OK- maybe not.
But he sure fooled us!
It's tough being so darn cute.
Monday, March 15, 2010
Nate's Boogie Board Adventure
Even Nate learned to boogie board on our trip.
OK- maybe not.
But he sure fooled us!
It's tough being so darn cute.
OK- maybe not.
But he sure fooled us!
It's tough being so darn cute.
Sunday, March 14, 2010
Road Trip Part 2
Lots and lots of playing in the water for Emma...
I think this board was particularly good for Matt. It suits him.
And the expressions on Anna and Emma's faces here are priceless...
Nate had gotten a splinter in his hand, and wore that paper towel all morning after it was out.
Sara collected shells for everyone, and let us choose.
Here's my shell.
See the pretzel in the seagull's mouth?
The big boys heading out.
Beth was happy as long as her feet never had to touch the sand.
And lots of playing "Blitz" with frisbees... a few adults forgot their ages and played like kids. I think they regretted it the next day.
And, oh, the sunrises... they were worth the price of admission.
I think this board was particularly good for Matt. It suits him.
And the expressions on Anna and Emma's faces here are priceless...
Nate had gotten a splinter in his hand, and wore that paper towel all morning after it was out.
Sara collected shells for everyone, and let us choose.
Here's my shell.
See the pretzel in the seagull's mouth?
The big boys heading out.
Beth was happy as long as her feet never had to touch the sand.
And lots of playing "Blitz" with frisbees... a few adults forgot their ages and played like kids. I think they regretted it the next day.
And, oh, the sunrises... they were worth the price of admission.
Saturday, March 13, 2010
Road Trip 1
We recently had the opportunity to visit friends who are staying on the beach. I thought it would be fun to surprise the kids to a trip to see their friends. I was going to pack the car and just wake them up when it was time to leave and say to grab pillows, that we were going to Florida.
But I soon came to realize that was going to be too hard. So I told them that I had saved some money, and would they like to surprise Eric and kidnap him to a hotel with an indoor pool for a night. They thought that was a great idea. :) So they were surprising Eric, but really we were surprising them.
On Thursday morning we were at Eric's work at 7 when he got off duty. The kids thought I was acting suspiciously, so thought they had figured out the surprise - they thought that we were meeting their grandparents at the hotel with a pool! They were so convinced that Anna said, "I love surprises. But you can never pull one off on us."
Ha! I did it! 13 and a half hours later we were in Florida, just in time to watch the Delta Rocket take off. At least we saw it from a hundred miles away. But we still saw it.
And thus started a week of having a great and relaxing time with friends.
The kids played in a kayak. But it wasn't in the water.
And seashells became currency.
It was a bit cold the first couple days, but they all had fun anyway.
To avoid overload of those family members with dial up (you know who you are... ) I will post more photos in a separate post... stay tuned...
This is also linked to:
Hosted by Cecily and Lolli
But I soon came to realize that was going to be too hard. So I told them that I had saved some money, and would they like to surprise Eric and kidnap him to a hotel with an indoor pool for a night. They thought that was a great idea. :) So they were surprising Eric, but really we were surprising them.
On Thursday morning we were at Eric's work at 7 when he got off duty. The kids thought I was acting suspiciously, so thought they had figured out the surprise - they thought that we were meeting their grandparents at the hotel with a pool! They were so convinced that Anna said, "I love surprises. But you can never pull one off on us."
Ha! I did it! 13 and a half hours later we were in Florida, just in time to watch the Delta Rocket take off. At least we saw it from a hundred miles away. But we still saw it.
And thus started a week of having a great and relaxing time with friends.
The kids played in a kayak. But it wasn't in the water.
And seashells became currency.
It was a bit cold the first couple days, but they all had fun anyway.
To avoid overload of those family members with dial up (you know who you are... ) I will post more photos in a separate post... stay tuned...
This is also linked to:
Hosted by Cecily and Lolli
Friday, March 12, 2010
Cousins
(Grandparent post alert!!! All who really don't care about photos of just the kids can just go come back another day. I am working on a post about our trip to Florida, which will probably be broken to several posts so that I don't overload any one post with the bazillion photos I got.)
~~~~~~~~
On our trip we were able to confirm that these two boys who are only 5 days apart, and gave their Mama's similar pregnancies are truly very, very similar in looks... as suspected.
And although in all these photos Jeremiah seems to be bigger than Sam, they are really quite close in size also.
And they weigh almost the same, although Jeremiah is slightly heavier.
And Jeremiah is louder, too. He talks all the time!!! He had some stories to tell. And someday we'll know what he was telling us. I cannot wait to see these two boys playing together as they get older.
~~~~~~~~
On our trip we were able to confirm that these two boys who are only 5 days apart, and gave their Mama's similar pregnancies are truly very, very similar in looks... as suspected.
And although in all these photos Jeremiah seems to be bigger than Sam, they are really quite close in size also.
And they weigh almost the same, although Jeremiah is slightly heavier.
And Jeremiah is louder, too. He talks all the time!!! He had some stories to tell. And someday we'll know what he was telling us. I cannot wait to see these two boys playing together as they get older.
Thursday, March 11, 2010
Quiet...
If you have noticed that the blog was quiet the last week, it is because I was watching a lot of sunrises instead of blogging. I'll post all about it this afternoon, hopefully.
Since quiet is not something I will usually get with 10 children running around all the time, I will tell you it was a WONDERFUL week at the beach... peaceful and full of great fellowship.
And You Capture's theme happens to be quiet this week, so go there to see other people's photos of quiet, peace-giving things.
Wednesday, March 3, 2010
One Year... What a Difference!
Many of you have been following Mercy's condition and praying for her for years. But for those of you new to her story, here is a summary...
Mercy has a medical condition called PHACE Syndrome. For her, this is manifested in a very large facial hemangioma which extended into her ear, throat, sinuses, eye socket, and brain.
For the first two years of her life, the hemangioma was barely under control. It grew practically before our very eyes. She was given an unsedated laser surgery when 10 weeks old, resulting in laser burns all over the side of her face. These ulcerated, sending her to the hospital for IV antibiotics. When the infection and scabs healed, she was left with a lot of scarring which will be removed with plastic surgery this summer.
Two years ago Mercy was a frightened little girl... If she saw someone in scrubs or white coats she would start crying. Merely entering the elevator of the hospital would cause great fear.
We started going to Cincinnati Children's Hospital just after she turned a year old. She is no longer afraid of everything. This is mostly due to the GREAT staff in the Hemangioma and Vascular Anomalies Clinic. Mercy says Nurse Carol is her best friend.
Which brings me to the point of my whole post. Last year we fought with insurance to approve the funding for an experimental use of Propranalol in reducing hemangiomas. After going all the way to the president of the company, she started it on March 4, 2009. Here is what Mercy looked like March 3, 2009:
What you don't see, is the fact that she was SO small... below the 3rd percentile on the growth chart.
What you also cannot see is the face that she had so little energy. Her heart had to work so hard just to get the blood supply for the hemangioma that there was nothing left to give her energy.
And HERE is what she looked like this morning... a wonderful sunny little girl who has more than caught up both in size, development, and energy.
She has inspired me to overcome all hurdles to get what is necessary for my children. To be persistent and not give up. To realize that it is a fortunate person indeed who wears ugliness merely on the outside, but is beautiful on the inside. Most of us hide our ugliness deeply inside and never let it be seen, yet it eats away as dearly as Mercy scarring.
Mercy's hemangioma has taught me the value of prayer. Many, many people pray for her every day. Literally around the world there are people praying for Mercy's healing. The phrase, "I'll pray for you," may be the most powerful phrase in the English language.
So here we are. One year closer to the end of Mercy's hemangioma. I will not miss it. But I have learned so much. I have made so many friends I would not have had.
And most blessed of all... I have the treasure of being Mercy's Mom. And love it every day.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I must stop now, but if you want to see more photos and read more about our journey, you can go here . Mercy will be having plastic surgery this summer to take away the scarring... feel free to subscribe to the blog if you are interested in hearing how it turns out!
Mercy has a medical condition called PHACE Syndrome. For her, this is manifested in a very large facial hemangioma which extended into her ear, throat, sinuses, eye socket, and brain.
For the first two years of her life, the hemangioma was barely under control. It grew practically before our very eyes. She was given an unsedated laser surgery when 10 weeks old, resulting in laser burns all over the side of her face. These ulcerated, sending her to the hospital for IV antibiotics. When the infection and scabs healed, she was left with a lot of scarring which will be removed with plastic surgery this summer.
Two years ago Mercy was a frightened little girl... If she saw someone in scrubs or white coats she would start crying. Merely entering the elevator of the hospital would cause great fear.
We started going to Cincinnati Children's Hospital just after she turned a year old. She is no longer afraid of everything. This is mostly due to the GREAT staff in the Hemangioma and Vascular Anomalies Clinic. Mercy says Nurse Carol is her best friend.
Which brings me to the point of my whole post. Last year we fought with insurance to approve the funding for an experimental use of Propranalol in reducing hemangiomas. After going all the way to the president of the company, she started it on March 4, 2009. Here is what Mercy looked like March 3, 2009:
What you don't see, is the fact that she was SO small... below the 3rd percentile on the growth chart.
What you also cannot see is the face that she had so little energy. Her heart had to work so hard just to get the blood supply for the hemangioma that there was nothing left to give her energy.
And HERE is what she looked like this morning... a wonderful sunny little girl who has more than caught up both in size, development, and energy.
She has inspired me to overcome all hurdles to get what is necessary for my children. To be persistent and not give up. To realize that it is a fortunate person indeed who wears ugliness merely on the outside, but is beautiful on the inside. Most of us hide our ugliness deeply inside and never let it be seen, yet it eats away as dearly as Mercy scarring.
Mercy's hemangioma has taught me the value of prayer. Many, many people pray for her every day. Literally around the world there are people praying for Mercy's healing. The phrase, "I'll pray for you," may be the most powerful phrase in the English language.
So here we are. One year closer to the end of Mercy's hemangioma. I will not miss it. But I have learned so much. I have made so many friends I would not have had.
And most blessed of all... I have the treasure of being Mercy's Mom. And love it every day.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I must stop now, but if you want to see more photos and read more about our journey, you can go here . Mercy will be having plastic surgery this summer to take away the scarring... feel free to subscribe to the blog if you are interested in hearing how it turns out!
Sunday, February 28, 2010
Sacrifice of Praise
Hebrews 13:15 (New International Version)
15Through Jesus, therefore, let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise—the fruit of lips that confess his name.
~~~~~~~~~~~
I have been singing a praise chorus in my head all day... the one that says, "We bring the sacrifice of praise, into the house of the Lord..."
You may ask why I have been pondering that song today. The words SACRIFICE OF PRAISE never really made sense to me. Why is it a sacrifice to praise our Heavenly Father? It is so easy to praise Him.. he has done so many mighty and wonderful things for me and for the people around me.
But each Sunday morning it is shown me what a Sacrifice of Praise really is. And for the mother of a large family, with many little ones, it is a Sacrifice to praise. It is a Sacrifice to just get to church in the morning. It is a sacrifice to try to get everyone in decent clothing (forget it being ironed), socks that match (or not), and shoes. (Most of the time. Let's not dwell on the time one of my children got to church without shoes. There was a reasonable explanation. Ahem.)
It is a sacrifice just to be there as I am distracted by my many little people. It is a sacrifice to stand holding one of them for the entire service because I don't want them to learn that the church service is a time to play. It is a sacrifice to be there on the days Eric is working and cannot be there to help.
And it is OK. God knows I have not heard an entire sermon in years. It is OK. God understands that my sacrifice is just in getting to His house in the morning. He knows that my sacrifice these days constitutes wiping noses and cleaning sticky fingers.
Someday I will spend hours in prayer. Hours studying the Word. For now I dry tears. I train in righteousness. I try to lead my little ones to Christ.
And that is my Sacrifice of Praise. That is my laying down my life to follow Him.
And He understands.
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