We moved into our apartment November 4th. It is in a nice area and our view is amazing! Rocky Mountains (including Pike's Peak) and a big, open valley. God sure has been good to us :) I love that we live in the city, but you can't really tell. Walking distance to two major grocery stores and more importantly...Starbuck's! Ahhh...city life ;) We do long for that small town community though... Come on, retirement!!! :)
The Lord has blessed us with some amazing doctors for Jenna. There have been a couple I haven't been too thrilled about, but we're working on fixing that :) New diagnosis for Jenna... Cavernous transformation of the liver. We were told, "She just has a big liver." Well, yes, that is true, but it's not the whole truth. Here's what it is in a nut shell...
Jenna has a clot blocking her portal vain (main source of blood flow to the liver), so her body (part of God's miraculous creation) created alternate sources of blood flow stemming from below the clot to the liver! Cool, right? God's creation is amazing! We do have to keep an eye for troublesome varicese. Varicese form around the esophagus and stomach and can bleed. If bleeding occurs, it will be evident and a banding procedure will be performed to clamp off the bleeds. In some cases, these bands are not sufficient, so Jenna would then be medi-flighted to Chicago or Cincinnati where they have the highest success rate by performing a Rex shunt operation. We are holding onto the hope that this will never become an issue for Jenna; He has answered our prayers so far :)
Joshua is excelling in school! He loves doing school everyday and I try to keep it as fun as possible. He has developed a love for the story, "Alice in Wonderland." We have read, "Peter Pan" and "Pinocchio," but "Alice in Wonderland" is his obvious favorite :) Such imagination went into writing that story. Joshua also loves his other subjects; writing is at the top of the list. I didn't think little boys cared for writing? We use the "A Reason For Handwriting." I love that there is a story that goes with each lesson and as he progresses, a Bible verse will accompany each lesson.
Nick and Joshua have really taken to model trains. I love that they have a hobby they can share together :) It will be nice to have a bigger space where they can really spread out and build their set. Right now, Joshua has a very large train table hogging his room, but he doesn't seem to mind in the least. Only thing about model trains...$$$!! Nick joked that he might have to pick-up a second job to support their hobby. No way!! We like having daddy around too much for that :)
Nick and I have been a little discouraged about not being able to find a church. Jenna is on germy alert! We have been visiting my parents congregation (Yeshuta Tzion) because it is smaller; Jenna wears her mask and doesn't seem to mind. With some prayer and consideration, Nick and I have decided to attend the New Members class to learn more. I have felt the Lord calling us there and Nick is open to going there, but he needs to feel the Lord's hand directing us there as well.
I am really excited to embark on the Extreme Couponing scene. I had a hard time with it in Oklahoma because it seems that most of the coupons were for things I wouldn't buy. Here in Colorado, however, eating healthy is more of the trend, so the coupons follow suit :) I am a bit rusty on coupon lingo and need to learn about the stores and their policies, so I am going to a class offered in March by Bargain Blessings. I found Bargain Blessings via Google :) Thank you, Lord, for Google!!
One last thing... Rocky Mountain Miracle Moms. Ever since we moved from Oklahoma, I have been in search of a mommy support group for moms of kiddos with special medical needs. I had no success and after encouragement from friends and submitting to the Lord, I created a Facebook support group. We have expanded off of Facebook and had our first get together at the beginning of this month! I am excited to see where the Lord leads and how He uses this group to bless mommies and families like me. Please pray that I keep my hands off the reigns...the Lord needs to steer, not me!
Okay...this is the last thing...maybe... The snow is gorgeous! I love seeing the snow-covered mountains and snow flocked trees. Absolutely breathtaking! The kids are loving the sledding hill outside our apartment; I think Nick enjoys it just as much as they do :) So much fun to see them outside enjoying time together.
Okay...last thing...seriously! Two encounters with wild life to report so far. One, at 4am, a coyote made a kill right outside our bedroom window; second, we saw a coyote out in broad daylight prancing around with a rabbit in it's mouth right outside our apartment window! Wow! Really cool :)
I told you that was the last thing, but I would like to end with this Bible passage that the Lord has been using to speak to me...
II Timothy 3:10-17
10 You, however, know all about my teaching, my way of life, my purpose, faith, patience, love, endurance, 11 persecutions, sufferings—what kinds of things happened to me in Antioch, Iconium and Lystra, the persecutions I endured. Yet the Lord rescued me from all of them. 12 In fact, everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted, 13 while evildoers and impostors will go from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived. 1415 and how from infancy you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. 16 All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, 17 so that the servant of God[a] may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.
