Awesome Night (Day 65)

Daniel had an awesome night! We will be transferred to the floor later today. Thank you Jesus! And Thank you all for praying. I will post pictures soon!! :-)

"I have seen you in the sanctuary and beheld your power and your glory. Because your love is better than life, my lips will glorify you." Psalm 63:2-3

Please Pray!!!! day 63

Daniel is on the way to the hospital by ambulance. I blew his central line tonight while flushing it. Tomorrow is Lizzy's birthday. Daniel will need surgery to replace his entire central line. My heart is broken. There are no words. Please just pray!

O Christmas Tree (Day 62)

Decorating our Christmas Tree is a tradition that we look forward to each year. We play the same CD and we keep with the tradition of gold and red ornaments with the clear lights. We also do a "kid tree" in our school room. On this tree the kiddos enjoy decorating the tree with all of the different ornaments they have been given over the years. We will tackle that one tomorrow. :)

Here is a little video clip before we decorated...


Some pictures of the process...it was not without a few bumps in the road. Twice I had to get out the vacuum to clean up some broken ornaments. And once I felt like I might have a heart attack watching glass ornaments roll on the floor while my kids ran around. :) Thankfully, we regrouped and finished the decorating without any injuries! :)





And here is a video of the finishing touch of adding our angel. This year Abby did the honors...the 3rd time was the charm! :)


My 5 precious kids in front of our newly decorated tree. Love it.


I love everything about Christmas. The music. The tree. The lights. The presents. The decorations. The smells. The shopping. The preparations. The excitement of my kids. The cookies. The anticipation. But mostly I love that Christmas brings with it the gift of hope. All of the things listed are wonderful, but without Jesus in the center of it all, they by themselves do not last.

Today Lizzy came in and out as I was stringing the lights on the tree to get ready for decorating tonight. She was so excited and kept exclaiming, "Oh mommy! It is just so beautiful." And then she would be off to play again. When I had almost finished she came over to me and said, "Mommy, I was just talking to the Lord." And I asked her, "What did you talk to Him about?" To which she replied, "Christmas. And I was just telling him how much I love Him." So sweet. There is nothing I want more for my kids than to have them love the Lord. And so this was an answer to prayer that I thanked the Lord for as I finished hanging lights on the tree that we are decorating to celebrate Him. The King of Kings and Lord of Lords. Jesus is what Christmas is all about. And I love Him. And I love Christmas. And I love our tree.

Black Friday Black Out---Day 61

Yesterday morning I participated in Black Friday early morning shopping and had a blast! My purchases were small as I found some GREAT deals on some things that were on my list, but the fun was BIG! I LOVE everything about being out and taking it all in. There is definitely some INTENSE shopping that goes on. I got up and left the house around 4am and was back home by 7 for Brent to head to work. Last night after all of the kiddos were in bed, I fell asleep on the couch and so I did not get a day 61 picture posted on day 61. So I guess it will be known as the Black Friday Black Out. :) Back later with Day 62.

Thanksgiving (Day 60)

Today we hung out just as our family. We started the day watching the Thanksgiving Day Parade and ended it watching "A Christmas Story". It was a cold, windy day here and so it made for a good snuggle together, lay around and watch a parade, a movie and football sort of day. That is of course unless you are the cook! Ha! Then you get to join in for the last movie of the day. :)

Here are some pictures from our day. We have so much to be thankful for. And next to Jesus, the 6 people in these pictures are at the top of my list...

First this morning I woke up to these beautiful flowers from my dear husband...


Here are some pictures of the kiddos watching the parade...




Sam took this picture of Brent and I...


And today I cooked our turkey that was given to us by the company that supplies Daniel's oxygen. Each driver gets to choose a family they want to give a Thanksgiving dinner to and our driver Terry chose our family. So when he came yesterday we were surprised by this sweet gift. And I had not yet purchased our turkey! :) God is so good.

To go along with our turkey today, I made Bobby Flay's Country style Sage dressing (it was yummy!), my friend Kay's macaroni and cheese (my kids think it is the BEST in the world), and rolls. And my friend Anne delivered us a delicious pumpkin pie last night that we all enjoyed after our dinner...


We LOVE you JESUS!


Drew with his yummy, large, drowning in cool whip piece of pie...


It was a good day. I am thankful that all 7 of us were able to be together today. I would like a re-peat next year. That is what I am praying for.

Thank you God for all You do, for Who You are, and that Your love endures forever. You have blessed us beyond measure.

"Fairy" Kisses (Day 59)

Daniel loves to give and receive kisses. And he receives and gives many throughout each day.



Today was no exception. This was just one of many times that he was receiving and giving kisses to someone in our family.

Just So Happy (Day 58)

I know I have said this one million times if I have said it once...but seriously...Daniel is Just. So. Happy. Period.



And it is contagious. Love that!

I Love My Thumb (Day 57)

Daniel loves to chew all of his fingers, but he especially loves his thumb...




And I love him.

Brent's Birthday (Day 56)

Today was Brent's birthday. It was a crazy day with many extra errands and activities, but we still made time for presents and cake...





And some goofy-ness with the goofy teeth...



Aren't those teeth bad? :-) oh my.

Happy, happy birthday my dear husband. We are soooo thankful for you!! And I am very thankful that those are not your real teeth!!

Operation Christmas Child (Day 55)

Most every year, our family has a tradition of participating in "Operation Christmas Child" through Samaritan's Purse. What we do is buy toys, crayons, clothes, stuffed animals, blankets for kiddos the same age and gender as our kids. Then each one of our kiddos fills a shoebox with these gifts. This ministry then sends these boxes to children around the world who would otherwise not have a Christmas present. They also share the hope of Christmas by telling these children about Jesus.

Our kids look forward to this each year. Before we pack our boxes we watch a video I have that shows how the boxes get to their destinations and it shows children around the world receiving their boxes. I cry through the whole thing every year. The poverty, sadness, sickness and living conditions of so many children around the world breaks my heart. This year was the first year that Abby "got it". And it broke her heart too. After watching the video she just cried and cried. All of the kids were misty eyed. But Abby was heart broken. As much as I hate to see her sad, I hope that her heart always breaks over the things that break the heart of God. It is sad.

So it is neat to think that something as simple as a shoebox full of simple toys could bring joy to the heart of a child this Christmas. The kids and I always like imagining who is opening the special packages they put together. And they truly fill them with gifts they themselves would like to receive.

Tonight we packed our boxes. Tomorrow we will pray for the kids that will receive them. And then we will drop them off to be on their way to their new home. Such an awesome ministry.

Here are the kids tonight packing up their boxes...


I pray that the kids that receive them are as happy as we are to have packed them up.

Sam's 8th Birthday!! (Day 54)

Today our Sam turned 8!! And we celebrated Texas Ranger style. And Although we were unable to begin the day altogether we did get to end it together. A definite answer to prayer! We still started the day with the tradition of presents outside the door...we sang and Sam opened...but it was strange that Daniel and daddy were not there. Sam LOVED all of his presents...here is the video of him opening...

And some pictures of the rest of the day...





Sam said that the BEST birthday present would be if Daniel could come home...and he got his wish!! :-)



Happy, happy 8th birthday Sam!!! We love you soooooo much.

After a week of some huge disappointments, I am so glad that we could all be together AT HOME for Sam's birthday.

Thank you God for today.

Celebration of Daniel's Life (Day 53)

This is an updated version of the video I made awhile back...up until the night we came back to Children's once again. Thank you for praying for our son. We LOVE you SOOOOO much Daniel!!

You Never Let Go (Day 52)

Yesterday was Day 51 of our A day in the Life of Daniel. Yesterday was also his 51st day in the hospital since April 7th. This song by Jeremy Camp does a good job capturing my heart today as we continue to walk this broken road by faith. Thank you for praying for our son.

Day 51

Well, to be honest I cannot even believe I am writing this...Daniel is VERY sick tonight we are headed in by ambulance to the hospital. I cannot even tell you how sad my heart is...I am so sad for my other 4 kiddos. And so hurting for Daniel too...and so disappointed for us all. Please pray!

One of Our Family's Favorite Places (day 50)

For three days we are staying at a place that has become a tradition since moving to Big "D". It has been 18 months since we have been here and thanks to some sweet friends who helped to make this possible, our family is playing, swimming, laughing and having a great time! Daniel cannot join in the swimming because of his central line, so it is the last time we will make a trip here for awhile. Any guesses where we are? I know that it is not that hard...but I like guessing games! :-) Maybe the pictures will help...




And I must say I have never seen Brent make this face before! :-)


Any guesses? It is so much fun to watch my kids having fun!! Looking forward to 3 more days!! Thank you Jesus!

My Bags Are All Packed (Day 49)

And do you know where I am headed? It should be lots of fun!!! As long as my mommy has internet access you will see my smiling face at our destination tomorrow...otherwise you will have to wait 3 days until we return. She promised that she would still post a picture from each day though. Please pray for us, our bags are packed and we are looking forward to some fun family time!



Love, Daniel

A Fun Visit (Day 48)

Today we had a fun visit from our dear friends Laci and Lily. Daniel had a great time loving on Laci freely giving her lots of hugs and kisses. So sweet. And such sweet friends. Here are the three girlies eating their lunch together...


And here is Daniel snuggled up with and loving on Ms. Laci...




We LOVE visitors and today's visit was such an encouragement to ALL of our hearts!

The Two Man Band (Day 47)

Tonight Lizzy and Daniel had a two man band going in our play room/school room. They had a good time jammin' with each other. Eventually mom and Abby joined, but I thought I would leave the post tonight to the original two man band on November 12 in our little school room! :-) Without further ado, here is Lizzy on the drums/cymbals and Daniel covering all of the tamborine like instruments...

Eloise the Elephant (Day 46)

Here is a video of Daniel during pre-school time with the girls. We were singing about the letter "E"...



I love doing these kinds of activities with my kiddos! :-)

A Day In the Life of Daniel Day 45

Today my man sent me off to a friend's house for the afternoon/evening. It was a fun filled day of talking, laughing and scrapbooking. While I was gone he was faithful in capturing photos of Daniel. These are some pictures from the time they all spent together outside...





Lizzy took the one of Daniel and Brent! :-)

Just Me and Mom (Day 44)

We still cannot get Daniel to keep his eyes open for a photo...he anticipates the flash and closes his eyes. :-) Here we are snuggled up on the couch tonight, something we do everyday!


Love you Little Buddy!

Pretty Pictures (Day 43)

Today we were blessed to have a very talented young lady come over and take some photographs of our family. While we waited for her to come today, I snapped some pictures myself of the girls...















And here is one of Lizzy with Daniel...