Miles in Hospital Thursday

Miles will be in the hospital Thursday for an outpatient procedure, an endoscopy to figure out the source of his chronic severe stomache aches, present for the past 9 months but becoming more frequent and painful in the past month. We hope they can find a reason for this but also believe in may be emotional and stress related and rooted in his frustration with his illness. More than once, and as recently as last week, through tears of sadness, confusion, anger and who knows what else, Miles sobbed "Why did God give me diabetes?" That's a tough one to deal with when asked by a mature Christian who's suffering; it's heartbreaking to hear your 10 year old son ask it.

Meanwhile every spare moment these days is spent painting hardiplank siding. A gang of guys from church and I are tearing off the 30 year old cedar siding that is in terrible shapr, on 2 sides of our second story (the first floor is brick, and the streetward sides of the house are tudor style stucco). I figure it's easier to paint the stuff on the ground. I have 60 pieces of 8 inch siding still to do - 12 feet long. I've got a couple sawhorses set up in the garage and I can paint 10 pieces at a time. I do a batch at lunch, a batch before dinner and a batch before bed. I'll finish Weds night and then take Miles to the hospital on Thursday. Pictures will follow.