Meeting Big Brutus

On our way home from Joplin, we took a little side trip to meet Big Brutus! One of our kids' favorite stories is Mike Mulligan and his Steam Shovel by Virginia Lee Burton. (We love all of Burton's books actually:) We thought this kids would enjoy seeing a REALLY BIG Shovel and they did! This part of Kansas had a lot of coal mines years ago as well as Lead and Zinc Mines. Big Brutus was used for coal mining.

Here are a few facts to give you an idea just how amazing Big Brutus is...

* The 2nd largest electric shovel in the world
* Weighs 11 million pounds
* 16 stories high
* the scoop capacity was 150 tons (enough to fill 3 train cars!)
* cost $6.5 million in 1962

Here are the kids and Shawn heading down to Brutus, see the little yellow shovel next to it, that's the average size of what you see doing road work generally! Brutus is huge!A cool thing about Brutus is that you can climb up inside it! Here is Nate underneath it. Check out his size compared to the tracks that it moved on.Eli on his way inside...Here you can see Shawn and the kids inside!The kids took turns sitting in the controller's seat!The kids standing inside the shovel.This Dragline is also there.Looking back at Brutus as we drove away from a mile down the road.

We came home and read Mike Mulligan again with a new appreciation for his steam shovel!

An update on our nephew

Our main reason for being in Joplin was to visit our nephew, Jr. This weekend was hard! It honestly broke my heart to walk into Jr's ICU room and see this young man who is usually laughing, working to make everyone laugh and always on the go laying in his hospital bed with little movement and unable to speak. We did get several smiles out of him during our time there, especially Shawn. He had him laughing pretty good several times on Saturday night.

Medically- much of where Jr. is at is a waiting game. He still need the ventilator because of the spinal cord injury to keep him breathing. He is a lot more comfortable since they placed it in this trachea. Hopefully, he will be able to speak soon as everything heals. Jr. is able to move his arms some- scratch his ears, give you a thumbs up or down, etc. He also can shake his head to answer yes or no. It is hard to know the extent of the spinal cord damage until there is more healing, swelling that goes down, etc.

Emotionally, Sunday was very difficult for him. Shawn and I were in with him that morning and he was very teary, he kept looking at me with tears in his eyes that seemed to ask so many questions, have so much fear and discouragement. At one point, I ask him if there was so much he wanted to say but couldn't, tears just slipped down his cheek as he answered yes with a nod. Reality that the road ahead will be long and hard is sinking in for him and family. We are not sure how much longer he will be at the hospital there before they will begin making plans for him to head to rehab and we aren't sure yet where that is going to be. There are a couple of really good spinal cord injury rehab hospitals but none of them are very close. It's one day at a time... please pray that Jr. will be encouraged as he faces each day and that he will know that his Heavenly Father is with him, walking every step of the way. Pray for wisdom of the physicians caring for him as they make decisions concerning his health and what will help him the most. And lastly for his family as they walk with road with him.

We are thankful that we got to visit this weekend and hope we can make the trip again soon. Thanks for praying for us as we traveled as well.

The Ronald McDonald House of the Four StatesOne of the biggest blessings for our family right now is the Ronald McDonald House in Joplin. If you are not familiar with Ronald McDonald Houses, you can go and read about them here.
Ronald McDonald Houses are available to families with hospitalized children at a large number of hospitals across the country. Our brother-in-law has been able to stay at the one in Joplin since Jr's accident, it's a few blocks from the hospital and it's amazing! Because we lived so far away and had driven in to see Jr. and they had extra rooms this weekend, we were allowed to stay there as well. The house provides beautiful rooms for families, kitchens, dining room areas, an awesome playroom and outdoor playground for siblings among many other things. We were able to keep the kids busy and have a lot of fun during this difficult time.
On Saturday evening, I ran to a grocery store and bought grilling supplies, Shawn and Eli made an awesome meal for our family and we shared it with several other families that are staying at the house. All the other families have little ones in the NICU. Shawn and I remember those long days well having 2 NICU grads in our own family! Families are able to stay at the house for $10 per night!After this weekend, I will tell you that I will not ever walk past a collection cup for the Ronald McDonald Houses without being thankful again! There are many ways you can help and be involved in this awesome way to reach out to families. See the following links to found out more and see if there is a Ronald McDonald House close to you...

Fundraising Page for the RMH in Joplin
Pop Tab collections - Are you a pop drinker? This is an easy and awesome program! The house in Joplin has gotten more than $16,000 through this program!
Toy & Food Donation Programs -The homes have food and supplies available for families to use while they are staying there, they need donations to make this possible.

Cousin Time and hanging out in Joplin

We spent a lot of the weekend with 2 of our nephews and our niece at the Ronald McDonald House so that Shawn's sister and her husband could rest and be at the hospital with Jr. Here are some pictures of some fun cousin time!

Home from Joplin, much to share, but will tomorrow...

Thanks for your prayers and notes while we were visiting our nephew, Jr. Please continue to pray for him, today was a very hard day!

This is my littlest nephew and I, we hung out a lot this weekend... He is Jr's littlest brother. He makes this funny wrinkled up face when he's mad or really upset... so we were doing it together this weekend at the Ronald McDonald House. This is how Jr. was feeling today:(

Route 66We arrived here in Joplin last night, the last bit of our trip taking us on old Route 66. It was rather fitting, as we pulled onto 66, the kids were watching the movie, Cars, and it was at the point where Sally was taking McQueen for a drive and telling him about days of old on Route 66!We stopped in a little town so the kids could stretch their legs a bit at a beautiful memorial to service men and women who have fought for the freedoms we have. The kids enjoyed climbing on the tank as you can see!Once we got here in town, we grabbed something to eat then went to the hospital. Shawn and I were each able to go in and see Jr. for a bit. He's doing well, much better since his surgery on Thursday. We are thankful for that. Shawn got several smiles out of him, thumbs up and waves. He still isn't able to speak but he's writing well and improving. I'll post pictures & write more later.

We are very thankful for a beautiful Ronald McDonald House here that we are able to stay at.

Thankful Thursday

Oh give thanks to the LORD, for He is good, For His loving kindness is everlasting. Psalm 107:1

Tonight as I sit back and reflect on the last few weeks, I have so much to be thankful for! Recently when we were out walking on a friend's ranch, we came across several thistles. One of the kids wasn't watching and walked into it. OUCH! Thistle "pokies"as our kids call them are very sharp and painful. Doesn't it seem that life is sometimes like a thistle, full of little things that can cause big pain as a result of choices we make or events that we have no control over. I have been reminded lately that God will walks with us, through the pain and mire, his love endures forever. As we kept walking through the pasture, we came across a thistle in full bloom, beauty among the thorns! The kids were amazed at the beautiful, delicate flower on such a prickly plant! We are learning to give thanks in all things for our God's mercy is everlasting!I wanted to share just a few things I am thankful today...

I am thankful that our nephew had successful surgery today! They were able to put in a pacemaker and it has improved his heart situation greatly. Praise the Lord. They were also able to move his ventilator to the trach today, hopefully in a few days, he will be able to speak. He is able to write some now to communicate. Please continue to pray for Jr. and his family. Please pray for us as we travel to visit him this weekend, we are thankful that we will be able to stay at the Ronald McDonald House while we are there.

I am thankful for my husband and best friend, he's a great daddy to 4 amazing gifts the Lord has given us and they adore him as well. He works hard to provide for us and yet takes time for us to be together as a family. Tonight we all walked to the little "Shaved Ice" stand in our small town (there's it or the bar for evening refreshments... this is the best choice:) and let the kids each pick their favorite flavors... blue raspberry, wedding cake, green apple and strawberry!(this was the final pictures for the kids' Father's Day gift to Shawn...)

I am thankful for these...
Today I did some major house cleaning... I go through this like crazy because I have two of these...We are still working on hitting the potty... at least it's pointed in the right direction most of the time!!! :)

I am thankful for all of my kids! tonight I want to say a special "thankful" for Eli. He makes me laugh and he has a tender heart even behind his little tough guy act. Tonight our friend, Mr. Luke brought the kids Krispy Creme Donuts because he had meetings in the big city and he knows our kids LOVE KC donuts! Eli was the first of the kids to go running to Mr. Luke afterwards and give him a big hug and tell him thank you for bringing his favorite donuts tonight. He also told him he was thankful for a lot of them so mommy wouldn't have to cook breakfast tomorrow before we left to go see Jr on our long trip "since we could just eat more donuts!" I am thankful for people like "Mr. Luke" in my children's lives. People who love on them and set Godly examples for them. They are people that our children can look up to and learn for, most of all, our kids can see Christ in their lives through their words and their actions!

1 Chronicles 16

31 Let the heavens rejoice, let the earth be glad;
let them say among the nations, "The LORD reigns!"

³² Let the sea resound, and all that is in it;
let the fields be jubilant, and everything in them!

³³ Then the trees of the forest will sing,
they will sing for joy before the LORD,
for he comes to judge the earth.

³⁴ Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good;
his love endures forever.

5 months ago today...

We arrived back at home with this sweet boy! What a blessing he is in our lives... I thought you might like to see some pictures from the last 5 months of how he has grown! His langage abilities are exploding- it's so awesome to hear him chatter! He loves books, crayons and small cars. He also loves to hug on our dog Chloe and gets so excited to run and give daddy hugs when he gets home from work! It has been an amazing 5 months, we can wait for many more to come!Having lunch with cousins less than 24 hours after arriving home/
First snow, just a few days after we got home.
Feb- Helping Lenna build President Lincoln's cabin
First REALLY BIG snow and snowman in March!First children's play to see Cinderella.
April- snuggling with Daddy in OKC.
April- just finished his first Kids Marathon in OKC.
May- a boy after mommy's heart- eating real whipped cream!
First Father's Day- holding a "D" for Dad.

For this child I have prayed...

More prayer requests for our Nephew...

I got a message from Shawn's sister this afternoon. Our Nephew, Jr. is struggling. Last night was a really rough night, the problem they are dealing with is his heart currently. It will not maintain a regular beat, often slowing and even stopping for moments at a time. The current plan is that he will be getting a temporary pacemaker put in on Thursday, they have not been able to do his trach placement yet for the Ventilator or the feeding tube into his stomach. Please pray that he will gain strength these next 36 hours and be strong enough to with stand the heart surgery needed. His spinal cord issues, lack of feeling and lack of movement have remained the same. Shawn is planning to travel to Missouri this weekend to visit Jr., we have not decided yet if the kids and I will go too.

Thanks again for your prayers! I'm so thankful for our Heavenly Father who listens, who answers and who carries us when we need it.

There's A New Button...

On the side of my blog, I added a new button today... It's for Casa De Amor- Homes of Love in Bolivia. This is an awesome ministry to orphans in the city of Cochabamba, It has been so exciting to watch this ministry from it's very start, I worked with Jennifer briefly when she first started making plans for her first trip to Bolivia.

The needs in Bolivia are great due to many factors, in the summer of 2002, I spent 3 weeks in Cochabamba and down into the jungles of Chapare (Shawn was there about 10 days of the trip- we served on a medical mission team.) We were able to see first hand the need for this ministry! Take a moment and go check out this awesome ministry to orphans!