The Sheepfold and the Voice of the Shepherd

Stone sheepfold John 10:22-30 Recently my boys have been spending a great deal of time outside in the area that will soon be transformed into our garden. They spend endless hours digging in the dirt for worms. They then promptly take those worms and throw them to the chickens. It amazes me how even chickens can learn to recognize sounds or voices. My oldest makes this funny high-pitched sound when he comes out of the house and heads toward the coop. The chickens practically fall over themselves running toward the fence or out of the coop when they hear him making his sound. They know there is food to follow! In Sunday's Gospel Jesus tells us that, "My sheep hear my voice. I know them, and they follow me." and "I am the gate for the sheep." Today, again, Jesus mentions that His sheep know His voice and follow Him.  In these few verses we learn that Jesus is both gate and shepherd for the sheep. In those days and even today in some places, a sheepfold w

Catherine's 1st Birthday Party

First an update...Catherine recently had a few appointments and has a few more coming up. She had an evaluation with a speech therapist where we learned that we are pretty much doing what we should be doing as far as encouraging vocalization. She also had a Neonatology clinic visit and she weighed 16# 8 oz. which is good, but she has fallen off the growth chart again, so we are increasing her calories in her tube feeds to 30/oz. You wouldn't guess by looking at her that she needs to gain weight, but we just want to make sure she is following the curve and not falling away from it.

She is also going to get a feeding evaluation in a few weeks to help with the feeding issues that she has. She does not care for eating solids and while she is still being breastfed, I am not sure that she is getting anything at all anymore. I give her a bottle once a day, but she takes very little from that too. So hopefully this clinic will give us some strategies for helping her to take more by mouth. This Friday she sees a new opthamologist (eye doctor) and next week is the nephrologist (kidney doctor) for her kidney stone.

Catherine has finally rolled from back to belly! She has done it a handful of times and her physical therapist says it's only a matter of time before she is rolling across the floor. She is sitting up better, although not by herself, she can hold it for a few seconds. We're so proud!

Here is some video footage of the party we had for Catherine. We delayed it a week so that my parents and Uncle Bill could celebrate with us!

Comments

Rick said…
Very pleasant. Thank God.
Patience said…
With the breastfeeding; can you try breast compression to get more into her with less effort on her part?
Nicole said…
Yes, Patience, I've tried that after it was suggested by a lactation consultant. Thanks!