A New Brady word

While we were in Arkansas sittin' on the back porch of Pop Pop Rando and Grandma Linda's Cabin there was an interesting smell and undeniable stench from one of natures stinkiest animals... a skunk. Brady is always talking about it but he calls it a STUNK - which is pretty appropriate. His little sniffer is getting pretty good, which is nice for me since mine is so bad. He lets me know when Mac has a dirty diaper by saying "I smell a poop mommy." Mac is getting really smart too. We have retired the pacifier for good now and he is talking a lot more. His comprehension astounds me. Now he can point out most of his body parts and follow most basic instructions. The cutest thing though was when we were first quizzing him he would always get nose and toes mixed up.

A Trip Down Memory Lane

Sunday the whole family went along to our missions services. The first was in West Chester with a great pastor who had a good time with Mac at lunch, and the second was in Newark, DE. We had quite a few hours between services and the boys were napping in the car so I had the unique experience to take Tony a short way down memory lane. During my childhood/elementary years we lived in Elkton, MD which is only a few miles from Praise A/G in Newark. It was so wild to go by my old house in Manchester Park -- What I remembered as 193 Avalon Ave. has been changed to 164 Avalon Ave. but Maggie our GPS knew just where to go. I shared some of my most vivid memories of the old neighborhood and my best friend Megan Brown. It seems like so long ago and in reality it was about 20 years ago - that is a lifetime. Some say they don't like going back but I really enjoyed it. The past has a great piece of who we are today. For many years our family didn't live for Christ, we didn't ever go to church but it was in the living room of that house that my parents gave their hearts to Jesus and it has altered the destiny of our lives forever.

Mac's Surgery

Mac is doing well following the surgery. He is the most resiliant kid and I have so much awe in how he handled the whole thing. He really takes life in stride and makes the most out of everything. Even though he couldn't be as independent as he wanted he still found a way to do what he wanted to do. He learned to feed himself and to play normally with no functioning elbows. He was thankful to have the splints off though. It actually took a little getting used to though. After they were off a day he was still bringing us his pacifier to put in his mouth. I had to physically show him he could do it himself. He has one more day of the eye drops which he hates and he'll have to wear glasses for now at least. We are really praying that he doesn't damage things in any way. Apparently a fall or rubbing the eyes can do damage and of course he is 1 1/2 so that is a big part of his life. We truly appreciate your prayers through this whole thing.

Funny Moments in Motherhood

Before we left on a big trip I had a lot of errands to run. I do not usually enjoy doing this with both the boys but we were really crunched on time so I had no other choice. I listed the things we had to do for Brady. Because of Dora the Explorer he always likes to know where we are going. We usually sing a song and clap and it makes it bearable. On this particular day we had to go the bank and it was one of our last stops. I only had to go through the drive through, and I was done. When we got there Brady was extremely disappointed and started a mini display of disapproval. It turns out he thought the bank was going to be a giant pink pig where put all our money.

Mac Update

The date is set for surgery on Tuesday, July 15. We have a pre-op appt. on Friday July 11 which is a little tricky since we have our missionary commissioning service on Thursday July 10 in Springfield, MO. Mac and I will rent a car and fly home early Friday morning leaving Tony and Brady to drive again. It is a bit of chaos but the necessary things that need to be done. Pray for us through the whole process that we are safe, have no flight problems, and get all the paperwork done properly to make this a smooth as possible --- and then if God just miraculously healed him, that would be the best case scenario.

Chief Sisco

Brady is having a blast in his MK (missionary kid) class. They do so many fun things; pottery, painting, playing. They go on field trips to; the library, the zoo, the YMCA, these fountains, and Bass Pro. But the thing he loves most about his class is Chief Sisco. Each tribe leader gets a chief name and must be called by that name. Brady loves his chief so much, each time he runs to her as if she was a part of our family. It really sets my heart at ease knowing he is having such a great time. On a side note, for his pottery he painted a basketball (that a boy!) -- unfortunately he painted it pink, apparently that is his favorite color....

Brady & the slide

We had a service in OK and got to stay in Tim and Liz's house - it was beautiful and the boys had a great time playing with Jet's toys. Brady was sad that Jet wasn't there though. Before we got to their house we stopped by to see Liz's parents and they invited us to swim in their pool. It was by far the cleanest nicest pool I've been in all summer. Brady was a wild man as usual and loved the slide. Mac slid a few times at the half way point but much more enjoyed Michelle's homemade lemonade.