Happy Birthday, Blake!!

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Hello, bloggy world!!

There is SO much I could say about the last week and the huge blessings in a significant health trial…..

but for now – I am going to tell you about a very important birthday!

My sweet hubby had a birthday a week ago Saturday!

We finally celebrated it tonight!

Four of our favorite people joined us – and it has my smile BRIGHT and my heart SINGING still!!

We had a DELICIOUS meal of pork tenderloin, talapia, baked potato bar, green beans and bacon, salad, and cranberry applesauce!

Then David took this photo of our original nine!

We had a great time purchasing gifts for Blake!

After dinner it was time to let him open them!

A new family photo for Blake’s desk!

Don’t you just LOVE that photobomber?!? SO cute!

Some chocolate espresso beans! Which I think he has already hidden!

His favorite book series!

And he also received lots of new clothes!

Last, but not least, dessert!

My man could eat tacos everyday of his life and be very happy with that!

I am not sure how many birthdays in a row he has picked roasted bananas and ice cream for dessert!

But we had them again tonight! At his request!

What a special night!

My smile is still BRIGHT!

Did I already say that?

I wanted to write a tribute to Blake like I have done before.

But then I read the one Kayla wrote in honor of her Dad on Instagram.

And I knew that I could never say it better!

I think you now agree that I was right!

What a precious tribute to our amazing man.

I cannot imagine a better life than the one the Lord has chosen for us!

We are blessed beyond measure, heirs in the grace of life, determined to follow the Lord’s leading, and to make the best choices we can.

What a great pleasure to celebrate my hubby tonight!

It is way past my bedtime….but my sweet grand babies and their people were here….and I am WAY to wound up to sleep!

Happy, happy birthday, Blake!

WE LOVE YOU TO THE MOON AND BACK!!

A Great Report

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We received a call from American Family Children’s Hospital yesterday afternoon with the results of Tate and Eliza’s sedated bladder study.

We could not be more pleased with such a great report!!

Tate’s bladder showed significant improvement, which is something the doctor said she never says! We attribute this change to the fact that Tate is now taking the medication he needs, which is something he was not receiving in China.

Eliza’s bladder study showed that she is STABLE! She has been on the same medication longer. Stable is what we were praying to hear with both Tate and Eliza!!

These two cherubs love to play doctor! Looks like they have a lot of patients to take care of!

With Spina Bifida, changes in the bladder would indicate that the spinal cord is tethered, which means that the spinal cord is being pulled because it is “stuck” in old scar tissue. We might see these changes visibly here at home if Tate or Eliza start having accidents, or we may only see these changes on this sedated bladder study. Other changes when the spinal cord tethers would be numbness in their thighs and legs, pain in their back, and/or changes in their bowels. If one of their spinal cord tethers, it requires spinal surgery. If surgery is not done to untether the cord, permanent nerve damage can occur, and normal function of the bladder, bowel, and legs can be lost. We have been through spinal surgery once with Eliza, but Tate had all of his initial surgeries in China. It is certainly something we are hoping and praying to avoid!

The BEST news for my Mama’s heart is (unless something unexpected comes up) that Tate nor Eliza will need this sedated procedure for TWO years!!

Now that’s a good report!!

Thank you, Jesus!!

And thank you AFCH for the amazing care you give to our precious cherubs!!

A Week of Rest

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Our weekend this past weekend started with a bang when my sweet hubby told me he took Friday off from work!

No better gift he could give to his wife – her love language is the gift of TIME.

I was SO excited! I would have danced! But we had company at that moment – so I danced on the inside instead!

Friday night was date night.

The BEST kind of date night.

The kind that starts BEFORE dark!

We had such a great time – and my voice returned just enough for me to tell my man everything I needed wanted to say!

This illness that has been hanging around here is SO finicky!

The littles showed no symptoms last week – but they slept a lot – which made it seem like they were fighting illness away!

When I went looking for Lane at dinner time on Sunday, I found him like this –

He had a fever and was not feeling good at all. Poor buddy.

By the time his eyes were open again late Monday morning, Chad was not feeling well and in bed.

The boys have runny noses now, but are back on their feet.

The littles, the bigs, and Blake have been spared so far.

I, on the other hand, ahem….will have a compromised immune system no matter what I do, me thinks.

BUT – I had a sweet friend who gave me some colloidal silver to take – and it is working WONDERS.

Thank you, Jesus!

I think I might have/had a smidge of pneumonia.

Instead of getting back to school like I had thought we would – this week we are resting.

Staying home.

Being together.

Even my guys could not get to work on Tuesday morning when we woke up to solid ice outside!

It has been so nice to just be still and enjoy these kiddos!

SO much I never want to forget!!

During dinner one night Tate said, “DAD!! I ate all my kitchen (chicken) so look at my knuckles (muscles)!”

SO close!! Good English buddy!!

We have been working a lot of puzzles, reading books, and watching shows!

SO thankful for this slow pace, but I did plan school for the next few weeks and have lots of fun things I am looking forward to!

So thankful, too, that this illness was so slight – even though I had to concentrate to take a breath sometimes!

It is below zero here in our neck of the woods, and the roads on this ridge are still covered in ice, with a thick layer of sand on top!

The furnaces, fire, and Kuerig are keeping us warm!

I think we will stay in a forced state of rest through the weekend!

I hope to spend some time reflecting on the past year, and praying over this coming year!

It’s 2017!!

The best is yet to come!!

Christmas Celebrations

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We are in a new season of life this Christmas!

We have reached the stage of life where we have big kids that are working (and of course Kayla being married and having a family of her own), so we had quite a few schedules to consider when planning our Christmas celebration!

Addie Mae had to work on Christmas Eve until noon, but we still decided to have our family Christmas meal that evening.

I miss her when I work in the kitchen without her!!

Thankfully I had some guys that were very willing to help me out!!

Addie Mae did put her special touch on all the decorations and gift wrapping.

Everything looked SO beautiful!!

Blake blessed us by buying a huge ham at the Co-op for our special meal. It was delicious!!

Blake’s boss always gives gifts to all his employees’s children under the age of 10.

We let Lane, Tate and Eliza open their gifts from him on Christmas Eve.

I usually buy a new game each year as a gift for the family.

We learned the game Tenzi last year at a friend’s house on New Year’s Eve, and have been playing it with a jar of dice I already had by reading the rules on line.

When I saw they had cards to go with Tenzi, I knew it would be the perfect game to add to our collection!

Christmas morning started out with some cuddles, some of Addie’s yeast-free cinnamon rolls, and getting ready to head to church.

Oh my – we sang our hearts out at church! It was SO beautiful!!

After a quick, late lunch of left-overs, we packed up to head to Clyde’s new place!

David and Kayla had their foster baby girl on Christmas day, and we wanted to keep things calm and easiest for her.

We had drawn names within our family to exchange one small gift, but also the kiddos had gifts from my Mom to open.

I have lots of photos!!

The weather on Christmas day was crazy.

It started out pouring rain around lunch time.

Then the wind started to gust at around 50 mph here on the ridge!

We knew there was a great chance of icy roads, but on the way to Clyde’s place the roads were fine.

We only stayed a little while, but on the way home it was ICY.

We drove between 20 and 30 mph the whole way home!

SO thankful we all arrived safely home – because we all do not fit in our van anymore – we had a car load of our kiddos behind us on that highway.

After not feeling very good on Christmas Eve, by the time we arrived at Clyde’s place I was losing my voice and not feeling well at all.

That began the illness that has been in our home this past week, and still is in our home!

BUT – I will remember this Christmas with sweet, fond memories – because it was our newest granddaughter’s first one with us.

Which made it very, very sweet.

This last month or so has held A LOT of emotion!

The story that the Lord is writing leaves us in AWE.

As I read the book of Luke during my quiet time the week of Christmas, a lot of the words there left me in awe too.

I think Jesus’s birth has to be the BEST story ever, ever retold.

Wouldn’t you agree?!

We did not send out Christmas cards this year (hopefully next year!), but we hope you all had a very Merry Christmas!!

Happy New Year!!!

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