Praying for Amos

Last night Nathan called his mom for an update on Sean, Misty and Amos and it broke our heart to hear the news that Amos is not doing great.
Please, if you have a moment to read the e-mail we received from Sean and Misty and keep baby Amos and them in your prayers we would appreciate it, I know Sean and Misty would too!

Sean & Misty's e-mail:

Hey all,

We’re pleased to announce the birth of our baby boy: Amos Samuel Prorak (Spanish pronunciation of Amos is what we’re going to do, but English is ok).  He was born at 5:29 am on Sunday June 6^th after many hours of intense labor.  He was 8lbs 0oz and 19¾” at birth.  As to why he has a tube in his mouth in his attached picture: being a post-due baby and a little boy he did a very silly thing.  He unfortunately soiled (pooped in) the womb and it ended up in his lungs.  As such, Misty is fine and we are back home now, but Amos is still in special care on a respirator.

It’s not an uncommon thing that happened to him and doctors have told us that most issues that can arise from this condition can be corrected if treated properly; as such, they need to be very aggressive at first to ensure that Amos will be healthy down the road.  Step 1 right now is that they are trying to decrease the oxygen level in the respirator until Amos can breathe normally on his own.  Once that happens we’re expecting at least a week of increasingly going back to the hospital as Amos learns to breast feed and gets increasingly more care from us.  Their three criteria for him to come home are: that he can breathe normally on his own, that he is feeding well, and that he can control his own body temperature.

Please be praying for Amos as he continues to heal.  As well for us as we mourn in not bring able to have our child around just after brining him into the world and the stress that he’s experiencing in his first days of life outside the womb.

Thanks,

SAM P (Sean, Amos, Misty Prorak)

Labor of Love

Our new home is and will forever be a 'Labor of Love', this process has been so amazing to watch unfold and we are blessed beyond words and understanding!  I truly believe that the Lord is building this house right before our eyes!
We intended to hire the crew to dry in our house, which means to get it all framed up, roof on, house wrap, windows, and all the other things that go into a house being built, I'm beginning to realize and learn it's a LOT.  But looking back just over a month since we've started we've only had the help of the crew for a total of 6 days, not even a full crew every day at that.  This is due to them having other contracts that need to be worked on that are more important right now.  So how could we possibly be to the point of having our main floor decked by now?  Because the Lord is building this house and using His willing servants to help us!  We have been so blessed by our friends who have come and already put many, many hours into helping us build our home from dad's to son's and even daughter's.  Just this past Saturday we counted up 60 man hours that were put into the house, WOW, how amazing!  Thank you to all who have served our family, we are SO grateful and blown away by your love and service!  And thank you Lord for your provisions!  You truly are building our house, which is already a home filled with love overflowing! What an amazing testimony of what the Lord does!

 ^ I love watching my kids get in on the action, they are loving it, and excited about our house.  Zeke had fun hammering nails into a board, just like Daddy was doing! ^

^ windows got cut out and basement bearing walls were starting to be built ^

^ Curtis helping out Saturday ^

^ in deep discussion about something... Getting the basement bearing walls up ^

^ lunch break ^

^ getting the bearing walls braced and ready for floor trusses (from left to right, opening for where you'll come down the stairs, first door with a header = closet/ storage under stairs, next door with header is the school room, it will eventually have french doors that's why it's so wide.) ^

^ Zeke watching Layne and Bob and Trevor working on the floor trusses ^

^ overview of the house with floor trusses on ^

^ view of the trusses from the basement ^

^ when Nathan handed Kenzie the hammer it fell right to the ground because it was so heavy for her, but once I got a nail started for her she used two hands and went to work pounding that nail into the wood! ^

^ getting ready to deck the main floor ^

^ they finished up a LONG day Saturday with decking one row of the main floor ^

^ Bob and Layne came over after church for a little bit to help Nate finish decking the floor! Looks amazing!^

^ It was SO cool to walk on my main floor and get an idea of the view we have and what we'll actually be looking at from our windows, and to walk around and know where each room is!  So, so fun! ^

^ I didn't take a lot of pictures of our view because there is still a huge dirt mound there but this is part of our view from the master bedroom, SO beautiful, especially now that everything is green! ^

^ excited to be standing on my main floor!  36 weeks prego ^

^ and I finally put my handprint into our house, after we put the kids to bed Sunday night Nate and I headed to the house together and started putting up the hydro seal membrane, a water barrier between our walls and the dirt.  It was SO fun to be working together, side by side on our house for the first time! ^

Another Labor of Love

We're so excited for Nathan's sister, Misty and brother in law, Sean, who just had their first baby Sunday morning!  I'm finally an Aunt!  And Zeke and McKenzie have a cousin, Amos!!  We wish we could celebrate with our family in person and hold that new precious gift from the Lord!  Can't wait to meet you sweet nephew, Amos!

Flooding

What a week it's been.  And I can only praise the Lord that we have mostly good news to report.  Our rivers have been VERY high this year, and many families outside Minot city limits have already been dealing with water and flooding issues for a while now but it got worse this past week.  Monday Nathan got some work done on the house in the morning before it started pouring rain in the afternoon.  We had heavy downpours and lightning and thunderstorms all afternoon and into the evening.  Late Monday night we got a call from Nathan's boss, Al, who updated us on the river status in the city of Minot and reminded us that all our storage was in their shop basement and he wondered if we had considered moving any of it.  To be honest the thought had never once crossed our minds since we had known things were beginning not to look good with the extra rain and river situation.  So we went into the Paulson's house and decided that Nate and I and Bob and Trevor would head to the shop and try and move some of the more important items to the main floor.  When we were headed into town we ran into a spot on the highway that was now completely covered in water.  So we crawled through the water that had debree floating all around and it was pitch black outside.  We made it to the shop and it was harder than I anticipated deciding what was really important and should be moved upstairs.  We moved a few items when Bob got a call that their neighbor and friends of ours sandbag dike had broke and water was now rushing into their basement.  We decided to leave the shop and pick up sandbags on our way back to their house.  When we got to the area of road that was flooded they only let us pass because we had sandbags, it was too dark to see the road so you just hoped you were driving straight.  We made it to their house by midnight and helped as much as we could.  The next morning it was still raining and that's when we heard the news that Minot was being evacuated (10,000 residents) and the National Guard was being called in and the town was working feverishly to build up dikes all along the river and begin on secondary dikes.  With that news Nathan, Bob and Trevor headed into town and moved all of our items in storage to the main floor.  Also, our windows for our house were being stored at the shop and they were all moved to higher ground.  A 12,000 $ investment that we were really hoping we didn't have to replace.  (my windows are huge, you'll eventually see from pictures when they get put in the house)  Wednesday Nathan and the crew went and filled sandbags and made barriers around the shop windows and doors and then we waited for news until Thursday when the river was suppose to crest.  It was amazing to hear about all the people who helped fill sandbags and pull together to help out and do what we could.  Thursday came with good news:  the river had crested and it was lower than anticipated.  Nathan and the crew had worked out of town that day and when he got home we decided to go on a date.  It was eerie to see so many homes evacuated, and the National Guard directing traffic to let the trucks carrying sand for the dikes through the intersections as fast as possible and then to drive around the areas of town that were not in danger of flooding and seeing all the people who were probably staying with friends or family while they were not allowed in their own homes.  It's hard to put into words, other than describing the facts of what was going on, of how it felt to be in a natural disaster.  Very few areas in town flooded and there were reports of basements flooding due to water coming up through their pipes or the ground, overall the situation was far better than it could have been.  But we are not out of the danger zone yet, the dikes are what are keeping the river in and it's HIGH and there is rain in the forecast, so we'll see what the future holds and we'll keep praying.
But we did want to share our MIRACLE from the Lord!  We sold our house about 6 weeks ago, not knowing what the weather would hold.  Our house we sold sat in one of the lowest areas in Minot and had to be evacuated.  That house was over 100 years old and had already been through two major floods and we suspected it to have mold issues already.  Everything happened so fast and fairly smooth for selling a house,  it was never on the market and the first people who came through offered to buy it at full price and were willing to give us 6 months to live in it before closing on the house so we could figure out what we wanted/needed to do.  We were spared from the stress of possibly being flooded and having to evacuate while I'm in my last month of pregnancy.  And who knows, they could be dealing with minor flooding if water came up from their basement.  The possible damage and concern for more mold growing, so many things that the Lord spared our family from.  We are SO grateful to Him, for His provisions and that He knows all and how He directed our family and continues to! 
And it's amazing how thus far we've been so gung ho about building our house, having Nathan out there every night it's been nice to get as much work and progress done as could be done, and in an instant we didn't even consider it anymore when there were others who were in desperate need of help and the concern for major flooding in town was immanent.  So we've realized it's been hard to get back into the swing of things with building the house and getting out there again as much as possible.  But tonight was the first night this week that Nathan got out there and started working on it.  A good reminder that building our house is not what it's all about.  Yes, we need to work on it but our focus needs to be on the Lord, and He will guide our every step.
Please continue to pray, we have multiple friends who have and are experiencing major flooding in their homes, the river will not go down for a while and there is the potential for the river to rise if we have more rain.  The road is still long and hard for them, as they are still battling the elements and will have major repairs and rebuilding once the water finally recedes.

Keller Paving, on the outskirts of town, major flooding

hwy 52, the road out to where we live, completely flooded and for a period of time was closed

one view of the river, near where our old house was (only a block away)

the shop where our stuff is being stored and where Nate and his crew sandbagged

a dike that was built near the shop