A long Journey

Today is Saturday and Zaachi had his right lung drain removed today, but they have yet to be able to do the same on the right side. It is taking longer for it to heal up the hole on the right side. So, with this situation he will need to be here till it properly heals which could take a long time or just a few days. We may be here all this week or just Tuesday or Wed.

The plan is for Marc to go home tomorrow evening with the kids. Xavier has an exam on Monday and Jayden has exams all week till noon and Marc needs to work most of the week to make up for missing this past week. I am going to stay with Zaachi and Marc is taking Mag with him. Looks like a friend can stay with Mag on Monday till the kids get home. If anyone would like to help out with Mag or make dinners for my family any help would be appreciated. We really thought we would be home by Sunday night or Monday morning, but now we are trying to just roll with things. Everyone has been so helpful, thanks so much.

I am sitting with Zaachi playing Peggle at the moment. He slept for a few hours this afternoon, so now he is up an happy and ready to play. He ate a whole double cheeze burger tonight, so the appetite may be coming back. I feel so drained this journey, I have been feeling sick. I wish my Mom didn't live so far:( But the Lord never gives one more than they can handle so.....just keep truckin. The other day I got a call from Beau, a friend of the family. He called me from Africa. He is on a 6 week missions trip and he was in Zambia. It was hard to hear him and there was a delay but he called to tell me he had met someone in Zambia who knew me,....Rick McDonald, and old friend from Master's Commission days. He is doing missions work there. How crazy two of my friends meeting each other in Zambia and calling me on a hard day. They both wanted to know how Zaachi was, people are even praying in Africa.

I met a sweet family the other night at the Ronald McDonald House, they came all the way from Mississippi. They have a two year old son who had heart surgery yesterday. His third and final one they hope. He was born with a heart defect that causes the blood to go almost backwards. It goes to the wrong organs first. So, there is a series of three surgeries to correct this. Maggie was playing with him the other night before the surgery and I told her that his heart wasn't working right and that is was going the wrong way. I explained that he would also be in the hospital like Zaachi. The next day she wasn't feeling well and she said, "Mom I need to go to the hospital, my hearts not working right, it's going around my back" as she reached her arms behind her back trying to point to the location. LOL! I told the Turner family and we all got a good laugh. Yesterday, he had surgery and Mag found a little dog in the give away box of the Ronald McDonald Room and she gave it to his Mom and Dad to give to him. She is growing and learning so much and making me laugh a lot in the process.

Zaachi and I are sitting talking about inventions, saving the world, preaching the word, everyday miracles and family. Sometimes I think he teaches more than I teach him.

I should sleep....but I wanted everyone to know what was happening. He did get a bunch of card in the last few day. Keep them coming, he loves them. He laughed at the one from Matt and Amber Fancher today, they said that they thought of him when they were in Disney this past week, every time they saw a picture of Snow White.

TO SEND A CARD: Go to the CHOP web site and put in his name ZAACHI ISLEY, Floor and room # 4S 16

God is faithful, and as one parent said to me today, We have to look at life from a different perspective as believers, look at it in God's eyes. One book title I remember from when I was a kid was, Living Life In The Light of Eternity. We are not of this world just as He was not of this world. I realized the other day at a Block party our church put on that, I get so caught up with my life, my family, my needs that I fail to see God's hand guiding me to help or witness to another. I saw a family that I had known on a professional level that had had a bad past but they have changed so much with the resources they have been given from the community. Here they were at the Block Party and I was there in a non professional role and I totally missed the opportunity to give them the best resource of all, a life with Christ. We shared small talk and then when I went to leave I realized what I had missed. Lord, I pray I get an opportunity again to share you with them.
I need to "Open Your Eyes to the World all Around You" as Keith Green's song says. Open my eyes, open my eyes Lord.
Goodnight, Friends. Sorry it's been so long since I updated you on things, I think I was just down for awhile, plus it takes a week and a half to two week to get back to normal after being in the hospital for awhile.