Melts my heart

Sometimes this naughty, active, mischievous, two-year-old melts my heart. Conversation with Isabel before bed:

Me: I love you Isabel. I love you so much.

Isabel: So much

Me: Yep, I love you.

Isabel: Thanks mommy. Thanks mommy.

Me: You're welcome Isabel.

Isabel: Thanks mommy.

It makes all the crying, fits, etc. during the day seem to melt away.

For all the New Yorkers out there

Both girls had well appointments today. Both are doing great. Ana is weighing in now at 10 lb. 1 oz., two pounds bigger than her sister was at one month. We are so happy they are both healthy and doing well!

We have a 2 year old???

Yes we do. It seems like just yesterday we moved to Kentucky and were watching all our friends have babies. I remember going to small group and Noelle S. was just a baby. Melissa was pregnant with Jacob and I think the rest of us hadn't even thought much about kids yet. Now I can't count all the kids that have come from various friends here in the last 5 years. Okay, done with the reminiscing.

So yesterday Isabel turned two (yea, I know it feels like we've been celebrating her birthday for a month) and so that we didn't make her actual birthday totally lame and lay in bed or around the house all day (like I feel like we have been doing for most of the days these last couple of weeks), we planned a few non-strenuous activities.

Getting donuts for breakfast...yes, we Nordine's know how to eat donuts:)Going to the mall carousal. I'm hoping this isn't an expectation every time we go to the mall now.

Getting an snow cone from the icecream truck. The icecream truck often drives through our neighborhood and we have never bought anything, but Isabel LOVES when it comes because she loves the music. She will hear the music and run to the window saying, "Icecream Truck." She didn't really KNOW what an icecream truck was until yesterday.

That's all our exciting activities. We love our little two year old. She amazes us everyday with something new it seems. Happy Birthday Isabel!

The month in review

My little Ana was born 1 month ago today! She is such a delight! Where did the time go? The night before Lee's accident we went to the county fair and had such a great time as a family. I wanted to post pictures before I forgot. Ana was such a good girl. This is what she did most of the time...slept in the stroller.Jacob check out Isabel on the tractor..."a blue one" as Isabel says (blue is her favorite color, at least the one she recognizes the most).By far Isabel's favorite part was the pony ride. One other thing we did was watch them auction off all the livestock. They were selling chickens for $1000.00. Lee looks at Isabel and says, "Isabel, don't move anything."I think we went on the carousal about 5 times. She LOVED it. The last time we told Isabel we were going to be all done. When we got off Isabel says to me, "Mommy, Ibel go on THAT one." What was she pointing to? The giant ferris wheel.We always knew Isabel would LOVE roller coasters. She loves all things fast. She went on a couple of rides all by herself. We thought she was going to melt down for about one second when a pouty lip came out, but it quickly turned into a smile.Isabel turns 2 on Wednesday, but we celebrated with a small party this past Saturday. We had planned it before Lee's accident and Lee decided he wanted to still try to have it even in his condition. What an awesome dad.I love the smoke in this picture and how Isabel's friend, Lydia, is intently watching her. So cute.

The one present Isabel asked us for was a flute, just like Lolo has. I asked Isabel if she could play Happy Birthday on it. What does she do? She puts it up to her mouth and starts to sing Happy Birthday. Too cute, too smart. Today we asked her if she was 2 now, she replied, "no, 3."

Quick update on Lee: He's doing better each day. Today was a hard day. I think he might have pushed a little hard going to church yesterday. We hope and pray for more good days than bad. Thanks again for all of your prayers.

Lee's progress in pictures

Pre-surgeryAfter surgery with splint onAfter splint is off with sling onOur good friend Laura who stayed with Ana and I during Lee's surgery. We love you Laura...thank you so much!

Good Dr. Visit

Thank you all again for your continued prayers for Lee and words of encouragement. He had a good visit with Dr. Grunkemeyer yesterday. They took the splint off and now Lee is just in a sling. Dr. Grunkemeyer was so nice and got Lee the best sling they have. He started to have Lee move his elbow and wants him to try to move it about 4-5 times a day. This is probably the hardest part for him right now. He can only bend it about 90 degrees right now. Today has been the best day for him yet though. He is not as nauseous, he has been up out of bed more, been able to eat a little more, and just seems to be doing better all around. Lord willing every day will get a little bit better.

The next step is to just keep doing what he has been - rest and do his exercises. He will go back to Dr. Grunkeymeyer on the 25th and they will remove his staples. From there we aren't sure what will happen at this point.

We keep praising God though and are still amazed it is only his elbow that got injured. We continue to be overwhelmed how the Lord has blessed us with our church family. I guess we really shouldn't be overwhelmed though we have a almighty God who is in control.

A Regret...

The only thing I regret is forgetting to ask the Dr. to add some extra muscle to that arm while he had it opened up:)

Lee

(i hacked the blog Candace)

Lee's Home

I just wanted to let all of you know that Lee is home now. We arrived home around 3:00 p.m. this afternoon. He is doing better, but I thought I'd send a few bullet point things to pray about:

• He's having a lot of trouble being nauseous. He was given a prescription for it, but still hasn't helped much. They say it's mainly the pain medicine that is making him this way. Pray this will subside and he will start to feel better. He hasn't been able to eat much and that doesn't help either.
  
• His pain is a lot better than it was, but still hurts him. Pray he is able to get rest through the pain.
• Tomorrow we have a follow-up appointment with Dr. Grunkemeyer and he will already try to get Lee to do some movement with his elbow. Pray this will not be too painful for him and will be a good start to recovery.
• Pray especially for Isabel. She is a VERY smart 2 year old and knows exactly what happened to daddy and that he got hurt. She has been very emotional about the situation. She is very much a daddy's girl and I know it will be hard for her not having him hold her, cuddle her, put her on his shoulders, etc.
• Pray for Lee as it can get, well to be frank...boring...not being able to do anything. Pray for contentment in his situation. I know he feels bad just not being able to help me as much also and that is hard for him.
• Pray for rest!
  

Thank you again SO much for your prayers! They mean so much to us!

I've been holding on to Isaiah 40 that Pastor Brad talked about in his last sermon series, "He will not grow tired or weary [when I do], and his understanding no one can fathom. He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak. Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall [literally:)]; but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength."

God's Grace and Successful Surgery

Lee's surgery went very well yesterday. Dr. Grunkemeyer (attends our church) was able to fix everything and even hopes to have Lee start moving it somewhat tomorrow when we go see him for follow-up. We felt so blessed to have Dr. Grunkemeyer do Lee's surgery. He went over every step with us, prayed with us before surgery, it was blessing! It ended up being a little later day than expected so they kept him overnight, which was probably good for both of us and we both needed much rest.

I haven't had that exhausting of a day emotionally and physically in a long time. I know people were praying because Ana slept longer than she ever has at night (almost 6 hours). Through it all we have seen God's grace poured out abundantly!!! Words cannot express the gratitude for all the prayers, emails, voice mails, help with our kids, etc. I was talking to my dad yesterday and telling him all the help we have been getting and his response was, "wow, sounds like you have a GREAT church family." Literally within hours of Lee's accident we had people praying for us all around the world! We feel overwhelmed with love and support! I remember on Sunday morning singing, "Grace upon grace flows down flows down." My heart was not in a worshipful mindset and I remember thinking, "Candace, think about what you are singing." Wow, have we seen God's grace flow down on us!

We are not sure at this point what time they will let Lee go home. I spoke to him this morning and he sounded more like himself, not so tired. I guess they told him at some point he had a fever, so not sure how that will effect his going home. Some friends are picking up Isabel this morning and then Ana and I plan to head over there.

Anyway, I just wanted to say THANK YOU again!!

Not what I thought I'd be blogging about

I thought I would be blogging about our fun night at the fair last night, but instead I'm blogging about this...

(I still had my camera in my purse from the fair)

If you don't already know, Lee fell about 20 feet today at church during the second service when trying to fix one of the air conditioning units in the upstairs part of the building. There was a wasps nest by the hatch and he got stung as he was descending down the ladder. It startled him and he lost his grip on the latter and fell. He called me (I was in the service) and I didn't answer my phone. He was finally able to get a hold of me through a text that said, "I fell and I'm hurt." He was trying to get a hold of someone as he was in a locked part of the building. Thankfully, he was able to get up after a few minutes though and get to the Welcome Center for help. I took Lee to the hospital along with Gary Wafford and he was able to see Dr. Gautraud in the ER.

Lee broke his elbow in several places. It is broken in one place and fractured in another and they are not sure at this point if the break went into his joint. We will go see the Orthopedic doctor tomorrow morning for a full analysis. Lee is in a lot of pain. He's not one to say he is in pain if he isn't REALLY in pain. We would greatly appreciate your prayers. Already we have seen so much the sovereignty of God in all of this. For example:

Lee fell through the drop ceiling and probably braced his fall, it's amazing he only broke his elbow...it could have been his neck
He was able to get a hold of me during the service to get help
The Grace medical team came to his quick aid during the service
We were able to find friends quickly to take Isabel
The ER was empty when we arrived, packed when we left
We were able to see Dr. Gaudtraud at the hospital - he helped make our visit more timely I know
This happened at the "perfect" time in regards to me being able to take care of our family physically after having the baby.

God is good and we are so thankful! I can't thank all the people who have helped us or offered to help! Thank you so much!!!

Welcome Baby Seth and Baby Judah!

Congratulations to our friends, Joel and Michelle (and Lydia), on the birth of their little boy Seth Nathan. Seth was born August 4th, at 8:22 pm, 6 lb. 4 oz.

and also congratulations to...

Nate and Heather (and Michael), on the birth of their little boy Judah Nathaniel. Judah was born August 6th, at 2:15 pm, 9 lb. 4 oz., 21 in. long.

Isabel and Ana are so excited for more friends!:)

Life is good...

...when daddy is home!

Adjustments

Our first day alone has been pretty good. We actually made a trip to Target to pick up a few needed and not needed items. Ana continues to do well, although her streaks of 5 or 6 hours at night have ended and she's back to wanting to eat every 3 hours. She's only 2 weeks old though so I guess I can't complain much yet.:)

Isabel has been doing well overall. She really loves her baby sister and wants to be with her every minute of the day. I feel bad having to tell her most of the day that Ana is sleeping. We have seen several instances of jealousy with Isabel, especially when guests have been over visiting. She has become more possessive of toys with her friends, but maybe that's just a 2 year-old thing. She's started throwing fits at nap and bedtime the last 3 days or so. For instance, she cried/screamed for an hour today before falling asleep, something she has never done. I'm praying it's a phase. Meal times have still been difficult with her, but I think we are learning to deal with them better. I think/know Isabel really misses her buddies Jacob and Kate. She was with them 4 days a week and now all of a sudden they are gone. We will have to make frequent visits to see them.

Overall, I think we are all adjusting. There is a "season for everything" right?

Gazing on the next 6 weeks

Enough about flies...here's some new photos of my girls.
Take that MommyLife is good with Daddy rubbing my headIsabel helping with Ana's bathWe are grateful for modern technology with Lee's parents so far away. Isabel took this picture herself...talking to Lolo and Lola on Skype.Thinking about Pastor Brad's recent sermon series and the next 6 weeks of my maternity leave, I'm excited to get really refreshed on focused on the Greatness of God. Pray for me! Tomorrow Lee goes back to work.:( We will miss having Daddy around! Thanks Lee for all of your help this past week! We love you!