Relay For Life

Our church has a Relay For Life Team this year. This is a first for all of us as far as actually having a team. A and I debated whether to take this on or not because it is a lot of work and as always there is a lot going on. However, we have had people very dear to us battle cancer and we feel it is important for the church to take place in these types of community events. I am the team captain and A and Ell are both on the team as well. We have 15 team members total and we are required to raise a minimum of $100 each for a total minimum of $1500. We are doing several things at church to raise money but we are also raising individually as well. I know many of you who read the blog give to your local Relay and that is great but I thought I would put it on here in case any of you would like to give to our team. You can give online at our Relay for Life page here. You can either give to our team or if you scroll down you will see individual team members. Thank you!

Valentines Day 2012!

Our Valentines Day was a little different this year.  I have a feeling it is just preparing us for the coming years…  Elleigh has been gone a lot with basketball playoffs (which is still going on) and Meat Judging (which we have a couple of months left).  Last weekend was her first competition and their team scored 3rd!  This past weekends she improved greatly and their team got 1st!  The team consists of 3 members who are returning from last year and who won 1st in the Nation and her SO lots of pressure on her as the new girl but she is working hard at it.  Of course she loves traveling, staying in hotels, and eating at good restaurants!!!  I joke that she went in and asked if they had an extra-curricular activity that provided all those and she was sold!!!  All of that to say we had to adjust our V-Day plans.  We were not able to do our traditional breakfast but we did do a nice dinner on another night.

We made these heart shaped crayons for Sallie and Lizzie’s classes at school and for Millie’s Cubbies Class at church.  This was much more work than I had imagined but I thought they turned out cute.  If I had to do it over, I would print something to attach the crayons to as opposed to cutting all those circles and writing on them.  I have intended to make this cake for A since right before he left for Africa and never did so I finally made if for our Valentine’s Dinner.  It is called Cappaccino Cake and it was SO GOOD!!!  I think this is his new favorite cake!  I decided after it was too late that the plating would have been really pretty with a strawberry or chocolate covered strawberry on the plate.  Maybe next time!This year A got the girls teacups in Africa!  They were hand painted there and I love them so much!  So special…I just realized when I looked at this pic that Ell has not been on the blog since her hair color change.  She decided several months ago to not color her hair and let it go to her natural color which is brown according to her roots but we began coloring it when it turned from blonde to light brown so not sure exactly what color it would be.  The line where the blonde was fading was looking kinda bad so our hair stylist suggested putting a temporary color on it that matched her roots so that she did not have that line while the color was growing out.  I really had a hard time letting go of the blonde.  My “little girl” is blonde, even if it did come from a bottle the last couple of years!  But, some battles just aren’t for fighting (at least not too much!).  It really is growing on me.  However, I think she got it out of her system and wants to be blonde again!  I told her she had to live with this a while longer!  We’ll see!A thought the cake was so good that he needed to lick the plate!Sallie thought Daddy had a great idea!We did not have our traditional Valentines Breakfast BUT Saturday morning the girls (minus Ell who was out of town) insisted we have heart pancakes!  They love tradition as much as us!

Snow Afternoon/Night/Morning 2012!

I am WAY behind on blogging right now!  Hopefully I will be able to do several posts before this week is over to get caught up.  If I don’t, I will have forgotten everything!  A was gone which didn’t leave much time for me to blog and since he has been home I’ve been trying to spend every minute he is home with him. 

Last Saturday night we went to bed with weather reports of maybe a little snow on Sunday but probably not for us.  By Sunday morning they were saying they were fairly certain we would get some and we did!  It was SO cold Saturday and Sunday so the ground was really cold and it really stuck.  It began Sunday afternoon around 4 and snowed until around 11 that night.  The girls had 10:00 start which is always nice.  A warm front came in right behind the snow and by lunch every bit of it was already melted.  I have never seen it melt so fast. 

All our snow pics look the same each time!  We are creatures of habit!  However, I was noticing in these how much Lizzie particularly has changed in just a few months.  She gets taller every day!  Our pediatrician says she will be the tallest of our girls and it is sure looking like it!

FULL of energy!Lizzie and Sallie like to throw snowballs at each other!  Millie, likes to throw them BUT does NOT like to be hit!

What would she do without that dump truck???”Lizzie, NO do not hit me with that!!!”  AND, Lizzie hits her!Totally out of character but she loved piling the snow in the truck!We can’t have snow without Daddy pulling them with a belt on their car!Sallie can’t miss the car fun!

Then we come in and warm up with hot chocolate!  Elleigh did not join in any of the fun this time!  She was content with getting ready for school in the warm house! 

WORKING!

I really do not have a lot to say (talking takes energy and I currently have none to spare)! I am good for about 5 days of this doing it solo stuff! When A leaves I always feel myself going into "superwoman" mode and then after about 5 days I am over it. I give up! I am NOT superwoman! I do not want to be! I want my MAN back!!! I have enough experience in this to know how it goes. The days in the middle are the hardest which is where I am now. The last days are easier because you know the end is near. I really do not mean to complain. It does make me VERY, VERY, VERY thankful for him and all he does and VERY thankful doing it solo for me is only temporary. This is WORK!

Sallie has done much better than she normally does when A is gone. She still has her moments and is much more emotional than normal. I think she just misses him so much but she has done well at school which is a HUGE change from the Nightmare of January 2011! I know lots of people were praying! Her poor teachers have probably never prayed for anything more! The prayers are working!

A is at work in Namibia and everything is going well. We will share more about his trip once he returns (after the girls and I leave him alone that is)!

We had a great Lord's day yesterday! A sent me an email which I got yesterday morning sharing what an awesome time he had preaching and worshiping with our brothers and sisters in Outapi and our day was awesome too. We are currently going through Experiencing God and the deeper I get into it the better it is. We have 4 different groups going through it and many of us are really experiencing God in new ways! I was approached yesterday morning by a woman who has really struggled to find a place of service and through our study God has spoken to her to serve in an area she is not comfortable and really does not want to but she is being obedient. Praise Him!!! For some time A has wanted to try Storying through the Bible in Sunday School. Yesterday we began in 2 classes and will try it through the month of Feb and then evaluate. Our class is one of the classes that is trying it. I think it went really well. I enjoyed it a lot at least. Yesterday our story was the Lord's Prayer and as simple as that may sound there is a lot of application there when you break it down. We'll see how it goes from here. Our DOM preached and it was NOT coincidental that the majority of his sermon was dealing with the same issues we have been learning about over the past few weeks in Experiencing God. Last night as we watched our video on this week's lesson Blackaby's intro was almost identical to our DOM's sermon introduction. On each video after Blackaby teaches they show an interview with someone who has had different experiences with God. Last night's was a man from Lynch, KY which is where Elleigh and Melba will be serving this summer AND he began the teen club which will be holding a camp the week they are there and they will be helping with that camp. He was telling the story of God providing in miraculous ways in Lynch and particularly for this teen club. I was so moved by how God is working in so many areas that I was just shaking! I just had to share! GOD IS WORKING!!! Are we watching? Will we be odedient in joining Him?

Ha! My first line was I don't have much to say! Maybe I did have something to say!!!

Life Lately

The stomach bug of 2012 invaded the Hall House! 

Last Wed. Sallie come home sick

Fri. Millie came down with it

The wee hours of Sunday Morning I came down with it

Sunday night Lizzie walked in from church crying with a stomach ache and within 30 minutes was throwing up

SO, that has been our LIFE LATELY!

On the up side, everyone is feeling better today and the weather is just beautiful and the girls enjoyed playing outside this afternoon (and being silly!)  In case there was any doubt, their outfits are their own creations!!!Sallie is content with sitting inside and watching (with her sparkly boots on of course)!

Elleigh does still live here!  However, she is gone to basketball tonight so she was not here for me to take her pic and her complain because I was going to put that
“awful picture on the blog”! 

Thankfully A and Ell have not come down with the stomach bug and I hope they do not especially since A leaves for Africa tomorrow morning… 

Choices

This may be long and boring and detailed for many of you but #1 as I have said many times before this is often my means of journaling and it is a great way for me to look back and see where we were and most importantly to be see how God has worked.  #2 many of you have asked the details so here you go and lastly none of it is a secret and we need as many people praying as will do so.

We have known since Sallie was 4 mths old that she was hearing impaired.  All testing indicated her loss was predominately Conductive Hearing Loss which indicates there is some type of problem with movement of the sound waves through the ear.  We have never really known a reason for this and the lists of possible causes is long and could be multiple reasons in her case. 

We first began with hearing aids which when worn (which was not a lot because of ear infections and a little later cholesteatoma or tumors in the ear)  seemed to give her a decent hearing range.  Over time we saw less results from the aids and because of the type loss she had moved to a BAHA (bone anchored hearing aid).  This is the device she is currently wearing.  It is intended to be implanted which was has been our intention for a while now but there was always something that did not allow that to happen.  She wears the device on band. 

Back in the fall she got some really nasty infection in both ears.  We ended up back at our ENT who told us she was going to have be put to sleep to get all the debris, etc out of there.  The day we were in his office we asked about moving forward with the implantation of the BAHA.  He had his audiologist do a  quick booth test to look at Sallie’s hearing that day.  The tests indicated more of a nerve loss (Sensorineural) which as I stated before had not been the case before.  We were all baffled by this.  He ordered that an ABR (Auditory Brainstem Response) be done while she was sedated for the surgery. 

The audiologist came out after doing the ABR and told us that she could not get any response from her.  We were shocked.  Yes, the levels on an ABR only go so high.  However, she had never not responded at all on an ABR.  We chose not to share this info until we knew more.  We had no answers…

Our ENT discussed with us the possible options for Sallie if indeed we did have a clear picture of this change in her hearing.  He then scheduled a MRI to look at the structure of the ear in order to see if there was anything that would explain why we were now seeing her hearing worsening and a different type hearing loss.  He also scheduled some more extensive booth testing.  He was very straight forward with us that each option brought many challenges and none were really “good.”

We went back this past Thursday to discuss all of these results with him.  The MRI did indicate a problem.  The cochlea is made up of 3 chambers which should be equally sized and with a division between them.  2 of those chambers hold sodium and 1 potassium.  One of Sallie’s chambers (on both ears) is larger than the other 2 and the division is not as it should be.  SO, the sodium and potassium are mixing which is creating a chemical reaction which is then eating away at the hairs on the cochlea.  The fluids travel around these hairs which creates sound waves which are then sent to the nerve in the cochlea which then sends a  message to the brain which is how we hear.  Because her hairs are being destroyed this is causing the increasing hearing loss and yes will continue to worsen.  Are our bodies which God created so intricately not just amazing?!? WHY do we ever doubt HIS power??? 

We are left with 2 options.  We originally thought we would have a 3rd option but he took one of those off the table.  She is now a candidate for a cochlear implant.  Sounds great, right?  WELL, with Sallie there is always a twist.  One of this issues is that in fighting the cholesteatoma in the past all of her middle ear was removed which means there is nothing to attach the electrodes to.  However, he feels that he could take some muscle from her head (or maybe other areas) and build something inside the ear to attach it to.  He is consulting with more physicians on their thoughts on this.  For us this really is not as big of an issue as the second problem.  We have the confidence in him to do that if he says he can.  The second problem is the cholesteatoma.  For implantation they basically obliterate (his word) the back wall of the ear.  If he left one skin cell in there it would be breeding ground for the cholesteatoma AND it would be very hard for us to know that it was there until it was causing major issues.  Also, with the implant there we could not do a MRI to detect it.  If it did come back and the ear has to be opened, the implant would then be destroyed.  He does have a few ideas as far as doing the obliteration a little differently and ways that we might could monitor the cholesteatoma.  Once again, he is consulting with other physicians.  The cochlear would take her to a normal hearing range.  He also talked a good bit to us about our expectations.  He does not want us to go in (if we choose that route) with the expectations that she is going to begin to speak and speak normally.  Thankfully, we are past that.  If we go with the cochlear and she does learn to communicate verbally great but if not we are OK with that as well.  She loves sign and has picked up on it really well and we are fine if that is her permanent means of communication.  We really just want to give her the best hearing we can and expose her to as much sound as possible.  The other option is for her to continue to wear the BAHA which the knowledge that her hearing is in a progressive state. 

What are we going to do?  We have no idea at this point.  None!  We have the facts.  He gave us some information on a couple of different cochlears.  We both feel it best to not look at that information right now.  God created Sallie, HE has a plan for her, He knew all of this.  We might have been surprised but He was/is not.  We want to do what He wants us to do.  We do not want any outside factors to play a part in our decision making.  Each choice comes with many issues and we have to have peace that we are choosing HIS way and that He will take care of those issues in His way.  I know some may think it is a little strange for us not to educate ourselves on the cochlear at this point.  We know the facts from her testing and a very thankful for a clear picture there  and we know the basics of the implant and we feel that is all we need to know at this point.  We just have to wait on God…

We REALLY need prayers that we will know what He would have us to do in His timing. 

I have to end with a praise!  He also ordered a MRI of her brain.  Not that this tells us everything BUT she has completely normal brain structure!  PRAISE HIM!

Must Bake!

I saw this recipe some time ago and finally baked it last week for something at church.  IT is so easy and DELICIOUS!!!

Cinnamon Pound Cake

4 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons cinnamon
1 yellow butter cake mix (don’t use white cake mix – it has to be butter)
1 package instant vanilla pudding
1/2 cup canola oil (I always have veg oil so I used it instead)
1 8-ounce container sour cream
4 eggs

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and grease a bundt pan.
Mix the sugar and cinnamon together in a small bowl and sprinkle half of the mixture in the greased bundt pan – shake it all around to coat the entire pan. Mix cake mix with pudding, oil, sour cream, eggs and other half of cinnamon/sugar mixture. Pour into pan and bake for 45 – 50 minutes until springy. Cool for 20 minutes before taking out of pan.

IT IS A MUST BAKE!

We Know…

Last Friday we took Sallie for the last set of tests we needed before we meet with our ENT to discuss where to go from here.  We asked for many people to pray.  Our prayer for Friday was for her to do the best she could possibly to, to be comfortable, and through this for us to come out with no doubts that we had accurate results.  Good or bad, we need an accurate picture.  The audiologist met with us afterwards and her statement was “we have never gotten more accurate results on Sallie.”  Aaron and I were quite emotional during our meeting with her.  Yes, partly because the results really throw a twist in things (we were expecting this based on the reason we were having these tests done) but mostly because our Lord answered our prayers for accurate testing.  Not only does this allow us to make a decision knowing our testing is as accurate as possible but more importantly we needed that re-assurance right now.  We needed to see HIM work.  We saw HIM work!  Don’t misunderstand me, HE is always at work but it is often hard to see.  We needed to enter this time of major decision making with the fresh experience of seeing God at work.  We know HE hears our prayers!

We meet with her ENT this Thursday to discuss the results from Fri as well as the MRI (which we have no idea what it showed at this point).  Once again, we pray there are no grey areas with the MRI and that we have results which are clear. 

We know that we have decisions to make after we meet with him.  We know that each scenario is very complicated and brings many challenges.  We know it will not be an easy decision to make.  We know the decision is permanent.  We know we need a lot of people praying for us.  We know we have to put our personal desires and wants completely aside.  WE KNOW HE KNOWS!  WE KNOW HE HAS A PERFECT PLAN FOR HER! 

We don’t need all the details.  We just want HIM to reveal to us what we need to do.   WE KNOW HE WILL in HIS TIME!

Well-Rounded Wednesday!

A Dump Truck full of Babies!!!  I would say Millie is well-rounded!

Her ALL GIRL Big Sister could not miss the opportunity to have her picture taken!

Recipes, Tilling, Awards and Updates

I had pinned this recipe for Sausage Balls some time back and I made them during the holidays.  The difference is the cream cheese.  They were really good.  They really did not taste that much different but they were more moist and sometimes in the past the traditional recipe would seem dry.  This will definitely be the recipe I use from now on.

Cream Cheese Sausage Balls
1 lb hot sausage, uncooked
8 oz cream cheese, softened
1 1/4 cups Bisquick
4 oz cheddar cheese, shredded
Preheat oven to 400F.
Mix all ingredients until well combined. Roll into 1-inch balls. Bake for 20-25 minutes, or until brown.

Also, from where else but pinterest we tried out this recipe a couple of weeks ago.  They were REALLY good (and easy)!  We will for sure be making these again!

Canned Biscuit Doughnuts

Canned biscuits (anything BUT the flakey layer kind)

Melted butter in a shallow bowl(4 tbls per 8 biscuits give or take)
Sugar & Cinnamon in a shallow bowl.  Mixed together in your favorite proportions
Veg oil to fill your pan up to about 1/2in or so.
Heat up oil for a few minutes on medium heat.
While it is heating up, cut holes in the donuts ( I just used a knife and cut a circle in the middle) 

Fry the biscuits until golden brown, drain on paper towel.  While still warm, dip in butter and then dip into cinnamon sugar mixture. 

 

A began tilling the garden today to get it ready to plant in about a month.  We loved our garden last year and are hoping that with more rain this year we will have lots of fresh veggies from the garden!See the plants sticking up here?  We planted those last year.  They are asparagus plants and now we will cut those off and they hopefully will sprout again and produce.  The first yr they are planted they do not produce.  We love grilled asparagus!  Lizzie had her Academic Pep Rally for the past 6 weeks today.  Here she is receiving the Reader of the Six Weeks Award which also comes with a coupon for a free DQ ice cream cone so you can guess where we had to go today after school!She also got perfect attendance for the 6 weeks.  Actually, she has not missed a day this whole year!  Very thankful she has been so healthy this school yr!  The kindergarteners sang a really cute song which they have learned to help them with sounds.  Here they are performing

The past few days have we have been getting back into a routine.  I think we are all tired tonight after a week of adjusting back to normal. 

We found out on Wednesday that Elleigh will be traveling to Kentucky as an Acteen Activator (previous post) in July.  She will be working with missionaries there who run a food ministry.  There will also be a kids camp that week that she will be helping with.  She is excited to know what she will be doing and to begin preparing for God to use her there. 

Several of you have asked about an update on Sallie.  Thank you!  We greatly appreciate your concern and prayers.  We have an appt this Friday for the remaining tests.  It has been scheduled since a couple of weeks before Christmas but it took a while for our audiologist to get her in because of the specifics of the testing and she needed another audiologist to assist her.  I was hoping that I could go ahead and schedule the appt with the ENT to discuss all the results but his office will not make the appt until they have the results from Friday’s testing.  The scheduler at his office assured me she would work us in as soon as they got the results.  A leaves for Africa on Feb 1st SO we really hope to be able to get in with him for the results before A leaves.  Please pray for her to be at peace on Friday.  Her mood and absence of fear really affect this type of testing.