Baby Ashley's first bottle

Okay, so being a grandma is a new experience for me...be patient! I want to introduce you to Ashley Hope. She and her sister, Norah Grace, were both taken off oxygen today - only one day old and they're already so independent! (Her cheeks are red from the tape.) Norah didn't try the bottle yet (she had a different nurse), but both girls are sucking on pacifiers and impressing the nurses! Oh, and though Ashley has lost an ounce, Norah has gained three!

Okay...enough bragging...enjoy the video!

Welcome to our World

(Ashley Hope and mommy)


"How blessed is everyone who fears the Lord, who walks in His ways. When you shall eat of the fruit of your hands, you will be happy and it will be well with you. Your wife shall be like a fruitful vine within your house, your children like olive plants around your table. Behold, for thus shall the man be blessed who fears the Lord. The Lord bless you from Zion, and may you see the prosperity of Jerusalem all the days of your life. Indeed, may you see your children's children. Peace be upon you." Psalm 128

Today was a good day for the Wisen family (Moellers, too!). Today, Dave and I were blessed to be able to see our children's children. That is truly a good day.

Norah Grace (4 lbs 4 oz) and Ashley Hope (4 lbs 11 oz) arrived at 4:54 p.m. and 5:00 p.m. respectively, a few weeks earlier than hoped but a bit larger in size than expected. They are breathing on their own, their oxygen level has been reduced to normal and they pinked up beautifully. Norah has a bit of a temper - she fussed and squirmed when I visited her. She sneezed, blew bubbles and cried a bit, and I think she is not used to having so much space all to herself!

Ashley, on the other hand, was peaceful and sleeping - the past few days wore her out. Both girls have beautiful heads and long fingers, Norah definitely has the Moeller toe (ask Mary about that) and the jury is still out on Ashley because her feet weren't as visible. The girls look a lot alike - I think they look like Calvin when he was a newborn - they have his nose and his mouth, his soft, pink skin. All in all, their numbers are good and strong, they have all their fingers and toes, including fingernails, they are in a great care facility and they have precious parents who have prayed for them and prepared for this day for a long time.


(Norah Grace)

I love this picture because you can see her face so clearly. As of now, there are tubes for oxygen (though no extra oxygen is needed at the moment) and eventually they will both most likely get feeding tubes for a week or so. But this picture shows Norah's precious features - Ashley, though a bit bigger, seems to have a smaller head - but having studied the pictures for a while, I am struggling to tell them apart...uh, oh!


(Norah Grace)

This is how I left both girls tonight. Both had their own nurse and were being watched with the greatest of care. It was still hard to leave. I touched Norah's hand and her little fingers wrapped around mine with great strength - she's a fighter. She'll be fine. Ashley was sleeping so soundly, I didn't want to bother her, so I just stared in awe. Precious gifts. I actually am a bit speechless.

Thank you, Father, for allowing David and I to see our children's children. Please, Father, draw these girls into a relationship with You at a young age - may they walk with You and have no memories of life without You. Bless their parents with wisdom and patience, thank You for extended family who knows You and will love these girls with Your love, and thank You for a church family who loves these girls nearly as much as their family does. Give us grandparents the opportunity to be Your arms and to speak Your words to these precious lambs, keep them safe and may they grow in Your grace until they see You face to face.

Welcome, Norah and Ashley, to our world...

A Philosophical Morning

I know it probably wasn't an apple that Eve plucked from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, but the apple has become the symbol of temptation. It represents the fall of humanity.

As I sat at my computer this morning, mourning the cancellation of Bible study due to bad weather (which doesn't really look that bad to me, but school cancellations rule the day), my mind drifted into my limited view of the garden of Eden. Is it possible for me to even imagine what the garden of Eden looked like?

I closed my eyes and started wandering through the trees, admiring their ripened fruits. I glanced over at a beautiful bush, filled with plump, red strawberries. I wondered if Eve knew she could eat the clusters of broccoli bursting through the center of the wide, protective leaves. (Without Ranch, was it really that good anyway?)

It's a sad attempt at imagining perfection. I do much better imagining Joseph's brothers beating him and throwing him in a pit or Rachel sitting on her dad's idols and feigning illness.

You see, I understand sin.

I can hardly imagine perfection.

So, here's my thought today: If Eve started with a perfect brain and then she sinned, though I believe sin completely corrupted every aspect of her (body, soul and spirit), she was still closer to perfection than I am. It's like this - if there is a room full of children with filthy, dirty hands and a towel is handed to one child, that towel gets dirtier as it is passed along to each child, so that by the time it gets to the last child, it is completely covered in dirt. The first child had a clean towel, the second child had a relatively clean towel and so on, until the towel was nearly all covered.

If Eve was exposed to sin (her choice) and then passed her nature on to her children, and so on and so on, doesn't it make sense that sin increased and corrupted the mind more and more as time passed?

Take television for another example. Where have the "Father Knows Best" shows gone? Do you really think that "The Office" would have been acceptable television in the 1950's? I can remember when "Three's Company" first aired - two women and a man living together. It was pushing the limits and they weren't even "sleeping" together. Now? Cohabitation is expected and accepted.

And the flip also works - would "Gilligan's Island" even have an audience today? "The Brady Bunch" would not necessarily be cutting edge material.

So, what's happened? I think sin is increasing. It's like a cancer that spreads from generation to generation.

Why did my mind go there? Because I so desperately want to imagine Eden. I want to walk with God and hear His voice, but my sin-encrusted mind can hardly even attempt to imagine it.

The solution? Walk by faith. The sight-walking is coming in eternity, but for now, I have no choice but to walk by faith - to put my trust in the Word of God, to battle my flesh, to savor the blessings, to rely on the Holy Spirit, to talk with my Father, to imitate the Son and set my sites on eternity. It's do-able and it lessens the effects of sin.

One last thought, why is the Apple logo an apple with a bite taken out of it?

Nicely Written...

Click here and read a blog written by my daughter, Katherine...it explains a lot...