Elijah Update (June 16)

Dear Elijah Buddy Club members,

Fathers Day 2007: Elijah and I talked about a gift for his dad. Something special to say what a great daddy he is, especially through the hard days. I hope that all of you fathers out there know how special you are to your children. Elijah lights up when he hears his daddy's voice in his room, and he scrunches up his face when his daddy gives him "whiskery" kisses. :)

Friday night was an emotional night for Elijah and me. PICU was getting too crowded for us, and so we were sent out onto the Pediatric floor. Saying good-bye is always hard and MKs (missionary kids) are supposed to be experts... Well, I will tell you we are not. It all happened so fast that I was unable to cope well. We are grateful for all the friends we have made and the lives Elijah was able to touch. We will miss seeing those nurses every day.

Elijah has not been taking a bottle at all for a few days, and we had not been able to figure out why. Joel and I noticed a whiteness on his tongue but thought that if it was a problem that someone would have said something. So, we never even said anything to each other. Last night before leaving PICU, I asked our nurse if she could check out his tongue. Well, sure enough, our little boy has thrush (possibly caused by all the antibiotics he has received). So we are giving him medicines to get this cleared out. Poor guy, no wonder he has not wanted to eat with the bottle. His tongue and throat must be so sore. So, we are feeding with the tube totally until we can get this cleared up. Some nurses say it can take a while to clear up, and our doctor said that if this one medicine does not help in the next couple of days then he will go to a stronger med.

Elijah has already received a visit from one of his PICU nurses today. Everyone misses him up there. They told me to bang on my ceiling if I needed anything. :)

Joel comes today and will stay until we go home as a family. We are so excited!

Continue to pray with us for Elijah. Pray that the thrush will clear up, that he will eat from his bottle and not have a need for a feeding tube. Pray for continued healing of the Superior Vena Cava syndrome, for great circulation, wisdom treating Hemophilia B, protection from infection and for our adjustment to life at home as a family.

Thank you for joining us in this journey and for "holding the ropes" in prayer. We could not have done this without all of you. But don't think this is the last you will hear from us. We will be writing again before we leave Wichita.

My sister's 1st grade class sent us some cards. We were opening up them up at the Olive Garden (planning to use one of our wonderful gift certificates... Thank you!), and our waitress began asking us about them. So we told her about Elijah. She promised to pray for him. Later she brought our ticket and on it she had written, "I want to pay for your meal today. I will keep Elijah in my prayers." God has so many people out there watching over us.

Another packet of cards came yesterday from a class in South Carolina. We do not know these people at all, but they are a part of our e-mail "pass along family". A winner is: Roses are red, violets are blue. Get well soon or I am coming after you!

Thank you so much for your prayers,
Judy, Joel, and Elijah