When life throws you lemons....

....make Thanksgiving dinner!

Early Wednesday morning, it became apparent that our plans for Thanksgiving were going to change- no travel for us. Hunter woke up in the middle of the night sick to his stomach and we knew we couldn't risk passing it on. So, on Wednesday morning, I decided to make the best of our situation. Even with my family in town and an invitation to join them for lunch, I knew we needed to stay home just in case. So I set out for HEB after lunch on Wednesday and shopped for a full Thanksgiving meal- my first to ever make!

That afternoon, I busied myself in the kitchen and had so much fun preparing a special meal for my family. Today was wonderful in it's own special way. It's always so fun to be with extended family, but the sweetness of today was being with my own little crew. We sat at the table after a morning of preparation, play and just being together and said what we were thankful for. Chris said a precious and heartfelt blessing that summed up my feelings exactly and we enjoyed full plates and full tummies. This year has been like so many- full of tremendous blessings and I do not want to ever take them for granted. Today was another lesson of plans changed- sometimes our best laid plans are not to be. Thankfully, we are one step ahead in decorating for Christmas, we have delicious leftovers in the fridge and a memory that will not fade of one of my most special Thanksgivings.

Our family of 5 (pardon Chris' stache- he is still growing it for charity this month)

My first turkey

My nearly 5 month old turkey (she weighed as much as the turkey I bought- 13 lbs!)

Waiting for the big meal

All dressed up with nowhere to go (literally)

Had to add this... yesterday, Emily had her first taste of rice cereal and loved it!


Speaking for our family I can say that we are so thankful for all of the people who make our lives so incredibly special and wonderful. Today was a special and precious day for our family and we loved being together just the five of us. I can't think of anything I would have loved more.

What's up Wednesday...

It's hard to believe Emily Blair will be 4 weeks on Friday. The time has gone by so quickly, not that I didn't already know that it would. She had an awesome night last night and slept from 10 pm to 6:00 this morning. Yippee! She has been getting up around 3:30-4 each night to eat and then goes right back to sleep without any trouble. After her 6:00 feeding this morning she dozed right back off and I had to wake her around 8:00.

Hunter has some kind of viral sore throat so we had a visit to the pediatrician this morning- all of us! I had planned to possibly leave Blake with my sister so I could take Hunter and of course, Emily. The doctor's office called and asked if I could come an hour earlier instead and gave me a 15 minute warning, so we all loaded up and I am happy to say, survived our visit there.

My sweet grandfather passed away on Tuesday morning after a long battle with Parkinsons. He's in a much better place now and for that I am so thankful. We are going to miss Dee Dee though! He was a special person and the only grandfather I had living during my lifetime.

Emily is still sleeping most of the day away. I took her for a weight check last week at 3 weeks and she was 7 lbs 13 oz, so I am sure she has finally tipped the scales at 8 lbs this week. I can tell she is starting to fill out more and more, yet find it so hard to believe that Blake was BORN at 8 lbs 13 oz, over a pound and a half bigger than Emily at birth. She still is not as big as he was yet and she's almost a month old. That's incredible!

Blake and Hunter continue to be the best big brothers. There is nothing but sweetness towards Miss Em and lots of hugs and kisses from her big bros.

On our first trip to Waco, Emily was 3 weeks old. She did great in the car and slept the entire way. This is Em in her sunbubble outside at Din and Dinny's house (great-grandparents) while the boys were swimming.

This is Emily in her newest dress from her future Aunt Kate. Thanks Kate! Yellow is a good color on her.

Looking at the lights and colors on her playmat. I realized that I had the boys down on this playmat long before she got a chance. I can't forget to do the things I did with them just because life is more hectic these days. She seemed to enjoy watching the lights, listening to the music and seeing all of the colors.

Emily all dressed up in one of her tutus. It's fun to play dress up and take pictures. I am trying to figure out this camera that I got last fall and play around with the settings. She is of course a very fun and captive subject. One day soon she'll be running just like the boys do when the camera comes out!

Another attempt at playing with the camera. This Feltman bubble is one that my mom saved that me and my sister wore. So sweet!

A week ago I had a small surgery done and so Chris, Emily and I headed to the surgical center that morning. I had her all dolled up in her bow. Since I am still using the baby blue toile carseat cover I used with the boys, we sometimes get the observation that we have another boy- doesn't matter if there is a pink blanket draped over her, it still happens. So, we had to stock up on some more bows to make it OBVIOUS! It makes me laugh that my boys got mistaken as girls even in their blue outfits- I mean blue seeksucker with sailboats? Seriously? Now, I have a girl that has pink on every outfit and she gets mistaken for a boy. Ha!

The kids in Waco... Hunter loves having Em close by and Blake is always eager to be a part.

Look who has rediscovered the swing! He sits in it, makes it go side to side and says, "Wee, wee, wee!" Glad he likes it now since he was never a huge fan as a baby.

Emily is offically without her umbilical cord at 2 weeks and 1 day old. She has had a couple of tub baths since and she loves them. Like mother, like daughter. Actually, all three of mine have loved the bath since day one and even love the sound of it. I guess the many baths I took during my pregnancies fostered their love for the tub.

Well, the rest of our week will be spent with family and honoring my grandfather at his memorial service. We are going to spend the weekend at the lake and I am excited- not about getting in a suit, but about being at the lake. It's been a long time!

What we've been up to...

...this week and last. Hmmm, the weeks just seem to fly by. Before I know it we are approaching another weekend.

I am so excited and thankful that Dana is scheduled to go home on Friday. Home!! After over 6 months of being in the hospital and back and forth to rehab to gain back her strength, she will soon be walking through the doors of her home. I cannot imagine how that will feel after being away for so long. We are all going to Waco for the weekend to celebrate her homecoming, her birthday that was last week and of course, Mother's Day. What good and perfect timing to be home by Mother's Day! It will be the most incredible feeling to walk through those doors on Saturday and know that she is there. It's been way too long and she is truly the person that makes that house a home. Thank you God for answering prayers and for carrying us all through this these many, many months.

On another note, we have had 2 big birthdays in the past week. Wednesday, April 29th was Dana's. We have some special goodies to take to her this weekend and had a Pajama-gram delivered. If you've never heard of it, it's great fun. You order pajamas and they come to your door wrapped so cute and they have lots of great things to choose from. Chris surprised me with a Pajama-gram awhile back and I loved it! On April 30, it was my mom's birthday. We celebrated by having my parents and grandparents over for dinner. Hunter was helpful in blowing out the candles on the cake. I got her a new hand mixer (exciting I know) and a great cookbook based on the Mitford book series. If you have never read the Mitford books, they are great! I think I read all 7 of them within a couple of weeks last summer. I can't remember how many there are in the series, but they are such great, Christian fiction books.

Let's see... I watched the movie "Bride Wars"- pretty cute. We rented "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" and we both really liked it. It took us 2 evenings to watch it though- it's really long.

I went to a meeting at church for "Parenting with Christ" and our head pastor spoke on The Year of the Child. It was very inspirational and has caused me to really rethink some of my priorities. Basically I need to quit something in order to really go where my heart is leading me. I am contemplating very strongly ending my work with Jr. League to focus more intently on working with my church and other Christian based places that need volunteers. I also have been praying about teaching Sunday School and have felt led for years to jump on board but have had every single excuse in the book. Jr. League is a great organization- don't get me wrong. However, I end up either being gone a lot in the evenings (which I hate) or having to pay someone so I can go out and volunteer. Anyway, I don't like to quit anything, but it's been weighing on me for some time now.

Oh yeah, I got my hair CHOPPED. Yikes! I wanted it cut, but didn't realize she would take it so far. I have never had 6 inches cut off of my hair EVER. I do like it, but it's short. Oh well. Amd now, you are caught up.

So, for a picture recap of the past week....
The birthday girl and Hunter taking care of the candles.

Blake and Luke- his bestest bud- at the park.

Hunter and his future bride :) at the park. They have the BEST time together!

Hunter decided upon finding this tie that he needed to wear it. He has somehow found it each day and wears it for a little while. He seems to think he looks pretty spiffy.

I took the opportunity of Hunter snapping some pictures to get on the playmat with Blake. I am partly smiling and partly grimacing from laying on some toy of Blake's. He wasn't that impressed that I was down there with him I don't think! :) He's mostly smiling because of that toy out front with the horses that spin- he absolutely is obessed with that toy.

Okay... here's where the tie came from. This is Hunter back in the summer of 2006.

Oh, guess where we are going in about 8 days!

Meeting the newest Jones baby and seeing Dana!

We finally made a trip to Waco to see Dana. It was a wonderful trip and we were so glad to see her. She is tougher than the rest of us, that's for sure!

Hunter had not seen his Mimi since October, so he was beside himself excited. He pulled up a step stool in her hospital room and stood by her bed to talk to her. We visited Friday night in her room and then went to grab dinner. On the way back to the hospital to drop off Chris' dad, Hunter said he wanted to go back in to give Mimi a hug and a kiss goodnight. I sent him upstairs with a neat paper flower that I had made for Hunter to give her. He was excited to get to go back upstairs to see her.

Saturday, we stuffed ourselves silly at Harold Waitz's in Waco and then made the quick trip up to Fort Worth to meet our newest nephew, Adam. He is adorable and slept the whole time we were there. I did get to hold him and love on him and it's just amazing how little they are to start off. We put Blake and Adam next to each other and I know that will be the first of many pictures they are in together!

Hunter had a blast playing with David and Ryan. They don't skip a beat when they haven't seen each other in a while. He always loves whatever they are up to.

Later on Saturday, we had one more visit with Dana. She felt strong enough to be wheeled out to the waiting area and we had a great visit. Hunter is in a stage of not listening- I am hoping this is a stage- and was like a wild animal. He was all over the place.

After dinner, we loaded up and headed back to SA. Overall, it was a quick trip but so great to see Dana and Adam both.

Dinny (Chris' grandmother) with her 2 newest great grandbabies!

Adam and Hunter both completely sacked out!

I mean really?!!

Could you just eat him up? He's too cute!

Our own little artist up to no good.

TGIF

Lovin' on my boys! There's nothing like Friday.

Have a great weekend ya'll!

When it gets too quiet...

...you better start to wonder.

Yesterday, after a couple of minutes on the phone with a friend, I thought it was awfully quiet in the house. After peeking around for Hunter, this is what I found...



The entire contents of the changing table were shoved into and behind the little house in Blake's room. Hunter was very proud of his work.

Earlier in the day, he was digging around in Chris' closet and walked out in Chris' size 15 tennis shoes and announced that he was "ready to work out." You better believe I helped him onto the eliptical and told him I had to get a picture of him on it. A 3 foot tall little boy in size 15 shoes... that's not something you see everyday!

Check out those shoes!
We are at a very silly age these days and he keeps me laughing and we are never short on pictures!!

Prayers Needed!!

Prayer Warriors near and far...

Dana's journey continues with her ongoing sickness. We are just in amazement that it has been 9 weeks in the ICU with her being so sick. This week especially has been a test of our faith.

At some point, I will update the blog on the entire illness, but past entries can fill you in on the details.

We traveled to Waco from Friday-Sunday after Christmas. Dana was holding steady at that point. We got home Sunday night and woke up Monday morning to some bad news. Her white blood count had increased which showed worsening infection. Also, her heart was having trouble and was weakening. Chris traveled to Waco shortly after lunch and I headed up behind him with the boys.

I stopped along the way to pick up my mom at the lake and got there around 9. I was able to see her and tell her how much I love her that night. Tuesday morning, we were woken up by a phone call at 3:45 from Chris' dad saying that the time was near. We rushed to the hospital and were able to talk to her and love on her. She was lucid and able to respond to us. It was a very difficult time as we all thought that the end was nearing. At about 7, we were told to go back to the hotel and rest. We did not know how much longer things could go on.

Dana's cardiologist mentioned that one possibility of her weakening heart could be a toxic reaction to a drug she was on. The other doctors highly doubted this and thought that she was tiring out.

Around 12 noon on Tuesday, we were called back to the hospital. Her heart had weakened further and was very irregular. This time, we read the Bible, sang her favorite hymns and talked and comforted her. She was sedated most of this time so that she would not be anxious or worried.

Around 2:30, we started to see a change on the monitor. The heart was increasing in regularity and strength. We were witnessing a miracle. The tone in the room changed as we began to encourage her to hold on and fight. We saw before our very eyes how God worked a miracle on Dana at that moment. She was hanging on when doctors felt it could not be possible.

The 6 reported cases of this particular drug being toxic left a VERY small chance that that was the case for her. However, as her heart began to turn around, it was evident that she was the 7th case of this. She was doing better.

Tuesday night, a friend of the family and a confirmed "prayer warrior" visited Dana's room to symbolically wash her feet and annoint her with oil. The next morning, she came and met the entire family around her bedside to take communion and pray over her.

Chris and I left for the lake Wednesday afternoon. We felt comfortable with her status at that point and knew she needed to rest.

Thursday brought continued good news. Her heart was holding strong, her infection levels were down a bit and she was resting. The main concern was an increase in her kidney levels, so they were watching that. At that point, the cultures were not showing any infections. This was great!

Friday morning, Chris received a phone call that her infection levels had risen, her kidneys had worsened and he decided to head back to Waco. We spent the day once again in constant prayer. We wanted so badly for God's timing to be NOW- to start the healing process NOW!

Today, the news was better. Her infection levels have dropped- GLORY TO GOD!! They still cannot culture anything, so we are grateful and hopeful that God has taken those stubborn infections and gotten them out of her body for good. The issue of most concern is still the kidneys today. If she absolutely needs to, they will start dialysis, but we hope this will not be the case. We are hoping that they will begin to work more effectively without the need for dialysis. The cardiologist has said today that he thinks her heart is still holding strong. How amazing!!

We are so confident in God's power to heal and we believe with our entire heart that he will. She has great work to do for the Lord and we feel that He will heal her to allow her to do just that. What an amazing witness of God's power, strength and goodness. We have witnessed a miracle firsthand watching her heart recover from the toxin. She has persevered and has the will to continue the fight.

Please join us in praying for her full recovery. Pray the God's timing would begin NOW. She has been through such a long ordeal already and we are begging for each day to be better than the last. God has been so good to us and to her already and has shown us so much in the last 9 weeks. His Word has been so powerful and filling to us as we lean entirely upon Him for wisdom and understanding. We give all glory to Him for each and every step of this journey. Thank you all for your prayers.

My cute kids and.... Blake and Luke meet

These pictures just verify what I already know... Blake and Hunter are the cutest kids I know! Too bad there are about 100 more pictures I just couldn't possibly share on the blog. These are some of my favorites from the last couple of days!








Yesterday, Blake and his bestest friend got together for the first time. Blake was 18days old and Luke was 9 days old when they first met. Cari and I could not resist taking a million pictures of them "sleeping" through their first playdate.
(Oh yes, they are in the same outfit!) Also, Luke is on the left, Blake is on the right!

Happy Birthday Daddy!!

Dear Dad,
Happy birthday! I love you and love to do things with you. Someday I want to be just like you. I hope you have a really special day.
Love,
Hunter

Jones Family Christmas Picture 2007

Here it is... to be sent out really soon!!

5 Years!!