Saturday, September 14, 2019

September 14, 2019

I'm back again to take a shot at keeping track of our family happenings on this ol' bloggy place.  I have  not been here in a while and had a bit of a hard time cracking the code to get back in, but here I be.

What a week it's been and I do not hope to repeat most of it.  I lost a friend from college days to cancer last night.  Jody Sloan was an amazing person... devoted follower of Jesus Christ, wife, mother and friend to so many.  She was an inspiration and will be greatly missed.  She was also a dedicated blogger.  I am inspired to try again by her example. 

Tuesday, April 4, 2017

Blog update and Anna

This blog is long due for an update!  I am picking this back up to write about what is going on with Anna's condition and help me process it all!!!

 In January of 2017, Anna was diagnosed with scoliosis at an exam in town.  An  x-ray revealed a curvature of the spine and we were referred to an orthopedic surgeon/scoliosis specialist at Children's Hospital.  Her spine had a curve of more than 50 degrees, it basically looks like an S.  We noticed changes in her posture and the appearance of her back made us suspect something was wrong, but we didn't realize it was so severe until the x-ray at her general practitioner.  Anna has never been sick, complained of pain, had any developmental difficulties other then the fact that she is very small.  She has always barely been on the 1% of the growth chart, but that has been steady and not sudden, so it really didn't raise any red flags for us and we still don't know if that is related to her condition.  In February of 2017, we made our way down to Children's and met with the doctor.  Anna had more X-rays.  We really didn't get any answers but were told we needed to get an MRI to see if there is a cause for the scoliosis or if it is idiopathic (no cause).  They did take some more X-rays at this visit.  In March of 2017, we were back to Children's for the MRI.  She had to be sedated as she would be under the machine for over 2 hours.  Anna was very nervous but she did well.  The staff was wonderful at Children's and we were glad to proceed ahead and find out if there was any reason for her condition.  About a week after the MRI, I received a call from the Orthopedic office telling us they had found a syringomyelia in her spine between vertebrate C6 & C7.  This is basically a cyst or fluid filled cavity within the spinal cord and was the cause of her scoliosis.  We don't know what, if anything, caused the syringomyelia.   At this time we are being referred to the only pediatric neurosurgeon in our location, as this condition must be addressed before we can proceed to treat the scoliosis.  We are not able to get into this doctor until June, so again we wait and pray.

Friday, January 9, 2015

Still here!

Happy New Year!  Hope everyone has a blessed year.  We are back into the swing of school and activities after a long Christmas break.  My oldest is currently the only one away from home, but it was good to have him back for a month.   Nice for a Mom to have all her children under the same roof, even if only for a time.  He will be finishing up his last semester at Bible College with a May graduation date.  Everyone else is working and schooling (except for Julia who is working full-time).

It has been brutally cold here with highs in the negatives!  I am not a fan of winter in Iowa!  Especially hard when you have critters outside that need constant care.



Some photos of the gang:















Saturday, June 28, 2014

I'm here

Our family suffered a tragic, major set-back in March.  3 months later we are doing better.  Taking life one day at a time.  Knowing God is sovereign and loves us so much...clinging to Him. I am not at liberty to give more details right now, but hope to post about it in the future.

 We have been occupied with VBS.   Our church has used the Answers In Genesis curriculum for the past six years and we love it.  It features a live drama and I have directed this for the past 3 years.  This year was a spy theme and 3 of the girls acted in it.  Fun!   We also celebrated Thomas's 8th birthday on June 26th.  Otherwise the garden "monster" stalks me daily, wanting to be weeded and tended..the nerve!  Mowing is a major summer activity here as we mow our acreage, 2 church properties, MIL's yard and Pastor's yard.  That is practically a full-time occupation.  The 4 older kids are working various hours, which makes for complicated schedules.  I now have 3 high school graduates! Julia graduated from HS and we had a celebration for her on June 7th.  She is not planning on going to college right away.  Carlina went for a year to college and is also planning on staying home next year...so I will have 8 of the nine home.  Colton is going back to college to finish his senior year in August.  Garret t just returned from a week at summer camp and we hope to take a small family trip over the 4th.


Thursday, December 26, 2013

Tuesday, December 24, 2013

Merry Christmas 2013 from us to you!!!!!!

Saturday, December 7, 2013

December 2013








We've had a rocky start to the month with some type of "stomach flu" infecting most everyone.  Only 3 have avoided it--so far!   We did get to Celebrate Carlina's 20th birthday while she was home and I can see the light at the end of the "birthday season"...one more!  Garrett turns 10 on the 29th!  We always have a real Christmas tree and got ours up on Dec. 1st.  So far we have lost a duck and a chicken in December, hopefully we can make it through the winter without any more losses, but I am not hopeful.  We also lost a kitty about a month back and I think we can attribute that to the mountain lion roaming around.  Jesse saw him in the field across from our house a few weeks back.  Hopefully he has moved on! That is not his actual photo, lol.