may 2009
I love going to the annual homeschool conference out here. This year it was being held at Southern Virginia University. It’s definitely where my spirits get reboosted for the following year, and I love hearing and learning how to be a better mother and teacher. There are so many talented people to listen to, and the girls also got to meet an LDS author Brad Wilcox. What a phenominal person. Wow, I always come away wanting to be a much better person, and wanting to tackle so much more. It’s very motivating.

While I was in class all day for two days, Jarom took the kids swimming, and to the local hands on wildlife zoo. They loved it. I love these family trips. My kids are so lucky, we never took trips when I was growing up. Lucky for them I consider them all life lessons!

Thanks to my sweet husband too, who is always more than supportive, always going far beyond what I could do in a day, and never complaining once. How did I get so lucky?

may 2009
Our family got to experience the chaos of thousands of people downtown DC for the Susan Komen Race for the Cure 5K. It took us about 20 minutes just to get to the starting line, and then the beginning was very slow going. It took us a couple of hours just to walk the over 3 miles, but it was an adventure, and the girls were able to take part too, which we loved. Of course, staying the night in a hotel the night before made getting up early not so bad. We had a wonderful luncheon with the Lott family after, getting to visit with Betty and Butch(just on a short visit from his current job in Africa), and of course the kids’ favorite, Jaime and Kimmy. It was a great and fun day!

may 2. 2009
Madison, you have fought to be here from the beginning. After 10 weeks of being in the hospital, and three surgeries later, we were able to bring you home. You had a feeding tube going into your tummy, and we fed you with a pump for two years. Mommy and Daddy were pretty much nurses for the first two years, medicine around the clock, and you didn’t have an immune system, so if you got a cold, it would last 7 or 8 weeks, and we would have to stay in most of that time. At the age of two, Alex was eating gummy bears when we were going for a walk, and you reached for one. We couldn’t give you one fast enough, and that started you eating through your mouth. Mind you, we had done physical therapy, speech therapy, and occupational therapy during these two to three years intensely, and you made great headway. We had to teach you what most children pick up instinctively. But pretty soon, after watching Alex, she taught you a lot that we couldn’t teach you by having you do, you learned it by watching her, which was and still is a tremendous blessing! You have come leaps and bounds, and still continue to do so. You are such a wonderful spirit, full of life, not worried about how things are done, you just blaze the trail doing it your own way, and I love you for it!

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