Fundraisers

We are gearing up to raise money for a couple of events Hannah is going to participate in. The first being the UCO Endeavor Games. This will be in Edmond in June. Hannah will be running in a couple of events, as well as participating in a few clinics with, as she says, "kids like me." The second event will be going back to La Jolla in October to the Challenged Athletes Foundation triathlon. To raise money for these, we are going to have the silicone bracelets, available in hot pink and royal blue, that say "Hannah can!! Philippians 4:13" They will be available for a minimum donation of $4, $5 if they are mailed out. We are also working on putting together a t-shirt that will say "I'm a Hanna fan, because Hannah can! Philippians 4:13". These will be available for a minimum $15 donation. A portion of the proceeds of both of these will go to both CAF and CMN (Children's Miracle Netowrk).

The bracelets will be here in about two weeks, and we are just going to start taking pre-orders on the t-shirts. Let me know if you are interested in either one. I will post pics when we get them in.

On another note, Hannah is back to her old self. Thank you for your prayers.

Have a great day!

Excitement!!

We had some excitement around here this week. I received a call from Boys and Girl's Club Thursday afternoon that Hannah wasn't feeling well, and I needed to come pick her up from school. The girls usually stay late on Tuesdays, and now Thursdays, to practice with the BGC after school music group. When I got there, Hannah was asleep in a chair, by the front desk. For the next hour, she was either OUT, or crying inconsolably. I couldn't get her to tell me what was wrong. She eventually told me her eye hurt. I tried to get her to let me look at it, but again, she was out. When it was time to pick up Alexis, Hannah finally came to enough to say that her head hurt. Finally she was able to tell me she had fallen at school. Then the fun began. The search was on to find someone who was with her when she fell so I could find out what actually happened.

Little miss had fallen on the playground and hit the back of her head. (We have since found out that she fell a second time within a short period of time and hit her head in the same area) The picture above is what Hannah looked like while OUT from a concussion. Sorry for the poor quality, it was taken with my cell phone. My neighbor, who happens to be Lexi's teacher, graciously took care of Lex and Nathaniel so I could rush Hannah to the ER. She was starting to come around some by that point. We were triaged, and the nurse went ahead and ordered a CT for her. She told me to go back to the waiting room and they would get her for the scan, but to let her know if she started showing any more symptoms (more headache, trouble walking or talking, or vomiting). About a minute passed, then the vomiting began. Needless to say, we were "fast tracked" back to ct and a room.

Praise the Lord, the ct showed no skull fracture or brain bleed. She started to come around and we got to come home. Yesterday she still wasn't quite acting like herself, so I took her back yesterday for a second ct, and it too was clear. This morning, she was still a little "off" until she was awake for a couple of hours. I know it's probably going to be a couple more days until she it fully back.

This ordeal made us realize that even though she is a pretty tough cookie, she can still be fragile. As for me, I think I've had enough drama and excitement for one week. Between me going to the dentist Monday, and this beginning Thursday, I'm looking forward to a nice, quiet week.

CMN Photo Shoot

A few weeks ago, we had the privilege of going to Frontier City, in Oklahoma City, for a photo shoot for the 2010 CMN Calendar for OU Children's Hospital. The kiddos were VERY excited, but a little disappointed that the park wasn't actually open, but had a fun time none the less. It didn't hurt that we got to ride the carousel after the shoot was over.

I am excited for the opportunity for Hannah to be a representative for CMN. OU Children's is where all of her specialty doctors are. I can't say enough about well we have been treated by all of the clinics we have been to, and that actually covers quite a few. And of course, our personal favorite is Jonathan Day in the Prosthetics clinic. Jonathan and his team ROCKS!!

The calendars should be ready to purchase in the fall, and they will sell for $5, with all procedes benefiting CMN Research Institute in OKC. I will let everyone know when they are ready to purchase. Here are a few pics from the day. Enjoy!!

Still not real savy with the posting of pics, but I'm learning.

Pictures!!

We had a great Easter. The girls went to the Eggstravaganza at church on Saturday, then after the Resurrection Celebration at church on Sunday, we went to John's sister's for a family celebration. It had been several years since we had been with his family on Easter. Unfortunately, the weather wasn't too cooperative, so we had the egg hunt in the house. That was a little interesting to do, considering we had 13 kiddos, ages 3 - 10. They had a blast though.

On another note, I was snuggling with Hannah Sunday morning, and she had her little head laying on my chest. She said "I can hear your heart." I asked her what it said, and she responded "I. Love. You." Made my heart melt. I am truly blessed with the best kiddos in the world!

Tuesday Recap

Yesterday was an eventful day. The girls and I headed to Oklahoma City Monday night, because we had two appointments yesterday morning. The first stop was to see Jonathan, our favorite prosthetist. Hannah has had her new running legs for about six weeks. When we went in for our two week check, they had to put new soling material on because she was already wearing through it. Well, four weeks later, and we had to have part of it re-glued. Let's just say that she LOVES her new legs. Jonathan said she had gone through about half the tread on these soles, so I figure in about another month or so, we will be making another trip to get new soles.

Alexis was scheduled to have her hearing tested. We had already noticed that her volume level had been going up lately. That, combined with the fact she had received a not-so-great result on her hearing test at school, (and the fact that it had been over a year since our last good check), I decided it was time to once again make the trek to get it checked. After we had to go see the Nurse Practitioner to get her right ear cleaned, we were able to go ahead with the test. This was probably the most un-eventful test she had ever had. She did GREAT!! Even when the audiologist startled her by talking too loudly in the earphones, she was able to calm herself back down and finish the test. The good news is - her hearing hasn't deteriorated since last February. That also means it didn't improve either though. We now have an appointment for the end of May to further discuss the possibility of surgically correcting her conductive hearing loss, and doing more reconstructive surgery on the outside of her ear. We will see what that holds. They think she may be big enough now to do some more of the needed procedures.

Well, I have two little girls that are ready to go to bed, whether they know it or not, so I guess I need to oblige them.

Oh, pray for Stellan and his family. This precious little guy will be headed to Boston for possible surgery. Pray for healing of his little heart, and wisdom for his family.

Hello Blog World

This is the first post of our blog that looks into the lives of our crazy family. Hope you find this journey as fun as we do. It's a fun ride!!

Hope to learn how to make this a "pretty page" before too long, so check back for pictures.