every captive thought

We closed on our house Thursday and, as it goes with every move, it did not go smoothly or as planned.  It's ok though!  We are slowly but surely making progress.  Our family has doubled in size since we moved last so it is more difficult than I expected.  Adding to the lengthiness of it is the fact that we are having a little work done on it before we officially live there.  We are having the living room re-done and part of that is having the ceilings scraped.  After just this one room I am beginning to wonder what is so bad about popcorn ceilings after all.  I think I can deal with those better than I can deal with the mess that is all over my house after just one room being scraped.  Our friends Jenniffer and Cody gave us one of their sons bedroom stuff and helped us get it all set up today.  The boys LOVE it!  Jude exclaimed "YEE-HAW!" when he walked in and saw it for the first time.   My little cowboy is in love with his...

Yesterday morning Jude had his speech therapy evaluation and the little smarty pants tested at a 4 - 4 1/2 year old age level for receptive (what he understands) and right at 2 (which he is 2 years old) for expressive (what he can say).  We had noticed a recent explosion of talking and words lately with Jude.  McKenna, his speech therapist, described this as him being a sponge.  He spent all this time soaking in everything around him and learning, and now he is going to let it all out.  While he was learning he wasn't talking very much but now he is going to tell us all that he has learned.  I'm ready to hear all about it! After speech therapy I dropped Jude off at Nana's and picked up Katy Jane to take her to the hospital for her upper GI.  While we were waiting (for 2 hours) I met a talkative old couple and heard their lives stories.  It was sweet.  They also asked all about Katy Jane and told me they would be praying for her.  By the ti...

The blizzard hit Amarillo on Sunday, just as Brad got out to work.  He got stuck out there and had to work 43 straight hours.  That was not fun for either of us.  When I woke up Monday morning, the first thing I did was go to the back door to see if I would be able to let Isabella out to potty.  I thought there might be a couple of inches. More like several feet had drifted in our courtyard.  I tried to shove the door open but couldn't.  Thankfully, Brad had planned ahead and didn't want me to have to walk through the snow to the garage to get the shovel if I needed it and had brought it in for me before he left the day before. I shoveled a little area out the front door for Isabella to get out to potty.  Poor little thing was so demoralized. By late that afternoon the winds had died down and I thought that Brad might get to come home the next morning (I was wrong), and I devised a plan to get him in.  As it was, he would have no way to g...

Today you would've been 14 years old. I can't say time has flown because it seems like I've lived a lifetime since then. Still I wonder what each of you would've been like. Someday I will get to know. Love you. How can we thank God enough for all the joy we have because of you? 1 Thessalonians 3:9

Adding to the aforementioned chaos that is our life...we got Isabella early.  We hadn't planned on getting her until we were in the new house.  Things change, so we adapt.  The breeders delivered her to us yesterday morning.  James is in puppy heaven.  Jude is in puppy hell.  I'm somewhere in between.  Would that be puppy purgatory???  Not sure how all that works. Jude (and Perry) are skeptical Isabella is a VERY sweet dog.  As far as dogs go...she's sort of perfect.  She loves to cuddle with me.  She loves to play with James.  She pretty much has the potty training thing down. She's super cute with lots of extra skin.  She is not so perfect in that she is LOUD when we make her go in her crate.  In the long run, it will all be worth it. Here's the problem.  I love all things baby.  If you show me a baby anything, it's highly unlikely that I am going to say no to it.  I have to avert my eyes when...

So here is a rundown of our lives right now: Packing our house to move. Closing on new house in 2 weeks. Renovations for 1 week. Movers come in 3 weeks. Clean, repair, and get this house ready to sell. New puppy comes home Friday (2 weeks earlier than expected). Plan and make reservations for Jude's oncology appointment in Dallas. Katy Jane is still having her spasms. James is having major issues at school. School is being unhelpful in resolving these issues. And today James tested positive for the flu. After I got back from taking James to the doctor this afternoon, I sat down at the table with Brad and we just shrugged our shoulders.  He said, "Life is chaotic.  We can handle it."  All I know is that if the Lord brings it to us, He will enable us to get through it.  And from every trying, difficult time in our lives...and there have been more than a few...our faith, love for the Lord, and love for each other has grown.  This time will be no different. ...

It's amazing how quickly things can change. A couple of weeks ago Brad and I started noticing Katy Jane doing a funny little movement.   It started out only a couple of times a day and has increased.   Now it is up to several times an hour.   She scrunches up her eyes, purses her lips, stretches out her arms, her hands tremble, she kicks out her legs, and then squeals.   That happens several times, every hour, all day long.   Friday I sent a video of it to Dr. Honey.   She had me come on up to the office.   (In my experience, never a good sign).   She had spoken to the pediatric neurologist in Lubbock and we were immediately admitted to the hospital for seizures.   Katy Jane was hooked up to a 1 hour video EEG.   Then she got an IV and had several labs drawn.   The next morning she had an MRI.   Both the EEG and MRI came back normal as well as the labs.   During EEG Hooked up to all of her machines ...