Friends, candy and a hayride

Sammy all bundled up on the hayride


Sophia and Alex snuggled together


Alex, Trish and Sophia



Our little princess with her daddy




HAYRIDE!!!!


Today the kids got to wear their costumes and march in a parade. They thought it was a blast to be "in a parade." They also got to have a hayride with their friend Alex. It was really really cold today, so noses and little hands were freezing.
Something else that was kind of cool today, we saw someone who I had taken care of their child about a year or so ago at the hospital. I introduced her by name to Matt, and her response was that I had saved her child. I absolutely did not, but it sure felt nice to know that I had made such an impact in their lives. The even cooler part is that I have invited her to our MOPS group through the church and she has been attending this whole season so far.:-) I love to see how God opens doors for us to witness to others, and to see where that witnessing goes.

Family Fall Fest

Cousins: Ava and Sophia


Three Amigos: Sam Hunter and Taron


Bubble Blaster: The boys had no problems swinging at the bubbles, but the little princesses wanted to pop them one at a time with one finger:-)



Sam Savannah and Sophia


Paige and Sophia working together to get the spiders in the web


Ryan throwing the beanbag to knock down the monkey


Sammy throwing the bean bag


Friends


Little Princesses

We had a great time friday night. We went to a carnival type thing. There were lots of games and stuff for the kids to play, and regardless they got tons of candy. It was awesome because it was at our church, so there was nothing scary or evil. They were warm and they were surrounded by people they knew. We even had some friends come and those kids had a lot of fun too.

More prayer requests

Goodness, it seems as though when God is on the move that the Devil is out to mess with us. Sammy woke up this morning with blood in his stools AGAIN!!!!:-( It is so hard to not get frustrated with this situation. We are praying and believing that this is nothing and that there will be no further bleeding this weekend. Please lift him in your prayers. Also Sammy's little friend Keegan (I have written a lot about him on the blog, see the label list, was on the way to the emergency room earlier today with a high fever and breathing difficulties. Keegan has been on antibiotics and is still getting worse. Please pray for complete healing for his little body too.
Thank you for praying for little Josiah, he is doing much better and has gone home today. We had Josiah's twin brother for the day, and him and Sammy sure did make a mess of our playroom.:-) But they had a wonderful time together, and I am always amazed listening to these little guys talking about God, and Jesus. Some of the conversation today "Well Josiah is in the hospital, but God is telling the doctors what to do to make him better." And then after Ben left, Sammy said a little prayer thanking God for his friend:-) LOVE IT!!!!
We are so excited to be going to our church tonight for something called "Family Fall Fest: Fall Voyage." It is a wonderful time of games and candy for the kiddos, all the while being surrounded by God's love. What can be better than that? NOTHING!!!



Job 16:20 (New International Version)
My intercessor is my friend as my eyes pour out tears to God;

?????

Couldn't come up with a title for todays post. It has been a good day for Sam. Unfortunately he is more congested today than yesterday. It is progressively getting worse it would seem. It stinks that we have just finished the antibiotics on sunday, and already he is starting to get it again:-( Not sure what the plan will be regarding this.
Today I learned of a little girl who has gone on to be with the Lord today. She was 8yrs old and has been battling cancer for two years. I would ask you to please pray for her family, her twin brother, and her two other siblings, one in kindergaten and one that is six months. Please lift this family continuously in your prayers.
Sammy's little friend Josiah is also in the hospital. He is having some respiratory difficulties and is requiring frequent nebulizer treatments. Please keep Josiah, and his family in your prayers as well.
I have been working on a special project recently and have been going through tons of pictures, look at this!!!! This is from Easter 2009. Look how little Sammy was, and Sophia was such a little peanut.

PIZZA!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Enjoying the finished product


Our little masterpieces:-)


The chefs


My kids LOVE to make pizza! We just have whole wheat dough, pizza sauce, mozzarella, and a variety of toppings. They just love to do this, and it is a fun way to let them participate in cooking.
In other news I kind of had forgotten about an application I had filled out for some assistance with our health insurance. Well Praise God today we got the answer that it had been approved! I am just so thankful. It never ceases to amaze me how perfect God's timing truly is:-)
Sammy woke up with a rash today. Not quite sure if this is related to the antibiotics he just finished or not, I guess we will see tomorrow....

Today....

Sammy went to preschool and came home exhausted. He has gotten slightly more appetite back. Still sounds pretty congested, but all in all praise God seems to be doing better. Waiting on a few return messages from doctors to see what the next step is. We will be going to see pulmonolgy next week, as well as going back to Children's for his IVIG. Currently he is scheduled to get his flu shot on thursday, so I am praying that he is healthy enough to get it.
In reading the post today over at Bowens Heart (www.bowensheart.com) I was caught completely off guard. Here is this amazing family right in the middle of a struggle with a beautiful heart baby, and he is being so open and honest with his faith. As I read their story, I am encouraged and inspired, reminded that God is here through out all of this, that these struggles are felt by God too, and that His plan remains perfect regardless of what my plan is. That God's love is flowing through every trial, every struggle, every question I have. His love is washing over us.

Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword?
Romans 8:35

Trombetta's Farm

Today Sammy and I went and celebrated Keegan's birthday at a wonderful place called Trombetta's Farm. This place has a woodworking shop where the kids can make little projects, an indoor miniature golf course (18 holes), and a party room where they supply the food, drinks, and ice cream cake with their own homemade icecream. Sammy had never been mini golfing before so he really enjoyed that as well as the woodworking.
He was pretty worn out after the day and fell asleep on the way home. He sounds so congested but is unable to get any of it to drain, regardless of anything we try. Not sure where to go from here. His antibiotics for the sinus infection are finished tomorrow but he is still very congested. And has started pushing his face up against the floor again.

Terrified...

So yesterday was my grandmother's funeral. Sam slept later than normal and then came downstairs complaining that his belly hurt when he walked, and he was visibly uncomfortable. I pressed on his stomach which greatly increased his pain. To say at that moment that I was terrified would be the understatement of the year. As a nurse my first thought was appendicitis, and then of course my brain flew threw thoughts of bleeding issues is he needed it removed, it rupturing and him having a septic infection which he wouldn't be able to fight off, etc etc... It was horrible.
I quickly made the round of calls to his doctors. And waited extremely anxiously for them to call me back. Thankfully our primary called back and I was able to speak with her on the phone. She was wonderful as usual. We ran through all of his symptoms, and my fears. She reassured me multiple times that she thought he would be ok as we went to the funeral. She also researched where I should go (in relation to the funeral) if something happened while there. She made sure I had all of her numbers to get her immediately if needed...
We then went to the funeral and she said we could come immediately after regardless of time to see her. And that is what we did. Essentially once we saw her was that it was his colon that was inflammed/irritated. After speaking with her we decided that it was ok to be at home, and again was given a bunch of things to look for and to call her if there were any issues.
Today seemed to be a better day today. He isn't eating much at all, but there have been no explosive stools, and no fever. He has pretty low energy and I feel like he is kind of pale but all in all he is doing better. And Dr V being the wonderful doctor that she is called tonight to check on him, and again said that if I needed her to give her a call.

Christening Gown

I feel so priviledged to be a part of this beautiful legacy. My grandmother's christening gown has been worn by many people including her in 1924!!! The pictures don't do it justice. It is the most beautiful exquisite gown I have ever seen. Many of my uncles, my cousins, my second cousins, my niece, and now Sophia has worn this gown.

This is a picture of my grandmother in her Christening gown in January of 1924!!!

And here is my niece Dasanee wearing the gown, at her and Sammy's dedication in September of 2006

And here is Miss Sophia in the Christening gown at her dedication in August of 2008

Grammie's funeral

What an amazing celebration of life we had for my grandmother. I am truly blessed to have known her and had her be such a huge part of my life. She truly inspired me. Her overwhelming kindness and love touched hundreds of people. She had 8 children, and 7 of the eight were able to be there. She had 19 grandchildren, and 16 of them were able to be there. And she has 18 great grandchildren, with three on the way! 6 of the great grandchildren were there:-) It was wonderful to see so many of our family and friends that we don't often get to see.
Although on this earth she is no longer among us, and we will miss her greatly I am so thankful that this is not for eternity, I rejoice in knowing that I WILL see her again:-)


6 of Grammie's 18 (+3 more on the way!) Great Grandchildren

Just because

Cute pictures can make you smile when things are tough....

More bleeding, more sickness, and more questions

Goodness, it feels like I have too much on my plate and am feeling so incredibly overwhelmed. Sammy started having explosive bloody watery diarrhea today, as well as his gums were bleeding. This is something we have NEVER dealt with before so it has been totally upsetting and scary to me. In the past there has been some bleeding if I brushed his teeth too hard, but today the bleeding was completely unrelated to anything.
I called his primary and told her about the diarrhea/bleeding thinking that she would possibly watn to stop the antibiotic. But at this point she wanted me to call the hematologist and GI. Both of these docs called me back with differing opinions: the hematologist believes that the increased bleeding is related to him being on zyrtec even though I was told that this would be fine for him to be on.:-( So she said to take him off it, and to wait a couple days to see if it gets better. If things get really bad with bleeding to bring him to the local ER. The GI doctor is unsure of what to do right now. I am supposed to call in a few days if he is still bleeding.
So I am not sure where this leaves us with Sam. Apparently we are going to wait this out for a few days as long as he is stable. And pray that all of this resolves.
We are also in the middle of planning/preparing for my grandmother's funeral on wednesday. Please keep the family in your prayers as there are many people traveling from all over. Please pray that Sammy is doing well enough to be ok for the funeral as well.

:-(

It has truly been a rough week. Last weekend my mom went down to virginia as my grandmother was doing poorly. They thought that she would do ok for a while longer, but my mom wanted to be there anyway. As this past week progressed we all realized thIt at her days left before meeting her Maker were few. So we started to try to work out a trip to see her. And I am so so thankful that we did. Sammy and I drove down to virginia through the night on thursday, we arrived at 5am on friday morning. We quickly went right up to bed and slept until 9am. When we woke up we went in to see grammie, it was so hard to see her so week and struggling.
But as we went in to her, and spoke with her she smiled and said our name. Sammy was so sweet, he said "GRammie I am trying to kiss your head but I can't reach." God orchestrated this whole thing that we could all get there. I feel so blessed to have gotten to see her. We arrived very shortly before she died. Sammy brought everything into perspective after she had died when he said "Now Grammie can go for walks with Jesus." It is amazing the knowledge and faith that this little boy of mine has. I am so thankful that he knows who God is and God's love for him. Please pray as we have people traveling from around the world for the funeral this week.
Also please pray for Sammy. It has been quite the rough week with him. Towards the beginnning of last week he started running some intermittent low grade fevers, and had the gasping and struggling to breath episodes. He was extremely congested, and the doctor prescribed an allergy med to attempt to help instead of antibiotics. But unfortunately they didn't seem to help, so we have now switched over to the antibiotics. And now yesterday (during our ride home) he has begun to experience bloody stools again. Praying that the sinus infection as well as the bloody stools resolves

Another fun fall day:-)

We had a great day today. We went back to Wildwood Farm. The kids love it up there, as do I. Today I offered the option of hayrides and horse rides. Sam did both, and was beyond thrilled. Sophia didn't want to ride the horse at all, which is so funny since a few weeks ago she road a pony and loved it. But they both enjoyed the hayride.
Sam has had some weird symptoms the last few days so I am a little concerned that something is going on. He had diarrhea on thursday, and has been complaining again that "my bones hurt", as well as a low grade fever yesterday. Today he acted ok, although seemed to not have quite as much energy as normal, and then complained that he was sick a few times. Please keep him in your prayers


Sophia and Auntie Doreen


My handsome little man




Johanna and I


Doreen and Johanna: two of my beautiful sisters


Sam on the horse, he was so excited


The kids going on a hayride with their friends

Frustration

I have now been out of work for ten weeks. After several weeks of me telling the doctor that there was something more than just muscle spasms going on they finally did an MRI. The MRI showed that I had a tear in one my discs in my back, as well as some bulging discs, and edema on my SI joint. I have been going to the chiropractor, acupuncturist, physical therapy, and the workman's comp doctor several times. Multiple appointments each week, and it isn't healed. I had to see a differnt doc this week as the workman's comp doctor was on vacation. The new doc is saying that she believes that the problem is the SI joint, and that I am compensating elsewhere and that is causing all the pain. The frustration comes from the fact that I have seen a multitude of specialists and no one has said that the SI joint could be causing all of the discomfort. She has also said that it being out so long could make it take longer to stay back in alignment, that it could pop in and out before it finally will stay in place. I am just sick of this whole thing and wanting to get back to a normal life. Wanting to bathe my kids without pain, wanting to pick them up, wanting to go back to work...
Sam today is complaining that he is sick again too. Not sure exactly what is going on. He has bad diarrhea, which could be a stomach bug like a normal kid, or it could be something worse. I guess we wait until the morning to see how he does. But please keep him in your prayers

“And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you.” 1 Peter 5:10