Praises

Every day we have much to be thankful for. We are alive, breathing, loving, warm, well fed and redeemed! Thank goodness! Yesterday, we had a lot of extra things to be thankful for.

A new baby calf came into this world to join the herd (and Geoff was able to see the birth). If you're brave enough, here's two unedited videos. The first one is not for the faint of heart and probably not for kids to see unless you're ready to have THAT conversation. The second one is the baby girl walking for the first time (within 10 minutes of birth! Can you imagine if it worked like that for humans?!).

We are also celebrating because a court battle my Nana and our family have been involved in for over 6 years is complete, and she won!!! After a routine hip surgery, her bedrails were not put up, and she fell out of the hospital bed, which caused a broken femur and a stroke that completely changed her life. In short, she lost her independence. The last 2 weeks different family members have been in and out of court testifying or just sitting to represent her. I had a chance to testify on Monday. My Nana and our family are really thanking Jesus for what seemed impossible at some points.

And lastly, while we know good health is priceless, we know that good healthcare costs money! A lot of money sometimes. When Geoff and I decided I would step back from my full-time job after Frazier was born that also meant we were giving up my very good benefits and moving to his small business benefits. Over the last 9 months we didn't have any real medical needs other than check-ups, normal illnesses than could be taken care of quickly and our shots to go to Niger. That was until Mr. Frazier and his kidney infection. I won't lie and say I wasn't anxious about the bills I knew were coming. I probably wouldn't be known as the Budget Nazi to our family and close friends if that were true.

We have worked really hard since we've been married to get rid of "dumb debt" (Geoff's name for it), so that we only have a house payment, and I let myself fear that the 2 ER visits and overnight hospital stay would wipe out our savings. I can't tell you what relief I felt when the first ER bill came, and we only owed a little over $100. We haven't received the bill for the overnight stay yet, but now that I know how they processed this first one, I don't think it will be several thousand dollars like we had feared. That is a big answer to prayer. I guess when I stepped out of my role as Director of BENEFITS, I really stepped out of it because clearly I didn't understand we wouldn't get charged the same for in-network expenses. Whew.