I Have a Teenager?

It's hard to believe that I have a teenager. It seems impossible considering I am only 28. :)

Last week, my eldest child celebrated his 13th birthday. I'm still not use to his deeper voice and the fact that it won't be long before he is taller than me.

We were actually planning on having his birthday party on his actual birthday. This is not the norm. We, usually, have a party on the weekend before or after the actual day. But, alas, it was not meant to be. The stomach bug or, as we affectionately refer to it, Amy's bug was still making its rounds. Since we were unsure who , if anyone, actually had or was going to have the bug, we postponed the party. I don't think anyone actually had the bug, but the day before the "big day" 2 of the kiddos were complaining about stomach pain so we weren't taking any chances.

The actual day didn't go unobserved. David requested cheesecake.... which I bought. I did make the blueberry topping from the blueberries we picked with our own little hands a day or so before.














The Main Party

No, I didn't make the cake. I usually do, but due to unforeseen circumstances, I needed to buy a cake. We chose an ice cream cake from the Cold Stone Creamery. I wasn't impressed. An Abbott's ice cream cake tastes SO much better...just FYI.






This is my newest nephew, Caleb. He's about 6 months old and......FAT. I love chunky babies and this boy is CHUNKY!!!!!

MICAH UPDATE: He's home!!!!! He had his surgery on Sat. and was home on Sunday. He still has a long way to go before he's completely recovered, but he's happy to be home. Thanks, again, for your prayers.

Julia- I didn't "photoshop" the fences because that would be deceitful. The fences were there and to take them out would be a lie. Besides, I have NO CLUE how to do that or they would be long gone!

The Zoo

I slept in, skipped my treadmill, and had a brownie for breakfast. I have a cold, and I'm very whiny when I am sick, but I bought this membership to the zoo way back in June. We've only used it once this summer and time is running out. After lunch, I surprised the kids with the announcement, "Any one want to go to the zoo?!"

Our zoo is...well...not very big. It's disappointing at times, a blessing at others. Today it was a blessing. It's quick and easy to walk through, yet still thrills the kiddos.


The orangutans are my favorite. Sometimes they do nothing, but today they were very entertaining.















I know, it's hard to tell they are entertaining from the pictures, but they had us laughing for quite a while.






The wild bunch I get to live with.





Robert's favorite reptile


I was trying to get a picture of the wild zoo animal, but I caught a reflection of David. Well...I like it anyway.




Katelyn's favorite. He was nice enough to walk around for a while. Usually, he's off in a corner sleeping.

It was a good day even though I am suffering with a horrible cold. See.....told ya....whiny.

Another Update

Micah is out of the ICU----- Yay!!!!

He's having hip surgery tomorrow and they are talking about sending him home sometime next week. He was able to eat some "real" food yesterday and he really enjoyed that. Thanks, again for the prayers.

Jackie has told me that the family doesn't have health insurance so this is a tremendous burden for them. Micah's family didn't specifically ask for prayer for this, but I thought I would throw in another prayer request anyway.

Good News

Jackie put another update about Micah on facebook and here it is.....

Jackie Jewell

Update on my nephew Micah. Praise the Lord. They took the tubes out today and his lung stayed up and he is doing better and he even talked to me today. Had funny things to say. Meds were still in effect. He is very sore and still has a long way t...o recovery. He was going to get to eat some jello tonight or tomorrow. He is so happy. Thanks everyone for praying.

Thank you from me for praying for Micah. I know the family really appreciates your prayers. Jackie is one of the few friends from college that I actually keep in contact with on a regular basis. I'm thankful that I have Christian friends that will pray for a boy that they will never meet simply because I posted the request on my blog. Thanks, again.
Michelle

More updates on Micah.

From last night (Jackie's Facebook...I just copied and pasted):

Micah did well today. He is still sedated and has the breathing tube down his throat They are to take it out in the morning. Please pray that all goes well and his lung will stay inflated . LIz just text me and said things are well with him. They are very nervous about his lungs.

From this morning:

Doctors still have not come in to take the tubes out of Micah and they want to start to wake him. They are all really nervous. They are scared that his lung will deflate again. Doug and Liz were both able to get 3 hrs of sleep. Continue to be praying for them. Liz has had trouble with her gallbladder and for the last week it is causing her a lot of trouble. She said she does not want to end up in the hospital.

From this afternoon:

UPDATE ON MICAH. His lung fell again and they are asking everyone to continue to pray . Micah is really upset with this and so are his parents

Update on Micah

Micah ended up having surgery late last night. Here is Jackie's, my friend, update from facebook this morning ...

Jackie(Ryland) Jewell

MIcah came thru surgery. They have put a drain in him and have him sedated for a few days. So that that is drains can do well and with tube in this will help keep his lung open and encourage it to stay open. He is not out of the woods yet. Please ...continue to be praying for him and when I hear from Doug or Liz I will let you all know. Thanks again from me and the family for your prayers.

Thanks again for those of you that have been praying. I will give updates as I get them.

Prayer request for a friend

I have a friend who lives in PA and just found out her nephew's son (Micah-he's about 13) was injured. Micah was on the outside of the truck his dad was driving (they do farm work) standing on the ledge (I forget what it is called). The truck ran over a bump, Micah fell off and the truck ran over him. He was helicoptered to the hospital. He's is alive and breathing on his own, but his left lung keeps collapsing. If you could just take a few moments to pray for this boy and his family I know they would appreciate it.

I apologize for this poorly worded paragraph, but writing does not come naturally to me.. If I want something to sound "good" it takes me a couple of drafts and I just wanted to get the prayer request out there. Thanks for understanding.

A little worried...

A couple of weeks ago, we had family over to the house. When my 2 year old nephew, Aiden, picked up Brianna's headband and proceeded to put it on like it was the most natural thing in the world.... I was a little worried about his boyhood.

I needn't have worried.







He's all boy....just a little strange. :)

More "Lash and Steel"

Our Pastor volunteered 2 of our deacons for this demonstration. They were very brave (or they pretended to be brave). :)

What I'm really doing in the nursery...

This is from the night when Lash and Steel did their presentation at the church. Usually the children pretty much ignore the monitor, but we noticed these two were enthralled on this particular night. Don't worry... no children were harmed in the making of this video.

Fireworks

Just a little bit of the fireworks display for those of you who missed the game.

The more interesting fireworks were off to the side and our view was obstructed. Sorry. The quality is poor, but it's a cheap video camera. Deal with it. :)

The game was fun, and by that I mean the food was good. The Red Wings won 3 to zip, and I felt bad for the other team. Is that weird?

Some Wedding Pictures

Shannon and I looked so nice before Joy's wedding that I had my mom take some quick pictures.
(Well, Shannon looked nice; I looked absolutely gorgeous.) LOL







What? Were you expecting pictures of the bride and groom?