3 Weeks To Go!!!!!

We are praising God --

We are HALF done!

Only 3 weeks to go!!!!

She does not have pain -- AMEN!

She is going to the bathroom, regularly -- AMEN!

She is happy and joyful -- AMEN!

Our sassy and funny little girl, well - she's still there -- AMEN!!!

She tries to maneuver herself on the floor -- she is a good army crawler!

I think the biggest issue is that she is still hard to maneuver/carry around.

Yes, it is getting better because we are used to it --

BUT
We still run into doors and furniture with both the wheel chair AND her leg.  

She also is not a great eater.  It is a bit better now that she is going to the bathroom.  

I am guessing that she is eating about 1/2 of what she was eating before the surgery.

Thankfully, she is a very healthy eater and I have no concerns about nutrition BUT she does NOT need to loose weight!

The other kids are a great help.  MD is so strong although not good about feeding;)  The girls are awesome at finding things that are fun!  JM adds in some games for entertainment!

I am still asking for all to pray for our daughter AND us!

Yes, praise God for all He has done for her and us.

She is healing and she is happy!

BUT 

This is a challenging time in our lives.  Please continue to pray that it goes smoothly.

Merry Christmas -- Picture Heavy :)

Merry Christmas!!!

Thankfully, all of the kids slept in a bit longer than in previous years -- this mommy was TIRED!!!

BUT

Once up and about the excitement and surprises were soooo worth it!

Of course, the traditional picture in front of the tree BEFORE opening gifts.

I absolutely LOVE capturing the faces of our children as they open their gifts.

A Lego set she was happy about :) 

 My Darling was THRILLED with her new REAL hot pink camera with hot pink case -- and yes, it is a video cam as well -- which was a BIG deal to her!

 My Darling was excited about the ENTIRE set of Anne Of Green Gables!

 JM happy about his new LIONS sweatshirt.

 Yes, she has a goofy face!!  I LOVE IT!!  I told her I was NOT buying anymore American Girl dolls!  They HAD to save for them.  BUT ......  It's Christmas and really with all that has gone on -- it was a perfect gift for her!

 She got her Kit!

 Yes, BaJabs wanted a Kindle!  She finally got one.  

 JM with his new guitar.

 Love the excitement!  YES, I found one!!!  (Thanks to some friends that were searching everywhere for us!)

 She is emotional over ONE DIRECTION!  The new CD.  

 MD had to do some digging through a BIG box full of towels

AND finally he found .............

 His new SURFACE 2 -- this was another very hard to find gift!

The boys opening up their 'Santa' gift!

Our children get ONE gift from Santa.  It is NEVER a big one -- and you do not get a Santa gift unless you 'believe.'

Thankfully, my children LOVE to give as well.  They were all so generous to me! As well as each other!

 I love my new North Face jacket and Rachel Ray PURPLE cookware.  The boys also got be a soda make (I think they wanted it ;))  The girls each made me very nice ornaments for the tree.  LOTS of fun!

We had a very nice breakfast.  

AND

A very relaxing afternoon!

Late in the afternoon we packed everyone up and headed to the farm to celebrate Christmas with the 'Woller' family.

We had a wonderful dinner.

We read the Christmas story together.

I love this!

Each of the kids that can read take turns reading.

We take pictures in front of the tree!

This is how they usually are --- with Uncle J. photo bombing!  We really all have loads of fun together!

We also do a gift exchange.  

Each of the kids drew names back in October.  So, they had gifts to exchange.

BaJabs got colored hair extensions for her American Girl dolls from C. 

The adults did the same :)

They also got some fun gifts from Nanny!

 This is the calf that goes with her American Girl, Caroline

My Darling was so happy about her gift.

We really had a magnificent day celebrating Christmas!

It was a day of wonderful gifts, lots of fun AND celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ WHO is the real reason for the season!

Our family wishes you a VERY Merry Christmas!!!

Happy Christmas Eve

Our 'traditional' Christmas Eve was changed up a bit this year.

We usually go to my parents house BUT because of Elizabeth and her BIG wheelchair we needed to change things up.

Our children were not entirely happy about it :)  

SO, we did the entire evening the same BUT at our house instead of nanny and pa's.

Nanny and Pa arrived with EVERYTHING!!! 

The tradition is everyone makes their OWN personal pan pizza's. 

Nanny made homemade dough and brought all the toppings.

Everyone rolled out their dough.

 BaJabs rolling out her pizza crust.

Elizabeth getting some help from Nanny in the background.

Pa and MD getting their pizza's started. 

Everyone added their own, favorite toppings.

 BaJabs adding some pepperoni to her pizza.

My Darling is almost done.

JM's is ready for the oven -- even gluten-free!

Finally, everyone ate their own pizza.

YUMMY!

We did have a time of opening gifts -- nanny and pa brought some along!

Elizabeth is so excited she can open the presents on her own.  She holds with her 'hurt' hand and rips with the other!

It is tradition for nanny to give each of the kids new pj's to sleep in for Christmas.

 Cute snowman pj's

 She LOVES her long nightgown.

JM's pj's!

The girls LOVED that there was matching pj's for their dolls!

The girls were thrilled with their new password journals!

We got nanny and pa a much needed new camera.  Nanny loves to take pictures but really had a terribly OLD camera.  She was so excited about it she even shed a few tears!

The boys were very happy with their gifts as well!

JM with his new pj's, new MICHIGAN hat, basketball and new card game.

Unfortunately, my sister and her family was not able to be with us for the evening.  BUT they did stop early in the day to play for a bit.  The girls had lots of fun!

M. and BaJabs all fancied up!

The girls were ready for bed.

The boys played cards with Uncle Josh for hours.

Matt and I did lots of wrapping and finishing up for Christmas morning.

I just did not get everything wrapped ahead of time with all that was going on with our family.

Oh, well -- I was blessed with lots of enjoyable energy!

Matt helped -- lots AND MD did some of the Christmas breakfast prep.

I finally shut off the lights at 3:30 am.

Oh, the surprises and fun that are coming!!!!

Post Op visit

10 days since surgery 

AND

 We are off to GR for a check-up.

We had an early apt. in GR.  I am amazed how much effort it takes to get Elizabeth ready and out the door :)

She cannot help AT ALL!  

Getting her dressed, taking her to the bathroom, putting the harness on, wheel chair and pillows to the car, getting her buckled in and remembering 'stuff' for her to eat and do while we are gone

Thankfully, she just gives us big smiles as we are all working.

When we arrived at the office there was SOOOO many people.

We waited almost an hour in the waiting room.

BUT

We had the best news when we were called back.

"Dr. M wants the cast off of Elizabeth's arm."

WOW!!!!  

We were NOT prepared for that!

Yes, sooooo very excited -- 

AND a little bit nervous

BUT this was great news.

They started immediately taking the cast off.

She looks concerned but it is really the noise of the saw that bothers her.  We decided that when she has the full body cast taken off we will bring ear plugs!

Elizabeth was a bit concerned.

Her hand is still a bit tender.

SO, she would NOT let the nurse/tech take off all of the covering.  She wanted Dr. M to do it :)

 Working to get the hard and glittery green cast OFF!

 I love this face!  She did NOT think it would separate easily!

 Watching the tech. take off ALL of the padding.

It's off -- 

She also had to have x-rays of her hip area.

We had to wait some more in the room.

I did lots of massaging on her arm.  It was so very stiff.

Thankfully, the hip is healing exactly as planned.

They did some trimming of the cast in the back as it was a bit confining when trying to go to the bathroom.

Dr. M did an awesome job taking the remainder of the bandage off.  Her hand is still a bit swollen and the stitches have not fallen out -- but it looks pretty good.

There are LOTS of stitches.  The thumb still looks a bit rough BUT it is very swollen.

The last thing she said before we left the office, 'I can open my own Christmas presents!'

The appointment -- all good -- took 2 1/2 hours from the time we arrived until the time we left.

We had a VERY tired little girl!

Please continue to pray for her!  The cast is still very challenging as well as going to the bathroom.  Her attitude still amazes us!