Praise the Lord

Nikki's 3-D ultrasound went very well! The kidneys and heart are perfect. There is still a small cyst on the baby's head but the doctor says it's a normal part of development and should disappear soon. The baby is perfectly healthy and Chad and Nikki are so relieved! Thank you all for your prayers.

Urgent Prayer

We just got a call from my mom today. My sister, Nikki, had her 20 week ultrasound yesterday. Her doctor called today to say, she needs the higher level ultrasound due to the fact that they think they saw a cyst on the brain, fluid around the heart and the kidneys were the wrong color. The upside is they had trouble getting a good picture because the baby was moving so much. Please pray for peace and comfort as they wait for all the scheduling for the next ultrasound. Please pray for good pictures on this one. The fluid around the heart makes us all think about our cousin who died who had a similar problem. Just pray for wisdom for the medical staff and for them if they do find something wrong and need to make decisions regarding treatment in utero, etc.

Coming Attractions

Blogger is struggling today. It will not upload any pics for me. Stay tuned for pics of Baby Helm.

Baby Helm

First appointment

Today was our first appointment with at our OB clinic. The clinic is comprised of 2 Midwives and one OBGYN. I really liked the Midwives and the nurse. We have yet to meet the doc but that will come. Tomorrow I will call and get more info on enrolling in the Family Beginnings program which is the only birthing center in Ohio located within a hospital. We had our first ultrasound today. It was so cool! We saw the baby moving and saw the little heart beating. I didn't realize how much I needed the reassurance everything was fine until I saw our baby. I was so glad Ralph was able to come with me today! My next appointment is in roughly 4 weeks. They sent home pics from our ultrasound. We will try and scan them in tomorrow to post but they printed really dark. We found out that we were pretty accurate in our due date of November 16. A Thanksgiving baby! How fun!

Praise Jesus!

We just got this note from Ralph's friend, Jon, regarding Jessica:

Jessica's blood tests and other tests that they done at the hospital in San Jose, all came back negative for cancer. Praise the Lord !! Kevin said that Jessica is doing quite well from her gallbladder surgery on Thursday.
She still has to go to the Stanford UN on Wed to see the specialist there to see what they are going to do about the mass/tumor which is between her stomach and other organs pushing up towards her liver. The doctor's also told them that if this would have been cancer, Jessica would have been in a lot of pain, quite sick and even probably would have been gone by now. Her surgeon was a Christian and told her this AM, before dismissing her, that to keep reading her Bible and to have faith.
Then I asked Kevin about his plans for Iraq and he said that his assignment to Iraq has been canceled altogether and that he'll be returning to Dover after his emergency leave. PTL !!!
We've been praying that he'd not have to go, but I certainly didn't want anything like this to happen.


We haven't stopped praising the Lord since receiving this! We hope this gives you a sweet time of praise as well.

Food

So this weekend has been all about the food. I made this great vegetable tortellini soup last night. It was from The Foddie Fashionista. We both loved it! I am constantly on the lookout now for ways to increase the vegetable content in my diet. This soup is great for that. I even used mushroom tortellini (instead of the obvious choice--cheese) to increase the vegetable content. Yeah! I cheated on the bread and used Pillsbury Italian Bread. Ralph brought me home some StoneHouse Olive Oil and Dipping Oil from California. We used the dipping oil for the bread. It has a little kick to it, we really like it! Good job, honey! I can't wait to cook something with my new olive oil!

This morning I made "Quiche with Flair" from one of my Colorado B&B cookbooks. Ralph liked it but I just wasn't happy with it. I haven't put my finger on what I didn't like but I'm working on it. I know it needed some vegetables but other than that I'm not sure.

Then this evening I made a lemon meringue pie. It turned out great!!! Yummmy! I had a piece and a half it was so good! Guess I'll have to walk a little farther tomorrow. ;-p

Tomorrow morning I'm going to make Potato Skins with Egg, Tomato, and Brie--another Colorado B&B recipe. I'm really excited about this one! They are basically breakfast potato skins--healthier! Yeah! What could be better?!

Prayer Request

Please pray for Ralph and my friends, Kevin and Jessica. Kevin is getting ready to deploy and was home on leave due to Jessica having a routine gallbladder surgery for gallstones. While they were in there, they found a tumor in her stomach. That is all we know for now. Please pray for peace and comfort for them. Pray for wisdom for those involved in diagnosing her and for them when it's decision time. They have 2 small children and all her family in on the West Coast. They are currently stationed on the East Coast.

Call to Prayer

So my uncle has challenged me to pray. His April post was all about praying for churches who are struggling in his district in Montana. That got me thinking about my "district" or neighborhood. We have 2 churches in walking distance of us without pastors right now. We had really felt God starting to do something through both of them and then suddenly they are without spiritual headship. I am pretty sure that is the enemy trying to block God's work in our neighborhood. This neighborhood needs Him desperately. The first church is Omhar Park Methodist Church. Their pastor was a friend of ours who moved to Colorado. For lots of reasons I'm not privy to it seems the Methodist Church is not planning on filling this post anytime soon. The second church is St. Anthony's. Yes, they are Catholic. They do a phenomenal job of taking care of "the least of these" in our neighborhood. Their priest suddenly decided he did not wish to be a priest anymore and they're having a hard time finding someone who does. I have been challenged to pray more diligently for these bodies. They are our partners in reaching this "district" for Christ. I am well aware of the differences between many Catholics and myself, however, I am praying for a priest who truly knows and loves the Lord who will open the way for his parish to know Christ. Will those of you who live here (or others who feel led but don't live here) join me in praying for these Churches?