Happy 1 week Birthday Britton! 7:43 a.m.

Several things I (Danny) have learned:
1. I know absolutely nothing about babies and more specifically about babies on medicine.
2. If you want to go on a weight loss program do not be involved with a church when you have a child in the NICU (by the way the fritatta was fantastic this morning).
3. If you want to see how prayer humbles and unifies, then DO get involved in a church--the body of Christ at work is amazing.
4. It is not easy to hold your child for about 2 minutes and then not see him for another 12 hours.
5. God is doing something! Both in the lives of Emily and me, in Britton, and I even believe in the lives of people that know us or happen to stumble upon this blog.
6. Britton will never be able to escape from the phrase, "You are a miracle!" throughout his life.
7. Ministry has at times been painful, yet sweet. I pray that God uses this time in our life to love others more deeply and pray more diligently for those who hurt.
8. I love Britton more and more each day.
9. The visits, calls, emails, text messages, food, flowers, paid college tuition for Britton (more of a suggestion than a reality! :) ) have been so gracious.
10. Emily and I eagerly await the day to bring Britton home and have some sense of regularity to our little family...because in just a couple of years, he'll have a little sister on her way from China!



We've had many a sleepless night this past week. These are sweet words of comfort ...
CHRIST'S SLEEPLESS VIGILANCE OVER HIS PEOPLE! (more from Octavius Winslow)

What an exalted and endearing truth is Christ's sleepless vigilance over his people! Imagine yourself threading your way along a most difficult and perilous path, every step of which is attended with pain and jeopardy, and is taken with hesitancy and doubt. Unknown to you and unseen, there is One hovering around you each moment—checking each false step—and guiding each doubtful one—soothing each sorrow—and supplying each need. All is calm and silent. Not a sound is heard, not a movement is seen; and yet, to your amazement, just at the critical moment, the needed support comes—you know not from where, you know not from whom. This is no picture of imagination.

Are you a child of God on your pilgrimage to paradise by an intricate and a perilous way? Jesus is near to you at each moment, unseen and often unknown. You have at times stood speechless with awe at the strange interposition on your behalf, of providence and of grace—no visible sign indicated the source of your help. There was no echo of footfall at your side, no flitting of shadow athwart your path. No law of nature was altered nor suspended, the sun did not stand still, nor did the heavens open. And yet deliverance, strange and effectual deliverance, came at a moment most unexpected, yet most needed.

It was Jesus your Redeemer, your Brother, your Shepherd, and your Guide! He it was who, hovering around you—unknown and unobserved, kept you as the apple of His eye, and sheltered you in the hollow of His hand. It was He who armed you with bravery for the fight—who poured strength into your spirit—and grace into your heart, when the full weight of calamity pressed upon them. Thus has He always been to His children. The eye that neither slumbers nor sleeps was upon you! He knew in what furnace you were placed, and was there to temper the flame when it seemed the severest. He saw your frail vessel struggling through the tempest, and He came to your rescue at the height of the storm!

How has He proved this in seasons of difficulty and doubt! How often, at a crisis the most critical of your history, the Lord has appeared for you! Your lack has been supplied—your doubt has been solved—and your perplexity has been guided. He has delivered your soul from death—your eyes from tears—and your feet from falling. You are never for an instant out of His heart—out of His thoughts—out of His hands—or out of His eye! Go then, and lay your weariness on Christ.

Jesus has all the treasures of the everlasting covenant, all the fullness of the Godhead, all the resources of the universe in His keeping, and at His disposal! Look at the starry sky—Jesus strewed it with its jewelry. Look at that enchanting landscape—Jesus enameled it with its loveliness. Look at that cloud-capped mountain—Jesus reared it. Look at that beauteous lily—Jesus painted it. Look at that soaring bird—Jesus feeds it.

He, with whom is all this strength and beauty, is your Brother! Are you not better and dearer to Him than these? He has loved and chosen you from all eternity, ransomed you with His blood, and inhabited you by His Spirit. Why, then, these fears? Why this distrust? All He requires of you is to bring to His fullness your emptiness—to His sympathy your grief—to His unerring wisdom your confusion—and to His sheltering wing your temptations and trials. Spread your case before Him in the humble confidence of a child. Listen to His words—"I am the Lord your God, which brought you out of the land of Egypt: open your mouth wide, and I will fill it."