VBS on Outrigger Island

Outrigger Island is this year's Vacation Bible School's theme. It's fun!By the way...in the background you can see the trailer where my parents have lived since the fire (in our church's parking lot).

Sorry I can't post this week. I have been super busy and EXHAUSTED. I am leading music for our Church's Vacation Bible School. And it has proven to be exhausting. Add to that Jason (and I think now Joel) are sick with colds that are going around VBS. Then there is the fact that I think Joel is having seizures again (so I am having to make extra calls to doctors) and Joel has been difficult this week. Then there is the fact that this is Isaac's fourth week working 5 hours away from home. And I am not getting enough sleep because of all my responsibilities...soooo you can see how I am so exhausted and don't have time to post until probably Saturday. We could use some prayer in this family. Thank you to all of you who visit this blog and follow our story and thank you to all of you who pray for us. You are a huge encouragement to me.

Joel's Surgery...and more pictures

I have been fielding some questions about Joel's surgery lately which has really got me to thinking about it. I realize that I have never really posted details and I have been thinking that I would like to help people who may be in the situation where the surgery may need to be considered. So, very soon I will be doing a several part post about his surgery. It really changed our lives! :)

Here are some more of my favorite photos from the last month:

My sister-in-law and I did some (TONS) of canning.
I am going to have to post about it 'cause I have tons of great pictures.

Jonny broke his ankle. What a pain...literally (and figuratively)!

My boys!

Joel likes Grampy's hat...or any straw hat for that matter.

Brothers, aren't they cute together!

I've got to run to Joel's OT (Occupational Therapy) now, but I still have more pics I want to share with you later...that's the problem with not posting for a month and being a person who LOVES taking pictures. Now sharing them all at once for you it seems like a lot, but really it's no more than I would have shown you if I had been posting regularly.

I'm back...

...and can't believe it's been a whole month since I've posted. I am so sorry. This past month has been very difficult in many ways and I just didn't have time to post due to added responsibilities. I am extremely exhausted right now, so I will leave you with some of my favorite photos from the past month and I will try to write an update in the next few days.











More to come...

Happy 5th Birthday, Jason!!!

I can't believe you're five today. You are growing up so fast and I love the young man you're becoming. You have such a sweet spirit and I love how you love to have fun. You're giggle makes everyone around you light up with huge smiles and joy. Your brothers love you and enjoy playing with you. I love how you guys are such good friends and how well you get along. My prayer for you is that you will continue to love the Lord with all your heart and that you will hunger to learn more about Him as you grow. God blessed me and Daddy so much when he gave you to us. I thank him every day for you. I am enjoying watching you become more adventurous, outgoing, and imaginative. I hope you had a great day today. I'm looking forward to your first train ride and the beach on Saturday.

Love, Mama
Note: We had a fun day today spending time as a family, then we had a special family dinner. Our tradition is the birthday boy (or girl) gets to choose their favorite food for their birthday dinner. Jason chose KFC and brownies. I would have preferred to cook something, but that's what he wanted. On Saturday we will finish his birthday celebration. We have another tradition we started with Jonny. Each child gets his first train ride on their fifth birthday then afterwards we take a picnic to the park or beach. Jason wanted the beach with sand and since Jonny currently has a cast on his ankle and can't go in the sand we modified our plans from going to a beach on Coronado to going to La Jolla Shores. La Jolla Shores is a great beach that has a grassy park-like area as well as sand and swimming. It's a wonderful beach for little guys because it's shallow for quite far out and it has nice sand (not too rocky). We are all super looking forward to Saturday. My mom and dad will spend the day with us. Happy birthday, Jason! We love you!

Living with TSC...

...is often an emotional roller-coaster. There are highs and there are lows. Today and the last few days I have been in an emotional low. It's hard to blog when all my emotions are feeling drained. We've been having more doctor appointments than usual and I'm exhausted. So I will do my very best to give you a long update tomorrow evening. We saw a Pediatric Neuro-Ophthalmologist yesterday and I want to tell you all about it.