Eli's Birthday Recap

I figured since May snuck up on me I needed to get in my last post from April on Eli's birthday weekend. We had such a great time with family and friends celebrating Eli turning two. Eli won't remember this birthday when he is older (except through pictures) but he had the best time ever on that day. Since the party was at 4 pm we spent most of the morning making food and decorating. I put Eli down for his nap and when he woke up he saw this...

He was so excited to see Elmo everywhere and was also very fond of these big posters of himself. :)

My mom brought the cake from a little bakery in Missouri that they pass by on their way to Wichita. It is the same person who made my sister's wedding cake and she makes wonderful sweets.

I had these pictures blown up at Walgreens for decoration and thought they turned out really cute!

Right before our friends arrived we hid around 200 eggs in our backyard! I had envisioned a very organized "egg hunt" with parents and their children, but then I walked outside to see that Eli had taken off hunting eggs ahead of schedule. Oh well, I figured it was his party after all! He had so much fun finding eggs and putting them in his basket and then he realized after shaking one that there was candy inside. He quickly went to cracking eggs open to get out the chocolate treasures. This boy loves chocolate!

At one point we didn't see Eli in the yard any more and found him sitting on a step on the side of our house unwrapping Hershey chocolate eggs. His cheeks were puffy from all the chocolate he had in his mouth and he had chocolate saliva dripping down his face! Marc said it looked like he had a mouth full of chewing tobacco. Ha! I had really wanted to get some cute close-up pictures of him in his Elmo shirt but by the time I got a chance it was already covered in chocolate. So, I might have to dress him back up another day to get pictures. :)

We loved having everyone come and celebrate with us. Thank you! It might have been the last time we will see many of these families in our residency before everyone goes their separate ways after graduation in June. Marc and I both feel very fortunate to have been a part of this family medicine program over the past three years and know that the people in our class that we have shared life with are a bit part of why we feel this way.

It amazes me how many children we have added to our class since we started residency in 2008. We have 14 married people in our class (I think) and if I added things up correctly today, we have had FOURTEEN babies amongst our class alone in the past three years (and there are still two girls in our class who are currently pregnant!).  Marc and I have contributed 14% of that group with our two. Ha! It certainly has been fun and we will miss everyone.

On another note, there has been so much suffering that I have seen around me lately. When I get the energy (and time), I will try to process out my thoughts about what God is teaching me through it all. In the mean time I would appreciate you continuing to pray for my aunt. I think she is on her fourth week in the hospital today. She is doing much better.. breathing on her own, ambulating more, and her kidney function is returning. However, she is still very much in a recovery process.

I have also been following this mom's blog for the past few months and admiring her strength and beautiful faith in God as she watches her daughter, Lucy, battle cancer. Lucy is a patient at St. Jude and currently in the radiation phase of her cancer treatment. Pray for God's mercy on this sweet child and that the treatments she is going through will be successful.

And lastly, please pray for this family. Patrick is a friend of mine from high school and his newborn baby was just diagnosed last week with a condition known as Spinal Muscular Atrophy. Their baby has Type 1, the most serious type, and usually results in respiratory failure before the age of one without pursuing aggressive medical care. I can't begin to tell you the pain I have in my heart when I think about this. Being a mom, has, and forever will, changed my ability to sympathize with a mom having to watch her child suffer. This family will be making some tough decisions in the coming months, and I know that only God provides the peace they will need during this time.

Sorry to end on a somber note, but these families have been occupying much of my thoughts lately so I wanted to ask you to pray for them with me. God provides the rest our weary souls need when we take our burdens to Him.

“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”   Matthew 11:28-30