my sojourn

Heartbreaking News

Those of you who know me, know how much I love Christian music.  It has been an influential part of my life since I was a little girl, and continues to be a huge part of my everyday.  Steven Curtis Chapman has been one of the biggest artists that has blessed me since around 1991.  His whole family has inspired me through the years.  It is with a sad sad heart that I share the news of what happened to his family last Wednesday.  His youngest daughter, Maria Sue, adopted from China, was tragically killed in their home's driveway.  You can read more of what heppened at his website:  http://www.stevencurtischapman.com/  and here Fox News Report.  I am heartbroken to hear of this darling 5 year olds sudden departure from her loving family.  PLEASE pray for the Chapmans.  PLEASE remember to keep them in your prayers for  a long time to come.  Thanks. 

Steven Curtis ChapmanWhen Love Takes You In

Music Video Codes By Music Jesus.com

Ethan Boy

Just about everyday, when I look into Ethan's beautiful blue eyes, I am so thankful that they are no longer crossed.  It is so wonderful to see him back to himself.  His eyes look wonderful!  (Here are a few random pics I've taken at a couple of his recent visits with his Doctor.)

      

   

And everything else that goes along with this ordeal is coming out great...his eyesight, his muscles, his scars, everything.  Praise God.   He is off all medications, the redness is fading, he is down to only a small amount of eye exercises per day, and we don't need to see his Ophthalmologist as often as we were.  Cute story to share:  One day, as Ethan was doing some exercises while on the couch, Levi (who was sitting beside him) began trying to do it to!  Ethan was holding up his thumb and moving it from side to side as his eyes followed it.  There was Levi, his tiny thumb up, moving it though the air like Ethan!  I cracked up.  Now, all Ethan has to do is say "Levi, eye exercises" and Levi's thumb goes up, moving about.  So cute.  Thanks again, everyone, for your prayers & support! 

Have a Blessed Valentine's Day

Love each other with genuine affection, and take delight in honoring each other.

ROMANS 12:10 NLT

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The greatest gift is a portion of yourself.

RALPH WALDO EMERSON

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When we love each other, God lives in us and his love within us grows ever stronger.

1 JOHN 4:12 TLB

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Your love for one another will prove to the world that you are my disciples.

John 13:35 NLT

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I wanted to take a minute to say...be blessed and bless others...be loved and love others...Happy Valentine's Day.

The photo above is from 2006, and I just recently made the layout for Queen & Co. using their brand new Valentines scrapbook products.  They used it for their CHA Tradeshow booth last week.  And here are a few more past Velentine-ish stuff I've made for Queen & Co, Creating Keepsakes Magazine, and just for fun.  (You can click on an image to see it larger)

         

         

Welcome to the World, Little Man!

My Brother Josh, and sister-in-law Candice, have welcomed their second son into the family!  Baby Brody Lee Jaehn was born Monday, February 4, at 7:16 pm.

Just look at that face...he is absolutely adorable!  I am so in awe of newborn babies.  I took these pictures of him when he was an hour and 34 minutes old (young).

Mommy & Baby are both healthy and doing wonderful, praise God.

Josh looked very proud!

And little Aden is a big brother now!  He loved touching and holding the baby, but he was anxious to get back to all the fun going on in the waiting room with his cousins!

   

Brody's Stats:

7 lbs. 3 oz.          19.5" long          13" chest          13.5" head

And I never posted these maternity shots I did for Candice, so I'll toss them into the mix too:

Welcome to the club of TWO SONS...Congratulations Josh & Candice!  And you can add your congrats to them as well,  in the comment link below.  I'm sure they'd love to hear from you.

Wow, he is doing great!!!

God has answered our EVERY prayer.

Towards the evening yesterday, I asked Ethan how he was doing, and he said GREAT.  He said it was the best day ever.  He LOVED the pampering and attention!  One time, out of the blue, he shot his arms up and happily exclaimed "my eyes are fixed"!

He is up and playing.  He rarely complains about his eyes.   The Doc said with this procedure, it would take an adult two weeks to recovery to the point that a child can do in two days!

His post op today went great.  As soon as the nurse sat him in the examination chair, he was sure to inform her "My surgery is OVER", just in case she thought he was there to have it today!  Too cute.  Dr. Nelson says his eyes are looking good!  He is now supposed to do a new set of eye muscle exercises everyday (until we see her again in 2 weeks) , and continue the eye cream through Sunday.  The Nurses gave us the idea to apply the medicine when he sleeps, too.   We tried that a couple of times, but he woke up.   His Aunt Susie said that if he makes a medicine chart and fills it with a good marks, she will send him tickets to a movie of his choice.  So he is excited to try and make that work. 

I love it when Ethan looks at me now, and BOTH of his eyes are on me.  It has been a long time!  They are bloody, but they still look miraculous to me!

Again, thank-you, thank-you, thank-you.  We feel so blessed with each email, post, phone call, card, and visit.  EVERY one.  I can't even describe how much everyone's support and prayers have helped us.  We pray each of you are blessed in return.  YOU ALL ROCK!

Good Progress Report!

Praise God...the hardest part is over!  The surgery went well, and Ethan did great!

BEFORE:

When they were ready for Ethan this morning, (they were running 15 minutes late) he was hesitant to leave us, he almost started crying...but once his feet hit the floor, he just took the hand of the nurse and walked with her into the O.R., he didn't even look back at us!  SO brave!

An hour later, it was such a wonderful thing to see Dr. Nelson smiling as she walked into the waiting room.  She said everything went perfectly, as planned.

It was hard for me, though, when we saw Ethan for the first time.  He was crying and scared, but he really calmed down once he was able to snuggle into Jerry's arms.

He took a nap when we got home, and is sort of awake now, doing well.  He'll get a little emotional now and then, but for the most part he is really doing so good!  He is asking for the little presents we promised for him!

And yesterday we went to the library and checked out a whole bunch of books in audio, and since he won't really open his eyes too much, I think those will come in handy today!

Thank-you so much for your prayers, love, and support.  We are overwhelmed by the caring response from each person who has "stood by our side" through this.  Those  near, far, and very far, THANK-YOU SO MUCH!

Please continue to pray for Ethan, and I'll keep you posted!

Time of Surgery

We now know the time...we arrive at 6:00 AM (Pacific Time) and the surgery will be at 7:00 AM.  It should take about 1 hour for the procedure.  THANK-YOU FOR PRAYING!  We'll let you know tomorrow how things go!

Please keep Ethan in Prayer

Hi to our Friends & Family…

Happy New Year!

In a couple days, our little Ethan will have eye surgery, and Jerry and I come to ask all of you to keep him in prayer.

About 9 months ago, we began noticing there was something wrong with Ethan’s right eye, which would occasionally go crossed a little. Then in September, it crossed in and stayed that way, which really worried us. He went to Doctor after Doctor, before we finally found a really great Ophthalmologist who specialized in caring for children. Ethan was diagnosed with Non-Accommodative Esotropia (which, by then, I had figured out myself from doing my own research!) Ethan has been undergoing eye treatments/therapy with an eye patch and routine visits to our Doctor. Through the therapy, both eyes are now crossed in (but not simultaneously, only one at a time) which was the goal in getting his eyes ready for surgery. This way, one is not dominant over the other anymore, and it will give the surgery a better success rate.

He is just a little guy, 5½, and doesn’t know exactly what surgery means. We’ve only told him that he will take a little nap while his doctor will tie some “string” on his eyes to fix them, and then the string will disappear away after a few days. He will be out of school for a little bit, and will need eye medication before and after the procedure.

We ask you all to pray for Ethan, PLEASE.

Pray for 100% success and safety. Pray for Ethan to be calm and have peace when going into surgery. Please pray for Dr. Nelson, for her every action to be accurate and precise. For Ethan’s safety while under anesthesia, and that it will have no ill effect on him. For his eyes to be 100% aligned and healed, for the rest of his life! That his eye muscles will be in God’s own hands when cut and realigned. Pray that Ethan will cope well with the recovery, and that is will be fast, easy and complete.

Thank you so much for your prayers.  The love and support that everyone has been showing us has been a huge blessing!  We feel very good, thanks to those around us, and thanks to God's powerful peace. 

The day before the operation (tomorrow) they will let us know exactly what time he is scheduled, but we do know it will be early in the morning. We will keep you updated. We deeply appreciate you remembering to keep Ethan in your prayers all week long. Thank-you so much.

==Jerry & Leah LaMontagne==

A Miracle

In the midst of the devastating aftermath the California fires have caused, I'd like to share with you one story of VICTORY. 

Camp Cedar Crest is located in the mountains of San Bernadino County (Calif.) near Lake Arrowhead.  I've been spending winters and summers there since I was a kid.  Trips to camp with my church were the biggest highlights of the year as I was a teen.  Having gone as both a student and a counselor, I've experienced so many amazing things happen up there.  So many memories...it is such a special place.

GENERATIONS have been going up to Cedar Crest...it has been around for a long time.  They have historic buildings, as well as beautiful new structures.  It is owned and operated by the Foursquare Church (the denomination our church a part of).  It has taken a life time for the camp to grow into what it is today.  So many dedicated and hard working people have built it up throughout the years.

Jerry was there last week for Men's camp with our worship band.  The night they returned home from Cedar Crest, the fires broke out in California.  We got a text message from one of our Pastors, saying the fires were within a quarter of a mile from camp, surrounding it and moving in.  Jerry said when he was up at camp, the director was telling the group of how several years back, a fire was as close as a few miles away.  He marveled at how God protected their land.  Little did he know, that within a matter of hours, the camp would face it's worst threat yet.      

It took several agonizing days before we got a description of exactly what happened.  The fires did reach the campground.  Flames got within 30 FEET of some of the structures, but PRAISE GOD, none of them burned!  They don't consider anything significant to be lost.  Some reports online state the camp to be 75% saved.  AMAZING.  It is a miracle, thank you Lord.  And thank-you to the amazing fire fighters who battled to save our camp.  I am so joyed to know it is still there, for the next generations to experience. 

Jerry took the pictures in this post last week.  From the descriptions we've heard, it sounds like where he walked to take these photos, has been burned.  We are pretty sure these spots were among the areas that were lost. 

Our prayers go out to all who have been effected by the fires.         

Happy 1st Birthday, Levi!

We are just so head over heels for this little guy.  He fills our lives with so much joy and action!  I find it SO HARD to believe this baby is one year old today.  I've been desperately seeking to savor every little detail of his fleeting babyhood...yet I feel like I must have been asleep for half this past year.  Because there seems to be no way he can suddenly be one year old already.   Happy Birthday baby Boy, My Love.  Happy Labor Day.