Cute Cousins!

When it Blogs, it Pours-Happy 6th Birthday Maddie!!

Wow, two blog updates in a week! Ok, it is Maddie's 6 year old birthday today- Happy Birthday Maddie! I'll show a couple of pics at Maddie's "Sweet and Sassy" birthday party- it was awesome! She chose a Rockin Pop Star themed party. Both girls were too cute!
Today was also Maddie's first day of school for 1st Grade! Jamie and I both took her for the first day and it was a lot of fun. Her teacher is Mrs. Ivy and she is awesome.

Praying for Feet, Family Time, and an Appendicitis

We have been trying to have little family devotional times. Its quite interesting with a 2.5 year old and a 6 year old! We are so busy and zonked that we haven't been doing it a lot but we'll stick with it.

Well tonight, I was reminded of something funny that Noelle does. I guess her first memory of prayer must have been praying for Jamie's feet. Jamie had some pain in one of her heels and so we prayed as a family about that probably 4-5 months ago. Well Noelle remembered it because now, whenever we pray, she gets a serious look on her face, lightly puts her hands together in an awkward and crooked prayer posture and through half-closed eyes prays for "mommies feet better, daddy's feet better, Maddie's feet better, Poppa's feet better, Grammy's feet better," and on it goes... it is so cute and precious.

You know as seldom as we've had these prayer times it is actually quite remarkable the answers we have had in prayer. We keep a little journal (pink, cuz well the girlz kind of rule around here) and we write down what verse we read, what we're thankful for, and what our prayer requests are. I am ashamed to admit that before tonight, the last time we pulled off having one of these times was August 5th! But anyway, tonight we reviewed the last time's prayer requests. At the time we had been having problem after problem with our daycare and with Noelle in that daycare. It was quite stressful and we did not know what to do. So, we prayed for a decision on the daycare situation. Well, 2 days later Jamie met an old friend who told her about a Christian-based daycare that is only 5 minutes (vs. 15 minutes) away from our house. We checked it out and Noelle started that next Monday. And we are saving a lot on top of it all! Noelle is like a different child after going here for a few weeks and we love it! So, what a neat answer to prayer!

On another note, late last week Maddie challenged Jamie. She was demonstrating a cheerleading high kick to Jamie and told her she couldn't do one. Jamie said, "oh yes I can" and proceeded to do the finest free-standing front kick you've ever seen. You could barely even hear Jamie's hips pop as her foot swept the near reaches of space. You could hardly notice her grimace for the gleam of victory in her eyes.

Jamie took her victory in stride and kept up with the busy day. That night we had a dinner out with some family and Jamie was able to sit down for awhile. When she stood up her right abdomen locked up with extreme pain that took her breath away. It was so sudden and unexpected she was worried.

The next day she called our sister-in-law and they decided it was either a brazilian tape worm, an appendicitis, or somekind of freak tumor, or yes they agreed- there was a possibility it could have been a pulled abdomen muscle from the kick earlier in the day. Much research was done on the Internet, doctors were called, people were consulted and a doctor's appointment was set.

The doctor "could not rule out an appendicitis" because Jamie's white blood cell count was up. They had Jamie fast and not eat anything for 24 hours and then come back the next day.

I was shocked by the coincidence of it all. It was the most amazing medical phenomenon that she did a high kick and the next day had an appendicitis!

We went to a different doctor the next day and the doctor pretty much laughed at her the entire time as he pictured her doing a high kick and then having to fast and not eat food for a day and as he thought about doing a high kick and then thinking it was an appendicitis!

Funny!

Molly Bunny

Hey everyone, its been awhile since we had a chance to blog. (have you noticed we always start our updates with that) Its been a busy, crazy summer but a fun one. Maddie has been in swimming lessons and is getting very good. She can do the Freestyle(crawl) and Backstroke. She is also continuing with Gymnastics and Cheerleading. She will be 6 in only two weeks and will be entering the first grade on her birthday. Oh yah, we have also been getting some extra reading tutoring this Summer from her awesome Kindergarten Teacher Mrs. Munson. She wasn't behind, we just wanted her to be ahead of the game.
Noelle is 2 1/2 years old now, and has integrated perfectly. She is smart, sweet, and a little fiesty- but she's 2 so she's entitled! She is speaking a lot better now and we feel she has caught up to her age group (after having heard Chinese for the first 9 months of her life) and has potential to even be ahead in her speaking soon. We've had a lot of fun with her, she is just amazing!

The kids get along great and their friendship is just the delight of our hearts. We will strive to foster that throughout their lives.

Last week at my work was "take your kids to work day", Network General is a very good company to work for and this is not an uncommon type of activity for them. I brought both kids, by myself....long pause for applause... and yes it was tiring but oh my gosh it was sweet and fun. I'll put some pics on this blog entry so you can see it.




Maddie got her ears pierced this summer and she loves it, she got some cute pink flower earrings from Claire's.

Molly is the name Maddie gave to our little brown bunny in the backyard. In Texas everyone's yard has some bunnies. I included a pic of her. I can't figure out why my watermelon and pumpkins won't grow in my yard. Hmmm, I guess its a mystery.