Is it not still Spring Break?

Pardon me while I catch the blog up to real time. With the business of last week I was not able to bring our Spring Break to proper conclusion. It works out perfectly though b/c we had a birthday party for Grey while we were there and today just happens to be his birthday, our little man is is the big 04 today.

Happy Birthday G-man!





It was a zhu zhu pet birthday...he got the critter and all the stuff to go with it, he had a ball.



We went to the Children's Museum in Memphis.

This is Grey snowboarding...



Kids of all ages love playing in the water...



They had the funnest grocery store there...



where you get to check your own self out...





One day was spent at the Memphis Zoo...literally y'all one day, 10:00 to 4:00, yeah it's a big zoo.

We saw this...



this...



and this little cutie...



and this just b/c it makes me laugh...



We also did lots of this...



this...



this...



and of course this...



You know whenever you are out with children and they know you have snacks you will stop and eat and stop and eat until they have finished every last thing you brought and then they will still say that they are starving.





By the end of the day they started wearing down...so it is possible to tire these kids out.



but not until one last picture...



Sophie Kate did you have a fun time at the zoo? I'm not sure she did, what do y'all think?

We finally made it to Friday

Wow...what a week to come back to after our fabulous Spring Break. I have been begging to have that week back again several times over the past few days. Alright, to catch everyone up, I'll start with Sophie Kate. She failed her swallow study again, but we didn't leave completely downtrodden. They are finally going to start her on the therapy that we have been trying to get her in since last fall, it's called vital stim. The only thing is it's a 6 week concentrated therapy and I only have 8 weeks of school left. So I told them if we were really going to do this we needed to have started yesterday. I hope they are really serious about getting her going if not we will have to wait until school starts back in August.

Now onto Jacob, we took him in for surgery this morning at 7:45. He got his bionic ear as we have affectionately been calling it around here. Some of you may remember the cyst that was removed from his ear back in October, well, when they did that they also took out almost all of the bones of the middle ear. Come on...y'all remember don't you, the anvil, hammer and stapes, biology class ringing a bell to anyone? Anyway, after making sure that the cyst wasn't going to start regrowing, the doctor was then ready to go back in and place a titanium bone among a lot of other things as well...aka the bionic ear.

This child has been absolutely amazing through this whole process. He has made today so easy on his mama and daddy and that wasn't even his job. After what he went through with the last surgery he had every right to be whiny, irritable and scared but he wasn't, he showed no fear whatsoever. I am telling you he is the only one of our children that could have handled this in such a way. I love them all dearly but Jacob has walked through all of this with a great attitude, courage and strength.

He has felt pretty good, we are keeping the pain medicine coming regularly right now. The only thing that is a bit of a letdown is that he can't be active for 3 weeks...which translates into no PE or recess at school (once he goes back), no bike riding or jumping on the neighbors trampoline(the neighbors may be the only ones happy about that, ha ha) and sadly no baseball either. It will definitely be a challenge once he starts feeling better.

Cooper got this pallet together for Jacob so that he could lay on the floor and play with Lego's.



Jacob looks a bit out of it in this picture or is that just him zoning out in front of the TV...hard to tell, this look is very common in our house. Please take note of his guinea pig "Agent Darwin." The nurses in the OR at Children's South bandaged up his right ear too just like Jacob's, isn't that too cute.



Thank You Lord for getting us through this week and thank y'all for offering up prayers on behalf of our family.

Psalm 68:19 "Praise be to the Lord, to God our Savior, who daily bears our burdens."

I don't want to be a grown up today

I am taking Sophie Kate downtown to Children's Hospital today for a swallow study. They will give her different consistencies and see how she does swallowing them by watching what happens on xray. She had one done last April which she failed miserably and we were subsequently told not to give her anything by mouth...so basically we haven't. But what's had me frustrated for about the past week is that no one has done anything to try to help her with that over the past year and now they just want to repeat another swallow study.

I just don't think it's fair to have her go in and try to swallow when no one has been trying to help her and we have been seeking help for this, it just supposedly hasn't been "our turn" yet...so frustrating. I guess I am not surprised by the way I feel this morning, it's just that we have had such a good run for so long and I really don't want to do this today or any other day. I am trying to remain calm and I keep telling myself that no matter what happens today it isn't going to change who my girl is.

We are in a good place right now and I can already feel the tears welling up in my eyes. Even if I go in expecting to hear what I heard last April it will still hurt when I hear it again and I will still cry, you just never get used to this. I don't want to be a "grown up" today.

Also tomorrow is Jacob's second ear surgery, they will be placing a titanium bone in his ear. We keep telling him that he is getting a bionic ear...he thinks it's pretty cool.

I'll update when I can, thanks for your prayers and your support.

An Ode to Spring Break

Ahh Spring Break...how do I love thee...let me count the ways. I love your free unscheduled days. I love the possibility of being able to sleep late, even though it rarely works out for me. I love that although I still may be up fairly early I don't have to get everyone ready for school. I love the freedom that comes with visiting my parent's house, the kids come and go and play as they please.

That has been the reason for no new posts in a week...the kids and I spent Spring Break at PawPaw and MiMi's house, while Chad stayed home and worked himself crazy installing hardwood floors in our house...my hero. We had a great week even though it started out a bit cool in North Mississippi. It didn't seem to bother the kids though, the grown-ups were the only ones complaining about the weather.

There were lots of outside adventures to go on and exploring to do...



Of course no trip to PawPaw and MiMi's would be complete w/o hours and hours spent on the zip line.





The boys love my parents little dog...to bad their parents are mean and won't let them have their own dog.





Grey's favorite was taking Duchess on walks and giving her treats...she probably gained 5 pounds while we were there.



This is normally what we found at the end of my parent's street...3 bikes, 1 scooter and 1 plasma car all abandoned for adventures in exploring.



After much begging and pleading, we finally caved and much to my dad's and Cooper's pleasure and enjoyment, Cooper got his very first bb gun...



We roasted marshmallows...



and ate smores...



and looked darling doing it...



There's lots more to report...we went to the Memphis Zoo as well as the Children's Museum and also squeezed in a 4 year old Star Wars birthday party. Not to mention that our gross dirty carpet is now a thing of the past and the hardwood floors are absolutely beautiful. It's just all too much to be contained in one post, more to come later.

Thanks for checking in on us.

I Love...

I love her big brown eyes.



I love her smiles.



I love the way she makes a sucking motion with her lips when she is drifting off to sleep.

I love the way she looks at her daddy.

I love the way the scent of whoever was just with her lingers on her b/c they have cuddled her so much.

I love the way her eyes light up when her brothers come home.

I love the way she grasps my finger when she feels it in her hand.

I love the way she holds her baby doll.



I love the way she responds to music.

I love that she sleeps all night long.

I love that she enjoys being outside.

I love that she will nap on her own but that she still prefers to nap in my arms.

I love that she's 2.

I love that she enjoys therapy...for the most part.

I love the look on her face when she is letting me know she is not happy with the situation.

I love that she likes the pool.

I love to dress her up.



I love watching her sleep.

I love her room...it's so her.

I love her intoxicating baby smell.

I love getting her out of bed each morning.

I love her new haircut.

I love her sweet spirit.

I love her chubby baby feet.

I love that she is loved.

A Fresh Perspective

We received some good news late last week. Sophie Kate now has a nurse that will be coming to our house two days a week for 4 hours each day. This is something we have been waiting for since last summer. It is provided to us through our Medicaid services, the only thing is you have to wait for a nurse to become available through the providers they use. We have come close two other times but it just ended up not working out for various reasons. So we have continued to wait and continued to pray. Of course I knew deep down inside that God already had the perfect nurse picked out for SK and for me...the waiting was just so hard...isn't it always?

We met her this past Friday and she is so right for both me and SK. I feel so good about her, she just jumped right in with Sophie. She is totally hands on and touchy feely and truly knowledgeable about taking care of my girl. I know she is going to be a great fit for our family and I am so grateful for the heart she has for my daughter and other children like her. I had so wanted to have nurse in place by this summer so that I could get out and do some things with just the boys while they were out of school...God's timing is indeed always perfect. He provides for us in such a kind way.

I ran across something over the weekend by Andy Stanley (Pastor of North Point church in the Atlanta area) and it has stuck with me. It has to do with all the talking and for lack of a better word "whining" that I do about things not being fair. Well, we all do it, I just happen to have my doctorate in "feeling sorry for myself" and/or "whining" about how things are not fair. We end up judging ourselves based on those around us and subsequently find ourselves thinking that we are better than or more godly than someone else.

The fact is...we are all un-god-like...we are all ungodly...yes, just as much as our neighbor who doesn't go to church at all (Andy Stanely added that one in not me, but I thought it was funny and true nonetheless). Do I really want to be judged fairly by a Holy God? Absolutely not...we do not really understand how bad off we are b/c of our sin b/c we are always comparing ourselves to those around us and we can always find someone who we deem "worse off" than us. When we compare ourselves to a Holy God we see just how dire our situation is. We need to be (and if we are Christians we are) engulfed in His grace, His mercy and His forgiveness.

All of these things...God's grace, mercy and forgiveness...we are not worthy of and we certainly have done nothing to deserve, but in the eyes of our Savior, Jesus Christ...we have value. In the eyes of our Creator we have worth. In the eyes of our God, we have a purpose...we are a part of His plan.

As you can tell my heart has been convicted about this "big time." I loved this fresh perspective and I am thankful for a loving God who is pouring out His love, grace, mercy and forgiveness to me afresh everyday instead of leaving me in the despair of my own sin.

John 3:16 "For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son,[a] that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life."

Brother and Sister

I have said all along that he has been the most standoffish with Sophie Kate. He possess a lot of the "first born" characteristics. He is a cautious rule follower, he is quiet compared to his other two brothers, he is the type that needs to assess the situation before he proceeds. We call Cooper our gentle giant, he has a kind heart and is a loyal friend.

I don't guess that it's fair of me to keep pointing out his cautious behavior when it comes to his sister b/c when he comes through for her, he comes through BIG! I think the first thing that stands out in my mind was last summer when he first read her a book...all his idea with no prompting from me. My heart was just blessed by being able to watch it.





He's always the one asked to hold SK in all the pictures I take and he always does it w/o question, I think it's b/c he knows how much it means to his mama...





Then there was the time right before Christmas last year when he came home with coupons that he had made for everyone in the family. If you remember, SK's coupon was for Cooper to read a book to her, another sweet moment that stands out in my mind. His heart is so tender for her.

Last week, he went to marketplace after school. Marketplace is a one time of year thing where students sell things they made themselves. I told Cooper and Jacob that they could go but that they would have to use their own money, so each of them took $5. This is what Cooper came home with...



He bought that necklace for his sister...it cost him $4 of the $5 that he brought. It has made her so happy, she loves wearing it and he loves seeing her wear it. It brought huge tears to my eyes and I think if truth be told it has done way more for his heart too than anything else he could have come home with for himself.



My firstborn and my last born...





I told you...when he comes through for her...he comes through BIG!

From Basketball to Baseball

We wrapped up basketball season around here with our boys this weekend. Baseball is next on the horizon for us but before we turn our full attention to the ballpark here are some shots from Cooper and Jacob's Upwards basketball teams.

Just fouled and going to the line...



Going for the steal...



Bringing the ball down...



Trying to get open...



Can I be you when I grow up?



All three of our boys are playing baseball this year, well I mean two are playing baseball and one is playing tee ball. Nevertheless all three have already started spring training, my only complaint is that it would actually be spring...I can't wait for it to be a lot warmer at the ballpark. However, we were still all out there for the first practices of the season and let me tell you those little tee ball guys did not disappoint. They are going to be so much fun!

As I was driving Grey and his best friend Jacob to their practice Friday night, I happen to overhear some of their conversation, it is so fun to do that w/3 year olds. Anyway, they were talking about going to their first tee ball practice when Grey said "Jacob, are you so happy?" to which Jacob responded, "I am not just a little happy, I am much happy" to which Grey responded, "I am much happy too." They are so darling, they both make me much happy.