Sunday, December 12, 2010

Thanksgiving

We have so much to be thankful for this year! We are thankful for our health, we are thankful to have each other, we are thankful for our family and friends. Mostly we are thankful for the grace and peace we have through Christ Jesus. Without Him we would have nothing!

We had a wonderful meal at Chris and Diane's this year! The food was heavenly and the company was even better!
Here is one table:

Here is the other table:

Here is our family... We are so blessed!

Great Grandma and McKinley:

This was just too cute not to include... : )

We hope you have much to be thankful for this year!

Give'N'Gobble

We have started an annual Thanksgiving tradition... a 5k walk in our neighborhood called the Give'N'Gobble. Part of the race fee goes to a local food bank and we also donate cans of food for the t-shirts. Last year was the first year we did it and it was a blast. McKinley did great again this year... she was just a warm snuggy passenger! But she did have her own race bib and was the cutest participant ever! : )

This year we used our two extra "family" spots to bring along Benjamin and Paige... our niece and nephew. I think they had fun as much fun as we did, even though it was freezing cold. At least it was dry!

It is a great way to start of day of giving Thanks... and to work off a few of those calories before we even eat them! I think next year we may try the 5k run... at least it sounds good now. We'll see. : )

Tuesday, November 16, 2010

Our other Montana family : )


We had a wonderful visit with my Dad the last couple days... our other Montana family! Dad and McKinley had a great time getting to know one another and playing. Dad left early this morning and McKinley kept saying "Grampa". It was sweet...

Dad is doing awesome! Lots of you have asked and we appreciate your thoughts and prayers. He has lost a ton of weight, is walking three plus miles a day, and is weaning off all his meds. His cardiologists are thrilled with his progress and want to make him their poster child (not literally). What is even better is that he is thrilled with how he feels and with the progress he has made. He looks healthier and happier than he has in years.

Yay Dad/Grampa! We are proud of you! Thank you for coming to visit... we love you so much and look forward to seeing you again soon.

Saturday, November 13, 2010

Oregon Family

Here is our Oregon family in Sunriver...

Montana Family (at least for now)

Mom and Norm came out a few weeks back to take care of us after our adventures in Sunriver. : ) We paused for a moment to take an updated family photo... and this is us!

Halloween

Halloween came and went in the blink of an eye... we didn't get a ton of photos... but here are a few of our little pumpkin, and our pumpkin patch visit. Lots of fun!




Tuesday, November 2, 2010

Hiatus

No photos with this post, but I'll try to get some up in the next few days. Just wanted to "check in" so all of my four readers wouldn't worry. We've had a hectic and crazy couple months and I just haven't had much to share. But the news, such as it is, is this...

In September we discovered I was pregnant... however, I was having a lot of unusual spotting. After having had two miscarriages (a whole other blog post)... I wasn't sure this one was going to be viable. There are a lot of details of those weeks, but I won't bore you with them here. Let's just leave it to say we were in a wild roller coaster ride between joy and concern. At every turn, we would have a moment of confirmation and joy, and then next would bring uncertainty and worry.

In October we discovered my pregnancy was an ectopic (tubular) pregnancy, and we discovered that because it ruptured while we were in Sunriver. It happened somewhere around 2:30 am... and the next several hours are a blur. I was sure that I just had food poisoning, but after about an hour of those type symptoms, I started getting light headed every time I sat up or stood up. I spent quite a bit of time on our bathroom floor, and after passing out in his arms, Jeff talked me into calling my doctor who promptly sent me to the ER. Who knew I had been bleeding internally for four or five hours? It was very scary for both Jeff and I, and for all of Jeff's family who were were vacationing with. They diagnosed my issue pretty quickly and had me in surgery in the blink of an eye. I had lost about a liter of blood and fluid into my abdomen. Apparently it was a closer call than any of us would like to admit. I am told that had we waited much longer, this story would've had an even more unpleasant ending.

I would like to praise God for his intervention, for Jeff being insistent (and persistent) about getting help, for the great folks at St. Charles in Bend, and for our wonderful family who was there to care for us and McKinley as we experienced this whole ordeal.

Of course we are saddened at the loss of our baby. We would love to expand our family, but are leaving that in God's hands. We have no doubt that if His will is for us to have more children, then we will. And if not... well, there will be a lot of disappointment to deal with, but we trust Him and believe His plans are always better than our own.

So that has pretty much consumed our last couple months. Like I said, not much I felt like sharing or posting about. Not sure why I am even posting this now... the few of you who read this blog already know everything that has occurred. I guess this is just another way for me to work through it all.

I should add that we are all doing well. I am healed fully and just trying to get back to "normal"... Jeff is trying to take care of us all and sometimes forgetting to take care of himself... but I am trying my best to do that for him! : ) And of course McKinley is a dream. She is much too little to even know that bad things happen yet, but she was a trooper while mommy and daddy were unavailable to take care of her. In fact, I think she even enjoyed a little break from us!

Happier posts to follow soon... I promise.

Love,
Melissa