Memorial Day!!!

We were boring for Memorial Day. Steve mowed the lawn and the most exciting thing we did was go to the hospital to visit Larry. Oh, by the way he is out of the hospital now. We did go to a picnic on Sat. that Michael and Ruth Anne Arnolds church was having. Matt, Steve's cousin, came over Sun. night and we were up till 3am talking!!!! Karin had to work which was kind of a bummer but I guess that's life. I was tired but it was fun. You know, when you have a baby you are kind of on their schedule so I was thankful that Tannen decided to sleep a little longer than usual the next morning. Justice is still in Missouri having fun, I hope. He did all of his events on Mon. except track. He did that today. I guess it was nice to get them out of the way that way he can relax and not be nervous for the rest of the week. I don't know if I already said this in a previous post but If you go to Mark and Gretchens blog from my blog she posted a couple video clips of Justice doing 2 of his performances. One more thing before I sign off. I want to say Thank You to all those who have served or are currently serving in the armed forces. With out your sacrifices and the sacrifices of your loved ones, my family and I would not enjoy the freedoms that we have today. I admire you!!

Time is fleeting

BLBS left for Internationals last night after the awards banquet. I have mixed emotions as Justice is gone. I'm excited for his accomplishments but sad that he is growing up so fast. It seems that he should not be old enough to do all this on his own. The song in my play list to the right by Mark Harris called "Find Your Wings" was played at Tannen's dedication and everytime I hear it I want to cry because that is my song to all of my children. When I reflect on the life of my kids, I purpose in my heart to spend more time with them and not worry about finger prints on windows and walls and not to spend my time making lots of money. There will always be time to wash windows and walls but time with my children is all to fleeting. I realize that a person has to have money to live but that shouldn't be what it's all about. I want to take the time to take them to the park or play a game with them because the time will come when they won't want to do things like that anymore. And one never knows when our time together will be cut short. I know when they are small it seems that it will never end but it will and you'll sit back and wonder where the time has gone. Justice is only 13 and it seems that it has went so fast. In 5 years he will be graduating from high school. If 13 years has gone this fast, I'm going to blink and 5 years will be gone. So I'm trying not to blink :-) One other thing I am totally not ready for is girls!!! If you know what I mean ;-) That subject is for some other time.

Eyes

So, Dakota and Tannen had their eye appt. today and we got good news all the way around. First, there is nothing wrong with Tannen's eyes. They are perfectly fine. Second, Cody gained some more with his bad eye!!!! The doc is completely amazed!!! He told me today that he expected this to be our last appt. but since Cody made more progress he said we will cont. with what we are doing and he will see him back in 5 months. Cody is 20/25 now. When we started out almost 4 years ago he was 20/60 or maybe 20/50. At that time they told me that after a certain age there wasn't really anything to be done and Cody was almost at that age. I don't think that they were certain if any progress could even be made. So the doc really did not expect for him to make so much progress. The only way to explain this is God!! What is wrong with his eye is optic nerve deformity so there is not any kind of surgery that they can do to fix this. So the only explanation IS God. I am so thankful that there is nothing wrong with Tannen's eyes and that Cody continues to make progress. On our first appt. the doc told Cody that if he ever got to 20/20 that he would buy him a shake and Cody is not letting him forget. :-)

Another update on Larry

They have been doing scans and things on Larry since he has been in the hospital. They did say that there is a very small spot on his liver but they did not say it was cancer. The doc said that there is no way for them to know until they open him up. They also discovered that he has pneumonia. So he is getting abx. That explains the fever and SOB that he has been having. I got to tell you this seems like a nightmare. I wish it was and we could all just wake up and everything would ok. But the truth is everything is not ok. I hope and pray that everything turns out ok. It is really hard to say, at this point, that God knows best. I know deep in my heart that God does know best and I'm glad that he understands our humanness. It is really hard to just take your hands off and say God your will. I'm not sure why we try to hang on because there is nothing we can do anyway. I guess it is in our nature to try to fix things and when we can't it frustrates us. The only thing we manage to do when we hang on is to hinder God. I can't help but think of the dramatic dialog that Justice and Tyler Masters did for convention. The message of it was if we think on things that are pure, just, upright and of good report we become less frustrated and upset. It is when we dwell on the things that we can't do or the things that are going wrong that we become upset and angry and we start to question God. God wants us to just close our eyes and put our hand in His. He will NEVER steer us wrong or take us through anything that we cannot handle. We may think that we can't handle it but with His grace and strength we can .

Larry update

Things are still pretty much the same. I just thought I would let everyone know so they aren't wondering. This hospital stay is going slightly better than the last hospital stay.

My little graduate and his goofy brothers!

Zach had his little graduation thing this morning. He successfully completed the reading readiness program. That leads me to mention that I will be doing something this summer that I have never done before and I can't say as I'm really anxious to do it either. I will attempt, with God's help, to take Zach through the learning to read program. So please say a prayer for me. They had their last chapel service today and they gave out prizes to all those who sold candy bars and Justice picked out this crazy hat. So here are a few pics of some of them in the hat. I have several new posts today so scroll down to see more.

Who gave him that?

The other day I was holding Tannen and I looked down and he was sucking on a marshmallow. I got on the boys case and asked which one gave him the marshmallow and they all said "I didn't give it to him". There was a bag of marshmallows on the desk and apparently he had grabbed one for himself. He had marshmallow all over his face and shirt and of course his hands. He was really enjoying that marshmallow!! I got a picture of him but at that point I had cleaned him off some.

Who's getting who??

I'm not sure if Tannen is getting the dino or if the dino is getting him. :) Either way he looks cute.

Little angel sleeping

Tannen looks so adorable sleeping.

another update

Larry is doing better so far about eating. They did not do the NG tube. Debbie said so far today he has been eating. They are giving pain meds before he eats so that it doesn't hurt when he eats. Hopefully he keeps this up. The surgery is still on the original date of around june 16. We appreciate every prayer that is said and every person who says it. May God bless you!!

Little update

I guess they have determined that the tumor has not ruptured but there is still the issue of him not eating or drinking. Steven and Becky had to get frank with him tonight. The doc gave him 2 options, eat and drink appropriatly or have the NG tube. So it is up to him. They are going to see how he does tomorrow and if he doesn't do any better then he will have to have the tube. The family is not doing well emotionally. I am doing ok if I don't think about it. Steven has always told me that I am very good at putting things out of my mind. That's not always the best thing but I guess in times like these it comes in handy. I will try to keep updated as I have time to do so.

Prayers needed

Prayer is needed for Larry. For those who don't know he has stomach cancer. Debbie had to take him to the ER today because he has been running a temp. A low grade fever is normal but these have been around 102. When she took him in they said that they were just going to admit him and give him an NG tube because he hasn't been eating. They are trying to prepare him for surgery. He has lost about 30 lbs. and trust me he did not have it to lose. The doc also said that his color was not good. They may end up having to do the surgery before they expected. They don't know for sure but there is a possibility that the tumor has ruptured and that might be causing the fevers. The problem right now is that they are having a hard time getting the tube in place. They want it to go into the small intestine but so far they haven't been able to get it. They are going to try again in the AM so pray that they are successful. It was very hard on Debbie for them to keep trying and trying. Steve has been up there with her so I'm sure that helped. If surgery goes as scheduled right now it will be around June 16. We are hoping and praying that they don't have to take all of his stomach. We would appreciate your prayers as the Lord brings it to your mind. As of right now they intend to keep him in the hospital for about a week if no surgery right now. Thanks so much for your prayers.

Not to be left out..........

Ok, so not to be left out I must say something about graduation since my fellow classmates have both posted a thing or two about it. It is hard to believe that it has been 15 years ago today that I graduated from Fredonia Christian Academy with Carl Damon and Gretchen (Cross) Gordon. In one instance it seems like it was yesterday and in another it seems like a distant memory. Alot has happened in 15 years. Some of it pleasant and some of it not so pleasant but mostly pleasant. One thing I have learned in 15 years is that when you are in school and you think you have it bad............you don't even have any idea of how bad it can be. 15 years later you sometimes wish that all you had to worry about was your next Chemistry or Math test. That being said, I have to say that in those 15 years I have been married to a wonderful man for 14 years (almost) and I have 5 beautiful boys. Can boys be beautiful??? I don't know. I'm pretty sure that they wouldn't want to be told that they were beautiful. Anyway, all 6 of them are my life and I love them very much. You know, things may not turn out how you planned it when you were 16 but it all works out if you put your trust in God. God knows best!!!

More pictures

The boys with my Grandpa Rhoads
My cousin (Henryetta's little girl)
Zach and Tris
Paris, the only girl in the family at this point (on my side of the family)
Tannen getting ready to take his first ride on Papa's 4-wheeler.

Pictures

Here are the pictures that I have been meaning to get on here. The first 2 are of Justice with his medals from convention. The other 2 are of our precious bundle of joy at around 31/2 to 4 months.

Congratulations BLBS!!!

Today was the last day for State Convention. It was the end to a very busy week for BLBS. I am so proud of Justice!! As I said in a previous post that this was his first year for State Convention. He placed third in track and science engineering, second in male trio and one act play, and best of all he got first in poetry recitation!!!! All of the students did a very good job!! I am so happy for all of them. I think everyone got a place in at least one thing. I will try to get a picture of Justice and his medals on here. I have to tell you that there was a part of Justice that came out in his performances that I didn't know was in him. Justice is a serious, quiet boy but he has more drama in him than anyone would think. I know he probably thinks his mom is overboard but I really am proud of him. You know, part of this makes me sad because this is just the beginning of his many adventures where he doesn't need his mom any more. It almost makes me cry : ( But I know it would be completely abnormal if he didn't want to do and do all of these things. I guess it is just hard thinking about your "baby" growing up. I know he wouldn't want to be referred to as my "baby" but that is what he will always be, my "baby". I really don't think I am old enough to have a child that is this old. In fact, I'm sure of it. Anyway, Congratulations to all of the BLBS students that competed this week. I know God will be with you when you take it to Internationals!!!