Mowing in Style

After 2 lawn mowers, John finally gave up and bought a riding lawn mower again.

Miracles do happen

I love stories of Jesus. I love stories about the miracles that he has performed. Growing up I dreamed about how "cool" it would be to witness such miracles. I have since then witnessed many miracles. No I haven't seen someone just get up and walk or all of a sudden be healthy after being extremely sick. But as I have watched my son develop and grow, I have also watched him prove the doctors time and again

You are probably wondering the point of this particular post. This last week we have had the opportunity to watch another of those miracles. This has me in awe of watching and stands as a reminder and reflection of the previous miracles that I have witnessed with Hyrum. 

When Hyrum was first born and for months afterwards we were told certain things in preparation of our upcoming lives. As Hyrum grew we watched him overcome most of these "handicaps". The first and foremost is modern technologies and knowledge found in the medical field. Without these I know Hyrum would not have survived in the first place. 

I would like to outline some of these miracles as a way of honoring my Savior Jesus Christ and I feel very blessed in my personal life as I feel privileged to witness these miracles occur in my sons life. 

At about day 3 or 4 we were told Hyrum was 100% deaf. 2 weeks later, I insisted they run the test again. We were still in the hospital so it was easier to be done. At that point they changed their opinion by stating that he could hear out of his left ear almost as well as most kids with both ears. But was completely deaf out of his right. At age 3, I insisted his hearing be tested again. So an appointment was made. And he can still hear out of one ear as well as most kids can with 2. But in his right ear, he can hear as a whisper happening. 

After 3 surgeries in 3 weeks, home for 2 weeks, and back again for 4 more surgeries Hyrum was not doing well. He wasn't eating, he wasn't staying awake for very long. We were told to expect him to last only a few more days, before returning to his Heavenly Father. We gathered family together and had a family prayer and fast. 2 days later he did indeed return home, but not to the presence of his Heavenly Father, but to his anxiously awaiting 3 older siblings. 

Within those first few days we were told that Hyrum would never be able to hold his head up. Hyrum had no vertebra in his neck off his spinal column. This would give him balance for his neck. We were very careful with Hyrum. I didn't want his neck to break while being held by a sibling. I think that was the worst of my nightmares at that time. I would place Hyrum on a baby blanket spread out on the floor and tell the kids they could touch him all they want as long as their knees did not touch the blanket. Hyrum was a magnet to his siblings. His big brother who was 3 ½ years old would just sit next to his brother rubbing his head telling him that he loved him and they were going to be best friends as he rubbed Hyrums head. At 7 months, we were sitting in church. Hyrum was on my lap. I was holding his head up enough that he could see what was happening around him. When all of a sudden he sat up. Holding his head up on his own. Tears of joy flowed freely that day. At 14 months Hyrum started army crawling and just after his final take down surgery at 15 months old he started crawling and 22 months started walking. 

At about 1 year, it was brought to attention the fact that he had scholiosis. Hyrum was seeing the Orthopedic surgeon every 6 months. After 1 year, Hyrum was getting progressively worse. We were told that at the rate it was going, Hyrum would need surgery by his next appointment. We were told what to expect at his next appointment as far as tests and procedures and that we would be taking more time due to all the tests that would be needed. John and I talked about it, and we then told our kids and both families.  Karl at this time would have been 5. He told us that Hyrum would not need surgery on his back because he was going to pray for him. And he did, for 6 months, Karl prayed for Hyrum in all of his prayers. So 6 months later we went back expecting all the extra tests. After the initial X-ray, the doctor came in and told us that his back had gotten better, that we would hold off on the extra stuff. 2 more appointments and the improvements were improving so much that we now only see the orthopedic doc once a year. 

Shortly after Hyrums take down surgery, it was decided that Hyrum could have bowel movements but more from the fact they he couldn't "hold" his poop. They tried to get him having only 1 bum per day by putting him on medications. This did not help. So he came off the meds. At the age of 4, Hyrum started showing signs of being potty trained. So we went in for the next bowel management program. This started 3 years of doing nightly enemas. This became a way of life. Everything we did revolved around enema time. We got an iPad to help entertain Hyrum. In December of 2013, we started noticing small amounts of blood in Hyrums underpants. Back to the surgeon we went. We were told that is was time for us to consider a "Malone". This would flush him from the top down instead of the bottom up like we have been doing. It took me 5 months to convince myself to go talk to the colorectal clinic who would be doing the surgery. After a quick exam, the doctor asked when the last time we had tried controlling his bowel with meds. So we talked about and decided that it would be good to try one more time before we go forward with surgery. Over the next week we realized that Hyrum knew when he needed to go and was able to go on his own. The trial was successful so far. We are very excited to know that for now we are enema free!

Sarah's Birthday

All Sarah wanted for birthday 14 was to be taller than her mom!  That didn't happen for 5 more months!

Kitchen

After gutting the entire thing (not planned from the beginning), I got to have in a remodel..

 Due to mold, we opened up this entire wall.  It used to go to the outside, so when the previous owners did the add on, they left the wall the same, just took out the window over the sink and the sliding glass door.  By opening it all up it really opened the room and connected the kitchen to the great room addition!  And also gave a better view out each of the windows.

 Prior to the great room, to get to the garage there was a door from the kitchen to the garage.  They left it, giving 2 doors to get into the house.  I didn't need 2 doors, so we closed the one in the kitchen and put a pantry in it's place.  The ceiling was also a fake ceiling with a huge recess lighting.  We opened the ceiling back to the vault and put in canned lighting, giving it a homy feeling!

 It was also a "kitchen/dining" room...Yikes to small so we moved the dining room to the great room, and enlarged the kitchen completely.

So here was the dining room, but instead that whole wall is cabinet! And Fridge!  Love my kitchen the most out of my whole house!

Here are a few before pictures that I took...

 Half way through the gutting and I finally take a picture of the kitchen. Notice the false ceiling and enclosed wall with the window and doorway.

 This was the garage door, that I turned into the pantry...no door now

 The false ceiling before we demolished it.

 Looking into the kitchen from the great room. And below is from the kitchen to the great room.

Tree

We are at my mom's for a Sunday afternoon.  The kids are outside playing in the front yard.  I hear this blood curling scream that I recognize as Karl.  I run out side and see my worst nightmare.  Karl is at the bottom of the tree holding a bloody nose.  He loves to climb the tree as far up as he can go, so the near fact that he is sitting up means he didn't fall that far!  As I help him clean up the blood, I realize that the blood is not coming from inside his nose, but the outside.  So I finally slow down enough to ask what happened...

They were playing tag (not climbing the tree).  Karl was crouched over enough to give him a good speed when he turned around to run away from the person who was "it."  So "it" is coming, so he turns to run away and....hits the tree as he was standing right in front of it, but didn't realize it.

We stopped laughing, well actually every time I tell the story or think about it, I start to laugh again.  It's hilarious!

And this is what he got...

Bandaid Anyone?

I think the title says it all!

Air Plane ride

Good thing it was sturdy, but not sure who was driving that thing!

 Look out for that Tree!

 Or was that a Bush!

Great Room

And we got carpet...OK well actually we got rugs, but it looks really nice!

Hyrum's Bathroom

When is the best time to start a reconstruction on a bathroom? While a child is sitting on the toilet of said bathroom of course!

 Super handy with a hammer! Luckily, I just taught her how to use it, then I sent her home to Mom and Dad!

 I didn't like where the door was so we moved it from here...

 to there!

Then came the fun job of tiling!