Spandex Pants and Jazz-er-size!!!

Well it has truly been a busy busy week! Monday I had my Anatomy class in the morning and then got to go watch Caden for the day while Sam and Grandma took Mason to his pre-op appointment. Mason's doctor was amazed at the progress he has made in the last few months. Last time he saw Mason, he wasn't sitting up by himself, he wouldn't look at you when you said his name, he wouldn't even look you in the eye... but now he is looking at people, mimicking sounds that we make, going from laying to sitting (by himself), and even working on a little army crawl!!! Yeah Mason!!!

Tuesday I had more school (one morning class and one afternoon class). I am probably going to drop the afternoon class because it is going to be a big waste of time to keep it. So after class I drove across the 405 to hang out with Sarah. We drove around Santa Monica and got lost a few times looking for a Cingular store... it was great fun. She is coming home today for the three day weekend so that's kinda cool (Love you Belle!!!) Wednesday was kinda the same as Monday accept I got to play with Mason most of the day. His mom had ordered (at the therapist's recommendation) these little hip helper pants. Pretty much Mason likes to sit spread eagle (either sit or when he lays on his back or tummy). This is cute, but it doesn't allow him to make transitions from floor to sitting and eventually standing. So these hip helpers are little blue spandex shorts (he looked like an 80's jazz-er-size kid) that has the legs sewed together which prevents him from going spread eagle. He did alright with them on (they lasted almost 20 mins and he got some good practice sitting on his knees, sitting in the crawling position, climbing up stairs...) but he eventually got frustrated and we took them off. He is really learning and growing so much and it really makes leaving hard... but we shall see what happens.

Yesterday I didn't go to class because I had meetings to go to and I actually have to head out to one right now. Happy Friday everyone and have a great weekend!

Brett Dennen

For all of you who are not lucky enough to have been introduced, this is Brett Dennen and last night he gave an amazing concert in Libby Bowl for the Food for Thought organization. The night started out a little slow, but lots of fun. RJ's band played first (they were the third runner up in the Battle of the Bands). The other groups in the battle of the Bands were pretty good, but non could compare to the incredible sounds of Emy Reynolds!!! She rocked the house and everyone loved her.

Up next was an artist named Perla Batalla. She was actually really really good. She had sort of a folk meets mariachi music sound to her (all of her songs were in Spanish). It was great fun sitting and watching all of these Ojai Hippies dancing their little hearts out. Some could dance really well and others... bless their hearts... should have sat back down.

The main event of the night (even though most people still have no idea who he is) was Brett Dennen. He is this huge Irishman (about 6'6" and 250lbs) that sings kinda folk style music. He's lyrics are absolutely amazing and everyone should check him out online or something. He started out a little slow, but halfway through the evening he started hoola hooping with one of the Ojaian Hippies' glowing hoola hoop... It was soooooo good!!!!

Anyway, just thought that I would share my very exciting evening with you all. School starts for reals this week (classes Mon-Thurs... woohoo!!!). On a more work related note, Mason and Caden are doing well. Caden was starting to get a little Colicy, but we switched to the platex drop-in bottles (the kind that you can push the air out before you stick it into the baby's mouth) and that seems to be helping out a lot! Mason still hate Caden and hates anyone who is paying attention to Caden and not him (when I hold Caden, Mason is ok cause I still try and talk to him and pay attention to him, but he won't take his eyes off me for a minute). Mason's therapy is going really really well. He is now crawling (well, army crawl, but it is forward movement and it is really fast) and getting stronger every day. He is supposed to have his eyelid surgery on September 17th (he goes in for his pre-opp appointment tomorrow). He also has to go in for a CAT scan (or maybe it was an MRI... I dunno something in his brain) later this week to check on his brain growth. His doctor is still worried about the neurological affects of his vaccinations (if you don't know the story he had a bad reaction to the whooping cough vaccination: sent him into seizures: and could very well be the reason for him being a little slower then most kids his age). So, there is a lot going on in that family right now. Please pray for rest and strength for everyone (That Sam would sleep, that Caden would sleep so Sam could sleep, that Helmuth would learn how he can help his wife, that Mason's brain is ok and keeps developing as it should...). Anyway... that's it... have a great week everyone!!!

Back in the Saddle

Well, this morning marked the first day of yet another semester at CSUN! I have to admit, the last week or so I have psyched myself out way more then I really should have. I really didn't want to start school (especially since I am seriously considering changing majors). Going to class just seemed like a waste of time. I felt like I had wasted the last two years studying and working so hard and now I am just gonna go and change it. I know everyone goes through all of this stuff when they go to college and it's all part of life and growing up and stuff, but last night really sucked! I spent most of the night praying that God would take this semester and roll with it. I didn't pay all of my tuition (I was $300 short after my Cal Grants and stuff) and CSUN is really good about dropping people from their classes if they don't pay their tuition. So last night I was almost praying that my classes would be dropped and I could try and take a semester off... but God must have other plans because I made it to school this morning and I still have all of my classes (I payed my tuition today too so now I am broke... until I get paid tomorrow).

So here I sit in the library once again, waiting around for my 7pm Anatomy lab (my last class was over about an hour ago). I do have two online classes which will probably take up most of my time, but for now I wait and I blog about the breakdown I had last night and relying on God for whatever he has in store. It kinda sucks doing what you don't want to do sometimes doesn't it?

Success!

How does one measure success? I have measured it in many different ways; from how many goals I save in soccer to getting good grades in school... Yesterday and today I found a new way to measure success. Say hello to Caden Fuller Billy.


Yesterday I started working with Mason again and now Caden as well. Yesterday I mainly played with Mason. He is not really adjusting well to the new baby (he gets really jealous when you are holding and feeding Caden and not spending time with him). So yesterday we had some Michaela and Mason time. The time I felt most successful however was during nap time. I finished eating some lunch and I went and rocked Mason to sleep (it usually takes about 20 mins and it is so much fun because he loves to cuddle). After putting Mason to sleep I relieved grandma (Sam's mom who is leaving on Friday... poor Sam) of Caden duty. I bounced around with Caden for about an hour before he would let me put him down. There was a 45 min period when both boys were sound asleep in their cribs. It was remarkable and so precious! I felt so good after accomplishing that. Amazingly I was able to do it again today! Today was more Caden heavy (Sam is feeling so overwhelmed that when I walked into the house today she was almost in tears as she asked me to take Caden for awhile). I spent most of the day with Caden, but got to put Mason down for a nap (for some reason I am the only one that can really get Mason to take a nap on a regular basis). After putting Mason down I put Caden down and they both slept for over an hour!!!



I am so glad I get to help Sam out as much as possible (especially now with two boys under the age of 1, rebuilding their house, rebuilding the office, and everyone thinking that she is still working full time). Please pray that Sam will get some sleep (Caden isn't sleeping very well... as well as a newborn can I guess). She still can't pickup Mason which is really really hard on her and really really really hard on Mason. He is so jealous of Caden and just wants his mommy back. Please pray that I can be as helpful as possible to Sam right now. Pray that Mason will start eating again (he has been teething really bad and hasn't eaten solid foods in a week... making him very constipated and cranky... he finally ate for me today... yogurt and prunes... MMMmmm!!!) Anyway, I thought I would share my success story with you all. I would love to hear some of the times that you all felt most successful... I am sure there are wonderful stories out there.

Back and Ready to Go...

Well... I am now at home for awhile. I am so sorry for not updating this blog as often as I have in the past (sorry Martha!). Life has been totally crazy and God has been doing some wild things, and I am sorry I haven't been able to keep everyone as up to date as I maybe could have.

Hungary was incredible! It was so much fun to hang out and get to know all of the GEMKs. I learned so much about them, myself, and just being a child of God. It really was a great time. I still don't have my suitcase back, but I know that this is all a part of God's plan and I am doing alright without it.

Hume was a very long week. God definitely had some major plans for me and all of our campers. Some wild stuff happened including the "Toilet incident". I would love to type out what happened with the toilet deal... but it might not be entirely appropriate, but if you ask me about it I will totally fill you in.

But life is now moving on. I start school this Thursday (well, my sewing class starts tomorrow, but CSUN starts on Thursday) and I am definitely starting to freak out a bit. I am so over being at school and I just want to move away and start whatever it is that God wants me to do... but I know that might not be the most responsible thing to do so I am sticking with what I am trying to accomplish. Please pray that I will get excited about what I am doing and fully trust and listen for what God wants me to do with my life. God really spoke to me over the last three weeks (from Hungary to Hume) and I am really beginning to think and pray about where God wants me and what He wants me to do. Anyway... I am here and I am ready for what God has planned for this year of school and work.

Jet Lag

My apologies to all who have been checking for an update on this blog for the last week. Things got pretty crazy once the kids arrived and any spare moment I had was usually spent sleeping or chatting with kids. But I am home (for another hour) and I am very very Jet lagged.

The conference itself was absolutely amazing! Despite losing my luggage (which I still have not received but am praying that God will one day return it to me), I had the best week of my life. I didn't get to take as many pictures as I would have liked (my camera charger was in my suitcase so I rationed my photo taking to try and make it last all week) but I think the ones I (and Ryan took some of them) took turned out pretty nice. Please take a look at my pictures from GEM-K conference 2007.

Despite some minor hiccups and a slight panic attack (don't ask, it really was stupid)... I have to say that this trip was nothing short of amazing. From rec, to worship, to small groups I had a wonderful time getting to know these MKs. Words cannot begin to describe the impact these MKs had on me. I hope that I can have that impact on someone like they did on me.

I met some wonderful people on this trip that I hope to keep in touch with. I would love to write more and I will probably be talking about this for days, but seeing how I woke up at 2:30 this morning unable to fall back asleep, my head is not really on strait. Please pray for us all as we leave for Hume. Pray that those who went on the the trip (Ryan, Darren, Sammy, and myself) will be able to give all we have and more to our kids this week. Pray that we will get over this jet lag quickly. Pray for God to do amazing things this week at Hume. Pray that we will be prepared for what God has in store for us this week. Please Pray for us...

Sopron Day 4

Hello everyone from beautiful Sopron, Hungary. It is now day 4 of our journey and I am happy to report that we all made it here safe and sound. My luggage however was not quite as lucky. The whole trip over here was kinda a nightmare, but it makes for a pretty good story. Dave Gonzales drove us to LAX where we had to check in with United. We bought our tickets through LOT airlines which is a polish airline, so the people at United had no idea where our tickets were and they told three of us (not me) that they didn't have a seat on the plane and would have to wait with a standby ticket. Luckily they all got a ticket and we made it to Chicago.

On the way to Chicago I realized that my bags had only been checked to Warsaw (we were eventually going to Vienna). In Chicago we talked to the LOT company and they assured us that all of our luggage would make it to Vienna like it was supposed to. So we all slept fairly well on our flight to Warsaw (9 hour flight). In Warsaw we saw our luggage being unloaded from the plane and we saw my guitar come out, but weren't sure if we saw my suitcase come out. But we pressed on to Vienna (basically I passed out on that flight and don't remember taking off or landing but I heard it was pretty scary cause it was a smaller plane that sounded like it was falling apart). We made it to Vienna where he headed to baggage claim. Everyone's bags were there accept my suitcase, my guitar, and Kate's extra bag with some of our prizes and bullhorns and guitar peddles. So we went to Lost and Found... Long story shorter they said the would fly it over on the next available flight. They guitar (which was in Warsaw) is coming today and who knows when the suitcase (which was still in Chicago last I checked) is coming. But things are going well. They are just things and God is reminding me of that every day. Matt drove me into town today to buy necessities (Thanks again Matt... I REALLY appreciate it).

The GEM-Ks come tomorrow and I can't wait. I will try and post pictures and keep updating the blog, but I am not sure how many opportunities I will have to use the internet. Please keep the team in your prayers. Pray that we can all push our own agendas aside and focus of God's agenda, whatever that may be. Pray that we won't disappoint the GEM-Ks and that we can give them all the time and energy that they deserve. And also pray that we find my suitcase somewhere. I am fine for now, but it would be nice to get the things back eventually.