I feel loved...

I am typing this with tears running down my face as I yet again have been so blessed by a loving, merciful Heavenly Father. Long story short paying your tithing is such a blessing and you are constantly provided for if you obey. You may not become rich or be able buy what you want, but you will have provided for you what you need.

Strength and knowledge

Sometimes you learn the most when you have to do something really hard. If your life depends on hanging on by your fingers on the side of a cliff, you will learn how strong your fingers are! If you are in labor, flying down the highway at 100 mph, and the baby won't wait, guess what-you just learned how to deliver a baby!
I learned how strong the emotion of protection is for a mother as I watched my daughter battle UC. I learned how to adovcate for my child's education with Ben's struggles. I learned how to love my husband more through marriage class.
I am learning that I have to protect myself from those who seek to control and burden my life with thier own insecurities. I have learned the commandment to honor thy father and mother doesn't mean you have to listen to everything they say, it means you live a good life. Everyday I understand more and more my individual worth, and how much value my Heavenly Father has for me. I am so thankful to have experiences that make me stronger and give me the abilities to value myself. Everyday is sometimes a battle, but if you come away learning something you are winning the war.

Sorry, you're overqualified...

Due to the cost of our health insurance premuims, I've been thinking about getting a part-time job. I was considering what I could put onto my resume and these are the positions I think I could list for my previous job experience.

I am a teacher, I teach anything from potty training to math. I am a nurse, and a doctor. I am the principal, the referee, the judge and the jury. I am the Chief Financial Officer as well as the Chief Operating Officer. I am the recreation director, the custodian, and the laundry lady. I am the seamstress, the interior decorator, and the IT person. I am the hairdresser, the cook, and the driver. I can command search and rescue operations, I have even delivered my own baby!

So, as I have thought about leaving my career as a stay at home mom behind, I realize how many ways I have grown. I also realize how much I have enjoyed it. I am so thankful for my husband and children, and thankful I have been blessed to grow and learn along the way.

Live today like it's your last...

I am not a complainer, I am a pretty positive person. I am done with today though. It has been one of those days when you just want it to end. Today it pains me to say, I was not a very nice mom. Now I feel kind of defeated, like I gave up halfway thru the race when I could have done better. I am going to pray tonight that those I reside with will remember what their part is to do, no one will have a bathroom accident, magically the laundry will disappear as quickly as it is created, and we will not have anyone give their stuffed animal a haircut. I can't believe it is only Tuesday.

This one's for you Dad...

Me & My Dad 1978

I've been thinking about my dad a lot lately. I think I have taken my dad for granted all my life and I just wanted to let him know how much I love him! My dad is an amazing father, but an even better grandpa. My kids adore him. (I joke with him that in his will he needs to leave me some money in his will to pay for therapy for Meghan because she will have such a broken heart!)

My dad has a very physically demanding job of working for AT&T as a lineman. He works in the heat, he works in the cold, he works in the rain or snow. On the rainy days when I run to my car to get in before I get too wet, he is out in it for 8-10 hours. He has problems with his back, his hips, and his knees. As I was thinking about his knee problems the other day the thought crossed my mind all the times he has done something physical for me and how much that may have made his problems worse.

My dad ran with me to teach me how to ride a bike, my dad taught me how to fly a kite, my dad held my hand and taught me how to roller skate. My dad would carry me when I could not walk, and pick me up when I wasn't feeling good. My dad chased the bus down when it forgot my stop, and let me cry on his shoulder when I got my ears pierced. He never complained when I crawled into bed with him and my mom nightly, and with his own two hands made my sister and me a bunk bed that my children sleep on today. My dad was patient as he taught me how to drive a stick shift car, and always got 100% on all the projects he helped us to make! My dad would take us to air shows, the Japanese Festival, fireworks, and even a few concerts I know he could have lived without seeing! (Milli Vanilli for me & New Kids on the Block for my sister)

So now as I have become an adult I appreciate my dad like you can only do when you are doing the same things for your kids. My hands reach for my children to help them do things he taught me how to do, and his hands helped to shape me into the person I am today. I don't know if I can do everything as well as he did, or if my talents are different and I will do something better that my children will appreciate me for. I do know I just wanted the opportunity to say thanks Dad for doing all the things you didn't have to do, but you did because you loved me.

Boo hoo, it's the swine flu...

My poor boy, Will, has been a sick boy. He started coughing early Sunday morning and by bedtime he was a feverish 103. We thought it would be best to get him some Tamiflu, so we got a fun filled trip to the ER. Poor Will, evidently St. Louis is out of children's Tamiflu and they are having to formulate it from adult doses and it takes terrible. He cries everytime it is time for a dose and says "No Momma, poop". That's a lot of talking for a boy who doesn't talk!

I hope it is a very mild case for everyone else in our house, and we all get it quick and over it quick! I hope this little piggy runs all the way past your home!

Rest in Peace My Friend, You Were Loved...

I lost an old friend this week. He was my trustly ally for a few years. He helped me through battles, during times of sickness, and was always there for me, until Tuesday. Brace yourselves, this is deep, my hairdryer died. He helped me tame my frizzy hair, blew warm air on my kids as they got out of the bathtub, and we all loved him. I have never had a hairdryer that worked as well as my old ugly gray one, it didin't have a lot of features, but it could dry my hair super fast. That means a lot to me! I got a new one already to replace my old friend, this one has to be a girl. She is sleek, white with silver-like (plastic) accents, and claims to have a super turbo engine. Well, all I can tell you is don't believe the hype. It's just false advertising! I know I will probably grow to like this new hairdryer, but none will work as well as my old gray one.

Really Me?

This is a personal post. (Not about a personal problem, just close to my heart.) I have been asked to speak next Tuesday at a training for parent educators for the Parents As Teachers program. WOW! Seriously-people are coming from all over the country to this training, and I will talk to them for 30 minutes about my life with my children who have special needs! Super scary, humbling, giving me an ulcer, and making me excited all in one!



As I have started to prepare to talk I have been thinking back to each of the times we were told that our children have some special problems. I think the hardest one was when Madi was 8 and diagnosed with Ulcerative Colitis. Ken and I both felt so helpless looking at her connected to wires, tubes and IVs and just cried. We cried for the pain she was having, we cried for her and her future, we cried because we couldn't fix what was wrong with her. We cried because we tried to do everything right with her and we felt like we failed. Then we started to fight the disease with her, and we all fought, and fought, we tried everything and we still lost. She had her large intestine removed 2 years and six months after she was diagnosed. It was hard to go through that, it was most difficult to see her struggle and her suffer, it was hard to accept the fact that we lost the battle with UC. It was also hard to convince our families the decision for surgery was the right one. She does feel better now, and her life is more normal and it is easier to see that although we may not have wanted to do the surgery it was the right choice. We can see what we learned and how we grew from the experience.



Ben was a different story. I have always felt like I am trying to keep up with him, from the moment I delivered him in Ken's truck, to him being 8 months old and running, to a 18 month old little boy trapped in a world without communication. He would take his trucks and drive up and down the hallway with them all day long. He didn't care if we were there or not, he really had no way of communicating with us. He wouldn't ask for something to eat or drink, he was just to himself. I didn't (and still don't) always know what to do to help him. We took him to the doctor and they placed tubes in his ears. The doctor said he couldn't hear before because of fluid, but he should be fine now, and he started therapy with First Steps and had 2 hours of speech and language per week until he was 3. He started to talk, and he had an amazing vocabulary, he could tell you the most amazing stories. He started preschool 2 half days a week from 3 until kindergarten. We thought everything was fine. He went through kindergarten and that's when the trouble began again. He worked so hard, but reading wasn't coming to him. He tried so hard but he couldn't hold his pencil right. He was still doing speech and language therapy, but he still had trouble following along in a conversation. He started OT therapy in November 2008 for his fine motor skills and was tested for reading class at the end of kindergarten. Everyone loved to be around him because he was so funny, he always had outlandish stories that entertained everyone. They were so funny because they are fiction, and are always off the topic of whatever is being discussed. In July 2009 he started 1st grade. He started an everyday reading class, he has speech and language therapy 2 times per week and OT 2 times per week. He continued to work as hard as we asked him to. He still was making no progress. Then he started throwing fits. He would get so upset he would yell, and hit himself. He could not calm down, and we would have to put him in his bedroom for extented periods of time. He could not look you in the eyes. He would look at your face, but never in your eyes. He would obsess over different subjects. Space, the Titanic, roller coasters, he went a whole year after visiting Cabela's when we had to call him Camper. He couldn't wear underwear or socks. One day before school it took me 45 minutes to get his socks on, and that was the final straw. I made a doctor appt. for him. I have always had a fear in the back of my mind, this ghost word that would label my sweet boy forever, and I felt like it would trap him and hold onto him. Austism. The fear that my bouncing baby boy with his 10 fingers and toes would not be perfect anymore. This black cloud that would hang over him forever. Austism. I took him to the doctor and my fears were confirmed. Not austism exactly but on the austim spectrum, Asperger's syndrome. All the problems he was having fit the mold. Fine motor, reading, sensory issues, language problems, his off topic, crazy stories. Having trouble acting normally with his friends. His fits, and amazingly enough his off the charts verbal reasoning skills with his very, very low comprehension scores all made sense. Maybe because I always knew he was a little different my other kids the blow wasn't as hard as I thought it would be. I didn't feel like I had been punched in the stomach with no warning, just punched in the stomach. Ken and I had a conversation and talked about how we felt about it. We both were sad he was different, but not surprised, and we both were thankful it wasn't worse. We still are fighting this monster. We will win this battle.



Will was the perfect baby. I felt like the Seinfeld episode when they wanted to go out on top. We had 4 girls, 1 boy and now a brother for Ben! How perfect, everyone has a partner! He was born after a perfect labor, my brown haired baby I always wanted. Life was really good! He never baby talked much, he never made sounds to go with his toys, but all this we didn't really notice or have time for because Madi was very sick at this point. After Madi's 3rd major surgery (and her 3 week stay in the hospital) we went to stay at my parents' house for a month. (We did this because they have 2 more bathrooms than us!) That was all Will could take. He completely stopped making any attempts to talk, he became super clingy, and generally unhappy. After we came back home I took him for a check up at the doctor. That was the day I really realized something was very wrong with Will. He wouldn't even look at his doctor, he just buried his head in my chest. She asked about his speech and his other skills. Of course, I knew they were below normal. I then called First Steps and another one of my children started therapy! He has special instruction therapy, speech and language therapy, and OT therapy. He also started attending preschool one day a week. In this period is when Madi's wish was granted and we went to Disney World. That trip really helped him to start to feel secure again, I think because we spent 3 weeks together without any distractions. We saw some friends in Florida the first day we got there and then again the last day and they could not believe the difference in him, he was like a different boy. We look at our pictures from the beginning of the trip and he just has a frown in all the pictures, by the end he actually was smiling some! He still doesn't talk too much, although he gets new words each day, and he likes to sign. He has a condition called aphrasia, so his brain has to work very hard to form motor plans for his words. He will start preschool next month and I am so worried how he will do it without me being there to translate for him.

I love each one of my children so much, just like every parent, and I am thankful everyday for the opportunity to be their mother. I feel blessed that I was chosen to be their mother, and I pray everyday I can give them what they need from me.

Wild Thing!!!

Where the Wild Things Are is not at the movie theater. It is at my house. There is a wild snake living in my basement, my house is over run with ladybugs, and the wasps are out in full force! Poor Emma got stung on her foot today. What in the heck is going on? All my life I have lived in St. Charles, and only in the past few years have we had ladybugs trying to move in. I feel like I should live somewhere really exotic for all the creatures, but I don't. And then you add in 6 children and you really feel like you are at the zoo!

Transportation costs are constantly rising...

Traveling costs more and more each year. Sometimes day to day costs rise. I thought it was expensive when gas was $4 a gallon and I drive a V10, that was really nothing compared to the 'Troll' toll crossing in my hallway. Will learned a great lesson while we were in Chicago, when we wanted to drive on the toll road we had to pay! He took it to a whole new level once we got home, and charged anyone wanting to come or go down the hallway! Luckily my little capitalist must have joined a union and quit charging us after about 30 minutes!

Smooth Sailing...

Will likes to captain his boats in his version of a Speedo (a Huggies diaper)

Emma is bracing for big waves

I just love doing laundry. I love doing the same loads twice. It just makes me smile to re-fold laundry after my children demolish the stacks of folded clothes. The very ones they are fully capable of putting away. BUT what I love the most is the treat I got today!

I stayed up very late to wait for the dryer and get Meghan's beloved dark wash Bongo jeans from the washer to dryer. I was too tired to fold the load of towels, socks, and undergarments. So I left the basket in the living room to fold today. My husband then added another load that had gone through the dryer to my collection of 'need to fold' clean clothes.

Evidently the pressure was too great for Emma and Will. They could not stand to see those poor clothes just sitting there waiting to be folded. So what to do? It's pretty simple, you just throw the clean clothes out onto the wool rug (which sheds on everything) and you make sailboats out of the baskets. You go fishing, you throw each other overboard, you might even take the dog (we are dogsitting) for a ride in your boat! You can also turn them over and put your sibling in jail! The only thing you do not do is worry about your mom and the laundry she will have to redo.

I know I sound mad, and don't get me wrong I am not happy, but I know these days will end too soon and I will just have clean laundry to fold and boring laundry baskets that just sit there without any adventures.

Chicago is my kind of town!

In the interest of my mental health (and the health of everyone I live with) we took Madi's free admission passport and went to Six Flags Great America in Chicago this weekend. (As I have mentioned before the Dream Factory is so great, and I love this free admission we have had this year.) We left Friday and went to the Musuem of Science and Industry, after that we ate at Al's Italian Beef, which was featured on Man v. Food, our favorite program. Saturday we went to Six Flags, it was super cold-48 for the high temp.-we rode all the rides wearing long underwear, hats and gloves! Sunday we went to the Jelly Belly factory tour, YUM!, then we ate Chicago style deep dish pizza. Okay, I understand why people are willing to drive 5 hours for pizza!!! Monday we went to the Field Musuem and drove home. On the way home we stopped in Springfield, IL to another restaurant featured on Man v. Food and had some horseshoes sandwiches. It really was a great weekend and I feel my sanity is returning, I hope it's not temporary!

Lemonade

I' ve been making lemonade from the lemons in my life. I am running out of sugar though! I can't take much more stuff going wrong, the past two weeks have really been trying. I stopped praying for patience years ago when Madi got sick, so I'm not sure why. I really try to have a positive outlook on everything in life, but today is a downer for me. If someone out there has a voodoo doll with my name on it and pins in it could you please stop? I'm sorry for whatever I did...

Facebook

The temptation was great, everyone urging me to just do it, they all said"Everyone is doing it, come on it's fun". I held out for awhile, I resisted the peer pressure, I don't need anything else to do everyday. But it happened, my resolve cracked and I was sucked into the Facebook world. I admit it I like it, I almost cried when my BFF Holly from high school wrote on my wall. Life can get so busy you forget the ones you used to be busy with. Just remember (especially you Mom) I'm not getting a farm! I don't even have time for my webkinz anymore...

Conference Weekends

I am so happy it is General Conference again. I am SO looking forward to watching church in my pj's, making a big breakfast on Sunday, and the opportunity to hear what the Lord wants me to do. After how stressful and trying the last week has been, I am so ready to listen. (and to take a break!)

Cedar Point

Will hung on to Ken like a little spider monkey

During our trip into Seneca Caverns, he's not into splunking yet!

Ken and Will on Gemini Jr.

Good Things these trucks were on a track, Will's

distracted by a pretty girl!!!

This ride takes me back to 1982...

Ken and Madi being the roller coaster fanatics they are, and having free admission to lots of parks around the country we decided to take a trip to Sandusky, Ohio and visit Cedar Point. Cedar Point is the place to go for coasters. Check out http://www.cedarpoint.com/ and see the crazy coasters we got to ride! They also had lots of old school fun little kids rides. It was fun to see my kids getting a chance to ride things I remember riding as a little girl in the Central Hardware parking lot carnival. We also went to Seneca Caverns, the only cave in the world created by the earth cracking, not formed by water. It was comforting the tour guide only told us this 7 stories underground!

Six Flags

Ella & Meghan

Emma enjoyed this ride the most!

This was as close to a roller coaster as we got, but everyone loves the flat baby train.

My kids earned free Six Flags passes by reading for six hours. We went on a Saturday in August, we had great weather and it wasn't very crowded. We had lots of fun, although we could not convince any of our children (besides Madi) to ride a roller coaster. Ella cried throughout the log flume ride, but laughed through the spinning rides. All and all, we had a fun day!

Nauvoo

Emma and Will

Grandpa on the top bunk

Ken & Meg

(Man he's cute)

Ella, Meg, & Ben waiting for the carriage ride.

Emma taking care of Will, holding her purse she packed on her own

(She packed 9 pair of underpants)

We have had an exicting summer with above average travel for our family! These pictures are from a trip we took with Ken's parents to Nauvoo in July. The weather was just perfect for July, not much humidity, and great temperatures. (Meghan was very happy about the low humidity levels, she doesn't like it when my hair gets wavy. It's a hard life for her, being perfect and all.) We stayed in a hotel suite with two bedrooms and Ken's dad was nice enough to sleep on the top bunk to let Emma sleep with her grandma.

If you give a boy 3 minutes...

In the literal 3 minutes it took me to log on and put my last post up, Will decided he was starting a project. Now mind you at almost 3 he's not much into long term planning, but he must have decided that the kitchen was too dirty for his liking. So he pushed the kitchen chair up to the sink, turned the water on, and went to town with the sprayer. I think he was channeling the inner firefighter in him. There was water on the ceiling, window, dripping off the counters, my cookbooks are drenched, and dripping through the hardwood floors to the basement. The amazing things children can do in 3 minutes...

I want to air a little dirty laundry...

Every 3 or 4 days it is laundry day at the Donaghue house. I thought I would document what 3 days worth of dirty clothes looks like for 8 people! Thank heavens I have a front loader and I can turn my 4'x6'x3' pile of smelly clothes into 7 loads of clean, folded clothing ready to be abused all over again!

I should have gotten life insurance before this picture was taken!

So, what do you think of this picture? I know, I know, I've been nominated for Mother of the Year! Looks can be decieving, but this alligator is actually stuffed and sitting in the gift shop at the airboat ride building in Florida. Ben was the only one of my children brave enough to touch it, and I thought it was funny. Hope you like it!

Happy Fall Y'All

Well it's fall again! There are things I love about fall, it's time to eat soup, crockpot dinners are back, and the trees are stunning to look at. The temperatures are wonderful, I love the feel of new blue jeans and a sweater. Hayrides are fun, smores, and Halloween parties. Ahh, the joys of fall.
I do have a certain amount of distain for fall as well. It signals to me winter is coming with its dead looking trees, dreary skies, and cold temperatures. Someone is usually sick or we hold our breath if all of our children are healthy at once. I also do not like that my husbands season is coming to an end, and it seems we only now have some money coming in.

I will be a snowbird and live in Florida for the winter someday. I will wear my capri pants and a t-shirt riding while riding a roller coaster in January. Ahh, I long for the day!

P.S. I am happy the movie New Moon will be out in fall, I hope it is better than Twilight was.

WOW, I'm getting old..

I have some gray hairs, not as many as some people at 32 years old do, but they are moving in. I have six children. I have a mortage, I have a vehicle with 8 seat belts. I have a 7th grader, 5th grader, 3rd grader, 1st grader, 4 year old, and 2 year old. My husband is 39. As freaky and grown-up as all those things are, not quite as crazy as this:
I OFFICALLY HAVE A TEENAGER!!!! Madi, I love you to pieces, but you are making me feel old!

I haven't forgotten...

Wow! Almost one month since my last post? I thought I was keeping up really well. That's where pride gets you!

Elvis is Alive!!!

As I have said before, the STL Dream Factory is an amazing organization! Every year they take about 50 people to Branson on a trip, all expenses paid. It was SO much fun. We attended the Acrobats of China show, Silver Dollar City, and the Legends show. Who knew shows in Branson could be so good? For those of you who have never been to Branson, it is like a family style Las Vegas. No naked girls, but lots of family shows and people who believe in God. We had the best time, I enjoyed every minute of our trip and we are thankful we could go. Thank you Dream Factory!

Perfume...

I don't wear perfume, I personally think it's too expensive. I would rather spend $25.00 on some makeup or shoes.

However; I LOVE the smell of fabric softener. Sometimes I use extra in the washer just to smell it in my house. I think it is the cleanest smell and probably is one of the only reasons doing laundry doesn't bother me too much. I do resist the urge to cheap out and buy the store brands. Downy is the only way to go, April Fresh, Lavender, Spring Rain they have all your scent needs covered. I know I need to get out more!

A tiny piece of wisdom...

“A familiar example of losing ourselves in the service of others—this one not unique to Latter-day Saints—is the sacrifice parents make for their children. Mothers suffer pain and loss of personal priorities and comforts to bear and rear each child. Fathers adjust their lives and priorities to support a family. The gap between those who are and those who are not willing to do this is widening in today’s world. . . .“We rejoice that so many Latter-day Saint couples are among that unselfish group who are willing to surrender their personal priorities and serve the Lord by bearing and rearing the children our Heavenly Father sends to their care. We also rejoice in those who care for disabled family members and aged parents. None of this service asks, what’s in it for me? All of it requires setting aside personal convenience for unselfish service. All of it stands in contrast to the fame, fortune, and other immediate gratification that are the worldly ways of so many in our day.”
Dallin H. Oaks

What more can I add to that? Nothing but AMEN!

What a classy little lady...

We had a SUPER fun day yesterday at the Nascar Speedpark at the Mills mall. The Dream Factory (which if I had money to donate to charity would get all my money) invited all wish children and their families to come and play video games, ride go-carts, and glow in the dark mini golf. We (as a family) turned our tickets in at the end of the day for our prizes and it went something like this:

Ben: I want a whoopie cushion.

Clerk: Here you go.

Ben: Thanks, cool now I can make fart noises.

Clerk to Emma: What would you like?

Emma: I want to make fart noises too.

So, my adorable little girl, sporting a bow in her hair and everything, walks out making fart noises all the way home.

By this morning both whoopie cushions were blown out, and Emma said "My whoosie cushion broke." and she was sad. All and all we had a very fun day.

Birthday Girl!

My sweet girl Emma is now 4. Four, I can't believe it! It feels like yesterday she was still in my belly! She was born on July 8, 2005, weighing a whopping 5 lbs. and 12 ozs. She now weighs 29 lbs. and is always very matter-of-fact about everything. She loves to order everyone around with her hands on her hips, and she loves life.

We had an interesting party for her this year at the hospital. We celebrated with a cake and no candles (hospital code), and she received two Princess barbies and a couple of t-shirts. She was a happy girl.

Home Sweet Home

Yeah! Madi got to come home last week on Thursday! She is still healing, but coming home was a major milestone!

Healing...

Madi had her surgery today. All went fairly well, the doctor was not as happy as he could have been with the construction of her new ostomy, but we have faith Heavenly Father will bless her to have this work out well. She is feeling fair, not as bad as she has in the past. I am so proud of this brave girl and happy to be her mom. I am so blessed to have a honorable priesthood holder for a husband and a merciful Heavenly Father to hear my prayers. I know Christ is walking this road with us and I know I could not do it alone.

Freedom Fest 2009

It is the time of year to celebrate our independence! I have felt lately that our freedoms are getting less and less each day. I am tired of hearing how my car uses too much gas, I don't want to use fluorescent lightbulbs, I want to be able to talk without worry that I will offend someone. I want to be free to have a family as big as I want, to chose the healthcare I want, I want to be FREE!!! I read an editorial in the newspaper today about the reasons firecrackers should be banned. How ironic is it to ban something that is used as a symbol to celebrate our freedom? I love this country, and I am thankful to live in a land where I can cling to my religion, gun, and Bible (Book of Mormon included). I pray the leaders of our great land will remember all those who died to keep this land free, and will not take away more of our freedoms.
So, to celebrate my independence we are doing what we do best. Having a party! We have lots of fireworks to shot off, we will eat ribs without worrying about the cows, and we will eat hot dogs even though they may cause cancer. I will use my BBQ without thinking I am making the hole in the ozone bigger, and I will enjoy the green grass, blue sky and most of all my friends and FANTASTIC family!!!

Life is full of peaks and valleys....

Life is an up and down ride. Somedays we are so good and somedays we are not. For the past few months Madi has started feeling worse and worse. She had a CT scan on Thursday and I got the results back from her surgeon yesterday. So it looks like St. John's Mercy will be our home again soon for another surgery. Madi will have an ostomy placed again and this time it will be for a period of years instead of months. I have mixed emotions about this, I want her to feel better so badly, nothing makes your heart ache more than seeing your child hurt. On the other hand I am so frustrated that she (and the rest of our family) have had to endure operations and hospitalizations that we will undo in the next few weeks. I am hopeful she will FINALLY feel better and we can get on with our lives. So, this will be my only whiny post about this subject, I know without doubt Heavenly Father is guiding this process and I will come to understand why we had to walk such a long trail to help her feel better. I cannot imagine how I could cope and experience all these things without my testimony.

I'm a hater...

Okay, I figured out what my super itchy rash is-poison ivy. I've never had poison ivy before. It is not very pleasant! I do try to live my days finding bright spots in my trials, and there may be one here, but I think I hate poison ivy. Thank you Lord for letting me live when we have medicine to treat this!

Steriods!

I am running at about 90 miles per hour today! I have this SUPER itchy rash on varies parts of my body: my face, neck, ears, and arms. I went to the doctor yesterday and she prescribed me some steriods to make the swelling go down and help it to heal faster. It seems to be helping except I cannot slow down. I stayed up doing laundry, watching tv, dishes and anything else I could do until 4:30 in the morning. I woke up full of energy this morning at 7:30. I know it is not good to miss sleep, but I am getting a lot of things done!

Madi Helps Out

To complete a personal progress goal, Madi chose to make some blankets and cards for children in the hospital. She worked very hard on this project and felt good to make someone's day brighter. She was also asked by St. John's Mercy to pose on the cover of the Ladue News magazine for a fundraiser for the hospital. We are very proud to be parents of this beautiful young lady, we marvel at her bravery and courage. She has been through so much these last few years and we hope she will feel better soon.

The Terrific Twos

This is my sweet son, Will. He is the strong, silent type. He doesn't talk much, he prefers to sign most of what he says, but he could not be any sweeter. I never thought I was a person that needed to have a son to be complete. I had no idea of the love a boy has from the beginning for his mother. I was coughing the other day and he heard me and went straight to work. He pushed a chair up to the kitchen counter, climbed up, got me cough drop, got down, pushed the chair back and brought me the cough drop. I thank my Heavenly Father for sending this boy to be my son as an answer to my sweet boy Ben's prayers. I am so blessed to live this life.

This blog is under construction! For my friends who are super bloggers, please help me out and don't laugh at my lack of ability!