A Date with the Doctor

Will had a dr's appointment today for his ear check-up before the surgery. His ears are absolutely disgusting and I can't believe he manages to be in a good mood everyday. He has been running fever for several days, so the dr decided it would be best to have him on antibiotics before his surgery since the anesthesiologist (? sp) won't do it if he is running fever. He will start the meds on Thursday to be sure they are at their peak for surgery day. I went and pre-registered for Tuesday (May 6) and they will call me with the time. Hopefully they will put him first on the books because of his age. He wants to do more bloodwork while he is under to double check his allergy testing so he won't have to get poked later on when he is conscious. We can take all of the prayers we can get for a speedy recovery and an end to this nightmare problem we have been dealing with for the last 15 months!!!!!! (Happy 22nd month birthday Will--if there is such a thing)

Work in Progress

I thought I would update you with all of the new and exciting things going on OUTSIDE of our house. Preston has been working super hard on the sprinkler system and of course..it rained. He still has his ditches though so the work will continue. We also had the curbing poured and put the glass down in the flower bed. I went to Lowe's and bought some plants and it looks like Preston has his work cut out for him. (ha ha) I think he thinks I might be planting them, but I've tried the shovel thing before and we don't work well together. If you look hard enough you can see a little white chair on the front porch where I can sit and talk while he works ;).

Preston also got a little toy that he picked up on Sunday. He has had so much fun with it working on the yard. It is really cute. I think Will might like it a little more though.

Will's just taken me for a ride!

The sidewalk should be done by Wednesday, but all of you who I have spoken with know the direction this is going. I don't anticipate it getting done AT ALL. We'll see, I 'll keep that positive attitude :). I'll post a picture of it as soon as it happens.

I'll post interior pics as soon as I get some--perhaps I should pick up some first. We'll see.

Million $ Cookies

As I have been listening to K-LOVE the past couple days they keep talking about these million dollar cookies. Apparantly some woman won a bake-off with these cookies for a 1 million dollar grand prize. They are supposed to be super easy and delicious (obviously). Here is the recipe. I have yet to make them, hopefully in the next few days. I LOVE peanut butter cookies.

Double-delight peanut butter cookies
The original, delicious recipe that captured the $1 million grand prize
Carolyn Gurtz, Pillsbury Bake-Off grand prize winner
24 cookies
INGREDIENTS
1/4 cup Fisher® Dry Roasted Peanuts, finely chopped
1/4 cup Domino® or C&H® Granulated Sugar
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 cup JIF® Creamy Peanut Butter
1/2 cup Domino® or C&H® Confectioners Powdered Sugar
1 roll (16.5 oz) Pillsbury® Create ‘n Bake® refrigerated peanut butter cookies, well chilled
DIRECTIONS
Heat oven to 375° F.
In small bowl, mix chopped peanuts, granulated sugar and cinnamon; set aside. In another small bowl, stir peanut butter and powdered sugar until completely blended. Shape mixture into 24 (1-inch) balls.
Cut roll of cookie dough into 12 slices. Cut each slice in half crosswise to make 24 pieces; flatten slightly. Shape 1 cookie dough piece around 1 peanut butter ball, covering completely. Repeat with remaining dough and balls. Roll each covered ball in peanut mixture; gently pat mixture completely onto balls.
On ungreased large cookie sheets, place balls 2 inches apart. Spray bottom of drinking glass with CRISCO® Original No-Stick Cooking Spray; press into remaining peanut mixture.
Flatten each ball to 1/4-inch thickness with bottom of glass. Sprinkle any remaining peanut mixture evenly on tops of cookies; gently press into dough.
Bake 7 to 12 minutes or until edges are golden brown. Cool 1 minute; remove from cookie sheets to cooling rack. Store tightly covered.

A Hard Working Man

Isn't that cute!!

I had to post a picture of my very hard working husband as he was building our storage building. He not only was building, but also entertaining ALL three of our children. What a MAN!!! I also wanted to post for all of you prayer warriors that he got soem very exciting news about a great opportunity for him career wise. We are really excited, but very scared. Please pray for him especially tomorrow when he has the meeting to discuss the prospect. Who knows. We'll keep you posted.

(Sorry for the naked hiney!) But

I had to show the fun of bath time.

I drained all of the water and he

refused to get out. He wasn't done playing!

In a funk!

I don't know what it is, but I am in a bad funk. I have been down for several days now. I blogged a little bit yesterday about my heavy heart hoping that would release some of what I am feeling, but nothing seems better.

Then I came home today to find our newly acquired dog (she was a rescue from my school several months ago) had died. It was so devastating. I don't know what could have happened. She seemed so perfect and happy all last night and this morning before we put her out. I feel like there is death all around me. I don't know if I am just more sensitive to it or what. I had taken the kids to town directly from the bus so they wouldn't have to see her until Preston could properly bury her. As I was driving home, I came to realize that I haven't fully surrendered all of my burdens to God. ONE (of many) of my biggest faults as a christian is the need to be in control. I know this is evil trying to get in. I pray about it constantly. I just have such a hard time letting go. I think my funk is mostly due to me harboring all of these feelings and not releasing them completely to God. So now I made the decision, as I cry and type these words, I am releasing all of this pain and guilt and control I carry around over to him and am letting him have take control.

Psalm 18:1-6
1 I love you, O Lord, my strength. 2 The Lord is my rock, my fortress and my deliverer; my God is my rock, in whom I take refuge. He is my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold. 3 I call to the Lord, who is worthy of praise, and I am saved from my enemies. 4 The cords of death entangle me; the torrents of destruction overwhelmed me. 5 The cords of the grave coiled around me; the snares of death confronted me. 6 In my distress I called to the Lord; I cried to my God for help.

Litttle Children

I have spent the last week incredibly busy. It's that time of year again where you long to be outside and working around the house making it seem alive with color and enjoy this wonderful spring weather.
My heart has also been very heavy. I have spent this time reading a lot of blogs of people I don't know, but am praying for. They are going through very difficult times in their lives. It is absolutley amazing to me to watch how these people use God as their strength to cope with different situations. And although I ask for prayers regarding my baby and his health, as I sit and read these blogs I also have to rejoice that he has no major medical condition. None of my children do and I am so very grateful and praise God for that. My heart just breaks to read and know people who have lost a child or a loved one. It has really forced me to reflect my time with my children. I have started reevalutating the small issues that won't matter next year or ten years from now, and see if it warrants the effort or energy to get upset with. To know that each day I have with my children is a GIFT. And use this gift doing what God intended, honoring him in every decision I make and every action I do. I pray that I lead a life that glorifies God. I ask that you too pray for these people even though we don't know them personally. Here are the links to two different couples going through a dark path in their lives, Bring the Rain and Surviving Life's Curveballs.

I also spent the day yesterday with my dad. He too is walking in darkness as he grieves the loss of his wife. Preston and I often talk about how to get over something like this. I keep saying I don't think you do. I just trust that the lord will walk WITH us and comfort us the entire way. I know he struggles each and everyday to get up and live his life alone. He's knows he's not truely alone, he has a very loving and supporting family, but he is the only one who has to go home to an empty house. I often feel guilty that our lives force us to move on and he still very much relives each day. I ask that you pray for him. Pray that he feels the holy spirit is with him and know that God is grieving with him.

The dr called and scheduled Will's surgery for Tuesday May 6. Please pray that this is the answer to his chronic ear infections. I will post pictures later.

More Prayers...

Okay, here I am again asking for more prayers. As you know from previous posts that Will is going to have his tubes removed sometime within the next month. In the meantime it might be difficult. He was put on new meds Friday morning from the ones he started last Monday, and his ears are still draining awfully bad. When I called the dr to let them know she said that they were afraid of that and he might have to either try to heal on his own or wait until the surgery. This does not sound like fun. Although his fever has subsided and he has started to sleep again, I can't imagine him living with this infection for the next 3-4 weeks. The only thing I can do and ask for is more prayers that he can overcome these infections on his own quickly. Thank you for all of your prayers and I'll keep you posted.

A Brave Girl

We have had a very fun and relaxing weekend. It has been one of those weekends where we weren't expected to do anything, just really enjoyed doing nothing. Yesterday was spent watching the kids ride all over the place. They had a blast.

Today was even better. First we went to the lake and it was a very cold experience. Jacob was dying to get back on the wakeboard--he is absolutely nuts (although they said the water was warmer than the air). We didn't last long. The babies fell asleep and we decided to come home and let them ride dirt bikes instead. So Lauren and I went to town and got her ears pierced! She has been wanting it for some time now, but we never felt it was right. We had finally compromised and said that for her birthday she could get them done. I do realize that is over 5 weeks away, but Dad was a push over and let us do it early. She was so BRAVE. I had originally wanted her to get them done at the same time, but they only had one person there. I tried to prep her and make sure she could do it one at a time and she assured me she would be fine. And guess what? She WAS! Here are the pictures donning her new accessories.

Here she is pre-piercing. (Looking a little frightened.)

Now they are marking the right spots. (I made them redo it)

Here goes nothing!

I couldn't believe it. She never even flinched. They clicked in one ear, she turned her head and in went the other. She did amazing.

Isn't she beautiful. She is so proud of herself. She can't wait to show them off.

Will seems to be doing some better. His ears are still draining some, just not as bad. He is also sleeping better. Hope everyone had a terrific weekend too. More to come later.

The Verdict

We had out appointment with Dr Huchton this morning and I feel pretty good about it. Thankfully his mastoids do not show any deep infection. That is really great news because the only way to drain that would be with a big surgery. What he has come up with now is what he says is from the process of elimination. He said with all of the right meds he's been on, the hospitalization and the lack of underlying issues in the mastoids and sinuses, he believes that Will is a 1 in about 500 cases where his body is actually rejecting the tubes in his ears. Even though he has the hypoallergenic ones in, his body does not like having this foreign object in his ears and is fighting it off. The solution: another surgery, but this time to remove the tubes altogether. This sounds promising; however leads to another issue if the continues to have infections. But like he said we will cross that bridge when we get there. He switched his antibiotic again and put him on different ear drops to hold the infection at bay until the surgery is scheduled. Dr Huchton had a skiing accident and shattered his shoulder and will be in a cast for another 3-4 weeks. Once he gets the clearance then he will do the surgery. In the meantime we will just wait it out and hope the new meds will give Will some relief until next month. It all makes since if this is the reason, and I am praying it is. We will keep you posted in the coming weeks on his progress and where we're going with it.

Hanging On

Well, we just got home from the ER, we have been there since this afternoon with Will. He is still running a fever and has a horrible cough. We took his oxygen level at my school and it was 89% so the on call pedi told us to go there. We did some chest xrays and they said they looked pretty good. They also went ahead and ordered the CAT scan we were waiting on for two weeks. All in all he did really good in the scan. They didn't have to sedate him! (Yea!) The tech thought the images would work even though he moved a little. We'll see tomorrow. They told us we had to schedule an appointment with his pedi and with his ENT for tomorrow. I'm not really sure the purpose in seeing those two docs, but I guess we'll do it. My poor baby, his ear is now running out with infection and the right one is bright red and the doc said they looked horrible. We just really can't understand what is going on. As before we ask that everyone prays for answers and for him to be better. I'll post again tomorrow after both of the appointments.

Recovering

Will and I are spending the day together while he recovers from his ear infection. Last night his fever stayed at around 104 and finally broke late this morning. Thank you, God! He seems to be feeling better, probably as a result of his fever breaking. Either way he is soooo cute. As I was working on the computer this morning I had the music playing and he was standing in the little chair in front of the desk. As he was standing there he started to dance and sing. I couldn't keep this precious moment all to myself, so here he is at his most precious self. Enjoy!

Sad Day

An update on my friend: They did not get the news they were hoping for today. I am so sad for them both. I would like to ask you to continue praying for them. They need peace in their hearts and to know that what God has planned is magnificent and wonderful and he will never leave their side during these dark times.

I am also sad because the baby is sick AGAIN. He started running a fever last night. Okay, let me back up a minute. He finished his antibiotic last Wednesday for the ear infection he had after leaving the hospital. This morning he woke up and his temp was over 103 and he had hardly slept at all last night. I am so sad for him. His left ear is covered with yuck and he has a bad cough on top of it all. I had to call my wonderful mother to take off yet another day to stay with him while I got my things in order at work. I called the dr and more frustration set in. They just prescribed the same antibiotic again for another ten days. This cannot be the answer:to keep dosing him with antibiotic after antibiotic. I finally called the ENT who has been out due to an injury and among my sobs his wonderful nurse helped me through it and made me feel like they were going to help. They extended the meds for 2 weeks and at the end of the two weeks they have scheduled a CAT scan to check his mastoids. The dr thinks that the mastoids need to be scraped clean. I absolutely don't want another hospital stay for IV antibiotics and I don't want more needles and other painful procedures for my baby, but we need answers. There is a reason he has had continual ear infections since he was 7 months old. I finally figured it out today and he has been sick for the last 14 months, literally. He deserves to be well. I am asking more prayers that God will heal him, and to give the drs the knowledge and wisdom to figure out what is going on. Thank you so much for your continued prayers and support.

Prayer Request

I wanted to extend a prayer request to anyone who is reading this. One of my very dear friends got some very troublesome news yesterday and are unsure of the outcome. They should have more definitive answers tomorrow or the following day. I wanted to ask everyone to please pray for her and her husband, that God will bring peace to her mind and her heart, that they will have understanding to this situation and faith in the outcome of God's plan.
Thank you,
Mandi

Shower Time!

Okay, so this will be short too, but I had to post these pictures of Will. Lauren was in the shower and Preston and I were buzzing around doing stuff and the next thing I know Will is in the shower with Lauren fully dressed! By the time I made it in there with the camera, Lauren had already taken his shirt off. So here he is with his pants and socks on enjoing a nice warm shower!

Answered Prayers

I don't really have a lot to write about right now (shocking I know) but I did feel it necessary to give an update on Will. He has had clear ears since around Thursday of last week. I know I have put out a lot of prayer requests for him and I know it has worked. He seems so happy and is talking so much. Preston and I want to thank all of you who have prayed for him daily. I'm sure there is more to come later.