Happy Anniversary, Hubby!

Congratulations on surviving 14 years of adventures with me, darling husband!




7 homes, 5 kids, 3 states, more wrinkles, less hair...and I'd pick you all over again.

Fun in the Sun...and the heat...and the rain....

Saturday was probably one of the worst days to have an outdoor ANYthing.

It was hot.
It was sticky.
It was extremely sunny.

It was a BLAST!!

Katie and I went to Awakening Music Festival at Bull Run Park with a group of equally insane but enthusiastic folks. We joined the early-bird crowd at 9 am, staking our claim to a *good* lawn seating spot when the gates opened at 11 am. (Just for the record—that’s a LONG time to wait then it’s already over 90 degrees outside!)

Thunderstorms (severe ones, even!) threatened on and off during the day, but the crowd prayed them away. YAY God! In the end, we were treated to a bit of a nice cooling rain and some FABULOUS music. Not a dud act in the bunch...I even enjoyed Skillet and found out that I know more of their songs than I thought, hee hee hee. Gee, who'd have thunk it? Discovering my "inner metal head" at 40? My brothers will be sooooooooooo proud!

Check out the day in my pictures here. Not nearly as cool as the slideshow as one of the other moms did, but hey…

I FINALLY got to see the Newsboys live & in concert! WHOO HOO! (Ever wanna feel really old and super young at the same time? Go to a concert for one of your favorite bands with your teenage kid!!)

Came home tired, sunburned and toting some good memories!

You Asked for It....

Long time, no post. Sorry gang! Getting everyone off to school and trying to get in the rhythm of the school year has been an adventure.

But no more excuses…on with the news you can use! Patrick is doing well. His casts came off last week—YAY! Let me just say that there was GREAT rejoicing in Zoo Crew Land at the news that we could bathe the beast. He still can’t put weight on his legs, but the surgeon has already noted bone regrowth at the surgical sites. YAY! Even better news—it looks like his legs are pretty much the SAME LENGTH now AND--wait for it--he has feeling back in his right foot. YAY! YAY! And double YAY!!! Still not much motor control over that foot, but feeling is good.

He started physical therapy and—despite the fact that it’s a struggle for him—he’s mostly complying with the exercises. It has helped that his former therapist is available to work with him. (Thank you, God!) We’re sticking with strengthening and stretching for now, but his doctor has cleared him to do weight-bearing as early as next week. We’re hopeful and we’ve been talking with him a LOT about what he’ll have to do so he can walk again. This is rubber hitting the road time…he’s got a shot at walking almost normally IF we can get both legs under him and strong at the same rate. Trying to apply our lessons learned from last time ‘round and keep him from trusting one leg over the other—may prove to be a challenge, but I think we just might be up to it.

Earlier this week, he was down for the count with the lovely stomach virus going around. Ummmmm…NOT fun. (GACK, really!)

But now, Patrick man is feeling well enough that he’s figured out how to drop the sides of his hospital bed and begin maneuvers into his wheelchair on his own. Let’s just say I found this out when I came up from the basement the other day and found him happily nuking tacquitos when I *thought* he was napping. Almost wet my pants, he gave me such a surprise!

Next hurdle? There are TWO…
1—Getting on his feet (no walking, just aiming for standing!)
2—Going back to school (maybe next week?)

Thanks again to everyone who has been praying and thinking of him. I have EVERY confidence that it’s your prayers and well-wishes that are keeping our family afloat during this crazy and challenging time.