Three weeks from today, Sidney will be navigating the halls of Southeast with all the other freshman as they try to figure out where all their classes are. I love how they do things here – only the freshman attend school on the first day. It’s intimidating enough to start high school and to be able to find your classes without the embarrassment of feeling lost in front of a bunch of upper classman is a relief. Of course, she is not at all nervous about starting this new chapter; in fact, she is very excited. But with an older brother and all his friends who have gone before her, she kind of knows what to expect. Trevor gets to be the top dog this year in junior high and is pretty ambivalent about school starting. He’s always been very smart and doesn’t have to work hard to get straight A’s. Ryan starts junior high too which is nerve wracking for all of us because we are so protective of him. I’m sure it will all be fine but the change is tough on the emotions plus we have to start at zero and build up trust with the staff and that takes time. At least Trevor will be there to keep an eye on him! And Brad is now a junior which seems impossible.

I’ve been filling out the mountains of paperwork it takes to get all the kids into school every fall and organizing our lives for the next few months. It’s going to be VERY busy with three football games and a volleyball game every week on top of practices, homework and everything else. But I realize our years with the teenagers are precious and passing quickly so I plan to enjoy every game, event and activity, no matter how busy that makes us. These years are fun!

The kids are busy as ever and enjoying these last few weeks of summer. Sidney has been detasseling several days a week which is exhausting, but she sure likes the money. She and Travis are flying to Idaho soon for a week with Travis’s brother and his family. The two of them have gone before and had a blast boating and relaxing. They live in the mountains of northern Idaho which is breathtaking, and I’m quite jealous I don’t get to go too. I am certain this will be another fabulous trip!

This week is starting off with a bang; thank God Brad can drive! Between yesterday and today, there are six doctor appointments on the calendar! Sports physicals, pre op physical, dermatologist, chiropractor, dentist. And add that to strength conditioning, football camp, swimming and golf, and we’ve got some pretty jam packed days. Ryan’s cecostomy surgery is at 10 am tomorrow at Children’s so we will need to leave the house pretty early to get there by 8. I didn’t sleep well last night tossing and turning because my mind wouldn’t shut off thinking about how this is going to change our nightly routine. Sometimes we can be so resistant to change, can’t we?! But like all things, this will soon be our new normal, and we won’t even give it much thought.

Please pray with us for safety and quick healing. I can walk through the day knowing God is already ahead of us. He is Jehovah Shammah, the Lord is there, one of my favorite names for God.

Jehovah-shammah. THE LORD IS THERE! Our God is already in your tomorrow. He already knows what your future looks like, and He has complete control over it. We are told in Jeremiah 29:11 that Jehovah-shammah says, “For I know the plans I have for you,” says the Lord. “They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope”. THE LORD IS THERE! You cannot be in your future now, but He can. You can’t control the future events of your life, but He can. Jehovah-shammah will walk with you into whatever tomorrow holds because of His great love for you. God is THERE in your tomorrow and in my tomorrow. He simply desires that we trust His heart.

Ryan will be hospitalized overnight, but please pray he is able to hold down his formula post op. He has a history of tummy and bowel problems after going under general anesthesia and this last surgery was the worst. After the last brain surgery he was on TPN because his entire GI system shut down from his stomach to his rectum. That was not fun at all! He spent five days in the hospital after his corpus callosotomy and did throw up while there but was sent home as the doctors thought he just had a tummy bug. Within several hours we were in the ER and sent home. Eight hours later we were back in the ER again and he was admitted here in Lincoln for over a week. He was sent home and within 24 hrs was in the doctor’s office where we waited for Children’s Hospital to send their ambulance down to pick him up and take him to Omaha. He then spent two weeks hospitalized there on TPN for malnutrition, gastroparesis and an ileus. He had surgery to put a G/J tube in (instead of just a G tube) and went home on 24 hr a day tube feedings bypassing his stomach which was still not working. It was not a fun, month long adventure. And we certainly don’t want a repeat of any of it.

I will keep you all updated tomorrow. Thanks for your prayers! You are loved!