ok, i will try to muddle through this as quickly as possible because i have a limited number of appendages at the moment :) long story short... i just spent four days in the hospital battling a staph infection in my left hand - SO MUCH FUN! as many of you know i have had a digital ulcer (such a fun name) on my middle left hand since may (mother's day weekend to be exact) and have been waiting for it to heal - the prognosis was that it would take 3-6 mos. to heal so we were prepared for the long haul... well, just last week i had been remarking on how much better it was feeling, how much better it looked, etc. and sure enough, it took a turn for the worse. last thursday it was feeling crummy (painful, red, oozing, all those lovely visual adjectives...) so i made an app't to see my rheumatologist in portland, me on friday - he prescribed some antibiotics and said if it looks worse this weekend to call him. so saturday morning i wake up to a tremendous amount of pain in my left hand and told david i really think i should page the doctor. here's the kicker, david was scheduled to leave for china the next day!! a trip for which he had been preparing for months as the lead agent for the former president. well, he called his boss saturday morning and said "i told them i couldn't go" (that's the condensed version) and i freaked out! "NO!! you HAVE to go!! you HAVE to!!" but he was steadfast... so we went to see the dr. that day and he said "we're admitting you right now" awesome!! :) so we trucked the girls to the hospital and got me settled in to a painfully small twin bed with some rock hard pillows and there i sat, being skewered like a shish kabob by the nurses who apparently did not have enough i.v. training prior to our meeting :) i look like a frappin' heroin addict...such lovely colors on the forearms :) by the 3rd day we found out it was staph and were sooo thankful that david didn't listen to me (when was the last time i said that??) and that he was able to stay home to take care of the girls and me... he earned major brownie points for washing my hair for me in the hospital. love him!! we also had some friends of ours in our s.s. family come to the hospital, bearing gifts of magazines and flowers and taking the girls home for us so they didn't have to stay up at the hospital for too long. somebody asked me if they were scared and i'm sure they may have had their moments but for the most part they loved being up there, sitting on mommy's cool bed that moves, taking over the visitors lounge and the nurses kitchen with a stockpile of sprite :) so by tuesday the doctor said i had recovered enough to go home with oral antibiotics and a goodie bag full of gauze and tape :) i am feeling much better now, just praying that God heals my finger totally & completely once and for all... it has been a battle but we are encouraged by the progress i've made the past couple days. and that i've become pretty proficient at typing with 9 fingers :) our sweet friends up here have supplied us with more food than we could ever eat in a week and have taken care of the girls without a second thought... so awesome. oh yeah, and it was my birthday yesterday, the day after getting "tagged & released" :) they brought me a b-day cake, hot lasagna, bread & cheese plate, salad, on & on... i was so overwhelmed by the generosity... it made it a very memorable birthday to say the least!!

i have more info and updates on the chicago move but am running out of steam here :) we are getting set to leave houston mid-november now so david can start up there the beginning of december... start praying now for the transition, not so much for me, i'll be fine, but for my sweet girls - pray for the friends they will meet, the neighborhood we'll live in, the school they'll attend, that we'll find an active growing bible-preaching church up there and that we become closer as a family through the process... i know you girls are prayer warriors and i am excited just to know you will be interceding on our behalf!!

i'll try to post more pics soon... can't wait to read through your blogs and catch up - love you all.

jjc