Enough already!

As soon as I pray, You answer me; You encourage me by giving me strength.
Psalm 138:3

Before I even get to an update on my family, I want to encourage everyone in Marshall to bundle up and make your way to Cypress Valley Bible Church at 5:30 this evening to attend the prayer vigil for Charley Rae Furrh.  Those of you not in Marshall, take just a moment at 5:30 to say a prayer for this sweet girl and her family.  Pray that her tiny little body will tolerate the dialysis, pray for her parents and other family members and most importantly pray that she finds a kidney donor SOON!  Continue to follow her story here and please leave a quick message for her and her parents.  I cannot explain how much it means to read encouraging words from so many people.  I still love getting new messages and I even go back and reread old messages, especially when times are tough!  It renews my strength to read those messages from the first few days after Madie’s accident and realize just how FAR we have come.  I know Ashley and Drew appreciate all of the support just as much as we do.  Also PLEASE go here to find out if you might be a potential match as a kidney donor. 

Madie is doing really well…for the most part.  She has had a tough couple of weeks with different illnesses.  Last week she had an ear infection that came out of nowhere.  The only reason I even knew it was infected is because she has tubes and I saw the drainage.  She didn’t even give us a warning fever.  We started her on antibiotics and got that cleared up before Matt left to go quail hunting on Friday.  Then poor Madie had a pretty good battle with constipation.  It was awful and I didn’t get much sleep on Friday night.  There was lots of crying and throwing up involved for poor Madie.  GiGi(Matt’s mom) was sweet enough to take Molly Michael on Saturday so she could have lots of attention and I could get some sleep on Saturday night.   Thank the good Lord for Mandy, and her mom Peggy, who came out Saturday and helped me clean out closets.  Mandy’s dad even came over and helped take away five years’ worth of junk for us.  She slept great Saturday night but was back to misery on Sunday.  Finally we got everything moving, HA, and all seemed well.  Monday was OK and then Tuesday Madie woke up with a cough.  When Madie throws up a lot, she tends to aspirate some which leads to lung issues.  So we headed to town and got a chest x-ray.  No pneumonia but her pediatrician went ahead and started her on antibiotics.  Our electricity went out Tuesday night so we had to pack up in the dark and head to GiGi’s house.  No fun with a sick baby, Molly Michael thought it was awesome to walk around with flash light though.  We came back home yesterday morning and Madie was obviously not feeling well but she slept really well last night.  Then just to keep us on our toes, she woke up with a fever and a lot more snot this morning.  So went back for another x-ray and another visit with our fantastic pediatrician, Dr. Turner.  Her lungs were still a little hazy but no pneumonia and not any worse than Tuesday.  We have added in a second antibiotic and hopefully we are now officially on the road to recovery.  Madie’s nurse Jenny has been a great help and I know she is more than ready to not smell like Madie’s vanilla vomit.  I really hope one day Madie gets furious with me for sharing her constipation issues with all of you!  PLEASE pray that Madie gets better quickly because we are heading to Plano on Tuesday to see our original GI doctor.  We are hoping to get some answers on Madie’s reoccurring vomiting issues.  I will update everyone after her appointment and let you know what we find out.

Now, time to brag on my sweet Molly Michael for just a minute.  She is such an amazing little 4 year old…most of the time, ha!  She talks to Madie a lot and sometimes says the sweetest things to her.  One night I was holding Madie and she had just fallen asleep.  I asked Molly Michael if she wanted to give her a kiss goodnight.  She did and then she said, “Madie, I wish you could walk again.”  I, of course, started crying.  Molly Michael wiped my tears and looked at my so sweetly and said, “dry up those tears Mommy.”  She was also home Monday night when a friend of ours came to the house to do a little speech therapy with Madie.  Molly Michael went to Madie’s room and got all of her speech stuff and told Summer that she ALWAYS gets the speech therapy stuff out.  That night Matt was lying down with her at bedtime she told him that when she grew up that she wanted to be a speech therapist like Ms. Summer so she could help Madie get better.  LOVE HER.  I am so proud of both my girls. I am proud of Madie for being such a strong fighter and proud of Molly Michael for being so compassionate and loving of her sister.  There are also about a million other reasons I am proud of them, but I am sure you all knew that!

Thanks for continue to pray for our family.  We are still amazed that so many people are still following Madie’s journey and we know that all of your prayers are still being answered because we see improvements in Madie every day.  Also please pray that this weather doesn’t knock out our electricity again or that it at least gives us enough time to go get a generator before it knocks out our electricity again. 

With Greatest Gratitude,

Kristin, Matt, Molly Michael and Madie           

Here is sweet Madie Sunday morning.  She is really sweet and happy even when she feels like poo because she can't poo.  :)



And here is "The Lip".  Madie gives "The Lip" to get anything she wants.  She is actually sad in this picture as you you can se from her tears, but we see "the Lip" turn to a smile in seconds most of the time!  It has taken months to get this on camera because usually as soon as you get the camera out she starts smiling.