Happy 15 Years!

Fifteen years ago I said "I DO" to the most wonderful, Godly man. I was completely in love then, and I am completely in love now! We met in 8th grade (ish) but didn't date until it was long distance and we were in college. There was that time on the beach in California when I said no when he asked me to marry him...but said yes a week later. God needed to work on me that week, and I needed to fully trust Him first. What a tough and wonderful week that was! Sorry I kept you waiting, hubs. God has been so very good to us, and we are thankful for each and every thing we have been given. I am honored to live with a man that loves the Lord and serves Him with his whole heart. It is a joy to follow him as the head of our family. I'm thankful today, and every day. Please, Jesus, help me to remember to show that with all that I am.

1999:

Everyone surprised us with wearing red Rudolf noses at our wedding...a fun little memory!

And 2014. So thankful:

Spinning and other things...

A lot of people ask how D is doing in his power chair, so I thought I would just show you! He's doing amazing. It's incredible to watch him continue to figure things out! Brilliant child :). This video will work on your computer, but its iffy if it'll work on your phone or not (apologies).

Here's a pic of D in his chair playing with a toy kitchen. He can reach the top of the kitchen - yahoo!

Ah, and when your flip flop breaks while at the zoo, you get a short ride from your brother on his really rad chair.

Until next time! 

Swinging on toy boxes

He's a tough-y. I adore him. Ta-da!

Growing up

Big.Boy.Bed. Be still my heart. He's growing so fast! Yes, D is two and a half, and has moved out of his crib and into a toddler bed. He is IN LOVE with the toddler bed and on numerous occasions has said "mom, go in mine room to see my big bed." It's such a fun and crazy thing that all of our kids are in actual beds now. And its a great blessing that we can give D the independence of getting in and out of bed on his own. Such a small thing that can mean great things for him. We try to give him all the independence we can, but he is still carried around a lot, just a by-product of being two and having limb loss. He can go all over in his wheelchair and loves it, and we spend a lot of outside time at the park, around the house, etc. practicing. He's just not to the "crowded area wheelchair driving" point yet. And his walker, well, that gives him a ton of independence and he adores it. Just a little pool noodle in a rolling thing (yes, there is some special Home Depot-y name for it but at this time I have no idea what it is called) and he can get everywhere in our home. So, independence is coming step by step, and he's doing amazing. Such a big kid. We are blessed.
In other news, Miggy, one of my fave bloggers, put her kid in a tree. I'm in love with this post. You should read it. http://www.thislittlemiggy.com/2014/09/too-many-nos.html

Brother snuggles.

 D's fancy walker (and his panda bear)

"Mom! A shark is eating mine arm!" Not too young for hilariousness.

Hiking

So I've realized something about myself: I really like hiking with my kids. I have always been fine with hiking. I never really hated it, but never really loved it either. When we went camping it was a fun thing to do. But I'd rather go to the park or play soccer at a field, or go swimming than choose to go on a hike. All that has sort of changed in the last couple years. Not sure if its age, or if its because my kids (especially Dillon) LOVE hiking, or what?! Dillon wakes up many mornings and says "let's go hiking!" It's the sweetest thing ever. So, I've been taking the kids hiking. I can still carry D in the backpack, so hiking works great for us right now. We've been trying new places and visiting old familiar ones, and its been fun! I'm also mentally taking note of the handicapped-accessible hikes around town, as I'm sure Dillon will want to be hiking even as he gets too big for the backpack. If you have any great hiking ideas where a wheelchair can go, please pass them along! Camping spots, too!

Summer

I haven't blogged in a while, mainly because we've been doing the things you see in the below photos. We love our new home, and we are so very blessed. Summer is lovely, even if its raining, and its been doing a lot of that lately around here! Sorry for the lack of updates, but, ya know, I'm outside playing with my kids!

Water in the creek. The fave. 

Dear friends bought us a great house-warming gift. Heaven. 

Dad left a bit of a dirt hill in the yard, perfect for digging. We keep little D from not needing more than 10 outfits a day by sitting him in a tub to dig in the mud on those many rainy days :)...

Family

Two years ago, when I was pregnant with Dillon, we went to the Jimi Flowers Classic swim meet. I found out about the swim meet, initially, from a news story about Breanna Sprenger, which I found from google-ing, about a zillion times, "limb loss" or "no limbs." We went to the swim meet, held at the Olympic Training Center, and watched Breanna swim, as well as Kayla Wheeler. These two girls are "lefties" as well - they were also both born without their legs or their right arms. As a pregnant mamma with a soon-to-be-boy with limb loss, it was a great blessing and comfort for me to see these girls swimming! Today, two years later, we went back to the swim meet (http://gazette.com/paralympic-swimmers-of-varying-ages-unite-at-jimi-flowers-classic-in-colorado-springs/article/1521820) and were able to take all four of our kiddos - including Dillon - to see Kayla and Breanna swim. We also got to see Gabe, a boy with the same limb loss as the other three. What a great event, and a fun time watching them compete! I wasn't real sure how to meet them as I didn't want to get in the way of their swim focus in the paralympic meet. I had been chatting with Breanna's mom and left a message for her dad, but it was still difficult to figure out how to connect. I didn't have to wait long though, before Gabe's mom came walking over to introduce herself and welcome us to the "one arm family." She then introduced us to Breanna, her dad, and Kayla and her mom. What a great "family" that we now get to be a part of! It is an absolute joy to now call these families friends, and I so look forward to learning from them on our journey. Oh, and some of these kiddos will be on the next Paralympic swim team, so we get to root for them too!

Hubs and the babe

Jason always wants D to be included in every activity that we are doing. I absolutely love it. He's an amazing dad, and is the perfect father for our sweet kids. Last week we had a summer picnic at the park with our base camp (small group). We love our small group. We ended up playing baseball the entire time (well, I can't technically say that I played, but I did cheer!), and D wanted to participate. So Jason just jumps right in and helps him bat then runs with him around the bases. D lights up...smiles and talks about it the rest of the night. We love how he personifies it all: "I run!" "I play baseball!" "I hit!" It's so fun hearing him take ownership in the sport or activity and genuinely have a fantastic time. I love watching him get excited, and love watching my husband and the way he includes him. He helped him horseback ride last week at a community event, also. See the joy, folks, see the joy. Yes, Jason is the absolute perfect dad for Dillon. We got J a bike rack for Fathers Day so we had to put it to use right away! Went to the park for a little bike ride, and took D's wheelchair along. We are so proud of him and how he's maneuvering his chair! Ah, and speaking of bike riding, Jason is once again going crazy and riding over 150 miles over three days in the Courage Classic to raise funds for Children's Hospital. You can find his fundraising site here:

http://www.couragetours.com/2014/prouddaddymez 

Step Into My Shoes

I took my oldest two boys to Compassion International's Step Into My Shoes event today and was blessed beyond measure. They were able to step into the shoes of a child living in poverty in Burkina Faso. They literally took their shoes off and wore skinny flip-flops, then walked a field (the "dump") searching for items that they needed to survive. My boys found buckets, water, clothing, plastic bags, boxes, a tarp, and wood. They came up with amazing ideas to collect and boil water and to make shelter. It was such a joy to see them in this environment! I, as the mom, was working as a seamstress and made $.50 for the whole day. $.50! The kids then had to go to a market and purchase what they could to eat for the day. The market also had toys and other appealing items that kids would want...it was so interesting watching all of the children go first to the toy tables looking for what they could buy, before they realized they couldn't afford to buy anything there, and needed to buy food for their family to eat. My boys were creative. I was proud of them. After the dump experience we all went into the building where a live Skype call with a Compassion center in Bolivia took place. I got teary-eyed as the kids in this center had never met their Compassion sponsor before, and we were that representation to them. Wow. I encourage you, if you sponsor, try to go meet your sponsored child. It has been an amazing experience for our family to meet so many of our sponsored children, and I pray that many, many people we know make the investment in that relationship to meet their child and their family. It will be life-changing for all involved, I promise. Today our oldest asked the Bolivian children some questions, and even shared his favorite verse with them ("Great is our Lord, and mighty in power." Ps 147:5). What a blessing, and a wonderful experience. There are some more dates this summer for Step Into My Shoes, so if you are in Colorado, go! compassion.com/stepintomyshoes

Inspiration

We're in our new house (whoop whoop!) and are so very blessed to be here. We have the wheelchair IN the house, and it is amazing! D hasn't fully gotten the hang of using it to turn and go in and out of rooms, but he loves climbing in the chair and using the buttons to go up and down. He loves driving it outside around the house! We're trying to get him in it as often as possible so he can get used to having it inside. Thankful. Just thankful.
In other news, I'm famous! Just kidding...but one blog I follow that I so love is Miggy's blog, and she shouts out a little "hello!" to me in her last post. I had asked her to comment on a Ted Talk video that I had seen. I'm so thankful that she dedicated a whole blog post to the video - what insight she has! Read the comments, too, as I think they are helpful as well. Thoughts on this? I feel like we're too new into the disability world to fully have an opinion, but I'd like to hear yours!

Miggy's Blog

Happy day to you!

House building and community

We have been so blessed by many friends and family in the building of our home. It's been utterly amazing, honestly. Our builder is incredible (Stone Cottage Homes) and has allowed J to help him build what he's able to. It's been super busy...and such a joy to see it coming together! We cannot wait to move in next month! I thought I'd throw a few pics out there of the worker bees that have been such a blessing to us. Thanks to the drywall helpers, the concrete workers, the trim painters, tile installers, cabinet un-loaders, the tool-lenders, and every other little job you've done. Thank you, thank you, for loving on us and helping us build a home perfect for all of us, and especially little D. Oh, and thanks for letting the kids ride the Bobcat, Uncle Paul. Still talking about that.

Cars

Some cuteness for your Thursday. I love how he stops (a few times) to smile at the camera. Think I take too many pics of this kid or what :)!?

House update

Can I just start by saying that I just have the MOST amazing hubby ever!? He has been working so very hard helping build our new home. He is truly amazing, and giving all of himself and his talents for our family. We cannot wait to be in our new home! There is one thing I'm both nervous and elated about: dirt. There is a lot of it. We can't have a yard with grass in our new neighborhood, but we have some land, so the kids could care less about the lack of the green stuff. There is dirt all over the property. I'm nervous about it being tracked everywhere by children, dogs, and wheelchairs...but I'm also thrilled about it, as my kids are in HEAVEN with dirt! They have asked, numerous times, if dad can keep the dirt mound behind the house. We need some for final grading, but, who knows, they'll probably get some sort of dirt mound before we're in. Praising God for the amazing gift of this home, for an incredible builder who lets J work on the house as much as he can/needs to, and for allowing us to have a place where D can be free to get everywhere, independently. So excited!

Installing tile (and he installed that whole floor you see through the door, too. Talented, eh?)

Beloved land and dirt. 

"Helpers"

That one time, in March, when D started "walking" all by himself

Our amazing boy has been sitting for some time now, and scoots every once in a while (about one scoot) using his arm. This week in therapy he just took off and was scooting for the whole hour! This is the equivalent of his "first steps!" video and we are excited beyond belief!

Baketball Hooop

On beautiful days in March we love to get ice cream or Shamrock Shakes and play outside in the yard. D has been very into basketball lately, and has been saying "baketball hooop" about every five minutes. It's very fun to throw the ball in the hoop, but not so much fun trying to get the ball after it falls from the hoop. My sweet boy can't get anywhere fast to get his ball in order to play again. So sometimes he just sits at the base of the hoop holding his ball "pretending" to play. Or he waits for a big brother or sister to play with him so they can shag the ball for him. He is an amazing mover and crawler, but its just got to be exhausting when you have to cross the floor a zillion times to find your basketball while dragging your belly on the ground army-crawling. We tried playing in his chair today and moved the hoop outside so he could at least shoot with ease. I still shagged the ball for him, but I think he really enjoyed being in his chair and having it be "useful." He'll fall in love with that chair once it clicks that he can use it for useful, practical things. Here are a few photos from today.

Ice cream. Delish.

Wheelchair basketball. No dogs allowed.

Ice cream wheelchair basketball. New sport.

Oh, and we went ice skating today with our base camp (church small group). D loves it...and dad even risks getting in trouble in order to hold him while skating. If anyone has any ideas on how kiddos without legs are allowed/able to ice skate or roller skate, let us know (thinking the sled thing isn't safe either, as anyone can fall on top of him).