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.
Friday, January 13, 2012
Tuesday, October 18, 2011
exploring and birthday fun
Nick and the kids relaxing during our mini-hike. I forgot to pack Joshua's shoes, so the poor guy braved it in his flip-flops. Thankfully the path is clear of sticks and rocks and the buggies have already said bye-bye for the year :)
Our handsome little explorer.
Gorgeous blue sky against the contrasting trees and golden field. Love it.
They had such a blast! The Flying J Ranch is a beautiful piece of land donated to the public by a very generous family.
We were fortunate enough to enjoy the peak weekend for the Aspens. Simply breathtaking!
Happy Birthday Grandpa and Daddy! One of our favorite places in Evergreen...Beau Jo's! Amazing pizza and salad bar. I think Joshua was asking for Pepperoni in this picture.
Me, my mom and Jenna. Jenna loves the salad bar, too. Notice her Ranch go-tee. Hilarious!
Thursday, September 29, 2011
suddenly colorado
We have been here a week. Here's how it came to be...
I wish I had the exact dates this all happened; perhaps Nick and I can sit down and put them together in the future. I visited my parents in July. An 11 hour road trip with two kiddos is not something I recommend, but it can be done and I wanted to prove to myself that I could do it.
Seeing the kids with my parents really caused the wheels in my head and heart to turn. They love time with their grandparents and it's not fair that they don't have that at a moment's notice. I felt jealous for them. Both of my brothers' families have one set of grandparents whom they see quite often. I guess the idea of moving to Colorado had been an idea quite some time ago. I had already done some prior research to find the best Children's Hospitals in the nation and currently, Colorado is #5 over all and #1 (also world renowned) for Endocrinology (Jenna's main area of need).
When I returned from Colorado, Nick and I talked it through and decided that he would start looking for a job online and that we would pray the Lord would shut the door if this was not his will. We prayed, "If this isn't Your will, Lord, don't let us find any jobs." Nick found a job and applied for it. We prayed, "If this isn't Your will Lord, don't let there be a request for an interview." Nick was called a week later and a week later we were in Colorado for Nick's interview. We prayed, "If this isn't Your will Lord, don't let Nick get the job." A week later, Nick received the call that the job was his and about two weeks later, we moved. We were praying the Lord would shut the door while He was opening them and pushing us through them. Definitely a growth moment for both of us. The Lord spoke clearly to both of us that this was His will, entirely.
Leaving was so hard. Our church, our family, our friends... I can't help but cry every time I think of them. I know the Lord will lead us to the right church family and I know our obedience will be blessed in other areas as well. I continually remind myself of this passage and claim it for our family:
"..He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus." Philippians 1:6
We are currently staying with a friend of mine from college. Her husband is on the road continually, so her house is pretty empty and the company is welcomed; we stay with my parents on the weekends for some family time and delicious meals! My parents buy only organic groceries; we're hoping to make the switch too, but I will save that for another blog entry. Our apartment will be available for move-in on November 7th; until then, we are holding off on school for Joshua and allowing the kids to adjust and enjoy the nice weather while it's still here. My friend says our area is due for a blizzard, so we are going to soak-up all of the Vitamin D that we can and save the school for our snowed-in and cold weather days.
The kids are pulling on my arm, so I will have to get off for now. We have errands to run and a park day planned! Oh, and forgive my grammar. I never was much of a writer, but I am going to try!
I wish I had the exact dates this all happened; perhaps Nick and I can sit down and put them together in the future. I visited my parents in July. An 11 hour road trip with two kiddos is not something I recommend, but it can be done and I wanted to prove to myself that I could do it.
Seeing the kids with my parents really caused the wheels in my head and heart to turn. They love time with their grandparents and it's not fair that they don't have that at a moment's notice. I felt jealous for them. Both of my brothers' families have one set of grandparents whom they see quite often. I guess the idea of moving to Colorado had been an idea quite some time ago. I had already done some prior research to find the best Children's Hospitals in the nation and currently, Colorado is #5 over all and #1 (also world renowned) for Endocrinology (Jenna's main area of need).
When I returned from Colorado, Nick and I talked it through and decided that he would start looking for a job online and that we would pray the Lord would shut the door if this was not his will. We prayed, "If this isn't Your will, Lord, don't let us find any jobs." Nick found a job and applied for it. We prayed, "If this isn't Your will Lord, don't let there be a request for an interview." Nick was called a week later and a week later we were in Colorado for Nick's interview. We prayed, "If this isn't Your will Lord, don't let Nick get the job." A week later, Nick received the call that the job was his and about two weeks later, we moved. We were praying the Lord would shut the door while He was opening them and pushing us through them. Definitely a growth moment for both of us. The Lord spoke clearly to both of us that this was His will, entirely.
Leaving was so hard. Our church, our family, our friends... I can't help but cry every time I think of them. I know the Lord will lead us to the right church family and I know our obedience will be blessed in other areas as well. I continually remind myself of this passage and claim it for our family:
"..He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus." Philippians 1:6
We are currently staying with a friend of mine from college. Her husband is on the road continually, so her house is pretty empty and the company is welcomed; we stay with my parents on the weekends for some family time and delicious meals! My parents buy only organic groceries; we're hoping to make the switch too, but I will save that for another blog entry. Our apartment will be available for move-in on November 7th; until then, we are holding off on school for Joshua and allowing the kids to adjust and enjoy the nice weather while it's still here. My friend says our area is due for a blizzard, so we are going to soak-up all of the Vitamin D that we can and save the school for our snowed-in and cold weather days.
The kids are pulling on my arm, so I will have to get off for now. We have errands to run and a park day planned! Oh, and forgive my grammar. I never was much of a writer, but I am going to try!
Wednesday, February 16, 2011
Tuesday, February 15, 2011
so much to share
Jenna says so many words now! It brings tears to my eyes everytime I think about how far she has come. The clarity of her words is muffled due to her cleft, but she tries her best :) Her little voice is like hearing an angel speak. The sweetest phrase (yes, phrase) she says is, "I love you." It blesses me. She will not walk up to me and say, "Mama, I love you!" It's truly the sweetest sound.
Joshua completely threw us for a loop last week. He reads!! I went to Mardel to buy reading supplies (marker board, magnetic letters, a book on teaching reading, etc.). I was all set to get started and THAT very night, Joshua proceeded to read with little to no help. Where did this kid come from? He's just barely four and a half years old! He's a smartie pants like his daddy ;) I am going to be one busy homeschool mommy!
Speaking of homeschooling... I am getting more and more excited about starting in the Fall. I was terrified at the thought in the beginning, but now that I'm receiving so much excellent advice from my mom friends, I am really starting to feel confident :) This blog will certainly be more active in the Fall. I am sure I will have many, "Guess what Joshua did?" moments :) I look forward to those.
I am having some female issues. I finally scheduled an appointment with my OB/GYN for March 2nd. Hopefully I can wait that long. I had to take a nap in the van before going into the store to exchange Jenna's flip flops today. What's the deal? I hope it's nothing big.
Church has been amazing. In Connection Class, we are going through a book by Gary Chapman: "The family you've always wanted: five way to make it happen." I ordered the book on Amazon the other day and can hardly wait to pour over it. Pastor Rick is teaching from Daniel. I love the book of Daniel and I love Pastor Rick's teaching! I wish we had church everyday :) I know Joshua wishes the same...he loves his teachers! I will be really excited when we can all go to church as a family. C'mon April!! Jenna will be so glad to have friends to play with again, and I know her teacher, Cindy, really misses her.
Okay, I'll try to blog more tomorrow. More to share, but the day is drawing to an end and I still have things to get done.
Joshua completely threw us for a loop last week. He reads!! I went to Mardel to buy reading supplies (marker board, magnetic letters, a book on teaching reading, etc.). I was all set to get started and THAT very night, Joshua proceeded to read with little to no help. Where did this kid come from? He's just barely four and a half years old! He's a smartie pants like his daddy ;) I am going to be one busy homeschool mommy!
Speaking of homeschooling... I am getting more and more excited about starting in the Fall. I was terrified at the thought in the beginning, but now that I'm receiving so much excellent advice from my mom friends, I am really starting to feel confident :) This blog will certainly be more active in the Fall. I am sure I will have many, "Guess what Joshua did?" moments :) I look forward to those.
I am having some female issues. I finally scheduled an appointment with my OB/GYN for March 2nd. Hopefully I can wait that long. I had to take a nap in the van before going into the store to exchange Jenna's flip flops today. What's the deal? I hope it's nothing big.
Church has been amazing. In Connection Class, we are going through a book by Gary Chapman: "The family you've always wanted: five way to make it happen." I ordered the book on Amazon the other day and can hardly wait to pour over it. Pastor Rick is teaching from Daniel. I love the book of Daniel and I love Pastor Rick's teaching! I wish we had church everyday :) I know Joshua wishes the same...he loves his teachers! I will be really excited when we can all go to church as a family. C'mon April!! Jenna will be so glad to have friends to play with again, and I know her teacher, Cindy, really misses her.
Okay, I'll try to blog more tomorrow. More to share, but the day is drawing to an end and I still have things to get done.
Monday, January 31, 2011
please read this!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)