Christmas craziness :-)...

Well, this has been a rather exciting Christmas for us (this is David writing)!  As many of you know, I took Grace to the ER on Sunday the 21st and she was admitted (for what they assume was RSV despite the fact that she tested negative for it in the ER), but by God's grace she was discharged on Wednesday the 24th, Christmas Eve, at 3:00pm.  Grace's illness all began last Wednesday the 17th, when we took her to the ER the first time, but she was not admitted and was sent home after five or six hours.  The blessing in her not being admitted, even though she was obviously sick, is that I had wonderfully procrastinated completing a very extensive assignment for seminary, which was due on the 18th.  Therefore, I had just enough time on the 18th to get my assignment completed and submitted.  As well as having the opportunity to attend Abigail and Andrew's Christmas parties at school during the day on the 19th.  Then, Grace and I returned to the ER on the 19th and stayed in the ER for 12 hours, waiting for there to be a room available, but as we were waiting for a room Grace began to do better, so they felt comfortable releasing her.  Grace and I got home on the 20th and we were able to go as a family to get Nana Lulu (Kristi's mom) from the airport and have dinner together as a family.  On Sunday the 21st, we had a great day together as a family, wrapped Christmas presents, and then were able to go to the kids Christmas performance at church on Sunday night.  We took two cars to the performance, just in case Grace wasn't doing so well.  Abigail and Andrew did a great job singing their two songs and we (Grace and I) actually got to see their performance this year. Last year we missed the performance, due to an unplanned extended vacation in Boston that lasted a couple months longer than we had expected.  After the kids were done singing, Grace and I left early because she was coughing.  She went to bed that night and as Kristi and I would go in and check on her, her oxygen saturations were down to 76, so we knew we needed to return to the ER for the third time.  All of that to say, even though we had to be in the hospital for 3-4 days right before Christmas, there were little blessings along the way that we are very grateful.  If Grace had been admitted to the hospital the first time we headed to the hospital, then I probably would not have completed my assignment for school, which certainly would not have given me the grade needed in order to pass my class.  I also would have had to miss Abigail and Andrew's Christmas parties at school for the second year in a row.  If Grace had been admitted to the hospital the second time, then Grace and I would have missed Abigail and Andrew's Christmas performance for the second year in a row.  Looking back on the situation, I love to see these little blessings from God.  As small as the Christmas performances and parties are in comparison to Grace's health, I value them and am super grateful to have been present for them.  Thank You, God, for allowing that to happen and still allowing Grace the ability to get better and healthy in time to be home just hours before Christmas!  What a wonderful and amazing God You are!

Here is a video of Grace playing with toys they brought her in the ER

Kristi and the kids baked us some cookies...

Hope that you enjoyed the update from David, I always love when he agrees to post on the blog :-).  Here are a few more fun details to our best Christmas ever!  While Grace was in the hospital, the kids and I would go and literally spend 5 hours there which always feels more like 30 minutes (the hospital is like a time warp, time flies like never before, it's crazy).  Being in the hospital during the Christmas holiday certainly isn't ideal, but we were blessed by Mattel's generosity in sending American Girl dolls to the hospital for Christmas, both Grace and Abigail got one and the sweet child life specialist brought Andrew a Nerf gun and painting set, another group of people came around one day and delivered cookies and a precious Lalaloopsy owl pillow thing to Grace.

The irony in all of this is that I couldn't figure out why I was SO (visibly) emotional whenever people would bless us with such gifts...  I mean, it's no surprise that I'm a crier and always worry that people won't know just how grateful we are for their kindness towards us, but something hit me...  shortly after Abigail was born, my team at work had the pleasure of delivering toys to TCH during Christmas as an outreach project.  I will never forget peering into the rooms and seeing parents with their babies/toddlers and being moved to tears with compassion for these families, as I couldn't even imagine what that type of fear over your child's health felt like.  I would have to hide behind corners while I tried to compose myself, praying for those families because the last thing that I wanted to do was walk into these children's hospital room looking sad when what I really wanted was to bless them with a toy, smile, and words of hope and encouragement (not my own tears).  Fast forward 7 years and we are now one of those families!!!  I know I've said it many times before, but the sentiment is still so true and profound, when people bless us (as so many of y'all have) when we are physically, mentally, and emotionally exhausted, it serves as a sweet hug from God, reminding us that we aren't alone on this journey!  For the 4 days that David and Grace were in the hospital, I continued to beg God to help me see the situation through His eyes, not my earthly eyes that were feeling really discouraged about the fact that our much needed family time (Christmas break), that I had been anticipating for months was being spent separated and with a sick and super cranky Gracie.  We were sure that we would spend Christmas in the hospital, so as I planned how to make Christmas special in the hospital, God reminded me that the very first Christmas was spent in an inconvenient location, with a whole lot of chaos too...

In some ways we got a new perspective on the nativity story.  Just like God chose for His son to be born in the most humble conditions, that same God allowed us to be in the hospital at that time, so the big kids and I prayed diligently that we would choose joy (even when we were sad and fearful) and look at our situation as a mission trip, asking God who we needed to love on in the hospital.  One of the toughest days in the hospital was when Grace literally screamed for 4 hours straight while we were there and the kids were discouraged because none of their normal "tricks" to make Grace happy would work and instead she just wanted to push everyone away from her :-(.  While we left a bit discouraged that day, we returned the next day armed with the best $14.99 I've ever spent...

This dog brought Grace more joy than you could imagine and continues to get her through her daily breathing treatments (that she hates), as well as our dancing Christmas snowmen.  The wonderful side effect of this dog is that Grace can't help but dance when she sees and hears it, so sometimes she will dance despite her tears :-).

The reason that this was the best Christmas ever was because we were together and it was so simple! We soaked in some precious, uninterrupted family time, and ate a wonderful Christmas meal (thanks to a precious friend who was concerned about what we were going to eat for Christmas dinner before I even had a chance to think about it) on our nice china and all (for just the 5 of us, it was awesome)!

Our hearts overflowed on Christmas morning when the kids were more interested in just snuggling in bed rather than begging to open presents, etc.  We laid there, praising the Lord for the evidence that along this journey we are learning the value of simply being together versus all of the other stuff that can be such a distraction.

A little silliness before opening stockings...

Grace loved her Olaf and Elmo...

...Andrew's new beanie, and his new undies too (hence the Spiderman pose)!

This is Grace's new way of evaluating presents... she stands on it and dances!

The big kids got a new basketball hoop, so we bundled up and played basketball for hours...

We celebrated the "cousins Christmas" on Saturday...

"This is my celebration face!"

A little sister love...

Grace gave the gift of sweet snuggle/play time to Uncle Brian and Papa Toot this year...  Saturday was the first time that she joyfully sat with each of them and played (when it comes to men, she has eyes only for her daddy :-).

Grace just wanted to say... "we hope that YOU had a blessed Christmas and are looking forward to a great 2015!"

Not again...

If you don't have time to read the whole blog post, I totally understand, please just scroll to the very bottom for an important update and prayer request.

And our new "normal", a roller coaster that is stuck on super speed and doesn't have an off switch, continues...  On Tuesday, Andrew had his follow up with the Immunologist and got allergy tested.  Let's just say that the allergy test was by far the most traumatic thing that my boy has been through yet (for his momma and big sister too)! 56 pokes on his back...

and 24 individual needle sticks on his arms...  no picture was taken of that part because we were all too traumatized to document the moment.  Andrew tried so hard to be tough after the nurses walked in with trays FULL of needles, but the fact that the torture felt like it was never going to end was the hardest part.  We prayed before and during the test, I was holding his face in my hands, telling him to look into my eyes and breathe with me, while poor sweet Abigail sat next to the table in tears because she can't stand to see Andrew hurt.  After all that, the results were... no allergies!  His lab work and chest X-ray were all back to normal, however, only half of his sinuses cleared after three weeks of an antibiotic :-(.  We are on another 14 days of a different antibiotic and we have an appointment with an ENT in early January to see if he needs his sinuses surgically cleaned out :-(.  The good news is that the Dr believes that once we get this crazy sinus infection cleared up, he shouldn't have any more issues moving forward.  Also, his Dr was very clear as to which ENT that she wanted Andrew to see, so we were able to get in with him in the beginning of January.  This particular ENT happens to be the one that I wanted Grace to see, however, we weren't able to get her in to see him in a timely manner, so we went with someone else in that group, who we weren't terribly thrilled with.  As many of you know, changing Dr.'s that are in the same group can get hairy in a hurry, however, I'm hoping that if we end up loving this ENT that Andrew is seeing, we could easily make the switch by saying that we would like all of our kiddos care to be under one Dr (Grace, having Up's will have a long standing relationship with an ENT, so having one that we really like is important to us).  Way to take one for the team, Andrew :-).

Grace has come down with some nasty brochiolitis that has sent us to the ER twice this week.  This is how the cycle goes...  Grace will start looking really rough (wheezing, not acting like herself, labored/fast breathing, super fussy, coloring off, oxygen sats in the high 80's, and at one point she even had blue lips) at night, of course... so, after watching her for a bit, we decided she needed to go to the ER.  Shortly after arriving to the ER, she got an epinephrine breathing treatment and was a happy little camper...  I was trying to post a sweet video of Grace in the ER (it gives you a good glimpse of her funny little personality), but I'm having trouble getting it to upload and don't have time to continue monkeying around with it, so I'll try again on another day.

Her second ER visit was in the middle of the night on Friday, where she was there for 12 hours (the beanie was donated to the hospital, sweet huh?)...

The Dr.'s couldn't get over how interactive Grace was as she allowed them to listen to her, but then she asked for their stethoscope so that she could in turn listen to all of their hearts (the kid might be close to completing her medical degree after all the hours that she's logged in the hospital :-), etc.  I guess the blessing in it all is that she was never admitted (which is unheard of for Grace, it seems like they always want to admit her), and Lord willing she won't be in the hospital for our much anticipated and needed break from school and work where we hope to maximize some special family time.  

On a lighter note, despite the craziness of Grace being in the ER, I still got to attend a much needed and anticipated girls lunch with some of the sweetest and thoughtful ladies I know (thanks BG for joyfully watching A and A, so that I could make it)...

The big kids had their Christmas parties at school this week... 

now, check out this All Star line up of teachers...

...and the big kids sang in the Christmas program at church tonight.  What an amazing Family Christmas Service at TSF!  Today was sort of an emotional roller coaster, worrying about Grace, again David and I found ourselves debating if we needed to take her back to the ER :-/, but two amazing church services in one day that spoke straight to my heart is just what I needed to refocus my heart and mind back on the presence of God and letting that be enough (because it IS more than enough)!  God has reminded me all day that I need to "be still and know that He is God!"  

This is a post Family Christmas Service picture, with Grace's BFF's...

Well, I wrote this post prior to the unfolding of the most recent events, Grace and David are on their way BACK to the ER for the third time this week because Grace's oxygen saturations are way too low.  To say that I'm feeling discouraged right now is an understatement.  We could really use your prayers right now.  Please pray for peace, strength, and endurance for David and I, for the kids hearts as they wake up in the morning to find that David and Grace are at the hospital, that Grace would get better quickly, and above all that we would not spend Christmas in the hospital.  THANK YOU, sweet Village!

What a difference a year makes...

What a difference a year makes...

So many special moments have been revealed over the past couple of weeks, here are just a couple major highlights...

-Andrew turned 6 years old the day before Thanksgiving!  For some reason this birthday felt like such a big one because it's just so hard for me to wrap my mind around "my boy" being older than 5 years old.  He's not technically "my baby" since we have Gracie, but he still feels like my baby and I can't help but feel like it's not that far off until he will be leading his own family someday (Lord willing of course).  I know that sounds so crazy since he is ONLY 6 years old, but it feels so grown up in my heart.  Andrew has an incredible imagination which allows him to get lost in play with any and all toys (whether it's Grace's toys or a piece of junk that he finds around the house).  He still loves to snuggle his mommy and has a gift for blessing me with the sweetest words imaginable, and serving me when ever possible.  He can be a sensitive little guy at times, especially when it comes to his own sin (he can be hard on himself, so he is learning what God's amazing grace, mercy, and forgiveness is all about), and yet he is all boy in his desire to always be wrestling and playing dangerously (you know the stuff that takes a few years off a mommies life, but a daddy says it's just being a boy?).  Last year on Andrew's birthday, David and Grace were in Boston and Grace was in desperate need of a 5th open heart surgery because she was not doing well.  I'll never forget when we were at Andrew's birthday party and I received a text with this picture, it both broke my heart and blessed my heart at the same time...

Andrew's birthday last year...

...and his birthday, this year!!!  To God be the glory!!!

-Thanksgiving this year was pure JOY!!!  I'll never forget the deep brokenness that I felt last Thanksgiving with a huge piece of our hearts missing, half way across the country. I remember trying so hard to smile and not cry all day long on Thanksgiving day.  Light broke through the sadness when I heard about the precious strangers that chose to make and deliver a complete Thanksgiving dinner to David in the hospital.  This is the same sweet couple that delivered us a Christmas dinner on Christmas day while we were in a hotel in Boston.  It still blows my mind when I think about it...  they didn't even know us and yet they were willing to sacrificially serve us on holiday's that are typically spent eating and relaxing with family and friends.  They provided a sense of home and celebration during a time that felt dark and lonely, when we couldn't physically be together.  Vick family, you will always hold a special place in our hearts!  There were others that visited David and Grace in Boston bearing gifts for Grace, necessities for David, and above all a smiling face and a warm hug that represented their genuine care and concern for our family.  Those people have become like family to us through that experience, as well as all of those that rallied around our entire family making sure that the big kids didn't feel forgotten about and that this special time of year was not full of sadness, but hope and excitement that we would soon be reunited.  All that to say, we could have eaten dog food for Thanksgiving this year and it would have been awesome because Grace is alive, we were together as a family, and God is just so good.

-As I mentioned last week, David and I both had the flu last weekend, which led to us having to miss two church Christmas events that we were looking forward to :-(, but we are super grateful that the kiddos were spared (Thank you for praying for them/us)!  Despite feeling AWFUL, I was blessed with the opportunity to watch Abigail rise up and serve us in our time of need.  David was sleeping on the couch and I was laying on the couch, trying not to fall asleep, when Abigail said "you need some rest Mommy, why don't you take a nap?"  I told her that I needed to stay awake so that I could watch Grace to which she replied "go to sleep, Mommy, I'm here, I will watch Grace and Andrew."  I felt relief come over me as I so appreciated her concern for me and the fact that she is totally capable of watching her brother and sister (with us home of course :-).  What a blessing to have a mommy and daddy in training by your side! Who knows, maybe that was a glimpse into the future...  the big kids looking out for their younger sister (as adults), that makes my heart smile. Thank you for praying for David's presentation, he still felt awful on the day of the presentation, but by God's grace he was able to make it through the presentation (he went first) and his teacher let him go home after he was finished (instead of having to stay for the all day class).

This super hero sure knows how to crack his little sister up with his crazy antics...

-Andrew had a cardiology appointment on Friday and they confirmed that he does have a PFO (a tiny hole in his heart that 30% of the population has, but shouldn't ever give him any trouble) and he does not have a VSD ( a larger hole in-between his ventricles).  We don't have to follow up with the cardiologist ever again (Lord willing of course :-).  HUGE PRAISE!  Andrew has allergy testing on Tuesday.  Will you please pray that it is not painful and/or traumatizing to him?  Please also pray that the blood work, chest X-ray, and CT scan of his sinuses are all clear and nothing scary pops up.  THANK YOU for being our most reliable prayer warriors!

-Grace is doing A TON of new hilarious (and not so hilarious) "tricks!"  Her personality continues to keep us laughing hysterically, and at times shaking our heads as we try to figure out how to best parent this chid that is so.... spunky at times :-).  For instance, our big kids learned very early on that saying "no" to their mommy and daddy was disrespectful and not allowed... then there's Grace who's favorite word right now is "NOOOOOOOO" or "no, no, no, no..."  On the other hand, when she see's someone that is sad she will immediately go to them, wipe their tears, hug and kiss them.  Her favorite things right now are school, walking everywhere, baths, singing songs, reading books, being the welcoming committee wherever she is (someone at church today called her the mayor of church because she makes sure to greet everyone with a smile and a wave), fist bumps, dancing, standing on a stool and brushing her teeth with the big kids, and outdoor Christmas decorations.  In Grace's world, the best way to solve any problem is to go outside to visit Olaf (I'm not sure what we will do when Christmas is over and we have to put Olaf away :-/ ).  While everyone around us has very sophisticated and beautiful Christmas decorations, we are rockin' Olaf and Yoda (between Andrew and Grace, I don't think we will ever graduate to sophisticated Christmas decorations, but we are ok with that :-).  That is just a glimpse into Grace's world right now at 27 months old :-).

Sorry I didn't have my flash on for this pic, but you get the idea :-)

Here's the three amigo's brushing their teeth...

Check out these precious hats that a sweet friend got for the girls!  They are Up's colors with hearts on them...  couldn't be more perfect :-)

Village, we have spent much time this time of year, talking about you and your overwhelming love and support for our family.  So many of you have left a mark on our lives that I'm confident will last a lifetime and I promise have made us better people (having been loved so well by y'all has given us hearts that yearn to bless others in the same way).  My mind is flooded with so many of your faces and names as I type this...  We pray that you are reminded this Christmas season just HOW MUCH we love and appreciate every prayer that you have said on our behalf and every thoughtful and generous gesture that you have done for us.  God has set us upon this journey together and we wouldn't want to be on it without any of you!  Thank you for being our most precious Village!  

Two polar opposite weeks at a glance...

Faithful Village...  I'm so sorry for the lack of posts two Sunday's in a row now!  Last Sunday, we were so crazy busy and exhausted from a WONDERFUL weekend celebrating Andrew's 6th birthday, Thanksgiving, and the overwhelming faithfulness of our God.  This Sunday is a whole different kind of recovery...  I wish it was filled with a smidgen of the type of exhaustion that we experienced last week (one that was saturated with joy and celebration).  This weekend we have been celebrating by cheersing our cups of water as we down Tamiflu in an effort to get past the FLU :-(.  David has been hit with it 10x worse than me, and I thought mine was bad (he is the only one in the family that doesn't use essential oils, so maybe, just maybe that's why I didn't get it as bad and so far the kids are ok, I'm just sayin' :-).  Since we have to be ultra cautious with Grace, our pediatrician started all three kids on Tamiflu also to prevent them from getting it; however, the main side effect of the drug is nausea and vomiting.  I experienced this side effect bad the first dose I took and poor Abigail had the same side effect while she was playing in her soccer tournament this morning (I thought I was doing a good thing by getting the first dose in her right before we left for the game...  parenting fail).  I could tell by the look on her face for most of the game that something wasn't right, when she finally had a second to run over to me she told me that she's just trying to keep that yucky medicine from coming back up.  She still hustled and played her heart out and was able to hold it together until after the game.  Her and I both learned the hard way, the importance of taking the yucky medicine with a FULL meal (not a light snack).  Will you please pray that the kids are spared from this nasty flu and that David and I make full and speedy recovery (especially David, he is suppose to give a big presentation at school tomorrow and he can barely stand to get up and around the house right now)?  Thank you!!!  All that being said, I have so much that I want to share with y'all, but we have some recovering to do, so until next week...  (((hugs))) and love to each of you!

I will leave you with one of Grace's favorite things to do lately...  She loves school so much that she will often go put her backpack on and say "BYE.... SCHOOL!!!"  meaning bye-bye, I'm going to school now.  I took this picture after bath time tonight...