Good News!

Catching up with a few things and good news!

Mavery had her appointment today with the heart doctor. FINALLY we got good news! A normal heart has a pressure in the ventricle of about 20-25. At her very first appointment hers was at 75. After the open heart surgery it was only down to 56. But today it is @ 35! Even Dr Goel seemed pleasantly surprised and for that we are glad. When we walked in he was already talking about scheduling her next cath, possibly next week so this news came with much relief after the scan was done! We do not have to return for SIX MONTHS! We are a little confused on if when we go back there will still be a cath if it is the same or if it is worse. Not sure on that one, but he did say that he is very hopeful her next cath will not be for 3-5 YEARS and so that is our prayer to. But regardless we are just thankful for good news. We know that MANY prayers are going up on behalf of Mavery and we believe that God has touched and healed her little heart more than doctors could imagine, and that He will continue to do so. Thank you for praying and believing with us!

We are on our way to Kansas City for a weekend of reunions! We will be staying with Marks brother and the kids are very excited to play with their cousins. While there we will get to see Ming Ming and family (Maverys friend we traveled to China with). We will get to see Tatumn, Sage’s friend from her orphanage and our dear travel mates. And we also finally get to meet my friend Tracy whom is one of my sweet online friends I have never met! ;-) I can’t wait and will be posting lots of pictures soon! We get home from this trip just in time to re pack our bags for Chicago. Fun times!

Makenna is home from Camp!

We picked Makenna up from camp on our way to Kansas City. She had a wonderful time and was happy to have Ms Penny (which would be Ms Jennys twin sister) as her counselor. So glad that she had fun, but so glad she is home! And thanks to Jenny for taking Makenna's stinky camp laundry home with her to wash so it did not sit in our van all weekend! ;-)

Makenna heads to camp AGAIN!

Excited Girls, ready to go!
Ms Jenny got the van all packed up, it was a tight squeeze!

Girls got front row of the van, the 6 boys had the back. That Ms Jenny, she is a smart one! Bye Bye Makenna, have a great time!
Makenna has had a BUSY summer! She left today for Childrens Camp with church and I know she is going to have lots of fun! We are ALMOST ready for school to start here simply so life can slow down a little bit. See ya Friday Makenna!

Makenna attends Art Camp

Makenna had a great time this week attending Discovering the Arts Camp put on by a local church. She was able to take guitar and drama. Today they put on "art explosion" 70s theme. Very cute and I think Makenna could have fit right in to the 70s! (she has the black boots on)

How Mark keeps the girls busy

Whatever works, right?

Sageisms

Sayings I never want to forget from my Spicy Girl.

While driving down the highway "Mom, mom its guitarget, lets go shopping!" (this would be Target!)

"Don't tickle my ribbons" (Ribs)

"When I get bigger I am going to get bracelets on my teeth like Makenna". (Braces)

"I have buttons and some day they will be big!" (yeah, go ahead and guess that one!)

She often says "when God turns me into a boy, or when God turns me into a big person, or when God makes my eyes blue" And she is still certain that she does NOT want hazel eyes like me, she wants "pretty eyes like Daddy and Makenna & Sawyer & Malaine" I was waiting when she said "when God turns me into a boy I will have" for what was coming but it was to have legos to build with! Thankfully that was all. ;-)

Her prayers are my favorite. "Please let me go to Ms Jennys house, please let Grammy buy me a bride dress, please help me not be afraid of the thunder, please help me get to chew gum, please help us get a new baby". WHAT? She sure has this on her mind alot. Mark sure hopes it is not some sort of sign.

Her new favorite song is Never Let Go by the David Crowder Band. (love it!) But do you want to know why my spicy girl loves it? Because it allows her to say OH MY soul. We have banned Oh my from our vocabulary because Mavery kept saying "oh my gosh" which did not sound like Gosh." So now that it is banned they want to say it ALWAYS. At first we just said no saying oh my gosh. They would say oh my head, oh my foot, oh my whatever they could think of. Then we said do not say OH MY ANYTHING. So the heavens opened up when they realized that they could sing this song and not get in trouble! ;-) Sage is a sneaky one. I catch her behind closed doors singing it over and over, specifically that verse.

This girl just makes me laugh and laugh!

Big Girl Beds- Will we all sleep tonight?

Very Excited!
Leaving the crib up till we see if this is going to work!

pretending to sleep.

Big girl beds!

Beautiful girl

Sage broke her tent on her bed. Not on purpose. She was swinging from the inside and ripped it enough to be able to unzip herself. So, she has been letting herself out, but only when she is done sleeping. Not getting up during the night or up early, nothing that crazy. ;-) We figured we could go ahead and try the toddler bed. It would make things much easier on our upcoming trips if we do not have to drag their beds along. Not to mention that they are going to turn 4 in November and yes I still have them in cribs. But they are such good sleepers I have hated to chance messing that up. But I gave in, especially when Sage said she would give up the mermer if we let her have a bed. That would be pacifier and I should be embarrassed to admit that she still has that. I am not. ;-) But happy today when she told us to send them to the babies in China! We were just going to try Sage in a bed but you know that did not go to well for Mavery. So, they both got a toddler bed out, went to bed like perfect little angels and we will see how the night goes. I will be bolting all the outside doors and keeping the monitors up loud just to be certain they are not out running the neighborhood on me! I have to say, this is making me pretty sad though. We are done with diapers, diaper bags, now pacifiers and cribs. What is a mommy to do?

VBS 2009

Mavery & Sage singing on stage, they were a riot. I just kept hoping they did not get into a fist fight, like they did that morning at gymnastics.

Sage LOVES the stage, and Mavery did amazingly well up there to. We might be in trouble with our little performers.

Cute Decorations done by my mom!

Malaine on her train

Sawyer 2nd row, middle

Makenna, obviously knowing I am taking her picture.

We had a fun time this week at Vacation Bible School, Boomerang Express. Once again I helped out in snacks, which I enjoy. Though being around all that yummy food was not easy when trying to just say no. Laura, our snack leader, does the good stuff. Chocolate dipped pretzels as a didgeridoo. Oatmeal creme pies made into a kookaburras. Hot dog buns made into boomerang pizzas, yum! The kids all loved it and as you can see in the pictures, enjoyed performing last night.

Dining Room Furniture Fun

Not fun. Not fun one little bit. It seemed like such a good idea. To paint this set to give it a more modern look. Or to cover up the fact that the children have ruined it from using it as the school table. Take your pick. As I have mentioned before, I am hooked on decorating blogs at the moment. And they are so inspiring. Just take a little paint to some furniture and you have a brand new room! Easy as that. Yeah right! We bought this set about 12 years ago and it took us F.O.R.E.V.E.R. to find something we liked. So we did not want to get rid of it, just help it out a little. Thankful to my husband for doing so much of the work with me. We are still finding lots of spots that we missed. (as you can tell in the pictures, no need to point them out to me) but I do like it. I think it blends in well with the rest of the house. Now what to do with that cabinet. I am NOT painting the whole thing. I refuse. Yes it would probably look beautiful, but those chairs were so much work, I can't even imagine how long it would take. But I am willing to paint parts of it. And I am planning to change the brass on it to silver. Any ideas?

**I realize that the table is off center under the light, the room is a mess(but not covered in laundry as usual!) and I need a new centerpiece, but hey, doesn't the table look good?!

It's a Girl!

No, we are not having another child. I bet some of you were worried weren't you? ;-) For many years we have sponsored a child through Compassion International. It was pretty neat how we got started. Mark "adopted" a child for me as a surprise for our anniversary in 2001. We were given at the time a little girl from Africa who was about 10 years old. We sponsored her till she was out of the program and all enjoyed her letters. When she graduated we were given another beautiful girl also from Africa who we are still supporting. Her name is Fitsum and she is 18.

The weekend I attended Woman of Faith they did a big thing with World Vision. Same concept. Let me give you a quick explanation in case you have no idea what I am talking about. You are given a child (and you have some say in area and age, boy, girl, birthday etc) and you pay around $30 each month that is used to help out this child. Part of the money helps them go to school, get healthcare they need, food, etc.. You are able to write back and forth, send small gifts and in some cases even visit your child! These children are not orphans, they live in a family.

So, I attended the conference and was so excited to see that World Vision worked in China! (compassion does not) I jumped right on the chance to be able to not only help a child out, but in turn help out an entire family! What a blessing for my children to have this type of connection. And of course the chances to actually see her are huge. We will be able to exchange letters and get to know her. We feel like we have another little girl!

I was going to request a boy, but in the end figured God would give us the child he wanted us to support. And really figured that would be a boy. What do you know? Mark asked me why I was surprised at that! Her name is Hai Mei and she is 8 years old. Isn't she just gorgeous?

I know many MANY people that say they want to adopt, but can't afford it, husband won't, do not want more children. Well this is an EASY way to help a child AND their family for just $1 a day. I hope that if you do not sponsor a child you will think about it, pray about it, and then just do it. I promise, you will not regret it.

Oh and don't think I missed that this little sweetie is wearing a shirt covered in ladybugs!

Johnsons Shut Ins

Makenna & 1 of her counselors. Sweet girl! Funny thing, she was homeschooled and so was half of Makennas cabin. Not a homeschool camp, just neat to work out that way. We took a little hike at the campground and stopped at this, so beautiful.
Johnson Shut Ins. I did not get a picture of the big rocks, this was just when we first got in and started playing.


Pennys BBQ. I had the TWENTY FOUR oz pork kabobs which would have fed my entire family. I did not eat them all, in case you are worried. YUM!


We are having to much family fun on the weekends here for CHEAP! ;-) Last weekend we visited Elephant Rock. This Saturday we picked Makenna up from camp and then headed over to Johnson Shut Ins. I can't believe we live just 90 minutes from these things and I have never been! First, Makenna really loved camp. She is already talking about next year and even liked it better than last years camp which had air conditioning, so that is a good sign! It seemed to be very laid back and relaxed and I am so happy she enjoyed it so much.

After pick up we headed over to the Shut Ins with the Harriss family. (their daughter Kyra went w/ Makenna to camp) It is similar to Elephant Rock in that it is BIG rocks, but this time there is water with the rocks. It was quite a workout w/ the little girls, but we made it and had a fun time. (if we were able to get an all day sitter, I would have, so if you have littles, keep that in mind.) It was really beautiful down there. We had Pennys BBQ on the way home. YUM, yum, if you live in the area you must go and get it at least for carry out. YUM! ;-)

So climbing on rocks last weekend. Climbing on rocks with water this weekend. What in the world will we do next weekend? Thanks Harriss Family for such a fun time! We love spending time with good friends!

Incredible Pizza

Sorry so many posts in one night, if only I could stay up with the blog better!

We took the kids to Incredible Pizza tonight. This was Maverys first time at a place like this and she LOVED it. A perfect place for my sensory seeker! However I am at a loss. So I get that she needs to be stimulated, but then how do you bring her down? Because if you make her stop for a second, she threw a fit. We started the night with Mark taking her on the go karts. Sage wanted nothing to do with those. Mavery LOVED them! I think after that the kiddie rides were to tame for her! We have no doubt she is going to LOVE Disney rides, but those lines are going to be fun.

Princess Hair, kind of

I love this blog and if you have a little princess or 2, or 3, or like me FOUR, then you need to check out this site. I am trying to come up with some creative ideas for princess make overs for the girls in Disney. Would love to do Bippity Boppity Boutique, but I just can't spend the money. I thought I could, I want to, but I just can't. Not when I think of all the cute outfits I could buy with that money! ;-) So, I will have to make my own boutique. In our room. And while I may not be the fairy godmother sprinkling the magic fairy dust, I certainly am a mother and can bring along my own pixie dust. Or simply glitter. And a few fancy new hair dos. We had our first session today and I thought they turned out pretty well. The girls were excited. I had Sage & Malaine done before Mavery was up from her nap and when she saw the girls she said "when my hair gets longer" while patting her head. Poor Mavery, she wants long hair so bad! Though she really does have some beautiful wave to her hair. She was very proud of her pigtails especially because I added a 3rd in back. (my girls are always wanting 3, why is that?) Hopefully their hair will grow out a little bit more in the next 2 1/2 months so we can have some fun!