Family Pictures

Here are a few of my favorite pictures that we had taken in December. To see all of the pictures, check out my facebook page!

Notice the fingers in Payton's mouth? It's her first two fingers on her left hand....they are rarely NOT in her mouth unless she's playing or talking!

I can't believe how big and grown up Preston is! These past three years have flown by!

I love this picture! The real reason Payton is crying is because the camera lady pulled her fingers out of her mouth! I kept telling her just to leave them! This is what happens when the fingers are disturbed! :)

As I hung this picture on our entry way wall, I found myself thinking, "Wow! Can I really be grown up enough to be married with two beautiful children?" I can't believe how fast the past 8 years have gone by and how blessed my life has been through the addition of a wonderful husband and fantastic children! I only hope the next 8 years aren't so fast.....but I"m holding on because I know they will be!

Andy Update

Well, great news. Andy was released from the hospital yesterday! I was able to speak with Amy for a few minutes on her way to the hospital. She retold me the stories from surgery day, and I was pretty accurate for the most part. Here's the skinny:

Although they had complications with his leg (see blog below), everything else turned out fine (including the leg stuff). I guess the doctor reporting to Amy that he may not have pain relief and things didn't go well was just a resident and didn't know exactly what he was saying. The "real" doctor said things turned out great and he should be able to live a pretty normal life!

They were not able to replace the discs they were hoping for, but the did fuse several discs together. Amy said he should gain about an inch in height! :)

Andy was excited to go home and said he was already feeling relief in his back! Praise the Lord!! He stomach was pretty painful, but I guess that's what you excpect when they cut through muscle and take your inards out! Yuck!

So, THANK YOU for all of you praying for him and his family. Keep the prayers comin' during the long recovery time. I know it will be hard on him to not hold his children and hard on Amy and the kids to not have daddy up and going. A small price to pay for a "normal" life again!

****On another note, I have not had school the last two days!! This weather is CRAZY right now. For over two weeks we had temperatures in the negatives....like -15 and more! It was SOOOOO cold. THen, all of a sudden, God must have heard us praying for warmer weather an He delivered! In about a two day period, the temperatures have warmed up to the upper 30's and lower 40's. THis makes for freezing rain, melting snow, and refreezing streets at night time. Needless to say, school has been closed because of ICY ROADS (and extrememly high winds). THis is just crazy to me! I mean, come on...I DO live in Alaska! We've NEVER had schools closed for icy roads in the 8 years I've lived here and only had them closed for snow a couple of times! I'm certainly not complaining though...I've definately enjoyed my time off!

And now, I'm headed out on a red eye flight with the family to go to the great state of Texas to visit mom and dad for a week. We are so excited. More to come later....

My Big Bro

Most of you know my big bro Andy. He's 32, a husband and a dad of three. He's WAY to young to be having serious back problems. He's been in a considerable amount of pain for the last two years (maybe more...I can't remember). The doctor told him he has the worst back he's ever seen in someone his age. They think part of it is genetics, but they are attributing part of his problems to flying on a Hovercraft in the Navy for a number of years.

Andy had surgery on his back yesterday, Monday. He was SUPER excited about the surgery because the doctors were optomistic it would bring relief to him. What was suppose to be a 4-6 hour surgery ended up being over 9 hours. They went in through is stomach (yuck!) to get to his spinal column. They were planning on fusing some discs and placing titanium rods in his back. However, his discs were in worse shape than the doctors had anticipated. They were not able to fuse the discs, or replace them. I'm not exactly sure what they did (I'm getting all the info from my mom and haven't talked with Amy or Andy directly yet). During surgery, Andy lost all feeling in his left leg. At one point, the doctors weren't sure if he would regain feeling. By the end of surgery, it appeared that he had regained this feeling, but the doctors weren't feeling near as optomistic about his outcome. What they hoped would bring wonderful relief of pain, they were now saying might bring SOME relief.

The bible says "His mercies are new every morning" and that's what I've seen happening today. Andy has regained feeling in his leg (although I guess it's pretty painful) and they've had him up and walking a couple of steps today. They took an x-ray this morning and the doctors were happy with what they saw. They are sounding more positive and are hopeful about the outcome, although I'm still not sure to what extent he will feel relief. The downside is, what they were hoping would be about a 3 month FULL recovery time is now looking more like a 6 month full recovery time.

Will you join me in praying for my brother and his family? Here are a few specifics to be bringing before the throne of the Lord:
- no infection in the surgery site
- pain relief both temporarily as he's healing and long-term
- strength, hope, and endurance during this long road of recovery
- a refreshed and renewed relationship with the Lord....this is often hard to do during stressful, painful times
- a positive outlook
- a fast recovery than the doctors predict
- endurance for his wife and family during this recovery time

I know the Lord is the ultimate Healer and I am trusting that he will heal Andy and give him many, many years of pain free fun with his children! Eventhough most of us are so far away, let's encircle him and his family in prayer! "For I know the plans I have for you" declares the Lord!

A Blast from the Past

If you would like to see a glimpse of me from the past (inHigh School), click here http://wheathayes.blogspot.com/. A friend decided to post these pics on her blog (thanks Wheaties)! All I can say is I wish I was still that skinny....oh, and I know I have such a sexy stance in the second picture! :)

Enjoy....