August 19, 2013

Hope you are all enjoying the remainder of your summer.  I found myself taking a look back at my life.  Not with thoughts or feelings of regret, but of utter gratitude.  Gratitude for what God has done in my life ever since I made Jesus my Lord and Savior in January of 1998.  As a young marine in Okinawa, Japan, I had no idea what He had in store for me.  Every now and then, a still, small voice would speak to my heart and say, "You're in just the right place.", and an assurance never known before would flood my soul.

I was on the island over a year before confessing Jesus as Lord of my life.  There were divine appointments, seeds sown, and bibles left open with a loving encouragement to read it.  The servicemen right outside Kadena airbase sharing the love of God with anyone who would listen.  Thank God for them.  Thank God I listened.  I will forever be grateful.

Fast forward 15 years and now I'm blessed with a beautiful wife who loves Jesus, two adorable children who keep me busy, and a church home where I am taught the uncompromising word of God!  He has brought me so far and now I am excited to know that He's going to take me even farther because He is the Author and Finisher of my faith.  He began the good work in me and He will be faithful to complete it!

Just some random musings from a father in love with Jesus and his family. 

In His love and mine,

David

July 4th

Hi everyone! Happy 4th of July!

As David mentioned in the last post, I am officially now a stay at home mom. It has been a great week honestly. However, it is only day 4! Ha! A long way to go. If anyone has any suggestions of fun, kid friendly, and economical ideas around Chicagoland please share them with me! I am finding that I don't have to rush anywhere anymore! A weird thing for me. Life is much more relaxed for everyone. Even david can come home and rest and not have to rush around cleaning the house and cooking dinner for us. What a glorious thing for our family!

At our last NICU follow up the therapists suggested that Isaac have speech therapy, which we are pursuing.  Isaac has reverted to hitting and screaming when he doesn't like what is going on. It is due to him not being able to communicate. My glasses have gone flying a few times and my hair has been pulled. We are looking forward to getting him some help. Please pray for a quick progress for him. As it frustrates all of us, mostly him.

Today we just spent our first family outing with the Williamsons since they moved back to Illinois. It is so good to have them back.

Thanks for reading! I am hoping to write more now that I have more time.

June 9, 2013

Well it's been a while and quite a few things have changed since we last met.  Isaac is now walking, Arianna is the big 4 and has moved into a new class at Sunday school and has excelled greatly!

I can't exactly tell you when Isaac started walking, but he went to bed crawling and woke up walking.  He must be getting more confident because when we're walking through a store or church, he will refuse our hand to help him along.  Watch out world, here comes Isaac!

Arianna turned 4 in March and hasn't looked back at all.  She was a little apprehensive going into a new "Kids Town" class at our church, but now that has all but passed away.  Still cautious as ever, but she has a quiet strength and confidence just like her mom.  She keeps getting prettier and prettier everyday with a sense of humor to boot. 

Talinda and I absolutely love being their parents. Ok, so maybe not at the times when they grate our nerves to the core or the times we lost count of saying "no"!  We know that these precious gifts are hand crafted treasures from God entrusted to us for a season.  He has trusted us to help shape and mold the future of these children.  Whew!  What a responsibility!

As for Talinda,.... she is getting ready to leave the workforce and be a full time, stay at home mom and wife!  We are so excited and nervous all at the same time.  I have gone from being a vacation fill in guy to having my own route making enough to bring her home for good!  God is good.

That's all for now. 

In His love and ours,

David, Talinda, Arianna, & Isaac

birthday eve

Tomorrow, Sept 5, is my birthday.  I am actually looking forward to it.  I turn 40 this year! God has done so many things in my life this past year it is down right amazing.  I am amazed at how much God loves me from taking a little chicken legged boy to being such a fighter and a strong one. He has the strongest legs of any baby I know. To taking a year of doom and gloom and turning it into a year of joy and celebrations! This past year could have devastated me, my family, my children, and our walk with God. But instead it has caused this Iverson family to be stronger than ever! God.... I love you! Even when I have been faithless and not sure how this whole thing would turn out, God has remained faithful to me and my family. 

Arianna has already sang happy birthday to me about 5 times. She loves to sing and dance.  Someone told me once that when their kids were little they didn't need entertainment, their kids entertained them.  I am beginning to see that!  We were in the front yard on Sunday tossing a ball back and forth. She said mommy, let's dance! I thought no way, not here in the front yard... that is something mommy only does inside the house with curtains drawn! She didn't care who saw her, she just danced danced danced... I love her spirit!  Then there was Isaac, who was sitting on a mat.  He couldn't keep his hands out of the grass, he kept pulling at it, digging in the dirt... oh my... Arianna didn't like the grass at all.  They are so different.. This morning I found him underneath the curtain in our bedroom.  He had it in his mouth and just chewing away... I thought only pets ruined curtains.  I'll have to watch this boy! Oh and we are up to 5 teeth now... and they keep coming!

Good night all!

3 teeth!

Isaac has been battling bronchitis for the past two weeks! We have had to give him albuterol treatments every 4 hours when he is awake. He started sounding so much better yesterday and we believe he is winning the battle! Our fighter! Last night I was playing with him when I saw something in his mouth. Turns out it was a third tooth in the upper gums. He had already broken through and is moving on down. He is starting to have the chewing motions when I feed him the puffs snacks that dissolve in his mouth. I think he is almost ready to move from puréed foods to something a littler lumpier. He is destined to be a good eater.

School started yesterday at the school where I work. I forgot how lively the place is when the children are there.  David started his class this week too. He is learning how to build computers this semester.

Tonight while arianna was having a snack she said, " I want to be a cub!" As my mind was racing to figure out what in the world she meant, I remembered we read her Bernstein Bears books. I guess she thinks being a cub would be a pretty awesome thing!

My sister Teresa and her family came to Illinois lt week. We were able to spend some time with them. Arianna kept following her cousin around so much her cousin told her to stop following her! Arianna didn't care though and still followed her around.  She had a great time with her cousins!

One year!!

Wow! One year ago tomorrow morning our Isaac Mathias Iverson was born! What a miracle God has done in our family. He is now an 18lbs, has his first two bottom teeth, says mama & dada, claps and waves, and is about ready to crawl. He is one of the happiest babies I have ever know. Sweet arianna didnt even laugh as much as Isaac does. He loves bath time and splashes about and doesn't care when he gets water all over his face. He is defintely small for being a year but that us expected as statistics show that he won't be caught up to his age until about 2 years to the date he was to be born. He loves his food. We were going through two cans of formula a week. I ran out of coupons a long time ago! He still has to go to regular checkups with  a pulmonologist and the NICU follow ups. He is scheduled for his circumcision on August 28. Please pray for this as it will take about an hour. I believe it is more complicated than if it were done within a few days of being born.

Arianna has had a great summer. She is so brave but very cautious too. She finished ballet and was adamant about swimming lessons. So we signed her up. She was so cautious about putting her head under the water that the instructor recommended that she take the beginners class over. Now she wants to go back to ballet again where she can runaround on dry ground.  I think the next venture we take will be another swimming class. Swimming is a life lesson that she will have to learn.  Ariannas was brave enough to spend three days and three nights with my parents.  She did a great job and kept asking me why I was calling her. I wasn't sure she would ever want to come back to live with David and I she was having such a good time.

David and I have both lost weight this summer! Yippee! I will be 40 in September so I felt it is best to lose the baby weight before I hit that number. We have had a great and busy summer. The school that I work for starts classes on August 22. I am looking forward to starting the year.  My sister, Teresa, and her family are coming to Illinois for a visit next week.  She will meet Isaac for the first time and help us celebrate his birthday!

Thank you for reading.

Follow up

Isaacs appointment went well. It proved to me once again how God has taken care of him and my family. We found out that he is swallowing too late in the drinking process. So we have to thicken his bottles with crushed cereal. Swallowing too late was causing liquid to go down his airway. The doctor was amazed that he hadn't been sick with a cold due to the late swallowing. All I can say is God has protected him. He has had this swallowing issue for at least a few months, when I noticed he wasn't always swallowing when his mouth was full. We started solid foods tonight! His first meal was sweet potato!he ate it like a champ. I think he is so excited to have eaten something with more substance. He must have been ready! He is a clean eater too which makes me so happy!