Florence Nightengale  May 12, 1820 - August 13, 1910

When Florence was 24 years old, she had a "calling" from God. She wrote in her journal, "God spoke to me and called me to His service." Florence decided her calling was to help the sick and the poor by becoming a nurse.

You can read more about Florence Nightengale at the Florence Nightingale Museum http://www.florence-nightingale.co.uk/index.htm

The Florence Nightingale Pledge:

“I solemnly pledge myself before God and in the presence of this assembly, to pass my life in purity and to practice my profession faithfully. I will abstain from whatever is deleterious and mischievous, and will not take or knowingly administer any harmful drug. I will do all in my power to maintain and elevate the standard of my profession, and will hold in confidence all personal matters committed to my keeping and all family affairs coming to my knowledge in the practice of my calling. With loyalty will I endeavor to aid the physician, in his work, and devote myself to the welfare of those committed to my care.”

National Nurse’s Week is May 6^th thru the 12^th.  These are the heroic souls that aid doctors everywhere in everything, dispensing caring and emotional help along with medicines.

These heroic women and men who aid the doctors also have assistants.  Certified Nurse Assistants are the unsung heroes of the medical profession.  CNAs are the ones who do the real dirty work and this is what Margaret does every day, as if being married to me isn’t a big enough challenge.

The website “Nursing Assistant Central” http://www.nursingassistantcentral.homestead.com/ says,

“Being a Nursing Assistant is not for everyone, and nursing facilities have been experiencing difficulty over the last few years attracting and retaining caring, qualified individuals. The pay scale isn't always up to par for the work expected of Nursing Assistants. More often than not, C.N.A.'s work short staffed, decreasing the quality of care that patients receive while at the same time presenting a safety hazard to both staff and patients alike. The need for quality caregivers has become an important issue, and at times a problem, for healthcare facilities. Nationwide, this country has experienced somewhat of a crisis in the area of the direct-caregiving field. As the number of nursing homes continues to increase, it is an unfortunate fact that the caregiving field has been lagging in numbers. The turnover rate for Nursing Assistants is phenomenal…”

Margaret really doesn’t like to be in the spotlight and I don’t write about her very often, but she is a genuine heroine.  She is a home health care CNA.  People who, not very long ago, even in this country, would have had to live in a nursing home or hospital or, in some cases, hospice, can stay at home with their families, friends and loved ones directly because of her.  There are adults and children right here in Colorado Springs, Colorado who live better lives and in some cases just stay alive, because she is there.

One reason I don’t write much about her is that she has all of the office politics from three different offices to deal with as well as the nurses she “assists.”  I put “assists” in quotations because many times (with a few notable exceptions) she is the one who does the work every day and the nurse (I say again, there are notable exceptions) just comes around every couple of weeks to make sure she still knows how to do her job.

Another of the reasons I seldom write about her is that I cannot tell most of the stories that I have heard because of her patient’s (they call them “clients” in the biz, I guess it must sound more positive) right to privacy.  People that are in common could potentially connect the dots and figure out who the person is and what their medical situation is.  Besides, a lot of the time her job is too gross for me.  She and the daughter-in-law, who is also a CNA, start talking shop and I am out of there.  I guess that’s my point.  I couldn’t do it.  A lot of other people couldn’t/wouldn’t do it, but she can.

A quadriplegic person confidently wheeling around in their wheelchair.

A little old lady in her 90’s or 100’s that still lives at home.

A teenage girl with cerebral palsy that has only rudimentary control of limbs and bowels.

The child of a crack-head mother who lives with his brain unevenly built.

Parents of children with problems I can’t pronounce who were told by the Dutch government that if they weren’t US citizens (That means something!  Let’s don’t allow criminals to cheapen the value of it.) They would “euthanize a child like that” (Actual quote) and they better just go to the American hospital in Germany.

I had heard the term, “Debilitating disease” but never really knew anything about it until I saw Multiple Sclerosis firsthand.

All of these people are able to stay with the people who love them and care for them and want them, or stay in the homes they have always lived in, (in some cases that they grew up in!) directly because of Margaret and people like her.

Do you know what “Autonomic Dysreflexia” is?  What the signs of it are and what will happen to a person if you don’t?

How about the proper way to prevent infection while administering a bed-bath?

A lot of you may have changed a baby, but what about the correct way to change a grown-up’s soiled diaper?  If they are uncooperative?  Become combative because they think you are trying to hurt them when you are taking off their nasty clothing because they have Alzheimer’s and are confused?

Empty a bedside commode?

What do you do to prevent contamination and infection if someone’s bodily substance, vomit, feces, urine, gets on you?

Did you know there’s a right way and wrong way to put on and take off rubber gloves, which have a wide variety of styles and uses?  (I like to blow them up and put them on my head and watch little kids eyes bug out, but that’s not a professional use.)

I have done a dismally poor job of bringing this thought to you; of explaining what an angel of light in a dark, dismal world some people are.  My usual candor is lacking because the subject, the things she does as part of her work every day, is pretty much all things I really don’t enjoy talking about, or thinking about having to do.  But if the Lord has me live past a hundred (only the good die young) and I have to have someone besides Margaret care for me, I hope I get someone who cares as much about how to do their job and be professional and caring at the same time as she does.

She is a REAL Hero!

Remember, The Good Book Says, “And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you.”

I am working on a couple of posts, but for now I would like to direct you to an upbeat article about the work the Minnesota National Guard is doing in Iraq, which also has a few photos in the gallery.

http://www.gxonline.com/features/redbulls/blog/index.html

http://www.gxonline.com/ is the website for the National Guard magazine, GX Guard Experience.

I got the link from The Patriette's blog,

 
http://www.thepatriette.com/

Her husband is a captain in the Minnesota National Guard in Iraq and her blog gives a lot of insight as to what's really going on.  She is only 4 weeks away from her due date.  You have to sign up and be approved before you can comment because she receives a lot of uncalled-for vituperation from leftist-loonies who apparently can't stand the idea that she is so proud of her husband and what he is doing.

There is also an article on GX about the Charlie Daniels Band visiting the troops.

http://www.gxonline.com/gxintelnews?id=29538

The link to Charlie Daniels website is

http://charliedaniels.com/

And I highly recommend clicking on the link that says "Soapbox" http://charliedaniels.com/soapbox.htm Which will take you to a forum where the topics are written by Charlie Daniels himself and on which he comments.  From there I clicked on his main forum page, http://www.multimedia-interactive.com/cdb/ and perused some of his previous topics.  Very good.

Remember, next time you are watching/listening to the mainstream/drive-by media, that the Good Book says, "A faithful witness will not lie: but a false witness will utter lies."

Here are the Easter pix I promised along with some Savannah pix that Ben and Isabel took.  I didn't know when I would have time to blog this week, but I wound up getting up an hour early today.  The alarm clock had come unplugged and I got up and set it and, well, while I really did learn to tell time in Kindergarten or First grade I got my big hand and little hand mixed up.  This was good for those of you who wanted to see these pix, though.

In the picture with Great-Grandma Pike and Savannah, Grandma puts Savannah on her seat and walks around the church, but I didn't get a pic of that yet.

I love the Firefox Browser.  I love the tabbed browsing and going to a “favorites” folder and clicking “Open all in new tabs” and having everybody’s (30+) blogs open in 3 or 4 windows in a couple of minutes.  It’s really neat.  But there is one thing I learned.  You have to hit refresh when you go to someone’s blog, or you don’t see their newest entry and you think that you have converted them to procrastination like you.  But when you hit refresh and find out you have missed several days entries, all you can say is, “aaaaaaaarrrrrggggggghhhhhh!”

I still like Firefox for blog cruisin’ though.

As the good book says, “Never put off until tomorrow what will wait till the day after…”

I’m late on the Easter re-cap, but I’m about late on my updates all the time.  Sometimes I just get to living life and don’t know how long it’s been since I updated last.  Then, when I realize how long it actually was I realize that I have not made my rounds of people’s blogs, some of whom actually have updated, some every day.  So then, out of guilt, I go read their blogs, and leave comments, often thinking to myself, “I wish I could think of something like that.”  By that time I have run out of time for my own writing.

There are two times a year the general populace feel they must go to church, Christmas and Easter.  The church was full.  My whole family and the grandbabies were present (Pictures coming) along with about 500 other people but I was in Sunday School helping with the Easter presentation.

The children were divided into groups and each child given a giant poster-board jelly bean of different colors.  Each group then said a part of “The Jelly Bean Prayer” which goes:

Red is for the blood He gave.

Green is for the grass He made.

Yellow is for the sun so bright.

Orange is for the edge of night.

Black is for the sins that were made.

White is for the grace He gave.

Purple is for the hour of sorrow.

Pink is for the new tomorrow.

Then they sang, “Alive, alive, Jesus is alive” and another Easter song called, “Jesus is Risen” to the tune of “Jesus Loves Me.”  Sorry I don’t remember all the words off hand but the chorus went:

Jesus is risen

Jesus is risen

Jesus is risen

Tell everyone you meet.

They did very good and I was proud of all of them.  Even my most challenging kids (I teach 6 & 7 year olds) were well-behaved and said their lines perfectly.  Then they passed out little packets of jelly beans to people in the congregation as we left the main sanctuary and went back to the classroom where I told them how wonderful they were and what good examples, etc.

The kids seemed wired from standing in front of the whole church and probably from candy, too, so we reviewed the last couple of weeks’ lessons, the Garden, the Crucifixion and the Resurrection.  We actually covered the resurrection twice, because when you teach the death of Jesus you should never leave the students without knowledge of the hope that goes with it.  If you leave Jesus on the cross or in the grave, and that student doesn’t come back the next week to hear the end of the “cliffhanger,” you are wrong.

The week we focused on the crucifixion I brought in some long nails from the hardware store and a crown of thorns which my son had made from a nasty, thorny weed that grows near fountain creek.  You should always, whether it’s Sunday School, Scouting, or any other interaction with children, remember to keep things age appropriate.  Six and seven year olds can be impressed by just seeing these things and a simple explanation whereas teenagers may need to hear more about the asphyxiation and torture elements of the story.  “Little is much when God is in it.”

Living near five military bases most of our kids know what being a soldier is, at least to some extent, so to say that the soldiers were on guard duty and fell down for fear does not need as deep an explanation here as it may in other places, either.  Even nowadays, you can spend a long time in prison and even be executed for falling asleep on guard duty.  These men were bribed with large amounts of money to spread the story that they were asleep and the disciples stole his body.

We reviewed this and then talked about the things that happened in the next 40 days, including Thomas touching the scars on his hands and feeling the spear-hole in his side and Jesus telling them to cast their nets on the other side, causing Peter to jump in the water and swim to shore.  Then I advised the kids that if they could be good and follow every instruction carefully, we could do something special.  We could go to the Mount of Olives, where Jesus often went to pray or to teach.  I grabbed a helium balloon I had secreted in the closet and said, “You guys saw all those people in the church?  That was 500 people, did you know that?”  Appropriate “Oooooo’s” and “Aaaah’s” and “Wows.”  “Well, that’s how many people followed Jesus to the mountain.  Let’s go on a hike to the mountain.”

So we walked, ever so quietly and orderly, from our sweltering upstairs room, down the stairs and out the door into the relatively mild air outside.

“Where are we going Brother Thiel?”

“We’re on the path to the Mount of Olives.”

“Nuh-uh.  This is the sidewalk around the church.”

“You have to use your imagination.  You have to pretend.”  The great thing about this age group is that they are not the strict, concrete thinkers the 4 & 5 year olds are and are just starting to get into slightly more abstract thought and ideas, and imagination is fun.  They are just starting to get jokes and riddles and puns and they love excitement and adventure.

“Are we going to climb Pikes Peak today, too?”  Some little girl joked.

“Nope, just walk around to the Mount of Olives.  In fact, we’re almost there.”

“What are you gonna do with the balloon, Brother Thiel?”

“Isn’t this the same spot where the Red Sea was?”

“Yes, but it’s the Mount of Olives today and Jesus is talking to 500 or more people that came with Him to this spot.” 

“Why does Jesus look like Tigger?”

What are you gonna do with the balloon, Brother Thiel?”

“It’s not supposed to look like Jesus, it’s just a prop, a part of the lesson and you’ll see.”

You may have heard one portion of what is called the “Great Commission” over and over again in your lifetime, which is the part recorded in Matthew, but did you know the Great Commission is recorded in Mark, Luke and the book of Acts, as well.

Matthew:  “All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth.  Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost:  Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world.”

Mark:  “Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.  He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned.  And these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues; They shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover.”

Luke:  “Thus it is written, and thus it behoved Christ to suffer, and to rise from the dead the third day:  And that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem.  And ye are witnesses of these things.  And, behold, I send the promise of my Father upon you:  but tarry ye in the city of Jerusalem, until ye be endued with power from on high.”

Acts:  “wait for the promise of the Father, which, saith he, ye have heard of me.  For John truly baptized with water; but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days hence. … It is not for you to know the times or the seasons, which the Father hath put in his own power.  But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.”

(Which I’ve printed here for you, but abbreviated to them for attention’s sake.  These things were fulfilled in the second chapter of the book of Acts and beyond…)

Then I held the balloon in front of my face and talked through it, which refocused their attention on the balloon.  “Then he lifted up his hands and blessed them.”  And at the same time I said that I put up my hands and…I…just…let…it…goooooo…

And we watched it float up into the sky.  We all just stood there and stared, “There it is!  Look up there!  It’s so small!  It’s like a little dot!”

And then it was gone.  And we stood there looking into the sky.

“Then,” I told them, “there appeared two angels that said, ‘Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? this same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven.’”

We walked back to the classroom, everyone talking about the balloon.  When we got into the classroom, I talked to them some more.  We discussed how that Jesus was going to come back, and he expected us to be preaching and teaching to everyone.  We have to tell everyone about Jesus.  About how he died and was buried but did not stay dead.  How we have to repent, be sorry for our sins, wanting our sins to be nailed to his cross; how we are buried with him in baptism in His name to wash away those sins; how we receive the baptism of the Holy Ghost, that Comforter he promised that is the Spirit of Jesus, “I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you.”  He comes to live inside anyone who wants Him and he promises that, if we obey Him, He will come and take us to be with Him.

Remember, The Good Book Says, “In my Father’s house are many mansions:  if it were not so, I would have told you.  I go to prepare a place for you.  And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.”

Sorry if you've gotten several e-mails regarding this one entry.  I think this is the final edit, complete update.  Really.  I think I've corrected everything.  I think.

I apologize for not updating sooner.  It is one of my resolutions that I have been weak on this year.  I think, "Oh, I better update" or "I need to update" or "If I write about that, I'll really make the (depending on the subject) liberals/conservatives/libertarians mad" but then I don't actually do it.

One of the things that have been on my mind of late are some of the things that Pops has been talking about.  After reading Pops' entries, http://bluemooncafe.blogdrive.com/archive/530.html  http://bluemooncafe.blogdrive.com/archive/529.html and http://herbsfriends.blogdrive.com/archive/47.html I began to wonder and worry about posting pics also.  After carefully considering on it and discussing it in the Blogdrive forums, I have decided that I will upgrade my Blogdrive account as well as use http://www.statcounter.com/  because I think the BD stats in the upgraded version will give me what I want.  I really recommend to everyone to try "Statcounter" though.  It is interesting and will give you a better insight as to what goes on on the Internet.  While I haven't ruled out the option of taking down the pics completely I think this is the step I am going to take for now.

As I read a couple of these entries I did form some opinions.  I guess I should say that I have become able to articulate some ideas and thoughts I have had about children, (And yes, hateful as my younger readers may find this statement, it's almost invariably true anyway) and teenagers are children, and their use of the Internet.  My ideas will probably not be popular with them and it will take some pretty strong parents to adopt these ideas if they haven't already done them on their own.

First, I definitely don't think children should ever be allowed to use the Internet without supervision.  Whether you have the safest safety filters around or not, it just seems unwise to me to just let them go "wandering" around by themselves.  I have often compared the Internet to an almost unlimited public library.  When we would take the kids to the library we would take them over to the appropriate section, and walk around with them and find out what they were interested in and look at what they wanted to check out and occasionally pre-read it.  As they got to be a little older, we still would look at what they were checking out.  There were times when I would say, "You know, I don't want you reading that" or "That's a little too old for you."  This is a parent's job.  (If you're interested in what I think belongs in libraries, both in public libraries and schools, you can read my piece on "How to Ban Books", which I will link on the updated sidebar if I ever get done with it.)  If you as a parent guide your child (by example as well as sermon…They WILL check out what you are reading and want to know what it's about) from the very beginning they will know what choices to make as they get older.  Now, if you care about what they read, and what they see (you do at least control their viewing a little, I hope?  I have controlled my kids' viewing for the last 20 years by not having a TV or its assorted accoutrements in any form.) And where they go when they are outside, why in the world would you let them roam wild and free on the internet?  When I used to work at the big-name bookstore we had a nice children's area, intended for supervised play and reading; I was shocked and amazed at the number of supposedly educated, intelligent, well-to-do people that just turned their kids loose while they went shopping.  Talk to one of these wild, screaming, maniacal brats and tell them they can't throw books at each other and they need to settle down and find their parents, you will find that some people live in a world that is alien to yours.  Why would you lambaste the clerk for preventing your little monster from hurting themselves or someone else?  If  you are one of those parents that lets your kid run amok, then you probably let them do whatever they want on the 'net, as well.

Switching to older children/teenagers, I will switch to the analogy of the Internet being to the computer/information world what the Interstate Highway system is to travel in America.  Do you just let you kids get in the car with any-old-body that pulls up in the driveway and toots the horn?  Even though teenagers don't like it and may think it's fogey, they should be supervised as well.  Just like you have the right to know who their friends are, what music they have in their rooms, where they are going and with whom and for how long, what shows they watch etc., cyberspace should be no different.  I would never let my kid go with a bunch of wild kids careening down the road and acting all crazy, but if you let your kids go unsupervised down the information highway, it's kind of the same thing.  You should want to meet your kids' friends, talk to their parents and find out their attitudes, etc.  So, why would you let your kids go free-wheelin' down the information highway with a bunch of thugs?

Most teenagers and certainly children should not have their own internet connection in their rooms.  If they do, you need to (find out how if you don't know) check their history files, their cookies, turn on their messengers and see what their screen names are, what their profiles say and what their chat buddies profiles say.  Obviously I believe in using the Internet, but since it is not regulated (much, yet) you are responsible to maintain safety, so, as I say so often when I watch people on the Interstate, "HANG UP AND DRIVE!!!"

Remember, the Good Book says, "My son, keep thy father's commandment, and forsake not the law of thy mother:"

Stupid allergies.  They make you look like you’re a big crybaby, your eyes watering and making you blow your nose and then your eyes watering some more.

I'm really bummed.  We had to get rid of Snoopy, the last dog from Daisy's litter, last night.  She was only 7 years old, but she has become more and more snappish since the grandbabies were born.  We had talked about it for a couple of months since she had snapped at Savannah once before but hadn’t really done anything about it.  Well, the final straw came last Friday.  She bit Savannah completely unprovoked.  Tabitha was watching as the baby was just climbing onto the couch away from the dog, not looking at her or bothering her in any way and the dog just bit her on the forehead and broke the skin.  We had made plans to get rid of her before and had offered to my oldest daughter (it was her dog pretty much since it was born.  She used to lie on Lizzy’s hand on her back and get her belly rubbed) to find one of her friends or in-laws to take the critter, but a 50 lb dog that snaps at toddlers is not a popular choice.  Then yesterday she snapped at Tabitha for no reason.  I couldn’t wait any longer.  Anyone who knows Tab, who worked at a vet’s office for a year-and-a-half with all manner of dogs and cats, knows that if there was ever a person in the world that knows animals and how to treat them it's her.  There isn’t a more even-tempered, soft-spoken animal lover anywhere.

Since I am the guy that wears the black hat, I had it to do.  I thought it would be easier than it turned out to be, though.  I did it because I had it to do, but I didn't like it.  The fact that it was the right thing to do didn't make it any easier.  Tabitha and Abigail went with me and said their tearful goodbyes.  I tried to be tough, after all I do wear the black hat, but, well, I never realized before that I had all these allergies which started springing up at the worst possible moment. 

This morning as I type this there are only the cats asking me all manner of questions.  Fee-Foe and Fraidy cat have grown up with her since they were kittens and Cookie got along with her tolerably well.  Bagheera is the only one who doesn’t seem too bothered, but even he is curious.  He had liked to taunt the dog, who took a hate to him right off the bat and would sit just out of Snoopy’s reach and listen to her bark and growl.

I'm really bummed, but a dog has to be decent around kids.  There are too many stories in the papers these days about dogs and kids and I didn't want to be the one in the paper that made everyone say, "Well, if that grandfather knew that dog had snapped at one of the kids, why didn't he do something about it before this all happened?"  Anyway, there is no dog sitting here nagging me to let her out this morning, interrupting me while I'm typing. 

Stupid allergies.

Here are the details.  The pix are here .  The good ones, as usual, are the ones Isabel took.  As usual, I tried to make the files small so even if you have a dial-up you should be able to see them fairly quickly.

Thursday, 3/30/06 was her due date, and due to possible side-issues they did not want her to go past her due date and wait, so we got a call that the hospital was ready to start some medications to get the ball rolling.  Went over about 10 A.M. and picked up Lizzy and Troy and took them over there and left after midwife announced that this was probably a 7 1/2 pounder.  Many people had said 8.  I wasn't about to even try to guess, so I went with the midwife's prediction.  We didn't get a pool going or anything otherwise I'd have made some money.  JK.

Thursday evening, measurable contractions, hang out until around 10 P.M. no action.  Go home and wait for phone call.  Got a call at 2:50 A.M. and Lizzy told Tabitha, "The baby's on it's way!" and hung up.  Things were getting serious now; got to Memorial hospital by 3:00.

Troy and Elizabeth and the midwife are in the room while the rest of us, Troy's family, our family and one of Lizzy's best friends in the whole world, Joyce, are in the waiting area.  Lizzy would have liked to have had her mom in with her, but since Troy's mother and grandmother wanted to see the birth as well, Troy had decided it wouldn't be fair if her mom or her friend got to be in there and his mom or his grandma didn't.  Liz decided to decline the spectator sport option and so it was just her and Troy and at 4:12 A.M. Friday a bouncing baby boy entered into the world.  Well, nobody actually tried to bounce him or anything.

Everyone rushed down the hall to the room and Troy's grandma got in the room and was the very first to hold the baby.  I hung back and waited until some of the dust had settled and someone came and got me.  When I got there, Liz had the baby and she held him up to me.  When I took him I just kind of stood there out of habit, because when Savannah was born there were so many wires and tubes and bells and whistles attached you couldn't go very far with her, same with Abigail when she was born, so this was new to me, holding a baby that wasn't tied down.  It didn't take me too long to figure out, however.

I have learned of a tradition that is observed in some branches of Judaism that I really fell in love with when I heard about it and shall evermore make it a tradition in my family.  (I think I have at least one Jewish reader, so you may correct me if I have it wrong.)  I turned around and while I didn't whisper, I didn't raise my voice either, I wasn't trying to be heard, but I didn't care who heard me and quoted to him the Scripture in Deuteronomy 6:4,  which says, "Hear, O Israel:  The LORD our God is one LORD:  And thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might.  And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart..."

He had the usual battery of tests in the hospital and Sunday afternoon we took him and the proud parents home.  He is home now and yesterday he already started rolling over from his back to his side.  As somebody said, (Kirk, maybe?) in the first Star Trek movie, when the young guy and the bald-headed gal became one with the space probe V'ger (Give me a break, Trekkies, I saw the movie in 1977 or '78 when it came out and am doing this from memory), "The human adventure is just beginning."

Remember, the good book says, "Children's children are the crown of old men; and the glory of children are their fathers."

Lizzy had her baby at 4:12 this morning.  Douglas Bartholomew weighed 7lbs 7 oz and pics will bwe coming asap.  He has curly brown hair, pale white skin and looks like his dad.  He also looks how he did in Lizzy's dream the other night.

The Good Book says, "But the mercy of the LORD is from everlasting to everlasting upon them that fear him, and his righteousness unto children’s children;"

Those of you who have just joined us, one of the main purposes of this blog became the following of Savannah Melody Thiel's  every movement, from her 25 - 27 wk, 1 lb 12 oz, beginning, to today, when (Insert Drumroll Here) Isabel just called and said that our own little Savannah just took 4 steps on her own!!!!  *Throws cowboy hat in the air*  Woo-hoo!

Remember, the Good book says, "This I say then, Walk..."