I am part of an online bible study and today’s memory verse is Hebrews 12:1b, “…let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us.”

Kind of ironic huh?  I know I have said it before that we were chosen to be on this special journey with Violet.  Kind of also makes me think about the Jeremiah verse, …”the plans I have for you…” / …”the race marked out for us…”

Violet is such a joy to be around.  She is starting to recognize people and will turn her head when you call her name, even give a little smerk if she knows who you are.  One of Grace’s day care teachers was filling in for Violet’s class and she was trying to feed Vi & I guess she just kept looking at her & not wanting to eat.  She was unsure who this lady was that was holding her & trying to get her to eat.  Super cute story!

She is starting to roll onto her left side and sometimes can make it to her stomach but her arms get stuck & she doesn’t know what to do.  Plus with her helmet she can’t lift her head very good…

As I think back thru the last year and all the coversations I have had with people and all the times someone has told me they don’t know how we do it – one thing always comes to mind…someone else has it worse.

I think about my dear friend, who is battling ongoing breast cancer; another friend who’s husband was diagnosed with testicular cancer just after having a child; I think of a coworker who’s son just went through open heart surgery; I think about a sweet little boy that we met when we were in the PICU who spend more time in the hospital than he did at home. And you know what I keep thinking–this isn’t that bad.  Yes we face countless appointments, hours of work lost, sleepless nights and of course the unknowns but it’s not that bad…

Recently when reading one of my online Bible studies a verse stuck out to me, Isaiah 41:10b says, “I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous hand” What a relief! Someone is on my side & is there for me no matter what…God will / does give me the strength to go through all the hard times.  What a relief!  No matter what we are facing God is there for us, He is there to lift us when we feel like we can’t be take one more step…Have you ever read the poem Footprints in the Sand by Carolyn Joyce Carty?  Google it…it reminds us that God IS always there for us…

Psalm 138:8 also says,The Lord will work out His plans for my life – for your faithful love, O Lord, enurds forever.  Don’t abandon me for you made me.  He has a plan….we just have to listen and be willing / open to follow his plan…His plan never fails.  God wants us to succeed, He’s not out to get us 🙂

So as I think back to what we have been through in the last year, the discoveries of possible abnormalities with my pregnancy and then when sweet Violet was born…it’s not that bad…I can think of plenty of people who have it WAY worse than we do.

We have a beautiful, thriving little girl who has a big sister who loves her dearly and will grow up and be her earthly protector.  Violet is blessed to have wonderful people in her life that love her so very much and think about her and pray for her daily…we are blessed.

Violet got a new toy from a service we have here in Portage Co called Birth to 3.  We were looking for a new activity mat for the floor for her to play with & they didn’t have any in their storage room but found this fabulous toy online that has a hanging toy & then the foot part of it is actually a piano that she can kick & kick.  Oh my goodness!  I am pretty sure she was having so much fun last night & this morning because boy was she kicking.  I think she was even smiling a little bit!  It was a joy to watch her play.  Her legs were going & her arms were going playing & swatting at the hanging toys.  I couldn’t believe it!

Vi is making some amazing progress with her skills.  She is starting to roll with a little help.  She is really starting to look for right side since we started using the wrist rattles on her arm brace & if I haven’t said it before, boy does she get annoyed if you don’t put her hearing aides in when she wants to listen to what’s going on around her…I love it!

She got her helmet last week to help with her flat head.  It will need to be adjusted since her right hearing aide does not fit well with it on.  At night when she wants to snuggle she is not a fan of it either (& I love to snuggle with her & take it off….so we might be wearing it longer than normal….) No one has said really how long she will need it on for so we’ll see.  We actually inquired about it before any of our providers mentioned it to us…so…I don’t know if that makes a difference or not.  I think her head might be a little less flat already, the bump in the back doesn’t seem as defined. Grace likes Violet’s “hat” and loves to share that daddy picked it out 🙂  So cute!

Where do I begin???

Violet has done so many fun things lately.  Day care discovered she is using her right arm to bat at her toys.  So they added links so she could actually hit the toys & sure enough, she sat there for a while just playing 🙂  I love this stage of developement that is beating odds.  I even experienced her doing the same thing this morning when I put her on the mat to play while I snuggled with Grace before sending them off to daycare.

Drs appts: We went to Marshfield this week to get xrays and the helmet and then off to see the Physical Medicine Dr. (who is basically an orthopedic dr, just not surgical)  Vi’s hip xrays look good.  Her right arm was good.  We are waiting to see what Dr. Jaglan our surgeon has to say about the xrays and we might be able to cancel his appt in October!  (secretly hoping he thinks everything is fine).

Vi looks adorable in her “hat” as Grace calls it. She said to me, “I Love Violet’s hat, Daddy picked it out”  SO sweet! She is such a good big sister!  My plan is to get a picture taken of her & loaded for all to see 🙂

The unfortunate thing that we discovered is Vi does indeed have another UTI, so she is currently on antibiotics and after waiting for the culture and waiting for Dr Thomalla (our Urologist) to let us know his thoughts, she will be back on a preventative antibiotic when she is done with this round to treat the infection.  I’m sort of bumbed about that as the antibiotics just seem to take a number on her belly but we are going to try  a different one in hopes that she will tolerate it better.  Day care has gotten really good at knowing when she is going to have a BM and today they stripped her down and put a towel under her & we didn’t go through clothes!  Yeah for today!

Everyday Violet seems to amaze us. 

Last night after dinner we took the girls for a walk by the river and I had Violet in the stroller I was walking with and out of the blue she starts laughing and smiling.  We really weren’t sure what she thought was so funny but she kept up at it for about 15 minutes.  When we got home we discovered what it might have been as she needed her clothing changed; however it was fabulous to hear her laugh and smile 🙂

I have to bring in a urine sample this week to confirm her kidney is doing well since the surgery and taking her off the antibiotics.  She seems to be doing okay, but I just continue to pray that all is well.  This has been the longest stretch that we have been hospital free (knocking on wood as I type this) I continue to pray that this will be the norm from here on out.  I’ll keep you posted on the results.

The Benefit was a huge success.  We couldn’t have asked for a better day.  God is amazing in that he gave us such wonderful loving people around us. 

We are overwhelmed by the generousity of strangers, family, & friends.  No amount of “thank you’s” will really express how grateful we are to those that supported our sweet Violet’s first event.