8/28... or BUST!

I just got this picture emailed to me today while my brother and his 3 oldest kids were on their way by car to Washington DC for the 8/28 Restoring Honor Event! We wanted to go so bad to witness this historic event in person! I guess we will just listen to it tomorrow. Here are the details on glennbeck.com.

***Don't know what 8/28 is?***Well check it out here. You aint gonna want to miss this one. I'll be watching will you?

Peter Pan is "Free"

...also pronounced "Three"! On Saturday we celebrated Burke's 3rd birthday! I can't believe that we are celebrating his 3rd birthday!! It seems with all he has gone through he should be like 50 yrs old! We are so grateful for the Lord for sparing his life so many times throughout his life. The Lord is so merciful. He came here to earth to receive a body and to teach me and my family and those around him what this life is all about. He has taught us so much and still teaches us everyday. I am so blessed to have him come to our family. I am so grateful that he and Emma not only look so much alike but they act alike and they LOVE being siblings. I love it how she calls him "brother". I love it how he calls her "sister".

I love it how much he is enjoying his life with out oxygen and a feeding tube. I am grateful for the experience we had while he was on oxygen for he managed it so well and just went with the flow of having to be hooked up to a long cord for most of his life up until last December. I am grateful for that experience because now I appreciate Burke so much more now and appreciate not having to deal with the burden of the oxygen. I am grateful for how much I have learned through the experiences and trials we have gone through with Burke being born with Heart Disease.

I am grateful for all the doctors for loving and caring for Burke like he was their own. I am grateful for his surgeons and for how close to the Spirit they are while in surgery. I am ultimately grateful for the Lord's mercy in our lives.

Here are some of the pictures from Burke's fun day. He was happy the second he woke up! I just loved it! This birthday he actually knew what was going on and that made the day so much fun. It was his first birthday with out oxygen and with his heart fixed so we just played and had a great day. He even gave mommy a great present by taking a nap! The family in town came over to give him presents (which you guys didn't have to do) and to celebrate his life with us on that glorious day!! I just thank the Lord everyday for him and that his heart was able to get fixed.

Okay, I wasn't able to put captions on any of these pictures- it's acting funny or maybe it's just me. But you get the idea of how his day was. My parents wanted to get a bike for him and so I checked around for a long time on craigslist and at stores for good deals, we finally found one by calling Sam and Kathy and they had Graham's old bike that was in great condition that we got from them. Burke did great riding it the first time! Tyler's present to Burke was a wooden rubber band gun that Ty and Emma made together. It was a hit! He LOVED IT! Ty did a great job on it. You can tell in the picture where he has the purple birthday cape on looking at his cake that he is shooting Captain Hook (at point blank range) on the ship (that Tyler also made out of wood) on his cake. It was awesome! I think this birthday was the best ever for him!! It is so sad he is growing up! Enjoy the pictures. Thanks everyone who came to celebrate his life with us!! We love you all!

This last picture is so stinkin cute- he attached to this red heart balloon early in the morning and would NOT let it go! He was in the pool with it! I just love him.

Burke,

We love you so much little buddy! And I am grateful for you and your determination to keep going everyday even when you think you can't possibly go through one more surgery or procedure, or one more illness. You will get through this, I know that for a fact. Heavenly Father is with you everyday, every minute and every second of your life- never forget that. Never. You have been a fighter ever since you were born and you have NEVER given up and I commend you for that. You are truly and inspiration to me and everyone who hears of your story. You have been through 4 open heart surgeries (not counting the two times they opened you up with in a 24 hour period), 5 heart catheters (also surgeries), 1 tongue clipping surgery combined with ear tube surgery, and 1 last tongue clipping surgery just last month. You have been through more than most people have in their lives and you have stayed happy, and kept on eating and living despite all that.

I want you to know that your mama loves you, your daddy loves you, and your big sister Emma is the best big sister ever for you. I know for a fact with all my heart that she was sent here and supposed to be your big sister. She has been amazing help to me over the past few years and she is amazing to you and helps comfort you when you are sad or sick. She is the best and I want you to never forget that. She loves you so much. Your grandma's and grandpa's love you and all your 50 plus cousins on both sides love you as well.

Never keep going buddy. You amaze me and I can't wait to watch you grow up (slowly of course) and experience this wonderful life our Father in Heaven has created for us to experience. I love you with all my heart, "Lion Heart". Thank you for coming into this world "open- hearted".

Love always,

Mama

Talk Radio

Photo taken in March of 2010, My Dad with Emma and Burke

This post is for my dad. A Vietnam Veteran. A Patriotic man. An American. And Proud to be it.

Dad,

You will be proud of me. I know you will. I did something that you did ALL growing up. Every summer when we would mow lawns with you- ya, like every summer since I was 5- we listened to KFBK 1530 talk radio. Yep, I admit as a teenager I could care less about talk radio. Boy did I just dread listening to boring talk radio on caveman AM radio. I did learn from it though, and Paul Harvey (sp?) was funny, (it was Paul right?) I can just hear it loud and clear, because it was very, very loud blaring out of the old truck radio, "Now, for the rest of the story..." Classic. Just classic. That and classical music was the only two radio waves that seemed to ever come out of dad's truck radio.

Well Dad, I listened to talk radio for the first time, WILLINGLY, the other day. I turned on the radio and turned it to AM 580 in Idaho to listen to The Glenn Beck Talk Radio Show. I thought you would be proud that I saw the light of talk radio. Not all of it is good, of course. (Side note: like Dr. Laura- she is someone who is a supposedly a "professional" who gives advice to people on air who should NOT be allowed to give her "professional" advice any longer. She is AWFUL!! And I have tried to call in to talk with her personally because I think she is impatient, mean, and down right off base when it comes to dealing with very personal issues in real people's life.)

But I feel that all the times you made us listen to talk radio it mattered to you in your life at the time. Politics matter in your life. Saving and protecting marriage and our families as we know it matter in your life and mom's life when both of you helped in California to support Proposition 8. You stood on the side of the road and held signs to defend Proposition 8. You and mom stood for what you believed in then and will stand forever for what you believe in. Because it matters.

So, I thank you for showing me all those years to search for knowledge to better ourselves. It is education that we all should seek for. It is knowledge that I am seeking to better myself. We as Americans need to seek for education as well to help us dig ourselves out of the deep mess we have gotten ourselves into. It is our duty.

I now claim that I listen to talk radio. And I like it. Really like it.

Love your daughter,

Rachel

"Paul Harvey, g'day"!

SHHHH! Don't Tell!

SHHHHH!!! Here's a sneak peek at the fun we will have next weekend on Burke's 3rd Birthday!!! This is part of his present. I am going to make a holster for a wooden rubber band shooter that Tyler is making! We are so excited to give these homemade presents to Burke this birthday! I think he will love it, don't you? He asked for a Captain Hook/Peter Pan Cake where they are fighting on top of the cake. We will see Tyler's cake making skills put to the test on this one! More pictures to come on the big day! (back)
(front)
(back with mask to match)

Burke Health Update

Here is a health update on Burke. Short. Concise. And. To. The. Point. (Something I'm not very good at)!
Burke got off his 3 week dose of antibiotics for the H Flu last Thursday. By Monday morning he woke up with a flaming cold, congestion, cough, runny nose. BLAH! Which means that that certain antibiotic did not completely get rid of all the H Flu present in his body. We luckily had his 3 week post-op appointment with Dr. Beck who did his tongue clipping surgery and found the H Flu in his airways. She ordered a CT scan in her office of his sinuses. We went. Burke was a CHAMP! We went back up stairs for the results and she discovered his sinuses completely packed with infection! That means that this H Flu has attacked his sinuses and we have been treating it like it originally attacked his airways. It probably attacked his sinuses and the leakage has drained into his airways!

The solution: Another 3 week dose of a different antibiotic. Two different prescription steroid nasal sprays to help control inflammation in his sinuses. Still continuing the breathing treatments (two times a day) while wheezing continues in his upper airways. Will stop those when no wheezing is present. I have Mucinex on hand for "yucky junk" in his airways making him cough and gag. All those meds. are given daily not to mention the 3 heart medications he is currently still on for his heart.

There you have it. The shortest blog post I have ever typed regarding Burke's health.

Oh, did I mention Burke was also up for 4 hours in the middle of last night for WHO KNOWS WHY!?? Yeah, mama ain't so happy about that!


Here's little brother with the big sister. They are awesome and I love them so much.

Guns and Roses

My children are a lot alike. They look alike, their personalities are a lot alike, they are super strong willed and they are very bull headed. I wonder where they got those traits from? (yep from BOTH of us). They are independent, inquisitive and determined. Emma is a tom-boy. She loves being outside, she wears her cow boots and she is very active. She also plays with her boy cousins a lot mostly because the one she gets along the best lives right across the street. Her and her Weston play a ton together. Not so much lately because summer has been busy with vacations and things, but when they play together they have such a good time. They love to stay busy "working" for their play time. I just love it.E and B at G'ma's with their saggy bottom pj's and their "cow boots" on.

So, all up until Burke was old enough to walk and play I thought Emma was a lot like what raising a boy would be like. I loved it because I thought I was going to get out of the drama that comes with a little girl. Oh was I wrong, and in many ways! Burke is a BOY through and through. This kid was born with a natural sense of what little boys should grow up doing! He was more mellow as a baby but recently he has come into his own and is obsessed with "shooters" and swords and sticks that can become "shooters" and life cereal that when broken into pieces become "shooters"! I am not kidding! This kid was born to make the shooting sound. And he's good at it too. I can barely even do it.

This fetish came awhile ago, but really took on a life of its own when we moved back to Boise when Burke was playing with his four boy cousins across the street. Boy was he in BOY heaven! They had "shooters" and light sabers (I don't even know if that's the way that word is spelled) and fake swords and nerf guns and so on. He soon took some home back to grandmas and it was all over from there. I gave in a few weeks ago and bought him his first "shooter" because the ones he borrow from his cousins soon became damaged and broken. I brought him a cap gun. Hey, I did not buy him the caps though! Tyler said when I told him it was a fake cap gun he said, hey you didn't buy any caps, come on!! I think our two year old better not play with those until he is older. I am putting my foot down on that one! He loves it and he puts it in his pockets and in his Peter Pan costume pocket so he can shoot Captain Hook. Burke in his "Peter Pan Costume"! love it.

To sum it up. Emma is still a tom boy- which I love because I was a big tom boy when I was younger. Yet she still has her girlie girl side. She loves to cook, to put on my makeup including mascara- by herself, she loves to dress up and have tea parties, and sew, yes sew, and do all the little girlie things that little 4 years old's should do. Burke is boy through and through. Oh man it is in his blood and I love it!! Shooters, and monsters and bad guys and captain hook vs. Peter pan is all we hear about from him. He is black and white. Good guy bad guy. Good vs. Evil. I love it. Yet, there is a little sweet Burke still in there who will cuddle with his blanket. And love his baby that G&G Bates found that we left at their house way back in May! Yes, that is right my little boy plays with a baby doll. It is a cute cabbage patch baby that I got a DI. It cleaned up nicely in the washing machine and it has been his baby for over a year now. I love it because now more than ever, with his fetish with super boy things, he can still be sensitive and loving towards something when he otherwise would be shooting at everyone and everything in sight!

Just tonight when I was putting him down in his bed, he found his baby and said to it,"Ooh baby, I love you baby. I love you baby. It's okay baby, don't cry. Mom, baby was crying down here all alone. You should have come down and held my baby when he was crying." I guess we still need to work on the whole taking responsibility thing. Oh well.Burke and his cute little naked baby.

Emma and her cute little dressed baby.

I love my kids and their personalities different and alike even when they can be unreal and out- of- this- world- super- hard- to- handle. I still love them and I am grateful for who they are and their spirits and personalities that they came into this world with! I can't wait to add more little kids to our family and when the Lord sees that that needs to happen it will and I am just trusting in him that it will happen when it needs to. But until then, over here in our neck of the woods we will be continually fighting Captain Hook and singing made-up Smee and Captain Hook songs for bed time lullaby's. We will be continually overseeing the makeup application and the baby doll dressing and the sewing projects. We got the best of both worlds- the guns and the roses!

The picture above reminds me of two people. First, of Tyler of course. Any of his family would know that Ty lived in cow boy boots as a child. He would try on anyone's cow boot and he loved it. But then the second person it reminds me of is my older brother Dave. In high school Dave thought he was pretty cool and so did the girls. He was into himself so much that when he got out of the shower- which he did like 3 or 4 times a day because of sports- he would stand in front of the mirror and flex his muscles! I would always thought he was so funny to do that. He is so not like that anymore, but in high school he was all about how big his muscles looked! When I really looked at this picture I had to chuckle because I instantly thought of both Tyler and Dave. It's ironic too because they are both the same age. Funny.

Pictures of Emma posing. She was so cute that day wearing her new fourth of July bow that I made just the day before.

Emma and Evie her little cousin in Grandma J's dress ups. All the grandkids dress up when they come over to grandmas. There is a wide variety of dress ups for both boy and girls. And sometimes the boys even come out sporting the girl dresses with matching wigs- it's pretty fun to see their creativity at work!