Welcome to My Mission Field

Where has the summer gone? I mean really. I missed it. Somewhere between being on bed rest and having a baby and then the baby was sick... and now school is back in session, which means tonight we started back into SPARKS club.

SPARKS is a Bible club - a division of AWANA if you're familiar with that. We teach kids Bible verses and lessons, and have a ton of fun with games and snacks thrown in.

Since I accepted Christ as my Savior, I have always wanted to go to a foreign land and be a missionary. But instead, for now at least, my mission field is right here in our little mountain town. Right here where people from all over the country (and some other countries) flock to work in the natural gas field.

Just look as these faces. How could you not want to teach each one about the love of God?

So despite being completely exhausted (understatement) with the recent health issues of the baby, and all the traveling it has required to get to doctor's visits, medical tests, and to pick up testing equipment, I went to SPARKS. I lead the younger group - Kindergarten through 2nd grade, but with the baby having pneumonia and being on oxygen, I had resigned myself to having to stay home. But we are limited on helpers, and when my husband couldn't make it home from work in time to fill in for me, I had to go. I'm glad I did. I always enjoy it.

We had some new kids tonight, which is always a blessing ... and a challenge ;) but they did well.

Game time was a riot. I think it's going to be a great year!

Earlier today, the baby had another checkup. I'm very happy to report he is doing considerably better. I don't know if it shows much difference in the pictures, but his color is better, and he is much more lively. He seemed to really be feeling better today. His Angel Care monitor hasn't gone off at all over the last two nights - something we're hoping will continue from now on. I will credit it with saving his life though. If we hadn't realized he wasn't breathing well, we wouldn't have known he had pneumonia. The doctor said it presented in such an unusual way that we had to diagnose it through a process of elimination - thinking it was something more serious than it was. Thankfully we caught it in time. He is still on the antibiotic, and has to go back next Tuesday for another chest xray to make sure it's all cleared up, but for the most part, we're doing well. The antibiotic did give him a bad diaper rash, which we're treating with a prescription cream, but overall, we're doing really well!

As I walked to the pediatrician's office I noticed the irony in more doctor's names and specialties. Not sure why I'm seeing so much humor in these. Maybe it's just the focus on health related issues. But anyway, I thought I'd share. Dr. Payne's specialty is plastic surgery :)

And this one is just too bad to comment on, so I'll just leave you with the photo. Have a good night ;)