Update #2 and Our day

The endoscopy took place last night, and the doctor discovered an area of inflammation in her stomach lining. His thought is that she picked up some parasite or something while she was in Haiti at the end of March. (My dad is a campus pastor with Chi Alpha. He and my mom (and my little brother) went with a team of students on a missions trip in Haiti this past month.) This is something we had wondered about- the parasite possibility- but the endoscopy seems to support that.

The doctor took a biopsy of that area and they are still waiting to get the results back. Now to find out exactly what it is, so that it can be effectively treated.

So. Good news in that the doctor is pretty sure that that is what we're dealing with. And just knowing- versus the not-knowing is a huge relief to mom (and the rest of us). Also, this seems to rule out any of the more serious things we were fearing.

Mom was in good spirits last night and she looked much better. Thank you for your prayers. I'll continue to update you.

I'm working on a post listing my five things- based on this post of Kendra's. I'll try to get that up in the next day or two.

Spring has finally arrived here in the northwest, and we are thankful. Our cherry trees are in full bloom, and when a breeze hits them, all those little pink petals flutter to the ground like it's snowing. I love that. The tulips along our walk are standing tall, the grass is freshly mowed, the sun shines. It is supposed to be a balmy 64 degrees here, today. The kids have been outside a lot, enjoying the warm weather.

My goals today are as follows:
-get the living room tidied (and enlist the kids to help)
-get a load of laundry washed and then hung out on the line to dry
-fold and put away the clean laundry that is piling up (and enlist the kids to help)
-make dinner
-when Mark is home for lunch, take all the kids up to visit mom at the hospital. Ella came with me on Sunday, but I've gone alone or with Audra for my other visits, and the other kids have not seen her yet. (Plus- the window of mom's room overlooks the hospital's helicopter, so I know the boys, especially, will be excited about that.)
-get myself some coffee

Those things, along with loving and caring for my children, nursing my beautiful Audra, and handling all discipline/instruction throughout the day, ought to keep this mama pretty busy for the rest of the day.

I'm sneaking in a picture of Audra, here- taken about a week ago. It's now 7:45, and I'm off to get a shower in before Adelia wakes up (she's a sleepyhead this morning!)


Wishing all of you a delightful day!