Cast-free Callie

Callie girl got her cast off this morning. Hooray!

Last picture of her in her cast. She was oh-so thrilled. :-)


Cutting the cast off. This was after the "saw". She cried a little because she was scared, but then she calmed down. She's a trooper.


Daddy holding Cals while we are waiting for the results from the x-rays. She's in the clear and everything looked good!



Random picture of Noah who did well watching his sister. He was a bit concerned that they were hurting her, but we re-assured him that she was just scared of the loud noises and she wasn't actually being hurt.


She is still not used to using that arm, although she has moved it a little. We'll see what she does after nap.

Perhaps today we'll take down some Christmas decorations...

The plague

So, Noah's fever is on day 5 and still going. Dave looked at him today and could visibly see his lymph nodes. He called the doctor and we got in this afternoon. He has strep throat. At least we know now and can have him treated. He was still running a fever tonight when I put him to bed...but we've started the antibiotics and I gave him some more tylenol.

Callie has been having horrible diarrhea the last two days. Poor girl. There is no consistency to her poops...it's like water. She's pooped through two outfits already today and our house has that diarrhea smell. Her poor bottom is all red too. I feel so bad for her. She finally ate a little tonight, and the doctor gave us some pro-biotics to give her to help it. So far, aside from that, she's fever free...and I'm praying that she stays that way.

Please just pray that my kids heal, and heal quickly, in the next few days. We've been praying for them a lot, but more prayer is always good. Pray too for Dave and I to maintain, and just to feel God's presence with us. I know He is working this all out. Thanks so much.

Merry Christmas!

These are the "big" presents the kids got this year. Noah also got a Buzz and Woody. Callie got some new babies and a highchair, among various other things for both.

We are stuck at home today because Noah's running a 102 fever again. If it was mild, I would have maybe still tried...but 102 is kinda high. He's acting normal though (feuding with Callie), so it feels hard to stay at home and miss my family's Christmas today. The kid's took long naps and now I'm letting them watch one of our new movies from Christmas. It's been a quiet day all in all. Noah's still running about 100 degree temp after Tylenol, so it's still a good thing we're here. I have to keep reminding myself of that. I think my sister will stop by tonight on her way home and my parents are planning on coming by tomorrow on their way home too...so at least we'll get to see some of my family.

All in all, despite the sickness, it's been a lovely Christmas.

Merry Christmas (eve) Everyone!

I'm so excited for Christmas this year. Really, I am. We had our first Christmas last weekend with the Irwin side (Dave's mom's side). It was a lot of fun to see people, eat wonderful food, and let the kids open a few presents.

The holidays encompass so many things. It's great to see family. I love eating the good food...of fine, and the cookies too. I'm really excited for my kids this year. They're so much fun and I can't wait to see their reactions when they open their presents. However, the big thing that I'm excited to share with my kids tomorrow is the birthday party we get to have for Jesus. We're going to make Monkey bread (then stick some candles on it...it kind of looks like a cake right?) We'll read the story of Jesus' birth and then let the kids open presents. I'm really loving this tradition because it helps to remind me (and one day, the kids) what this season is all about.

Dave is finished at Thorntown. It was bittersweet his last day. He's really liked everyone down there and has fit in well over the last few years. It was difficult to say goodbye, I imagine. However, I know that he is enjoying the idea of having all his days free. We've talked of doing some traveling on his off days from the emergency clinic. Who knows what we'll do. Endless possibilities. :-)

Callie is obsessed with Dora. She also does not appreciate commercials. When a commercial comes on in between Dora, she laments loudly, "Dora! Dora!" and looks to me to fix it. Sorry kiddo. I don't like commercials either.

We made cookies the other day. It was actually a lot of fun. The kids were so into cutting out shapes in the cookie dough. They were machines. :-) Now, we are in the process of giving all of them away. Too much temptation sitting here.

Hoping all is going well for you this holiday season. Merry Christmas!!

My husband is the best

I was running around trying to get everything done to leave (possibly tonight) for the Irwin Christmas tomorrow, with two whiny kids at my heels. On a whim, Dave decided to take them BOTH with him to run errands. It's AMAZING how much I finished in that amount of time. I baked cookies, swept and mopped the kitchen, picked up, pulled out clothes for everyone for tomorrow, vacuumed, folded two loads of laundry, put EVERYTHING away. He even said that he was taking care of dinner tonight. Wow. Now I'm sitting here, and am not sure what to do with myself. Hmmmm. I have a pretty great husband. :-)

Two places at once

I wish. We've had the sickness plague hit our house. Noah came down with a fever Saturday. He was really out of it for Saturday/Sunday. You know Noah is sick when he just lays there and doesn't want to cause mischief.

He got better, then I started getting a sore throat. Tuesday night, Callie started running a fever and she had one all day yesterday and then a mild one this morning.

So, today was Noah's Christmas party at preschool. All the parents came and they decorated cookies. Dave had to work at Thorntown today (only 2 days left), so I decided to go and just bring Callie. Well, when she was still running a fever this morning, I decided that perhaps this wasn't such a good idea.

Dropping Noah off was so hard because the teacher was really disappointed that I couldn't come back. Then she said that the director could come and be a "substitute" for me. Ugh. I wanted to be there, but I didn't have anyone to watch my sick kid. Well, Callie's fever broke through the morning and she started feeling much better. I still debated, but since this thing is obviously contagious, I still stayed home with her.

When I went to pick Noah up, they were reading a story. I had to take Callie in, and so we sat and listened. It was really nice to be there, but I kept Callie on my lap the whole time. I was the only parent who had been missing, and I felt the loss of missing out on those moments with Noah. Right or wrong, I felt shamed/judged that I hadn't been there before (since clearly Callie was doing much better). Parenting is hard, trying to make the best decisions for everyone involved.

There will be plenty more of these opportunities, I know. I'm feeling emotional today and I probably just need to get over the fact that I just couldn't be in both places at once.

Hopefully, we're all on the mend now. We're really looking forward to the holidays this year. Noah and Callie are so much fun to buy for and I'm really excited to see their faces this year as they open presents. It gives me a new perspective on how Father God feels when he gives good things to us. He delights in us. That's pretty much how I feel about my kids.

Well, I'm off to finish cleaning while the kids are napping. Have a great day!

Kiddos

Noah

This is the conversation Noah and I had on the way home from church this morning:

Noah: My shoes are getting to be too small...my socks too.

Me: Yep, you're getting bigger.

Noah: Yeah, I'm getting bigger! When you and daddy get little, I will drive you. I will drive and Callie will sit up front with me. Then I can wear daddy's shoes!!


I love that someday (at least for now anyway) he wants to take care of us when we are "little". Someday soon he will fit into Dave's shoes. I hope he does...Dave is a great man and they would be good shoes to fill.

Another profound Noahism:

Talking about how much he likes his friends:

"All my friends are my friends!!" Yes, indeed. :-)

Day 1- Traveling and the First session

Dave and I left our house at 3:30 am on Thursday morning. We left with the rest of the team around 4:15 to get to the airport. Our flights were with Alan the whole way, but the rest of them was split up on different flights. We hopped a short flight to Cincinnati to await our long flight to Seattle.

Unfortunately, this was the morning of the FAA glitch. If you hadn't heard about it...that Thursday their system that records flight plans failed. Then their back-up system failed. They were trying to file flight plans by phone and fax. Needless to say, it caused a huge ruckus in the day's plans. Fortunately, our flight was only delayed about an hour (small compared to what the rest of the day looked like for flyers I'm sure).


We arrived in Seattle just in time to catch up with the rest of the guys who had been waiting awhile. We climbed in our rental and drove to Blue Sky where we met up with Steve. We got on the ferry headed over the sound to Whidbey island, where the retreat was being held. Another first for me: I had never been on a ferry with cars. It was only a 15 minute ride over there. Unfortunately, it was raining, so we didn't see much...except a seal. That was pretty cool. :-)


We were all exhausted by the time we got there. We had been traveling for about 12 hours at that point. Originally, Dave and I were to stay in a cabin with some other couples (since we were the only couple there). They dropped us off and we found this HUGE black spider where we were staying. Wonderful. A few minutes after Dave and I got settled, Tony called us and told us there was room for us in the farm house they were staying in. We decided to go so we could be closer to the team (and perhaps there wouldn't be as many spiders...) I'm glad we did.





It was beautiful. Intricate woodwork. A pass-through in the kitchen. Beautiful staircase. Just gorgeous.

The first session was a bit hard for all of us. It was starting at 7pm Seattle time, which is 10pm our time. I was exhausted by the end of it. I was a tad melancholy and really wanted prayer myself to be filled up enough to be able to pour out through the weekend. For some reason, I just wanted God to use someone to touch me in a profound way. That was my prayer as I went to bed that night...

Day 2- Friday

So, after feeling exhausted and unable to poor out on Thursday night, I woke up on Friday feeling much more refreshed. Matt came down the hall and handed me a note from his wife, Allyson, who is also a really good friend of mine. It was just what I needed. Inside, she had written 3 verses. I sat down and began to read them. God had totally answered my prayer. I had asked that he use someone to speak to me his truths. Just the fact that Allyson had thought to include a note to me was really meaningful. The verses she sent were like manna. They were exactly what I needed. So, there I was, in a house full of men (I was the only woman) sobbing my eyes out in the living room telling Dave how much God met me and how thankful I was for Allyson. Dave can handle me. It's a good thing none of the others came down and saw my sob-fest though.

As if to add an exclamation point to my wonderment of God, I walked outside and came across this view:

The picture does not do it justice. I have never in my life seen snow-covered mountains. I just stood there and stared. It was breath-taking. Purple mountains majesty, indeed.

After the first session, we had a lot of free time. A lot of the guys played basketball. I was told that I was going to have to play, but (thankfully) at the last minute, they made it a guys game. I was excused. :-)

Later in the afternoon, I rode with Kurt, Alan, and Matt into the town for a scenic drive. Dave opted to stay home and read.




I'm going to take this time and insert my perspective on this trip. I was the only female that went on the trip with 5 other males. I was a bit worried about this, not sure what to expect. Truly, these guys are all really great men. They made me feel welcome and a part of the group always. I felt like I was hanging out with my brothers (or what I would imagine brothers to be like since it was just me and my sister growing up). And I guess they are my brothers in Christ, so maybe that's why it wasn't weird.

God did lots of cool things in the sessions. Lots of people got prayer. God moved. It was really neat to see.

Day 3-Saturday

Saturday morning was our last session at the conference. It was really good and as always, God showed up.

Afterwards, we were invited to a couple's house who have a house on the island. It was beautiful!!! They lived right on the water and so I could enjoy the view, while standing beside a roaring fire. Perfect.

The couple have lots of grandkids, so they had lots of fun toys. The nerf guns were a big hit. :-)





Let's just say that a nerf war occured...and I was the reporter who got hit in the crossfire.

Afterwards, we hit Deception Pass. It's this HUGE bridge overlooking this beautiful scenery. I was not a fan of crossing the bridge because it was so windy. I had an irrational fear that the wind would blow me over the side. I digress. Anyway, it was really neat to see.