Sammy Land

2008-11-19T14:47:00.007-07:00

On November 2nd Sammy was baptized at our church. Dan planned the worship and a few people told him it was a 'three tissue' service. He sang "By the Rivers of Babylon" with a friend during the offertory. The song is in reference to Psalm 126.

If you read it you'll see that it is about the Lord bringing back the Israelites to Zion. Verse 5 says, "Those who sow in tears will reap with songs of joy." We have done this dozens of times and we have seen so many ways that God has been faithful.

During Sammy's stay in the neonatal intensive care (NICU) Dan read that Psalm a lot because it was comforting and because we did feel as though Sammy was being held against his will, like the Israelites in a sense.

But, here we are 8 months later and Sammy is, thank God, in good health. We know life is a gift and we know that "The Lord has done great things for us, and we are filled with joy."

Infant baptism can be a touchy subject for people. Some don't believe in it because they think you can't offer salvation to a child who, without cognition cannot accept it. But the Bible says "...He first loved us." Before we ever KNEW - God loved. And more amazingly, this love came to us "while we were yet sinners".

So when we brought Sammy to be baptized, we and our church family made a covenant promise (is that redundant?) to raise Sammy to know the God that loved him first, so that one day he could make his own profession of faith and love to that same God. The God that brought him out of Babylon - so to speak.

28 Weeks Later

2008-09-26T19:20:00.018-06:00

Today was Sammy's 6 month check-up. Poor little buddy had 3 shots and a little potion to drink. Dan was with him to console him and said that he didn't cry too long. What a trooper.

Here's what he's up to now:

15 pounds 12.5 ounces
He is about 25 inches 'tall'

He's at a fun place right now where he's learning to sit up, eat solid food, babble away (I think he's even said "mmmmum!")

He loves to eat cereal and the doctor told us he can start eating vegetables and fruits. We'll see if he likes it as much as his cereal.

Yummmy!

I can't believe I ate the whole thing!!

As for us, we're doing great. It's been hard for me to go back to work, but am working from home every Wednesday. Dan works at home on Friday so Sammy is home with us 4 out of 7 days. But, it still does not seem like enough. We're praying and being on the lookout for opportunities for me to work part time. God only knows what could come up in this economy and in this time. And you know, as I write this I'm listening to the debates and am becoming particularly agitated as I listen to the circumlocutions of a particular candidate. Only one other time in my life have I wanted so badly to leave the country if a particular candidate won and I feel that way now. We won't because I do love our country. But, I've found that one thing is certain, we cannot and do not rest our hope on any man, but on the 'hope we have' which is in Christ alone. It's hard to think of eternal things when the temporal issues touch us so closely. God help us.
Are these people done yammering yet??

New This Month....

2008-08-24T06:27:00.005-06:00

THUMB SUCKING!

This is a big neurological accomplishment.
Finite math is going to be breeze!!

SMILING - and not because he has gas.
Dan and I can regularly be seen trying to make Sammy smile.
We're just a couple of clowns with a one-(little)man audience.

SLEEPING FOR 7 HOURS STRAIGHT!
Lastly, we don't have a picture of it but he is also cooing and "talking".
It's amazing. Life is amazing.

Percentiles, Percentages, P'shaw!

2008-07-29T12:05:00.004-06:00

Sammy had his 4 month check last Friday.

Here are the stats:
Weight: 12.7 pounds

Length: 22.5 inches

Head Circumference: 15.5 inches.

Even though his adjusted age is 2 months they give us all the percentiles as though he were 4 months old. Therefore, he is sitting right around the 4th percentile for his weight and .09 percentile for his length. We are not dismayed. Everyone is always talking about how their baby is in the 99th percentile for everything. One friend even told us his son was in the 105th percentile for his height. I'm pretty sure that's not possible.

So we revel in his growth and development and know that God has given us a son that's up for the challenge of catching up to his peers... and then surpassing them!!

The Road Ahead

2008-07-01T23:57:00.003-06:00

Sammy has been home for 5 weeks and 3 days. He has changed so much it seems that more time has passed, though we don't want it to because we are enjoying all the moments we have with him.

As I write this I am watching him struggle out of sleep to wake for his midnight feeding. This could be cut short. So here are some recent photos and if you check back regularly you will see, as we travel the miles set before us, that time does pass all too quickly.

Unto Us a child is born....

2008-03-13T23:59:00.001-06:00

March 12th at 10:48 am we met our baby boy - Sammy Rey!
He weighed in at 3 pounds 7 ounces and is 15 inches long.
He is strong and progressing well in the NICU.

God is good and sovereign and faithful.
We are so blessed.

2008-02-16T11:33:00.001-07:00

This is us at 6 months plus.
Blissful, big and a bit confused.