Always Behind!

I am always behind on updating my blog---oh well! This very well may be my favorite christmas picture!


Have I mentioned that I am convinced that a good family picture is not in the cards for us for probably ten years? I've accepted it!



And finally, look what I walked into the kitchen to find today....

A for effort!

I have lots of catch-up posts to do, but probably won't happen---you'll understand by seeing the results of a simple desire to get one picture of the kids before church.

I'm setting my sights on a nice family picture in about 10 years, until then you'll understand why the Christmas card will be full of candids!

Living Miracle

Jack's part for the Primary Program this year is:

"A miracle is something you thought was impossible, but happened because of the power of God."

One year ago, Luke was life-flighted from Logan to Primary Children's Medical Center and we were told a whole host of things that may be impossible and/or improbable. We desperately wanted a miracle. On that day, my repeated prayer was simply, "please let him live, we can deal with anything, please just let him live", over and over again.

Well, indeed he did live and indeed we have dealt with some things and continue to do so. I have really felt that Luke had the choice whether to live and press forward or to be released from the pain. While I know ultimately it was the Lord's will, I do feel that there were several moments of choice involved in Luke's situation. This creates this driving force for me to help him have the best life possible. It has helped me realize that there is so much opportunity for growth, joy and hope in life. What a blessing it is to feel so much increase in life's meaning--to learn and grow and become all that we can.

I am happy to report that Luke is pressing forward and doing very well. First and foremost, he is happy, strong, active and adorable! He is sooo much more responsive to sound and is learning more everyday. His laugh is the most wonderful thing to hear! He does all the actions to a few songs, just from listening to us sing---receptive language! He grabs my hand and takes me to everything he wants. He gives me a huge hug when I reach out my arms and say, "HUG!". He is vocalizing more and more all the time and last week in therapy he said his first distinct words, "up, up, up". I was overjoyed, I was so proud of him!

The more I have read, it seems that most children begin to say words about one year after activation of their implants. This was last December for Luke, so I feel like he is certainly on his way.

It has been a big struggle this last year to keep a steady positive attitude, but I have learned the power of a positive attitude. I used to think it was a nice idea, but it was better to be completely realistic. However, I now realize that there truly is a power in being positive, hopeful and keeping your faith steady. It becomes a fuel that puts you to work to assist the Lord in making the miracles come to pass. Ultimately, it is all in His hands, but there is so much through his inspiration that we can do to contribute. I cannot begin to list the times that I have received bits of inspiration for little ways to help Luke this last year from ideas about a little song to sing or a little toy that would help develop this or that.

I don't know what things will look like in a year, but I am certain that Luke is trying his hardest and he will be blessed for his efforts. His progress to this point is a testament of his strong will.

We love you Luke!

I didn't catch his famous smile in this picture, but it shows how big he is getting and what a handsome boy he is!

Eight Months Old

Oh My Ezra---I'm almost speechless, seriously this baby is just strickingly handsome! I just love his deep blue eyes and his cute smile. He has two teeth now and is babbling away. It is so fun to see more and more of his personality everyday!

Slow and Steady wins the Race!

Luke is making slow, but steady progress and steady is a BIG deal! I will never again have one of my children have one of those standard hearing screening tests where they drop the object in the bucket with every sound without being totally grateful for their gift of hearing. This has been hard work for battery operated ears, but Luke is finally getting the idea of hear the sound, drop the toy in the bucket.



There are six sounds that make up all of language: ahhh, oooo, eeee, mmmm, shhhh, ssss. So, we do these listening checks everyday to see if Luke is picking up on each sound. This has taken months to get to this point where he will respond to each sound---again, slow, but steady!

First Day of School

I know I'm a few weeks behind, but what else is new? Backpacks, school lunches, a million worksheets everywhere---school is in full swing around here!

Adam wanted to be part of the fun, so he is in preschool.



And Luke decided to take the fast track in life and head straight to the university--so, he's there most days of the week. He's already picking up on all the elements of being a cool college dude: too cool to hold mom's hand, tries to skip class by running out the door and of course, doesn't want any homework! And sweet Ezra is bright eyed and along for the ride!

As promised....

So I'm a month overdue, such is life these days! Anyway, I promised to update with some pictures of Luke, well our computer has crashed over and over again this last month and Dell has replaced just about everything other than giving us a whole new computer, I'm sure that will be next's week visit from the Dell guy.

Anyway, our little Luke is doing really well. He has always loved to be outside, more than any of our other babies. Well, here's the dilemma, this smarty and too active little pants wants to climb up onto the tramp and then roam around on that for a while before climbing back down. No big deal, huh? Well, he technically should not be on a trampoline because of the static electricity that it can create, therefore creating the possibility that it could trip up his programming on his cochlear implants. Sounds very technical, huh? I don't really understand how, but I just know it could happen. However, some parents say that's old news and with these newer models you don't have to worry as much, but me, not worry? Not typically an option. But, today he was just the picture of childhood and I couldn't resist just smiling at him being so happy!

Bringing another smile today....This little drool baby!