Tell your wife to journal these things

So it has been several months since my last posts and a couple of years since I have blogged regularly and honestly I figured my blog was dead. I just kept it here so I could go back and look at certain events that have happened in the last 6 or so years.

But then about a month ago someone told my husband, "Tell your wife to journal these things." I thought about the physical journals I have and most of them either get lost, packed away or who knows what else. The only place where I know I can find stories is here. So instead of letting this sit forever and refuse to post because I got out of the habit, I decided I want to journal these things down here.

The Twins
How fun is being 5?! The girls are full of joy and laughter. Exactly what we prayed for them when they were still being formed. They started TK last week so we can have 1 more year to get a little bigger and stronger and be some of the oldest in their Kindergarten class instead of the babies. I am so happy we made that decision.
Liana is doing wonderful and having this extra year of play and shorter days will be great for her. She has gotten so good at using her "pretty side" and can now turn the wheel both ways on the outdoor Barbie Jeep. She can dress herself now and will remind us to put on her brace so that her ankle can be strong...this is certainly a huge shift from when she would cry because she couldn't wear flip flops (although she still gets some flip flop time too). The cast that she had a few months ago helped her so much. She is doing great now and having a brace to wear at night seems to work really well for her.
Adleigh is doing great and stepping into being a protective sister. We encourage her to help Liana at school. It is hard to encourage your twins to be different people but still not want one to get left out. But I think that is something they will learn to master as they get older. We overheard a child asking Liana about her brace and then Adleigh piped in, "I had a hole in my heart but now it is fixed."
Seeing the girls grow up and watching how twins interact is fascinating. They get along so well at home. I do think they will be incredibly close as they get older.

Sydney
She is the sweetest and the craziest. This kid is vocal and non-stop. She is crawling everywhere, wanting to walk so bad, and trying to tell everyone what is on her mind. I think spirited is the perfect word for her. It is so fun having a single baby after you have twins. Everything seems so much easier and you feel like you can do anything with just 1 baby. So far Sydney has had a healthy first year. We have had 2 coughs that needed antibiotics and we continue to do breathing treatments, chest therapy, enzymes and medicines. I hope we can get the vest soon because chest therapy is the hardest to get her to do. She always wants to chew on the percussor. She has 5 teeth now too so she is chewing on everything! Since the last post, Sydney had her ostomy reversed and did super well! We have had 6 months with no bag and it honestly feels so weird remembering we used to change a bag instead of a diaper.

I am such a blessed mom and so thankful for these 3 miracles. I have been praying Psalm 103:2, "Praise the Lord, my soul, and forget not all his benefits." God loves each one of these girls more than I ever could. I can't wait to see how each of their lives will unfold and excited to know that each one of them already has a story to tell from their own life of God's goodness, love and protection.

ASD, casts, and ostomy bags

The next few weeks and months are going to be pretty crazy at our house and I wanted to let those of you that have been praying for us to know specific things you can continue to pray for. We have significant prayer requests for each one of our children so I am going to break it up by child.

Adleigh: She has had an ASD (hole in her heart) since birth that we were hoping to close on its own, but it is still open. This hole doesn't cause her any problems now but if left untreated she would have significant heart problems as a young adult. She has a surgery scheduled Jan 31st to repair the hole. The doctors will go through a vein with the device to implant it in her heart so our hospital stay will only be overnight. Adleigh gets very anxious about medical stuff so pray for the surgery and recovery to go well and pray for wisdom on how to talk to her about the upcoming surgery.

Liana: Most of you know that Liana has hemiplegia (weakness on her right side) which causes her to walk on her tiptoes. She wears a brace on her right foot but right now she cannot get her foot in a 90 degree position. Based on her orthopedist's recommendation,  in the next few weeks she will get 2 shots of Botox in her foot muscles and then wear a cast for 4 weeks to help stretch her muscles. She has been having a lot of foot pain so hopefully this will help have her foot in a position that is more comfortable for her. We are also in the process of changing some of her therapies so we have more freedom to do fun activities that she enjoys so pray for wisdom in that.

Sydney: We had Sydney's first Cystic Fibrosis clinic this month and everything looked great. We love our team of specialists and they all think Sydney is adorable. We received the results from her sweat test which also confirmed the CF diagnosis. Our goal is to continue to keep Sydney and her lungs as healthy as possible. We are praying that her symptoms as she grows will be nonexistent or mild and that there will be a cure during her lifetime. We also met with her surgeon about her upcoming intestinal surgery so we can get rid of her ostomy bag. The plan is to do that in March. That will be a 4-6 day hospital stay. Pray for this surgery to go well, quick healing, and no complications.

Thank you for keeping our family in your prayers! 

O Lord, you are my God!

I will exalt you in praise, I will extol your fame.

For you have done extraordinary things,

and executed plans made long ago exactly as you decreed. (Isaiah 25:1 NET)