A new plan for you..............

For all of you that have so faithfully prayed for and kept up to date on Nathan....I have a new plan! I know you check the blog everyday only to be disappointed - no update again - come on Janice!! The truth of the matter is - there is so often nothing to update. Progress is slow, we have had some discouraging moments, and we are just trying not to forget that God didn't spare his life and give Nathan this many miracles to let him now figure out the rest on his own - God is here and very present!

All this to say - I am going to post Nathan updates and pictures on the 1st and 15th of every month. The other days I will go back to "normal" life and "normal" blog posts. So - if you don't want to read about my cheerleader daughter, our garden, our boating adventures, etc - then just check back on the 1st and the 15th.

We are heading back down to Harborview on the 27th of July to meet with the Blue Team and talk with Dr. Rout (the "perfect" doctor :-) and see what he has to say about Nathan's hip and pelvis. Things are not looking good and I would ask you pray for Nathan's spirits to stay strong and focused on the end goal!! We are all getting a bit weary!! I am so thankful that my boy is here - broken or not - and 3 months ago this coming Friday - we weren't sure that he was going to be here!! But he is here - to God be the Glory!

"Whom have I in heaven but You? And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides You. My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever." Psalm 73:25-26

Shameless Advertising........

Yesterday on my blog you met Miss Emily the cheerleader................
Well - this cheerleader and her squad are having a car wash tomorrow at Hinton's in Lynden from 10 - 2...............I'm just sayin'!!
(Do you have any idea how expensive these cute little uniforms are?!?! :-)

This is what our year is going to look like!

Monday night Emily came home with this.......................
This is her basketball cheer uniform, I didn't get a picture of her football cheer uniform. Right now she has practices 2 times a week and in 7 weeks she has her first football game. Cheer camp was in June down at SPU and the girls had a blast! This is her cheer camp outfit.
She says it's a really fun group of girls and everyone gets along really well so there shouldn't be any "drama" :-)

Yes, my baby girl is growing up - way too quickly!! I'm looking forward to going to games (the basketball more than the football cuz' I love watching indoor sports :-)!!!

Happy Birthday Brandon!

Saturday Brandon turned 19!! One more year and I will have one teenager left! (someone is getting old here!)

We headed up to Whistler for 3 days of fun. Brandon brought 3 friends, Emily took a friend and Randy, Nathan and I tagged along! :-) Before we left Tanya and Ethan came by with a Maple bar for Brandon!

The worst part - I didn't get any pics of our family together! I remember when Nathan was in the hospital wondering if we would get to make this trip together - and we DID! (not that I have any pictures to prove it!) We went to our traditional dinner at Mongolian Grill, where I had planned to get a family picture for Brandon's birthday, and my camera was back up at the condo :-(!!

Here are couple pics of Brandon and his friends........
The weather was beautiful and the pool was a great place to hang out! We had lots of fun and now it's back to reality. Randy headed back to Seattle and the kids and I head back to work, etc.

Trip to Seattle

Yesterday at 9am Nathan, Emily and I headed to Seattle/Harborview. Nathan had an 11am appointment for a checkup on his knee.

We got there, they sent him to xrays and then we waited, and waited. Finally Dr.Taitsman, the one who did the surgery, came and she said absolutely NO manipulation surgery. She says there is too much of a risk of breaking the knee cap again. NOW, wouldn't it be nice if she had communicated that with the intern we saw on June 16th who suggested it, or to the nurse at the clinic that scheduled us to come down? Sometimes the lack of communication down there is more than frustrating! The first intern we saw yesterday asked Nathan how long he had been bending his knee, and when we told him he asked "why didn't you start bending it right away after surgery?"!!!!! Seriously dude - read the charts, they put him in a brace so he COULDN'T bend it and said he couldn't even sleep without the brace on!

The positive side of things - Dr. Taitsman said his femur is growing back beautifully. In fact, she said she has never seen one grow back so fast and so much!!! She told the nurse to get her a copy of Nathan's xray to put on her wall because it's so impressive!! Praise the Lord for bone growth! When we met with her right after the surgery she said he would probably have to have a bone graft if it didn't grow back and yesterday she said he will absolutely not have to mess around with that!!! This was great news!!!!

After we left the hospital we went to Dennis and Michelle's house(the friends who we stayed with while Nathan was in Harborview)where Randy is working right now. First we stopped so I could take a picture on the drive to their house - they live in West Seattle, where you go over a large bridge and then look back at the city.


Once we arrived Randy showed the kids his work (they are putting on all new siding).........
If you remember the post I did on April 26th (if someone wants to tell me how to link it here that would be great!!) , then you remember this view! I wanted to get a picture of the view with Nathan in it this time (instead of a hospital bed)!!
Then, we went to lunch down at Alki Beach! If you've never been there it would be a great day trip. Gorgeous beach (yes, actually sand) on one side and then restaurants and shops across the street facing the beach. Of course I had to get a quick pic of Nathan and Em....................We had pizza at the Pegasus Pizza and then Randy drove us around a bit before we dropped him off so we could head home.
We got home about 5:30 and I took Em to cheer practice and Nathan hopped in his truck and went to friends. He officially had not had meds all day so he was good to drive! That was almost more nerve wracking then when you let your 16 yr old drive off alone for the first time! But, now that he's driving this frees me up from having to drive him to all his appointments!! Woo Hoo!!

Celebrating the 4th

Sunday was so cold!! We got home from church and I turned up the thermostat AND turned on the the fireplace!! I even took a nap under a blanket - I NEVER take naps - I'm too "A.D.D." and can't shut my brain off in the middle of the day!

We had friends for dinner at 6pm. The roast was supposed to be sliced and cooked on the barbeque and the dinner was supposed to be served on the back porch. PLAN B - I cooked the roast whole in the oven and we sat at the island. Dinner was delightful and the company relaxing - but still - Plan B!

We headed out in the boat about 8:30pm to go anchor in Bellingham Bay to watch the fireworks. I know this picture is blurry, but this was the scene as we left the harbor - this flag was HUGE!

The sunset was actually gorgeous so we decided to take pictures. Theirs turned out great....................


Ours took a few tries because someone was being difficult (I won't mention who, but Debbie was the one trying to take the picture) :-)




The fireworks were awesome and we were glad we were sitting in a boat with a cover when it started to rain - we had Mr. Heater(yes that's actually the brand name)running and we were toasty and dry!

It was a fun, relaxing, normal evening. I mention normal because as Nathan is getting around better he is going with friends more and we can go more too! Last night we had a lovely dinner at Jeff and Kathi's on the patio - ahhhh! All these moments are the ones that refuel me for the week ahead as Randy heads back to Seattle and we get through another week.

Tomorrow we head down to Harborview to find out if they're going to do the manipulation. The biggest prayer request right now is that Nathan will have the stamina (physically & emotionally) to be stretching out that knee more at home - all while trying to get completely off the meds.

Enjoy summer - what a treat to wake up to sunshine and and NO WIND!!!

An update

This week Nathan had surgery on his hand - pins removed - that's about it. From the xrays you can see where the ball of the pinky joint at the hand has deteriorated :-(. Hand Therapy started with a hand specialist on Thursday and now we add that to our list of appointments each week - 4 PT with Uncle Steve - and 2 OT (for the hand) with Rebound.

We got a call from Harborview and they want us to come down Wednesday to decide if they are going to do the Manipulation surgery. This is frustrating as last time we were there (2 weeks ago) they said he would probably need to do this, and Uncle Steve says, yes we need to this, SO WHY CAN'T WE JUST SCHEDULE IT?!?!? But no - we have to go down for ANOTHER visit before they will schedule it. So it appears we will be going down to Seattle weekly for the next 3 weeks!!! Wednesday, after his appointment, we're going to go where Randy is working, check it out and then go have a late lunch/early dinner at Alki Point in West Seattle. This is where Randy is working and it is beautiful and the weather is also supposed to be beautiful that day - so at least we'll get some fun out of the deal! :-)

Nathan picked out a birthday present for Ethan (his cartoon buddy) and we delivered it yesterday...................

We gave him the box with just the blow up sword and the gift was all blown up and sitting in his pool when he came outside! I guess it's a good thing that Nathan can still think with the mind of a 5 year old boy - because I think it was a hit. I mean, what 5 year old boy doesn't want a pirates ship? :-)


Rumor has it that Summer is arriving for real next week - then Ethan can properly enjoy his present!!