14 years...seriously? It's been that long? I know many people know the story, and I certainly know there are way more difficult stories out there...I'm just wanting to share ours as we celebrate the precious gift that was given to us on July 28th, 1997.

14 years ago was simply one of the best, and then worst days of my life.

The day started with Liz's water breaking...being that she was 9 days overdue, our first thoughts were, "It's about time!"

So we went to the hospital, called family and friends and anticipated what every couple about to have their first child do; that we didn't really know what to anticipate, but were totally excited to go through the experience!

As the day wore on, and we began to see worrisome looks on nurses and then doctors faces, we had little idea as to what we were in for over the coming hours, days, weeks and years. We knew it was very serious when we were told that Liz's sister wouldn't be able to be in the delivery room. It was for husband only. Just before the emergency C-section that was now in order (due to not being able to get a good heart reading on the ultrasound/ekg thingy) they had a brief meeting with us to let us know a "worst case" scenario. In that scenario there was the possibility of about 7 different things that could all happen, up to and including Liz not being able to hold our son right away, and me having to follow them out of the delivery room to the N.I.C.U. (Neonatal Intensive Care Unit). Well of course, the entire worst case scenario they had laid out happened, all of it...

They didn't want our new baby to cry right away, as they were aware that he had Meconium Aspiration and the risk of developing pneumonia was a good one. This is basically where the baby has a bowel movement while still in the mommy's tummy, and then runs the risk of having it get into the lungs prior to birth. Obviously, a very dangerous thing. So as soon as Caleb was pulled from the tummy they tried to suck out all of everything with big turkey baster looking things. Not the best thing to watch as they put them in both nostrils and down his throat.

From there, they do the response test on hands, feet, etc to check for initial reactions, etc (APGAR?). This all took about 2 minutes, then we were off to the NICU...

I can't even tell you everything that was going on...so many people going a million miles an hour while I just sat there alone...praying, crying, wondering if my wife was ok, and if I'd be able to ever hold my son. We had a lot of family and friends in the waiting room, hoping to do as most do, celebrate, but I couldn't really get them word.

Within about 20-25 minutes of his birth, Liz had been wheeled down to the NICU, and we were talking with the head Doctor. She told us that there were indeed a lot of complications, among which he was at a very high risk of Pneumonia, and that an initial x-ray/ct scan/something showed his heart might be deformed. That it was showing as "boot-shaped". They felt that an open-heart surgery, and possibly even the need for a transplant was a possibility. (We later found that this was due to the valve that is supposed to close allowing a human to breath oxygen instead of fluid hadn't closed properly yet. This usually happens when the baby takes the first big breath I guess, but I'm not totally sure). They gave him a shot that closed the valve over the next few hours and now it was wait and see about the pneumonia.

I had gone out to give a brief update to the family and friends and there were a lot of tears and prayers, then I went back and forth between my wife and son.

In the coming days, Caleb began to show just how much of a fighter he would be. He battled the pneumonia for about 72 hours and it was definitely touch and go. He improved though and was just about ready to come home when the Doctor noticed him having "Focal Spike Seizures". Basically his eyes would fixate looking up and to the right and his body wouldn't do much at all. It became apparent that something else was significantly wrong....

After MRI's and CT Scans and who knows what all else, it was confirmed that he had indeed incurred some brain damage, but there was simply no way to determine how much....now here's where the story gets really good and the motivation for this blog...

For weeks we hung out in that NICU. Liz and I would pray, and just ask God to let Him come home, in whatever capacity God saw fit. We would tell him about Jesus, and the Angels that were protecting him. I would go in and just talk baseball for hours, tell him all about how the game was played and the people who played it.

At one point in those first few weeks that Caleb was in the hospital, my wife asked the Doctor, "Will he know he's even alive?" and the Dr's response was simply, "I don't know"

My son may have Cerebral Palsy, but we are so totally blessed to he his parents. We believe that God specifically chose us to be this special young man's mommy and daddy, and it's an absolute joy each and every day. He is relatively very high functioning considering what he has been through.

Well, as I sit here listening to him in his room playing his new MLB2k11 Video game (thanks to Roger and Missy!), and doing his own personal play by play of every pitch, he's cracking me up! One of the greatest joys Liz and I have is to hear my son laugh, or make us laugh, or put a smile on other people's faces (let's face it, my kid is hilarious!) and looking at each other and asking...

"Does he know he's alive?"

Today's "End of day" update is a little earlier because our NightTime Open Air show was rained out....we are all back at the Hotel afer a long and succesful day :)
Going back to last night...
We did a "Road Show" that was a ROAD SHOW! We were set up on and in front of a little sidewalk, that was on a bridge! It was a small bridge that went over a creek in the middle of a crossing of 3 roads that come together. The music went very well, and we set up the puppets behind the bridge support, what a blast!
Alex Lam shared a very personal testimony that truly spoke to the hearts of the people. Kiegan Basso also did a wonderful job of sharing his story and offering a challenge for people to follow Christ.
Rusty did an outstanding job in one of the more difficult places we've had to preach. As I said, we were right on a bridge, and there was constant traffic of cars, bikes, and pedestrians. He was able to stay focused and told about a situation in his family, and then explained the Gospel clearly. Following his message, our entire team went into the crowd and had a lot of conversations with people and invited them to the church we were at this morning. Your prayers for him were heard and God definitely answered them. I've actually challenged him to think about giving the message again tomorrow night, assuming we don't get rained out. Not sure yet if I'll ask him to do it for sure, so prayers not only for Rusty as he thinks about it, but also for each of us for whichever ones does the Gospel message at the evening show.
So it was a great night! And got us fired up and prepared for our long day today....
Again, I"m sorry I can't upload any pictures, my connection here is one small bar and it just takes too long. But I can't wait for you to see the pictures of your students dressed up for Sunday Services here in Jamaica. The girls all had hats, and the boys all wore ties! Quite a sight!
The first Church we visited was called Bethesda Gospel Hall. They had a "Communion Service" at 9:00am that lasted an hour. This was a pretty solemn service and went for about an hour. Although they had no instruments, or music, they had "old school" books with words to hymns (not hymnals). It was kind of cool to hear them sing and praise by memory only, without the beat of instruments or notes on the page.
At 10:00am They had their "community service". This started out with more hymns led by the Pastor or the Deacon in charge of music. Right before they turned the service over to us, they asked us to stand and sang a song to us...it was a very neat and warm song. They also asked if there were any birthdays, and a number of people told them that Allyson had her birthday on the 4th. So they asked her to stand and the whole church sang her happy birthday!
Our group played a few songs and did the "Everything" drama and it went very well. Kylie Shared her testimony and it totally tied into the entire morning's message. They asked me to give the message (I was prepared that this might happen, and had prepared a lesson from John 9 about the blind man that come to know Christ as he his blindness was cured. I tried to stretch out the message, as they are used to people preaching for an hour or more. I was able to go about 45 minutes. (I just kept asking myself "What would Jeff Gentry do?") Although we were at the church for about 2 1/2 hours of the service, the Pastor said, "We will be getting out quite early today" as a part of his closing remarks...kind of funny :)
From there we went to the second church just up the street and it was another 2 hours of church. We did puppets, some music, puppets and a drama. Kevin Mays shared his testimony (after playing in the band) and it was great to hear how he felt the calling of God to start going to church. (It has also been a blast to watch Kevin play bass because he's left-handed. We don't have a left-handed bass. Kevin has been practicing for months with the bass upside-down/backwards! So he's playing the bottom strings of a right handed bass, very cool!) During the drama, right at the exact second where "God" (Rusty) makes the rain fall, it actually began to rain outside! With the doors and windows open, this was an awesome effect! What a great God moment!
One of our contacts here did the message and the power went out halfway thru the message as it was POURING rain. Which it did on and off throughout the day. He still had a great message and I actualy made a few notes for a future sermon :)
After lunch we went to our VBS and your prayers for Cari were answered as well as she did a great job of introducing Elijah. They loved the puppets and I may or may not have had some extra fun behind the puppet stage throughout the show :)
We will be going back in the morning for about 3 hours of VBS...
I'd love to write a little more, but I'm getting yelled at because we're going out for Jamaican Ice Cream!
The day was great!
God Rulz!