HAPPY 1ST BIRTHDAY TANNEN!!!!!

My baby turns one today. "sniff, sniff" I can't believe that he is one!! He is such a little stinker but we love stinkers around here. Everyone says that he reminds them of Tyler but he reminds me of Justice. I guess he is a mix of them. We didn't celebrate today so when we do I will post pictures. I know he is mine but he is sooooooo cute!!!! Happy Birthday Tannen, we love you very much!!!

Since Steve will be opening a new chapter in his life or should I say we will be opening a new chapter in our lives, I will be going back to work sometime at the beginning of next year. I think I will go back to Great Lakes Home Health, which is where I was working at before I had Tannen. Only this time I will need to go back full time. Steve will be going back to school and working part time. It has been a year since I have worked outside the home so it will be a bit of an adjustment but we will manage with God's help. It is pretty flexible. Alot more flexible than most nursing jobs. I am just really thankful that we have me to fall back on. I haven't had to work since Justice was a baby & for that I am thankful. But you know, a womans gotta do what a womans gotta do!! I am excited and scared all at the same time. Anyway, Tannen is a little doll. He loves his brothers to pieces!!! He reminds me a lot of Justice. He started walking when he was 9mo!!! Justice was a little younger when he started walking. I love Christmas!!! We are suppose to get together with my in-laws, Matt & Karin, Les and Marcia, and possibly Michael & Ruth Anne. It's going to be a lot of fun!!! Larry is doing good. He has CAT scans every 3 months and so far they have come back showing nothing. So we thank the Lord for that!!! Things have been rough this year but God has been with us all the way. Thats why he came, to help those who could not help themselves. Here are some family pictures that were taken on Sun. One of Tim and Becky's family with Debbie and Larry, one of our family with Debbie and Larry, one with all of us and one of the grandkids-5 boys and 2 girls.

FINALLY a new post!!

We are still alive and kicking!! The boys are doing fantastic in school. Zach made it to first grade. He started out in KG but is now in first grade. I am so proud of him. He is doing very well on his reading. The school just had their Christmas play and Dakota had the lead role. He did a great job!!
On a more serious note......as you know if you watch or listen to the news, the domestic automakers are not doing so well. And if you didn't know, my husband happens to work for one of them. As do or did alot of his family. I know that not everyone will agree with me but anyone who thinks that Ford, GM or Chrysler should go under does not really know what they are talking about. The familys that will be affected by this would be HUGE!! We are not just talking the workers who work directly for these companies but we are talking much, much more than that. You have suppliers that supply parts to the Big 3 and that is that many more people who are going to lose their houses because they have no job. This will all affect the retail as well because these workers that would have been buying tv's, game systems and the like will no longer be doing that. They will be just barely having groceries!! This will also affect those who work at the dealerships and their families. It will also affect those who have already retired. Do you honestly think that they can go out and get another job? Some are too old or even sick and that would not even be an option!! And not everything you hear on the news is totally accurate. Steve is a UAW member & for those who feel that the UAW has not given up alot should ask a UAW member what they think!! I agree the UAW has not always done things right. I know that I have stepped on a lot of toes. Please excuse my harshness but anybody who would wish that millions of people be out of a job deserves everything they get. I also agree that the automakers need to do some restructuring but it needs to start with the white collar workers. If the UAW members worked for free it would not pull the automakers out of this slump. In 11yrs the top guy has gone from $900,000 to 22 million a year!!! The blue collar workers have steadily lost things over that 11yrs. So don't tell me that the UAW is the reason for the automakers problems!! Yes, Steve does make pretty good money but compare apples to apples. They are not building $1000 seats, they are building a $30,000 vehicles. And just for the fun of it, you should look up work practices before the UAW.
Now that I have made alot of people mad, as of Jan. 1 Steve is no longer a Ford employee. For the sake of millions of families, I hope all goes well for the automakers. If you really think about it, your family may be affected, in some way, by the auto industry. I hope I didn't sound to harsh but it is what it is.
If I don't get to post before Christmas. I hope everyone has a VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

So much has happened!!!

Since family camp so much has happened!!! Steve finished up his truck driving class. He passed and is now a "professional driver". HA!HA! The boys started school last week. They missed the first 2 days of school because we were in Canada. We went to Canada to help at a mission in Blind River. They needed people to help split and stack firewood. I was very proud of my boys, they all worked like men. They worked just as hard as everyone else. I have pictures from that trip but am waiting for them due to the fact that I had to take them on someone elses camera. All the guys were very excited because not only did they work but they also got to do some fishing!! All the boys caught a fish. Tyler got a walleye the others each got a bass. Bro Raines took them all out in his boat. I stayed on shore with the baby. I did get to go out for a little ride in the paddle boat with Justice. We had a great time in Canada!! We worked hard but it was fun. I think I can safely say that we all miss Canada just a little.

Steve and I have been talking and praying and we think we will put our house up for sale. I think it will be a miracle if it sells due to the areas current economic condition. But if its Gods will it will happen. We have been so uncertain of many things in our life right now. Steve is still laid off and probably will not go back till at least Nov and even then we are not for sure on that. We want God to lead us and if he is leading us in a different direction we want to follow. But sometimes it is so hard to know where God is leading. There are times when I wonder is it God or just my own emotions. Some decisions we face right now could mean BIG changes for the whole family. But there was a song we sang in church tonight that said "Where God guides He always supplies". So I feel that wherever God leads you he will supply whatever you have need of. The only problem I have is knowing if it is God leading. So if you think about it pray that I or should I say we will know it is God leading us and that we will be sensitive to his directing.

Larry is doing pretty good. It is really one of those things that is up and down as far as emotionally for both Larry and Debbie. The news that was gotten at the last appt wasn't the best news but it wasn't the worst either. As far as they know they got all the cancer but the bad part is that it was still active when they went in to take it out.

I don't know, this year seems to be holding some major things for our family. There is something I heard when I was much younger and I believe it was Doug Damon that I heard say it, it was "Things are looking right for a miracle". Thats just what I keep thinking about everything that has happened so far this year. And you know what? When I really think about it, God has performed miracles this year for our family!!

This post has been rather long but I have been soooooo busy!! I'll put some pictures on of Canada when I get them and I'll put some on of the boys during the first couple weeks of school. Oh, one more thing, Mr Miller got married over the summer and his new wife has been a great addition to the staff at Bird Lake. From what I understand she is greatly missed in Alaska. I imagine that she has left a big void where she came from in Alaska but we are very happy she has joined the staff at Bird Lake. She has fit right in with everyone at school and church. I am very happy for Mr Miller. (Mr Miller is the principal of Bird Lake Bible School)

Family Camp

We were at Athens Camp this past week. I had a great time. The services were wonderful. The boys had a good time also. Tannen started running a fever on mon. There was nothing else wrong as far as on the outward. His fever went to 104!!!! On tues he started not wanting to eat. I had a sore throat all last week and Tris and Paris both had strep. So I thought maybe he picked something up from us. I took him to doc on tues and he thought it might be something called roseola virus. Anyway, so it is something we just have to wait out. I think he got it from a baby at camp. At the time I didn't think anything about it but now that the doc told me that I'm pretty sure that is where he got it. Last week the other baby was running a fever with nothing else apparently wrong. The problem with this virus is that the baby can be contagious for a week or more before the fever comes and for about a week after the fever is gone. It's not that common in baby's over 1 year. None of my other boys ever had this. The doc said he sees it mostly in babys that go to daycare. Tannen is much better today. His fever is gone and he is back to eating.

Praise the Lord!!!

Larry is doing fabulous!!! He is amazing docs and nurses. They said he would be in ICU for at least 2 days but he was able to leave the day after surgery and he was walking in his room by himself!! Then, they took the epidural cath out today and they expected him to be in a lot of pain but he was able to walk up and down the hall!! They got the results back on some tests that were still out and there was cancer in about 5 of the lymph nodes that they took out. They took out 27 lymph nodes, I think. He will have to go thru some more chemo but they said he has a VERY good chance of being cured. So we are so VERY thankful for everything God has done. We went to visit him yesterday and he is in very good spirits.

Larry

The surgery went very well. As far as they can tell they got all of the cancer. They went in with a scope first to take a look around and see if it was worth going ahead with surgery. The cancer did not invade other organs. Naturally they can't predict the future but they said his chances are very good. He may have to have more chemo. He will be in ICU for a day or 2. It will be a long road of recovery for him but there is relief in knowing the extent of everything. Not knowing if the cancer had invaded other organs was the hard part for everyone. We are just praising the Lord for answered prayers and for being close in our time of need. We don't understand why some things come into our lives but there is comfort in knowing that God is still on the throne. They think that he has had this tumor for over a year so it is kind of amazing that it did not go to other organs. Usually with stomach cancer by the time you discover you have it, it is to late. So we are very thankful that the outlook is positive. Thanks to everyone for your prayers. I know that Larry and Debbie appreciate it dearly. He is going to be in a LOT of pain so continue to pray for him. I believe he has an epidural cath in place right now.

Happenings......

One quick update, Larry will be having surgery tomorrow. So pray that everything goes well and that God will give all persons concerned strength. He will be in the hospital for about 2-3 wks. At least that is what they told us. My 2 oldest will be going to youth camp today and will stay till Sun. Cody is not really old enough to stay on his own but my brother and sister-in-law are there and they said that he could stay with them. Actually all of the boys except the baby will be staying with Tovie and Germayne tonight. That way Steve and I can both at the hospital tomorrow. I think I am a little more nervous about tomorrow than I thought. I thought I was doing pretty good but it's all I can think about today. Which I guess is pretty normal. A lot of things are on my mind of late. The boys schooling, Larry's surgery, Steve's job. So many major decisions to make and so many things uncertain. Steve is laid off right now which I guess works out ok since he is currently in truck driving school. On a lighter note I was teasing Steve and I told Germayne that it was a good thing that they were not going to be anywhere near our area cause Steve was going to be in a truck and she said maybe I don't even want to be in Michigan. I said yeah maybe not, things could get messy with Steve at the wheel of a semi. The bad part about this being laid off thing,is you have to wait weeks for your money to come in. But I guess all will work out. The issue with the schooling is the gas. I drive 160 miles per day to take them to and from school and honestly we can't afford it without God's help. My only other option is homeschooling and that is not on my dying-to-do list. The Lord knows what we should do, the problem is us knowing what the Lord wants us to do. Anyway, keep us in your prayers.

Happy Birthday

I'm a day late on this but I want to say Happy Birthday to my mom. She is the best mom ever. She is a great example for me. I love you. Oh, and you have some awesome kids!! :-)

Tannen & friends

This is Tannen with a couple of "friends". Left to right is Tirzah, Tannen, & Liberty. Tirzah & Tannen are a week apart. Tirzah is Chad & Adileah's baby. The other little girl is Liberty and she belongs to Destiny & Adam. I hope I spelled their names right ;-) They are so cute!!!

Favorite list

The one of Justice in the stream I took but Germayne fixed it up for me the rest of these she did. These are at the top of my favorite list.

The family

The one picture where you can hardly see Tyler didn't turn out right so we are going to redo it next week when they come up for youth camp.

Germayne's work

The last time Germayne took pictures for us the store wouldn't let me print them out because they said they were professional and I needed her signature.

Part of our photo session

Germayne took family pictures for us again while we were there. Here is just one of each of the kids. There are others and just like last time I love them all. She just has an eye for this stuff!! I know I'm there mother, but my boys are so adorable!!! Or I guess I should say handsome.

Me and my bro