My Son Clark

The picture above illustrates what I thought the first time I saw David Cook of American Idol on my TV screen. As soon as I saw this guy's hair, I thought, "what a mess", then I thought, "hey, he looks like Clark!" What do you think? This was the best messed up hair picture of Clark we had, but I am telling you, they bear a strange resemblance when Clark first wakes up in the morning. Time for a haircut Clark!

Clark made an especially miraculous entry into our world almost 16 months ago. I can vividly remember watching for him to be delivered. Henry and Brooks had already been born, and Clark was right on his heals. Since Brooks and Clark shared an amniotic and chorionic sack, they were almost born together. We were worried about Brooks and Clark the entire pregnancy due to the fact that they were a rare form of identical twins known medically as monoamniotic twins. (Click here for a detailed explaination of monoamniotic twins)

Due to this complication, I was very anxious to see just how tangled Brooks' and Clark's cords would be. Miraculously, after 8 months of development without anything separating them from becoming entangled, Brooks and Clark were delivered with their cords only slightly twisted around one another. God was so gracious to us and them!

Unfortunately, we were not out of the woods yet. Clark would almost immediately be placed on a ventilator due to immature lungs where he would struggle for days. Clark's blood gas levels became dangerously saturated with CO2. It made no sense to me, but his lungs were doing fine with oxygenating his blood, but were failing to remove the CO2 properly, creating a potentially deadly situation. The doctors and nurses at St. Vincent were doing all they could to get our little boy to breath properly, and get him out of danger. They were forced to switch him to a jet ventilator, but were still unable to stabilize his blood gas levels.

Since Jen was still hospitalized with high fever and blood loss after delivery, we were getting updates around the clock from the NICU. Jen was not able to go visit the boys yet because of her fever, but all of that changed around 12am that night. Our NP came in and informed us that she had cleared it with the NICU doctors to have Jen come up and see the boys. We didn't realize it at the moment, but they wanted to make sure that Clark's mommy got to see him alive, as they were beginning to wonder if he would make it through the night.

When we returned to Jens room that night we sent out an urgent prayer request to our church, and to our blog readers. We then went to prayer on his behalf. Our gracious God once again answered our prayers, sparing Clark's life. Within an hour of Jen visiting the NICU, Clark's CO2 levels finally began to drop. The moment our NP burst through the door with the news and a smile on her face still brings tears to my eyes when I think of it. My little Clark was going to be OK.

Clark had a few other scary bumps in the road before exiting the NICU 5 weeks later, but is now a very happy, healthy little boy. You never want to see your children suffer, but suffering brings an appreciation for how much you love them. I will always treasure Clark's life because of those early trials.

Today, Clark's personality is a wonderful daily reminder of God's goodness. He and Henry seem to spar over who is going to command the most attention. I never thought I would use this word to describe my son, as I want them to be masculine men, but since the day he was born, Clark has always been a beautiful little boy. His smile always makes me laugh, and he loves to sit on his daddy's lap, which makes me swell with pride.

Once again, I wish I could describe to all of you what Clark's precious life means to me, it cannot be put to words. But, I love his crooked little smile, I love his deep brown eyes, I love the way he curls up in bed with Brooks each night, I love how he giggles out of control when I rub my nose in his neck, I love to watch him jump in his crib, I love his aggressive personality, I love his expression when I blow air in his face, I love to watch him play, and I love the fact that God let me keep my precious little boy, that I get to watch him grow instead of visiting his grave, and that I get to teach him to fish instead of dreaming about what it would be like to raise all four of my boys, and mostly, I love that I get to give glory to God for saving my little boy when doctors and nurses had tried everything to save him.

I love you Clark, and I am so thankful that I get to be your daddy.

Related Posts:

My Son Henry

My Son Isaac

Just Breathe....

Thank you for your prayers over the past few days. Things are improving daily with just a few bumps along the way. Brooks has been entertaining us with his speed steroids extremes. One minute he is stoned and out of it, the next he is frustrated by his failed attempts to scale the walls, literally! He has this impulsiveness of needing to climb all of the sudden. It's completely bizarre! He takes his last dose tonight, so hopefully we will see some of the true Brooks shining through those donut eyes soon.

Baby Einstein has come to our rescue once again as a distracting device during our time in the breathing chair. Check out the "wigged out" Brooks getting "nebulized"....

Thankfully the other boys' symptoms are fairly minor for now. Clark has exhibited some wheezing, so he's getting his turn in the breathing chair as well. Don't you think he'd make a great firefighter someday?

Translation in case you don't speak "one year old":
"Whas Da?" w/ pointer finger = What's That? (We think, anyway!)
Regardless it's cute, especially muffled. =)

Breathing easier,

Wombmates Remain Cribmates

Unbelievable. Yep, it's true. The Wombmates are still Cribmates. 14 Months Old Today and Clark and Brooks are still sharing their crib. (Isaac and Henry each sleep in their own cribs.) It just gets cuter all the time. Take a look:

14 Months is the longest we've ever heard of anyone co-bedding so we'll be giving Guinness a call to see if we can get in! (Kidding) Someday when you're flipping through the pages, looking at world records for the longest eyebrow hair, the most weddings attended by a best man, most coconuts smashed in one minute, or the world's tallest parsley plant there they'll be precious as precious can be....

If not the award for world's longest co-bedders perhaps the world's sweetest?????

To see our history of co-bedding quads go here.

Celebrating Completion.....

Today we celebrate the day we all became a family. One year ago today Clark joined us at home after a 40 day NICU stay and we were reunited under one roof. The days of trading off turns to stay with the boys at home and visit Clark in the NICU seem like a distant memory and being home together with our 4 healthy boys has been a year of many blessings, joy, and laughter.

If you'd like to look back with us on one year ago, these posts we'll take you there:

Our Family of 6 is Complete

Homecoming Pictures

Thank you for sharing in this journey of adventures with us!

Name That Quad! - Part III

If you are new to the "Name That Quad Mini-Series" check out
Part I
and
Part II
before reading this post.

2 down 2 to go! On to Baby C and Baby D:

CLARK THOMAS

Clark - One of our first names that made the list. We came up with Clark in the early days of marriage. It has several significant ties as well. It's Brad's Grandma's Maiden Name, the last name of a couple who really had a positive impact on Brad's life who have passed away, and we also respect the CBS Basketball Commentator/Former Pacer, Clark Kellogg. (March Madness is just around the corner! Go Hoosiers and Bulldogs!)
Meaning: Enlightened Spirit
James 3:17 "But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality and without hypocrisy.

Thomas- Brad's Dad's Name
Meaning: Divinely Preserved
Proverbs 2:11 "Discretion will guard you, understanding will watch over you."

Nicknames: Clarkaroo, Clarkers, Superman, Clarkasboard, Clarkster, Clark Man, Clark-A-Doodle-Doo, Clarky, CT, Buddy

ISAAC EDWARD

Isaac - I used to say, "If God gives me a boy someday, I hope his name is Isaac." (I had no idea that He would give me FOUR!)
Meaning: Child of Promise, Laughter
Genesis 21:6 "And Sarah said, “God has made me laugh, and all who hear will laugh with me"."

Edward - My Dad's Name
Meaning: Guardian of Happiness
Psalm 5:11 "But let all who take refuge in you be glad; let them ever sing for joy. Spread your protection over them, that those who love your name may rejoice in you."

Nicknames: I-Sack, Izzy, Izeriah, I-Man, Chunk, I-Zeek, Smiles, Thighzaac, Baby, Buddy

So much for our "No Nicknames Rule"!

Oh and here's the BONUS Brad's name means "Abundant Provider" and Jennifer means "Trusting". How fitting! =)

Make sure you check out all the original name stories in the comment section of this post. You all have chosen such meaningful, significant names!

AND if you still want to chat about this topic leave a comment about your favorite NICKNAMES either for yourself or for your kiddos. Can anyone guess my nickname from Kindergarten thru College?

NICU Survival Kit Headed to The Big "D"

Well past my bedtime last night, I was putting together a NICU Survival Kit for Casey Gerwer who just delivered quadruplets yesterday at 29 weeks in Dallas, TX! You can find the stats on Reid, Cameron, Trey, and Brady on their blog. Please keep them in your prayers especially over these next few weeks as their babies transition from womb to the real world where they are expected to do all the full-term tasks (breathing, feeding, maintaining their body temp., and yes, pooping!) 11 weeks early. Congratulations, especially goes out to Casey as she fought so hard for these babies and did so well to make it to 29 weeks! Way to go quad mama, welcome to the club!

Can I tell you how much I love putting these kits together?!!! I find myself praying for the family as I pack the contents of the kit. I pray for the mom's recovery, strength for dad, the babies to be little fighters, the doctors, nurses, and respiratory therapist that are so vital to the baby's survival......and then I'm overwhelmed with gratefulness as I reflect on our NICU days and how blessed we are with 4 healthy babies!

Especially this little guy (Clark) who really made our NICU nurses work for their money

Our super-sitter (well, she's free so I guess she's not really a sitter), Tami, is on her way with some hand-made preemie blankets for the kit. So soft and sweet! Many of you have emailed about the blankets so I want to give you some "specs". Tami's are 12 x 12 (some a little bigger or more rectangle), and I could also use some 20 x 20's.

Lastly, an enormous thank you to my friend Melissa, who donated a sack full of really nice lotion from Bath and Body Works for the kits. I'm telling ya, your hands get so sore and dry from scrubbing up that lotion just melts in your hands. This will be wonderful, Melissa!

Oh yeah, one more thing...then I have to get some lunch while I have the chance! There's been a lot of chatter about Adsense lately (Suz added it to her site too). While we can't tell you how we get money from the ads due to "contractual obligation"- you can easily look this up on our friend google to find out if your curiousity is killing or check out problogger for more....or try monetizing out for yourself (you can sign up here by clicking on the link in the left column under the ads)!

.....Seacrest, OUT

Quad Cam

Thanks for sharing all your money saving ideas and your personal recommendations on our last post. We're up to almost 50 comments showing that you truly are passionate diaper enthusiast! I hate to end all the great diaper dialogue, but I wanted to post some recent video highlights.

The first video is proof that I'm not a big fat liar. =) I mentioned a few posts ago about how Clark was doing "So Big" for Brad and I, but looks at us like we are crazy fools when I ask him in front of anyone else...Caught on camera!!!



The second is Henry up to his usual mischief. When we revamped the guest room/office into the playroom we gated off the "leftovers" (desk-top computer, vacuum, desk, office equipment, and such) until we had a chance to find a place for it. Henry decided it was high time for us to find a new home for it all. How he fits his big head in a 2" gap is beyond me! Move over, Curious George - Here comes Henry!



Don't worry I haven't forgotten about the other quad buddies (Brooks and Isaac). I just didn't have any recent footage, but if you're dying to see them in action you can click here to re-watch these great Quad Cam Moments.

Speaking of watching.....Gotta cheer on our Indianapolis Colts Sunday as they stomp the San Diego Chargers in the playoffs. Go Horse!

Visions of Sugar-Plums...

"The children were nestled all snug in their beds,While visions of sugar-plums danced in their heads"

Clement Moore must have had this vision in his mind when he wrote "A Visit From St. Nicholas" or more commonly "Twas The Night Before Christmas". He's got a great middle name, he just spells it wrong -Clarke! There's some Christmas trivia for your next holiday party, courtesy of the quatro mama!

I can hardly believe these little "wombmates" are still "cribmates" at 10 1/2 months! They just love being together! People keep asking when we're going to separate them (Brooks and Clark) and I guess the answer is, "When it doesn't work anymore.". I mean, who could ask for more? - They sleep 12 hours at night, take good naps, and are just sooooo precious all curled up beside each other! After my post on co-bedding I had several comments and conversations with other moms of multiples about how they co-bedded until one day they started climbing on top of each other. Clark doesn't seem to mind....

So until it quits working, we'll savor these moments. Besides, it's one less crib sheet and mattress cover to change (one of my least favorite chores) and wash!

He's Down 4 The Count....

There's no flag/touch football for the Murray boys - it's full contact. They love to play "Tackle Me" (as my nephews call it). Moments like these happen almost daily. They are constantly making each other giggle and I cannot express how much we LOVE to hear laughter filling our home. This particular instance, I was putting some laundry in the dryer and I hear this cackling in the other room. I couldn't tell if it was laughter or crying. It was so fun to walk in on my boys (Clark on Isaac) cracking each other up. I never know whether to grab the camera to capture the memory or just to stop and eat up the whole moment. I hope you're glad I caught this one....

Catching You Up....

Alright, so where should I start?????? Let's just start with the boys and what they've been up to.....We have a doctor's appointment today, their 4 month appointment - can you believe it? 4 shots a piece for a grand total of 16 shots and 8 bandaides. Ouch! We will be Tylenoling (yes, it's now a verb) all night. There's a specific prayer request for ya! I'll try to get on and update you on weights. We look forward to that part!

Let's see....the boys are growing and are so much fun each day. Especially now that they are all smiling up a storm, it makes you feel like, "hey, he likes me". Everytime one of them smiles it makes my day over and over. What a blessing! They are sleeping about 9 hours on average a night, with an occasional pacifer run. Whoohooo! It was hard work, but it's now paying off. We are such better parents with a good nights sleep and we are so thankful for some real shut-eye! Their day consists of feedings every 3 hours, playtime, and naptime. They enjoy their bouncy seats, boppies, and gym mostly. Here's a short run down of what they are doing individually.

Henry: Henry has been showing that he still is the oldest by rolling over, (which is quite an accomplishment for a 2 month old (adjusted age)). He loves to do his trick in his bed, while he should be sleeping! Occasionally he rolls into his big brother Isaac, which he isn't too fond of, but we are keeping them in 2 cribs for as long as possible. The crib dividers maybe just around the corner, though. Henry smiles with his whole face - too cute. He has such a sweet personality.








This Henry right after he rolled over for the first time!



Brooks: Brooks continues to be laid back and go with the flow. He likes to smile most when you're feeding him, which is very cute, but a bit frustrating when you are trying to feed 4 babies! He's been figuring out how to bat at his toys and loves to look at his brothers. He curls up with Clark in the middle of the night - so cute!





Clark on the left, Brooks on the right. Yes, we really can tell them apart! Promise!








Clark: Clark loves to kick (this started way back in wombville). He was definately my most active one in there. He loves to hang upside down by kicking backwards in his boppie. He has a wonderful grin and is quite the happy boy when you wake him up from his nap. He has rolled over once in the boppie and once in his crib - we'll see if he keeps that up! He's also quite the cuddler.

Isaac: Isaac is the talker of the bunch. He makes noise from sleeping to waking. I'm thinking he might be immitating his cousin Jonathan. He loves to smile and coo at you while you talk to him. He just loves to eat! Isaac loves to be held and loved on.

Isaac showing off his big ole cheeks and no neck!




They each have their own personality, as you can see. Hope you enjoyed my little update.

More blogging later,
Quatro Mama and the Gang!

New pics, update

Friends and Family,



I wanted to give you a quick update on our family.



The boys continue to grow and fill our lives with joy each day. It seems like one or more of them does something new each day as they develop before our eyes. It is neat to see each one of them already going in different directions and doing different things.



We had our first virus/bacteria go through the house this weekend. Jen and I decided to take the boys to babies r us on Saturday afternoon so that we could pick up some things that we needed. These outings have all gone well so far, so we were excited to get out again. Well, the boys decided to make this trip a little more interesting. After about 20 minutes inside the store, I looked down and noticed that Isaac had spit up "cottage cheese" all over himself from his formula feeding two hours prior. I had never seen anything quite like this spit-up. It was not pleasant, but I was able to clean him up without having to change his clothes.



Next, I met back up with Jen on the other side of the store. Just as I approached her double stroller, I noticed Clark had just had a similar spit-up, only his was HUGE. It got all over the carseat, him, his clothes, etc. We had to pull him out and change him in order to get everything reasonalbly cleaned up. By the time we got all that done, it was time for the boys to eat.



Babies r us has a nice "mothers room" where you can feed your baby/babies. Jen and I took that room over and fed the boys there. After about a 40 minute feeding/scream fest, we were done and resumed our shopping. By the time we left the store it was almost 8pm and Jen and I were starved. We had underestimated how much time it would take to get in and out of the store, so we cancelled the rest of our plans and decided to hit the drive-thru and head for home.



When we arrived home, Brooks decided that he would join the fun and he spit-up all over his carseat and himself. During the 9pm feeding, Clark spit-up (projectile style) all over Jens shirt, the chair, her shorts, and even managed to get sprayed in the mouth.



After taking Brooks' temperature, we realized that our boys had been infected with our first bug! In some ways, we were releived that there was a reason for our crazy night, but we were disappointed that Brooks was sick. He had a temperature of 100.0 and was very fussy along with his brothers. Our doctor instructed us to take him to the hospital if it reached 101.0 or higher. Brooks was the only one to run a fever, but they all seemed to have it. At 3am, Brooks' temperature hit 101 and I headed to the hospital with him. The docs at the hospital took some blood, gave him an antibiotic shot, and sent us back home. Brooks has not run a fever since Sunday morning, so hopefully it was just a quick bug. They are all kind of congested, but nothing serious at this point.



Anyway, I just thought I would share a bit of the craziness with you. As for Brooks, he is now scheduled for hernia surgery on July 13th. After his sonogram, it was determined that the hernia does pose some risk to his health if left long-term, so they are going to fix it. We are a little nervous about it, but overall it is an easy surgery and should not be too risky. We would appreciate any prayers that could be offered on his behalf.



I have posted some new pictures below. I cannot tell you how fun the past few months have been for Jen and I. Yes, it is exhausting, but the rewards far outweigh the struggles with the daily grind. Thank you all for your continued prayers and support for our family. We love you all.



Brad, Jen, Henry, Brooks, Clark, and Isaac

Back to the blog.....sorry for the blog vacation!

Friends and Family:

Hello from the Murray family!

I am sorrry for the delay in adding a new post to the website. As you can imagine, life has changed dramatically for Jen and I. I have found it difficult to find the time to give everyone an update, and when I have had a chance, I have been overwhelmed because of how many things there are to tell you about.

First, Jen and the boys are doing really well. As many of you have seen, Jen is back to her beautiful self, both physically and emotionally, and our boys are growing like weeds already! I cannot beleive that my little preemie sons are now 8-10+ pounds and doing so well. In the past two months, God has shown Jen and I how he intended to provide for us once the boys arrived. We have yet to purchase a single diaper or anything else for the boys. I had no idea how we were going to afford to raise our boys, and I still don't, but God has placed his hand of provision on our family and blessed us in a mighty way through your generosity.

A little about our new family:

Henry:

Henry, who is still our smallest, probably weighs in the vicinity of 8 pounds these days. Since starting life at 2lbs. 12 ounces, he has grown into his skin and is plumping up nicely. I am excited to see Henry's personality reveal itself further in the coming months. He does his own thing and rarely follows his brother's examples. Henry has continued to have miraculous health. Along with his brothers, he has had no illnesses, but he also has continued to grow and eat and give us very little worries about his health.

Brooks:

Brooks has been fun to watch since bringing him home in February. He came home weighing less than four pounds, but now is about nine pounds. As I mentioned in previous postings, Brooks has a hernia that we are watching, but his pediatric urologist seems to think that it will close on its own in the coming months. Please pray that this will happen, then we would be able to avoid surgery. The only other issue that we are dealing with daily with Brooks is his projectile spit-up. Many parents have told us their own stories of babies with this issue. As long as he is gaining weight, this is not a health concern for him. But, I think Jen and I should buy some stock in Resolve cleaner, as Brooks is trying to stain every peice of furniture and carpet we own! :) Brooks is a calm little boy and a pure joy to watch develop.

Clark:

Clark has not looked back since leaving the hospital in March. All of our concerns for him as we brought him home have turned into relief as he has thrived. He truely is our little superman. Clark has joined Brooks in having problems with projectile spit-ups, giving us plenty of messes to clean up. In fact, little Clark decided it was payback time last week. Brooks spit-up right in Clark's face a couple of weeks ago as I left for work. So, a few days ago, while laying in their cribs, Clark nailed Brooks in the face, making them even. Neither were very happy when they were rudely awaked from their sleep by about three ounces of formula in the face coming from their brother! The boys now seem to be getting along fine, please pray that this fight is settled! :)

Isaac:

Isaac is still the tank. Born a whopping four pounds, we are now guessing that he has left 10 pounds in the dust. We go tomorrow for a weight check, so we will know for sure then. Isaac is the most vocal of the Murray Crew. (except for me of course) Isaac makes noise when he is sitting in his bouncy seat, when he is eating, and even when he is sleeping. Jen and I lay awake one night a week or so ago listening to him make a little sigh noise over and over. I worried that he might be weazing or something, so I went in to check on him. After leaning in close, it was clear that it was just his voice, making little ahhh sounds as he exhaled. I have a feeling once he learns to talk, we may never experience silence again! (he gets this honestly from his father)

Well, I have also attached some pictures below. These are not really up to date, but they are as up-to-date as I have on my flash drive. I will post more later and I hope to post a little more often now.

We love you all, thank you for your love and support, our God is so good.

Brad, Jen, Henry, Brooks, Clark, and Isaac

Our two double strollers, thank you RCI!

From the left: Brooks, Isaac, Henry, and Clark

From the left: Isaac, Henry, Clark, and Brooks

Clark and Brooks

Brooks and Clark

Top to bottom: Henry and Isaac

Isaac

Formula for one month!

Our Family of 6 is Complete!

Friends and Family,

Wednesday evening we finally went up and got Clark and brought him home! We are so excited to finally have our family at home complete. After over two months in the hospital, we finally have no reason to go to St. Vincent Women's Hospital anymore. We want to thank everyone at the hospital for the amazing care that Jen and the boys received.

We took our first trip out with all four boys yesterday since Clark got home. The boys went to the pediatrician for a check-up and weight check. Our boys are thriving and continuing to gain weight.

Updated Weights:

Isaac: 6lbs. 13oz.
Brooks: 5lbs. 11oz.
Clark: 5lbs. 1oz.
Henry: 5lbs. 3oz.

This will be the final post for this blog. We are so thankful for everyone who has followed our progress here for the past 7 months. God is so gracious and continues to provide in amazing ways for our family. If you would like to continue to follow our family, please check out our new blogspot, I will be posting pictures there in the near future.

(Post Copied from www.triplet-update.blogspot.com)

Praise and H-E-L-P!!!

Friends and Family,

First, we want to praise our God for the amazing work He has done in allowing our boys to develop quickly enough to come home before their due date. It is truly amazing to bring all four of my boys home without any monitors or other assistance. Our doctors tell us that they plan to send Clark home to complete our family sometime tomorrow. This is just simply amazing. My son Clark, who came so near to death a few days into life, is coming home more than two weeks before his due date!!

Also, we are so thankful as we prepare to bring Clark home that our family, church, and co-workers are beginning to pitch in and help us get through these rough early months. We already have many, many people signed up to take shifts, day and night, for the coming weeks and months. I would like to specifically thank Carolyn Terry and Cindy Hamilton for their organizing work to begin this journey, we would have very little done without them.

I wanted to come back again and extend an invitation to any of you who would like to take a shift to help take care of our boys and have not been contacted about doing so. Please e-mail me and give me your phone number, and I will pass that on to the ladies mentioned above. We need a few more people to ensure that Jen has help during the day so that I can return to work, and we are also accepting evening and night help from those of you who are willing.

Please e-mail me at bradley.g.murray[at]gmail [dot]com to be added to the list. Please be sure to include your name, phone number, and the times of the week/day that you might be available to help.

Thank you all so much!

(Post copied from www.triplet-update.blogspot.com)

Our Little Henry is Coming Home!!!!

Friends and Family:

Awesome news to share with you, Henry is coming home!! They told us last night that Henry was ready to join us in Pittsboro today! We are so excited to get this much closer to having our family all together. God has been so incredible in supplying our every need the past few weeks as we learn to care for babies for the first time. We are ready and waiting for our little Henry to come home to us tonight.

Could you pray that the transition would go smoothly for him and for us? We are handling two babies pretty well now, so we are hoping that Henry will now fit right into the schedule. Please also pray that Clark would join us soon also. Clark continues to have digestive issues, but will hopefully come home in the next week or two if those clear up as they expect them to. The doctors recently took him off of his feedings for a few days to give his intestines a rest. They have now resumed a full feeding schedule for him and hope that his body will begin to function correctly after this rest. I guess I think of it like your computer locking up. You have to shut it down and let it cool off, then restart and hope for the best. Hopefully Clark just needed a restart!

Thank you all for your prayers, support, and help with physical needs.

Brad, Jen, Henry, Brooks, Clark, and Isaac

(Post Copied from www.triplet-update.blogspot.com)

Update in the Madness....

Hey everyone,

Sorry that I have not updated the blog in a while, as you can imagine, life is much different in the Murray house these days! Brooks and Isaac are thriving at home, gaining weight, and sleeping really well so far. We are so thankful to have two of our little boys home with us. It has been a long time coming and we are loving taking care of them. Each day has been a little better and we are getting just enough sleep to get by.

Henry and Clark continue to hang out at the hospital for the time being. Henry is doing great, should be home in the next week or two. Henry is taking most of his food by bottle now, but still requires the occasional tube feed, so he will remain in the hospital until he can stay awake for all eight feeds per day.

Clark is still the one that needs your prayers the most. Clark continues to have digestive problems with his intestines. They had to stop his feedings completely in the last few days due to loops in his intestines that were bloated. The doctors had to place a new IV line to give him fluids in the meantime. They have now put him back on minimum feeds, but are doing a series of tests to try to find the root of his problem. Please pray that Clark would make a final recovery and come home to us as soon as possible.

On a lighter note, we were blessed beyond our imaginations yesterday evening when Jen's parents brought gifts from a shower held for us at Calvary Baptist Church in Danville, Illinois. They filled our living room with gifts yesterday evening for our boys. This is just one more example of the amazing provision that God is providing for our family. Jen and I have not been able to keep up with all of you who have blessed us in various ways in the past few weeks since the boys were home. The cards, gifts, food, love, and prayers that have been offered has been amazing. We are so far behind on thank you notes at this point, that I am absolutely certain that we are going to miss some people in thanking them for their generosity. We do want to thank each of you individually, but for those of you that we miss, thank you very much. We are more thankful than we will ever be able to express to each of you.

-To our parents, siblings, great grandparents, and extended family: Thank you for your never ending support and help.

-The Bible Church of Brownsburg: You are the reason that we know that we will be okay. Your continued support and prayer is priceless. It is exciting to have such a great body of believers to support our boys growth.

-Teachers at Brown Elementary, thank you so much for the money you raised, we could not believe how generous all of you were, thank you!

-Brownsburg Teachers in general, you are an amazing group, thank you for your support.

-Calvary Baptist Church: I have never seen such a faithful group of prayer warriors.

There are so many of you to thank that I could not possible list you all. To all of you who have been so helpful and generous, thank you from the bottom of our hearts, we love you all!

Brad, Jen, Henry, Brooks, Clark, and Isaac

(Post Copied from www.triplet-update.blogspot.com)

Another Praise...

Friends and Family,

I wanted to give you all a quick update. Once again, it seems as though God has chosen to answer our prayers with a "YES". Clark's last x-ray showed a significant improvement in his intestines and they were finally able to get things moving with him last night also! It looks as though he will begin to be given milk again today. They will be starting him very slowly and watching him as his digestive tract starts back up again. Please pray that his body would be able to handle the food better this time.

Thank you all, to God be the glory!

(Post Copied from www.triplet-update.blogspot.com)

Please Pray...

Family and Friends,

Sorry I have not updated you the last few days, but I have a couple prayer requests for you tonight.

First, Jen started having some severe pain last night that has come and gone throughout the night and day today. Her doctor is aware of the issue and we are keeping him up to date on it. Please pray that her pain would go away soon. Our God has brought us through so much, and we know that He will bring us through this too. But, please, in the mean time, pray for relief for Jen along with peace and endurance as she just tries to get through this time. Please pray that this pain would not lead to anything further and full recovery is just around the corner.

Second, Clark is having some problems again. This time, it is his intestines. A portion of his intestinal tract is dilated and not moving enough. They have taken him off of feedings and placed a line to deliver IV fluids again. He is in no immediate danger, but if the condition continued or worsened, it could be very serious. Please pray that his intestines would get moving again soon and that God would heal our son once again. Clark may not be able to eat again for a while, so please pray that God would comfort him as he deals with hunger.

Thank you all so much for being faithful to pray for our family. God has blessed us with so many of you to pray for us, thank you for the encouragement. Here are some updated pictures for you!

Jen holding two at once for the first time!!
(Isaac and Henry)

Isaac (2.19.07)

Clark (2.19.07)