Heart Campaign

I'd like to ask all my sweet friends, family, and blog readers to join me in my heart campaign this week.  You may remember me starting this a couple years ago when we were scheduling one of Steven Joseph's heart check-ups and thinking we'd be doing his open heart surgery during his 2nd year.

Well, here we are in September 2011, and our big guy is a few months shy of 4 years old and finally big enough and ready for this surgery, scheduled for this Thursday Sept 22nd.  I know lots of you are praying and supporting us in so many ways, I am brought to tears hearing about prayers being offered from far and wide, fasting, rosaries being prayed by teens, etc.

 

I am asking for others to put a heart somewhere around their home, preferably hanging or taped on a frequently-used door.  When you go in and out of that door, can you remember to say a little prayer for Steven?  And I ask that you might also offer a prayer that all our hearts would be open to Christ and that he would heal any spiritual, emotional, or physical wounds that lie in our hearts.  It could be something as simple as "Lord, heal our hearts," or "Sacred Heart of Jesus, have mercy on us."

My own heart feels like it's going to burst from all the love and all the pain and worry that it is holding right now.  But I am trusting that God has a beautiful plan in mind for Steven and for our family, and that Mother Mary will be by my side, she who knows the pain of watching her Son suffer.  Thank you so much for remembering our family and Steven Joseph and his almost-fixed heart, as well as others whose hearts are in need.

Matagorda Fishing trip with Daddy, September 17, 2011

Sister updates!

Poor Mary Clare and Ellie are going to get the combo update this time around.  Steven asked last night why I hadn't finished the kid updates!  Since I don't have a host of things on my mind right now...haha...

Mary Clare is 8 1/2 and a big 3rd grader this year.  She has really taken off with her reading, and starting to show interest in chapter books, so this year we'll be focusing a lot more on spelling and writing.  Math she has always taken to and continues to do well.  She eats up history and science and has such a great grasp of the world and all the things we learn about.  She loves to ask Steven at dinner what "the question of the day" is.  He can usually come up with something fun to teach them about!  He also has them go over their school checklist with him at the end of the day, which helps keep us accountable.

She is a leader in so many ways.  She has so much fun playing elaborate games of house, school, dance class/performance, or restaurant these days.  It goes on for hours.  She is doing a little better at compromising with her siblings, and the younger ones do sometimes let her have her own time to play or craft without them.  She is thriving at our homeschool co-op, and gets so excited about her presentations each week.  I'm very glad we started this program even though we'll have to leave mid-year.  It's been good for all of us.

Mary Clare is also continuing to bloom in ballet.  She has done so well the past years and it will be interesting to see how the girls might take to a new studio when we move.  There won't be a similar Christian and syllabus-based ballet school, so we'll have to try out some other options.  Right now they want to wait until next fall to start at a new studio, but we'll see how things go.  Both girls want their own inline skates since I recently bought some at a thrift store.  And they have been anxious to start biking and "skootering" and playing outside again as the weather slowly starts to cool off.

Ellie is 6 and in 1st grade.  I have to remind myself to slow down with her, because I feel more urgency with following the syllabus for her sister.  She has shown lots of improvement in reading and handwriting, as well as math.  She loves all the songs and games and hand-motions we're doing for memory work in different subjects.  She loves performing all her memorized poems!  She is also really enjoying the co-op and likes being the one to stand up and do her presentation or lead the class in some activity.  I'm so glad both the girls are in their own class and can have this fun classroom experience this fall.  But they do get to share in the homemaking club, which Ellie is thrilled to be a part of this year!  See her learning embroidery...

Ellie has taken to playing with Steven Joseph more often.  They sometimes start their own games together and play for long periods of time.  Often they go to sleep together in the boys' room, at least for a short while until one or more ends up in our bed!  Ellie is definitely the performer, and most of her play and games revolve around performances.  Last week I was trying to get everyone ready to go out of the house for something when both Ellie and Steven Joseph ran into the room dressed as clowns with their faces decorated in (non-washable) marker!

She is also thriving in ballet, and is the youngest in her Grade 1 class this year.  She loves being in the Modern class with Mary Clare, so she also gets to dance two days a week.  Ellie still loves to save up her money and dreams of buying new toys.  She also said a funny thing when we were about to get our portraits taken last weekend.  I told her that we might get to be on the photographer's blog, and she responded that she hoped she would get to be in a magazine!  That girl.  She will keep us on our toes as the years go by.  Thankfully her big sis is a little more grounded and can keep her in check for us!

The girls and I had a quiet day yesterday with Steven and Steven gone on a fishing excursion.  We had my parents over on Saturday afternoon, and played a fun dice game, a Catechism game, and Boggle, and had lots of good laughs.  We missed our boys, but my what a quiet house it was!  I pray that the girls handle these next few days and weeks with grace.  They will have some stress in their little minds worried about their brother, and will be staying with different family members and friends while we are with him.  I pray that this experience helps us all grow in compassion and helps to fix those things in our own hearts that need healing and mending.

My girls are really growing up, and each day they are looking older to me.  Gone are the days of hairbows and letting me choose their clothes, for the most part.  They are independent leaders, with a lot of drive and willpower for things they are passionate about.  I look forward to watching them grow and develop into the young ladies that God is calling them to be, and I pray that the upcoming move just strengthens their faith and our family relationships.  There are lots of exciting things to come for these girls and I can't wait to watch it all happen. 

Ellie running

I somehow missed this on the mckmama blog earlier this week.  Another sneak peak from our photo session, with Ellie running at the park.  Sounds like our pics are in the mail; I can't wait to see them and really hope there is a good family photo!  Have a great weekend, friends!

{this moment}

A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember. 

 

more on soulemama.com

{pretty, funny, happy, real}

~ Capturing the context of contentment in everyday life ~ 

Every Thursday, at Like Mother, Like Daughter! 

{pretty}

 Ellie finally got to join the homemaking club!  Here she is learning to embroider.

{happy}

Steven was so happy to get to be with his best buddy and the preschoolers while the girls were at their club meeting.

and Thomas was very happy to get to play with this favorite wooden toy!

{funny}

All sorts of plans for stories, songs, and crafts had been made for the preschoolers.  Instead, they preferred playing with trucks in the dirt in the backyard.

{real}

a real tea party set for some beautiful little ladies!

Also, I really appreciate all the encouraging words and prayers that you are offering for us right now.  They will be what gets us through this next week, and also the difficult recovery days afterwards.  Yep, exactly one week until we'll be handing over our boy for his big open heart surgery.  Please pray he is well enough for surgery; we're still facing some cold symptoms over here.  We will be hunkering down this weekend, well, except for his big overnight fishing trip with Daddy that has been in the works for awhile!  I hope they catch lots of fish!

Hope you all have a beautiful day!

Surrender

A good lesson tonight.  Thomas would not go to sleep.  It was one of those nights where baby took a late nap and was wide awake when the rest of the crew was going to bed.  He played in the pantry, kept pushing the power button on the printer (hope he didn't break it!), and kept going...and going...and going...

Finally after putting him in the pack and play for a bit while I cleaned up someone else's accident on the carpet, I put him in the Moby wrap.  We walked around and I sat down to rock him.  He wrestled and fought me, and finally crawled himself out of the wrap!  I let him play for a few more minutes and finally wrapped him back up and walked around long enough for him to fall asleep.

Finally, he surrendered.

I was thinking about how this is what I'm going through right now in anticipation of the heart surgery next week.  Fighting this experience with all that is in me, wrestling with the thoughts and imagining the worst outcomes.  Keeping myself up late at night and distracting myself through the day.

At some point I am going to have to give up.  “Father, if you are willing, take this cup away from me; still, not my will but yours be done.” Luke 22:42.  Christ has gone through the ultimate suffering, and I will have to drink the cup of suffering that is being placed before me.  My little boy has to suffer, and I will have to watch, just like Our Lady.

I have to walk through this suffering.  It is coming one way or another.  It won't be a pleasant experience, but we will get through it together, supported in prayer by so many of you.  Right now, though, I need validation that it is okay to be sad about it.  It is okay to cry and worry, because I am a mother and I hate to see my children suffer.  I have to hand over my healthy child for (what I'd consider) a horrific procedure so that he will not suffer as an adult.  And that rips my heart to pieces.

I pray that he is grateful we walked this journey with him when we did.  I pray that he has a long life with a healthy heart, and that this experience makes us all stronger for the journey.  There are many lessons here about trust, and surrender, and gratitude, and healing, and faith...and I pray that we take them in and ponder them in our hearts and minds in the coming days.

God bless my sweet Steven Joseph.  May you have many more days to run and play to your heart's content, with nothing holding you back, a heart healed and filled with the love of God who created you just as you are and will be with you forevermore.

They're famous!

Photo by MckMama

We had family photos taken by MckMama this weekend and she posted this one of the boys on her "famous" blog!  She happened to be staying very close to our house and doing photoshoots at a local park, so we were able to schedule a shoot at the last minute for our first "real" professional family photos!  Yay!  It may be a few weeks before we get them, but this little preview makes me very excited to see the rest!

Still asking for prayers, that God might hold us up and grant our weary hearts and minds rest as we get through these next couple weeks.  The kids all have runny noses, so I'm requesting prayers that Steven Joseph stay well enough to have the surgery next week.  I really can't imagine the anxiety and anticipation of having to push it back another month.  But it's all in God's hands.  I surely can't handle any of this myself!

Labor Day Weekend 2011

Last weekend we made it down to our new hometown, where we plan to move in November.  I still can't believe we are actually moving!  We had a good trip there this time around. We stayed in town, looked at a handful of houses, went to the church we'll probably attend, and drove around to continue to familiarize ourselves with the area.  We all had fun, aside from a few complaints about the house-hunting.

The best part was visiting the seashore!  We went on Sunday afternoon.  We all look forward to living about 20 minutes from a great beach! 

The girls spent much of the beach time searching for sand dollars.  The water was pretty clear for Texas!  (sorry for the ginormous photos...they are fuzzy on any size but the extra large!  love the new blogger template though; I can load them all at once, and in the correct order, yay!)

PaPa and NeNe joined us too!  They came down for one night.  You can see that we were real prepared with two rain umbrellas!  Next time we'll get a pop-up tent!

I can't get over just how old the girls are looking.

Mr. T enjoyed his first trip to a "real" beach (the last one was a bay beach without "real" sand).  Only problem was that I forgot his swimsuit, so he had to wear his brother's.  He didn't mind!

So glad I found the hat with the chin strap!

The kids met some friends who had a fun contraption to catch "ghost" shrimp, made out of PVC pipe.

And what's a beach adventure without a trip to the gift store with the giant shark?

 

Some other trip memories...Ahh, the Cheddar's Restaurant adventure.  Waited an HOUR for a table!  But yum, the food was worth it!  The kids weren't happy that we had to postpone our beach visit after the long dinner.  It all worked out well in the end, though.

Not sure if the kids have ever had the treat of eating dinner in bed watching TV!

It was a fun Labor Day weekend and gave us a good distraction from worrying about the surgery.  Now we're back home and in the thick of homeschooling and fall activities, while trying to get all our ducks in a row in preparing for the surgery and for our move.

I know we are being lifted in prayer by so many and am so grateful for that.  There is a lot to be thankful for, and I'm trying to focus on the positives!  Some positives of this coming week are getting family portraits taken, and having the house cleaned!  Then we can get working on the fix-ups it needs so we'll be ready to list it for rent and get moving on into finding a new place to live. That is really a fun thing, and I'm actually enjoying spending time on the internet finding all the available  homes and imagining our family there.  I can't wait to have some Christmas photos in our new home, and be starting the new year in a fresh new way in a new city!  Quite an adventure!

But my mind is spinning so much that I forgot to wish my dearly beloved a HAPPY BIRTHDAY!  He celebrated 35 years of life on Tuesday, and I actually had it together enough to take the kids into Walmart after a long day of science museum classes.  We put together one of his favorite dinners (Shepherd's Pie) and his favorite cake (German Chocolate), and topped it off with some cute homemade cards and a couple shirts.  We are all a bit distracted, but I know the kids enjoyed celebrating Daddy's birthday!

I'll end with a funny Steven Joseph stoty from tonight.

I was singing to the boys in bed...Twinkle, Twinkle, Itsy Bitsy Spider, ABCs...

and after SJ starting singing a few words to it, I started singing "Row Row Row Your Boat."

Then he blurts out,

"Life is BUT a dream?  BUTT?  Like a bottom?"

"No, it means life is only a dream."

"Life is only a DREAM?"

"Well, not exactly..."

Then he starts into "The itsy bitsy spider climbs up the POOPY spout."

BOYS!!!

Steven Joseph Update

Oh, where to begin?  Let's start with the big update.  His open heart surgery is scheduled.  September 22nd is the tentative date (the day after Thomas turns one!), unless he comes down with any kind of illness, or another very sick child needs to take his time slot.  So now instead of October, we are looking at doing this in about 2 1/2 weeks!

I can't really begin to explain my emotions about this.  I just ask you to please pray for me.  We had a wonderful weekend away visiting our new city, but now that we are home I just can't seem to stop thinking about it.  All the what-if's and the thoughts of what I would want to do if we only had 2 1/2 weeks left with our sweet boy... 

I know I shouldn't let my mind go there, so I'd like to start some prayer intentions.  Please send me any prayer requests.  Steven's risk level really is very low with this surgery, and we know so many other sick children and family members who need prayer.  I am resolving myself to "take it to Mary," to her who knows what a mother's heart feels like when you have to offer up your son's suffering.  And offering my anxieties up for others is the only other thing I know I can do.

~~~~~

So let's move onto some happy thoughts and updates!

Steven Joseph is 3 2/3, and is such the big boy!  His vocabulary and speech are very good for his age, and he says the funniest things!  He puts up with all the girly games his sisters play, but is totally all-boy.  He is always wanting to turn a stick-type object and ball-type object into a bat and ball.  He kicks, jumps, and climbs all over the place.  He is learning to write his name and is enjoying some of our little preschool activities.  This weekend he really enjoyed playing with a tiny set of dinosaurs I got him at the beach gift store, and even shared them with his sisters :-)

He loves us both, but definitely treasures his time with Daddy, especially when he gets to go to fun places like Home Depot or the sporting goods store.  He is very much looking forward to a special fishing trip with Steven in the next couple weeks.  I can't wait to sing "Happy Birthday" to him this December, and be able to look back and see how our strong boy made it past such a big hurdle in his little life.

Onto some pictures...

I'm not sure why I didn't get one of these sooner!  The little hand vacuum is the new favorite thing around here!  They can't wait for their turn to use it.  Steven Joseph has even been known to cut up scraps of paper just so he can vacuum it up ;-)

Here he is with his preschool group at the homeschool co-op.  They were so cute dancing to Tchaikovsky with scarves!

Then they had turns with instruments and he had the sticks.  He managed to get through the song without hurting anyone with them!  I was a little worried about him with sticks.

He has been having so much fun playing with the other little kids, especially some of the boys his age.  You can tell his little brother wants in on the fun too!

And now for a few iphone photos...

Our first day back to school and the girls were so excited about helping SJ with his preschool workbook!

One day Steven Sr. was watching some kind of archery tournament online, and SJ had to get out his own bow and arrow to practice.  He would shoot his at the very same time as the people online, and he was so proud!

And last but not least, he wanted to help me bake bread. I just LOVE the picture of his back with the shirt that says "In Charge" and his flour handprints on his bottom!

And a finale, his last little ditty, which starts like a song, but then turns into counting, and ends with the loss of his guitar pick.  Oh my precious boy!

Thomas William, 11 months

Our sweet baby is nearly one!  I can't believe it!  Time has flown by so fast with this little guy.  I feel like I'll blink and he'll be a big kid like his siblings!  He is such a joy and a fun addition to our family.  He's a very happy baby unless he's tired, and we're having so much fun as he's learning to walk and talk.  Here are some photos from the past month...

He LOVES stairs!  So glad we don't have any at our house :)  Here's PaPa chasing him up the ones at my parents' house.

He loves pulling the books down off the shelf, just like his big sister Mary Clare loved to do at this age!

One night when it wasn't scorching hot, we went to the park and I took the cover off my iPhone to take this.  My phone can actually take normal and somewhat clear pictures!  But having the Otterbox taken off is an accident waiting to happen!

He's going to be his brother's biggest fan through this heart surgery journey.  Here we were in a holding room waiting for the MRI a couple weeks ago.  He came to the appointment with us to meet the surgeon this week, and will likely be with us during much of the hospital time, since he's still nursing around the clock.  I think our little TomTom will be a spirit-lifter for us all, but especially his best buddy, his big brother Steven.  I love this romper he has on, "RAD LIKE DAD" :)

You might have seen this gem on Facebook.  I really needed to get to Walmart late one night last week, but he was not happy about the situation until I put him in the back of the cart with all the school supplies!  We only had one crayon casualty.

Mary Clare wanted to do some coloring with him on their first day of school.

One day he found a stranded apple and took things into his own hands.

He's now wanting to feed himself.  I try to feed him with a fork or spoon and he grabs it from me!

Mary Clare insisted on getting a picture of him after this yogurt adventure! Poor guy had it all over his face.

 Siblings were giving him a laundry basket ride!

And here's Mr. Cutie Pie during music time at the homeschool co-op.  He really wanted to be a part of things and was trying to walk around with his instrument!

We love our Tommy Boy so much and can't wait to celebrate his first birthday later this month!

I'll end with 2 cute videos of him feeding himself and pushing a walker toy!