Go Cardinals

Eustace

I have my good days and bad days when it comes to dealing with the ongoing saga of Gus' allergy mystery. Some days I'm at peace with God's plan, some days I'm angry that He hasn't healed him yet. Sometimes I feel both ways in one day. But I know that God is teaching me through this, and that is what (deep, deep down) I know I want. I want to be remolded and made more and more into someone who brings Him glory through my life. I want to get rid of the self-centeredness and self-pity that I've been so prone to. So...I've been reading through the Chronicles of Narnia (which are so much more fun to read as an adult!) and found this passage which I had forgotten about. I think it applies at all times in life, but it feels more real to me now.

(Background: Eustace Clarence Scrubb has been turned into a dragon while on an adventure with King Caspian. He encounters Aslan the Lion, and is in the process of trying to get rid of his dragon exterior)

"So I started scratching myself and my scales began coming off all over the place. And then I scratched a little deeper and, instead of just scales coming off here and there, my whole skin started peeling off beautifully....In a minute or two I just stepped out of it. I could see it lying there beside me, looking rather nasty....But just as I was going to put my foot into the water I looked down and saw that it was all hard and rough and wrinkled and scaly just as it had been before. Oh, that's all right, said I, it only means I had another smaller suit on underneath the first one, and I'll have to get out of it too....Well, exactly the same thing happened again. And I thought to myself, oh dear, how ever many skins have I got to take off?

Then the lion said...You will have to let me undress you. I was afraid of his claws, I can tell you, but I was pretty nearly desperate now. So I just lay flat down on the my back and let him do it. The very first tear he made was so deep that I thought it had gone right into my heart. And when he began pulling the skin off, it hurt worse than anything I've ever felt. The only thing that made me able to bear it was just the pleasure of feeling the stuff peel off. Well, he peeled the beastly stuff right off-just as I thought I'd done it myself the other times, only they hadn't hurt-and there it was lying on the grass: only ever so much thicker, and darker, and more knobbly looking than the others had been. And there was I as smooth and soft as a peeled switch and smaller than I had been. Then he caught hold of me...and threw me into the water. It smarted like anything but only for a moment. After that it became perfectly delicious."

-The Voyage of the Dawn Treader

Bundled

Gus was looking pretty dapper for church this morning, but you'd never know b/c he was so bundled up for the trip there and back...and we left him in his warm, winter gear while we were there, too (nap and all). It was 14 degrees this morning. The coldest temp of the season, by far.

Allergy Test

Well, we've checked off another option in our attempts to figure out what is bothering Gus's colon. We took him to see a Pediatric Allergist the other day. The doctor wasn't confident that the tests he could give Gus would turn up anything, but we all decided to go for it in the hopes that something might be brought to light. They pricked Gus with 7 common allergens to see if there was any reaction. Gus was a trooper and didn't even cry. After about 10 minutes, we saw one of the points get very red and irritated. We thought for sure that we had hit on something...only to discover that this was the "positive" that they give during every skin test just to make sure that the subject's skin will react at all. Whoops. Obviously the results are ultimately good (he isn't acutely allergic to egg, wheat, nuts, soy or dairy), but the test didn't necessarily tell us what is going on with Gus. Our options now are to wait it out, feed him formula for two weeks straight to get things cleaned out or to just bag the whole thing and see if he can handle it if Amy goes back on a normal diet. Amy suspects that tomatoes might be the problem, but we don't know for sure. We have an appointment with the G.I. doc again at the end of the month, so we'll see what happens. Thanks for praying. Besides this colon thing, Gus is doing GREAT and is a very agreeable and happy baby.

Toys!

Gus has been working through his first cold for the last few days, but it hasn't stopped him from playing with some of his new toys (and other assorted items)!

We Dodged a Bullet

Actually, we dodged a 5 foot high 4 x 4 post! I (Scott) was doing some weather sealing under an interior window late Wednesday night. The homemade scratching post (which was still under construction; w/out a base and with the top still untrimmed) had been moved to accomodate my work and it wasn't put back as it had been. Yesterday, Kanba (the fat cat) dislodged it as he was using it, sending the post falling to the floor. Gus was sitting in his Boppy right below the post. In the picture below, his head would have been right above the pointed edge. Thankfully, Gus was sitting low enough, with only his head resting on the pillow, that the Boppy absorbed most of the impact but the post still caught Gus on the collar bone and neck. He cried for a while, but 5 minutes later seemed no worse for the wear and hasn't showed any signs of injury since. Poor Amy called me at work in a frazzled state right after it happened. She was right next to him so it must have been pretty traumatic. Obviously things could have been much worse, so we are VERY thankful. God is good. Actually, God would still be good even if Gus had been injured, so maybe the right thing to say is that God was gracious. Is that right? Anyway, again, we're so thankful. I think we both aged about three years as a result of the ordeal, however. This parenting thing can be so stressful!

The crime scene (reconstructed).

The criminal (out on bond) and his weapon (now finished).

Time With The Clan

We just spent the last few days with the Deterdings. A generous friend let us use his large house so that we could all stay together...all 10 of us. When the family gets that big, logistics become more and more difficult so we felt blessed to all be together. We had a great time playing games, eating, opening presents (B-day and Christmas) and just plain hanging out.

Chris and Patti (aka King and Queen Deterding)

Amy's brother, Steve, and his wife, Heather (aka Axl Rose)

Amy's youngest brother, Jim. Pictured with niece, Grace. (Not pictured, Jim's fiance, Laura...our soon to be newest addition)

All done

It's always so sad when it's all over...

...so to cheer myself up I thought I'd add some snapshots of our Christmas festivities!

CHRISTMAS EVE

Gus was exhausted after playing baby Jesus at church....so he went to bed right away.

Then Scott and I could enjoy our Christmas Eve dinner....Scott chose a hotdog on a hamburger bun and some Red Hot Ripplets:)

Then it was off to bed for us too.

CHRISTMAS MORNING

CHRISTMAS AFTERNOON

( Apparently, our house is cold....)

CHRISTMAS EVENING the end.

Merry Christmas!

We were asked to imitate the Holy Family at church this evening. That, coupled with watching the Nativity Story (you should rent it) and having a baby during this Christmas season has really caused me (Scott) to think on Jesus' humanity more; what life must have been like for Him while He was an infant. Amazing that the God of the Universe would allow Himself to come to earth in such a state. As a result, we've really been wondering, as a family, how/if we should celebrate Christmas differently so that we don't lose sight of the true meaning of what we commemorate. It's so easy for me to get wrapped up in the presents and I don't want that to be what the day is all about. More on that later, as we try to figure things out. Anway, hope you all have a Merry Christmas! Love, the "Holy" Family.

Little Beckham

Saturday

A quick peek at a very busy day at the Noll household!

First thing in the morning, Scott took our toilet apart and then put it back together....and now it works like a charm!

In the afternoon, our friends Hank and Luke came by to visit and hang out with the Gus Man.

While the boys took care of Gus, I made a cranberry apple pie (and I could eat it too!)

That night we all headed to a Christmas party at Niedlov's Breadworks. Gus made sure to sport his favorite holiday outfit and his new spiked hair style, ala David Beckham.