Sunday Snapshot - Relapse

My wonderful Lizzie

your sweet, beautiful little foot is relapsing.

Sigh...

We knew it could happen

you were older (by casting standards) and had been walking and running on that perfect little upside down, turned around, precious foot for quite a while.

We were hoping it wouldn't happen

but it did.

I now find myself lost in the thoughts of all those doctor appointments and all of those casts and what an amazing trooper you were

you endured 18 different clubfoot casts 

and skin that just did not like being casted so many times - in the heat of the summer - a southern summer.

You told me that you loved me back for the very first time at one of your many clubfoot casting appointments even though your skin too fragile to recast and you - just - had - to - be - hurting.

Even through the pain, you just forged ahead and were determined to love us and trust us and to live your new life

You enjoyed every minute

cast or not.

 

As soon as you were done with the castings

you went straight into the brace

for a very long time but

you were ready to amaze us again when you figured out how to walk in that brace

We called it the brace shuffle

You put that brace on every single night for 3 1/2 years and as I stated in blog post long ago, just the mere mention of having to get another cast on was enough to get you to put that brace on with a smile on your face and now here we are.

Once again, you are handling the news with such strength and grace.

You were not happy at first and are still asking why but after finding out that I would NOT leave you and that we could order P*pa J*hns Pizza in the hospital, you recovered very quickly

After you found out that you might be in a wheelchair, you were positively giddy thinking about all the wheelies you could do and who would get to push you!

Oh the resilience of a 5 year old's mind.

So, I am asking for prayers

Prayers for my sweet Lizzie, prayers that the Lord will just lift her up during all of this, that she will feel His presence and find comfort there. 

I ask for prayers for us, to be able to make the right decisions for her, the right doctors and the right treatment and to be able to feel peace about those decisions. 

Lizzie will miss the entire soccer season

A fact that she has not considered yet

but her coach Daddy sure has!  Hehe!

Matter of fact it was one of his first thoughts!  Heh!

 Lizzie may also have to miss school for a while

and will be more dependent on us that she has been in a long time and that will pose it's own challenges and setbacks.

Lizzie won't be able to just go outside and play or take a bath or ride her bike or go to the bathroom by herself or play on the playground, or, or, or

It will be tough

but Lizzie will be tougher

  

and I know that it is only temporary and praise the Lord that the medical care is there to be able to help her and her beautiful little foot.

However, my heart just hurts that she will have to go through this again and I ask for prayers.

Lizzie my darling, you are amazing and inspiring and I have no doubt that YOU will handle this way better than I!

We love you sweet girl and I have a feeling that in the not too distant future, there will be several blog posts about wheelchairs and big brothers and oh I don't know maybe a ramp or two!

Oh my!

To read more Sunday Snapshots, please go here:

Sunday Snapshots - Happy Birthday Caleb

My dear sweet Caleb, it is so hard for me to grasp that you are already 9 years old. 

It seems like just yesterday that your brothers were fighting over who got to hold you first!

 Now they just fight!

They fight over you and on top of you and around you and with you!!!  Hehe!!

They love you like crazy but boy can they ever give you a hard time and you are always most of the time so willing to “take” it because you love them and love hanging with them.

You are the true middle child, sandwiched right in between your 2 older brothers 

 and your 2 younger sisters 

 and you float so effortlessly back and forth among them.

It is almost like you are not just 9 years old but anywhere in between 5 and 14, able to transform yourself to any age to better be able to enjoy playing with them all!

All you wanted this year was to have your closest buds over the spend the night and...

to order pizza

 and to have cookie cake

and to just hang 

 with your motley crew

My dear sweet Caleb, you are one of a kind and this year having you home with me has been, for the most part, a wonderful time of getting to know you just a bit better

discovering how your brilliant mind works

and the struggle you must have had a school...

JUST SITTING IN A DESK!!!

Even though there are good days and bad, I would not trade this year with you for anything..

The past 9 years with you my child have been quite a wild ride

between febrile seizures

gashes and stitches

ceiling fan mishaps and that whole barbed wire thing,

CT scans, MRI's and last but not least, that pesky cyst on your brain...

you have proven your self to be quite the stubborn resilient child and we love you so very much.

You love to surprise and delight, taking great pleasure in making others happy.

You will get up extra early to try and beat me up just so you can surprise me with breakfast in bed.

You are fun and funny and can make just about anything sound like a blast to your sisters

Your brother's and their friends think you are very cool and don't mind hanging with you at all.

Sometimes, I think their friends would rather hang with just you!  Hehe!

You are my sweet Caleb and I love you.

Just remember that 9 year old's still snuggle with their mommas just like 8 year old's do!!

Love you sweet boy!

Happy Birthday!

To read more Sunday Snapshots, so here

Thank you...

I seem to be saying those two words a lot lately!

You see, we have had a tough couple of years financially and have often found ourselves these days in the position of humility and thankfulness.

It has been hard

hard to accept help

hard to ask for help

hard to not be able to GIVE help.

HARD

Through it all, however, we have grown

We have grown in our faith - what a purposeful struggle it has been.

We have grown in our relationships with one another and our friends

and we have grown within ourselves, understanding what it means to be humble and thankful and reliant on the one true provider.

And my God will meet all your needs according to the riches of his glory in Christ Jesus.  Philippians 4:19

The Lord has provided for us in so many ways but if you have followed my blog recently, you will remember   

this post and this post 

To say that I was absolutely blown away is a definite understatement!

The Lord chose to use my wonderful friends (Angie!!!) to provide a brand new computer, a computer to continue my advocacy, a computer to be able to be a voice for the voiceless.

To advocate for children like Cherry

and Tessa

and Adrianne

and Tiana

and precious Evie

It was hard to be without a working computer.

It was hard to have families email me about a certain precious child and not be able to answer them.

It was hard to look into the beautiful faces of these precious children who needed to be seen and not be able to help them.

Now, don't get me wrong, I am not alone in this mission.    There is such a wonderful group of hard working, self sacrificing advocates whom I have come to know and love and whom, I have a sneaking suspicion were in on the great computer caper!   They were also so helpful when I was computerless and unable to help.  God bless each and every one of these wonderful ladies!

So, without further ado, please let me introduce my new little friend!!

This is my brand new computer!!!!  

My brand new computer that is super fast.

My brand new computer that can hold ALL of my gazillion pics and video and files and and and!!!!

My brand new computer that has a battery that actually works!!!!

I can sit here or there or way over yonder - cause I am no longer attached to the power cord 24/7!!!

My brand new computer that is so light, I can tote it anywhere in the house in one hand while carrying laundry (or a child)  in the other!!!!  Yippee!!!! 

My brand new computer that I am so incredibly thankful for and so incredibly humbled by  and I just had to say one great big 

to all who were Angie's beautiful partners in the great computer caper!!!!  You all have, simply put, brought me to my knees.    I am eternally grateful and hope that you all know how much this meant to me and to my poor hubby who spent a huge amount of time trouble shooting and band aiding my old computer!!!  

You are all just the most amazing friends and I thank the Lord for you all, everyday!!!

A very special thank you to my dear friend Angie who has taught me a lot about faithfulness and the power of prayer!   Talk about living a life for Christ!!!!  Yep, that's Angie and Tom!    

So, I am back in the saddle again, so to speak

Much more humble and faithful and incredibly thankful!!!!