Back to normal...ish

So today is our first day back to normalish. Our family has no idea what normal is because our lives change so drastically every 6 months. Doug is back at work and we are back to whatever routine we can salvage. As of now Doug is leaving again in 5 months (which we are praying he gets out of) and so I figure no need in messing up our routine too much.

On a lighter note September starts tomorrow. September is my very favorite month. It starts getting cooler outside. The leaves start to turn. The smell of Fall:) I love fall. Another beautiful that will happen this year is Taylor starts preschool next week. Brecken will also go for Parents Day Out on mondays. So I have no kids on mondays from 9-12. YAY!! Taylor goes mondays, wednesdays and fridays.

We got back from our week in Myrtle Beach and it was awesome! This is the funnest time I had on a vacation. Doug and I got to take the king suite in the condo so that was really nice. I got a massive sinus infection so I was in a ton of pain but after a night in the ER and a shot in the butt (yeah I hate when they do that) I was on cloud 9. They sent me home with some percocet and sinus stuff so I was high pretty much the whole trip which kind of made it more fun:) I never had a sinus infection before and never realized how bad that hurts. Other than that the whole thing was just a ton of fun being in the pool and out on the beach for a week. Well here are a couple pics:)

Pray for Tyson Igel!!!

My best friend, Annie Igel (Forbes), in Colorado whom I love more than anything went through a very tough experience with her son. His urethra did not connect and they found cysts in his kidneys when she was about 12-14 weeks with him. This is a very rare thing and the survival rate is about 30%. They started out by having her go in every couple days a stuck a very large needle in her belly to drain his bladder. Then they decided to put a shunt in through his belly so it would just leak out. They had told her not to get her hopes up in the chances it would just fall out and they did not expect it to stay in for more then a couple weeks. She was 20 weeks when they did this. Only by the power of God it stayed in for 12 WEEKS!! She went in and found out it had fallen out at about 32 weeks which was great because she could have a c-section and he would have a better chance of making it. It went really well and he stayed in the hospital for I think about 4 weeks but was out before they thought he would be. They did a surgery on him and just put a little hole under his belly button for his urine to leak out of. They were going to fix it completely around his first birthday. The cysts were not growing which was awesome news. Worst case scenario they would start to fail and he would need a transplant. Well I will just put on here what Annie wrote all of her family.

Hello all you loved ones!

I'm extremely saddened to report that the worst case scenario is now a reality. Tyson's kidneys have begun failing and will require a kidney transplant. So far they are declining slowly and we praise God for that and ask that continues.

He has to be 22 pounds to be eligible and is only 18 right now. He will get an adult kidney and we are praying that either Pete or I are a match.

The way it works it that he has to be diagnosed with End Stage Renal Failure to begin the transplant testing process. For infants we have to establish a pattern of kidney failure which will allow the ESRF diagnosis before he gets to feeling too bad.

Best case scenario is that we get him up to the 22 pound mark at the same time we establish the pattern of failure so that we can get him a new kidney before he is feeling horrible.

Prayer Requests:
-Tyson would gain the weight rapidly
-The kidneys would continue SLOWLY
-We find a match quickly
-His body doesn't reject the new kidney

I will keep you all updated via email with what is happening. We love you all and are so grateful for your love and support.

Love Annie

This totally breaks my heart. Annie is also 10 weeks pregnant with their second which is not making this any easier. I am begging everybody to pray. My son is around her sons age and I just fall apart at just the thought.... She is the strongest woman I know and she is dealing with this as best as she can which is 10 times better then how I would. Please please pray for her little boy, her and her husband. Also for that new baby that is growing inside her. The chances of this happening to the new baby is next to none but they are still keeping an eye on this baby. She is my family and they are my children's God parents. I love her family so much and it would mean so much to all of us for your prayers!! Thank you!

This is Tyson with my kids. He is in the blue stripes:)

He is home!!!

...and he has been home for a week now but I have been too busy to write a blog about it. So it went great. Taylor asked if she could take him home when we went and picked him up and Brecken went right to him! That was awesome. He has the next 3 weeks off so that will be great for all of us!! Although I am just happy if he comes home at 5 every night. Now we are just hanging out and loving it. I will update more later.