All Things.....

    It wasn't until several days after getting home from the hospital, after doctors discovered the mass in Addie Kate's brain, that I was reminded of a song that the Lord had placed on my heart many months before.  The song was on a worship cd that Gabe had bought for me.  I can remember listening to the song and feeling as if the Lord was preparing my heart for something, something that was going to be difficult to walk through.  Here are some of the words to that song.
      

Jesus Culture

Your Love Never Fails

You stay the same through the ages
Your love never changes
There may be pain in the night but joy comes in the morning
[ Lyrics from: http://www.lyricsty.com/jesus-culture-your-love-never-fails-lyrics.html ]
And when the oceans rage
I don't have to be afraid
Because I know that You love me
Your love never fails

The wind is strong and the water's deep
But I'm not alone here in these open seas
Cause Your love never fails

The chasm is far too wide
I never thought I'd reach the other side
But Your love never fails

You make all things work together for my good

   The last line in the song 'You make all things work together for my good' really stuck out to me, almost as if God was speaking it to me.  This line is taken out of Romans 8:28.  A scripture that was close to my heart in the midst of all the craziest of those three days in the hospital with Addie Kate.  It was a promise I held onto.  A promise that no matter what happened or does happen I know the Lord loves me, I know that he loves my children.  A promise that no matter what we walk through that he will work it together for our good, if we allow him too.    

   I was reminded of this promise today while watching Addie Kate play doctor with her baby dolls, as she has every day since that visit to the hospital and the two visits since then.  Fear began to creep in. Questions of how this has changed her and affected her at such a young age.  My heart was quickly comforated by this promise that in ALL THINGS he is going to work it out for her good.  There is a peace that comes over me when I am reminded that while I was blind sinded by this news, my heavenly father had begun preparing my heart many months before.


        

Easter 2012

We had a jammed packed easter weekend, which included the church easter egg hunt saturday morning and Owen's birthday party Saturday afternoon. It was one of those really good weekends with lots of family and really good food, my favorite:) It was the perfect way to celebrate the resurrection of our savior and very much needed for Gabe and I!!

We didn't get any pictures before church Sunday morning so I made the kids get redressed after their naps Sunday afternoon (Gabe refused). I'm pretty sure all three had some food leftover from lunch on their clothes and Addie Kate was convinced we were going back to church but I got my pictures none the less.

Update

It has been months since the last time I blogged. But I can't think of a better reason to start back. This past week, Gabe and I have been overwhelmed by the prayers and support we received from family and friends and even people we have never met before. I wish I was able to personally tell every single person thank you. I wanted to share with those of you who were praying what happened last week and where we are now. Be warned that this is super long...

The last few weeks have been rough. All three babies (and mommy) have been sick which equals a lot of pajama days at home. I was feeling pure sorry for myself. A little stir crazy and slightly overwhelmed by the everyday life of raising three under three. In the midst of all the sickness and feeling sorry for myself my perspective on my life was changed in an instant.

We woke up last Monday morning to Addie Kate running a low fever. I gave her motrin and it went down. A little while later her temp started going back up and I couldn't get it to break. I called her doctor and made an appointment. Her temperature kept rising, getting up to 104.5. Gabe got home and I got her to the doctor as fast as I could. By the time I got her to her pediatrician her temperature was back down. Her pediatrician checked her out and everything looked good. He suggested it may just be a virus and so we were headed home. On our way out Addie Kate was getting a prize out of the prize box for being good and she sort of stumbled. She didn't fall, she just stumbled. It scared her (and me) and I picked her up. All the while her pediatrician was watching. He asked if she could get down and try and walk. She stumbled again.

He then asked if he could run a few more tests because something didn't seem right. He checked her blood pressure and blood sugar and everything looked good. He then asked her to walk for him again. She stumbled a third time. She had never done this before. My heart sank.

He then called a pediatric neurologist and we were headed to the hospital.

When we got to the hospital, Addie Kate was still running fever and was a little lethargic but by the end of the evening her fever was gone, she was eating, and was back to herself. Around this time we met with the neurologist and he had her walk and do several other exercises for him. She didn't stumble and even jumped for him. He told us she looked "perfect" but he was going to go ahead with the MRI just to be on the safe side (they were checking for side effects from her high fever).

They brought her back for the MRI around 10:00 Monday night. She did great. She didn't have to be sedated and was still for the entire MRI. She really was so brave.

By this time, Gabe and I were feeling pretty confident that we would be taking Addie Kate home the next morning.

The next morning while I was driving back to the hospital from Starbucks and I got a call from Gabe that I needed to hurry, the peditrician needed to meet with me. I knew in his voice that it wasn't good. I instantly starting crying. When I got to the the hospital Gabe and the pediatrician were waiting to meet with me. The pediatrician was sitting at a computer looking at images of Addie Kate's brain. He showed me an image of a mass that they had found. I was in shock. I couldn't wrap my mind around what was happening.

Gabe and I started making phone calls to family and tried to get it together before we walked back in to see Addie Kate (we agreed that we did not want her to see us upset). It was such a blessing having people from church stopping by to visit; she was having fun and barely noticed that Gabe and I were in and out of the room, trying to keep it together.

Soon after we got the news about the mass we were told that an ambulance was on the way from Egleston. So I headed home to pack for the entire family for an indefinite amount of time. I was a mess. I walked in the front door wishing that it was a pajamas day with me and the babies and that life would just go back to 'normal'.

Addie Kate did great on the ambulance ride. I was able to ride in the ambulance but had to ride up front. I was able to watch her on a screen and she could talk to me. She played bubbles, got her hair braided, colored, and entertained us all(I can't say enough good things about the everyone we met at Egleston, including the paramedics).

When we got to the hospital we met with an Oncologist and a Pediatric Neurosurgeon. They scheduled a more intensive MRI for the next morning and then we would meet again. Addie Kate was still doing really well, she did keep telling us she wanted to go home and see her "Owie" but other than that she was just wanting to play in the playroom on her floor. She didn't let her IV slow her down at all.

Her second MRI was not as smooth as the first. She had to be sedated because it was going to take about an hour and fifteen minutes. Her IV had to be redone before they sedated her and it took four times before they got it to take. It was torture for Gabe and I. Even through all of this, she was still just wanting to play.

It wasn't long after her second MRI that we met with her two doctors again and they were very positive about the results. One of her doctors called it a tumor; the other doctor said she would prefer to call it a mass. The mass is non-operable which means it can never be biopsied. They did agree that it did not look like cancer and that right now the mass is not causing any harm to Addie Kate (she is asymptomatic). They also agreed that the fever and the stumbling had no correlation with the mass (they were just a way for them to find it). From there we discussed what our next step is. We will come back in six weeks for another MRI so they can watch the mass. They will continue MRIs for many years to come.

Our prayer right now is that there is no growth when we go back in six weeks and more than that, that the mass is gone. Our heart is to not live in fear as we enter in this new season of life. This is requiring a whole new level of faith for both Gabe and I. We are continually reminding each other that Addie Kate was a daughter of God before she was ever our daughter. That he loves her more than we do. That he is sovereign and he is GOOD. Even in the midst of the scariest moment of my life, I was overwhelmed by a peace and a truth that God is good.

Life has been sweet this past week. That may sound crazy but I cannot begin to tell you how grateful I am to just be home. How grateful I am for the little things. I am watching God use a negative experience to do a new work in my heart and in my life and for that I am grateful. Please continue to pray for our sweet girl and we will keep you posted on how she is doing:)

Our life according to my phone....

The other day I was looking through my cell phones pictures, all seven hundred of them (that's not an exaggeration), and thought these pictures can tell some stories...... and so they shall!

Owen and Eli just looking at each other on the floor. Owen loves Eli and I love to hear him say E-LI. Him and Addie Kate can make Eli belly laugh and it is my favorite thing to hear.

Every week we go to the library for story time and to check out books. They love it. They do really cute stuff like decorate pumpkins, paint, and this particular week they were letting go of butterflies that we had been watching since they were caterpillars (we were reading the very hungry caterpillar).

Speaking of the library... a couple of weeks ago we were getting ready to leave to go to the library and I realized I had a flat tire. I had two disappointed little kids so I blew up the outside jumpy house and put it in the living room. You just do what you have to do sometimes.

Here is Addie Kate in the car for "girls day." Thats what she calls it. I had to go run errands and my favorite little girl came along while the boys stayed home and napped.

Here is my little man doing what he does best, climbing. If he can't reach something that's okay he will figure out a way to get to it anyways. And now that he can open doors life has become a little more interesting.

And here my little guy is sick with the stomach virus. We were at church and lets just say I didn't have an extra change of clothes with me. So I took a picture....

Eli loves this bouncy chair, but it apparently wore him out.

Addie Kate on our way out of town....with her favorite baby doll and minnie mouse:)

Still in pajamas. Such a good big sister.

Going to a "pajama party" at church. She is just getting big!

Addie Kate took this pic...and I love it.

Owen inside of Addie Kate's kitchen...and she will shut the door with him in there. All in good fun of course.

Having lunch in a tent in the kitchen, because that is what you do on rainy days...just make up fun:)

And because I love this little face.

Just think there were 647 pictures that were not posted.....

You're my favorite deputy

Addie Kate and Owen love Toy Story 3! So this year it was between Toy Story costumes and Mickey Mouse costumes. But when I found the cowboy hats at the dollar store Toy Story it was.

So I got to work making their Woody and Jessie costumes and less than $20 later we had some pretty cute little cowboys and girl.

We drove to my Mom and Dad's to go to a fall festival with them at their church. I seriously don't know who had more fun the kids or my parents. They loved showing off their grand-babies and playing with them on all the inflatables. We all took turns going down the giant slide with with Addie Kate and Owen (Eli went by himself because he is such a big boy...just kidding he sat out on the slides this year). We also took turns dragging Owen out of all the jumpy houses... because he literally screamed getting out of every single one.

We had kind of a crazy start to the night considering Addie Kate burnt her hand on the hot glue gun while I was finishing up their costumes, Eli got shots that morning and was fussy(very good planning on my part), and we lost a boot while trying to leave the house. Not to mention trying to get pictures of these babies, while running late, in their cute costumes that they didn't really want to keep on (that would be Owen and Eli). I sometimes feel pure crazy trying to get these babies all out of the house, but it somehow works out even if we are a little slow moving.

And here are my two Woodys and Jessie:

Ok I cheated and took pictures of Eli in his costume this morning. He was so much happier this morning:) And when Eli put his costume back on Addie Kate wanted to put her Jessie costume back on.

Woody

Addie Kate was ready to pose and was so excited to be "Jessie". She was talking like Jessie all night "Yee haw!"

And this is how Eli spent most of the night. Either here or cuddled up in the stroller.

Nannie and G-Daddy with their little cowboy and girl.

Owen's favorite part of the night, taking a picture with his mom. Not really, it was jumping and jumping. He loved it!!

And here he is telling us to hold on.... just one more minute:)

Although a little crazy at times, we had so much fun on our first Halloween as a family of 5!

Corn Maze

We started this fall off with a fun little trip to a corn maze in Magnolia Spring, Alabama. Because what says fall like a corn maze, hay ride, pumpkin patch, and corn cannon? The corn maze is typically only open on weekends but happen to have a field trip and stayed open a few hours longer so we could come. Which meant we had it all to ourselves!

It was a beautiful day and I honestly don't know who had more fun the adults or the kids.

Okay so the corn maze was not our favorite part. It was hot, dusty and really long.....so we didn't make it all the way through. We keep getting lost and Addie Kate was apparently very worried that we were lost in a huge field of corn that she couldn't see over.

She preferred the hay ride where she could see where we were going and didn't get lost.

Owen loved the hay ride but not as much as he loved getting to drive the tractor.

The cow ride...

Then we had rubber duck races.... true life.

Shot the corn cannon. And yes we are very serious right here. Gabe won.....this time.

They even had a petting zoo.

Owen is trying to hug this donkey. He is so affectionate and that makes my heart melt. He is affectionate and rough all at the same time. Just like a little boy!

Here is Addie Kate chatting with a sheep. And this is so her. I can just hear her saying "hey" when I look at this picture and it makes me smile.

And we got some pumpkins. Well not really, we forgot them and Addie Kate was seriously upset about it so we had to go buy some when we got back.

And then we just played and played. Even the big kids:)

Eli was so sweet the entire time. CC carried him in his pack and he was just pure happy.... always!

We even got a family picture. And that is an accomplishment all in itself.