Prayer for Kate

I wanted to write a quick note, for those of you who read this, please keep Kate in your prayers. She had really bad strep throat 2 weeks ago, took all her medicine, and it went away. Then about 24 hours after that medicine ran out, she started wheezing coughing a lot!! So yesterday, we went back to the doctor and b/c she was wheezing and the doctor said she has asthma, and put her on 5 medicine, and wanted us to come back 24 hours later for a follow-up, hoping the wheezing would be different/gone due to the medicine. So this morning back to the doctor we went, and the wheezing was still there, so they had her do another breathing treatment, and then they sent her to get a chest X-ray to make sure it wasn't pneumonia. We just got the call and it's not pneumonia, PRAISE GOD!! This is something she can grow out of, and I'm believing she will! Please keep her in your prayers as we go through this together. I have a lot to learn about, b/c I know nothing about asthma. But I'm going to learn. Thanks for all the extra prayers!

Daddy/Daughter Dance 2009 ~ Valentines

So the girls got to go to the Daddy Daughter Dance this last weekend, and it was GREAT!! We went to the Little Elm Dance this year instead of the Frisco dance, which Kate and Daddy did last year, hoping that Kate would have more friends at the dance (b/c this is the school district she's in), and she did! We didn't want to spend the extra money on dresses and hair this year, so we used the fancy dresses that Grandma Lorel bought the girls for Aunt Mary's Christmas wedding this year. I did their hair, and makeup, and sparkles. Chris took them out to eat, then off to the dance they went. Hailey was very excited to go this year, b/c she was too young last year. Hailey was a bit nervous going with her cast on b/c she wasn't sure how much she'd be able to dance, but it turned out great! Once they got there, they got pictures taken, and then Kate was off to socialize with friends. She's a little social butterfly! Hailey danced with daddy, and has a great 'cast-dance' move. They had an amazing night, and it was a great time for all of them. Next year Chris said we'll have to do 2 different dances, b/c it's hard to slow dance with 2 girls. Before they left, Kate helped Hailey spice up her lip-gloss, it was precious. She wanted her to look perfect! And they both did! Finally, they are off to the dance riding in daddy's car, and all thumbs up. It was a great Valentines Memory for us all! The next day Chris and I got to go out kid free for 8 hours, thanks to Grandma Robyn, who watched the girls for us. We also had a great Valentines together.

Cast Day

Today was cast day for Hailey. I thought I'd post a bunch of pics to tell the story. As we were driving to the hospital, she told me, "Mommy, I'm ok, I'm not scared, b/c I'm not getting any shots, so I'm ok", it was so cute. The first pic is of her right before her X-rays. Then she got to let her leg breathe for a few minutes, I know this felt good for her. As you can see she's wearing headphones in most of the pics, she had her daddy's I-pod and was watching Peter Pan through most of the appointment. Here she is starting the process. She was SO brave! You'll have to excuse the undies in the pics, but it's just how it ended up. This next pic is SO cute, I LOVE it, but her eyes are closed, but I still had to put it up, she did such a great job! Then she had to pick out her color, and that was an easy choice for her. I was surprised with how many choices there were, but she went with her favorite, Purple! Even the doctor said she did great, she sat so still, and just let her do her thing, Hailey made it seem easy, and even a bit on the fun side, she just about smiled in every picture....she's GREAT! Then it was all over, and back home we went, it went very smoothly, and we are just happy that the countdown is on. I'll end this post with this last pic, she's doing a good job, and handling everything really well for a 3 year old. Continue to keep her in your prayers as we push through these next 4 weeks. We are looking forward to this Friday, the girls are going to a Daddy Daughter Dance, and it will be interesting with a broken leg. I'll post pics from that event next week. Thank you everyone for your support!

Hailey's broken leg

So the updated news on Hailey at this point is that she gets her cast this Wednesday. Please keep her in your prayers. On Wednesday they will take more X-Rays of her leg and depending on how it all looks at this point, she might be able to walk on her cast, but if it's not where they want it to be she will still be immobile, so please be praying for her(and us)! She's a VERY active child and this has her activity level basically to nothing. She has a lot of pent up energy that she needs to get out, so we are trying our creative ways to entertain her. Here are some recent pics from this weeks adventures. This is one of her wanting to scoot around and play, but sorta gave up and just stayed there watching her sisters instead.....poor thing (at least she's still smiling)! This is another one of her, after she learned how to scoot around, we took her to the library and let her play with the puppets, this was fun for her.So once this whole process started, I began searching for a child's wheelchair, but had a very difficult time finding one. So then I started thinking of other options to carry this child around for at least the next week, and I thought of a wagon, so we have been borrowing my sister in laws wagon, and it's been great! Here she is helping me do the laundry with her wagon. She's been a trooper throughout the whole process, and we are very proud of her. She wakes up every morning saying, "can we take this off now" it's very hard for her to understand that it takes a long time for bones to heal back together. I will continue to keep you all posted as we go through this adventure. Thanks for all your prayers and support. A quick update on the other two, they are doing good now. Kate was home from school with really bad strep throat, but the medicine we got for her turned her around really fast, and she's doing great now. Brooke just cut 2 new teeth, so she's been dealing with that, but now they have come all the way through, so we are happy about that. At this moment, Kate and Brooke are both doing better and are helping me keep Hailey occupied the best we can.

Life's twists and turns

So it's been a few busy weeks lately, and we seem to be riding a roller coaster up and down. God has really been doing a work on us, and it's just amazing to see what He might put you though so you can become better. As most of the world, the economy has struck us pretty hard, and times are tough, but we are pushing through to the best of our abilities and trying to stay very focused and positive through it all and believe that God has a bigger plan for us on the other side of all of this, that we just can't make sense of yet. I know that you have to go all the way down before you can go all the way up, so Praise God, I think we've just about hit 'all the way down' (I can't imagine any lower really, but who knows what God still needs to teach me) and we are SO ready to start moving 'all the way up'!

Our latest news, and I will try to keep everyone posted as we go through it. Last night, I went in to work to fill in for the secretary who called in sick. Chris called me a few hours into my shift saying that him and all 3 girls were jumping on the trampoline together (he's such a GREAT daddy), and then Hailey fell and grabbed her shin, and wouldn't move and wasn't acting like her normal self. So of course he took her inside and tried to comfort her and help her calm down, but it wasn't working, so that's when I got the call. We called her doctor, who wanted us to go into the E.R. to have it looked at b/c Hailey wouldn't put any pressure on it whatsoever! After juggling the other 2 kids over to Aunt Amy's house, we were headed to the E.R. with Hailey. After a very odd conversation with a lady in the waiting room(that's a whole other story in itself), we finally got seen. She got checked out by the doctor there, and they couldn't tell by just touching it, and Hailey was being SO shy that she wouldn't even talk to them or tell them what or where it was hurting. So they came to take an X-ray, expecting to have to take a few more after looking at the first one, but they needed no more......there it was a Tibia Fracture. Basically, she broke her leg. So long story short, she is now in a splint, and scheduled to get a cast next Wednesday after the swelling goes down. It's NO fun for her, and it's especially hard, b/c she is our most active child and this has her down to basically zero movement. She's can't move her leg at all on her own, and she can't walk, so we have to carry her everywhere, and move her leg any time she's uncomfortable (including in the middle of the night). Put that next to still caring for 2 other children, and it's non-stop. Please keep her in your prayers as she gets used to this whole process, b/c she still has a long road ahead of her. Like I said earlier, I will keep you posted as we lean more, and I'll try to get some pics up soon.

A LONG Christmas Story!

So I figured it's been long enough. I thought I'd get back on track with our blog. For Christmas we flew to Colorado and had a very busy but fun adventure. Kate's last day of school for the semester was the 19th of December, and we picked her up from school and headed to the airport. Our flight went great except for the landing, I thought I was going to loose it, the turbulence was TERRIBLE! Brooke fell asleep in my lap for most of the flight, and the girls had their movies and coloring that kept them plenty busy. We were greeted at the airport by my mom, my sister, Mary, and her boyfriend, Trevor. To our surprise, my cousin, Emily was also flying through Denver, so we got to see her for a few minutes, which was nice.

Once we got settled in, the non-stop adventure began. With the 11 adults and the 13 kids, you can imagine all the planning and craziness that came along side with the normalness of life on this trip. The celebrations began right away, as Papa Dan came and delivered presents to our girls. Here's Hailey with her purple Baby Alive, that she LOVES!! Papa got Kate one of her favorite presents, her Sleeping Beauty Horse, that walks, bows, and it's tail spins, she LOVES her horse!! That night we also celebrated Brooke's 1st birthday. So it was a busy night, but a fun one! As you can see there were plenty of kiddos to eat up the cake. (Starting in the left corner working clockwise, Josiah, Tristyn, Kate, Joshua, Nathaniel, Joseph, Faith, Joshua, Rebekah, Brooke, Hailey, and Naomi, Samuel was being held) After a full night of fun and presents. The adventure contined. Here are a few pics of the Asimus girls all dressed up. Brooke, now 1. Hailey, now 3 and1/2. Kate, almost 6. Next on the agenda was to head up to Estes Park for a few days. We all stayed in one 8 bedroom 'cabin', it was GREAT and it was HUGE!! We had a 'surprise' wedding for my sister, Mary and her boyfriend, Trevor on Christmas Eve. Well, the only one surprised was Mary, but she basically played that one off for us by this point, between all the decorating going on and everything else that was 'secretly' going on throughout the trip, she had a pretty good idea. But none the less, it was a wedding, and it was a beautiful one!! Here are some pics from it. After the wedding, we had a day filled with fun events. I decided to give all the little girls in the house a pedicure, they had a lot of fun with this, and Kate was VERY happy that her momomy did this special event for the girls, see the picture of them all lined up ready to get their toes painted, Tristyn, Kate, Faith, Hailey, and Naomi. After the pedicures we all played duck duck goose, then charades, then we sat around and sang Christmas songs, and had a few special solo performances from the some of the kids, it was great. To end that evening Santa came to the cabin and delivered presents that us parents left outside for him to carry in. It was awesome! Especially for my girls, who are the only kids in the house that believe Santa is real.....well, they might of changed some of the other kids' minds now.....hehe. But none the less, it was great! The next day was Christmas, and what a Christmas it was. We all started the day by making Christmas cupcakes to celebrate Jesus' birthday (see picture). There were SO many people, SO many presents, SO many memories, and SO much fun!! It was a Christmas to remember...FOREVER! We ended out the day doing bon-bons, per our Austalian families request, it was fun to get a joke, toy and hat, and again, it was another memory. After our few days up in Estes Park, we headed back down to Denver, and the adventure continued. We had a fun adults night out, we all went to dinner together then went to a comedy club, which was a lot like Who's Line is it Anyway, it was a really fun evening. Then the next day we all went to The Heritage Square Playhouse and saw a Christmas play with the kids, we had AMAZING front row seats (well, with as many of us as there were, we actually had the front 2 rows), thanks to my mom. It was great, the kids got pulled up on stage at different parts of the play, and it was just a great time. My girls still sing one of the songs from the play. One of the last things we did on our trip was drive up to Chris' highschool, and show the girls daddy's name in one of the bricks out front of his school, Kate especially thought this was GREAT. I could go on and on with pictures and stories, but I'll end it with this. As our trip ended we said our goodbyes, but we have SO many memories, and we truly had a GREAT Christmas with everyone. This is our goodbyes to my new Australian Brother in law, Trevor, and my sister, Mary, I hope it's not too many years till we see Mr. and Mrs. Radburn again.

My precious Dad ~ 10 Years

I woke up this morning thinking and remembering my amazing dad.  10 Years Ago today my dad went to be with Jesus.  I wanted to take a minute and just love on him, especially today.  It's crazy to me that it's been 10 years, when so many times it feels like it was just last week.  I miss my daddy ALL the time!!!!  I think of him, love him, and remember SO many amazing memories we shared together and as a family.  He was always my hero, and someone I looked up to tremendously!  He was an amazing man of God, he was a great joy to SO many people, he was a WONDERFUL father, and an AMAZING couch to me in many areas of my life.  I miss his humor, his jokes, his 'teases', his hugs, his presence, I just miss my dad today!  

Dad, 

Thank you SO much for being not only my dad, friend, and coach, but for being someone that I truly admire.  Thank you for raising me the way you and Mom did.  Thank you for working SO hard for our family.  Thank you for making it a point to take us on vacations, even if it was a stretch for you(which I never knew if it was), but thank you, those memories are more than worth every penny ever spent, and a tradition and treasure I am now making a point to focus on in my own family.  Thank you for coaching me in my sports(and driving me on the bus, I truly was proud that my dad was the bus driver, it was pretty cool for me, thanks), for encouraging me, for explaining SO many things to me, for always being there for me when I needed a dad to talk to.  Thank you for laughing at me and with me, thank you for loving mom SO much, and expressing that love your entire marriage.   Thank you for showing me how a wife is supposed to be loved by her husband.  Thank you for always making our house fun/funny/filled with laughter.  Thank you for putting up with all the junk that I know I caused in your life.  Thank you for leaving a legacy behind, thank you for bringing me to church (even though for years I thought I'd forever hate you for it, of course, you knew best!).  Thank you for sharing your family with me, thank you for giving me a home that was safe, fun, and filled with love!  Thank you for not stopping with only 2 girls, but for letting me join and 'end' our family unit.  I'm SO thankful for every second I had with you, and b/c of everything you struggled through, for years with your shoulders, and cancer, I know how strong of a man you were!  Amazing!  I'm SO blessed to have had 15 years with you, and as I sit here, I cry b/c I realize how precious time is with those who you truly love.  I miss you daddy, I really really do!  A LOT!!  I wish you were still with us, but I know that you are watching down from heaven(having the time of your life), and seeing my beautiful family grow, and watching me become the woman that I hope you were trying to raise.  I'm proud of the person I am, I still have a lot of learning and growing, but I love the Lord with ALL my heart, and I know, one day we will be together again for eternity, and I treasure that moment!  Daddy, I hope I'm making you proud up there, I live my life for Jesus, and I know that without you raising me the way you did, I would never be the woman I am today, thank you!  Daddy, I have a beautiful family, oh I wish you could meet them!  Chris is an A.M.A.Z.I.N.G. husband, father, provider, worker,...he's great dad.  All those years you and mom prayed, paid off, b/c he's a gift from God, just like the meaning of my name.  He reminds me of you a lot, which is so nice.  He's got your sense of humor, and he's a very hard worker, and a determined man, and can fix anything he touches.....just like daddy.  My girls are precious dad.......precious!!  I've told them about you, and they know they have a grandpa Harry, and they forever will, b/c whether you are here on this earth with them or not, you are their grandpa, and I'm SO proud that YOU are their grandpa!!  I wish they could of met you, they would of adored you as much as I do, and their lives would be even better knowing you!  Kate learned how to spell your name, and tells me.....'mommy, harry is....h.a.r.r.y', I'm SO happy that she knows that, it's a precious thing for me to hear.  Dad, you would be SO proud of Kate, she's SO smart, and SO precious.  She's a lot like me, as far as gifts go, but she also has such a soft heart, she is very sensitive to people.  She's very caring, but adventurous all at the same time.  She LOVES to travel, again, just like me.  She's a great 1st daughter.  Hailey is truly a Joy, and she's fun to watch, she has a good imagination, and loves to play with the dogs.  She is very sensitive to people's feelings, she's also very busy.  She's great, and mom says she looks the most like me as a kid.  Hailey loves t.v. shows and movies, and I could see the two of you watching some silly movie together and laughing and loving it.  She'd soak you up dad.  Brooke is almost one, and she's almost walking, she just took 8 steps the other day.  She's by far my busiest baby we've had!  She's not so much into t.v., she's just on the go and wants to play play play.  She figured out how to climb up our stair ladder and get onto the trampoline, and she's so proud that she can, she's great!  She has a glowing smile that melts your heart every time!  She's a lot like me to, and I'm sure you look down from heaven and laugh, b/c she's not a fan of her car seat, and I know I wasn't either, you truly do reap what you sow....haha.  As far as me, you know, I'm doing good, I'm growing closer to God daily, and I'm doing my best at becoming an EXCELLENT woman!  I could go on and on and on dad, but I just wanted to write you a letter to say I miss you daddy, and even though it's been 10 years since you left us, you are still and forever will be in my heart, thoughts, mind, family, and most of all hold a special place in me that no one else will ever be able to have, my daddy!  I love you Dad!  Thanks for being such a GREAT dad for me.  

~Forever your baby girl,

~Forever missing you,

Theanna

Thanksgiving & First Santa Visit

Now that it's December 4Th, and the countdown is on till Christmas. How was every one's Thanksgiving? We had a quiet Thanksgiving this year. We had a surprise visit from my Uncle and cousins from Waynesville Missouri. It was GREAT to see them! After they came by, we just sorta hung out around the house, watched some movies, and as you can see, Hailey took a nap while Kate just hung out with us, watching the parade and playing some games. It was a good relaxing afternoon. Brooke was cuter than ever, she was playing with pot lids like drums, and she thought it was GREAT FUN, and we had fun trying sunglasses on her too. Later that evening Chris' sister, Amy, her husband, Eric, and their 2 boys, Tyson and Ryder came over for our big dinner. Robyn joined us once she got home from work. The kids played together and us adults got to talk. Mary also 'skyped' in, and it was great to hear from her and Trevor. So all in all it was a good Thanksgiving, just a quiet one.

Now that we are in December, the girls are very excited about Christmas and Santa and all the fun that comes with the holidays. The Frisco Square does a big light up the night, so we went to the first night of that event. Santa parachuted in, crazy, and fun, and then surprisingly, we were the first ones to see Santa, and the girls talked to him and told him what they wanted for Christmas. Kate was not afraid, and was excited to see Santa this year, she told him that she wanted a girl puppy this year, a puppy that would stay small. Hailey was shy and not so sure of Santa, so she mainly hid behind me, but she did get out that she wanted a new baby doll. Brooke was very intrigued by Santa, as long as I was holding her, but the minute I tried to put Brooke on Santa's lap, for a quick photo op, she was NOT OK with it.....see pictures(the first one the girls were worried for Brooke, the second one I told them to just look and smile...haha).......it was great, you can say we tried at least. So that was our first visit to Santa, we are planning on going back again this Friday night, and I'm sure we'll go to a mall or two and visit Santa there also. It's been fun, but December is already going by fast, the other day I thought it was still November, and here it is....December, the end of the year. Crazy! Brooke's 1st Birthday is right around the corner, and we are excited to celebrate her birthday soon, just can't believe she's almost 1 years old already.

Hope you are all doing great and enjoying your December as the end of this year approaches us quickly. Happy Holidays!

Zoo Day

One thing I love to do with my girls is go to the zoo. This first picture was at the opening gate, they were very excited to be at the zoo. Surprisingly it is a rather expensive thing to do, except for Wednesdays when it's half price day at the Ft. Worth Zoo. With Kate in school, we haven't been able to make it to the zoo, but for Thanksgiving break she had the whole week off, and to mommy that meant, the perfect time for a zoo day! Even though both Chris and I were feeling sick, fighting a cold, and cold sores, we had to take the opportunity. And I'm glad we did! So that is exactly what we did. It was SO much fun, and I'm SO glad we took the opportunity to go. This time last year I went to the same zoo, except I was trying to go to the zoo not to see the animals, but to walk out the baby(Brooke) who was still in my tummy. So it was great to get to go this time without having contractions, and without having a baby in my belly, but a baby that LOVED watching all the animals! This is the first time I think we've been able to go to a zoo where all 3 of our girls were totally amazed by each and every animal, so it made it a lot of fun for mommy and daddy to tag along. Brooke would make noises and clap her hands with excitement, and it was SO precious to watch her. Kate was very excited about the snakes and lizards, which in my book is just grose, but I let her be excited....hopefully that will go away one day! Hailey loved the elephants, the hippos,(b/c Hungry Hungry Hippo is one of her favorite board games we play with her), the giraffes, all the 'bigger' animals. I would say that Brooke's favorite was either the monkeys/apes (the picture is of her standing at the cage looking into the apes, all smiles), or the bird cage that we got to go in. Yes, I said, bird cage that we got to go IN. One of the great things about the Ft. Worth Zoo is that they have a place where you can go in and buy bird food that is stuck on a stick, and feed the birds, we even got lucky enough that a bird landed on Kate's stick, as seen in the picture, she wasn't so sure about it, but was excited at the same time. Hailey wanted nothing to do with the bird landing on the stick, but she enjoyed letting them eat off of her stick. Brooke on the other hand, she wanted to hold the birds....she kept trying to reach out and grab them.....it was great! So our day at the zoo was GREAT!! We really had a lot of fun with our girls.