Tools

Dad made a cool new tool for D to use. He's loving it...turning off and on every light over and over again, as well as opening door after door. Such joy on this kiddo's face!

October

There are so many things about my husband that I love. One of them is how handy and creative he is! Our kids dress up every Halloween with their cousins and we come up with some group theme, then trick or treat all together. In past years we've done Star Wars, Dr. Seuss, Angry Birds, and Wizard of Oz, among others. This year was the Superhero year, and the first year that Dillon could drive his own wheelchair around while trick or treating! Our Dillon was the coolest kid around as his dad made him the raddest Batmobile to go along with his Batman costume! Here are a few pics of our night, and some of the hubs making the cool ride.

Batman, Wolverine, BatGirl, Captain America, Robin, and SpiderGirl (or something like that)

Our boy was so joyful in his Batmobile; he'll probably want to keep it on his wheelchair for good now! The rest of our weekend was eventful for little D, too, as he was fitted for his FOURTH prosthetic arm! As his full arm grows he needs to keep updating his little arm. He uses his prosthetic arm daily and it is his favorite method of mobility. We went to see our fave, Dr. Terry, this weekend, and D was cast for another arm. He should have this one in a few weeks, and we look forward to this one fitting better with his growth. One of these days I'll line up all of his arms that he's had over the past two years - it is so fun to see how he has grown! After the doc visit we had to take the kids to a childhood fave of ours... Happy Fall!

The differences in today.

Last week: Jason's day vs our day: Jason spent the day with one of our sponsored children in Ethiopia, Zecaryas, and we hiked and fished close to home. Thankful for both great experiences. Love our kids here and our sponsored kids abroad. Blessed by the ministry of Compassion! If you don't yet sponsor...you should. It works. Z wants to be a pilot (or a doctor)! Compassion and his local church are giving him hope, and releasing his family from poverty, all in the name of Jesus. Jason and Z sang Amazing Grace together and sent me a video of it...so special...to be posted soon. www.compassion.com

Thankful for FaceTime so we can share about our days, and glad he's home now :).

June - our summer so far

It's been a fantastic summer so far! We went on our first road trip as a family to Cali and had an amazing time. Kids did great in the car for 18+ hours and we were so proud of them! We camped on the beach for three nights, which ended up being pretty incredible, sand in the campsite and all. We had some fun "camp neighbors" and the kids loved being able to wake up and walk into the ocean. We even saw dolphins! It was a blessed family time, and we're so thankful. I got to visit some college friends (including my first roomie ever, who helped make college some of my greatest years!)  and drive around my old college stomping grounds (where I did talk over and over again to my children about how they will be attending there - yahoo Westmont :)!). We then trekked off to the San Diego area for Legoland! The kids adored our day at the park - Legoland was a blast! We struggled before we went with little D, as most of the rides in the park he wasn't tall enough to ride. Fact is, he will probably never be tall enough to ride most of them. This was our first amusement park experience to figure out with our little guy, but all in all it was wonderful. He was able to ride a few things, play some games, and enjoy the park with us. He's three now...as he gets older we forsee many more struggles with him wanting to ride things that a child his age with legs would be able to ride...but this time we did alright. There were some tears when he couldn't ride things his siblings went on, but we were able to distract him enough and had fun. We're praying for the future and all that we have to figure out, as he will always have the height challenge. Since we've been home we've been busying playing, hiking, and had the opportunity to take care of a baby lamb last week - bottle feeding and all. Yes, we took care of a baby lamb while his owners were out of town. Loved it! We're joyful, and thankful, and praising God for all he's doing in and through our family. On to July!

 Oh Carp Beach, we love you.

 Silly dad with B and the Lego girls

Birthday boy!

D is THREE!!! We can hardly believe it! It seems like yesterday that we wrote this blog about his birth and his little hand: http://courageouslyenabled.blogspot.com/2012/05/thankful-for-that-little-hand.html! What a treasure and a joy he is to us. His favorite things are the color orange, pickles, Daniel Tiger, Pokemon, cruising around in his wheelchair, and playing with his siblings. He talks like nobody's business and loves to sing! He adores his cousins and buddies and is such an amazing blessing to be around. We are so very honored to spend this life with him. And we're so proud of him. We pray every day that he draws near to Jesus, that he strives to be like Him, that he is joyful in his salvation and serves with his whole heart. Dillon is a gift to us. Happy birthday, sweet D. We love you bunches.

Psalm 127:3 "Behold, children are a heritage from the Lord..."
3 John 1:4 "I have no greater joy than to hear that my children are walking in the truth."
Jeremiah 29:11 "For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope."

Birthday morning! Don't mind the crazy morning hair :).

Really excited about his new fishing pole! And what other kid gets to sit ON the table to open his presents?

Practicing with dad

Childhood

Ah...spring...where it snows one day and its pushing 70 degrees the next. Love it. And our kids are joyful, playing outside in the yard, exploring nature, going on hikes, and playing their favorite sports. Childhood is so fun! Let's cherish it, and encourage our kids to experience the outside!

Today the boys built Lego boats and floated them down the creek in the backyard.

And the big old dog fell into that creek in the backyard.

And every weekend through May we are at the fields, cheering on our favorite soccer and flag football players. Its hard to see, but this is our little soccer player girl scoring a goal this Saturday. She's the one in the hot pink socks.

  

Worms

I have always hoped that D won't notice his "differences" until much later. As in older. He knows some things about him are different, but I guess I don't realize how much an almost three year old comprehends. Yesterday at our kids co-op we went looking for bunnies (aka, I want D to practice in his wheelchair so I get him to look for bunnies as we go around and around the building a bunch of times practicing his driving on sidewalks and ramps) but we didn't find any...instead we found worms. Of course we had to lower the chair so we could look at the worms closely. D was super concerned about a couple of them as they were on the sidewalk and he wasn't sure how they would get back to their home. I told him they could wiggle or crawl back to the grass and dig down into the dirt. He then said "well, do worms have legs?" I said no, that they move kinda like crawling. He then said "yea, like me! Worms don't have legs like me!" So sweet, little boy. I want to push the realization of his differences off to when he's much older. I want to have a few more years of him not noticing a thing. But I don't think that's what God has in mind. He knows people stare at him, ask about him, and now notices animals that are similar to him. Right now, however, he doesn't really care, and that's wonderful. I pray that God will give him confidence, security, to know that he is LOVED and cherished and that his differences, genuinely, do not matter. I am thankful for friends that are so used to those differences that they don't notice a thing anymore. D is just D and he's perfect.
And to end on a great note, after we went inside the co-op a woman came up to him and said "Wow! Cool cart!" D laughed out loud and said "she said cart, mommy! This isn't a cart. It's a wheelchair. Haha." What a joy and treasure this child is to us.

Rocket shot

People are always interested in how D gets around and how he does "normal" things. He drives in his wheelchair, walks with either his walker or his prosthetic arm, and can do stairs like a pro. He's still practicing on that skateboard, and loving every minute of it. He can also do everyday things like shoot a rocket. Here's a video of him doing just that. Love this kid. 

Big Dog

Dogs are so fun. And so messy. And so shed-y. I love the fun part. Not so much the messy and shed-y part. But my family loves doggies, and we'll probably always have one (or two) around here. We have our lab, who is around 13 years old, and not doing too hot. She's wonderful, always has been, and we love her. However, she's probably only got a short time left around here, so we'll be saying goodbye soon. About a month ago we added to our family and got a St. Bernard. Yes, a St. Bernard. She was rescued and we adopted her from the Humane Society. She's awesome, and although huge, not as crazy as our puppy lab ever was. So...here's to "St. Bernard rides" around the yard this summer! Ye-haw!

ABC's

Here's our little man sharing his ABC's with you! He's just so darn cute, and growing up so fast. What a blessing and joy he is to us. And again, sorry you can't play from mobile.

Take One:

And Take Two: