Sunday, June 26, 2011

a couple of updates...

After we returned from Disney, my sister in law Lisa had an appointment at Mayo, she was not expecting good news as she had a lump in her side and was overjoyed to learn that it is some sort of radiation related scar tissue!  AND the tumors have shrunk some since her last appointment!  WOWSERS!  We were all thrilled with this news.  Please continue to pray for her as she continues to fight on!

Along that same line, our friend Ryan who is also fighting cancer received good news at his appointment as well!


We also had a great report on Luisa, her immune system is almost back up where it should be, and her levels of HIV are coming down!  Still waiting for those numbers to be 'normal' and 'undetectable,' but we are seeing progress and she is doing great!  We don't have to go back to the lung specialist for about 8 months as her breathing is normal, she is not on any breathing treatments, she is still on medication for reflux, but we think she will be able to go off of that soon as well!

Praising God for these good reports!

Thursday, June 16, 2011

Florida part 2...

We met Ryan's family at the airport and rode the Magical Express to our Disney hotel!  Man, do those folks at Disney know how to do it up!!

The gang, all 19 of us waiting for the bus.


Anaya did pretty good with most of the characters.
Lucy did not like the characters...at all!
Epcot


Anaya could hardly eat, she kept looking around for Mickey, she was so excited when he came around!
Lucy, however, did not like him at all!

Lucy learned how to do the "cheese" smile, and now this is the face I get when I haul out my camera!
So, that was our first day at Disney, and...that is all I got!  On day 2 Ryan left my camera on the bus, and someone stole it!  That is what it is, if you find something, you should turn it in, not keep it if it is not yours, so it was 'technically' stolen.  I would have turned in a camera if I found one, unfortunately, a bad apple found it and kept it...anyhow, enough about that....I am not too upset, I hated that camera, it took terrible pictures, just sad that some people are so evil, and that my husband looses things, although if you ask him, he just misplaces them for a while...ok Ryan, whatever!  I do love that man though!

Anyhow, we had a fabulous time, actually glutenous is what I should say.  We ate way too much, but enjoyed our time together!  Here are a few random moments I will never forget...

*Anaya hiding under the table when Goofy came around!  Too funny, he was looking under the table for her and she screamed!  Then he came near Lucy and she freaked as well!  {Of course we were laughing so hard while they were both terrified, I am such a bad mother!}

*While eating at Ohana's, I looked at the shrimp and asked if it needed to be peeled, just as I am asking this I got my answer by the horrific look on Lisa's face as she was crunching through the nasty outer shell that yes, indeed needed to be peeled off!  Oh so funny!  Sorry Lisa, I am still picturing your face and laughing!

*I took Anaya on the Snow White ride, and forgot about the scary witch...well, in order to make light of the situation I explained that it was just a nasty little witch that someone painted on cardboard, that it was fake and that she would not see her again.  Well, she was with my sister in law Sarah and said, "I think I see that nasty little witch!"  Umm...what did you say?  Oh boy, that doesn't sound good coming from a 4 year old!  But sure enough, she was right, the same witch was in the window of a store!  oops!  Poor baby, she still talks about that thing!  I never let her or any of my kids watch those old Disney movies because of the witches, so they were unfamiliar with them, I should have known better than to take her on that ride!

It was an awesome trip, we were busy from sun up to sun down, so now that the laundry is finally done, I am enjoying the slower pace at home!  A big "Thank you" to Ryan's parents for an unforgettable family trip, and our trip planner Sarah who had everything planned out just perfectly, we had a great time!!!

When I get more pictures from the rest of the family, I will post them!

Thursday, June 9, 2011

Florida part 1...

 It's a good thing we had this vacation scheduled a long time ago, as we have a busy summer ahead, and this will definitely be our last vacation for a while!  Last year my father in law retired and decided to take us all to Disney!!  So, we decided to go a couple days early and enjoy a relaxing vacation with just our "little" family.  We spent Tuesday - Friday at Daytona Beach enjoying a little down time.  Tomorrow morning we will meet up with the rest of Ryan's family and begin our Disney adventure!

The girls found this to be an uneventful, relaxing flight, they both zonked out for a while!

Hey, we can take the shuttle home when we're done with Disney!
{We live in Mears, MI!}


 Luisa wasn't too sure about all that water at first,
 but, it didn't take long and she was running into the waves and got soaked!  She got tired and chilled after a while, but she loved the beach!
Look at all those cuties!  We are so blessed!
Our ocean front hotel, found on Priceline {name your own price} for $43 a night!
Anaya loving on Daddy.
 Luisa took Easton's football away, and ran for her life!  She thought it was so much fun as he was chasing after her!

 Panorama of the beach with our hotel in the center.  I am glad they aren't allowed to drive on the beaches at home, it just adds another danger to the mix!
 Jayden searching for shells.  Every time we take a beach vacation, {like all of 3 times now!} we collect shells and make a picture frame out of them with a family photo of us on the beach.  This wasn't the best shelling beach, but we found plenty.

 Anaya loved the kiddie pool, and tolerated the beach.
 Luisa is a water rat!  She loved it when the boys would splash her, the more the better, Anaya, on the other hand, got out when the boys got in!  {I would have too!}

YAY!  Everyone is looking for our beach vacation photo! 
 playing in the sand
 Lucy loving on Daddy, she really bonded with him these last few days!
 Lucy loving on Easton!
It was so nice to just relax together as a family.  We are excited for part 2, beginning tomorrow!!!

Monday, June 6, 2011

Happy Birthday Easton!!

I can't believe my baby boy is 6 years old already!  
We love you Easton Daniel, you are such a fun little guy, and you bring us so much joy!!

We are heading out bright and early tomorrow morning to do our first post placement report.
{I can't believe it has been 3 months since Luisa was officially our daughter!}
Then we are heading to FLORIDA!!!

Friday, June 3, 2011

finally done with school....

I'm gonna miss this!  Dylan reading the history book to Jayden.  I love how close they are, I pray that will continue.   

Hebrews 13

 1Let brotherly love continue.


We are usually done in early spring, but because of our trip to Colombia, we were a tad behind!  It's bitter-sweet though, as this was Dylan's last day of home school! {We think...} He will be going to school next year, and I am going to miss having him around!  But, it's time, he is ready, and wants to attend school so he can play sports, and let's face it, he needs to learn math from someone other than me!  I bottom out around 5th grade math, so for the last 2 years we have muddled through, and I am DONE! 
Jayden thinks he is going to graduate from home school...um, we may have to hire math out if that is the case!!  We shall see.  Each kid is different and we take it one day at a time.
I love the time I get to spend with the kids while we do school {most of the time,} but I look forward to keeping up with the house work.  YAY for summer!!