The Best Made Plans...

Here's Nathan with his Pre-Surgery haircut.

During his haircut,

many hands were helping.

After his haircut.

Hummm...Nathan and Papa 

have the same haircut!

Ready!

Salt Lake City here we come!!

Bags are packed.

Cars filled with kids and food.

Trailer stuffed and wrapped with all the toys.

Nine o'clock AM arrived and we took off. 

caravaning the whole 5.5 hours!

Arrived in the late afternoon.

😎😎😎😎😎

The next day, Thursday,

 Nathan had his blood work done.

Something is wrong!

Nathan has a temperature!

But we continued, as if Nathan will have surgery the next day!

 Early morning prayers and a good-by picture.

Mark and Nathan outside the

Children's Hospital.

We stopped and prayed right before
Nathan was supposed to head in to surgery.
But....

NO SURGERY!

The Doctor said "No". 
He even consulted 5 other Doctors 
and they all said no, too!
Nathan still had a temperature.

The emotions were all over the place.
What do we do now?

Well, we were thankful!
We praised God for an answer,
even though it wasn't the one
we wanted.
We gave thanks for a clear answer.

Then we went outside and played!!
Mark set up the slip and slide.

It turned into a water fight!
Levi and I had a good time
getting wet.

We are home now waiting for the
Doctor to call for a Reschedule Date.

And when we do get a surgery date,
we'll do it all over again!

Please stop by Kimmy's  blog
for more...

Please Pray For Nathan

It's Nathan's turn for surgery!

It's called, Cranial Vault Remodeling Surgery.

Nathan was born with no soft spot, a closed skull.

This surgery will allow his brain to grow properly, within his skull.

Here's a explanation:

The cranial vault is the space within your skull that contains your brain. Cranial vault remodeling is exactly what the name implies. The craniofacial surgeon will remodel or reshape the bones of the skull expanding and enlarging the space within the vault to allow room for your child’s brain to grow while attempting to restore a more natural appearing shape of the skull. The craniofacial surgeon and the neurosurgeon work together to perform the surgery as safely as possible. The goals of surgery for craniosynostosis are to allow for normal expansion of the brain, relieve the pressure caused by the early suture closure, and restore or improve your child’s appearance and head shape.

(https://www.texaschildrens.org/blog/2013/06/cranial-vault-remodeling)

In preparation for Nathan's surgery he received a Care Package

from a group called Cranio Care Bears

Cranio Care Bears are two mom's who sons had cranisoynostosis surgery.
They wanted to help other parents through this hard and scary time.

He's so excited.

Kimmy has prepared for his surgery, too!

New outfits that don't go over his head,

but snap up the front or zip up.

Nathan has gotten so big,
along with his personality, also!

 This picture below shows the shape of his head.

Some say his head is shaped like a football, but

we all think it's cute!

Nathan's surgery is

Friday, June 14th

The surgery will be about 5 hours long.

There is so much, in preparing for a surgery!

Mentally, physically, monetarily, emotionally and

spiritually.

Both Kimmy and Mark have prepared well!

Tom and I will be traveling to Salt Lake City,
with the whole family.

We have rented a house and Nathan will
have his parents, siblings, and grandparents
with him while he recovers.
 Kimmy and Mark will be staying in the hospital with Nathan,
while he is in the hospital, about 5 days.

When Nathan is released,
 he'll be with us at the rented house
 until the Drs. say he can go home.
Which should be another 5 days.

Please pray that the surgery goes well.
Recovery is quick.
Nathan can sleep (sometimes its hard for these little guys to sleep)
For the Doctors, Nurses and staff.
For Mark and Kimmy.
For the rest of the children.
And for Tom and I.


More pictures:


Nathan's eating real food.


He's crawling, too!


Grammie-goo (me) right after Nathan was born.


Papa on nap duty.

Thank you for praying!
I will return with an update as soon as I can.


~~~~****~~~~

He comforts us in all our troubles so that we can comfort others. When they are troubled, we will be able to give them the same comfort God has given us."

2 Corinthians 1:4

Last Day of School

For 180 days the school bus has picked up and 

dropped off our neighborhood,

 elementary school students.

There are about 14 students 

who line up to get on board.

All this takes place in our backyard.

The bus stops right behind our fence.

Everyday!

I love it.

Today, was the last day of school.

I had to do something for the students to 

help them celebrate.

We always have chalk around, for our grand kids.

 I raced out the back gate and began to draw and write.

  I left pieces of chalk  on the cement, 

so they could add their art work.

 Here I am busy at work.

Then the kids started to come, one by one.

I hurried back into our yard and closed the gate.

I peeked out a knot hole in our fence and

 took a picture.

This little girl got busy adding to the  

sidewalk chalk artwork.

 Ooops!

Here's the bus!

When the coast was clear and the bus was far down the road,

I went out the gate to see what 

was drawn.

HEARTS !

She's a heart girl, just like me.

Happy Last Day !

💕💕💕💕💕💕💕

"Peace I leave with : my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid."

John 14:27