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!!!