Dan Gould

Tag: Parenting

  • 2 down more to go

    Josiah is two weeks into memorizing verses.  He now knows these two verses,

    “Jesus Christ is the same the other day, today and forever.” Hebrews 13:8

    “Jesus said, “I am the way the truth and the Life, No one comes to the Father except through me.” John 14:6

    This weeks verse,

    Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit with in me.” Psalm 51:10

    Life Lesson – Kids have a great memory!  As i work with him on this it is creating an opportunity for him to learn and for me to develope a habit of memorizing scripture also.  It has been so fun!  If you have kids, give it a try.  It will bless you and prepare them!

  • Halloween Party at Josiah school

    This Afternoon I joined Josiah’s class for their Halloween Party (I don’t think they called it that) The party was filled with a really cool craft, a fun relay game, a glow in the dark bracelet, and of coarse food.  It was fun and I am glad that I went.  I was the only dad amongst the other moms!  Here are some pics from the party!

  • Soccer What?

    Well today at Josiah’s soccer game Stephanie and I both learned that we are very competitive.  Josiah has been playing soccer this year and has come a long way.  From the first game of crying on the sideline and not wanting to go in to the kid that typically scores 4 goals a game.

    Well today, was way different.  Josiah set out the first quarter and then played the rest of the game . . . well he was on the field.  It’s almost as if he was in another world.  He was more interested in playing airplanes and superheroes than soccer.  I know there is a lot going on in our lives and the last thing is for Josiah to feel he messed up, but as a dad, I tried to get him to focus on the game without being one of THOSE parents.  You know what I mean, yelling at every thing they did or didn’t do.

    It was hard to see him play the way he did today, but I think I learned more about myself than he did about soccer! So he had an off day . . . everyone has them!

  • Family Update

    Several People have been praying and asking about us so I thought i would let everyone know our status.

    We think we have made it out of the tuff days of Jackson’s recovery.  Days 4-7 were really hard, especially at night.  Jackson who normally takes meds very easily and drinks like you wouldn’t believe, started to refuse everything because his throat hurt so bad.  Thankfully, Nana has been here for the duration of Jackson’s surgery and recovery.  It is so helpful having an experienced Mother (not to take away from my wife at all, but Nana thought of stuff that just showed her experience of raising 3 kids).  It will be sad to see her leave tomorrow, maybe she will stay through Sunday, who knows!

    Josiah has been a great big brother.  He prays everyday for our house to sell and for Jackson’s throat to heal.  This week he has memorized Hebrews 13:8 and just today we started working on John 14:6.  So when you see him ask him what his memory verse is.  He is very excited about doing this and also asks every morning if we can have our early time.  That’s what Josiah calls my quiet time.  Today he joined me.  It was so awesome!  I think God is going to use Josiah in a big way!

    I have been developing new habits when it comes to my health.  I have totally cut out cafine.  Which is huge for a guy that would drink coke for breakfast, at every meal, and late into the night.  With this and adding a walking regiment to my week i feel better and have lost about 10 pounds.  While I walk I have been listening to  some podcast of Steven Furtick, Perry Noble, Ed Young Jr, Erwin McManus, Matt Chandler, and Andy Stanley.  It is still knew but I am loving it and being challenged and inspired.

    Stephanie will celebrate her B-day on Tuesday.  She deserve way more than I can give her, but maybe we can celebrate with a date night.  It would be good just for us to be able to get away without the kids and be able to focus on each other for a couple of hours.  Lord knows all of our attention has been on other things over the last couple of weeks.  We had such a great time in Cali to come home to such a intensly stressfull and scary time with Jackson.

    We continue to pray that God would be our provider.  He has been so good to us so far and as I listened to Perry Nobles talk during the one prayer series I want to live dangerously for Jesus.  I want to be a person that focus on what God is going to do next with great excitement and expectation.

  • Got one down!

    Josiah is starting to memorize scripture with me.  We have been in a series called HABITS on the weekend with our students.  One of the HABITS that has been weak for me is memorizing scripture.  So, I asked Josiah if he wants to do memorize some verses with me, of coarse he said yes.  He is so good he already has our first verse down.  Here is his translation of Hebrews 13:8

    “Jesus Christ is the same the other day, and today, and forever.” Hebrews 13:8

    He is doing so good and it is cute that he says the other day instead of yesterday.  I am excited to see how far this goes for both of us!

  • Dip N Dot’s and Nana to the Rescue

    Jackson has been doing pretty well with his sore throat, however he is running a fever and doesn’t want to drink or eat anything.  This poses a huge challenge since he had oral meds that have to be taken.  His fever got to about 100 degrees and we had to cool him off in the bath tub.  Pretty scary for parents of a kid who has febrile seizures when his fever gets high.  After we got the fever down we had to figure out how to get the meds in him for the night.  This is when Nana came to the rescue!!!

    Jackson will eat Dip N Dots, so we put the meds in a spoon with a couple of Dip N Dots and walla, Jackson took all of his meds! Tricky I know, but we were able to out smart a 16 month old!!!

    Praise Jesus for Dip N Dot’s and Nana!!

  • Jackson is coming Home!

    We made it!!!!  Jackson had surgery yesterday at 7:00 am the procedure to take out his adenoids and tonsils only took 20 minutes at most.  We were fortunate that Jackson slept off the sleepy juice instead of getting really cranky and mad.  The doctor said that typically kids come out of anaesthesiology very irritable and upset.

    Yesterday seemed to be pretty easy in the Hospital, we had a great nurse named Latrina.  Our ENT said that the first day is always the easiest, GREAT, and days 3-5 are the hardest!  So we will see how it goes for the next couple of days.

    After spending all day at the Hospital, Josiah and I came home to sleep while Stephanie and Nana stayed at the Hospital.  Stephanie said that Jackson slept very good last night, didn’t toss or turn like he normally does and was quiet.  The quiet thing we will have to get use to.

    Special thanks for the prayers, visits, and stories of similar scenarios.  This always helps us realize we are not alone and shows us how BIG God is!

    Jackson and Daddy 1 hour after surgery
    Jackson and Daddy 1 hour after surgery

  • Surgery Tomorrow

    Jackson is all set for surgery tomorrow.  We have to be at Centennial Medical Center at 5:30 am.  Yuck!!  His surgery is scheduled for 7:00am and should only take about 30 minutes to take out his adenoids and tonsils.  From there we will go to recovery, then to his own room on the pediatrics floor for at least 24 hours of monitoring.  The ENT said that days 4-6 are the worst and we have to keep him hydrated.

    We welcome visitors and would love the continued prayer.  Nana will be here tonight to watch Josiah and care for all of us.

  • Jackson Update and Prayer Request

    Well we got the results today from Jackson’s sleep study.  The doctors report showed that his tonsils and adenoids are causing him to snore and struggle breathing at night to where he does stop breathing.  But there is also a mild case of central apnea.  This involves the brain and one that our neurologist thinks could be caused from the shortness of breaths causing the read to be that way.  He wants to see the report so he can advise what needs to be done as well as see how Jackson responds after the surgery.

    So, Jackson is scheduled to have surgery to remove his tonsils and adenoids on Thursday.  We are waiting for the nurse to call with all the details today.  Nana is driving down from MO tomorrow to help with Josiah and our sanity.  Please continue to pray for our little guy.  He has had such a ruff start to a very young life.

    Here is how you can pray specifically:

    – Pray for HEALING

    – Pray that God would be in Control

    – Pray that the doctors have wisdom in what is going on and how to treat it

    – Pray that surgery goes well and recovery is fast and painless

    – Pray that Josiah still gets attention and isn’t affected negatively by whats going on with Jackson

    – Pray that God would be our provider spiritually, physically, emotionally, and financially

    – Pray that God would multiply our sleep, comfort our fears, and give us supernatural peace and rest

  • Great Podcast – After the Heart

    Well, we still have no new news on Jackson’s sleep study and are hoping to have some info tomorrow.  Luckily we do have a monitor that seems to alert us if he stops breathing for more than 10 seconds.  Its’ something we have had for awhile but didn’t really know we could trust it or not, but after two nights of us taking turns staying awake watching him and watching the monitor we both tried to go to sleep at the same time last night.  I don’t know if it did any-good, it seemed like both of us were up every hour checking on him.  So please continue to pray.  Here’s how you can pray specifically!

    Well tonight, on my walk, I know I am sounding old, but it’s part of the new habits I am trying to create, I listed to a podcast from the village church with Matt Chandler over Luke (part 30) After the Heart.  Great talk and if you are a Fusion Volunteer, one you should check out; it’s only 37 minutes long!  You can get it here or on itunes the village church podcast.