Good results for Flara. Not-so-good for my Ginkgo.

Flara had her lower GI tract study yesterday. Thankfully, the study revealed no damage!!! We were greatly relieved by the news, but we're not off-the-hook yet. Flara's doctor was fairly confident that if she were to have damage, it would be in the lower portion of her GI tract. Since that is normal, Flara will have her next test of her upper GI tract on Monday. We're anxiously awaiting Monday. The doctor was hopeful to get both tests done on the same day, but radiology said that if both were done on the same day, the lower GI test contrast would obscure the view of Flara's upper GI tract. Thus, we're waiting. It's for the best, too. The handling, transports to radiology, and the testing itself has really used up all of Flara's energy. She was very bright-eyed last night during our visit, but she's been too tired to nurse well. Hopefully, the couple days of rest will help her get back up to par on the feistiness level. We've just not seen the usual Flara fury this week.

My home life (from the bits I've shared) never seems to be without craziness. Whether it's exploding pop, kidney stones, or leaking pipes, last night left Mike and me with some more drama to shake our heads about. I've never been one to like the time changes. I grew up in Indiana, which, until recently, never participated in the time changes. I really like letting the sun set when it wants to. Last night, my gingko tree fell prey to the day turning dark all-too-early. Mike, Noël, and I came home last night from the grocery store. Turning into the drive, there stood our (non) stately little Ginkgo. Really, it's a sad little fellow. It was large(r) and beautiful when we bought it and planted it. Soon after going into the ground, our big drought hit. Ginkgo lost half it's branches in the heat wave. So, yes, it was looking a little sad. Then, SnoopDogg the wonder dog made it his potty post, and nearly killed it the next summer. The tree went without leaves and without growth that whole summer. Mike informed me it was dead, but I refused to believe it. After all, ginkgo trees are the only forms of plant life that survived the bombing of Hiroshima. Well, this spring, then, I decided if no new leaves appeared, then Mike could pull the hapless tree from the ground. But, NO! It survived! Gingko grew leaves and quite a few. However, Gingko grew no new branches and gained no height. I was fairly confident that NEXT summer was going to be a banner year. So, as I said, we got home last night, came in and began preparing supper. We let the WonderDogg out to potty. Soon, he went flying around our porch and down the stairs in a really, really angry barking fury. We thought the babysitter, for some reason, was about to get Snoop's anger like he's never expressed it before. We ran to the door and called Snoop back. Like a good dog, he returned. Mike went to see if the babysitter was here, and found a snapped-off trunk of our Gingko sadly sitting in it's corner. The rest of the tree was gone. Now, Mike came back and asked me if the gingko was "here when we came home?" I was so confused. He then informed me that some punks broke our tree at the ground and ran off with it. My initial reaction was extreme anger. I was ready to go find the punks myself and beat the tar out of them. Mike got in the car and went searching. Honestly, after this past week, we were both ready to beat some booty. =) Thankfully, he didn't find the punks. I kept thinking about my poor tree, then I asked Mike if he meant the entire tree pulled out of the ground. He told me that Ginkgo still had about 6 inches of tree stump sticking out of the ground. Me: "Rats. I knew next summer was going to be it's banner year. It finally had an impressive root system." With that sad exchange, we both burst out laughing. Oh, well. We've decided we're going to saw it off at the ground, and see if it'll resprout from it's impressive root system come spring. Our other thought was that we're going to leave it's stump (for now- over winter) and overdo it with all the LED Christmas lights we can fit on it, and top it with a star. We figure if some punks thought they could get us down, they're WRONG!

With all of that off my chest, I do need to say that God is good. =) We've come off of an extremely difficult week that left us at points really struggling, even with our faith. We feel that even when people let us down, God keeps showing Himself true to us. We've tried to be obedient to everything that we have felt that God is directing us to do, and in the end, we have been blessed beyond what we can imagine. Even while standing with the doctor and nutritionist after my most-emotionally difficult morning, I had to then take the news that the doctors were fairly confident of Flara losing portions of her bowel. Honestly, I felt like I had been sucker punched and would like to have passed out or thrown up. I thought, "how ironic, my worst day yet, and here I get more crappy news." Quickly, my mind snapped back to God's love and sovereignty, and I felt immediate peace. At that exact moment, both the nutritionist and the doctor commented on how amazed they were that I have taken everything with such a calm demeanor. I'm not saying this as something to brag about... I'm saying it as a testimony of God's sustaining us when we need Him most (and, most likely, when we feel like He's most NOT there). It made me think back to Flara's delivery week, and how calm I had remained through that. Looking back on it all, I can see that when times have been most difficult, that is when I have felt God's peace and comfort the most. I have handled bad news and bad times with more grace and calmness than I have handled not-so-bad times. And, again, all I can say is that God is so good.

Thanks, again, for listening, and always for your prayers.