camping trip, part three

The long awaited final night photos of our sibling camping trip. (You were holding your breath, weren't you?)


We didn't want to overdo it with the too-outdoorsy stuff since we only had two days together, so on Saturday night, we went out to eat in Boone. It took us a while to figure out where to go but we finely landed at a southern cuisine restaurant called Proper.

Peyton went to snap a photo of the girls, but little did we know the camera was still set on the 10 shot setting from when we were taking our photos on the rock earlier in the day. So I took advantage of it and acted like a fool. (You're only seeing four of the ten. You're welcome.)

Pretty sisters.

Peyton, attempting to be artsy.

Shaina's the cutest.

I made them do this.

I am definitely getting 30-year-old eyes.

My turn at attempting to be artsy.

Our food. Everyone's was really good except Shaina's. Not sure how they made Baked Ziti (it didn't have sauce), fried potatoes (THEY DIDN'T HAVE KETCHUP!), and hushpuppies (um, not where I'm from, those aren't) so weird.

Shaina is considering Appalachian for college, so we made sure to go by the campus after dinner to let her check it out. It really is a beautiful campus.

This is the part of the story where I walked down the hill to get these photos, fell smack on my bottom and DIDN'T pee my pants. HOORAY! (Thank you, Couch to 5K.)

And then it was back to the camp site for S'mores!

The next morning, we packed up camp and headed to Mellow Mushroom for lunch before we came back home. We had such a good time, and I really hope we can (and our spouses will agree to) make it an annual thing. Either way, memories I'll treasure forever.


On a completely different note:
- It's 10:31 and Jonah is still awake, talking in his bed.
- I napped when he napped today and will probably be up all night. WHY DO I DO THIS?
- I completed Week 8, Day 1 of Couch to 5K tonight. This is my current FB status: 
Tried running a new route today. I ran to and around the Sedge Garden Rec Center. Problem is I ran downhill to get there so the second half of my run was mostly uphill. My running mantra on the way back was, "You're so stupid. You're so stupid. You're so stupid." But it was more of a "Yoooou're sooooo stuuuppiiid" sort of pace. 
- I've eaten 3/4 cup of Chocolate Cheerios with milk and two pieces of bacon since I've been home from my run, but I'm still starving. Just go to bed, you say? Um, hello, did you not read item two? I'm starving and I want a steak. It's going to be a long night.
UPDATE: At approximately 11:47 pm, I made myself a grilled cheese sandwich. I'm still hungry.

checking in

Feeling pretty unmotivated to post tonight, but just thought I'd check in. Matt had a minor surgical procedure on Friday morning, so he's been on strict "don't walk except to get up and pee" rest since. I'm pooped with taking care of Jonah and all Jonah chores (drawing meds, g-tube meals, washing tubes and syringes, setting up for next day's dressing change, dressing change, picking up toys, night time blister draining etc) without a break. Jonah has been an angel but he's thrown up three times in the last two days (after barely throwing up at all in the last two months), so it's been a long couple days. Matt's recovering well though and he has been a good patient. :)

Funny story:

Background - One of the worst things Jonah deals with is itching skin when his wounds are healing. He takes Zyrtec in the mornings and Atarax in the evenings, and I use some creams and stuff to help, but no matter what, he has some days and moments where the itching drives him crazy. I will often times scratch his boo boos (most of the time on his fingers, heels or wrists) in a safe way to give him some relief. He really can't scratch because he only has two fingernails and does more of a dangerous rubbing against something. Anyway, when I scratch for him, you should see the look on his face. He smiles and laughs and says, "Scratch!" like I've given him the best gift in the world. It's really break-your-heart-cause-it's-so-sad-and-adorable-at-the-same-time sweet.

Anyway, I've tried explaining that Daddy can't walk and play right now, telling Jonah that Daddy has boo boo legs, just cause I don't know how to explain why he can't walk around. Anyway, when I first told him, Jonah walked over to Matt, said "Boo boo legs," and started scratching them for him. It was one of the sweetest things I've ever seen. It was the only way he knew to make Daddy feel better. I won't lie. I  teared up a little.

He is such a compassionate, affectionate little kiddo. Any time anyone coughs or sneezes, he'll say "Okay, Daddy?" or "Okay, Nana?" or whoever. When you get your mean voice and scold him, he'll rub your arm and say, "Iss okay, Mommy. Iss alright. I sorry, Mommy. Iss okay." He loves my friend Lindsey's little boy, Mason, who's four, and just hugs all over him every time he sees him. When his occupational therapist comes, after feeding therapy, they play on the floor and he is ALL OVER HER, wanting to sit on her while he plays. I love how sweet and affectionate he is. I really think he is going to have a beautiful tender heart. (But I'm also preparing myself for him to be the weird kid in school who pets his neighbors.)

Anyway, he's been very helpful with Daddy down, helping clean up his toys, helping feed Deac, and helping carry the trash from the bedroom to the kitchen. I'll tell him to go tell Daddy what he did and how he was a helper, and he'll squeal and run to the living room, so proud of himself he can barely stand it. I hope he always wants to help his Mommy.

Switching gears, I made Mongolian Beef last night for dinner, and it was A-MAZ-ING.

I found the recipe on Pinterest (have I mentioned that I love that site?), and it did not disappoint. Click HERE for the recipe. It calls for flank steak, but I used beef tips because that's what I had and it was super delicious. Let me know if you try it!

PS - We are in the western middle part of NC, so we are safe and sound but many of our Greenville friends have lots of damage and power outages, so please keep them in your prayers. Lots of flooding and I know the Northeast is about to get hit badly too. Praying that everyone stays safe. Don't take stupid chances!

me complaining with some cute videos at the end

To say that Delilah did a poor job sharing Jonah's story and telling how great Brenner is would be an understatement. We listened to her show for two and a half hours all for her to say the following in about ten seconds:

(the transcript from last night, which is posted on her website today)

We all imagine babies being born with the softest skin,  and swaddling them in soft baby blankets as soon as they come into this world. In my travels and time with the doctors and nurses working with  Children's Hospitals and Together For Kid's, their national organization,  I've come to know it doesn't always work that way.  Take little Jonah for instance;  He was born with portions of his little body  without fully developed skin, let alone soft skin. Doctors at Brenner children's Hospitals went to work immediately  on finding the right proteins to feed Jonah. Now he's two years old and  living at home, with his parents so convicted to care for him and so  grateful that God chose them to be his parents. The support that families receive from Together for Kid's hospitals across  the nation is one of the wonderful things I observe when I visit.  You can support that with a gift of $10 by texting to a certain  number from your cell phone. Write this number down: 8-5-9-4-4 When you text "T and the number four and the word 'Kids', to 8 5 9 4 4,  and reply with the word, 'yes', you make it possible for Jonah and many  other children to receive this kind of miracle treatment. Thank you for doing so! Um, WHAT? The doctors immediately started working on proteins to feed him?  No mention of EB, blisters, bandages, or the great job Brenner did  (and what they really did) to help him. Anyway, it's just frustrating because  I read and approved the great story Brenner put together and submitted. And it  seems like they just didn't even take the time to read it at all. I just feel like  she had an amazing opportunity and a big responsibility to make a difference  and could have really made this story and the other one she told (in which she  called the child, Nathaniel, "Nathan" on the air) very powerful and raised lots of  awareness and money for the children's hospitals. Oh well.  On to other things. Even though I get frustrated with being at home all the time, even though  most of our weeks we only go to church on Sundays, to get my allergy shots  on Thursdays, and an occasional trip to Target or the grocery store if we're  feeling crazy, I'm still thankful to be at home. So I can treasure moments like  these. (jonah watching this video from his birthday last year) (jonah watching an episode of tom and jerry. this one's from today.)

jonah on delilah!

The nationally syndicated radio show host(ess), Delilah, is the spokesperson for Together For Kids, a national network of children's hospitals. 


From an email I received: Brenner is a founding member of a national network of children’s hospitals called Together for Kids (T4K). Radio personality Delilah, who is heard in our area each weeknight on 99.5 WMAG-FM, is the national spokesperson for T4K. She has agreed to share stories about patients who have been treated at T4K hospitals and encourage listeners to donate funds to T4K and its members.


Anyway, Brenner asked if they could submit Jonah's story. Of course we said yes, and we just found out that his story will air on Delilah tomorrow night, Tuesday, sometime between 6pm and 10pm EST, or at least those are the times for our local station (99.5). Click HERE for the station and times in your area.


Hope you can listen in!


(singing) Deee-liiiiie-laaaah

jonah's new shirt

Today was laundry day. Jonah decided to try out Mommy's favorite, first-out-of-the-clean-laundry shirt.

It's WAY cuter on him. Just in case you were wondering.

adoption update

Our social worker came for a visit on Tuesday. We have finished our MAPP training and are scheduled to take our Medication Administration class on September 13th. If all goes well, we'll be licensed by the end of the year.

Yet to go:
- Med Admin class
- Fire inspection
- Physicals
- Finger Printing (6-12 weeks)
- Filling out forms (medical history, discipline, background check permission etc and so on)
- Home study interviews
- Environmental inspection check list
- Home study document
- Family profile (a photo and word description of our family written to our future kids)

Anyway, hopefully we'll be licensed by the end of the year. HOWEVER, in talking to our social worker, we found out that, given Jonah's age and how selective we (and they) will have to be in finding a referral for us, we could wait a year or more (an indefinite amount of time, really) for our kids. There are families like ours, with small children and open to legal risk (like we most likely will be), who have been waiting well over a year. It's disheartening, to say the least. BUT, we're trying to keep the perspective that any time we have to wait is just time God is giving us to prepare. To prepare our marriage, our family, our home, our finances, our hearts, our minds, our everything to successfully give this kid (or these kids) the life and home they deserve. We know it will not be easy, and we know that we can't fully prepare ourselves for it, but we can read books, pray, hope, trust, budget, spend time in the Word, rely on God, and do as much as we can to ready ourselves.

I'm excited, apprehensive, anxious, hopeful, but surprisingly at peace and fully trusting. God led use here, and as we continue on this road, I know more and more that this is where we're supposed to be. And I haven't said this in a while, so I'll say it again. God is not in the business of bailing.

We just trust and take it one day at a time. I found this Martin Luther King Jr. quote today: "Faith is taking the first step, even when you don't see the whole staircase." This is going to be a long staircase. But it's worth it. We just keep on climbing.

giggles

Matt's getting a Guys' Night Out tonight and Jonah's in bed, so I'm headed to snuggle under my covers, in the complete quiet, and read.

But continuing this week's camping theme, my brother sent us this after we got back. I just love Jim Gaffigan.


Also, if Matt were being completely honest, I'm pretty sure this is how he feels about camping too.

camping trip, part two

Peyton and Sarah slept well on Friday night, but Shaina and I were both super restless, sharing an air mattress, and neither of us got good sleep. We got up around 8:00 or 8:30. As you can see, Shaina and Sarah were happy little campers. Get it, campers?

This is Sarah’s dog, Charlie. He is the best six month old puppy I’ve ever met. He is so obedient and eager to please. And super adorable to boot!

Peyton used his nifty Jetboil to make his morning coffee. I would drink coffee except that I have the beverage maturity of a four year old.

These are Sarah’s dirty camping feet. You’re welcome.

Here we are about to leave for to go to nearby Hebron Falls. (This is the part of the story where we decided not to wear our bathing suits because we were just going to hike and we didn’t pack our lunch, but then we drove around for about 10 minutes and decided we were going to swim and we were going to need a packed lunch, so we turned back and went back to the campground and finally got back on our way about 20 minutes later. (Exhales))

Stopping for a quick photo on the way to the Falls. I couldn’t prop my camera for this one. It would have ended up in the creek.

Hebron Falls. Yep, those are the falls too. Waaay up at the top of the frame.

They do this pose everywhere they go. I suppose it's rather endearing.

These dumb-dumbs decided to go swimming in the freezing cold water.

Even the dog had more common sense and had to be carried in.

Oh look, I was there too. Nice and dry up on the rocks. Don't roll your eyes at me. Somebody had to document it all with photos. (Annnnnd, the rocks were jaggy and it was cold and there could have been snakes. I'm more at one with the dry, visible parts of nature.)

This next series of photos I like to call "DON'T DO IT!"

I told you not to do it.

Lunch break! 

And before we left, we made sure to get a few group photos. (Shaina didn't get the memo that we were doing a "for real" shot.)

(Shaina is apparently not a very good listener.)

Ahhh. There we go.

(This is the part of the story where I tell you that my camera was propped on top of a towel on top of a rock, precariously close to the water. It is also the part of the story where I describe how Peyton would snap the camera and then run and jump about three big rocks in a matter of 10 seconds to make it into the photo. And then the camera would take 10 shots before he'd have to run back and snap it again. Rinse and repeat. It is also the part of the story where, when retrieving my camera, my light scoop fell into the water, sank straight to the bottom and Sarah blindly found it at the bottom of the creek with her toe. She's a rock star.)

It was a great little afternoon trip. I'll tell you about the rest of the day later, but it's almost 11:30 and I want to go to bed. Thanks for bearing with me. :)