Wow!

So, I ran a half-marathon last Sunday. And, this post is soooooo not about accomplishing this goal...I did it and am happy I did it, but to be honest, with everything going on with Liz, it really was the last thing I wanted to be doing on Sunday and the last thing I want a pat on the back about right now. Knowing that I was very unmotivated to be there, I decided to make my run all about Liz and ironed the words "Pray for Liz" on the back of my shirt. I seriously cannot count the number of people who asked me "Who's Liz?" or told me, "I'm praying for Liz!" while we were running the 13.1 miles. I was motivated to run faster because I knew the faster I ran, the more people would be behind me to see my shirt and pray for Liz. A man at mile 13 told me that I was pacing him between miles 11 and 13 and he had been praying nonstop for 2 miles for Liz (and I'm not fast, so that's a good 25 minutes of prayer! LOL!) It was awesome to know that hundreds of people were praying for sweet Liz during that looooong run.

Right before the start of the race, a woman came up to me and asked me about my shirt. I told her Liz's story and she prayed with me right there, while we waited to start the race. {Ok, here's the WOW part.......} I just got a facebook message from this person asking me if I was the person she prayed with before the start of the race! We never exchanged names and I am guessing she found me by my bib number? However she found me, she had to do some digging....what a blessing!

My 14 year old hero!

Please leave my beautiful sister-in-law a comment, letting her know you're praying! Right now, she's in surgery having her port placed so she can start chemotherapy. Tomorrow is a big day for her. She will be meeting with her doctors for a several hour consultation to discuss the details of the road ahead. Pray that she will have peace and comfort during that consultation as some of this stuff becomes more "real."
My sleeves are rolled up and I'm ready to fight right along side her. Pray that all of us fighting this along side her know how to support and encourage her during this battle.
www.lizisasurvivor.blogspot.com

Elizabeth

So, you know how you put yourself in a bubble and feel like there are certain things that will never hit very close to you because there are things that only happen to "other people"? Yeah, well, our little bubble didn't exist like we thought.

Friday, my baby sister-in-law (DJ's 14 year old sister) was diagnosed with osteosarcoma, which is a type of bone cancer. This came out of nowhere and I think we're all in major shock. Please pray for her as she begins her battle with this cancer. We know she's going to do so great and she is so strong! She is inspired so much by cancer survivors and looks forward to being able to call herself a cancer survivor! You can stop by and leave her a comment to tell her you're praying for her on her blog. She is doing really well and we are all so proud of her! When you head over to her blog, be ready to be inspired by a very amazing 14 year old!

Happy Halloween!

From our little Pirate, Cowboy on Horsey, and runny nosed Lion! We hope you had a spooktacular day!! Our little lion preferred to be without her mane.

We had planned on different costumes, but ended up recycling costumes this year instead....The horsey was a gift, so the girls wore costumes that have been worn in the past (Connor was an 11 month old Pirate in 2007 and Darah was a 2 year old Lion in 2006). :)

Throwing is a "no-no"

Someone has started hearing Mommy's firm voice directed at HER instead of just at her big brother and sister.... Reese has started throwing her bottles when she is done or doesn't want anymore. We're working hard on signing or saying "all done" when she's finished with her bottles, and for now, her "discipline" is just a firm reminder not to throw and making her practice signing "all done" with hand-over-hand modeling. I swear she's babbling "whatever" to me in Russian when I'm correcting her. She sooo doesn't care if she's getting in trouble or not, just like a certain older sister of hers I know.... LOL!

In other "bottle" news, since Reese doesn't know how to suck due to her cleft, she drinks from some fancy bottles that aren't as cheap or easily replaced as regular av3nt or g3rb3r bottles. So, when she's not drinking from her bottles, or throwing them, she's chewing them, which makes them ineffective. As you can see, this has become a very expensive and very inconvenient habit. So, we're working hard on open cup drinking, but as you can guess, her little throwing habit is not going to be very condusive with a cup that doesn't have a lid.

Kindergarten Picture Day!

Sweet Darah....*whatever happened to combing the kids' hair before the pictures? LOL!

Bye Bye, Baby Food!

Reese has been a pretty eager eater from day one. Before her cleft lip surgery, she was eating stage 2 baby food. After her cleft lip surgery, she refused to eat. We don't really know why, but I am assuming the surgery was pretty traumatic for her. We didn't push her very hard during that time with food because we knew we would have to start over again once her palate was repaired, so we kept up the exposure, but allowed her to stop when she wanted to stop (which was usually after one or two bites). After her palate was repaired, she went straight back to really enjoying eating stage 2 and stage 3 baby food. 99% of every bite would come out of her mouth (and nose...yes, food still comes out her little nose during every meal, due to a little tiny hole that's still open in her alveolar ridge, leading to her nasal cavity). This has gotten progressively better and she has learned how to move food to the back of her mouth! I wanted to wait until she was a pro with stage 3's before progressing from baby food. Well, that time has come and I am happy to say that she is done with baby food! The girl will eat anything! So, she's eating what we eat (pureed or mashed) and doing quite well with it! Our next stage will be self-feeding finger foods and getting her rotary chew established. She is still on her special bottle (cleft feeder) because she doesn't know how to suck, so I am not sure if she will be able to progress to a straw or will just go straight to an open cup like her big sister who also (for different reasons) never learned to suck. The great thing is, she holds her own bottle now, so she's becoming more and more independent! This is such a fun milestone for us and we are so proud of her, so I wanted to document it! :)