Update on my son, Ethan

Ethan had his MRI today at Stanford. Everything went very smoothly. He is already back to running around the house and wanting to wrestle with me.

The results came back quicker than we thought. I received a call from the Pediatric Cardiologist at Kaiser about 1 hour ago. The MRI confirmed his suspicions that one of the arteries from the lungs was connected to the wrong chamber of the heart. In addition to that, Ethan also has a fifth small artery (most people only have four) from the middle part of the lungs that is also carrying blood to the wrong chamber. The ratio of blood flow in and blood flow out of the lungs is 1.9 to 1, instead of 1 to 1 as it should be. Our doctor confirmed that even without consultation with the pediatric surgeon open heart surgery is needed to repair the problem. We are waiting to hear back from Stanford to set the date of the surgery.

As you can imagine, this news is not easy to hear. We are still in a little bit of shock that our precious three year old is going to have to undergo such major surgery. At the same time, we are grateful that this problem was recognized early, instead of having to wait until much later in life to recognize symptoms when the damage would have been irreversible. We are also so grateful for those of you who have taken the time to pray and email. You have been a great encouragement. Please continue to pray for Ethan, our family, and the upcoming surgery. Once the date has been set and we know more details I will pass them along.

Getting everyone caught up on my life...

It has been almost year to the date since I last blogged. For the past 3 months, I have continued to tell myself that I needed to get back to the weekly routine but obviously that didn't work. So I'm sure that all of you that are faithful blog readers (I'm only aware of one faithful reader - my wife :) and she just makes sure that I don't post anything too ridiculous), have been wondering what has been going all over the past year that has kept me from this incredibly important job of posting. So, here is the answer....

1. Some major personal stuff that I needed to work through - this is still a work in progress but seems to be headed in the right direction now.
2. Two month sabbatical from church life (December and January) which was connected to #1. This gave me a chance to get a break, finish the semester of seminary (I was taking 12 credit hours including Greek and Hebrew), spend time with my family, and do some much needed personal heart work.
3. My wife took a trip with her Dad to the Philippines in February for 3 weeks. It was her first trip home since she left at the age of 5.
4. Graduating from seminary with my Master of Divinity degree from Golden Gate Baptist Theological Seminary - It took me 7 years to complete a 3 year degree but its finally over. The joke at our house is that now I expect to be called Mastor Josh like my great model in ministry the unpretentious Master Yoda.
5. The final summer with my daughter before she started kindergarten. I can't believe how quickly time has flown by. Alanna has turned into a beautiful young girl. She certainly takes after her mother. She is kind, compassionate, very obedient, loves God, and is always singing, dancing, or making up lyrics to a new song that are in her head.

Well...that just about does it. Hopefully this posting becomes the first of many more.