Wesley's Namesake

We had a surprise visit today by Dan's best friend/Wesley's namesake. This was the first time he got to meet/hold our second son!

I just love it when something unexpected happens and that something is so good! Thanks for stopping in Wesley and Kriss! See you again at the beach this summer ; )

You Never Know Where One Might Be...

Last week we took full advantage of the good weather and spent a lot of time outside. Good thing we did since we just had three days straight of rain! Amanda and Lana even joined us for a play date one day. We took the kids to the river park in our neighborhood.

We walked the nature trail. There was a lot to see too! Amanda pointed out where she could tell a mole had come through by some disturbed dirt. There were lots of down trees from the recent snow storm so it was a bit of an obstacle course at times. We saw some deer and two king fisher's.
Charlie of course had a grand ole time swimming, and...

David showed Lana the art of throwing rocks into the river. The temperature was perfect so we spent a few good hours there just letting the kids be kids. Shortly after we got home though, Amanda spotted a tick on Lana, so I did a once over on David but I didn't find anything. Later that evening after his bath, I found a tick behind his ear! It must have been in his hair (even though I looked there as best as I could) and then it crawled down to his ear. It sure does remind me of that Brad Paisley song ; )

I couldn't resist posting this picture of Wesley on St. Patrick's Day. We took him to the ENT last week and he does in fact need tubes. His surgery/procedure is later this month. Continue to keep us in your prayers!

Reflection

A teacher from David's school passed away suddenly this week. From what I understand, she had the flu which very quickly developed into pneumonia and for reasons unknown to me, her immune system was already compromised, and she was unable to fight off the virus/infection. It started over the weekend. She went to the doctor on Tuesday and was immediately rushed to the hospital where she died that night. She is survived by her husband, Andy, and two elementary school aged children, Luke and Isabella, whom I am asking for prayers for.

Sandy was not one of David's teachers, but I did meet her last year when I observed her class with David one day. I came to check it out and relieve my concerns about germs and discipline. Unfortunately while I was there, one little boy bit another little boy. Neither the teachers, nor I saw what happened, but Sandy was the first one to get to the little boy who was crying. He lifted up his finger and Sandy could see bite marks. Next she went to the boy who did the biting and explained to him that what he did was wrong that it hurt and he needed to apologize. When the little boy refused to cooperate, she took his hand and made him say "I'm sorry" in sign language. (He also went to a "time out" with the school's director as that is their policy on such behavior.) Sandy taught me a great technique that day which I have used on David recently. Sometimes David is so shy he won't say "thank you" when things are given to him. I have taught him how to say it in sign language and I have tried to explain to him that its okay to be shy, but manners always come first. Thank you for that lesson Sandy.

I'm in Remission!

I am happy to report that I am finally in remission from minimal change disease! Thank You God! I am very excited about the notion of being done with taking steroids in as little as two weeks! That is when my next doctor's appointment is. I will still be following my low sodium diet for a while as well as taking cyclosporine for six months to a year to keep the disease in remission. Thanks again for all of your prayers.

Six Inches, Snow-kidding!

There had been hype for days that we would be getting snow yesterday. I guess I've heard it so many times over the years only to be disappointed, that I seriously doubted the weather reports. We left for our prayer group yesterday around noon. It was raining and starting to sleet a little as we were pulling out of the driveway. As we got closer to our destination it started snowing. Then it started sticking to the road. We made it there, had a nice time praying and good fellowship while enjoying the scenery. Around 4 pm, Jason went outside and quickly came back in to announce it was time for us to leave. We packed up and headed out unaware that our trip home would be so eventful! We were only halfway home when we were left with only one driveable lane. Then we saw a slow plow!?! I didn't know there were snow plows in Georgia! Shortly thereafter Jason had to put it in four wheel drive. We were only a few miles from home when we encountered a tree that had fallen down blocking the road. We had to turn around and take a dirt road. We arrived home safely but first we had to dodge a few power lines that had been knocked down and were hanging low. We weren't surprised to find our power out when we got home. We started a fire and David and Jason headed outside to play. These first three pictures and video were taken last night.

After having been without power for a few hours we had just taken some things out of the refrigerator and put them outside for the night. I lit some candles and was working up a plan on how to keep the kids warm through the night. Thankfully, shortly after that the power came back on! From what I hear, we were lucky though. We know some people who still didn't have power this morning. It was announced last night that our county's schools would be closed today. Jason got to stay home from work too and what a treat it was! The pictures below were taken today after the snow had melted a good bit.


That was our street. Since I'm on immuno-suppresive medication I decided to stay inside with Wesley. We watched through the window and occasionally opened the door to take a better look. Here he is playing inside...

Wesley so hungry...

...he could eat a pig ; )

So Much To Post, So Little Time!

I usually only like to post about one event/subject at a time, but I don't want to fall too behind on blogging so this post is a review of our busy week! I still have lots of help from my two moms. I soo appreciate it and soo need it too. Also, David is really enjoying the time bonding with his two Grandmas. He flew a kite with my mom on one of the recent cold, windy days we've had. He still talks about it and asks to fly a kite again daily. This week Pat and David decorated Easter eggs...

The finished product, minus one that I ate ; ) Below are some great pictures of Wesley playing ball with Charlie Dawg outside.

Wesley can sit up on his own now!

On Thursday night we packed up the family and headed to the hospital to visit Miss Natalie Jean. I spent most of the time talking to Matt, Christy, and Drew, and holding/feeding Natalie so I didn't get an opportunity to take many pictures with my camera. Wouldn't change it though! Those were precious moments. I also couldn't resist buying this onesie for the new baby girl...
I thought I would share another art project David did at school this week. I am sooo appreciative his teachers are so crafty because I'm certainly not!
It was dinosaur week so they made these "fossils" out of play dough. So simple, but I never would have thought of it!

Yesterday was my nephew Ben's 5th birthday party at Chuck E. Cheese. Once again, life got in the way of me taking pictures. However, my sister is on facebook and will probably post some pictures there so feel free to go check it out. Elena came to the party too and afterwards she came to the mall with us. David and Elena had a grand ole time pretend camping in tents, jumping on a trampoline...

...and riding on a kid train!

I'll leave you with a short update on my health. I am still doing much better, but having to go to Emory for weekly blood draws. My doctor is trying to wean me off steroids and it is a delicate process to ensure my kidneys keep working properly. I have really bad headaches daily which are a side effect of some of my medicines. I am hoping to be in remission soon though!