Nelson’s baby Will is only three weeks old, but already he has brought some new and interesting challenges to his parents. Nelson gets up during the night along with Ann Sophie, cheering her on and sharing in the hard parts of trying to settle him when he’s crying for unknown reasons.

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April 5, 2022 

Thank you, Lord, that Will finally went to sleep. And with an empty stomach. He gets overtired and hard to settle. It’s a cycle that repeats itself. Raising a kid is pretty hard. Stretches you in lots of ways. I would say the hardest thing is having a problem without solutions.

A crying baby who is upset but has a clean diaper, a full belly, and no known reason to be upset. Won’t sleep, won’t settle, whether he’s held or left alone. We read books, pray, and do the best we can. I hesitate to even pray anymore because it seems when I do pray, the thing I’m asking for definitely doesn’t happen.

Does God answer prayers like, “Please help this baby to drink something,” ? I don’t know, but no one said it would be easy. We are thankful for him and he’s lovely when he’s chill, but that’s not very often. At least not for me.

Annso seems to have stretches during the day when he’s a little angel, but when I show up, he’s jacked up. Maybe he can sense the inner motor I have running and goes off that a little. Overall, we are loving it. The best part of the whole thing is Annso. She’s an angel and makes everything just a little bit better.

The church handoff is pretty much in stone. I’m so relieved about it. I have one more sermon this next week, then Bob Duffer will do the last one which falls on Easter Sunday. We did good. 6 years, at least 5 that Annso was with me. She stood with me the whole time and had more enthusiasm and optimism than I ever did.

Thank you Lord for giving me all these amazing blessings and I hope to be worthy of them, the adversity too.

Came back from HNL [Honolulu] yesterday after an appointment with the Endocrinologist, of which I didn’t know there even was such a thing. Apparently, lots of people have thyroid issues. Hopefully he can resolve mine for me. Pills, tests, levels, etc. No talk of changing diet, which I’m thankful for.

I go into those places assuming they will say to eliminate the things I love to eat and drink, but thankfully, he didn’t. Thank you Lord for Little Will, thank you for the staff team we have here now and for the relatively low key Kokua Crew gang who is here. Thank you for Ally who helps Annso through this time and takes her job. Thank you that you have a plan for the Summer when we hope to leave. I am grateful you give us time together and time off.

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“For this child I prayed, and the Lord has granted the desires of my heart.” (1 Samuel 1:27)