Received word that Elliot did pass away at 9:05 a.m.
From Sara’s sister:
Elliot weighes 4.65 pounds and is 18 3/4 inches long. I have attached a couple of pictures so that you can see our beautiful boy.
Elliot passed away at about 9:05. We are all heartbroken, but praise God for the time that we all had!
We are so grateful for your continued prayers and support.
Vanessa
Please remember the family at this time.
Hello everyone!
Here’s the latest from Sara’s family…
Thank you all for your thoughts and prayers today while we are in the hospital.
Elliot was born at 8:05 this morning! He came out screaming and crying! He is beautiful – we have all been able to hold and kiss him and love on him while we can!
Sara is doing very well, the surgery went great and she is not in any physical pain right now.
I will send out pictures and further updates throughout the day. Please keep praying!
Vanessa and Carly (the aunts)
Please keep Sara & Elliot as well as dad, Brandon and sister Sydney in your prayers today and throughout the week.
For more background info, visit here and here.
The latest from Sara:
I just wanted to let everyone know that Elliot Skaggs will be born this upcoming Monday, April 28th. I have a c-section scheduled for 7:30 that morning, so please be in prayer for us, for Elliot, for the Doctors, for everything surrounding that day.
I am confident that God’s grace is going to cover us on Monday, just as it has for the past three months. He has been so good, so faithful, and so abundantly compassionate towards us, and I know He won’t stop now as all that we’ve expected for 14 weeks comes to a head.
I still believe that God can perform a miracle, and that He alone can make Elliot perfectly healthy. That He can place normal sized, fully functioning lungs in Elliot where there were none on the sonogram just a week ago. That He can give him a functioning kidney, completely void of cysts, though the doctors have told us it’s impossible. I believe that He can. But even if He does not, I believe that He will take care of us, and that He will take care of Elliot – even if that’s by taking him to Heaven. The five year old son of one of my best friends reminded me that I shouldn’t be sad if God takes Elliot to Heaven, because “it’s so beautiful there, and Elliot will be much happier there anyway”. And Parker is right. There is suffering and pain and sin on this earth that my son will never have to know. He will be immediately swept into the loving arms of Christ, and though I will long to hold him in mine, I know that there’s no better place for him to be.
From the artist, Ron English:
It’s great to be a criminal, right? You’re in pretty good company. It’s hard to explain to your kids, because they think that if you break the law you go to jail and you’re a criminal. But if you take out a history book, a lot of the people on the forefronts of social movements were considered criminals. We’re just ahead of the curve. Maybe the bad guy is the one who owns and puts up all the billboards all over the neighborhood, selling people malt liquor and cigarettes.
What ad would you change to make people think?
What advertising drives you nuts?
Are you OK with the current rate of consumption/consumerism?
If not, are you doing anything about it?
My buddy Thomas and his wife are heading on a spiritual retreat this weekend with some friends.
Keep them in your prayers.
Thomas is a big encouragement to me – we seem to be asking many of the same questions. We may word them differently or focus on different ones and different times but I think overall we’re asking the same things.
I talked about “Everything Must Change” and spoke of the dilemma / challenge I have with the “Prosperity” section — the one that describes/discusses “Theocapitalism”. We spoke of independent coffee shops, open source software and charity shops as means of subverting the consumerist agenda. Fab.
We then spoke of a joint dilemma we face… how we bring people from “consumption” to “participation” in the expressions of church that we create/facilitate/direct… and how “interaction” is an important stepping stone in the transition.
Keep it up mate. Keep it up!
I read an interesting view on “mother nature” yesterday and why Christians often have a hard time with living green or caring for nature (aka natural conservation – which sounds like the very essence of a conservative).
First off, because most Christians believe the earth is going to be destroyed in the end – so why should we worry with protecting the environment?
Secondly because most Christians traditionally consider themselves “conservative” there is a tendency to be against anything and everything those “liberals” are for.
And third, the idea of a “mother earth” seems mystical or too spiritual or giving too much authority to the rest of creation. It also seems to reflect a Darwinist viewpoint that we all evolved from a single cell somewhere that was birthed my “mother earth.” And I think in addition, there’s a fear that “treehuggers” have taken it their love of God’s creation to the extreme. Some how the dolphins and Pygmy Three-toed Sloths have become more important than humans and well – we can’t have that.
So how about this? What if rather than using the term, “Mother Earth” which tends to give a higher authority to the rest of God’s creation – we used a new term, “Sister Earth?” After all, we do have the same Father/Creator.
Thoughts? Ideas? Have you faced some of the same struggles? Do you care?