult to understand, but as we have seen, they always come with the loving hand of our Father in Heaven guiding us to where He wants us to be. I've spent so much time trying to prove that I know what's best for Logan & our family, however, our loving Shepherd knows that this is not always what is best for us. In James 1:2 we read, "Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance."

Wishing you all a blessed weekend! Love us Linde's.