Choosing Life

Today, Mr. Phillips of Vision Forum wrote about his wife. I have read very little that spoke to my heart as this did. Mr. Phillips brought to attention the many, many amazing results of one mother's brave decision. The situation seemed tragic, "but God meant it unto good, to bring to pass, as it is this day, to save much people alive." (Genesis 50:20)

My sister and I were able to meet Mrs. Phillips at the Jamestown Quadricentennial. What a sweet, motherly, godly lady! Thank the Lord for her life!

In Memory of a Woman Who Chose Life

Our New Home

Guess what! I'm going to live in Alaska! I know you all already know that, but I'm kind of excited! Well, I'm not just excited about the living in Alaska part; I'm mostly excited about marrying the most wonderful young man in the world in just over six months! The moving to Alaska part kind of comes with that. ::smile::

I put up a post on my family's blog about where we're going to live.

How about an old, rundown little house?

No, that's not where we're going to live. Well, not exactly....

Click to read the post

"Doll Wars"

Mr. Phillips posted a wonderful article studying the variety of messages sent by the different dolls of today.

Excerpt:

One of the most iconic symbols of childhood play is the doll. Dolls have always served an important role in culture, primarily in preparing daughters to be mothers. At the heart of doll play are two important concepts: identification and imagination. For example, the baby doll in the hands of a girl is a tool that helps her to identify with motherhood. The dress-up doll at her bedroom tea party allows her to imagine her own future role building a culture of hospitality for her family. With the historical doll a young lady both imagines and identifies with the adventures of girlhood past. The point is this: dolls have traditionally played an important role in the social and intellectual development of young ladies.

Humanists, including feminists of various stripes, recognize the power of play in shaping cultural identity and gender norms.

It's a long article, but well worth the read. It made me excited to help my husband-to-be establish a Christ-centered home where even the toys our children play with have meaning and purpose!

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Read the article

Mothers : )

Much To Be Thankful For

Katelyn Grace was seizure-free today for the first time in well over a month!

To give you an idea of what an improvement this is, her worse day was last Wednesday, the 5th. She had seizures at 2:20am, 4:20am, 6:20am, 8:20am, and then randomly throughout the rest of the day, making a total of about seven or eight.

The Improvement

We saw an osteopath in Atlanta later that day, and things have gotten better since then. At that time, we also started a few other remedies, so it is hard to pinpoint exactly what single thing or combination helped the seizures. We just want to get rid of them! For the next week, she had two seizures a day: one soon after waking in the morning, and another around 6:00pm. Then, she started missing either her morning or evening seizure. Today, she didn't have one single seizure! We don't know what will happen tomorrow; she could have more, she may not have any at all.

The Seizures

Each seizure - or set of seizures - lasts about three or four minutes and consists of between ten and thirty individual absence and salaam seizures. She gets a glassy look in her eyes and doesn't respond to her name or to visual stimulation (absence seizure). Then her head goes back and there is an involuntary sudden contraction of her arms, legs, and head towards her middle (salaam seizure). She'll go back to normal and fuss for a few seconds, then she'll get that glassy look in her eyes and her head will go back again.... The first few are rather mild, but they grow more violent towards the middle and then slack off towards the end.

The Medical Opinions

The doctors say that these seizures are not enough to cause permanent brain damage at this time, but while she is having seizures, and while her brain is "spiking" abnormally in between, every two to three seconds, that area of her brain (which is quite small) cannot do what it needs to be doing. Also, it is not good for her to develop a pattern of seizures.

Thank the Lord!

We are so thankful that she is developing well in spite of everything. Many special needs children are unable to move at all for the first years of their lives. Others spend days, months, even years in the hospital. Yes, we have much to be thankful for!

Her Development

When she turned six months (she is now seven-and-a-half months!), we took her to the Down syndrome clinic at MUSC to check her development. They asked Mom countless questions about how she responds to this and that, tested Katelyn Grace's tracking abilities, and had her grab various objects. In so many areas, she was ahead of even "normal" babies! Her muscle tone was at 4-1/2 months, which is still ahead of most Down syndrome six-month-olds.

We believe that the hours and hours we are putting into her therapies are paying off!

Katelyn Grace is such a happy, contented baby, and is only fussy after her seizures or when her allergies (which we're still trying to figure out) are bothering her. She recently discovered that she has an extremely loud voice, and has been putting every ounce of her strength into ear-splitting yells and shouts. She loves "talking" to us! One of her favorite things is for one of us to take her into a quiet room, lie on the floor beside her, and just talk quietly to her as we play with her hands and tickle her feet. She watches and listens to us intently.

Thank you!

Thank you so much for your prayers for Katelyn Grace. It is such an encouragement to Mom, especially, to know that people all over the country - all over the world! - are praying for our precious little baby.

Please continue to pray daily that she would continue to progress and for wisdom for Mom and Dad. Thank you all!

Urgent Prayer Request for Katelyn Grace

For those of you who don't know, Katelyn Grace is my precious 7-month-old baby sister who has Down syndrome. This post was originally posted on my family's blog, The Name Fitz.

I wish I had time to go into both the long and short of everything now, but the short of it all will have to do for the present.

After having an EEG (electroencephalogram) a couple of weeks ago, Katelyn Grace was diagnosed with partial seizure disorder, and is having seizures several times a day.

We have several very specific prayer requests:

1. That the Lord would completely take away Katelyn Grace's seizures, either miraculously or through the doctors we're working with.

2. That the Lord would give Mom and Dad wisdom as they're making major decisions about Katelyn Grace's medical treatments.

3. That the Lord would strengthen Mom, especially, as she's struggling with having to watch Katelyn Grace suffer through these seizures.

4. That the Lord would lead us to the right doctors.

5. That the Lord would work through the unsaved doctors we're seeing.

6. That the Lord would grant special wisdom to the Christian doctors who are helping Katleyn Grace.

Please copy this post and post it on your own blog, or just publish a link to this post. Please share this prayer request with your family, friends, and church. We are trying to get as many people praying for Katelyn Grace as possible.

Please, please commit to pray for Katelyn Grace every day. If you can do this, please let us know by leaving a comment. Mom would be greatly encouraged to know how many people are praying for Katelyn Grace.

Thank you so much everyone!

Blessings,

Lauren for the whole family

Matthew 18:19 - Again I say unto you, that if two of you shall agree on earth as touching any thing that they shall ask, it shall be done for them of my Father which is in heaven.

John 14:13 - And whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son.

An Engagement ... Mine, In Fact

Important bit of news: Alaska is absolutely, positively beautiful!

More important bit of news: We had a wonderful, productive visit with the Zimmerman family.

Most important bit of news: Tait and I are engaged!

We look forward to a life together spent serving the Lord and giving Him the glory for all of the the miraculous ways He has worked.

There are a few old, familiar hymns that particularly stand out to me at this wonderful time.

"Praise God, from whom all blessings flow.
Praise Him, all creatures here below.
Praise Him above, ye heavenly host.
Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost."


"Great is thy faithfulness, great is thy faithfulness.
Morning by morning new mercies I see.
All I have needed thy hand hath provided.
Great is thy faithfulness, Lord, unto me."

"Praise the Lord, praise the Lord! Let the earth hear His voice!

Praise the Lord!, praise the Lord! Let the people rejoice!

Oh come to the Father through Jesus the Son,

And give Him the glory,

Great things He hath done!”


More breathtaking pictures, animated stories, and informative updates coming soon on my family's blog!

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Tait has also posted an engagement announcement on his blog, Not by Bread Alone.

Why Haven't I Been Posting Recently?

Well, my courtship might have something to do with it. And my 5-month-old baby sister might figure in there somewhere. And just normal busyness supplies the rest of my excuse.

I'm trying to keep our family blog going fairly regularly. Friends and relatives are anxious for updates and pleasantly clamorous for pictures of a certain Alaskan and updates on a certain courtship.

With that said, I'm not sure how often I'll be able to post on "More Precious Than Rubies" in the near future, but I'll grab any opportunities that come along! There are plans for some possible collaborative posts coming up soon, so please don't abandon, readers!

To see the said pictures and updates, go to our family blog, The Name Fitz.

Blessings,
Lauren

Tait and me at American Vision's Worldview Superconference the end of May

Grandmother's Point of View - Issue IV

Grandmother’s Point of View

by Grandma Betty

[Written June 5, 2007]

It’s been quite some time since I shared my “Views” with others. Fathers Day is coming up this month: this day brings memories of my Father, Michael Korodi, who was a lay Christian minister. He was also an astute reader of history and continuously studied and mused over the Word of God, the Bible. We children would often snicker as we watched him slowly doze off over the open Bible after a long day of work.

I happen to be the youngest of six children in our family: all the others have gone on to be with the Lord, so I am the only remaining member of our family, to consider what kind of an heritage my Father left:

I remember him as a gentle person, who was generous in providing help to others in the “Great Depression” years. Many times, he took a loss when others failed to keep their promises of repayment.

Our home was always open to those who visited from other cities and stayed for a week or two.

Speaking several other languages, my Father was called upon to preach in four churches as the need arose.

One of his favorite Bible chapters was Psalm 139, especially the following verses:

“For Thou didst form my inward parts, Thou didst weave me in my mother’s womb.

I will give thanks to Thee, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made;

Wonderful are Thy works, and my soul knows it very well.

Thine eyes have seen my unformed substance; and in Thy book they all were written,

The days that were ordained for me, when as yet there was not one of them.”

In recent weeks, I have been struggling with pain and discomfort due to scoliosis (a curvature of the spine), with which the doctors say I may have been born. I didn’t become aware of it until the age of thirty-five! Having had an opportunity to read up a little on genetics, it’s amazing to learn just how intricately involved our bodies’ makeup is! The map of our genes and chromosomes is already laid out long before birth!

I realize that this doesn’t have much to do with Father’s Day, except that to say that if it weren’t for our fathers, we wouldn’t be here! I, for one, realize that I owe a debt of gratitude for a Father who was a good example of a Godly man, who provided for his family, and who was generous in helping those who were not as fortunate as we. My Father is gone, but let’s give honor to those fathers who are still with us!

Yours Truly