Face of Heaven



Here’s the update for Ripley. I’m amazed the number of people that read these; word of mouth I guess. God is so good. He is looking out for our little girl. I talked with Teresa this morning and she shared some alarming news with me; Ripley started vomiting around 1:30 am. The issue was that the surgeon’s intern had OKed changing the 1 ounce of milk every 2 hours to 2 ounces every 2 hours and little Ripley was not ready for that much milk only 2 days after surgery. The upside to this was that an x-ray showed a mass in the bowels (poop). Teresa was tired because of the ordeal but was positive with the possibility of a bowel movement in the near future.

I showed up at 8:45 am and Teresa had finished feeding Ripley and then went home to shower. While she was gone, I got to feed Ripley and when the nurse came in to check her vitals, there was poop in the diaper. It was great; nice and green looking like peas combined with spinach (hope no one is offended). Later in the day, Teresa was changing Ripley and she had another one. This is showing that everything is going well and Ripley is doing great. Teresa was able to breast feed her instead of using the bottle. The feeding cycle is now every 3 hours with some feeding with the bottle and some through the breast feeding. Our God is an awesome God.

It was very foggy here this morning so it took longer to get the hospital. The upside of this was I was in the car when KLOVE aired Steven Curtis Chapman’s new song about his daughter that was killed in an accident; the song is called “Face of Heaven.” The words made me praise the fact that I will get to have Ripley falling asleep on my chest again soon and I look forward to talking with her and walking with her. It is only because of my faith in God that I knew (not one ounce of doubt) that He would take care of my little girl. While I was alone with Ripley, I got to talk with her. She was so wide awake with her blue eyes being very alert. I started out how Teresa talks with her. Teresa tells her, “Mommy loves you. Daddy loves you. But most importantly, God love you.” Teresa talks her this all the time. While I talked with Ripley, I told her that whenever I can’t be with her that God is always with her. Just as I love her, God loves her very much. He loved her so much to come to earth as a man and pay for her sins. Her eyes never left mind. She is just so precious. I pray daily that God will draw her to Himself at an early age. All Teresa and I can do and share His love with Ripley. The Holy Spirit will do the actual work.

Thank you for your prayers. If you want to check out Steven Curtis Chapman’s CD, go to http://www.stevencurtischapman.com. It has some good songs; “Face of Heaven” will start playing once you go to the website.