Baby Carver

There is a lot to update everyone on so I will do the best I can. Just so you know this is Denise (Daniel's sister) doing the best I can to relay the information.
Baby Carver arrived on Tuesday at 5:30 pm. He weighed 9 pounds and is about 22 inches, I am not for sure about the length. But ten fingers, and ten toes, and a head full of hair.
Of course they started testing right away for SCID's and they found out today that he is positive for SCID's. Carver has been taken to Children's Mercy in Kansas City so they can look for a donor and begin the process for a transplant. We are thankful that we know what to look for early instead of after he is sick like it was with Granton.
Granton and Kaylynn are in Kansas with my parents for now. Right now this arrangement is indefinite as Carver will have a minimum of 140 days in the hospital. They are doing well playing on the farm and getting lots of attention.
Please be in prayer for the whole family. Carver is doing great right now but we know there are some rough days ahead. Granton and Kaylynn are having a blast but I am sure this will not be so easy on them either. Jenni is in Kansas City with Carver, she has just had a baby and is now seperated from her family. Daniel is doing everything he can to work and take care of his family that is scattered for the time being.
We have seen God work so many miracles in our lives and we trust that He is coniniuing to work. We know that we were never promised a life of ease on this earth that is cursed by sin, however we are promised that He will never leave us or forsake us and He will never give us more than we can bare.
I was talking to Jenni several months ago and we were talking about all of the people in the bible who we look at with such adomration. But none of those people had an easy life. It is through their trials that we see God work, and what a great work He does. While I have so many prayers for my brother and sister and kiddos, my number one prayer is that people will see God and his greatness through these struggles.

Thankful for "Friends"

Granton and I are going back to Seattle on Oct. 17th for the second part of his procedure and we should have results about eight weeks or so after that.  He is not as excited this time but said it will be fun if we eat pizza again when we get there.  So I think I can handle that.  He is doing great.  We are praying a lot for his little brother, Carver, who is just about here.  If he has SCIDs, the kids will have to move to Kansas with Me Me and Papa for a while while Jenni and Carver will live in KC where I will be most of the time.  Once Carver's liver is ready for chemo, he will have a week of it and then a transplant.  Best case scenario is that he gets out of the hospital 100 days later.  If Carver is SCIDs free we will just keep him here and have a "normal" baby and take care of him like any other kid.  Obviously, we are doing A LOT of praying about this.  We know many people are and this is very comforting.  I have past student who is a solder in Afghanistan and has been and is in a lot of very dangerous situations.  His mom keeps me, and many others, updated about what we can pray for.  Her last e-mail had a quote from Todd Burpo, author of Heaven is for Real  It really touched me after everything we went through with Granton and everything we are praying about for Carver.  The quote is, "I thought of the times where the Scripture says that God answered the prayers, not of the sick or dying, but of the FRIENDS of the sick or dying--the paralytic, for example. It was when Jesus saw the faith of the man's friends that he told the paralytic, 'Get up, and take your mat and go home.'"  We know we have many friends praying.  Thank you all.

We're Back

I don't have much time to write.  Just want everybody to know Granton and I are back from Seattle and everything went without a hitch.  Beautiful city and good experience.  We will not get any results back for quite some time.  Jenni is doing well with the pregnancy.  She says Carver is by far the most active baby she has had.

Update

Well we are still praying very hard about many decisions that we are facing.  We know God will open and close the doors and lead us down his path.  We think we have everything lined out for the Carver's Cord blood banking.  We are still going over with our selves and the doctors the best plan for when he arrives.  Jenni was scheduled to have amniocentesis tomorrow (Friday) but it has been called off for now at least.  We still don't know if we will do it or not.  Cord blood testing can determine H.L.A. but this is not as important as we thought earlier.  We are just praying Carver is SCICs free.  We have a place for Granton and Kaylynn to stay as long as they need to be separated from Carver.  Of course this means they will be separated from their Mama as well.  That is something we would love prayer support for because I know it is going to be very hard on Jenni.  However, if the baby does not have SCIDs be can all be together much sooner.  This is our prayer.  We have had another prayer answered and on September 5th Granton and I Fly to Seattle.  He gets his procedure and we will fly back on the next day.  He is looking forward to the plane ride but not very excited about more pokes.  Please keep praying for this little man.  If he gets good test results from this procedure, he will not have to get many pokes anymore.  Thank you all for keeping up with everything going on.  We are always looking up and thankful for all your prayers.  I will try to keep everyone posted to all the developments.

Lots of things to pray about

Jenni and I have been communicating with several doctors, counselors and coordinators concerning our new baby's testing, cord blood banking and hospitalization. We are also considering testing in Seattle for Granton as soon as possible.  We would appreciate your prayers for the complicated decisions we have to make including: amniocentesis for H.L.A. donor testing and care for Granton and Kaylynn (away from Mom) if the baby has SKIDs.  We are also praying about the delivery location of Carver if he has SCIDs.  We are especially praying for the baby to not have SCIDs and strength and wisdom to handle the details we are weighing. 

Summer Pictures

The kids had fun camping over the fourth and swimming in Branson! We have postponed our trip to Seattle until next summer for Granton's b-cell testing.  Right now we are praying about testing for new baby Carver and the details of where the delivery will take place. We are hoping to deliver in Bolivar and are communicating with doctors in Kansas City about the process.