Incision from 2nd surgery

This is the draining tube they put in his nose

Caleb's Artistic Side

He's Back

Well we are excited to say that Caleb is back home. He came home yesterday. He is doing quite well, a little weak, but gaining strength quickly. He seems a little skinny as he lost some weight, but his appetite has been good so I'm sure in no time he will be great! I crashed yesterday and realized just how much the prayers of everyone were keeping me going. Being in the early stages of pregnancy and not much sleep normally would have wiped me out, but it wasn't until yesterday that I felt really exhausted. Thank you Lord for Your strength. I have posted a couple of pics below of our hospital stay. Oh ya, by the way, for those of you who didn't pick up the clue of us getting a new van in March, we are expecting a new little blessing in our home at the end of March. We are excited to see who God will send our way this time.

Finally Things are Getting Better

Well, I am finally home for the first time in 2 weeks. Mark came today to let me go home for a bit. It is very nice to be home again. I thought when I came home that we would be bringing Caleb home too, but this has not been the case. On Monday Caleb had to have a major surgery to remove adhesions that had formed on his bowel. He also had pockets of pus throughout his abdomen. It was a hard decision to make (to go ahead with the surgery) as we were getting conflicting reports from the pediatrition and the surgeon. The ped was saying that things were getting better, but the surgeon was saying they weren't. He had his stomach pumped for three days and we were not happy with the progress so we decided to go ahead with the surgery. They cut down the middle of his tummy and washed everything out again. Had they know his appendix was ruptured they probably would have done a more extensive washing the first time, but being that they thought it was just a regular appendix removal they only made a tiny incision, not big enough to wash things out thoroughly. So that was Monday, since then Caleb has daily been showing improvement. Last night they took the tube out of his nose. And today they took him off the IV except for meds. The poor kid had not eaten (and kept it down) for 13 days. I know it was only God's strength that kept his body going. Yesterday he ate for the first time and kept it down so that was exciting. Then the bowel movements started and things seem like they are moving through. Probably tomorrow they will take the hemovac (surgery drain) out and Lord willing by Sunday he should be able to come home!!! Once again thank you to every one of you for your prayers. They have meant so much to us and I know that they have carried our family through this very difficult time. I have had a couple of opportunities to share Christ's love with some of the staff in the hospital and found out that they are watching very closely. The housekeeper even said ,"I have been watching you, you are very strong people." I was then able to share with her how many people were praying and that our strength came from the Lord. We continued on a conversation about her family and I felt God was really tugging on her heart. So yes it has been a long haul, but in it we have seen many nuggets of light. And God is still in control and He is still faithful. Praise the Lord! PS I would post pictures of Caleb in the hospital but I forgot the camera there, so maybe next time.

PRAYER REQUEST

Just as we thought things were getting better with Caleb, we have found out they are not so good. After he wasn't able to eat anything without severe pain and then throwing up bile a couple of hours later, they took xrays this morning and told us that he has an obstruction in his bowel. So they put a tube in his nose to drain his stomach and relieve the pressure so that the bowel has a chance to get right. So please pray that this works or else we are looking at another surgery. We will probably know tomorrow what is up. God is faithful, He is in control and we trust Him. Thanks again for your prayers.

THE CAMPING TRIP WE WILL NEVER FORGET!

Hi, It's been a long time since I last posted and there is a reason for that. We decided to go to Brandon and camp this last weekend. Kind of a quick camping trip before harvest. Well it went a little different than planned. When we left Caleb had a stomach ache and we thought 'The flue, it will pass' By Friday afternoon he was throwing up and by then we were thinking I hope no one else gets this. Well Friday night was rough as Caleb was sick the whole night throwing up every 1/2 hour or so and by then we are thinking 'This is a really bad flu. I really hope nobody gets this!" He slept a little in the early morning and we were hoping that the worst was over. But not so, when I looked at him he looked up at me with his big brown eyes and said, "Mommy, it really hurts." By then we were thinking appendicitis and knew it was time to take him to emergency. So off we went, they admitted him and we waited. They put him on IV and we waited, they checked him and we waited, he had xrays and we waited.....Getting the picture. Blood tests, urine samples, ultra sound ect. The doctors were a little stumped because his white blood count was quite normal, and he was throwing a little too often for appendicitis, and he wasn't screaming in pain. We told them he was a tough kid, and when they would check his tummy he would curl his toes but not say anything. (We finally told him it was alright, he could tell them that he was hurting and after that when they would ask him how he was doing he would say in a little weak voice, 'Not good') But the ultra sound showed some fluid so they decided to do surgery, still not sure if it was appendicitis. We went to emergency around 8:30 am and the surgery was around 3:00 pm. So we kissed him good bye and off he went into surgery. Not easy for a very tired mom and dad to do! I think about an hour later the surgery was finished and the doctor came in and told us he was a very tough boy because his appendix had actually ruptured and there was a lot of infection. We were glad this part was over but wondered how his recovery would be. Well he is doing pretty well today. But he has had a tough go of it. He was in a lot of pain and was really out of it for the first couple of days. Today he has actually been smiling without being majorly prompted. His stomach is still quite upset and we are thinking it is the meds, so we are working on figuring that out. He really hasn't eaten anything since Friday, he's been on IV all this time. So when he can eat again I think things will improve rapidly.The doc said if all goes well he should be out by Friday. My thoughts: I came to a point (and Mark too) where I knew I had to surrender Caleb to God and say 'Your will be done'. This was very hard to do but I knew to keep my sanity I had to. We always say we have surrendered our kids to God, but when it came down to it I had to wonder if my heart matched my mouth. The kids and I talked about how worrying wouldn't do any good, and we needed to trust God and be there for each other. This was a trying time for our family. We are used to being all together. It was very hard to send the rest of our kids home to fend for themselves. I wanted to be with everybody. The kids are taking it different ways. Some are being very strong, some are very weepy, Zachary really misses his big brother and Brooke misses his cuddles. They will all be very glad when he is home. But God has been faithful and we really have felt everyone's prayers. Thank you so much. Thank you also for the phone calls, and suppers. We hope to post from home soon! Oh and by the way, on a different note: For those of you who are wondering when we are getting a bigger van.......We hope to (Lord Willing) have one by March 25th! Ta, Ta for now

Sometimes You Just Have to Laugh!

So here we have it. Real life in the Pauls' residence! We have here pictured 4 little boys, three of which are quite muddy. Why you ask? Three words: slough, jumping and mischief. Nathan of course was a little angel as usual (well almost) and never followed the crowd. I always said when these 4 boys are growing up they will have a lot of "fun"! A few years ago if this would have happened I probably would have been beside myself with annoyance, but today I have learned that sometimes you just have to laugh. So the word for today, "Don't be annoyed at today what will most likely be a laugh tommorrow!"

More Holiday Photos

On July 1st admission was free at the Mennonite Heritage Museum so we hung out there and in the evening we were able to watch the fireworks right from our campsite. They were pretty impressive!

More Water Please Mark and the boys spent lots of time making sandcastles, rivers, streams and more.

Row Row Row Your Boat We had lots of fun boating on this man made lake. 

Follow the Leader We went for a walk almost every night. This place was called Cherry Hill Resort.

Baby Brooke's First Birthday

As is our tradition with first birthdays we let our birthday girl stick her hands in the birthday cake. She seemed to enjoy herself!

Nate in his "MUSCLES"

When Nathan asks for his muscles, its this swim suit he wants on!

Steinbach Mennonite Heritage Museum July 1, 2006 

It's Camping Time!

We've been able to get away and do some camping the last couple of weeks. First we went to spruce woods. Here are some photos of the fun we had. Above is a family snapshot of us at Spirit Sands. The biggest sandbox you ever did see!

 

It's Payback time! 

What stole our hamburger buns? (a raccoon!)

Baby in a Bucket 

Future Olympian