Please Pray!

With a heavy heart I share an email from Nick's mom. Nick and his family need your prayers. Continue to ask for his healing here on earth as it is just NEVER in God's plan to take a child from His family. Yes, it happens with sin in the world and makes us long even more for eternity but I wholeheartedly believe He is more than able to do immeasurably more than we could ask or imagine so lets give it a try! Here's Tammy's email...

Dearest Prayer Warriors and Jericho Marchers,

Today was the first time in the surgery waiting room where after Dr. Kosnik came out to talk to us we all just sat numb and speechless.

Basically, they didn't do the hip surgery today. The orthopedic surgeon here did not feel that he could place a pin in Nick's hip and wants to talk to us about it later. (They didn't even make an incision to try, so Nick won't have any recovery in that area at this time.)

Dr. Kosnik removed us much of the cancer in Nick's brain as he could, but he gave us the impression that there was quite a bit he could not get to. Because of this, he did not put in the chemo wafer. He said he didn't want to make Nick any sicker than necessary. He also said that he left one bone of Nick's skull loose to help with pressure from the tumor.

We are at a place in this journey that we have never been before. A place of fear and uncertainty incomparable to any we have ever felt.

Yet, with this reality we are also very aware that just as in every other situation along the way, GOD IS NOT SURPRISED AT OUR NEWS.

Somehow, He has already gone before us smoothing ways we don't even yet know that we will walk.

He promises that His mercies are new every morning.

He promises to never leave us or forsake us.

He promises perfect peace to those who trust in Him.
So, as we wait to see Nick in recovery, we will hold our heads high knowing that we have a Great Physician who will lead us to a Rock that is Higher than any place this hospital can take us. He will lift us from the slimy pit, set our feet on a rock, and give us a firm place to stand. He will put a new song in our mouths, a hymn of praise to our Lord!

And as the Psalm continues, "Many will see and fear and put their trust in the Lord!"

We love you all.

We thank you for every prayer.

Keep marching!

Every night!

Remember to check around in Grayson for the final days marching time. It is either 2:30 in the afternoon or 8 at night. I'm not sure.

Oh, we love you all so much.

Turn to God for us. Not with complaints, but with praise for He has a beautiful plan! We are going to keep taking one more step and one more step so that we can walk from strength to strength!

Pray for Nick's speedy recovery and for his spirit.

You are our messengers to the throne.

Please keep pleading on Nick's behalf!

Love, tammy and tim

My Family Specializes in Cute Girls

I'm not sure how we got so blessed but I just think my girl is amazingly cute and my nieces I want to squeeze to death they are so adorable! Take a look at pics my SIL just posted on her facebook....

Here comes trouble!

OOps! I forgot to post this last Sunday!

We are playing along again with Who Says 8 is Enough over at http://bouffard11.blogspot.com/ with her theme for today... Here Comes Trouble! This is not a difficult post for me AT ALL though I don't have that many pics of her actually getting in trouble because of her being so in tuned to things I usually hesitate to take pictures of it. But here are some that I did capture. Enjoy!

This is about 5 months old. Just before she was mobile (she crawled at 5 1/2 months). Look at trouble written all over that face!

Barely mobile and into everything.

She was upstairs at a friends house being "watched" by their Jr. High Boy. I hadn't heard her for a while and knew he was on the phone so we called up to him to check on her. I think we heard something to the effect of "Holy Cow" and we went up to find this. Click on it to see the full effect. Way to go Trent! Don't hire him for babysitting lol! :)

This spilt milk was because of Ms. Wiggles at the table.

No "trouble" here. Just my silly girl dressing herself up.

This is the kind of rolling eyes face we get that could only have come from spending 9 months in a girls group home with us and 10 teen girls. I didn't fully capture it here but you get the idea. She brings this out when she knows she is in trouble but not serious trouble. Serious trouble immediately results in tears from her. :)

And this, well this is her cute adorable face that helps her weasel out of trouble at times. I can't believe that was taken almost a year ago! Where does the time go?

Here's some fun posts on Spirit's best trouble days--aww, it was fun looking through them. She is such a pill!!!...

http://lifewithspirit.blogspot.com/2008/02/and-it-begins.html

http://lifewithspirit.blogspot.com/2008/03/day-in-life-of-spirit.html

http://lifewithspirit.blogspot.com/2008/03/hair-spray-inspired-pigtails.html

http://lifewithspirit.blogspot.com/2008/03/take-deep-breath-everyone-just-take.html

Gummy Smiles

Check out my post below (from yesterday) for info on Nick Nischan and the March for his fight against cancer!


I am playing along with a blog that I keep up on over at... http://bouffard11.blogspot.com/ . She is doing themed days on her blog and invites others to do the same. So here are a couple of my favorite smiling pictures of little Spirit. Smiles for pictures were sometimes rare with my (Stubborn) little girl. The old ladies at church used to talk about how she never smiled. Umm, it was only because even then, that little strong willed streak was coming through. They were trying to make her smile and laugh, so she would just look at them with the straightest poker face ever. The memory of it cracks me up!






This was her last smile before getting teeth. If you look close enough you can see it coming in after having JUST broken through. This was at almost a year! Love her!

Nick & Natalie and the Wall of Jericho

Do you ever feel like your worries in life are so trivial? Do you ever feel so overwhelmed with thankfulness that your child's worst issues are tantrums in the middle of walmart? Yeah, me too. I want to share with those of you that read my blog about Nick Nischan. Nick is the 13 year old son of one of my professor's from college, Dr. Tim Nischan and his wife Tammy. I went to a small Christian College (which I highly recommend to ANYONE!) I had this professor for Accounting and by the skin of my teeth, I ended up passing. :) We weren't particularly close as I was with other professors and their families but he was and is a caring Christian man who takes his teaching and leading of young adults seriously. His family has had heartache in their lives including losing his 6-week old daughter to SIDS in 1992. He also would be the first to say that he has had so many blessing in his life including his 5 children, one of which they adopted from India. However, right now their family is going through a battle with their son Nick who has been battling cancer for the last 6 years. To my best understanding, he has had some periods of relief but for the past year his poor little body has been continuously under attack by one brain tumor after another and now he has cancer in both of his legs (in addition to some other tumors) and has recently broken his hip due to this. Nick needs a miracle and I serve a God who is in the business of making those happen. I know that many of my readers do too. (If you don't, feel free to let me know I and would be happy to fill you in. :)

This brings me to the Wall of Jericho. Beginning on Monday, August 18th, many people will be joining in a march in efforts to remind Satan, the creator of death and awful things like cancer, that we serve a risen God who yes, allows these awful things to happen in our lives, because otherwise we wouldn't have a choice in choosing to love and follow him, but who also is much, much stronger than any little cancer cell--or big ones for that matter! This involves 7 days of "marching" and praying specifically about Nick and his situation. In typical unselfish fashion for the Nischan's, they have joined in an effort with a little girl named Natalie who also is struggling with cancer for this march as well. This way, those who know about Nick, and those who know about Natalie will be covering both in prayer. If you would like to join in the march, please take a look at Tammy's blog found here http://tammynischan.blogspot.com/ . If you know you won't be able to, please take a moment right now and pray for Nick and Natalie and for those who will be Marching against Satan and his forces that come to kill, steal and destroy.

Its crazy how you know before you have a baby that you just can't imagine what it would be like to have one until you have that little amazing creature. And then after you have the baby its hits you so fully how you just didn't have a clue. I truly didn't have a grasp on how that would mean the thought of your child being sick with something awful could make you instantly disolve into tears. My heart goes out to the Nischan's and to Natalie's family. I know many of you know people who have had children walk through this awful disease called cancer and some of you have gone on this journey first hand. No matter where you are in life, pray. Our father loves to hear the prayers of his children and listens and answers them. He has Nick and Natalie in his lap, loving on them like only a Father can do. His heart is broken over their pain. His words in Psalm 121 are still as true today as they were when they were written, "The Sun will not harm you by day, nor the moon by night. The Lord will keep you from all harm, he will watch over your life, The Lord will watch over your coming and going for both now and forever more!" I can't wait to see the walls crumble! PRAY!

Good Times and Old Friends

We had a bunch of visitors this weekend. And we had a ball. I'm exhausted but it was so nice to see everyone. Well, not everyone. We had hoped more could come but you know college kids! Busy, busy, busy! We had 3 guys from our old Youth group come for the day and then one spent the night last night and then 3 more showed up today which was fun. B had a ball and chattered away to them. She is so full of stories! Here is a picture of our good buddy Sean and her as well as an eBay portrait for future sales. :) Oh yeah, and lest I forget...I head back to work full time tommorrow! Ugggggg in some ways but in others I'm pretty excited. One exciting thing will be paying bills which has been quite a crunch since we still own our other house and are renting here. We will see how our blogging goes now. Enjoy the pics! (Seriously blogger has the WORST word processing EVER.) No idea why that is underlined and link like. I just cut and pasted it.)

Random Rememberings

My girl is at such a funny, funny stage. I need to record some of the fun things she is saying and doing... (Sorry for Blogger's poor, poor, word processing formatting. I'm done messing with it so bear with me!)

• She is getting so good at riding her bikes. Yep, bikes. She has a trike, a dora bike and a scooter. She loves to pedal them down and turn the corner and then walk back up and get the next one...ride it down, turn the corner...you get the idea.


• Lately she has been saying about 30 times a day... Umm, Mom? I love you. Which often comes out sounding like I Wuv eww.


• 
  She can do her carseat all by herself very efficiently now.
  


• She still loves to dance along with the dance shows regularly on TV.
  


• She has been into the movie Annie lately. She has begun singing the songs outloud. On the song that says, "I just stick out my chin and grin and say..." She sings, "I sygamore tree and tin and stay..."
  


• She loves to chew up paper napkins in her mouth. Gross.
  


• She continues to never, never, never sit still.
  


• She is learning to stand on her head and can almost do it propped against the wall.
  


• She is playing more with babies and is starting to love games like Candy Land.


• She is becoming more and more a Daddy's Girl.
  Her favorite Shows are Super Why, Oswald, and Wawa Wubzy (however you spell that).


• She manages to draw out bed time forever (well like 20 min) with all her questions and persistance.


• When we go out "Saleing" (Going to yard sales) and I am having trouble trying to find a sale (BECAUSE SOME PEOPLE DON'T KNOW HOW TO PUT OUT SIGNS!) she is quick to remind me to keep trying and don't give up. She also tells me I'll get it right. (This is all from a yo gabba gabba song that has made a huge impact on her. :)


• She is persistent, confident, empathetic and curious. She never stops asking questions about everything and nothing in general.


• She is active, athletic, smiley and loves to joke around. She gets sarcasm and teasing and loves to tease right back.

She is an amazing gift no matter how you look at it. I just can't believe she is so big! I'm loving having a three year old so far though! It will be exciting to see what the rest of this year holds.

Fond memories of days we will never go back to...

Looking ahead is fun too.But who can resist the here and now?

My Courtney

Well our girl got to go see HER Courtney this past weekend. (There was a time that if we tried to tease our girl and say Court was "MY COURTNEY" then she would dissolve in tears and insist that Court was only hers and if we had let it go, I'm pretty sure tantrums would have happened.) She was spoiled rotten by Courtney and her family and loved every minute of it. We had fun too. I cleaned out the garage and a few other things. In a non air conditioned house. Which was really nice. But oh well. I thought I would share a few pics that Court's brother Kendall took.

Looks like they had fun!

Fun Sayings

I need to record a couple of fun things Spirit has been saying lately. She is expanding her vocab and with it, she mixes up sounds. Its completely adorable. So here's a few...

In reference to her VBS songs she will sing, "Be strong and Aborageous (Courageous)" and "Listen to the Light, Listen to the Light" when its actually Listen to advice.

She has been complaining about her "Squeeto McBites" recently as well. (Mosquito Bites).

Well crud, I just forgot the other one I was going to write. I'll put it down later if I remember. :)

I can't resist publishing a cute photo shoot!

My girl. I just think she's the cutest thing ever! Enjoy!

Happy Independence Day!--Hey, at least I posted it before the month is over!

We had a fairly uneventful fourth of July. Its my Mom's birthday but we were 2 hours away from her so that wasn't too exciting. We did have a bunch of plans but the rain managed to ruin all that. We went to some new friend's house out in the country and they did a bonfire, some amazing food, and some fireworks. Early in the day B and I tried to find some yard sales for my ebay addiction but between the rain and the holiday, we only found 2. I did take a couple of snapshots of her in her fourth of july outfit. So happy 4th, 9 (almost 10) days late!

We managed to find a shirt two years in a row that states, "Miss Independence". Amen. And thank you to Gymboree for wrapping it all up in two words for us!

The God Complex

My daughter cracks me up. We were at our alumni college all week for a conference for the youth at church. We had lots of fun and learned lots too. My parents kept my daughter for this event until thurs afternoon when I went up and picked her up to bring her back for the very last part of the conference.

She and I were walking around while R and the kids were in with the speaker. Shockingly its not the easiest task to keep little Spirit quiet during something like this and when she's overly tired from a week at the grandparents (thanks you guys, couldn't have done it without you!) then its just not even worth trying. We walked out of the building after singing time and it was dark. Which Spirit pointed out to me. I agreed with her. She then told me she was sorry for crying about the book. Now I'm really not sure what she was referring to on this one but she did seem genuinely sorry about whatever it was so I told her that was fine and she could tell Jesus she was sorry if she needed to. So she told Jesus (out loud) as we walked she was sorry. Cute, right? It gets better.

About 30 seconds later she said, "You are God." I said, "well no Baby, I love God and he loves me but I'm not God." She pondered this for about 5 seconds and then said, "Oh, well I'm God." Oh dear. I decided we had better straighten this out. I know preschoolers tend to be overconfident and all about themselves but this might be a bit too far. So I stopped and got down on her level and pointed out the moon and stars and grass and trees and we talked about how God had made those. She seemed to get that so I said, "so see, I'm not God and you aren't God. We haven't done anything as cool as make the moon or trees!" She thought about it and said, "Oh... Well, we'll have to do that tomorrow."

I burst out laughing at that point. I'm not sure what more I could say. I will keep tabs on her and make sure she's not telling her teachers that she is God or anything. :) Or trying to hang the moon. She is quite the monkey so I will really have to watch that one!

Happy Birthday! A little late... (on my post that is)

My big girl is 3!!! I can't believe it! She is more fun all the time. Such a little talker and loves to tell dramatic stories. She is the cutest thing in our lives that's for sure! Here are some pictures from our family get together. Sorry I didn't do the usual editing!