Spica Cast: Week 2

Hey Guys! Just wanted to post a quick update that's a bit more cheerful than my last one. I snapped these after Colton's "bath" this evening. As you can see, he seems to be well adjusted and possibly even loving the new digs.

He's a real soldier when it comes to the army crawl. This kid's getting some impressive upper body strength! He has also figured out how to roll over, which completely delights him. It makes my mama heart a little sad to think how excited I am for him to learn these super simple things... Things he already learned as a baby. But this is all a part of the journey, and if he's going to be proud of accomplishing these new milestones, then so am I!

We have had a lot of long, long, long, long wakeful nights, but I think we may have discovered the ultimate level of comfort for him when we moved his mattress to the floor, enabling him to sleep on his tummy, thereby giving him the ability to safely adjust himself on his own a little more. So far last night was our first successful night, and here's to making a habit of those.

We're counting the days down to our cast removal appointment in a couple weeks, and prayerfully hopeful that there are no complications or delays. While he's been such a trooper about handling the restrictions of a body cast, he still talks about wanting to go ride his car and play in the water and run around. That makes me want to cry. I'm still going to see if they will replace the spica with bubble wrap though.

So in closing, maybe we adults could all work on embracing life--bad or good--with the same enthusiasm of a 2 year-old. Perspective is everything.

This Week's Adventure: Femur Fracture

It's been quiet on the blog front this week because there's been a lot of adventure on the home front. And not the fun kind of adventure, even if it did all begin with a tent.

In a freak accident, our Colton spiral fractured his femur on Monday morning when he tripped over a tent doorway, landing us in Rochester where he went under anesthesia and had his bone re-set in a cumbersome hip spica cast. It's been a long week, full of a wide range of emotions, not a whole lot of sleep, plenty of coffee (for mom and dad), and a lot of pain for our poor little guy. We are learning the challenges of finding creative ways to keep a two year-old comfortable, cool, entertained and relatively happy in spite of his terrible circumstances. Oh, and clean and dry. It's been interesting, but he's such a tough little guy and all the love and support of our friends and family has made this so much more bearable.

I'll share more as time allows. Thank you for the prayers.

If You Love Kitties

Devan & Liz | The Heart Grow Fond

It was an unlikely romance that budded at a gas station in North Dakota. The suave gentleman with the English accent couldn't get over the sweet blonde girl with the smiling eyes and infectious giggle behind the counter. Proper customs aside he found himself telling her that he really liked her. She giggled her sweet giggle, and quickly found herself swept away into the best friendship of a lifetime. Day after day, week after week, they found every opportunity to spend their moments together. Enjoying life, enjoying friendship, enjoying laughter. Until that tear-filled day when he bid her goodbye and boarded a plane back to his homeland. South Africa held a piece of her heart and there was no promise of it returning to her in the foreseeable future. For months the two of them lost sleep, burnt out their laptops, and lived every day for the sound of each other's voices, that small connection so big with love, unhindered by the miles of land and sea between them.

Love was their destiny, but the journey proved to be unscripted and unexpected. When Devan uncovered an opportunity to visit the plains of North Dakota again, his girl Liz was right there waiting eagerly for him. That first embrace was confirmation enough that another day apart would be a tragedy. Absence had bonded their hearts, presence had yielded the reality of their love. With the closest of family in the most intimate of ceremonies they joined their lives together on the 31st day of May, 2014. For better or worse.

A year passed, and a lot of the pieces to the puzzle of their forever love fell together. Slowly. Piece by complicated little piece. Devan became a permanent resident of the United States just days before his loving parents came to meet his new bride. A celebration of their marriage and the joy of family was in order. Friends and family from near and far came together to congratulate this amazing couple and their steadfast love.

It was truly an honor to be among them. I entered the reception building as a last minute hired professional--a stranger, essentially. I had to ask the nearest staff member to point out the bride to me. I left that evening with new friends. They are just so loving and amazing that way. And the really cool thing was that on top of the couple both having amazingly sweet families, Liz has a brother Zac too. And he is just like my brother Zack.

Expect the unexpected, my friends. Hold out for for love--the truest of kinds. And never for a single second stop believing. If you're one of those still skeptical about love at first sight, you haven't met Devan & Liz.

Contentment

Do not spoil

what you have

by desiring

what you have not;

but remember

what you now have

was once

amongst the things

you only hoped for.

--unknown

Because You Know, Murica

One of the ways we celebrated the 4th was, well, independence from tradition. Due to a lot of exhausting activities in our lives leading up to the day, and a lot of family being out of town, and the toddler amongst us recovering from Lyme, we decided to make it a quiet one. By we, I guess I don't mean so much the boys, because as you can see they had fun in their own unique, boisterous, mudding brotherly ways. Because you know, 'Murica. 

We may have abandoned tradition, but these memories still make me smile. 

 Our friendly mousy friend, Bob. Yes. We have a mouse friend. He even begs for food.