This post is actually not about the kids(!) Rather shocking, isn’t it? ; )
Last night, Paul & I saw the one & only Buddy Valastro live,
right here in Sioux Falls. For those of you who don’t know,
I’m a huge Cake Boss fan, and was super excited for the show. : )
We were not disappointed.
It.was.awesome!
We learned some cake decorating tips…
laughed a LOT, and had a great time!
And since my hubby spoils me rotten, I came home with a Carlo’s Bakery T-shirt.
Talk about a really fun date night.
Been a little quiet on the blog lately, which simply means it’s been anything but quiet at home. We’ve been busy with the day-to-day, and not much that seems blog-worthy.
Just had to share this clip with you though. Talk about a typical youngest child…
this boy loves being the center of attention! Enjoy : )
Today was chapel day! We always look forward to chapel,
and enjoy visiting the kids at school afterward.
Here are their special numbers. Enjoy! : )
Fireman Ryan
Luke just being Luke : )
Dressing up at the Visual Arts Center – what fun!
Playing in the leaves
Pumpkin Painting!
One of my favorite old hymns has the following chorus:
Count your blessings, name them one by one,
Count your blessings, see what God hath done!
Count your blessings, name them one by one,
And it will surprise you what the Lord hath done.
We are counting our blessings today, especially in the children God has graciously given us to raise. Thanks to Jenny M Photography for these new photos!
Jenna Grace ~ 10 years
Evan James ~ 8 years
Luke William ~ 6 years
Kara Brielle ~ 4 years
Ryan Perry ~ 17 months
A snapshot taken outside the children’s museum in Brookings
We went for a walk this morning and admired the gorgeous fall colors…
You can just see our house peeking through these trees. Beautiful!
Kara’s favorite : )
A couple more favorites
A patch of sumac just down the hill
“Blessed be the name of God for ever and ever: for wisdom and might are his:
And he changeth the times and the seasons…”
Daniel 2:20&21
This weekend was a whirlwind of birthday festivities,
as we celebrated Evan’s 8th birthday!
and they had a LOT of fun! : )
Since Leah’s birthday is the day before Evan’s, we skyped our Colorado cousins while opening presents from Grandpa & Grandma VE.
His baseball birthday cake was a hit! : )
~
Evan’s birthday always brings back a flood of memories…
I’ll never forget lying on the ultrasound table at 34 weeks pregnant, seeing the black hole that should have been his tiny bladder, and finding out that something was terribly wrong with his kidneys.
He was diagnosed with posterior urethral valve disorder, which meant the outlet from his bladder was blocked. The amniotic fluid that should have been around his body was building up inside him instead. He was breech and there was not enough fluid for him to turn, so he was born a week later by C-section, exactly one month before his due date.
I’ll never forget lying on the table in the OR being prepped for the C-section, or being wheeled into the NICU to see him struggling to breathe for a few brief seconds.
That was all I saw of him for the first 24 hours.
He spent the next 10 days at the University of IL hospital. I’ll never forget the car ride home without him, or the ambulance ride through Chicago city traffic to the hospital where he would have his first surgery.
When he was 13 days old the valve was removed, and we went home the next day. We made many trips back for doctor’s appointments, and he was always on 3-4 medications. He never spit up, which was a blessing, because we always knew he got
the medicine he needed.
Evan’s kidneys had developed under a tremendous amount of pressure, and as a result one of them never functioned at all. When he was 13 months old, we decided to have that kidney removed at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN, in order to avoid possible infection. I’ll never forget the doctor telling us he would bounce back in a day or two… and after 3-4 days he was still in so much pain we couldn’t hold him and he still wouldn’t eat at all.
Evan recovered fully after that surgery. He no longer needed to be on antibiotics, and his remaining kidney grew and compensated for the one that was gone.
Today he doesn’t take any medicine, and you’d never know he was missing a kidney except for the scar on his right side.
All these memories always bring me back to the same conclusion…
God is good.
In all of this, He graciously provided for all of our needs,
and blessed us with an abundance of support from our family & friends.
We have so much to be thankful for.
Happy Birthday, Evan James!
We love you so much!
