Tuesday, October 23, 2007

Proud?

This past Sunday was the very first time that Richard followed along for the entire church service. Every time I looked over at him he was singing the hymn, praying the prayers written out in the service folder or hymnal and just paying attention. I was so happy to see him participate. Was I proud? I shy away from that word. Are we supposed to be proud? The Bible has so much to say about being proud.


proud - feeling or showing pride. a) having or displaying excessive self-esteem
Proverbs 16:5 The Lord detests all the proud of heart.
Be sure of this: They will not go unpunished.



It seems to use the word proud would make it all about me but it isn't - it's all about him! And I am pleased that he is walking in the way of the Lord!


Last night was one of the worst nights I can remember as far as no sleep and trying to fight asthma and coughing. David coughed more and more as the day progressed. By the time it was bedtime he was coughing constantly. A call to the doctor confirmed that steroids would be the best alternative as well as steamy showers and albuterol treatments every three hours if needed. Poor little tike! I gave him the prednisone at 8:00 and then did an aerosol treatment at 9:30. By 10:30 even though it was causing me great guilt I opted to use some cold medicine to try and dry up his nose in case that was the cause of the cough. We had a steamy bath at around 9:00 and that seemed to calm the coughing some while we were in the bathroom but it started up again when we opened the door. David finally slept between 11 and 12. I said so many prayers. Every time more than 30 seconds went by without a cough I said thank you that he got a little break. When the coughing started back up I prayed for patience and strength. By 12:30 he was coughing pretty good and by 1:30 I was up and giving him another breathing treatment. He just shook. It scared him. But this time it finally seemed to help. He slept from about 2ish until around 4:30 and slowly the cough started to get more frequent. That is one of the benefits I guess about having another child with Cystic Fibrosis. I don't get totally freaked out when this happens. I know these little guys can take a lot. I remember walking in the room thinking David must be exhausted from the coughing, I'll just hold him - to find out he was half asleep. I remember Mike telling me just before he was admitted this last time that, "You know mom how you always say I keep you up all night with my coughing? Well, now it is waking me up too. Most of the time I just sleep through it and I don't know what you are talking about." So as long as he was somewhat sleeping through it I left him to sleep. The night would have been so different had I never been through any of this before. I slept from 2-4 and then on and off until 6. Paul got up and did a treatment at 5:45 a.m. David is napping now and hasn't coughed for almost 3 hours!


Sunday night I got to go watch Mike dance. What a blessing! I am so thankful he is strong enough again to dance and it is so wonderful to see him happy. I am always amazed at the people he meets dancing. I met the nicest couple that think Mike is the greatest kid. It's just so nice to see others that feel the same way that I do. He did the coolest dance and if I find a way to upload my very poor video tape (lighting was bad on the dance floor) I will do that. Kids are waking up from naps so it's time to go.