Halloween

Dr. Conrad had a great time this evening trunk-or-treating at a church located across the street from our house. Caden ended up with a bucket full of candy. Looks like we will be making a return trip to the dentist in the next few months! :)
~jen

Good afternoon......

Hi everyone. I hope you all are having a great day today. We are all doing fine. I took Caden to the dentist this morning. It seems kind-of ironic to have to go to the dentist on Halloween! Caden had a small cavity that needed to be filled. Other than that, all was well. They commended Caden on being such a good boy and he was rewarded with a number of prizes, including a gift certificate to Mr. Gatti's! Oh, he was so excited! He LOVES the dentist!

Cody is at school right now. He finished his 7th grade football season yesterday with a loss of 14-7. The game was the semi-finals for the city championship game next Monday. He was devastated, the whole team was. Cody said the bus ride back to Crockett was the quietest bus ride he had ever been on. Cody played a great game though with 5 tackles and almost intercepting the ball twice! Basketball try-outs will be within the next week as the first basketball game is November 15th. Stay tuned...

Here are a few prayer requests:
- A successful back surgery for my Papa in Fort Worth this Friday
- A safe trip for me to Fort Worth and back home. ( I am leaving Friday morning and will return home Sunday afternoon.)
- Mike's job
- My job

Love to you all.
~jen

I wish I could freeze time.

Today has been a day filled with many tears. I seem to have a number of things on my mind and the day has been a long one. We found out during Cody's game this afternoon that one of his best friend's grandmother passed away early this morning. I pray that Cody will be able to comfort his friend during his time of sadness.
I spent the rest of Cody's game thinking about Cody and his relationship with his grandparents and great-grandparents. Most of Cody's friends only know their grandparents. They never knew their great-grandparents. How blessed are my boys that they have relationships with all 5 of their great-grandparents and 4 grandparents? How blessed am I to be in my 30's and still have my grandparents living? We are truly blessed beyond measure. Oh, how I wish that I could freeze time. I know that it is not possible. But, oh how I wish it was.
Here is one of my favorite Christian songs from Mercy Me... for all of us who have lost a loved one or friend.
Love to each of you,
~jen


MercyMe - Homesick
From the album Undone

You're in a better place, I've heard a thousand times
And at least a thousand times I've rejoiced for you
But the reason why I'm broken, the reason why I cry
Is how long must I wait to be with you

I close my eyes and I see your face
If home's where my heart is then I'm out of place
Lord, won't you give me strength to make it through somehow
I've never been more homesick than now

Help me Lord cause I don't understand your ways
The reason why I wonder if I'll ever know
But, even if you showed me, the hurt would be the same
Cause I'm still here so far away from home

I close my eyes and I see your face
If home's where my heart is then I'm out of place
Lord, won't you give me strength to make it through somehow
I've never been more homesick than now

In Christ, there are no goodbyes
And in Christ, there is no end
So I'll hold onto Jesus with all that I have
To see you again
To see you again

And I close my eyes and I see your face
If home's where my heart is then I'm out of place
Lord, won't you give me strength to make it through somehow

Won't you give me strength to make it through somehow

Won't you give me strength to make it through somehow

I've never been more homesick than now

Some thoughts...

I came across a blog today of a single mother of 3 from Little Rock, Arkansas whose 4 year old little boy passed from this earth over the weekend from complications after receiving a heart transplant. I sat at my computer and sobbed. I can only imagine what her grief must be like.

Thank you Lord for giving me 2 healthy boys. Please Lord, grant me patience with both of them. Help me to be a better mom. May I always know how blessed I am to have them both to hug and kiss every night before they go to bed.

Please pray for this family in Little Rock.
~jen

Boomer....Newest addition to the Steelers Family

Meet Boomer. He is a 2 month old black-brown Labrador puppy. We adopted him about 6 weeks ago from a shelter and brought him home earlier this week. We all agreed on the name because... well, poor Mike... he needs someone to support OU with him! Cody wasn't too happy at first with the name, but has since agreed that his dad deserves to have another OU supporter in this Texas house!
The kids have really enjoyed having a puppy around. Boomer is a sweet, playful puppy with lots of curiosity.
I'll post some pictures of the kids with the dog later on. We tried for 15 minutes this afternoon to get one, but Boomer wouldn't cooperate! ~jen

8 Ways to Declutter Your Mind

I thought this was very interesting. Hopefully the link will work. ~jen

http://lifestyle.msn.com/MindBodyandSoul/CareerandMoney/ArticleRB.aspx?cp-documentid=994996&GT1=8681

Ouch! 3 shots today

"I am not happy. I am really mad." These are the words that Caden had for me as we got in the car this afternoon after our visit to the doctor. As much as I wanted to say, "I am not happy either"... especially after spending 2 hours in a 8X12 foot room with Caden and having to need 3 other nurses to help me secure Caden while he received his THREE injections... I just said, "I know you are not happy, Caden". He rebounded rather quickly though with a request for a X-box game rental from Hastings instead of ice cream!
We went to a new doctor today. He was absolutely wonderful. Some of you know how unhappy I have been with our previous doctor. Well, we have found a keeper. Dr. Merki was so attentive and really listened to my concerns and was so friendly with Caden. Caden weighs 45.4 pounds and is 42" tall. Caden will start using a peak-flow meter to better help us measure his lung function especially with winter coming along. It is a simple machine that he blows into which moves a lever along a cylinder and gives us a reading. He will do this daily and we will start charting his measurements. Hopefully this will assist us in treating his "asthma" (still un-official) needs. Everything else was great. No ear infections. Dr. Merki did not hear the heart murmur. He has a referral to go see a dermatologist for some bumps that have surfaced on the back of his thighs. Dr. Merki thought it was some type of viral infection (non-contagious) which will either need to be frozen-off (oh, how I pray not) or Caden will need to start receiving some type of immune-boosting medication to help these bumps resolve. Other than that all is well! I'll post again, soon!
Love to you all,
jen

Caden-isms

Well, what's new with Caden? Let's see. Here are some new Caden-isms:
- na-na-na-boo-boo (which often ends in poo-poo, followed by lots of giggling)
- When I tell Caden "I love you", he replies with "I love just daddy". Ouch, straight to the heart.
- He told me the other day that the spanking I gave him didn't hurt.
- He loves to say "In just a minute" when he is asked to do something (like pick up toys).

He is getting to be such a "big boy" these days. He and I are going to the doctor this afternoon for a well-child check-up. Of course his first question to me after he heard that we are going to see the doctor is, "am I gonna get a shot?". Poor baby. Yes, he is probably going to get some shots today. I've already promised him ice cream as soon as we are done! ~jen

Cody... 12 going on 18

Cody is getting to be quite the "young man" these days. I can't say too much for fear of embarrassing him, but he is quite proud of his newly discovered arm-pit hair (5 in all)! He never ceases to amaze me. :)
He is doing well in school this year. He is enjoying all of his classes. He just finished the "baby-egg" project in Life Management. His baby survived a total of 6 hours. One of the rules of the project was that this egg was to be treated like a real "baby" and had to go everywhere with Cody. Well on day 1, 5 1/2 hours into the project, Mike took the boys to the golf course after school. Cody said it wouldn't be a problem to load up his "baby" and strap the basket to the golf cart. Unfortunately, Caden's curiosity in Cody's "baby" resulted in a major brain injury to the "baby". Lesson learned: Keep breakable baby-egg projects out of Caden's reach. Cody ended up with an 86 on the project, though!
Cody is doing well in football. He is on the "Gold" team this year and they are 2-2. He plays corner-back and wide receiver. He has really enjoyed playing. He is already looking forward to the upcoming basketball season. Of course, he still plays golf when time allows. ~jen

Here goes...

Well... (deep breath) here goes...
I thought I would give "blogging" a try. Hopefully this will be a great way to share short stories and pictures of the kids with family and friends! I hope you enjoy my future posts and will join in with your comments!
~jen