David's 50th Birthday Hoedown!

Well, as you know David was in the hospital for a few days with pneumonia. He was able to be home for Thanksgiving and rested up all week for his Birthday Hoedown last night. It was so worth it.

Ann, Margaret and Patty really planned out and decorated the place for this special celebration. All David's nieces and nephews and brothers and sisters pitched in to make this a great and memorable birthday for David.

The very special birthday surprise gift were 2 Non-Bearded White Crested Black Polish Hens.

Emily is so excited about raising these hens. They should be laying eggs in a few weeks. Emily named them Pip and Squeak (David really should have named them as they were really his gift, but Emily is taking them over, LOL).

Thank you to everyone that could make it and to the ones that couldn't you were surely missed!

This Hoedown took everything out of David as he has been sleeping all day. Hopefully when he sees the doctor tomorrow we will have good news to report!

Our 25 Days of Christmas Countdown - Advent Calendar

December 1st is Monday and I have been looking into our Advent Calendar. I have taken ideas from We Are THAT Family http://www.wearethatfamily.com/2008/11/our-family-advent.html and my dear friend Carrie, she has some great ideas with daily scripture to re-enforce the project or theme of the day. http://minimemitchells.blogspot.com/2008/11/christmas.html.

Here is what I am looking at for this year (most of it taken from We Are THAT Family and Carrie's blog):

{December 1} Send a letter to a child. It's such a great way to teach your kids about others. Read I John 4:10

{December 2} Make Santa’s list. Write a letter to Santa and drop off at Macy's Department Store, they donate to a charity for every letter they receive.

{December 3} Let your light shine! ask: How can we do this? Read John 1:5

{December 4} Build a fort from blankets & sheets/ Read a Christmas book in the fort!

{December 5} Lay on the trampoline and stargaze, talk about your dreams for the future.

{December 6} Make cookies.

{December 7} Watch a Christmas Movie.

{December 8} Make paper snowflakes (here's some great patterns) Read Ecc. 3:13

{December 9} Play a board game.

{December 10} Pray for pour people. Read Luke 1: 39-45, Mary visits Elizabeth.

{December 11} Work on Awana teacher’s, Choir teacher's and School teachers gifts.

{December 12} Leave little notes of encouragement all over (i.e. the mailbox, grocery story, park, etc.). Read Psalm 100

{December 13} Bethlehem Night (at church). Discuss the differences between living in Christ days and now.

{December 14} Watch a Christmas Movie and make hot chocolate with lots of marshmallows!

{December 15} Give $5 to someone (find a needy person). Read Rom. 5:8

{December 16} Make a gingerbread house.

{December 17} Talk about Missionaries and pray for them. Isaiah 12: 5-6

{December 18} Make a birthday card for Jesus. Put it under the tree.

{December 19} Sing Christmas songs.

{December 20} Have a Happy Birthday Jesus party, make a cake and give him a gift- such as being good that day, making a wise choice, talking nicely, being kind to a sibling etc. Go look at Christmas lights.

{December 21} Make something for our neighbors (a card, cookies?).

{December 22} Make a spinner http://www.thetoymaker.com/

{December 23} Take bubble baths with Christmas confetti (recipe).

{December 24} Read Christmas story from the Bible. Open Christmas Eve gift from Mom and Dad (pajamas).

{December 25} Talk about Jesus, what it must have been like to be born in a manger, what the sky looked like, the 3 wise men, how there was no place for them to stay except with the animals, etc.

What does your Advent Calendar look like?

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

Well, I got up this morning at 5:00 am and put my turkey in the oven and went back to bed only to be awakened by Emily at 6:30 am. So she crawled up in bed with me and we watched some TV this morning. It is always a joy to wake up to the smell of turkey roasting in the oven and cuddle with my little princess!

I made my Grandmother's dressing for the first time in my life yesterday and I am very proud of myself as when it baked in the oven this morning it smelt just like Grandma's house and the dressing tasted like hers too.

I have so many things to be thankful for:

Jesus

My salvation

Church

Bible studies

My husband

My girls

family

friends

Being a SAHM

Our health

Health insurance

Our home

Our cars

Our lives

Our dogs

Sweets

The funny things the girls say and do

Online shopping

Wal-Mart

Pj's

Slippers

Vaporizers

My husbands job

Favor of God on our lives

Gods protection

Backpack purses

Cell phones

Tea

Grandma's dressing

Ann Taylor

Hugs and Kisses

Smiles

and many, many more things!!!

"Enter into His gates with thanksgiving and a thank offering and into His courts with praise! Be thankful and say so to Him, bless and affectionately praise His name." Psalm 100:4
"Through Him, therefore, let us constantly and at all times offer up to God a sacrifice of praise, which is the fruit of lips that thankfully acknowledge and confess and glorify His name." Hebrews 13:15
"Thank [God] in everything [no matter what the circumstances may be, be thankful and give thanks], for this is the will of God for you [who are] in Christ Jesus [the Revealer and Mediator of that will]." 1 Thes 5:18

HAPPY THANKSGIVING EVERYONE!!!

Guess who we visited today?

Yes, it is one of our traditions that every Thanksgiving Eve we visit Santa at the Mall. When we are done visiting with Santa we walk over to the Great Cookie Company for cookies. This was a nice visit as no one was in line and we spent a good 10 minutes talking with Santa. His request again this year is chocolate chip cookies.

Emily and Amy were thinking about what to write on there lists for Santa!

Happy Birthday Sweetheart!

Well today my Sweetheart turns 50! Wow, I can't believe it. I just wish he didn't have pneumonia. Yes, my pour sweetheart spent this weekend and today his big day sick. The girls drew their Dad some cute pictures and let him rest (rest is always a great gift).

My sweet friend Carrie brought us lunch/dinner. She made us this wonderful chicken noodle soup. Believe it or not the pot is almost empty. She also made us a fabulous pie and some extras that really made our day!

My other sweet friend Carla came by the house today to drop off this made from scratch german chocolate cake (David's favorite). It is the best german chocolate cake we have ever had.

Happy Birthday My Love, get well soon!

The Bell

THE BELL

I KNOW WHO I AM

I am God's child (John 1:12)

I am Christ's friend (John 15:15 )

I am united with the Lord (1 Cor. 6:17)

I am bought with a price (1 Cor 6:19-20)

I am a saint (set apart for God). (Eph. 1:1)

I am a personal witness of Christ. (Acts 1:8)

I am the salt & light of the earth (Matt 5:13-14)

I am a member of the body of Christ (1 Cor 12:27)

I am free forever from condemnation ( Rom. 8: 1-2)

I am a citizen of Heaven. I am significant (Phil 3:20)

I am free from any charge against me (Rom. 8:31 -34)

I am a minister of reconciliation for God (2 Cor 5:17-21)

I have access to God through the Holy Spirit (Eph. 2:18)

I am seated with Christ in the heavenly realms (Eph. 2:6)

I cannot be separated from the love of God (Rom 8:35-39)

I am established, anointed, sealed by God (2 Cor 1:21-22 )

I am assured all things work together for good (Rom. 8:28 )

I have been chosen and appointed to bear fruit (John 15:16 )

I may approach God with freedom and confidence (Eph. 3: 12 )

I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me (Phil. 4:13)

I am the branch of the true vine, a channel of His life (John 15: 1-5)

I am God's temple (1 Cor. 3: 16). I am complete in Christ (Col. 2: 10)

I am hidden with Christ in God (Col. 3:3). I have been justified (Romans 5:1)

I am God's co-worker (1 Cor. 3:9; 2 Cor 6:1). I am God's workmanship (Eph. 2:10)

I am confident that the good works God has begun in me will be perfected. (Phil. 1: 5)

I have been redeemed and forgiven ( Col 1:14). I have been adopted as God's child (Eph 1:5)

I belong to God

Do you know

Who you are!?

The Pathology Report - Amy

First I want to Thank God for his faithfulness for I know He is in control and I want to give Him thanks and praise!!

The Pathology report shows negative for dysplasia and for definitive fungal elements. Basically there is nothing life threatening.

The Doctor said she will be fine but there is something that is entering the mouth that is causing the blisters and we have to figure it out.

Please continue to keep Amy in your prayers as we figure out the next step to help her through her journey and for her healing for her to no longer have pain. I am going to call the pedi on Monday because the Doctor said he would call him to let him know what is going on in the next day or two but basically the oral surgeon has done all he can.

Thank you all so much for your love, concern, faith and prayers as I know with all my heart God is in control.

Look at this cute craft Amy made today at her Thanksgiving party!

Amy Update Day 7

Well, Amy's night (last night) was not too bad. Thanks for your prayers - God is hearing and answering - because she fell asleep playing her leapster (great distraction).

I woke her up this morning and her tongue was bothering her not near as much as yesterday. She went to school and is looking forward to her Thanksgiving day parties tomorrow and Friday.

I got a call from the Doctors office and they had a cancellation so we are now going at 1:30 instead of 3:30 which works out better for us.

Keep Amy in your prayers tonight that she will be comforted and not feel the pain of these blisters and for her appointment tomorrow that we will find out something so we can help this little princess.

Little Ballerina

Sister Catherine, Amy's teacher will call the children up one at a time throughout the year and ask them to tell her a story. She will write down exactly what the child says. Here is Amy's story from today:

Amy Update Day 6

Wow, it had been six days since Amy's procedure. Amy had a rough night last night as I don't think the surgery is bothering her as much as the blisters. She was up for at least 2 hours if not more crying that her tongue hurts last night. It breaks my heart as this has been going on for months and everything we have tried thus far hasn't really helped.

I woke Amy up today about 8:15 am for school. I called and told Sister Catherine we were going to be a little late. When I woke her up it was the same thing, her pour little tongue was hurting. I did every thing I could think of to distract her with not much success. I managed to get her dressed, something to eat and in the car. When she got to school she didn't want me to go but I wanted her to do something fun so that she would be distracted from her pain.

As she was at school I went to Wal-mart and picked up a butter ball turkey and all I need for my Thanksgiving feast! I can't wait for Thanksgiving to roll around, to wake up to the smell of turkey in the oven, all our wonderful favorites from sides, to pies and desserts.

I picked up Wall-e today and this has helped distract Amy thus far. She has watched it 3 times today. Emily and Amy really enjoyed this movie when we saw it at the movies. Please pray for Amy tonight as it will be time for bed soon and when she lays down with no distractions that's when she realizes her pain the most.

I have so many things to be THANKFUL for. I am most Grateful and Thankful this Thanksgiving to have my life, a wonderful, caring, supporting, loving husband, and both of my little blessings. Life is wonderful and each day is a gift from God above and for this I am thankful, even with all that comes our way rain or shine or storm.

"Enter into His gates with thanksgiving and a thank offering and into His courts with praise! Be thankful and say so to Him, bless and affectionately praise His name." Psalm 100:4

"Through Him, therefore, let us constantly and at all times offer up to God a sacrifice of praise, which is the fruit of lips that thankfully acknowledge and confess and glorify His name." Hebrews 13:15

"Thank [God] in everything [no matter what the circumstances may be, be thankful and give thanks], for this is the will of God for you [who are] in Christ Jesus [the Revealer and Mediator of that will]." 1 Thes 5:18

Amy Update Day 5

Well, Amy seems to be doing a lot better. I didn't wake her up for school today I wanted to give her at least one more day to catch up on sleep and this she did she slept till 10:00 this morning. Amy is eating all her favorites from BB's (bacon) to gold fish. She hadn't asked for pain medicine since we left the hospital Saturday until tonight. She has been playing since she woke up and is talking up a storm. *Amy does want to get back to school as she has her Thanksgiving parties on Thursday and Friday, yes you read right she gets to participate in 2 parties because she goes 5 days a week.

On the other hand Emily has had a bad cough since this weekend and we even took her to Urgent Care on Saturday (or should I say David did because I just didn't have anything left in me). She had a rough night last night so I let her stay home and we paid a visit to the pedi today. She will be ok and will go back to school tomorrow, the evenings are tough though with her constant coughing that comes deep from within her chest.

Oh and how am I you ask? I am very very tired and even a little on the grumpy side. I have groceries to buy, shopping to do, finish laundry, finish cleaning the house, it never ends, LOL! But I won't complain because we are alive and God is so good!

Thanks again for your prayers as God is faithful!

Amy has her follow up appointment Thursday at 3:30 pm. Please continue to pray for Amy's healing and for answers.

Amy Update Day 3 & 4

Well, we are home and arrived home yesterday a little after noon. Amy is doing better but still has discomfort from her tongue, I am hoping and praying it looks worse than it feels because it looks bad to me.

So Friday morning Amy's CO2 level was 16, it was 13 Thursday evening when we showed up to ER and should be in the 20's. By Friday evening we were at 19 and by Saturday morning it dropped to 18. I thought we were going to stay another night and this time I was going to MAKE David do it. Don't get me wrong because I LOVE to take care of my little princess but I am going on 2 to 3 days with a few hours of sleep.

Amy was taking this hospital visit like it was a sleep over, she would fight her sleep even on the med's to stay up till 1 and 2 am in the morning to watch TV, and even asked me if we were going to have a sleep over. When I told her that if she had to stay Saturday night that Daddy was going to stay with her she fussed and said no she didn't want him to because he will turn off the TV, so this is where I messed up by not turning it off but how could I when my little princess was in pain and going through all this?

So Amy feel asleep Friday night at 1:30 in the morning or should I say Saturday at 1:30 am. She was in a sound sleep until the nurse came to draw blood and it wouldn't come out the ivy. Oh, no Amy was about to get a very rude awakening. So at 4:45 am the nurse came with help to hold her down and they woke up Amy and got the blood and Amy fussed, kicked and cried. And you know what after that she didn't fall back to sleep (who could though after that?).

When we got home yesterday Amy ate a can of Princess and Dora Campbell's Chicken Noodle Soup and ate a half of a bag of goldfish (I am thankful that she can tolerate a little salt). She fell asleep while watching a movie at 4 pm and woke up at 9 am this morning. She was very exhausted as she only got 4 hours of sleep the night before and she is hungry and ready to eat.

Amy hasn't had any pain medicine since Friday evening so either she is tolerating the pain or doesn't need it any more but I guess I will find out for sure here shortly.

Thanks again for your prayers as Amy is moving along. Please pray for an answer, the oral surgeon is not for sure but is leaning toward "burning tongue syndrome" and we will find out more Thursday at Amy's follow up when we get the results back from the biopsy.

Here is a picture of Amy with Maggie (the dog). Maggie came by to visit Amy. Amy almost missed Maggie because she was asleep but Amy woke up just in time to see Maggie do some tricks.

Amy is eating the BRAT diet. Of course she can't do banana's which are one of her favorites because even before the biopsy it would burn her tongue. She doesn't like applesauce and forget the rice. The only thing she ate was the toast. Oh and let me tell you she ate the all the purple Popsicles that the Pedi Q had, LOL, the proof is the purple lips you see! Amy wanted more but she ate them all. Oh and she did enjoy the gram crackers too!

You can see that Amy was starting to feel better. And I know this to be true because she was bossing me around.

Amy is talking to Emily on the phone. Emily was very worried and concerned about her little sister.

Amy Update Day 2

Well, the reason there hasn't been and update or you haven't heard from me is because last night about 6 pm Amy started vomiting and wouldn't stop so I took her to the ER. We got there about 9:15 pm and she finally was admitted at 11:00 pm before an ivy went in. The first try they blew her vain because she was so dehydrated and thank God the second time worked but of course she was very upset.

They gave her some medicine to help the nausea and it did kick in but the blood work was showing that Amy was severely dehydrated so they admitted her. Of course they didn't have a room for her and finally at 3:30 am they took us up to her room. Amy finally had fallen to sleep about 2:30 am and sleep till 11:00 am this morning (she needed it).

I came home real quick to get a bath and change of clothes and do a quick update.

It looks like we will be there for sure tonight and maybe another night depending on what levels her blood work shows.

Please keep her in your prayers that she gets better and that she wouldn't be scared to eat because that is the only way she is going to get better.

Amy's Experience Yesterday

First I do want to thank everyone for your prayers because they were heard and I do ask for continued prayer for Amy's healing and for answers.

Amy woke up at 5 in the morning yesterday and had about 2 oz of water and a few ice chips since her tongue was hurting so bad. She did fall back asleep and this is a praise report because we had to wake her up at 10 to make it to Wal-mart as promised by Dad and Mom for her to pick out a toy and a Crayola Color Wonder book. So off we went and as you can see pictured below she picked out a mermaid barbie and a dora color wonder book.

We arrived at 10:40 at the surgical center and Amy was happy coloring, playing with her mermaid and leapster. I have to thank God that she didn't ask once for something to eat and only mentioned once that she was thirsty and that was after my mistake of her seeing my water bottle. She is a trooper.

Here is Amy with her new mermaid.

Here she is with her tiger gown.

Here she is ready to be wheeled off to surgery.

Amy woke up hysterical from the anesthesia and was given more Demerol to calm her down. She did calm down only to throw up the medicine and the 2 sips of water she had, so they gave her some medicine through her ivy.

Once she was calm and snoozed for about 40 minutes and was then able to keep some water down, we were able to leave the surgical center where we got home about 4:45.

The doctor did 3 biopsy's on her tongue 2 in the middle top of the tongue and one long one at the tip. She is in a lot of pain and we did have a rough night and the morning seems to be going in that direction. I called the doctor last night to let him know that the pain medicine was wearing off in about 2 hours instead of lasting 4 to 6 so we are now giving it to her every 2 to 3 hours.

She is still not eating because of the pain and discomfort of her tongue and thank God for Sonic ice chips because they are great! She has had lots of banana popsicles and a little yogurt yesterday. She does have a fever so please pray for this little trooper and also that her taste buds will not be affected by this procedure.

The doctor says the results should be in in about a week and hopefully we can get answers to what ever this is and healing!

Thank you all for your time, concern and prayers for our little princess! And I thank God for his loving kindness and protection that He has had on Amy and our family.

Prayer for Amy

For those of you that don't know Amy has been suffering with painful blisters on her tongue for about 3 1/2 to 4 months now. We were at the pedi's office about every week because of the pain. When he did all he knew to do and could (with no results) he sent us to an oral surgeon.

We have seen the oral surgeon 3 times in 4 weeks and he is puzzled and her condition is getting worse so we are scheduled for a tongue biopsy this Wednesday at 11:00.

The first hard thing about the time is keeping a 4 year old away from food and water till 11:00. We have come up with a plan to distract her but I don't know how long it will work, so we need your prayers please.

Please keep Amy in your prayers that we will get answers, that God would protect her during the procedure and for a speedy recovery. From what the doctor say this will be a painful experience.

Oh how I love our New Slim Tree!

I am so loving this slim tree. It doesn't take up that much space, it displays the girls crafty ornaments very well and best of all Santa's gifts will fit under the tree. Our old tree was so fat and huge that it took up the whole corner of the room. Here are pictures of our finished tree, the girls had so much fun and when they would pull out an ornament from the bin they would say I remember I made this when I was 3, I made this when I was 4, etc. What a joy it was this weekend!

Christmas decorating already?

Oh the excitement that is in our home today. The girls are off from school and since we love Christmas so much we will be decorating the house this afternoon.

Last year at Hobby Lobby's after Christmas 80% off sale the girls and I purchased an expensive tree that we paid barley nothing for ($20). I remember that they wanted to go home last year and put up the new tree but I told them that they would have to wait till next year and low and behold next year is here and it is all the girls have been talking about since the stores already have their Christmas things out.

Last night David went into the attic and pulled down the tree, train and all our boxes. So this will my very enjoyable able day with my girls!

Meet St. Bridget of Sweden

Jesus real name

Yesterday, I went to pick Amy up from school. They are learning about all Saints day. She made a beautiful crown. Sister Catherine also gave them a prayer card with a picture of Jesus when he was a child.

Amy: "Mom this is a picture of Jesus when he was little, His real name is God."

You just have to love it!

JoJo and Cinderella