The Greatest Show on Earth!

So just before Spring Break we had the opportunity to go with Little Joe's Scout pack to the Ringling Brothers Circus. I had never been to a circus outside of a couple of small traveling ones that came to my hometown. This was fantastic!!! The show was 2 hours long and my entire family loved it. The animals were amazing and the clowns were super funny. Events would change up just in the nick of time that my kids were losing focus. We had snow cones and lots of fun! Here we are waiting in line outside. Big Joe was saying "Bug, you wanna go to the circus?" "YES!!" She screamed!And Garretto hung out with Daddy. Before the shoe started they invited everyone down to the ring to watch some demonstrations up close. Little Joe got to get pretty close to an elephant! Think he's having fun? LOLThey had 9 elephants in this show. They did a wonderful job. The head trainer also handled the horses and tigers. He was awesome!!

Feeding Tube Awareness Week Feb 6-12

On a normal day I don't usually bring it up . But occasionally I get questions about my oldest boy, Joe. He wears a small backpack most of the day and we get comments like "He must really like that thing!" or "Why do you make him carry that everywhere?" Most people just get a smile and nod others get a deeper explanation. Joe has several gastrointestinal issues which have led to tube feeds since six weeks of age. Inside that backpack is a pump that slowly puts food into his intestines. Although his condition is not very common tube feeds are more common than you think. I remember registering Joe for Kindergarten and they wanted to put him the Special Needs class because they had never seen a child with a feeding tube that wasn't handicapped in any other way. Joe is a very average kid...he just eats differently...and there are hundreds...thousands like him. And we need to raise awareness that this is not "life support" and that a lot of insurances don't like to cover the prescription formulas that need to go through the tubes which can be extremely expensive (Joe goes through a $50 can of formula every 2 days).

There are several different kinds of tube but they all do the same basic need, to provide nourishment . A NG tube goes into the nose and down to the stomach. Almost any preemie baby in the NICU is seen with one of these because they don't have the suck/swallow reflex yet. NJ is again through the nose but guided into the intestines. A G tube is a button surgically implanted into the stomach, and GJ is an external button that goes to the intestines. The NG and NJ are usually used for short term, like the preemies. The G and GJ are more long term use tubes.

Joe doesn't think he is any different than you or me, which is how all tube fed patients should be feel. He answers questions when asked and goes on with his everyday life. So if your child asks you about a boy/girl that wears a backpack or sees the button on a boy at the pool, inform them just like you would if you saw a child with an inhaler or in a wheelchair. Simple and matter of fact. "He was a very sick baby and that's how he eats now," is what I tell most children when they ask me about Joe. No big deal...Joe doesn't think so so why should I? :o)

Life as we know it :o)

Hey slow down!! January is almost over! Can y'all believe it? Well another day another dollar around here. Big Joe has started his new job, which means a new schedule, which also means we don't get a whole lot of time with him...BOOO! But the good news is he is really enjoying it. He loves being in the field with the guys and teaching them. It's very different than the classroom teaching he was doing for the past year.

The kids are enjoying the tremendous amounts of snow days we've been having. I can't even tell you how many days they've been out...over a week though total. Craziness since it's only January and we can get snow into March.

(from an ice store we had...1/4 of an ice makes Kentucky an ice rink!!)

I have been busy with Army duties, kids, work, and working out. Big Joe got me a treadmill for Christmas and I am sooo loving it!! I've been working hard with a little incentive from http://www.lindsaybrin.com/ and her Shed 5 Fast contest going on right now. I know I probably won't win but wouldn't it be cool?! LOL I'm half way through the challenge and I've lost a couple of pounds as well as inches. I'm finding more self confidence and I am digging it!! I'm also keeping track of my miles on http://www.dailymile.com/ and I have run almost 100 miles! To me that's just nuts to think about :o).

So I don't think we posted our family pictures from the fall. if you got our Christmas card or are my friend on facebook these are repeats sorry.

Hugs and love to you all.

Joyful Years

So just warning you now...I'm going to get all philosophical on you. I promise to make it up with cute Christmas pictures at the end :o)

So I've has several people make the comment "I don't know how you do it..." to me. And I am happy to say it is usually followed "with such a good attitude". Life isn't easy...for anybody. I am sure you all have heard the quote about "...be nice to everyone because everyone has their own battle". Yes, my mother was diagnosed with brain cancer when I was twelve. Yes I spent about half of my time in high school in a wheelchair. Yes, I have lost two pregnancies and almost lost a child due to serious illness. And he still deals with medical issues everyday. Yes, I have delivered two children without my husband and watched my him leave for 40+ months across the ends of the Earth. Yes I have almost lost my own life. However, I love every minute the good Lord has given me. Every day has been a wonderful gift, and I wouldn't change a thing. I have the love of talented, strong, and God fearing man. I have three beautiful and wonderful children. I have a roof over my head and supper on the table. I have friends and family to support me. And I have faith in my God. In this I find joy. So no matter what I face the core of my being springs with joy.

When things get tough I remember that scripture tells us we will have trials. I think about people in the Bible. Did David have it easy when he faced Goliath? Did Job have it easy when he lost everything? Did Mary have it easy when she was engaged to a man and told she was pregnant? What about traveling for days on a donkey 9 months pregnant? Did Joseph have it easy when he agreed to marry Mary? Did Jesus have it easy when he faced the cross?? No. No person has ever walked this Earth without a trial. What matters is how you face them. You can ask "Why me?" or you can pray "Help me." Now don't get me wrong. I have my moments. I have fallen on my face in tears several times, but again so have other children of God. And it is in these moments that we grow stronger, closer to our families, closer to God. If you turn to Him He will help. My pastor once said, "When Moses led the Israelites out of Egypt they didn't jump, skip, or go around the Red Sea, their obstacle....they went through it." God will help you through.

So I don't need to hope on keeping resolutions (which is good since 40% of people don't keep their resolutions until January 7th!!). I don't need to hope this year will be better than the last. I will find joy in every year. New Years isn't a new start....God is the new start. There is a song on the radio right now that I love by Tenth Avenue North and part of it is this..

You are more than the choices that you've made.

You are more than the sum of your past mistakes.

You are more than the problems you create.

You've been remade.

Cause it's not about what you've done.

But what's been done for you.

It's not about where you've been.

But where your brokenness brings you to.

This is not about what you build.

But what he built to forgive you.

So thanks if you have listened to me this far. Sorry but this has been on my heart for a couple of weeks and it was just busting to get out :o). I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas and look forward to this year! Here are some pictures from our family.
Told you.....cuteness :)

Harrison Halloween

Hard to believe it's already November, huh? Shoot I still have a hard time writing 10 as the year on my checks by the time I'm good at it it'll be 11 LOL. Anyway we had another fun Halloween this year. The boys wanted to be race car drivers. I was lucky enough to find Jimmie Johnson's fire suit on Ebay for pretty cheap for Little Joe. I never could find Kyle Busch for Garrett but he was tickled pink to wear Lightning McQueen :). Bug was a flower...same costume she wore last year. And I think she was even cuter this year...heehehe. We had some friends come over and the guys took the kids trick or treating around the neighborhood and then we headed to a very quick visit at our church's Light Up the Night celebration. They had inflatables and games and candy..we just got there on the later side so we kind of had to rush through to get the kids where they wanted to be, but we survived and had a great time. We craved pumpkins the night before and the kids were very excited, that is until it came time to clean out the pumpkin guts....they were not so into that. "I'll just watch," is the phrase that keeps coming to mind :o).

Birthday Bug!!

So that precious baby girl of mine is officially two years old. My folks always warned me that the years would fly once we had kids. I never really knew how fast until Katie got here. She is such a little spunk. She definitely has a girly girl side playing with dolls and in her little toy kitchen but she can rough it with the boys very well. She jumps on the trampoline and pushes those hot wheel cars around like she was one of the boys.

We decided to go to Clarksville to celebrate her birthday. We hadn't seen our old friends from there in a while and we had plenty that had kids around Bug's age. So I planned a little get together at a local park. The only downside was the party happened to fall on the anniversary of my mother's passing. I made sure to ask Dad if he would be ok with that, and we thought a lot about Mom that weekend. The party put a big bright spot in it though.

So the theme was "pink pony". The cake is a horse's head. May not have been extremely pretty but it was sure good....and gone!!!

Bug opening one of her gifts.Little Joe is taking a whack at the pinata. If you look closely you will see Bug attacked to me like a leech....she thought we were hurting the pony..poor thing.

I normally do birth stories on the kiddos birthday but if you remember the events following the birth were quite dramatic so I'd rather not relive that. However the bright points that I will share was my doctor who is a dear friend of mine, my kids' Godmother was there cheering me on, and Big Joe got to hear the birth on the speaker phone. Those were all very fond memories.

Two things that I sure love about my Bug.

1) her sweetness...she is so stinking cute and sweet. From sucking her thumb while she hold her beloved sheepy, to her sweet voice, to her precious little voice when she says "Mama" she is so incredibly sweet.

2) her giggle...I love to hear that child laugh. I hope that giggle stays just as pure and precious as it is now. The smile that goes with it is the ice on the cake as well.

So Happy Birthday precious girl!! We adore you!

School Days

Well my boys have been back in school now for a little over a month! Hard to believe! Garrett took to preschool like a champ. He held tight to my pants leg but there were no tears.....from him LOL. I cried almost the whole way home. Because Big Joe has missed so much of the kids' lives he realizes that even starting preschool is a pretty big deal. He took a break from work and met me up there and Garretto was so happy that his Dad was there.

I keep thinking about when Little Joe started preschool....it really doesn't seem like that long ago...but when you look at Lil Joe now...yea it's been a while. He is loving the second grade. He has the same teacher as least year which I am very thankful for. She knows what makes Joe tick and she knows how to handle his feeding pump. It was a very smooth transition. He is bringing homework with the words "reading comprehension". Holy moly!!! He's so smart though he doesn't even bat an eye. His doctor at Vanderbilt commented on his brains. We are really blessed with him.

So having the boys at school leaves three mornings a week with me and Bug alone. She is eating it up!!! I have started running again with her in a jogging stroller. It's going really well. But I can't help but think this year will be precious as she may be headed to preschool next year (depending on the birthday cut-off). Ah they grow so fast, but I am loving every minute of it.