The Porter Family

Jack Update, Daddy Daycare and Thankfulness

andrewandtiffanyporter — Tue, 11 May 2010 02:44:50 +0000

So here is my second attempt “blogging.” Jack had a good week this past week. He rolled over numerous times which I seemed to miss each time until Mother’s Day! Tiffany took Jack to a new doctor,a neuro developmental pediatrician who thinks he might be allergic to milk and this could be causing some of the problems. If Jack is not absorbing the nutrients he needs, it could also be causing some of the developmental delays. Dr. Brannan also believes that Jack’s CP is mild and there is even a chance that he could outgrow it by age 2!! Of course, this is our prayer and we know that he can be healed. We are also going to the Shriner’s hosptial in Shreveport to have a complete evaulation done on July 1st and are so thankful for all they are doing.

My Beautiful Bride became sick with a stomach bug causing her to be in bed from Saturday evening through today. I feel bad because she did not get to enjoy the special day devoted to her and what a great mother she is. Though it was bad Tiffany became sick, God used it as an example for me to see how much Tiffany does for our family. I was a stay at home dad for the past couple of days. I took Jack to Physical Therapy, watched the boys, provided dinner, and I was tired afterwards. Tiffany does all this and more on a daily basis and does so with a servant and motherly heart. I am truly blessed Tiffany is my wife and mother to William and Jack.

As I watch Tiffany over the past couple of weeks dealing with Jack, from taking him to appointments, completing paperwork or playing with the boys, I am more amazed and in love with my beautiful bride. She is stressed out and overwhelmed at times but does not show it. These last couple of days taught me to value my beautiful bride for all she does as a wife and mother. I need to remind her and show her daily how thankful I am for her.

Proverbs 31:28

” Her Children bless her. Her husband praises her.”

Praise

andrewandtiffanyporter — Tue, 27 Apr 2010 22:20:31 +0000

We sang a song in church on Sunday and it was pretty powerful stuff…

Oh no, You never let go,through the calm and through the storm.

Oh no, You never let go, every high and every low.

Still I will praise you,

Still I will praise you, Lord.

We want this to be our anthem as we are going through all of this with Jack. It is so easy to praise the Lord when life is easy, it’s the storms where it’s sometimes hard to do. This song reminds us that the Lord never lets go and we are so comforted by that. Scripture says:

Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances,for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus. 1 Thes 5:16

There are those words again…God’s will We are still praying for a complete healing on Jack’s little body, but know that God is in control and it’s His will that we want fullfilled.

One of the struggles I have had lately is dealing with my own guilt…wondering if something I’ve done has “caused” this. I came across something in God’s Word that really ministered to my heart. In John 9 Jesus heals a blind man. In verse two, it says “Rabbi,who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” He responds in verse three, “Neither this man nor his parents sinned,”said Jesus, “but this happened so that the work of God might be displayed in his life.”

Talk about amazing…I am so thankful for the direction, love, and grace the Lord gives us through His Word.

Update on his progress: he is doing wonderful!! His physical therapy has begun and we are very encouraged about everything he is doing since last week. He is using his right hand, popping his head up while on his tummy(turtle pose!), holding toys with both hands, and talking a lot! He is off the charts in communication…go figure?! We also got sponsored by a Shriner and received our acceptance letter to receive treatment at the Shriner’s Hospital in Shreveport…evaulation sometime this summer. Thank you
Rachel for being so willing to help us out with this…what a blessing!

Thanks everyone for your prayers and love…we are so thankful for you!Love and Hugs,

Tiffany

P.S. Here are some pics from the last couple of weeks

Jack and Papa...my dad and Clara came to visit the week Jack had his MRI

He is Risen! Happy Easter!

Thunder Up! The guys went to a Thunder game after Andrew scored tickets from one of his soccer players!

Love this picture of the two of my guys

Happy 30th Birthday Mommy...Will was way more interested in the Red Velvet Cake!

Andrew got some of my dearest friends together for my 30th birthday...love that man and love these girls!

My "mom-in-love" was also there...love her so much too

Will has been so good with Jack since day one...I love to see how much Jack loves Will now!

Our Gift

andrewandtiffanyporter — Fri, 16 Apr 2010 16:44:40 +0000

We found out yesterday that our baby boy has a mild form of cerebral palsy. His MRI shows a spot on the left side of his brain that has not developed like it is supposed to and is causing him to not use the right side of his body as much. This is hard and very overwhelming at times, but we are very encouraged and feel so loved and supported by the Lord, family and friends. We were met at home after our appointment by friends and family to pray over Jack and it was so powerful to see the body of Christ respond in this way again. This is the third time we have seen this happen in the last 2 weeks and I can’t even begin to tell you how much this has ministered to us.

We are still praying and believing in His healing power and have confidence that Jack is going to be out in the backyard one of these days playing soccer and basketball with his brother Will! We start physical therapy next week and are ready to begin this journey.

I think Andrew said it best last night when we were talking about everything. He told me that he was driving back to work after we found this out and he was about to start questioning God and asking “why?” But, instead he started saying, “thank you, thank you, thank you for my son.” Jack has brought us so much joy and the Lord is all over his face. I can’t help but praise His name for the gift he has given me.

Sons are a heritage from the Lord,children a reward from him. Psalm 127:3

Prayers for Jack Wesley

andrewandtiffanyporter — Fri, 02 Apr 2010 16:11:34 +0000

We write this to receive prayers for our sweet son Jack . He is not developing like most babies his age are, so we have started to look into reasons why this might be happening. We went to a Pediatric Opthamologist and his eyes were just fine. This was a relief, but meant that we needed to move on. We went to see a Physiatrist at The Children’s Center yesterday and he also showed concern for Jack. He showed the most concern for the fact that he is using his left hand predominantly and is not able to sit up on his own for very long. After this appointment, we scheduled an MRI and will be doing physical therapy next week with Sooner Start. Also, he has an appointment with a Pediatric Neurologist on April 15th.

This is scary and the unknown is the hardest thing for us, but we are leaning on the Lord for answers and comfort. We are on our knees praying for Jack and giving him to the Lord. We prayed last night at his crib, “Lord, your will be done.” It’s hard to pray this knowing that His will might be different from ours, but again, we know He sees the full picture, whereas we only see the present. It is so obvious that the Lord is going to use Jack for something big…the Physiatrist was so touched by him yesterday. He kept on telling me how Jack has the best personality and such a sweet spirit and how that would be huge in how he continues to work through this. I have to agree, he has brought us so much joy the last 9 months…his smile is contagious!

One last thing-last night Will prayed for Jack after we read in his Bible about Jesus healing touch. He prayed, “Dear Jesus, please heal my bubba. Please help him roll over and crawl like Lil Will’s sister.” Such a precious, powerful prayer from a three year old who happens to love his brother so much.

Please pray for healing, wisdom for the doctors, and peace for us all. Have a blessed Easter weekend as we celebrate the Risen and Mighty Savior!

Tiffany and Andrew

Best Dad Ever

andrewandtiffanyporter — Thu, 25 Mar 2010 06:10:59 +0000

And the award for Best Dad Ever goes too…Andrew Porter!! Lately, Will has been coming up to Andrew, wrapping his little arms around him, and saying “Dad, you’re the best Dad EVER!” Well, I certainly agree with Will.

So, today I felt like I had been ran over by a “Mac” truck. Those of you with a toddler boy in the home know the reference. Turns out, it’s allergies. Pollen and I do not get along. Anyway, here are the top 3 reasons for the award:

1. Andrew used a sick day to help me out-on a side note, sure would be nice if SAHM’s could call in sick occasionally.

2. He took the boys to the Science Museum and loved every minute of it (even though it was field trip day for 5 bus loads full of middle-schoolers)!

3. He also took the boys to church (this especially means so much to me as I know how important it is for all of us:) This is also where he really starts to receive brownie points. He took the boys to dinner (amongst at least 1000 other people with their hands full). Hard to do with the both of us, nearly impossible to do by yourself. Thankfully, Grandma and Pops were there to help him out some After dinner, he took the boys over to hang out before class and smelled a little something coming from Jack’s direction. He reached in the carrier to move him up and noticed poo on his hands (those of you on fb know that he was pooped on last week too). He thought, that’s weird, but didn’t think too much about it. Reached in with the other hand and noticed a little more poo. Well, when it was all said and done, he had Jack in the men’s restroom at church wiping him from head to toe. He said there was poo in every spot you could imagine…or not imagine. Armpit,back, feet, carrier, blanket, etc. I guess the supository I gave him earlier on really did the trick, huh? He wanted to give him a shower it was so bad…can you imagine walking in to see this…or smell it?! So, if you saw my sweet husband and son tonight and Jack was only wearing a diaper…now, you know why!

I know I’ve said it before and I will continue to say it. I am so incredibly blessed and thankful for the husband I have and the Dad my boys have. God, you really out-did yourself with this one. I’m not sure why you gave him to me, but I am so thankful you did.

**I am writing this at 1:00 am, so please excuse any grammatical errors. I cannot sleep due to my RLS…maybe I should look into Requip? Anyone else have this issue and/or on Requip?**

Preschool Visit and Buddies

andrewandtiffanyporter — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 15:19:56 +0000

Will went for his preschool assessment last Saturday and had a great time! We worked on his greetings, name, numbers, letters, shapes, etc. all week. Well, we were told that he has great ball skills…of course, we knew this already He loved seeing his cousin, Cash at preschool and evidently they played really well together! After we were all done, Will said, “I want to go to Charger preschool Mommy and Daddy.” We are excited…and yes, a little emotional. We look forward to his days as a Charger.

Also, Jack and Will have been playing with their buddy Eli a couple days a week…I love it when they just look at each other on the play gym. So cute!!

Loving Life!

Future Chargers

Buddies!

Sweet Jack Wesley

Second Chances

andrewandtiffanyporter — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 21:51:22 +0000

Well, after my last post that mysteriously disappeared, after I worked on it for 45 minutes, I told myself that I quit wordpress. After a few weeks of thinking about it, I have decided to give it another try…I’m a sucker for second chances! Of course this prompted me to think about second chances in life and I am so glad that I am also given second chances…or third, fourth, seventy. You get the point. Thank you Lord for not quitting me when I mess up…

During the time of my brief wordpress boycott, here’s what has been going on in our world: Will’s 3rd birthday, Valentine’s, and some other fun activities…glad to be back!

Went to bed 2, woke up 3!!

Birthday Lunch with Grandma

Rockin Out with Daddy at the Science Museum

Shaving with Daddy...what a great gift from Grandpa Terry and Granny Shanny!

Will's party was canceled because of the weather, but that didn't stop us from having a Bob the Tomato birthday cake!

Trying out his new soccer shoes from Papa and Abuela...he has mad skills!!

Jacque and Allison hosted a Stella and Dot party for me in Tulsa...so much fun!

One of my Valentines...

2 more Sweethearts

White Christmas 2009

andrewandtiffanyporter — Wed, 06 Jan 2010 20:38:52 +0000

Fun Fun…and more Fun!

andrewandtiffanyporter — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 04:56:54 +0000

We took Will to see two of his best friends the other day…Bob and “Warry”!! We told him on the day of the concert that he was getting a surpise, but I don’t think he knew what he was in for. It was so fun to see him get so excited…pure joy! Matthew West had a Christmas concert after the Veggie Tales Christmas movie and it was great. We had such a fun time together! We also had a fun night out with our friends-Mamasitas and then back to our house for a little Bean Boozled…yes, we finally talked everyone into playing this gross, yet hilarious jelly bean game! I have to say that rotten egg has to be the worst flavor yet…pure disgust! One last thing-Andrew and I actually had a date last Friday night…wahoo!! Matt and Olivia got Andrew tickets to the Thunder game, gift certificate to Red Prime (yummy), and babysitting for his 30th bday so we took them up on it. We had the best time just being together-makes it so special since it’s pretty rare these days What a blessing for us-thanks so much Matt and O!!

Gobble Gobble…and Bedlam!

andrewandtiffanyporter — Sat, 28 Nov 2009 22:24:42 +0000

We celebrated Thanksgiving this year with Andrew’s family at Grandma Jean’s and Grandpa Don’s house. His dad and step-mom Shannon were in OKC from Denver so it was great spending time with them too! In the evening, we went to Mom and Jim’s house and had a lot of fun with the family! Of course, Andrew brought Bean Boozled so there was a lot of laughing and brotherly love

We have so many blessings and so much to be thankful for…family, friends, our health, freedom to worship freely, and so much more! We give thanks to the Lord for our new son, Jack Wesley. He is the sweetest baby and brings so much joy to our lives. We also thank Him for our son, William Andrew. He is so much fun and has such a big heart. He told us on Thanksgiving day that he was thankful for “learning about Jesus” and it just melted our hearts. God has provided for our family in such big ways this year and we are incredibly thankful!

Bedlam was also great…as Will says, “Poor OSU!!”

Sweey baby Jack

Sooner Born and Sooner Bred!

: Will and Cash

: Grandma and Jack