Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas from our family to yours!

My sweet girls having a great time playing in the bath tub!! They would play in water for hours if I would let them!

I am really posting today to ask you to pray for my sweet friend and her family, they are moving to China tomorrow as they open a new chapter in their lives! I am so very excited for them to be together as a family and even more excited to see how God is going to use them! But, they leave tomorrow and we had to say our goodbyes this morning.......she is one of those friends that I rely on.......talk to alot.........and more than anything someone who keeps me accountable to the Father! As excited as I am.....my heart hurts! Through this process, I am continually reminded of my relationship with the Lord.....HE is my friend.....one I can rely on.......talk to anytime.........always there for me! I hope I never take for granted the "friend" I have in our sweet Jesus!

Hug your sweet friends today.............

Pray..........Pray BIG!

Friends.....I know and realize that not many people read this blog, it is more than anything for us to document our lives. (sure wish I was better at updating though)
I post today asking you to pray for our sweet Malorie! As some of you know, we did not get a good report from the Dr. a few weeks ago. M's hip is already showing signs of not "holding" so basically if she continues on this path we will be starting over come July! Malorie's right hip socket is very narrow and shallow which is why the ball is not holding like it should! This was not the news I was expecting that day, so after many tears (from the Mama) God instantly reminded me that HE is in control and that we have to trust HIM.

I have spent much time praying and clinging to HIS word for answers and I am constantly reminded that HE has gone before us and is guiding us through.......HE cares and HE has plans for our girl!
M has been through so much already, so the thought of starting over is very overwhelming, but again we are trusting HIM!

Josh and I are praying big........we are praying for complete healing of M's hip! Please lift up our little girl as she continues to recover!

As of now, M wears a Rhino brace 16 hours a day and can be out of it 8 during the daytime! The brace is so much better than a cast......so again we feel blessed!

Thanks so much for going before the Father for our little M!

Snow Fun....the 1st round!

Delanie so bundled up I am not sure how well she can move! Oh well, warmth is key!!
Daddy and Delanie shoveling the driveway together! D loves the snow and cold weather.....she does not get this from me! I am very happy to take pictures from inside the warm house!
Not sure who loves the snow more, Delanie or our big dog Cody?
Malorie enjoying the snow inside! Next year, we hope she gets to run around and play in the snow too! (guess that means I will have to brave the snow too!!)
All done, ready to head in! I think D is coughing in this one! She continually ate the snow while playing!

I really love snow, but at this point....I am so done and totally ready for Spring!

Wow, it has been a long time!

It has been way too long to try and update everything we missed....so let me catch you up to speed!
We are so blessed and had a wonderful fall, Thanksgiving, and Christmas!

Above is a pic of our sweet Malorie! Josh is holding her by her cast......I know it looks crazy but she is in an almost full body cast called a "spica cast!"

In late October we found out that Malorie has hip dysplasia and would need a small surgery to correct the problem! So, with much anticipation from her Mommy and Daddy....M went into surgery on December 21st to have what is called a Closed Reduction! Basically, the Dr. manually put her hip back in the socket manually and held it still while the big cast was applied! They use dye in her hip to monitor everything closely! So far, all is holding well! We did find out last week that she will wear a spica cast until mid March! Yikes!
M goes back in on Feb. 9th to get a new cast....but in order to place it correctly they will have to put her to sleep again! So your prayers are much appreciated!

So, caring for M in this big cast can be quite a challenge....but it is doable! She cannot sit up, so we use pillows to prop her up but she cannot lean over very far...so it makes playing and eating pretty hard! We just play and eat together! She is starting to scoot around on her tummy some, but her little head gets tired....so she is held much of the time!

The diapering is not quite as bad as I anticipated! She has a small opening around her bottom, so I use a size 1 diaper (with a maxi-pad inside) then I put a size 5 or 6 around the outside to hold everything in place! I do have to change her pretty often.....kind of like a newborn..but it has not been hard! I get up around 1:30 every night to change her so the cast stays dry!

I know I am putting lots of info.....but, I too, want to remember all of these details!

I will try and do my best to be better at this blogging thing!

Thanks for lifting up our little M!

By the way, big Sister Delanie is doing a great job of helping care of M! In fact, she picked out the color of the cast and has already chosen purple for the next one!! That's my girl!

Birthday Girl!

We have another birthday girl!! Malorie turned 1 last Thursday September 30th! It is so hard to believe that my baby is 1!
More pics of the many celebrations to come.......

Delanie's 3rd Birthday!

Here is our big 3 year old!! I cannot believe that she is 3.....where does the time go! Delanie chose to have a Minnie Mouse Birthday Party, so of course she had to have a coordinating shirt!
I am sure that most of you heard about our swing set drama, if not, here it goes! We ordered a swing set from Walmart.com well over 3 weeks before D's birthday party! We got one of the boxes within a week, so we thought for sure the second box would come within a couple of days! So, a week later, we were still waiting for the box! This was 3 days before the party! Yikes! So, I called the customer service department and spend over 45 minutes on the phone with a very helpful person, but they could not tell me where the box was......they had no clue where it was and why it did not come with the first one! This was Wednesday before her Friday party....and we were back at square one! That afternoon, I began calling stores and the Walmart in Lee's Summit had a comparable swing set to the one that we had ordered! I picked it up and the team of boys started working on it at 6:30 that evening! They had it put together by 11:00.....that evening! Impressive, I know!!! Needless to say, I am done with Walmart for a while! Ha!
Cheesy smile.....and the flower cake that Delanie chose!
She really enjoyed opening her presents this year! She got some awesome goodies!
She loves the slide!
D is scared of birthday candles, so I had to "help" her!
This was the morning of her actual birthday, she got a bracelet and some new sunglasses from Mommy and Daddy! She loves fun jewelry and sunglasses....wonder where she gets that from?

Delanie is such a joy, she keeps us on our toes.....but is a true blessing from the Lord!!
We are honored to be D's parents!!!

MIA!

I am still out here in blog land! Ha!
It has been a long time since I have posted! I just can't seem to get all things together in my life, so the blog certainly suffers! I am in full swing of getting my preschool classroom ready and will begin teaching next Tuesday! In fact, I get to meet my sweet kids tomorrow evening! My job with Little Angel's is such a blessing! I still get to be an at home Mommy, but I also get to experience a professional side of life.....while getting to minister to kids and families! God is so good!

September is also a very busy month because both girls will be having birthdays! I never dreamed that both D and M would have September birthdays, let alone that they would be 2 weeks apart! That puts a little bit of pressure on this Momma! We are working on planning both parties and will keep both simple, but hope they each feel special! Josh and I are so blessed with our girls!

I am sure I will have Birthday pics before too long and some updated info on the girls!

I am not even sure who reads this, but I will try and be better with posting our life!

Delanie 2 year 8 months!!

Delanie, I am so proud and honored that God chose me to be your Mommy!! You make me smile all day! You are so sweet, very smart, and yes you can be down right ornery!!

D weighs 32lbs.
Height....??

What are you up to?
You love playing with your babies....changing their diapers and pretending to feed them! You are a great Mommy! You also love to talk to all of your "friends!" (who are not really there!) You have a wild imagination and we love to watch you play!
You love to color with colored pencils and markers are your favorite right now! You are most definitely left handed!
I can also tell that you are going to be a great teacher, because your play with your "class" all of the time!
I am pretty sure if we would allow it, you would play outside all day.......in the rocks, dirt, mud, with bubbles, sidewalk chalk.......

We are learning that even though you act like you are ok with storms, you are really afraid! So, we pray and ask God to help us not be afraid! You are also not so fond of bugs..........

I am so proud of your scripture memory! You know 5 verses by memory! It is so much fun talking to you about Jesus and helping you learn HIS word!! What a joy and honor!!

You know:
Taste and see that the Lord is Good
Children obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right
Sing praises to the Lord
God's love for us is Great
Seek first the Kingdom of God

Eating:
Your favorites right now are;
chocolate milk, boiled eggs, Cheetos, bananas, blueberries, apples, snack mix, chicken, steak, corn on the cob, green peas, cottage cheese, waffles, pb and j, and kind of dip, any kind of pasta, cheese, turkey, yogurt, jello..........the list could go on because you love to eat!!

Favorite Books: (right now)
You love "Thomas Goes Fishing!" In fact, you insist on reading it to me!
Five Little Honey Bees
Goodnight Moon

You love to swim and do not mind getting your hair and face wet!! I can't wait for a fun summer of playing in the sun!! You are such a delight......

Malorie 8 months!

Tomorrow our sweet Malorie will be 8 months old! I cannot even believe it!
I have been horrible about posting info about both girls....so I am going to start!! We'll see how well I keep up with it!

8 month stats:
14lbs. 14 ounces (taken this past week at your GI appointment)
We were happy to know that you are finally on the charts....3rd-5th percentile! Yea!
Not sure on your measurements......but I do know that everything is measuring symmetrical!

Your schedule:
Awake: around 6-7 a.m.
Bottle: around 7:00
Cereal/Fruit: 8:00
Nap: around 8:30/9:00
Bottle: 11:00ish
Lunch: 12:00ish (veggie)
Nap: 1:00
Bottle: 3 or 4
Dinner: 6:00
Bottle/Bed: 8:00

Malorie you are such a happy girl! You love to play in the floor with toys and really enjoy watching your big sister! You get so excited when Cody comes around and you love love love your Daddy!

One of Mommy's favorite times with you is when I first pick you up after a nap or in the morning, you just let me hug and hug you! You also make a little sound....then I echo and it becomes a game! I love it!
You are most definitely becoming a Momma's girl....just like your sister!

You started sitting up about 2 months ago and are now pretty good at it!
You also just in the last 2 weeks have started scooting everywhere....you look like you are going to crawl...up on all fours but then you scoot! You are very determined!

You love baby food and especially cereal and oatmeal! You have just this past week started eating puffs......of course little tiny pieces!!
I wish you liked your bottles more....but you are sometimes just too busy to eat!

We love you to pieces and just feel so blessed to be your Mommy and Daddy!

Hopefully later this week, I will update on Delanie......more to come!

Please Pray....

I am writing this post to ask you to pray for my brother and sister-in-law...Jamie and Shelley!
Shelley has a blog, you can go here to check it out. Shelley does an amazing job of telling their story and situation!
God is big and we know that HE has a great plan......we just must trust!

Thanks for going to the Father on behalf of my family!

Easter......a week late :)

We had an amazing Easter Sunday this year! Delanie is still saying "Jesus Rose Again" Mommy! It was so much fun getting to tell Delanie all about Jesus and what he has done for us!
The weather was amazing and we spent the whole day with family, playing outside!
Here is our family.......we are so blessed!
I love this of Delanie kissing Malorie, she likes her most of the time :)
Little Miss M is growing!! She has such a sweet personality, although she is working on getting her own voice around here!
M had to have an egg too!

D found an egg.......she had so much fun!
Now enjoying a bite of candy "tandy" as she calls it!

Memory Lane!

This is Delanie's first sink bath in February of 08!! She loved it!!
Here is Malorie today in her first sink bath!! She wanted to stand up and was very squirmy so I am not sure how many more she will have.....at least for now! With all that said, she did love the bubbles!

Breakfast today!

Here are the girls this morning during breakfast!! This was actually Malorie's first time in the highchair! She is so little, that it has not been necessary......but she was a big girl this morning and enjoyed her rice cereal while D and I had whole wheat waffles!
Sweet girl~ we think we have finally found the right medicine for her tummy! She has had such a hard time with acid relfux!
My big girl! She is such a great big sister and constantly plays and talks to Malorie!

I am so blessed:)

Our Girls!!!

Delanie is doing a great job being a "Big Sister!!" She loves Malorie and asks to hold her quite often! Malorie loves to watch Delanie play and loves it when D talks to her! It is so much fun to watch! I cannot wait to one day see them playing together!

Sesame Street Live!

One of Elmo's biggest fans!!
Delanie posing with Mommy!
Smiling with Nana!
Sitting in her chair all by herself!
Waving and yelling "Hi Elmo........Hi Elmo" (the little boy in front of us kept telling her that she needed to be quiet.........her certainly does not know Delanie does he??)
A really cute show!
Ice Cream at 11:00 in the morning.......what a treat!
D was bored toward the end and needed to run off some energy!
hmmm......which toy do I want??

We had a great time at Sesame Street Live!!

Snow Fun!!

Dressed and ready, with a serious face!
Touching the snow for the firs time!
Sweet!
Making a snowman!
Silly face!
Daddy and Delanie!!



Josh took Delanie out last week on one of the warmer days last week (if you call this weather warm!) D had so much fun playing and eating the snow.....she was actually on her second day of Potty Training while out playing and even came in with dry undies!
Malorie and I stayed in and took lots of pics from the front door!