Welcome to Holland

A beautiful story I wanted to share...

Welcome to Holland
I am often asked to describe the experience of raising a child with a disability – to try to help people who have not shared that unique experience to understand it, to imagine how it would feel. It's like this…

When you're going to have a baby, it's like planning a fabulous vacation trip – to Italy. You buy a bunch of guidebooks and make your wonderful plans. The Coliseum, the Michelangelo David, the gondolas in Venice. You may learn some handy phrases in Italian. It's all very exciting.

After months of eager anticipation, the day finally arrives. You pack your bags and off you go. Several hours later, the plane lands. The stewardess comes in and says, "Welcome to Holland."

"Holland?!" you say. "What do you mean, Holland?" I signed up for Italy! I'm supposed to be in Italy. All my life I've dreamed of going to Italy.
But there's been a change in the flight plan. They've landed in Holland and there you must stay.

The important thing is that they haven't taken you to some horrible, disgusting, filthy place, full of pestilence, famine and disease. It's just a different place.
So you must go out and buy a new guidebook. And you must learn a whole new language. And you will meet a whole new group of people you would never have met.

It's just a different place. It's slower paced than Italy, less flashy than Italy. But after you've been there for a while and you catch your breath, you look around, and you begin to notice that Holland has windmills, Holland has tulips, Holland even has Rembrandts.

But everyone you know is busy coming and going from Italy, and they're all bragging about what a wonderful time they had there. And for the rest of your life you will say, "Yes, that's where I was supposed to go. That's what I had planned."

The pain of that will never, ever, go away, because the loss of that dream is a very significant loss.

But if you spend your life mourning the fact that you didn't get to Italy, you may never be free to enjoy the very special, the very lovely things about Holland.
Written by Emily Perl Kingsley

Nehemiah is Nine Months Old

Where oh where has the time gone? Joseph will be three tomorrow. He was a "great big fire fighter twuck" Yep.

Stay tuned tomorrow for pictures.

I had coffee today. :)

A New Sweet Precious Baby!

Our dear friends, the V family, recently welcomed their eighth child. Her name is Lylah Kate. If you would like to see her and read about her life, please check out their blog at Down The Lane.

She's a beautiful little blessing and I wish I could hold her and snuggle her!!

Nehemiah's 8 month old pictures...

I really can't believe he is EIGHT months old already....

they grow up SO fast!
Ahh... relaxin' in style!
Sweet smiles....

I love this one! It looks like he is talking to his puppy...
so cute!
His eyes are... Big, Pretty, and VERY Blue!!

Sam was making growling nosies to make he laugh...

I love the look on his face in this one!

Nehemiah is such a delightful baby!! :-)

He's eating the puppy... again!

Nehemiah is such a delight to all of us, and we are

all so thankful for him!!!! :-)

~By Molly~

One Year Ago Today...

Our Father saved our son. It was nothing short of miraculous. I am still in awe of His goodness.

Sometimes
across the room
I just watch Luke.
He doesn't realize. He has no idea what a miracle he is.
He is a true, in the flesh, answer to many, many prayers.

I don't know why, I will never know why, the Lord chose to spare our son and return him to us. But I will forever be thankful, grateful and overwhelmed by His goodness.

the pure unadulterated laughter of a child...

http://www.facebook.com/home.php?filter=fl_79460819226#/video/video.php?v=95373144226&ref=nf

ETA: That link will only work if you have a facebook account. Mama, get a facebook account -grin- or get Beck to show you this when she comes over.

I'm working on putting it up on another place so you can see it easier!

ETA: If you don't have a facebook account, try this youtube link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2xLpc_oT5vw

Life is full -- We are blessed

I was just thinking about the past week. My life is so blessed. Not only am I blessed with the husband and children the Lord has given to me I am also blessed with "adopted" family :)

Matt, Jenn and Landon came Friday and stayed through Monday afternoon. It was so nice having them 'back home'. They are a blessing to us in so many ways. I am very thankful to the Lord for putting them in our lives and allowing us to "adopt" them into our family!

Danny, Brandy and their children came Tuesday to spend the day. (The have a/c problems and it so hot at their house they came to our house for a cooling off break :) ) They ended up spending the night and the next day and that night and the next day! I just love it. They are so much a part of our family, it feels very natural (though a little loud! LOL) to have them here!

The Lord, in His infinite wisdom, chose to plant us in an area where we have no natural relatives. We may never know the reasons for this... but He has been very kind to us and given us 'new' relatives. We have parents in the Nissleys, siblings in the Hunters and children in the Bates.

You are so good, so kind, so loving -- Thank you Lord for filling our lives with such wonderful people!

We love you!

Latest update on Tony

He had a post-op appointment with the ENT doctor today. Doc is very pleased and expects the ear to heal well and to have improved hearing!! Yeah!

TONY!

Tony is doing great! Better even than the "best case scenario" we were expecting!

Thank you all So Much for praying!!

Update on Tony

I just talked to him. He's in recovery. They were able to do the surgery via his ear canal :yay: He sounds really groggy, said he feels like he has a fifty pound weight attached to his legs. He has a headache and his throat is dry. He should be home in three hours or so. Thank you all so much for praying!!

Please pray for Tony today... surgery

Today he is scheduled for a tympanoplasty with possible ossiculoplasty.

He's having his eardrum partially reconstructed (via a skin graft from the coating of the muscle near and below the temple) and his second ear bone will either be reconstructed or a prosthetic bone will be put there.

His ear drum ruptured twenty years ago. When it healed it healed with a dimple. The dimple has gotten deeper and traps ear wax, dead skins cells, etc... and that has caused it to lay back on the second bone which has caused deterioration of that bone. His ear is in pretty bad shape.

His hearing is moderately affected and his understanding and comprehension are even more affected.However the surgery is to repair the damage to his ear and not to improve his hearing -- it may be improved but that is not the reason for the surgery. He has a nearly constant noise going on all the time. It changes but is currently a plusating that corresponds with his pulse.

The doctor intends to do the surgery via the ear canal. However if he gets in there and can not perform the surgery that way he will have to cut along the back of the ear and flap the ear forward toward the cheek. This second method will (of course) require a longer healing time.Tony can't drive or go back to work until he's off the narcotics for pain.

We would really appreciate your prayers for wisdom for the doctor, no adverse reactions to the medications, and smooth healing for Tony. Thank you so much!

Sew...

the girls and I have been sewing the past few days... We should finish up today and I'll share pictures with you!

Joke for the Day

The Good Grandpa

A woman in a grocery store happens upon a grandfather and his poorly behaved 3 year-old grandson. It's obvious to her that Gramps has his hands full with the child screaming for candy in the candy aisle, cookies in the cookie aisle; same for fruit, cereal and soda in their respective aisles.

Meanwhile, Gramps is working his way around, saying in a controlled voice, "Easy, Albert, we won't be long -- easy, boy."

Another outburst, and she hears Gramps calmly say, "It's okay, Albert, just a couple more minutes and we'll be out of here. Hang in there, boy."

At the checkout, the little terror is throwing items out of the cart, and Gramps again in a controlled voice is says, "Albert, Albert, relax buddy, don't get upset. We'll be home in five minutes; stay cool, Albert."

Very impressed, the woman goes outside where Gramps is loading his groceries and the boy into the car. "You know, sir, it's none of my business, but you were amazing in there. I don't know how you did it. That whole time, you kept your composure, and no matter how loud and disruptive he got, you just calmly kept saying things would be okay. Albert is very lucky to have you as his grandpa."

"Thanks, lady," said Gramps, "I'm Albert -- the little boy's name is Steve."

today... it's Monday...

I'm going to clean out the freezer.
Molly is going to clean out the refrigerator.
Then we are going grocerying.

:)

Just didn't want you to wonder what exciting things were going on around here.

Nehemiah and Kirky

We have a family tradition of naming stuffed animals for the giver (in some way) as a way to remember the giver and think about him/her when we play with our stuffies. A sweet friend named Kiersten (nicknamed Kirky) made this elephant for Nehemiah and she made the shorties too! Aren't they cute?!

Rearranging... Part 2 -- The Sewing Area

For those of you who have been to our home, this is the room on the front of the house that was originally 'the living room'. It has been a library, a guest room, a play room, a sewing room and is now half playroom and half sewing area.

Rearranging.... Again :)

Most of you know how much I like to rearrange :) I am always looking for ways to make the best use of our space. Well we have this large room 'downstairs' (used to be part of the garage that we closed in). It has been a guest room, a play room, a sewing room, a sewing/Matt & Jenn room and now it's a sewing & craft storage room / guest room / Littles Library & Lounge :) I like for rooms to be functional. We moved the shelving to create a wall and made a storage area in the back of the room for sewing and craft stuff. There's also room to leave the ironing board up all the time -- which makes Molly very happy!

I took lots of pictures. Maybe you can get the basic idea (especially if you've been here before). Now this area has a storage area for sewing and craft stuff and the rest of the room houses the dvds/videos, small TV, children's computer, love seat and futon. It will be very easy to 'convert' into a guest room (hint, hint, hint) and will still be very usable space for us!

view from the storage area looking straight out
storage area

storage area (still needs to be organized a bit, just did all this yesterday)

Molly's Happy Place!

Oh and the children's books are down here too. I think I forgot to mention that earlier!

Another shot. Still no doors for the closet so I hung a curtain there. That closet houses more craft and sewing stuff.

Loveseat and children's computer with dvd/video storage cabinets top left

See?

view from the doorway

It's working wonderfully! Just like I envisioned!!! I love it!

Now if I can recreate the space upstairs to be exactly like I want it to be... Originally the room upstairs was our library, then it was a guest room, then it was a sewing room, then it was a play room, then I scooched the playroom over to half the room and used the other half for sewing. I really like sewing up there where I am 'in the midst' of my children :) I want to rearrange things a bit better today so it is half playroom and half sewing room. Wish me luck!

Happy Mother's Day

To my Mama...
To my Mom...
To Miss Peggy...
To Miss Alma...

To all the women who have shaped the Mother I am

I love you all.
Thank you!

Day 2 ~ Visiting with Nana and Poppa

Cousins -- Joseph (born in July) and Avery (born in Nov)

Great fun with 'new' toys!

Friday we drove to Hendersonville and spent the day with Tony's folks. His brother Andy and sister Anitra were there along with Anitra's son Avery and Tony's grandmother. MaryVance had the camera so all the pictures are of the boys playing :) Amanda was there for a little while and Anitra brought Allen to meet everyone. Poor fella... LOL

We spent the night with Grandmother (thank you GG, we really enjoyed spending time with you!) Grandmother took us out for breakfast. I didn't have my camera but hopefully Mom will send me a copy of the whole family picture taken in front of Cracker Barrel. :)

Love y'all!

Day 4 ~ My Mama and sister

Grannie with the red-haired grands
Grannie and Mr. Steve with the children

Mama and her girls

Sisters...

Pretty Rebecca :)

Rebecca's son Jacob

Enjoying pizza!

Nehemiah with Grannie

"I see you"

Cutey Patootey!

Mama always has horses... it was too muddy to see the cows.

Joseph and the collie puppies.

Tony needs a haircut.