THIS WAS TAKEN AT ONE OF THE BEACHSIDE RESTAURANTS
EATING LUNCH AFTER A MORNING AT THE BEACH
VIEW FROM OUR TABLE AT LUNCH
VEIW FROM OUR ROOM BALCONY
AWARDS NIGHT PICTURE
Wednesday, June 18, 2008
Monday, February 4, 2008
Sunday, February 3, 2008
DISNEY WORLD 2008
A few favorites from day one...
HOW ABOUT THAT HAIR!!!
Hadley got her hair did at the Bibbity Bobbity Boutique in Cinderella's Castle
Tuesday, October 9, 2007
WE ARE HOME!!!!!
How great it is to be home again! We spent all day Sunday just hanging out with our family. Max was so excited to see his brothers and sister Saturday night (Mom and Dad were pretty excited, too).
As I mentioned in an earlier post, Max's social life will be inactive for the next few weeks to give his immune system a little time to catch up from the effects of the heart/lung machine. He has already asked when he can go to class and see Mr. Vic and Mrs. Tracey (his Sunday school teachers).
His recovery continues to amaze us. If you were to see him and watch him play, you'd have no idea he had open-heart surgery 2 weeks ago! He saw our local pediatrician today just for a follow-up visit, which went well (at least the medical part did). Courtney said he cried the entire drive there because he overheard her say the word "doctor". He is still a little "gun shy" of any doctor's office after all he's been through. I think that's understandable!
He will see our local pediatric cardiologist this Thursday morning to assess his progress and begin charting his recovery. He won't be excited about that, but it will be over soon enough.
I've said it a few times over recent weeks...we can't wait to see so many of you and personally thank you for the overflow of love and support you've shown to us! It will take a few more weeks, but very soon the Fortenberry family will be out and about again...TOGETHER!
I rejoiced with those who said to me, "Let us go to the house of the LORD."
PSALM 122:1
HOW BLESSED WE ARE TO HAVE FAMILY AND FRIENDS LIKE YOU!!!
As I mentioned in an earlier post, Max's social life will be inactive for the next few weeks to give his immune system a little time to catch up from the effects of the heart/lung machine. He has already asked when he can go to class and see Mr. Vic and Mrs. Tracey (his Sunday school teachers).
His recovery continues to amaze us. If you were to see him and watch him play, you'd have no idea he had open-heart surgery 2 weeks ago! He saw our local pediatrician today just for a follow-up visit, which went well (at least the medical part did). Courtney said he cried the entire drive there because he overheard her say the word "doctor". He is still a little "gun shy" of any doctor's office after all he's been through. I think that's understandable!
He will see our local pediatric cardiologist this Thursday morning to assess his progress and begin charting his recovery. He won't be excited about that, but it will be over soon enough.
I've said it a few times over recent weeks...we can't wait to see so many of you and personally thank you for the overflow of love and support you've shown to us! It will take a few more weeks, but very soon the Fortenberry family will be out and about again...TOGETHER!
I rejoiced with those who said to me, "Let us go to the house of the LORD."
PSALM 122:1
HOW BLESSED WE ARE TO HAVE FAMILY AND FRIENDS LIKE YOU!!!
Saturday, October 6, 2007
HOUSTON, WE HAD A PROBLEM
I can't believe it has been a few days since my last post. Once we got back from the doctor Thursday afternoon, our bodies sort of gave out. Not sick...just fatigued. The adrenaline rush of the past few weeks is gone and we crashed! We'll say farewell to the Best Western in an hour or so (she's been good to us). The "hairplane" will depart for Jackson around 3:30 p.m. which will put us back in Hattiesburg around 7:00 p.m.
The past few days have been good for us, a kinda of decompression period for our bodies and minds. During this time, God's been teaching me a lot about the "heart". I've spent the past 5 years selling cardiovascular medications and the past 2 years praying for Max's physical heart. I've been listening to some teachings by John Ortberg in recent days. God's used him to speak some truths concerning my heart. Max's physical heart is healed, but we all have a spiritual heart that needs daily healing.
Think about this...22 days after you were conceived, a tiny little electrical pulse stimulated the heart muscle, the myocardia, of your left and right atria to contract. It’s called an "atrial kick" and it forced blood into your ventricles. That movement was so faint that it could not be detected, even with amplification, but it was, in fact, the first beat of your heart, only 22 days after you were conceived and it’s never stopped from that day until now—70 milliliters of blood with every contraction, 14,000 pints being pumped every day, 100,000 beats of your heart every day from that day to this one. God gave us these amazing gifts called our hearts, our physical hearts. We try to manipulate and control our many aspects of our life, but we can’t control the beat of our heart (thank God!).
Is anyone reading this a little absent minded at times? Ever forget where your car keys are, where you are parked, where the car is, where the kids are? Imagine if our hearts only beat when we remember to tell it. We would be in serious trouble. But they don’t. God just created them so that that beat goes on whether we are aware of it or not. It’s a gift from God.
But God didn’t just give us a physical heart. God gave us all a spiritual heart. There is an inner me, there is an inner you, that part of you that chooses, that part of you that devotes, that part of you that commits, that part of you that wills, and the truth is that no matter how well you take care of it, your physical heart is going to wear out someday. It’s going to stop beating sooner or later. But your spiritual heart, the core of the core you—that goes on forever. I think that’s what the writer of Proverbs means when he says:
Above all else guard your heart for it is the wellspring of your life.
PROVERBS 4:23
Don’t worry so much, the writer of the Proverbs is saying, about how you are doing in terms of security, physical health, material well being, all of that stuff. That has its place. But above all of that, the top of the list, the first priority is guard your heart, watch your heart, care for your heart because your whole life flows out of your heart. So the question is,
What’s the condition of my heart, my spiritual heart, my heart for God and my heart for people?
Max's physical heart is healed, but please don't stop praying for his heart. I pray that all 4 of my children's heartbeat would be that of our Father's. That Max would one day understand this simple truth: as high and as far as today's "hairplane" ride will take him, it pales in comparison to the flight God has planned for his life!
Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall; but those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.
ISAIAH 40:30-31
The past few days have been good for us, a kinda of decompression period for our bodies and minds. During this time, God's been teaching me a lot about the "heart". I've spent the past 5 years selling cardiovascular medications and the past 2 years praying for Max's physical heart. I've been listening to some teachings by John Ortberg in recent days. God's used him to speak some truths concerning my heart. Max's physical heart is healed, but we all have a spiritual heart that needs daily healing.
Think about this...22 days after you were conceived, a tiny little electrical pulse stimulated the heart muscle, the myocardia, of your left and right atria to contract. It’s called an "atrial kick" and it forced blood into your ventricles. That movement was so faint that it could not be detected, even with amplification, but it was, in fact, the first beat of your heart, only 22 days after you were conceived and it’s never stopped from that day until now—70 milliliters of blood with every contraction, 14,000 pints being pumped every day, 100,000 beats of your heart every day from that day to this one. God gave us these amazing gifts called our hearts, our physical hearts. We try to manipulate and control our many aspects of our life, but we can’t control the beat of our heart (thank God!).
Is anyone reading this a little absent minded at times? Ever forget where your car keys are, where you are parked, where the car is, where the kids are? Imagine if our hearts only beat when we remember to tell it. We would be in serious trouble. But they don’t. God just created them so that that beat goes on whether we are aware of it or not. It’s a gift from God.
But God didn’t just give us a physical heart. God gave us all a spiritual heart. There is an inner me, there is an inner you, that part of you that chooses, that part of you that devotes, that part of you that commits, that part of you that wills, and the truth is that no matter how well you take care of it, your physical heart is going to wear out someday. It’s going to stop beating sooner or later. But your spiritual heart, the core of the core you—that goes on forever. I think that’s what the writer of Proverbs means when he says:
Above all else guard your heart for it is the wellspring of your life.
PROVERBS 4:23
Don’t worry so much, the writer of the Proverbs is saying, about how you are doing in terms of security, physical health, material well being, all of that stuff. That has its place. But above all of that, the top of the list, the first priority is guard your heart, watch your heart, care for your heart because your whole life flows out of your heart. So the question is,
What’s the condition of my heart, my spiritual heart, my heart for God and my heart for people?
Max's physical heart is healed, but please don't stop praying for his heart. I pray that all 4 of my children's heartbeat would be that of our Father's. That Max would one day understand this simple truth: as high and as far as today's "hairplane" ride will take him, it pales in comparison to the flight God has planned for his life!
Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall; but those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.
ISAIAH 40:30-31
Wednesday, October 3, 2007
MAX @ THE MALL
Max had a big time at the mall today. One of his favorite stores was the Build-A-Bear Workshop. (THANK YOU TO JONATHAN AND ANDREW BURKS FOR SENDING MAX A GIFT CARD!!!)
Here's a few pictures of Max grooming and loving on his new pirate puppy dog, Charlie (he names every stuffed animal this...Charlie Hardee, you the man!).
Tuesday, October 2, 2007
CASTLE FEVER
Well...we're still here! The "castle" has lost it's luster with Max. He's kind of ready to go home (ME TOO MAX!!!). However, we continue to make the best of it. It's not that we're anti-Best Western, but come on. The "best" has yet to be found, and the "western" part is very confusing!
Anyway, we've been venturing out for a few hours a day just for the change of scenery (and food). Rice University is only about 4 blocks away. Courtney and I thought about trashing the campus for all our USM friends since Rice will be in Hattiesburg tomorrow night to take on the Golden Eagles, but the Best Western only gives you 2 rolls of toilet paper at a time...not really enough to do much damage.
So, instead of doing that, Max and I sat in the floor this morning and played with the camera. Here's some of the "better" ones, and I use that word loosely!
Tomorrow we may head to the Galleria and get some take home goodies for John David, Hadley and Caleb (if you guys are reading this...of course, we're gonna bring you something - WE LOVE YOU, WE MISS YOU, WE CAN'T WAIT TO SEE YOU!!!!!!).
Anyway, we've been venturing out for a few hours a day just for the change of scenery (and food). Rice University is only about 4 blocks away. Courtney and I thought about trashing the campus for all our USM friends since Rice will be in Hattiesburg tomorrow night to take on the Golden Eagles, but the Best Western only gives you 2 rolls of toilet paper at a time...not really enough to do much damage.
So, instead of doing that, Max and I sat in the floor this morning and played with the camera. Here's some of the "better" ones, and I use that word loosely!
Tomorrow we may head to the Galleria and get some take home goodies for John David, Hadley and Caleb (if you guys are reading this...of course, we're gonna bring you something - WE LOVE YOU, WE MISS YOU, WE CAN'T WAIT TO SEE YOU!!!!!!).We should know for sure by tomorrow morning the exact time of our follow-up appointment on Thursday. Max will have an echocardiogram, a chest x-ray, and a few other physical exams to clear him for the journey home. We continue to marvel at God's grace and providence as we watch Max just be Max! What a joy!
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