The star is missing from the top b/c it was too heavy, and fell off!

In honor of my hubby, who will turn 34 this month...

1. He's sitting in front of the TV, what is on the screen? Probably Survivor Man, Mythbusters, or something else on Discovery channel!

2. You're out to eat; what kind of dressing does he get on his salad? Blue Cheese

3. What's one food he doesn't like? A food he doesn't like? I don't think he's met a food he doesn't like! (lol!)

4. You go out to the bar. What does he order? Labatt's, or a Microwbrew

5. Where did he go to high school? West Ottawa High School

6. What size shoe does he wear? 13 wide

7. If he was to collect anything, what would it be? hmmm...Barbecue sauce?

8. What is his favorite type of sandwich? Barbecue, or a good burger

9. What would he eat every day if he could? Barbecue...anyone noticing a theme here?

10. What is his favorite cereal? Barbe...j/k! Um... Golden grahams

11. What would he never wear? A speedo - I think...although after this year's Christmas party, who knows. Maybe he would!
12. What is his favorite sports team? MSU - GO GREEN!!

13. Who did he vote for? John McCain, hands down.

14. Who is his best friend?Besides me - Justin Ooms

15. What is something you do that he wishes you wouldn't do? Wear sweats to bed...Hey, Michigan is cold in winter!

16. How many states has he lived in? Ohio and Michigan. We were almost able to add Georgia to that list.

17. What is his heritage? 100% Dutch

18. You bake him a cake for his birthday; what would it be? Carrot Cake (ask if you want to hear the funny story behind his favorite recipe!)

19. Did he play sports in high school? Football freshman year. 

20. What could he spend hours doing? Barbecuing,  fishing, playing board games

21. What's something cool about him? He loves to play with our kids!

I love you!

(I copied this one from Ronette's blog! http://livelaughlearn-ronette.blogspot.com/)

3 months

I can't believe she's two! The last year has gone so fast, and she's come so far from where she was this time last year. She's been through quite a journey over the last twelve months! (Disclaimer - I am going to be discussing some things of a medical nature, and inserting some pictures that are somewhat graphic. If you are squeemish, or are reading this with your kids, you may want to stop.)

On December 4th of last year, Gracie was very badly burned over 30% of her body. She pulled a cup of boiling tea over on herself. The tea hit her arms, neck, chest, and tummy. It was only God's protection that kept it from hitting her face, since the table was taller than she was, and it came straight down on top of her. It happened really fast. She'd just started walking around Thanksgiving, and we were still not used to her having a higher reach. We rushed her to the the local ER, thankfully only 5 minutes from our house. By the time we got got there, she was so dehydrated they couldn't get an IV in her to give her fluids and morphine. They gave her a couple of injections of morphine, and finally after an hour were able to put a line in her jugular. I don't think I'll ever be able to get her screams out of my head. They transferred us by ambulance to the local Burn Unit, since the hospital we were at was very ill-equipped to do what she needed done. We got to Blodgett, and she was cared for by the finest doctors and nurses imaginable-and I can't say that lightly since I'm married to one! They were amazed at how well she did while they cleaned her wounds - apparently she was even smiling at them though some of it! This is incredible, since the cleaning process is so painful they wouldn't even let us wait outside the room. We were escorted to the waiting room, and told not to leave the room till they came to get us. When they finally let us see her again, she looked like a sad little mummy, all bundled up in gauze. She was drugged, and very sleepy. They took us to a room, and put her in a little crib that had really high rails. Ryan went home to be with the older kids, and I stayed with Grace. She slept fitfully most of the night, tossing and turning and crying out in pain at times. I'd hold her hand and sing to her, and finally put the rails of the bed down, and pulled her out and had her sleep on my lap. This seemed to help her a little, but I had to be very careful not to move, because any movement seemed to cause her great pain. She also had several IVs and leads connected to her, so I had to make sure we didn't unhook those. I rocked her most of the night, just singing and praying. The next morning Ryan came back, and they told us that as long as we felt comfortable changing her bandages, they'd rather we took her home (less risk of infection), and brought her back in every other day for them to check how things were/weren't healing. I was very apprehensive about this, even with having Ryan there to help. I'm not a medical person. I don't handle seeing others in pain well, and the thought of having to look at her wounds twice a day, and cause her pain changing them made me sick to my stomach - it still does. Ryan told them that would be fine, as he was able to get off from work until things were okay with her. They showed us how to cut off the bandages, scrub the burn sites, put on the thermazine, and wrap her back up. She screamed through most of it. I wanted to join her. I think one of the things that bothered me the most was the fact that for almost a week, we saw no smiles from her, and she made almost no eye contact with us. Now please understand that I wasn't expecting her to be up running around and happy, but this was such a huge contrast with her normal personality that it was scary. I kept wondering if we'd lost her. If she'd been so traumatized that she'd never be the same. We changed her bandages twice a day, and gave her medication every couple hours. She'd been given so much fluid that she swelled up like a balloon - her little face was so puffy! We took her back to the Burn Unit every other day for two weeks, for them to check and see if the burns were healing. Ryan and I would change her bandages, and try to convince each other and ourselves that the burns were getting better - and some of it was - but not all of it. At one point, after the first week of visits was done, the doctor told us that he'd give it another week, then we'd have to talk about grafts. We kept watching and praying, not wanting to put her through surgery and more pain. Finally the day came that we had to admit things weren't healing the way they should. The burns on her right upper arm were third degree burns, and would start retracting if we didn't repair it.The doctor told us if we didn't do surgery, she could lose full use of her arm. We took her in for surgery a couple days later, which involved them taking a piece of skin off the outside of her thigh the size of a 3x5 card. They then used that skin to patch where the really bad burns had been. It is a fairly straightforward procedure, the only problem can be the grafts not taking. So we added that to our prayer list! She did great through the surgery, and came out of it quite groggy and wanting to be held. We took her home, and put her to bed. She slept for an hour, then got up and was running around and playing! We couldn't believe how well she recovered! She had a thick bandage around her thigh, and another around her chest and arm.

She started itching the day after we got home from surgery, so we added another medicationt to the list, and kept socks over her hands! We noticed a few days later that she had a strange bump on her leg near the donor site that looked like a pimple. It kept getting bigger and bigger, and was hot and red all around it. Ryan was afraid it was MRSA, so we took her into our family doctor in between visits back to the hospital. They swabbed it, and gave us a nice strong antibiotic that took care of it after a few days. We took her to the hospital for another check of her burns, and the doctor said the grafts were taking really well (they just looked really bad, as you can see in he pictures!)

We just had to keep them really moisturized and protected - no sun or extreme temperature exposures. Things kept healing, and looking better and better. In march we noticed that some of the scars were becoming really red and thick, so at her next check up, we were given orders to massage them, and they ordered a pressure garment for her. Until it came in, she wore this (the shirt, not the undies! Those she stole from big brother!):

This one covered the couple on her chest that were raised, and the one they ordered would cover all of her right arm also. She did have a spot under her chin that was puffy too, but that one just had to be given time, since there was no way to use a pressure garment on it. The doctor talked about the possibility of plastic surgery on it later - ugh, more surgery!

The summer was calm, with us just having to keep her burns out of the sun, and keep the pressure garment on 24/7, so we did a lot of playing inside, and used lots of sunscreen and long sleeved shirts that had been washed in this: http://www.sunguardsunprotection.com/  (I would highly recommend using it even if your kids aren't dealing with skin grafts. I washed all our summer clothes in it at the beginning of the season. ) Gracie was a trooper through all of it. She is truly one of the most pleasant natured kids I've ever seen.

In October we took her in for another check up, and the doctor told us that things looked great! We no longer had to wear the pressure garment, and she didn't need to be seen again! We were so excited, and thrilled that the scar under her chin had gone down to the point that you can almost not see it anymore! The rest of the scarring has lightened a lot, and is looking really good.

We were surrounded by so much love and help through this whole process. Grandparents, aunts and uncles, friends, even people we hardly knew took our kids (not the people we hardly knew -lol!), brought us meals(we had to turn people away b/c our freezer was so full!), and prayed for our sweet baby. We feel so blessed that God has surrounded us with people who love us, and love our children. The body of Christ is a truly wonderful place to be.

Gracie continues to heal. The scars lighten a little more each day, and she's a happy, "normal" (lol!) two year old. Her scars are often a reminder to me of the fact that we all carry scars. Some are just more visible than others. Sometimes they cause us pain, or make us hide. It also reminds me that there is One who will one day take all those scars, on our bodies and our souls, and erase them, giving us new bodies that are pure and perfect. He bears scars Himself, proof of His love for us. I can't wait to see the plans He has for our Gracie girl!

Jeremiah 29:11

For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord. Plans to prosper you and not to harm you; plans to give you hope and a future.

http://myquiver-full.blogspot.com/

This is a post about my mom, and the scare our family went through with my Dad this fall.

Oh, it's so hard to do! Gracie's birthday is Sunday. For the last two weeks I've been trying to come up with some great idea for a birthday cake for her. She isn't really all that into anything in particular. Sawyer and Campbell have always had a "favorite" thing, so it's been easy to pick something for them. We've done everything from dragons and pirate ships to little chicks. Surely they enjoy these fun cakes as much as I do, right? And I'm sure that they'd be absolutely devestated if I bought them a cake instead of making one, in fact they'd probably be talking to their therapist about it someday..."my mom didn't bother to make me a cake, she just ordered one from the store. My cake looked just like every other kid's...boo hoo hoo..." Today, after much fretting (since her party is Sunday, and I still had no plans!), Ryan suggested I go to Costco and just order her a cake. WHAT!!! I CAN't do that! His response was "Isn't your time worth the money it would cost? And, it wouldn't take you away from us for several hours making it." It was then that I realized that He's right (yes, Honey, I said you're right). While my motivation may have been good (or was it me just pushing my idea of a good bithday pary onto my kids?!), time with my family will be remembered a lot longer than what cake they had for their birthdays. I've often heard our Pastor's wife ask the question "what has God put in your hands right now?" I've been trying really hard lately to focus on what God has put in my hands right now - four little people who desperately need Him - not fancy birthday cakes. Maybe someday I'll get to make them cakes again, but for now, it's off to Costco...(their cakes taste WAYYYYY better than mine anyway!)

Some anonymous person requested pictures of the decorated tree. I'll try to post some tomorrow!

We had so much fun last weekend going to get our Christmas tree! Last year we borrowed an artificial tree, because we didn't have time or energy to get a real one with Gracie's accident, and being pregnant. The couple years before that, Grandma and Grandpa W. were kind enough to let us chop one down in their woods. This was a lot of fun, and cost nothing!

This year we went to a place in H called Honey Hollow. Luke and Cara have gone there for a few years, and get beautiful trees that smell like oranges! So we thought this year we'd tag along with them, and when my Mom heard we were going she, Dad, and Jake decided to come along to help with the kids, and take pictures.

Cullen and Daddy!

Look at all those kids! Grace, Logan, Weston, Sawyer, and Campbell

Posing with Grandma - notice there's no snow

The kids decided they would pull the trees for us - it didn't last long,

since they couldn't even move them. We got some REALLY big trees!

Riding the tractor

Isn't he adorable?!

Enjoying their hot chocolate and candy canes

It was a beautiful day, not too cold. This also meant no snow, which I originally thought would be really helpful - no wet, cold, whiny mommy kids! Have you ever dragged a Christmas tree on the ground when there's no snow? Do you know what happens?! That's right, you have a beautiful, mud covered tree! It was left outside to dry and be shaken well before coming inside! We got a beautiful tree, about 8 1/2' tall, and very full.

The last few weeks have been...interesting to say the least.

Stomach flu - Everyone but mommy got it. This led to tremendous growth in the size of Mt. Washmore, and a 7 month old with diarrhea for two weeks. We went through four cans of Lysol, and I think I've rubbed the finish off all the door handles and faucets!

Colds - Again, everyone but mommy.  We've never seen boogers this big from a seven month old. So tonight I'm breaking down and rubbing everybody's feet in with Vicks (thanks for the advice, Mom!) before bed.

Strange rash of Bedwetting - Two nights ago, one kid wet TWICE, within about 3 hours. Then baby woke up and had exploded out of his diaper. Not a good night. Thankful for multiple sets of bedsheets. Then last night, same kid wet,  and we were out of sheets (remember Mt. Washmore? - yeah, still working on that...) so we got out the sleeping bag. Woke up this morning, and other kid had also wet at some point, but slept through it. Baby had exploded out of diaper AGAIN, and this time it was - LITERALLY - everywhere. Once again find myself cleaning the Pack n' Play.

It's easy to look at all of this and think "Poor me! Look at all the time I've spent cleaning up puke, poop, and wiping runny noses." And believe me, I would be lying if I said it hadn't entered my mind from time to time. But over the last couple weeks, God has revealed my own selfishness to me in a very real way. I guess that's what happens when you pray that God would show you the state of your depravity! I so often found myself muttering "not again?!" instead of seeing it as an opportunity to gladly serve my family.

Lord, thank you that even in my wretchedness and repetative sin, you've never asked "not again?!" Remove my grumbling, selfish heart, and replace it with one that sees serving my family as serving you.

Ryan and I are celebrating our 10th anniversry this month! I can't believe it's gone so fast! I think the expression goes "time flies when you're having fun"? While not ALWAYS fun, life is at the very least always interesting around our house!

I decided to have a picture of the kids taken and framed as a gift for Ryan. I took the kids off to my friend Danita's house, and she got some amazing pictures! She was even able to change the color of Gracie's shoes in the picture - they were bright pink! Now they're brown - much better up against a red barn! She did a great job, and I was so excited about surprising Ryan with the picture. I had Danita order a 16x20, and had it shipped to her house. So far so good. Then my husband went on our computer and decided to upload a photo to his facebook page - which he's NEVER done before. Up pops my picture! I hadn't realized when I put the CD with all the pictures on it into the computer that Picasa would automatically upload them all onto the hard drive. He said "oh, what is this! these are beautiful! We need to get one of these blown up to hang on the wall." So there goes my surprise.

So since the surprise is blown, here are the pictures for everyone else to enjoy. I'll just post a few of my favorites. If I can figure out how to post it in a slideshow format, I'll do that later. Enjoy!