prayer request for mr. bikeman please

Two weeks ago Thursday, Chad had ankle surgery to repair recently-discovered damage from his bike accident back in October of 2008. He had been walking around on two two tendons and a bone chip...no wonder it kept swelling up. He had just retuned to work on Thursday, and his ankle was quite swollen and sore. Friday the swelling worsened, and was very painful by Friday night. On Saturday morning, he woke up physically ill and his ankle was red and grotesquely swollen, and very red from mid-calf down.

I took him to the ER and he was admitted soon thereafter with a very serious infection in his surgical sight. Infectious disease doc believes he caught staph in the surgery. He's in hospital for at least 5 - 7 days with IV antibiotics, and then he'll have a pic line placed for six weeks of home-injections.

He's in an awful lot of pain and it's a serious situation.

Thank you friends and faithful readers...

I have pictures but I won't post them... you don't want to see. Seriously.

more info on baby joe joe

Sweet Baby Joe Joe had a minor stroke yesterday along with several seizures. There appears to be some brain damage. He is now has a catheter, semi-permanent IV line, and a breathing tube. He is also very swollen because of all of the IV fluids.

Mom Ciria has asked that we pray that the doctors have wisdom and strength for all of them as this trial continues.

prayer request for baby joe joe

Our friends' infant son, "Joe Joe" was admitted to the hospital Monday with probable meningitis, and he has the complication of Downs Syndrome. He will be there a minimum of ten days, but these first three days are critical. Please pray for this sweet family who love the Lord so much; they are understandably scared. They also have a 2 1/2 year old and 9-ish year old.

** Update 7:00 pm**
Joe Joe does, indeed, have bacterial meningitis. His Down's has been a factor inasmuch that his immunity is compromised, and therefore, his body didn't fight a normal infection, leading to the meningitis.

real

"But Mom, how can they pray to God? They're not real." asked Ingrid this morning while watching the classic Shirley Temple film, "Bright Eyes". While demonstrating dubious theology (Daddy's in heaven honey...now he's a real angel with real wings), the movie did show something rarely seen in modern mainstream Hollywood: a little girl at bedtime praying to The Lord, asking Him to watch over her Daddy, and to tell her Daddy the she and her Mommy love him very much. It also got me thinking....

Ingrid recognized immediately after this bedtime prayer that the character Shirley played was not real.

How many prayers of ours aren't real? When we ask with earnestness for a new 102" flat panel with 20,200 DP, is that prayer real? If are heart is longing for some other ludicrous piece of stuff, is the prayer real? Or is it fake because our heart is not necessarily in line with God's heart? If we ask for the starving children of the Sudan to receive the meal they need to survive for today, but we are praying out of guilt, is the prayer real?

Recently I got something that I have looooonged for for a looooong time: a KitchenAid food processor, 12 cupper no less! I am truly thankful for it. Truly! But, I got along without it for 12 years of marriage, cooking and baking up a storm without its help. Was my heart wrong to long for this piece of metal and plastic? Now that it's sitting on my counter, and I have spent the last two hours rearranging my countertop and some of my kitchen cabinets in order to accomodate the adjustments necessary to house all of its attachments. But I am feeling a little bit down. After I get something that I have wanted for a long time, I feel guilty and selfish. There it is, all bright and shiny and new and beautiful. Were the longings of my heart the same as a prayer?

I guess I should move on with thanks to the gift-giver and learn a lesson about heart attitude.