Still a mystery

Day 6 rolled around and we woke up really early, once again, loaded Maddox into the dinosaur we call our car, and headed to Seattle. Bing's heart check up was at 8:30 and despite leaving at 5am, we hit Tacoma and Seattle right at rush hour and were a few minutes late.

Rob and Addie were headed to Hawaii but, had a really long layover in Seattle so... I dropped Bing off, turned right around and went to Seatac to pick up the honeymooners then, back to the hospital to get Bing. We grabbed a bite to eat, a coffee and then headed to Maddox and Lane's first Major League Baseball game, Mariners v Toronto Blue Jays. The Jays clobbered us, but we made the news and several news papers, what are the odds?!




The HEART of the matter
According to his doctor in Billings, this appointment was supposed to be a surgery consult. Back in January, when he was seen, his pulmonary regurgitation had progressed from moderate, to severe. With this progression, they expect the heart muscle to enlarge from all of the extra work it is doing. An enlarged heart is not good, it restricts blood flow and without surgery, will eventually shut off blood flow.

Some of you might think it odd that I didn't attend the appointment with the cardiologist; we decided there really wasn't any reason for me to be there. Why? Well, we have spent countless hours praying, and numerous family and friends have joined in prayers of healing and miracles. Bing has continued to exercise, we have fasted and, ultimately, we have trusted that God is in control. He obviously is not finished with Bing... :)

Doctor Linker was astonished with Bing's health. He said he hadn't ever seen someone so near the point of surgery(remember 2 years ago) come back so vibrantly healthy. Sure, his heart still leaks but, he has cut so much of the "bad" out of his life and maintains such a positive outlook that it doesn't affect his activities at all. Dr Linker said he doesn't need to see Bing for another year!
The miracle isn't the transformation in Bing's heart but, his spirit. He has forgiven people he didn't think he'd ever be able to forgive and as a result of that forgiveness he didn't "need" to drink like he had before. Once those two were out of the way, the smaller issues started to just fall away without much effort bringing us to the joyful and healthy state that we now bask in daily. It is amazing how a healthy attitude, and an attitude of gratitude can affect one's health. Of course the opposite is true as well... is there someone you need to forgive today?

Moving on...
After the game, we stopped in Olympia and had a funny dinner with some old buddies, some Billings folks, Jenn and Julian and some of our very favorite second cousins, Bob and Teresa. It was the most random group of people you could throw together but, it was fun! Then, on to Astoria. We hit up the arcade in Seaside and spent stupid amounts of money playing games to earn enough tickets to buy a rope licorice and a big tootsie roll. Best $15 we ever spent. Maddox frequently asks to "pay games mama, I pay games"?


I bet it took less than 5 minutes for him to eat that thing :)

We drank more coffee, watched more boats, and ate WAAAAAY too much good food.

Mmm, chocolate mousse

You too, Jetty-boo?

What a precious boy! I love this face.

The rest of the trip, we spent in Spokane. I have zero pictures and I feel like a real boob. Bing and I spent most of our time at the Spring Leadership Conference. It was a wonderful encouragement and we saw some amazing speakers, any of you heard of John Maxwell? Aunt Artie and uncle Fred, moved out of their house for the weekend so that we could have a place to stay comfortably with the kids. What a huge blessing that was! They are so very sweet.

Piper was a rock star and watched the boys for a total of 2 whole days. Also, a huge blessing. It is so nice to be able to leave the kids with someone we trust, who loves them and can't wait to give them back at the end of the day cause, we like having them back then too :)

Thanks everyone. We had such a blast and we loved every minute we had with you!