Brightening Our Spirits

Friends and family are critical through this time. They offer support in unanticipated ways which can give you the small little lift you need to keep on going.

We had friends from California in town this holiday weekend. Amy, Steve, Grayson (2), and Piper (1). They are really relaxed and since they also have young kids, we all had some kind of craziness happening at different moments. The kids know each other from California and love playing together. Sydney really enjoyed being the "big sister" to a house full of kids. She assumed the role of caretaker especially with Piper. Sydney would follow her around and give us updates like, "Piper is going upstairs again!". She would carefully follow behind Piper to catch her in case she fell until one of us could make it over.

Having all the kids in the house also motivated Jenson to want to play. Amy bought Jenson a toy he could do one-handed (so thoughtful!), and he loved playing with it.

Jenson also took his first steps on Sunday. His little legs were super shaky, but the more he walked the stronger he got. He only fell a couple times (to gasps from all of us) but recovered pretty quickly.

My brother, sister-in-law, and nephew Jaden (5) also visited this weekend so we had a big get together at my parents house. We went swimming (except for Jenson since he can't get his cast wet), ate yummy food, played with bubbles, played catch, and just enjoyed hanging out and talking.

Jenson is on high dose pain medicine every 4 hours. You could tell when he got to 3.5hrs because he'd start melting down until we could give him the next dose. Everyone just rolled with it.

It was so nice to have a little bit of normalcy in our lives again... for everyone.

We also got unexpected pick-me-ups from others this past week/weekend:

- Our friends from church put together gift bags for both Sydney and Jenson filled with both of their favorites (anything Princess for Syd and anything Cars for Jenson). They were soooo excited opening their bags, "Wow! Look at this. I like this!!!".

- Friends sent flowers to brighten our home and moods

- Friends we have not heard from for years sent amazing notes letting us know they were praying for a miracle for us

- People called and sent us cards letting us know how much they care

We have been blown away by the compassion and love from others. God is supporting us in ways we wouldn't have imagined. We are thankful because we really need support right now.

Thanks to everyone for loving our family.
Kristin