I've had many e-mails asking about Brooks and I think I've replied to all of them.  I apologize if I missed any.  Life has simply been busy with caring for him on top of my other regular duties.  :-)

When the doctor got in there to repair the loose anchor/screw, he saw that the tendon had torn in a new place.  The doctor repaired the new tear and the loose anchor.  They didn't do a shoulder block this time so Brooks was in a lot of pain directly afterwards.

I am very happy to say that he is doing much better this time around.  This new pain medicine works much better for him.  He is actually sleeping each night.  He's had one PT session since the surgery and goes for another on Tuesday.  Tuesday is also his follow-up with the doctor. 

I hope everyone had a wonderfully Merry Christmas.  I'll try and post more soon.

I only thought our family would be closing out 2009 with three surgeries.  On Friday morning as Brooks was getting out of bed he felt and heard a pop.  We ended up at the doctor's office.  The x-ray revealed that one of the three anchors/screws popped loose out of the bone so on Monday we will be returning to the surgery center for another surgery.  Our doctor was in surgery all day on Friday so we saw another doctor in the practice.  He was quite surprised that it had come loose and said that it is rare for that to happen.  Because our doctor was in surgery all day, we were told to keep our Tuesday appointment and a plan would be made from there.  Friday evening we recv'd a phone call from the surgery center letting us know that our doctor had looked at Brooks' x-ray and he would be coming in on his day off, Monday, to repair it.  So at 6am on Monday, we'll be back at the surgery center.

All of this could be very overwhelming and I certainly have my moments but at the same time it could always be so much worse.  I am continually reminded to keep a Holy perspective.  God is in control.  None of this is taking Him by surprise. 

Prayers are much appreciated for this surgery and recovery.

On Monday before Brooks' surgery we went to the ICE show at Gaylord Opryland.  The theme this year is Charlie Brown.  The children had lots of fun and enjoyed the slide made of ice a great deal.

We had to get Mark's picture with Linus since he's our little Linus (loves his blankie)

My favorite part each year is the ICE Nativity scene.  It's always so beautiful.  I was frozen by the time we reached this point so I only have one picture of this scene.

As a side note -- The children hadn't ever seen any Charlie Brown shows.  It had been forever since I had seen any.  We got A Charlie Brown Christmas from Netflix so the children could see it and have an understanding of the theme of ICE.  Do you know how many times they call one another "stupid" in that show?  Way too many to count and certainly way too much to be a suitable show for our family.  I was surprised how mean they are to one another.  One of the children asked "why do they treat Charlie Brown that way".  All of the children thought it was a program we shouldn't watch again.  I was glad to see their discernment in that. 

Our family LOVES Christmas.  What a more glorious way to celebrate the birth of our Savior.  We have several traditions that we've started some newer, some later, but we very much enjoy them all.  We started having Advent devotionals several years ago and we buy Christmas ornaments from our vacation spot for the year...I know many of you have similar traditions.  The two traditions I want to share a couple that you may never have thought of before. 

Several years ago Shane was laid off at Christmas.  It was only by God's grace that we paid our bills, and in addition, we even paid off some debt.  God is SO good!  But we started a tradition that year that has remained.  We make home made gifts that we share on Christmas Eve.  The materials need to cost around $5.00.  We've had everything from tissue paper art (when the  children were younger)  to an "imperfect" plaque I made one year of that year's family theme verse.  The year Sweet Cheeks came home, her home made gift was a name plaque with the attributes we thought fit her.   As the years pass, we have to help the younger ones less and less and the gifts are more and more creative.

The tradition that is fast becoming a favorite is our gift-giving tradition.  Last year Desiring God (John Piper's ministry) offered a small paperback book that could be purchased by the case for $1 a book + shipping ONLY if they were given away.  We bought 2 cases and wrapped each book in Christmas paper with a "Merry Christmas from our family" note.  We gave them away to friends, family and to the people we met while shopping... the store clerks, the barista, whomever we met.  It was SO MUCH FUN!  We have continued the tradition this year.  In addition to Piper's book, we've added some children's books we found on clearance at Answers in Genesis. 

We've had people look in amazment at us, clerks have asked "for .... me?"  yes!  for you.  Merry Christmas!  We've had people jump up and down and say "I got a present"  giving gifts to others helps us get the focus off of us, and almost always brings a smiler to the receiver.  Giving books to those that we regularly see has helped us make friends with them.  And, most importantly, we've planted a seed about Christ.  What God does with that seed is up to him. 

May your Christmas traditions glorify Christ and May you be blessed all year long!

From our family to yours!

Brooks' rotator cuff surgery went very well today.  The doctor was very pleased with how surgery went.  They did a shoulder block so his pain is low right now.  They say when the shoulder block wears off the pain will be great. 

On Monday he starts physical therapy.  PT will be 3x a week for 6 weeks.  He has to wear the sling for 6-8 weeks.  No pictures to share today.  :-)  I'll try and take a picture of him in his lovely sling in the next few days. 

Praising God for Brooks' parents that stayed with the children today and for our amazing church family that is providing meals for the next few days. 

On Saturday Brooks escorted Bekah to the Confederate Christmas Ball.  She had an amazing time.  Brooks said she didn't stop smiling the whole night.  She told me all about all of the dances (Virgina Reel, Patty Cake Polka, Gallop, Carolina Promenade etc...)  She can't wait to go again.

And here she is with Grandma and Grandpa.

Our sweet Happy dog would have turned 8 years old today.  At the first part of September we found out that Happy had cancer.  The vet told us she might live two days or two months but her time left was short.  She lived just over the two month mark.  She gradually got worse and worse.  Her sight was the first thing to go.  It was amazing how well she adjusted to being blind though.  A short time later her hearing would come and go.  On Tuesday of this week, Happy couldn't walk.  Her back legs would still work but she couldn't get her front legs to move in the position she needed them to to be able to actually walk.  So on Tuesday afternoon we took Happy to the vet.  The children each wrote a note to Happy and put it in the box with her.  The notes were so beautiful.  I wish I had known how sweet and precious they were as I would have copied them.  I didn't read the notes ahead of time.  Each child read their note at a little funeral we had for Happy.  So here is a little walk down memory lane of our sweet Happy dog.

On Thanksgiving Day while at Nana and Papa's house, Mark was looking through the advertisements.  He found one for an Nintendo DS Lite for 50.00 (pre-owned)  Off and on he mentions wanting one of these but Brooks and I didn't have any plans to make this purchase for him.  He has been saving his money this year and had saved $60.00.  He said 'if this is 50.00 then I'll have $10.00 left over -- well, a little less with tax"  Yep, that's right buddy.  He asked if he could purchase it and we told him we would discuss it. 

Brooks and I decided that we would let him purchase this if that's how he wanted to spend his money.  We told him he would have to get up early on Friday morning.  So at 5:30 a.m. on Friday morning, I woke Mark and asked if he still wanted to go.  He was in a sound sleep but he flew out of the bed in no time.  He looked outside and saw that it was still dark and asked me "Can you drive in the dark?"   

We got in the car and off we went.   While the store was crowded, we didn't have to wait in line outside the store or anything.  We returned home and he is very happy with his purchase.

We have rules for it and he has been obeying the rules without any problems thus far. 

Bethany Grace continues to battle on-going sinus infections.  It's not uncommon to find her like this in the middle of the day:

So I am beyond thrilled when she is feeling better and can make it through the day without a nap or needing a rest.  She has been feeling really well the past couple of weeks.  Last week I snapped this picture of her as we were getting ready to go out for the evening to enjoy the "flipping the switch" of the lights at Gaylord Opryland and then off to see the Rockettes.

We attended the Missouri Right to Life banquet last week.  This was the first banquet I had attended in several years.  It was good to see the crowd.  It was good to know we're not alone in this issue.  Jack Cashill spoke.  He spoke about the media and many others that TABETTO.  For those of you that do not know what that is... (and unless you were there, you won't)  It stands for Turning a Blind Eye to the Obvious.  

He was talking specifically about abortion, about how 300,000+ people can show up in D.C. for the Life March in January, 2 days after the inauguration and not one liberal media outlet reported it.  Want proof... go to Jack's website and order "Thine Eyes."  Proof is in the video. 

But...

I have been chewing on this for the last week and have come up with many areas where people TABETTO...here are just a few...

It is obvious that a Christian has no business attending movies like Harry Potter and New Moon. 

It is obvious that child protective services does NOT protect children...

It is obvious that a Believer, adult or child, has no place in a government school...  

It is obvious that abortion is murder

It is obvious that the government cannot run private industry... Chevy found that out the hard way.

It is obvious that the government cannot run healthcare either...but I don't want to find that out the hard way!

It is obvious that homosexuality is a sin...just as drunkeness, fornication, anger, lying etc are sins...

It is obvious that the media worships Obama and disdains those that stand up for truth...

It is obvious that truth cannot be relative! 

It is obvious that by seperating ourselves into "African-Americans" "Native-Americans" etc. we are only causing more racism

It is obvious that God created... how else can one REALLY explain how and why everything in this universe works the way it does...Yea, I know "big bang" that's why when a coke can explodes, it piles itself up into one neat place waiting to be cleaned up instead of saturating everything within it's radius with sticky goop...random chaos cannot create order!