Get Well Addie!

Addie's Hot Pink Casts with her balloon

from her Sonshine School teachers and friends.

Our sweet Addie broke her left femur (upper leg) again on Monday evening. In February it was her right femur. Both femurs have now been broken twice. This break required a spica cast, which covers both legs and then up to her waist. We had a rough first night at Children's hospital as Addison began having breathing difficulties for an unknown reason and then required oxygen for about 12 hours. It was a very difficult decision for us to make on Tuesday morning whether we should go ahead with the procedure, which required general anesthesia, to set her leg or wait for her respiratory problems to resolve. After consulting with both the anesthesia and orthopedic surgery teams, we decided that we had to go ahead with the procedure to alleviate her pain and allow us to work on her respiratory problems through positioning. It was a scary few hours. She made it through and then by late afternoon, we were able to take her off of the supplemental oxygen. At that point, she still could not keep any food or liquid down, so we had to stay the 2nd night in the hospital. We were finally able to come home on Wednesday.

Addison is being strong as always. She is tolerating the discomfort for the most part; however, it evidently is very painful for her during diapering and repositioning times. It takes me back two years when we dealt with these same issues at birth. She will be in the cast for 4-6 weeks, so we will primarily be at home during this time.

We appreciate all of the prayers and meals from our friends and family over the last few days. Please continue to keep all of us in your prayers. For Addison, pray for complete healing of her break, alleviation of the pain, and protection of her skin from rashes and infections. Also, please pray that she has minimal muscle loss during this time. It has only been in the last few months that she has gained some muscle strength in her legs and now we will be out of therapy for at least a month. For the rest of us, please pray that we will trust God's plan for us. I believe that God's words are true that he will not give us more than we can bear, but weeks like this certainly test my faith.

Hopefully we will still be able to get her Minnie Mouse costume on her for some Halloween pics.

Happy 2nd Birthday, Addie!

Happy Birthday, Addison Hope! We cannot believe that she is two years old. Two years of love; two years of work; two years of tears; two years of prayer; two years of thankfulness. We are so blessed by every new accomplishment and every new day with her. We are full of hope that God will answer our continued prayers; however, he is teaching us all along the way. We know that He is in control; He has a specific purpose for Addie's life; and He has a perfect time for everything.

We celebrated Addie's birthday with a Boz party with our family. Boz (the Green Bear Next Door) is her favorite movie character. She loves to dance and sing with Boz. She also had fun in the bounce house with Megan.

She was so excited about her new toys!

She thinks Megan is the funniest person in the world.

Megan, Addison, & Jake.

I promise that I brushed Megan's hair before the party. I guess that we could call it the "bounce house 'do."

Addie and Jake make a wish!

Nani's 90th BD

Addison, Justin, Megan & Lily (2nd cousins)


Nani with 5 of her kids. John (Phillip's dad) is just to the left of Nani.


Happy BD to Addie!

Megan playing with her cousin, Chloe.


On Saturday afternoon, we celebrated Nani's 90th birthday at her house. She told me she didn't know why the big celebration for her. (She probably thinks 90 is insignificant since her mother lived to 107.) Eight of her 10 kids were there, so the girls were able to meet a lot of their extended family for the first time.

Daniel's Wedding

Megan as Flower Girl


Addison with Julian, her 2nd cousin.


Phillip, Addie, Megan, and Nani (Phillip's Grandma)


Done for the night!


We started off the busy weekend of celebrations with the Thursday night rehearsal and Friday night wedding of Daniel and Michaela. Daniel is Phillip's younger brother. Megan was one of the Flower Girls. She ended up doing fine but it took many reminders of her "reward" aka bribe. She is quite the entertainer among her circle of family and friends, but the total opposite outside of this circle. She found it all worthwhile when she received her set of "Tall Shoes" (plastic high heels) that she has wanted so bad. She wore them right up to bedtime on Saturday and then had them on Sunday morning with her PJs when she came out of her room with blankie still in tow. Too funny!