long awaited update

sorry for the delay! things are crazy in our lives as usual. jeramy is back working at alliance financial resources which is the mortgage bank he worked for previously - providing financing for people refinance or purchase new homes. it's been a difficult industry for some time now but they have some exciting programs (some that other banks don't have) and he is working hard to build up his realtor partners and client base again. if you are in the market to buy or refinance or have a friend etc. - let us know and you can help support us in that way!
ok, now that we got that out of the way - gavin has been receiving steroids for a couple of days now to get him off of the ventilator for good! he is now 3 pounds 11 ounces and steadily approaching 4 pounds. just to give you some perspective, he reached 2 pounds on 5/14! we are so proud of how gavin has been doing and it becomes more and more exciting to go and spend time with him each and every day. tracee spends a majority of her day with him and really knows all of the ins and out of who he is. we love that she gets to do that because no one knows him better! he has been in an open crib for a little bit now and has been doing an awesome job of keeping his temperature. he loves his big boy bed! please be in prayer that gavin will continue to ween on his oxygen needs and that he will continue to grow and develop. he received another head ultrasound earlier this week and everything looked the same as the last one. he also received another eye exam and there are still no signs of abnormalities with ROP and his blood vessels still haven't connected to the back of his head. pray that all of that continues to go well!
on another note - when it rains it pours. having a child in the NICU alone is enough to stress you out of your mind. well, for us, we just found out that we probably will have to be out of our place and move by august 1st. hmm...i think gavin is supposed to come home around the middle to end of july...what great timing!! not really. sense the sarcasm in my writing - we are so stressed about where we will go and what we will do - we just started thinking about that as of today. it's sad for us as we just planned/prepared/ and finished gavin's room and now he won't get to enjoy it. we spent time and money putting that together for gavin and at this point it's all for not. i've got to say that we are being pulled through the most difficult time in our lives. we are just about ready to celebrate our 1st year of marriage on june 20th and we have seen and experienced things that most couples might never see in their first 20 years of marriage, let alone life.  we tend to wonder quite a bit these days. as i mentioned earlier, gavin alone in the NICU is enough - but apparently we have other things to continue to go through. with the loss of tracee's income due to short term disability (they don't pay her for that) and the ups and downs of the commission world of mortgage things appear pretty uncertain. it's hard for us to make plans when we don't really have the confidence right now to know what we are doing. but...we do know that with God, sometimes things aren't always what they seem. we  have to place our trust in that right now and trust in Him to make a way. we are so drained on every level: financially, spiritually, emotionally, physically - that's just being real.  but...we will not lose hope. we will continue to act, as best we can, in the face of uncertainty.
we are so thrilled with gavin and his special life. he is our miracle and one of the most amazing blessing we have ever received. pray for us friends and followers. we're having a difficult time with the stresses of this life right now but trust that things are seasonl and for a time. we look forward to sharing many additional blessings with you in the future, we just need to encounter them!!!