Settling In

We've officially made camp here at the McKinley Grand Hotel. I have a dirty clothes pile, a snack table and a toy drawer. Life is good. And the beds are so luxurious I asked Jason if we could sleep in separate beds last night so I could have all the feather pillows to myself. Isn't that horrible?! To my own defense, they're double beds and we're used to a queen. Why waste a perfectly good bed???

In our stress, we've resorted to laughter. We were cracking up over dinner tonight over I don't even remember what but it seemed that everything we said was funny. And in the car today Hannah was singing her ABC's (demanding we sing, too) and every time Jason would stop singing she'd say, "Come on, Daddy!" The pic of her in the car is in the midst of a tantrum. I love tantrums. I wish I could have them, too. The kicking, screaming ones. That would feel good.

We were unable to hold Isaac today. He was not well enough. Essentially, he is not exhaling enough carbon dioxide and was placed back on the ventilator. The nurse practicioner said this is normal for his age and could be an on again off again issue for awhile. It is considered a setback, but one that is not unexpected. Once his carbon dioxide levels return to a normal level, they'll take him off the ventilator and give him a chance to try to breath on his own again. And so goes the cycle until he can maintain his own breathing. The one positive for little Isaac is that he's tolerating more food. No, not pretzels and Pepsi, but feedings every 2 hours instead of 3. As my Gram would say, "Praise the Lord!"

So we had to get fingerprinting done today. Another step in the Ohio adoption process. We drove about 30 mintues to Akron only to find out that their internet was not working and they could not scan our fingers. Forget ink and paper, folks, this is the 21st century! All computerized. When the computers work. Of course, the Lord was one step ahead and knew our little girl loves butterfly gardens so the lady at the fingerprinting place suggested we visit the local garden and butterfly conservatory. She gave us her membership card and off we went. As you can see, it was the perfect detour. BTW, we haven't gotten our fingerprinting results back yet, but my guess is we'll pass the FBI's background check. I think. Maybe. Hmmm.

Seriously, though, we've never done anything bad.

So I have to tell you the story about our lodging situation. As a stated, we're staying at the McKinley Grand Hotel. The Pro Football Hall of Fame is in the area and hosts a big festival every year. This year, (maybe every year, I don't know) the Hall of Fame reserved the entire hotel for the festival. And you know it's not the fans who are staying here, right? Well, the staff here told us the whole hotel was reserved for the Hall of Fame. Jason called the Hall of Fame today and shared with them our situation....can you guess where we are going to be staying for the next two weeks? They graciously allowed us to keep our room!!!! THANK YOU PRO FOOTBALL HALL OF FAME. We are only 7 minutes or so away from the hospital and that is a blessing. It's also nice to keep what little routine we have. We also have to give a shout out to the staff here. They have been so nice. At the end (or sometimes the beginning) of a long day, it feels good to have people around who go out of their way to be accommodating. THANK YOU MCKINLEY GRAND HOTEL STAFF.

And one more thing. Some of you have helped to get us connected here in Ohio. We have people bringing us food and helping to set up sitters for Hannah next week when I'm here alone. These are answers to prayer. We have a place to stay, food, and a family of believers to help care for our little girl. All so we can take care of our little boy. God has orchestrated every step, every phone call. And you have heard His call to serve. Community. Christ in action. This is the raw faith God intended. Doesn't it feel great?