Welcome to CoddingtonTribe.com. We hope you enjoy visiting our family and learning a little bit about each one of us. We can’t promise that this site will always be up to the minute accurate, but we can tell you that it will always have snippets from our family life and adventures together.
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Children often offer the world great nuggets of wisdom and humor, but we often forget to write them down and remember them. This series, “Things Kids Say”, is an attempt to capture the nuggets our kids share.
This actually happened this past fall, but I typed it out and never posted it.
We rent our home. We are constantly reminding the kids that our home is not our own so we need to treat it with respect and be careful. They try not to run their hands on the walls on trips up and down the stairs. They work hard not to scrape or damage windows, wood, rugs, etc. As well, when we go to a store or places like that, we remind the kids not to touch everything and to be careful. If they break something, they will have to buy it. I am quite sure this is a common practice for most parents.
Apparently, these two concepts came together in Kasey’s mind the other day. I was walking past our steps and the edge of my foot caught on the corner of the molding on the bottom step. I tripped, and the hit on the molding made a big noise because I knocked the corner piece off and it went skidding across the wood floor. Karen called from upstairs to see if I was okay. Kasey ran in from the living room and after seeing I was fine, she took a good look at the ugly gap on the step and the piece of molding that used to reside in the gap, now 10 feet away on the floor. Her next statement cracked me up.
Her arms went up in the air in a typical frustration pose and she said with complete and serious conviction, “Oh great! Now we have to buy this place!”
wes©
Life is full of incredible stories. We often forget to share those stories to inspire others This category of our blog will be dedicated to the cool stories in our lives as well as those we hear from others. Get inspired by a story somehow? Be sure to pass the inspiration along in love and action.
This story is cool for us on a number of levels. Karen and I got home from the hospital yesterday mid to late afternoon. We were the only ones home and I headed straight to bed to rest. Kadin arrived home from school and immediately came up to greet me and Karen as well, as she was sitting on the side of the bed. He shared about school and asked about my health and we chatted for about ten minutes.
Kadin then moved into his daily routine and asked if he could have a snack. We barely said the affirmative words and he bolted out the bedroom door and started down the stairs. He was thinking out loud about what snacks there might be. In my mind, I instantly began to crave a Swiss Cake roll. I had not eaten much of anything in the hospital and Swiss Cake rolls seemed the perfect reward food for my “less-than-ideal” week. But I knew we probably didn’t have any. Anyway, my pondering was cut short as we continued to listen to Kadin as he suddenly declared, “Oh, I’ll go look in the groceries.”
Karen asked him what groceries he was referring to and that she had not been shopping yet and as he headed to the front door, he said, “All the groceries on the front porch and walk!”
Karen was now part way down the stairs when he opened the door and began looking through bags. Karen arrived to find 6-8 bags of groceries just sitting there. I was still upstairs and was kind of listening to the shuffle. Kadin helped her bring all the groceries in and then delightfully declared that he had found the snack bag. Karen was apparently beginning the process of taking stock and putting it all away. 2 gallons of milk, 3 loaves of bread, a dozen and a half eggs, snacks, pasta, canned food, you name it.
After a while of just hearing cupboards opening and closing, finally clambered out of bed and slowly made my way down the stairs. Near the bottom, Karen handed me a card (bet you thought I was going to say a Swiss Cake roll). The card, and food, were from a local church where Karen does the bookkeeping (Langhorne Pres. for you locals). The card had a significant gift card for the grocery store in it and the prayers and well wishes of their staff (who are extraordinary followers of Christ who have supported Karen and our family plenty). We just looked in each other’s eyes and both knew we thinking the exact same two thoughts:
1. Once again, God has provided. He says He will. He cannot lie.
2. When the heck was Kadin going to mention all the groceries?!?
After looking at the card, Kadin walked by the stairs eating a Swiss Cake roll. No joke, there was a box of them in one of the bags. God even adds the little stuff too sometimes.
wes©
We are headed home. Thanks for the prayers, love and support.
This is wes©. I am doing quite well this morning. I think the worst is over and I am fast on the road to recovery. I won’t post the details of my difficulties now, I am just grateful to be on the other side. Thank you for your prayers and thoughts. I am particularly thankful for the Word. Many of you carried me through with great and simple expressions and reminders of what God has told us in the Bible.
I think sometimes we forget that the Bible was given to us for us and for a purpose. To remind us who God is, what He can do, what He has done and how we can make it through this life He created. Too often the Bible becomes a book we look at during a Bible Study or in the church service, and at that time, we feel inspired and really taken by the truth we discover or are lead to. But when *real life* hits, we quickly, and usually unintentionally, abandon the Word and begin solving our issues with human convention. The Bible is living and active, sharper than a double-edged sword. It pierces deep, even to dividing soul and spirit. It judges our attitudes and heart. Perhaps that is why we shy away from it. The truth and power it wields is intimidating. It might expose something that we don’t want to have exposed. It might make us aware that in fact, we are the problem in a particular situation, not the person we are blaming. So to avoid having to face shame or apologize or see truth, we avoid the penetrating eyes of scripture, quite content to have it shared from a pulpit where it probably won’t get too specific for us, as we are just a single listener among many and there is no real accountability to follow through. I don’t know, but here is what I can tell you…
My Confession
This trip to the hospital was one that clearly God had planned for sometime. Of course I had my plans too. This would be easy, I’d only miss a day of work, I’d be back up and at it in no time. But in the middle of my plans, God said, “Now wait a moment, I have some plans here too. I don’t recall you checking your plans with me.” Now God did not come out right and say that, He did it in His usual ‘climb in the window on the second floor instead of knocking politely on the front door’ sort of way. He is so good at knowing the best way to get our attention and do what is best for us. He is the master at using the unconventional to bring our attention to the smallest yet most pertinent detail for our good. That’s what He did this weekend.
I was suffering and going through new treatments that seemed like designed torture methods and losing sleep and thinking that this was not the plan. I even tried to alert you in my quick post before the major suffering came, by typing that this was not what I had in mind. I recall telling Karen that this time through I thought God’s Spirit might have left me, I could make it through and endure, but it felt like it was more on my power than the way it used to be, with me depending on Him. Then the real trials came. The inability to take in enough oxygen, the excess liquids crushing my heart, lungs and surgery site. The procedure to try (4 times) to get a tube in my nose and to my stomach, which I was sure they were doing wrong and my brain was going to get pierced. The fear and loss of mind control from a possible overdose of narcotics to start all the previous off, etc. Clearly I was not in control of this weekend procedure. It was after I had been through the worst and was still trying to recover and get my bearings. It was after I had lay for hours pondering what had happened while soulfully feeling every hard swallow due to the hard plastic in my nose and throat. It was after I finally conceded and gave the victory to God and muttered in my soul “I give up” even though I did not even know what I was giving up or that I had been resisting, it was after all that, that God spoke to me through His Word. Some one had sent an email with a simple message and scripture.
“But he said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.’ Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.”. 2 Corinthians 2:9
(Thank you Betty for your perfect timing and wisdom in scripture choice.)
This scripture is one I know well. It has been the centerpiece of many a fine sermon and mentioned plenty is Christendom as a great verse of encouragement. But I was not living it. I was not claiming it. I was not looking to be weakened so that Christ in me could be glorified. God had to kind of force that on me or sneak it in, so to speak. That reminds me of another scripture that tells me no plan of God’s can be thwarted, but that’s another sermon for another time. For me, I am grateful to my God who does not give up on me in spite of the slow learner that I am. I am grateful that He uses His Word and others to speak into my life. I am grateful that He brought you into my life to pray and remind me of His wise counsel found in His Word. I am grateful that in a dark time in my life, He once again used His Word, His Spirit and His people to change my life and perspective. It was Betty’s scripture that really caught my attention and that God probably intended me to see at this point in my life. But it was all your scripture, and songs that quoted scripture, and your words of encouragement based on scripture that ministered to me this whole time. Thank, thank you, thank you. I. Certainly don’t know the mind of God and cannot pretend to know it, so I have no clue what else He has for me concerning this recent hospital stay. But I will be sure to try to live in my weakness and wait for His power to come, which is made perfect in my weakness.
By the way, are you quoting scripture but letting it’s authentic, life-changing words by-pass your heart? Might I humbly recommend against it. Recall that I referenced Job 42:2?
Last night around 8:00, what started out as a little walk became a quick race to the bathroom. Wes’ bowels have finally produced. It is now 1:30 and once again he has discharged the waist.
We thank you for the continual prayers and wanted to let you know so that you could celebrate with us. God is with us.
Karen
Emotionally and physically it has been a challenging day for Wes. Since the NG tube was inserted this morning he has been discouraged. The tube was inserted to remove the bile in his stomach that is not being passed. His bowels are dormant, most likely from the high doses of pain medication that he was taking previously.
He did have an episode when they tried to give him oral medicine. They stopped the flow of the NG tube to administer his medicine. When he went to swallow, some medicine got stuck between the tube and his throat. After much force, with swallowing and drinking lots of water, it finally went down but right back out the NG tube, which they had started back up to control the vomiting. They then decided to give all medication through the IV. Good choice!
Wes’ blood pressure has been elevated (more than usual) and he has been hot and cold all day. He is not running a fever, his vitals are normal and his labs are coming back good as well. So far there seems to be no sign of trauma to the kidney.
This afternoon Wes had a CT scan on his chest and an ultra sound on his legs making sure there are no clots in the pulmonary arteries. All tests came back negative.
They gave Wes a second blood pressure medicine this evening and it seems to be helping him feel increasingly better. His bowels have been slowly making more and more noises and the current plan is to have the NG tube removed first thing in the morning. His breathing is still a little shallow because of the earlier pressure from his bowels, but he is faithfully exercising his lungs to get them back to full expansion.
All your words of encouragement, prayers, and use of scripture are much appreciated. At times like these it keeps Wes (us) pressing on.
Karen
It has been a rough morning. I arrived at the hospital around 1:00am. Prior to my arrival Wes had vomitted. When i came to his room, Wes had bags of ice surrounding his body. He was feeling pressure on his lungs and was experiencing shortness of breath. His vitals were all normal however he had not passed gas or had a bowel movement. They suspected that his bowels were backing up. After some time they called for X-rays.
Although his oxygen levels were good the doctor ordered him to have a nebulizer treatment. At 3:00 an X-ray was done on his chest and abdomen. The doctor on call chose to move Wes to ICU for closer monitoring. After his X-ray Wes was transported to his room from his first transplant. He was quickly met by Dr. Ponzio (the on call Dr) and Dr. Munsio who explained his X-rays and said his lungs look fine but his bowels were distended. They suggest a tube that would pass through the nose done to the stomach to remove the excess bile. This was a grueling process for Wes (and myself) but after multiple tries it was finally in and removing the bile and air from his stomach. By 5:00 Wes was able to rest.
From my understanding, the tube will remain in his nose until it shows no sign of backup and Wes is able to at least pass gas. The doctors want to give his bowels a rest.
Wes is still feeling hot and every now and then ice cold clothes are placed on his forehead arms and legs to cool him down. Overall he is feeling some relief. Btw, he just passed gas twice! Yeah! Amazing how in times like these we get excited over what is usually a common occurrence.
Thanks for all the prayers and support.
Karen
Ps. When I said resting it is mostly from being poked, prodded, and moved around. The NG tube is very uncomfortable and is keeping him from getting sleep. (8am) they are working on getting him some Benadryl.
This is an urgent request for prayer. As mentioned 2 and 1/2 hours ago Wes was in a lot of pain. It has not subsided and they believe that it may be respiratory. He is feverish and they have bags of ice surrounding him. Please Pray!
Thanks,
Karen
I just got off the phone with Wes. He has had a rough evening. Around 5:30 he went for a walk and was having extreme gas pains. He began perspiring and his surgery site was hurting. He has not had any food since this afternoon. They were going to put him on solids tonight but with the pain he hasn’t eaten anything yet.
He has been sitting in an upright position for the past 3 and 1/2 hours waiting for the gas pain to subside. The nurse just gave him some more pain medicine and once it kicks in, he is planning to try to get up and walk again and see if that will help move the gas out. He is exhausted and being pushed to the limit with patience.
Please continue to uplift him in prayer. I am not able to be with him tonight but I plan to be there first thing in the morning after the kids get off to school.
Karen