Posted in Noah Updates
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This is Kate - Jeff brought up my laptop today so I can finally post an entry myself. I'veenjoyed Jeff's posts and he plans to keep blogging as well, but I am tickled pink to be able to share a little with you all. Have you ever seen Alfred Hitchock's deliciously creepy movie Rear Window? It is about a man who is confined to his apartment following an injury. He amuses himeself by looking out the window into the neighboring apartments and eventually witnesses a crime. I won't give away the ending in case you haven't seen it. Of course, most of the things I aren't nearly that dramatic. Noah and I watch every Saturday morning as the pregnant mommies and their husbands show up for birthing class, and I have the joy of praying for these new lives and for the parents to truly seek God. Sometimes our window watching is purely recreational. We get to see the most beautiful sunsets each evening and have even enjoyed a wonderful late afternoon thunderstorm with lightning crashing all around. Last week the smoke from the Florida/Georgia fires blew in and covered everything in a mysteriaIn the course of my "normal" life I would never have had so much time to just look out the windows and watch and laugh and cry and pray. A couple of days ago our window watching took a dark and frightening turn. I noticed a small barefoot girl sitting on top of a car. There were five adults standing around the car and while I watched one of them pulled the child down and began hitting her. She scrambled back up and another adult pulled her down and struck her. She darted into the back seat of the car, but another adult pulled her out and backhanded her. After a few more blows she ran away across the parking lot. They stood around for a few minutes then followed her, then they all went into the stairwell that leads to the hospital entrance. I was completely shocked. This was a little, little girl - maybe 3 or 4 years old, and there were five adults taking turns hitting her. Equally horrifying was the fact that other people were driving or walking by and none of them did anything. I called security but the people were gone and there was no real way to find them. Security turned one of their cameras onto the car in case there was another incident and the police came by and took a report. They said that unfortunately there wasn't much they could do at this point unless running the license plate were to yield any outstanding warrants, but that this would go on record and would be a factor if any additional reports were ever made. I wanted to ask all of you to pray for this little girl. I am praying that if anything like this ever happens to her again, that it happens in a situation where immediate action can be taken. I don't think I understand a world where that many people can strike that many blows in broad daylight without anyone caring enough to intervene on that child's behalf. Wel, I'ms ure you have all heard quite enough about our windows and are eager to hear about Mr. Noah. I wish I had more to share, but there really isn't much new news. His feeding volume has been decreased but he is still very uncomfortable and still vomitting. I may know more tomorrow morning after some of the doctors put their heads together. We just have no idea when we will be coming home. It could be just a few more days or quite a bit longer. In the meantime, we are just getting through each day the best that we know how, with lots of phone calls to home, lots of baby kisses and snuggles, and lots of window watching. :-) And now, I finally get to list some blessings myself for a change! 1. The incredible outpouring of love from all of you. From phone calls to emails to comments on the blog to surprises in the mail, we have been blessed by your kindness. Jeff did ask me to clarify a couple of things on this subject. Jeff reads every one of your emails and loves them all, but he just can't respond to them individually right now. I can't see them here but he reads some of them to me and is saving them all for me to read when I get home. Many of you have asked how to send us mail. You can email Jeff and he will try to get back to you, or you can use the mailing address in the contact section of our website, www.handsandhearts.com . Either way will work just fine, and Jeff makes sure that mail gets up to me every couple of days. I know that many of your children have been particularly burdened for Noah, and we just found out that they (or anyone) can send him a special card for free through the hospital volunteer system. Just go to www.ghs.org and select "patients and visitors," then "visitor info," then " patient e-cards." You can create a card online and the volunteers will actually print it and deliver it to our room! (We are in room 5512.) 2. Noah's happy spirit. Even when he feels the worst, he will almost always manage a smile. When he is feeling good, he is an incredibly joyful, friendly, and funny littleguy with thebest laugh you can imagine. 3. A visit from the other children today. I snuggled with Sarah and read her about a bazillion books, played dinosaurs with David, did puzzles with Timothy, watched Matthew build and attack a huge fort in the playroom, and took a little walk with William and Hannah. I had a wonderful time with them while Jeff enjoyed taking a nap with Noah. 4. A visit without the children tomorrow. :-) Jeff and I obviously haven't had any time together lately and we are both missing each other a lot. Tomorrow he gets to come up alone so we can just talk and hang out together. I can't wait. 5. This laptop. It is a blessing to be able to get on and post. There are computers here that parents can use but it is hard to get to them right now. I was so happy when Jeff brought this up for me today! Love, Kate and Jeff and Noah |
Well, I am starting to feel like I am living that movie. Noah and I have the best room on the 5th floor. It is a huge room on the corner with windows on two sides. We haven't been able to leave the room much lately so I amuse us both by wandering from window to window to see what is happening in the outside world. It struck me from our first day here that God had placed us in a unique room for a reason and that we could use this room to God's glory by praying for the different people that we see. One wall looks out on the helicopter pad. Every time a helicopter lands or takes off it zooms right past our windows. Noah and I watch and pray every time for the patients, doctors, pilots, and families. It surprised me that the doctors generally take their time getting to the patient. I guess I assumed that if someone came by helicopter that there was a real emergency, but I learned that often the patients are fairly stable and it can take 15 minutes or more before they are removed and wheeled into the hospital. The other day was very different, though. As soon as the chopper touched down the doctors came running with the gurney - ducking under the still-moving rotors as they came. They quickly pulled out the patient and the pilot climbed onto the gurney and started doing chest compressions as they ran into the hospital. It struck me that I might be the only person in the world praying for that person as he or she literally hovered at the gates of eternity. Comments
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