We delight to see your love for Jesus and desire to serve Him with your life. Your joy in children’s ministry and investment in the children is inspiring. You are always ready to pitch in and help. I remember when you were little and determined you would NOT have a grumbly, complaining spirit, and you don’t!
We hope you have a wonderful birthday and a blessed year of loving and serving Jesus.
“But God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world” (Galatians 6:14).
At 36 weeks now, Maddy continues to grow, develop, and make improvements. She was taken off oxygen on Sunday and is doing well. She still has some of those Bradys, where she stops breathing for a short bit. She needs to go 5 consecutive days without a Brady to be eligible to go home. She is also learning to take her nutrition herself.
Thank you for your continued prayers for her health and development.
“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ” (Ephesians 1:30).
The other night Madeline had her first bottle. She took a tiny amount (11ml), which was really good for her stage. She worked hard to drink her milk and slept soundly after that.
They tried taking her off oxygen this week, but her lungs hadn’t matured enough for that yet. She is still on a little bit of oxygen. We are praying she can get off the oxygen and stay off.
Thank you for your prayers. We praise the Lord for how well Madeline is doing in the NICU and the great care she receives. She is 35 weeks now so still needs development before she can go home – which we are all looking forward to!
“Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us: we pray you in Christ’s stead, be ye reconciled to God. For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him” (2 Corinthians 5:20-21).
Today is Steve’s 70th birthday, but he has already had a very special 70th birthday party. Anna and Mary secretly started months ago to find a time that all our children and grandchildren could gather for a birthday party.
They scheduled a surprise party for the evening of Saturday, July 24th. In the end, sweet little Madeline changed that plan so she and Chelsy were missed, but all the others were there, in addition to friends.
The family provided a delicious Mexican feast with Steve’s favorite dessert, pumpkin pie.
The highlight was an open mic where the family took turns sharing memories and ways their dad impacted their lives. Even Chelsy joined us via Facetime to share with Dad.
There was laughter with the memories, but the other things that were talked about made it very evident that Jesus Christ changes lives, and all gratitude, praise, and glory go to Him.
Jesus took a selfish, worldly, young man from a broken home and saved him, making him a new creature. “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new” (2 Corinthians 5:17).
That young man, with God’s grace, became a father committed to serving the Lord Jesus Christ, raising his children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord (Eph. 6:4).
Happy Birthday, Steve, Dad, Grandpa!
L-R: Sarah, Jesse, Anna, Christopher, Teri, Steve, Mary, Joseph, Nathan, and John Maxwell
“And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house” (Acts 16:31).
From the blog post about my mom (whom we call Gigi at her request to keep grandmas from being too confusing for little children) and her 89th birthday, we had this suggestion:
I was wondering if you could share the ways Gigi is investing in your family still? As a child my grandparents didn’t invest my life so I have no examples. I want to invest in my grandchildren’s lives but I lack the know-how. So if I could know some of the ways she is investing in her grand children and great grand children that would give me some ideas.
Since her grandchildren are all grown now, these are ways that Gigi invests in her great grandchildren:
For a couple of years Gigi had puzzle time with Abigail and Bethany (Nathan’s oldest girls). The past two years, that moved into doing Abeka history with them .
She listens to Joshua, Ruthanne, and Lydia (Christopher’s children) read out loud.
She does the Bible Bee study with Abigail, Bethany, and Christina in the summer. This is the third year for that.
She meets up weekday mornings with Melanie and her children for flag time when they put the flag out, say the Pledge of Allegiance, and fellowship for a few minutes.
Three were sick and not able to be a part this morning.
She has a daily weekday morning walk, weather permitting, with 9-year-old Christina.
What about you? How are you investing in your grandchildren or great grandchildren?
The hoary head is a crown of glory, if it be found in the way of righteousness. (Proverbs 16:31)
Here is a post we did about Gigi and her family activities a few years ago:
Thank you all for your prayers for baby Madeline. She has been doing quite well and has been off oxygen for almost two weeks now. However, she’s having enough “brady’s” (a slowing of the heart rate, usually to less than 80 beats per minute for a premature baby) that they are considering putting her back on oxygen.
This week Madeline was promoted to a crib so that means John or Chelsy (only parents allowed in the NICU) can hold her anytime they want to. Before, there were two, 3-hour windows daily when they could hold her.
Her next big hurdle is to learn to suck, but she isn’t quite ready developmentally for that yet.
John and Chelsy are doing well dealing with this new, temporary lifestyle, and have a solid trust in God through it all.
“The LORD is my portion, saith my soul; therefore will I hope in him.” (Lamentations 3:24)
The Maxwell family and ministry blog of Titus2.com.
