After Church

After church on Sabbath Uncle Colby was getting Levi to smile and giggle. He has an adorable infectious smile! Levi and Elayna are 2 1/2 months apart, but he is taller and weighs more than she does already! Nov. 24, 2007.

Levi's Hair

Seriously, is this not the funniest thing you've ever seen?! Nov. 23, 2007.

Thanksgiving!!!

For Thanksgiving this year, we celebrated with Grandma and Grandpa J, Grandma J's brother Al, Travis and Raini, and little Levi. Travis and Raini came up from Indiana and stayed with us, and Grandma J brought the food in two trips from across town, and we pulled out the little island table and made it into a BIG table to fit us all. It was a great meal and nice to have everyone around the table. As you can see, the three youngest members of the family were all sleeping, very conveniently, during the meal! Good timing!! The whole week before Thanksgiving, as I thought about what to say when the time came to say what we were thankful for, I got teary remembering the enormous blessings God has given me this year. And then, when the time came, I couldn't say what was in my heart. But that night, as I said my prayers, I poured out my heart to Him with many, many tears. I know that so many of you who love our little family were Thankful for the same things I was, and I know it would have been so wonderful to sit all together on Thanksgiving and praise God together for restoring Joshua's health. One day soon we will. At one big table in Heaven we will all sit in an incredible day of Thanksgiving!
Nov. 22, 2007.

Bread Dog

This is what happens around here when my bread machine turns out a lump instead of a loaf. Tucker appreciated the meal! At least it isn't being used for a bedroom door-stopper...ahem... Nov. 21, 2007.

First Braids

Grandma M managed to get Emmy to sit still long enough to put in her first set of braids! How cute is this?! Nov. 18, 2007.

Mommy and The Girls

I figured I'd get a few pictures of me and my adorable girls after church before lunch and naps and changes of clothes! Nov. 17, 2007.

Look Who's 2 Years Old

Emmy turned two the week before Thanksgiving and we had a quiet little birthday at home. Grandma and Grandpa J came over for dinner and we had cake and ice cream and opened presents afterwards. Emmy's favorite gift by far was Aunt Gaye's dolly stroller. After that one she forgot all about the rest of her gifts and was completely distracted for the next several days! What a big girl! Two years old! Nov. 13, 2007.

Playing on the Floor

Elayna loves to play with Josh on the floor. He gets down there and lets her climb all over him and they both laugh and giggle up a storm. Nov. 12, 2007.

Breakfast Time!

I just have a hard time realizing that I have three kids sitting around the breakfast table now! Elayna usually has some baby food in the morning now, and so we all sit around the table. Seems like just the other day Josh was trying out his first bananas. Nov. 11, 2007.

First Snow

On Thursday we got our first real snow of the season. There have been a few light skiffs, but this is the first one that turned the world white. The kids were so excited and we bundled up first thing in the morning and went out to make snowballs and tracks in the snow. By mid afternoon it was gone, but the spirit of Christmas had invaded the house. We were singing Jingle Bells (one of Josh's favorites) and watching Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer! LOL! Nov. 8, 2007.

Look Who's 6 Months Old!

Hard to believe my baby is 6 months old already. And if anyone is in a hurry to grow up it's Elayna. Crawling, eating bananas, and now with her very first tooth too! Next time I turn around she's going to be running after her brother and sister! Nov. 7, 2007.

Baby Bean

Elayna officially started crawling Nov. 2, finally getting the coordination of hand movement and knee movement down. She still doesn't go very fast, but she gets where she wants to eventually! Unless, of course, she gets distracted along the way by something the other two left on the floor, such as a chip or a fuzzy, or a cup! Nov. 6, 2007.

Party Time!

It really was fun to have Joshua's friends from Sabbath School come and join us! We had home made pizza (thanks to Grandma J!) and two cakes (Lightening McQueen was pretty small, so I made a Peppermint Christmas cake, too!) and 10 (count 'em) yes, 10 KIDS! Joshua was so thrilled to have his friends here and had been talking about the party for weeks. Every time we asked him what he wanted for his birthday, his response was, "A birthday cake!", and this year he ate one of the tires. He still remembers that he ate Bob the Builder's foot last year. The kids played in the living room with their little styrofoam kit airplanes and sticky frogs, and us Moms sat at the kitchen table and gabbed, and it was a really fun evening. Sun. Nov. 4, 2007.

Almost Party Time!

The cakes were all ready, the pizzas were in the oven, and the house was...well, about as clean as it gets these days! It was almost time for Joshua's 4th birthday party! Nov. 4, 2007.

Lightening McQueen!

Here's the finished product, which is how I spent my Saturday night! Nov. 3, 2007.

Getting Ready

On Friday Joshua helped me bake his birthday cake and get ready for the Sabbath. Nov. 2, 2007.

Checkup Day

On Oct. 31, Joshua and I drove down to Grand Rapids to see his Pediatric Cardiologist for a post-surgery checkup. We were planning to have another echocardiogram done, which I knew would be traumatic for Joshua, having anyone touch his chest is likely to get some flailing and many tears. So Emmy and Elayna both stayed with Grandma J all day, and it was just Josh and I. We got down there early and walked through the hospital and visited his nurses in the NCCU. Then we went to his appointment where they took an EKG and blood pressures on all 4 limbs, then based on those readings decided he didn't need to have an echo! Thankfully! Everything looked good and they weren't worried about his blood pressure or about any possible water retention around his heart. We will go back in 6 months for another checkup! After his appointment there, we went back to the Renucci house where we baked chocolate chip cookies for the residents currently staying there to enjoy. We met another family from our area staying there for their daughter's chemotherapy treatment. I hope the small gesture of fresh baked cookies will be as much a blessing to someone there as it was for me when others did that during our stay. But for Josh and I to come back there and give something back, the biggest blessing was ours. We will go back and do that again soon.
On the way home there was a beautiful double rainbow shining through the rain. It was such a beautiful reminder of God's faithfulness to His promises. Not that I could forget so soon how He has been faithful to us! Oct 31, 2007.

One Month Later

Life is beginning to feel normal again after one month of recovery. Josh still gets tired more easily than normal, but his bursts of energy are stronger than before his surgery. He still can't lay flat on the floor on his stomach, and it still hurts him to be picked up under his arms. But when he's dressed and running around, it almost seems surreal that a month ago he was laying in a hospital bed. Oct. 26, 2007.

Emmy's SO Tall!

Do it again, Daddy? Please? Oct. 26, 2007.

Autumn Evening

We lit the Pumpkin candle after dinner was cleared from the table, and everyone enjoyed how it filled the house with the wonderful smell of pumkins and fall and Thanksgiving. Oct. 24, 2007.

Morning Light

A beautiful sunrise in the valley. Oct. 24, 2007.