Happy Mother’s Day to all of the mothers out there who do such a wonderful job of raising children. I am especially thankful for my wife today. Seeing how she cares for our two children is amazing and lovely, and I am honored to raise a family with her. Not only that, but she is my best friend, and it’s a lot easier to do things together when you love being together so much!
Have a wonderful day today, my bride!
Renée and I sit outside between baby feedings, enjoying the warm spring air, listening to the birds chirp.
Mark: “It sounds so weird when there’s no birds chirping outside; it’s really relaxing when they chirp.”
Renée: “Yes, I have always wondered, where do they go all winter? Mexico?”
Mark: “The southern hemisphere, where’s it’s summer.”
Renée: “Oh, okay, so Mexico.”
Mark: “Uh, no.”
Renée: “I mean, Chile! Chile!”
Mark: <laughs>
Renée: “Looks like you’re going to be teaching our children history, too!”
Mark: “You mean, geography?”
Renée: “Uhhh… yeah!”
I was thinking of my sweet Aunt Alice tonight, (she passed away just last week)… and suddenly remembered a line from a poem that she used to quote to me. I always loved the imagery as a child:
“And the night shall be filled with music, And the cares that infest the day
Shall fold their tents like the Arabs, And as silently steal away.”
–Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
Today was Noah’s due date. I never would have imagined I’d be meeting him two and a half weeks after Christmas! And he’s already 5 weeks old now. Crazy. But he’s a delight and we’re pressing on. 
Renée has likened our experience over the past month to that of a roller coaster ride: up one day and down another. This past Thursday and Friday have held one of those humps.
Thursday morning started with an ultrasound of Noah’s head to check for any abnormalities, just as a precaution, since he has yet to master the coordination between breathing, sucking, and swallowing, making it very difficult for him to eat. Thankfully, the ultrasound came back completely normal, showing no abnormalities. We as his parents were able to breathe a sigh of relief… for a moment.
Early Thursday afternoon, Renée received a call from the hospital asking for both her and I to be available for a consultation. Renée wanted to know what the need was, and the nurse explained that she and several other nurses had reason to think that Noah showed signs of Down’s, cerebral palsy, or other disorder, and that one (or more) of these was to explain his slowness in learning to eat. They wanted to have a geneticist come by to examine Noah and run some tests to make sure everything was okay.
Of course, this sent Renée and I into hysterics. Despite the nurses trying to console us by noting that the tests were only precautionary, every single possibility ran through our head of what could be wrong. It’s difficult when the suggestion is made to simply discount it and put it out of our heads.
Needless to say, we didn’t sleep exceptionally Thursday night. Since we’re still slightly sick with colds, Renée’s mom and my dad went to the hospital when the geneticist came by Friday afternoon to examine Noah.
An older gentleman, the geneticist is very well-respected in his field and is nationally-renowned. After his 40-minute examination of Noah, he turned to talk to my father and mother-in-law. He explained that from his examination of Noah, there were over 350 diagnoses that he could completely rule out. He concluded that everything about Noah was completely normal and there was nothing noteworthy at all to even warrant further testing. He mentioned that his jaw was perhaps slightly underdeveloped and that his tongue was slightly large, but anyone who knows me and Renée know that those traits are inherited (bless his heart, poor kid). Those two things may be reason enough for his difficulties in eating, but just require time and more practice to get better.
What an answer to prayer! All of my family felt as though a gigantic burden had been lifted from our shoulders. We are so thankful that God is continuing to protect our little boy and grow him up. He IS drawing us to our knees to show us that He is in control.
Frankly, this is really, really hard. Every single day is a struggle. But like I mentioned before, God is carrying us through everything.
On another note, since Renée turns 30 on Saturday (happy birthday, sweetheart), I thought it would only be fitting to surprise her with something she’d never expect. Thursday night, her best friend Tiffany flew in from Houston and walked through the front door to surprise Renée with a much needed hug and much-needed company; she’s here with us until Sunday. Actually planned since early December, her visit comes at an opportune time to help us with everything.
Please everyone continue to appeal to our Father for His help in our time of need. We continue to appreciate all the support we’ve received from family and friends!
I want to first thank everyone who knew what was going on with us for their prayers. We are deeply appreciative of all the efforts to support us and lift us up during this trying time.
For those who don’t know, on Friday, January 11, around 11:50am, Renée, my brother Scott, Samuel, and I were involved in a car accident while heading westbound on Lomas right in front of the University hospital here in Albuquerque (I was driving). Someone traveling eastbound was attempting to turn left into the hospital parking lot by sneaking through two lanes of stopped westbound traffic, but we were in the right-lane, which was flowing freely. This person tried to cross and was too late for us to avoid hitting her, so we ended up t-boning the vehicle.
It’s our belief that our Toyota Camry gave up the ghost (the other driver’s car was worse); fortunately, though, everyone else is okay, save for myself; I have airbag “road-rash” burns on my neck and lower-right cheek, as well as some hearing loss in my left ear from the explosion of the airbag and the impact. Unfortunately, since Renée was 34 weeks pregnant, they took her and I to Presbyterian hospital in an ambulance for observation.
The trauma from the accident sent Renée into premature labor, five weeks early. So, after 20 hours of labor, at 8:39am January 12, 2008, Renée delivered naturally a beautiful, healthy, 5 lb. 10 oz., 17.5″ long……
Baby Boy!
So Noah Paul Horlbeck entered this world with a crash! Unfortunately, He is having some slight difficulties breathing and eating and is currently in the neonatal intensive care unit, so please continue to pray for his health. He’s already been there for a week; we’re praying it’s not much longer.
The Lord has provided for us in amazing ways this past week, so thank you again to everyone who has supported us so much during the traumatizing time—your prayers had everything to do with helping us through! Although we’re one car down, we’re one family member up and our spirits are high!
Check out Flickr for pictures. Check out Scott’s blog for another tantalizing version of the story.
We had a lovely new year’s eve… a quiet evening just the three of us. We ordered a pizza and hung out and did our usual night time routine. Samuel made Mark and I kiss over and over again at Bible time which was wonderful! It’s so cute how he pushes our faces together.
After he went to bed, we made a ton of chocolate chip and toffee cookies, which we downed with a cold glass of milk… all while cuddling on the couch as we watched Amazing Grace blown up on our wall with the projector. It was a truly wonderful movie and a fun night altogether. One of our favorite quotes from the movie– John Newton: “Although my memory’s fading, I remember two things very clearly. I’m a great sinner and Christ is a great Savior.” Amen!
Today we’re enjoying the last day of Mark’s vacation before it’s back to the grind. We hung out with some friends at Jen and Dan’s annual New Year’s Day gathering and that was really fun. I put an elk meatloaf together for dinner and now it’s time to bake some golden wheat bread. We’re rejoicing in the Lord’s goodness to us for 2007 and are excited to see what 2008 will bring. Happy New Year, everyone!