What to write...???

The title of this post is the obvious reason for my long blogging absence. If my mom is reading this, she's probably a bit confused. I've stated with my typical fervor many times in the past month that I was "DONE BLOGGING!!" So, why the change of heart? Well, the answer is the same to most of my questions recently, "I don't know."
If I'm being 100% honest, though, I do know. This group of friends has become something of a prayer anchor for many of us, me included. Seeing the response from people who just saw the requests from JoEllen and many others has been overwhelming. So, for this reason, and hopefully as time goes by, many other reasons, I will continue to post my thoughts.
To say our life has changed since Jan. 18 would be the grossest of understatements. How does one even begin to understand the implications of what has happened to our family? Simply, you don't. Each hour is taken as a new step, and moving anywhere past the next hour is impossible. Seeing my sister and husband's emotions during this time has been nothing short of heartwrenching. Yesterday Shelly was having a stressful morning and I said,"What can I do to help?" Without taking a breath she answered, "Make everthing like it was before January 18th. Oh, you can't. So...I guess nothing." I don't say this to make any of you think my sister isn't coping...she is- in the most admirable of fashions...but there are some very overwhelming times.
Over the past weeks I've felt confused, angry, beat up, tired, stressed, overwhelmed, happy, thankful, confused (oh...I said that already) and so on. I've found myself negative and cynical and unable to get away from myself. So on Friday on adive from my wise mother, I went out and bought Avalon's recording of hymns. They redid "Total Praise", and song based on Ps. 121. To say this opened my eyes would once again be a gross understatement. At the foundation of life is THIS- "YOUR peace you give me, in time of the storm...". Without the wisdom to look upward to Jesus, I will continue to feel cynical, negative and confused. Please pray that I am able to let Him chip away the hardness of my heart and let Him soften me.
I KNOW that you are continuing to hold up Josh, Shelly, Noah, Zoe and Ephram in your prayers. Please continue to do so through the next days, months and years as life will continue to be complicated and somewhat uncertain. We are daily seeing the power of your prayers and are overwhelmed by the love of SO MANY people!! I've attached a few pictures, since I'm incapable of posting without something visual. The photos are of the kids sledding before Josh's accident; our house during a snow storm after returning from Miami, and Zeke hiding in the fort he made in the living room today. Enjoy!! P.S.- Little man Zeke is FINALLY potty trained!!! (We think.....:-)

Our Christmas Vacation!

Finally! I know, I know, what took ya so long??? Trying to find a less time consuming way to post 50 some odd pictures took some time. I officially took too many pictures, and so many turned out cute I just had to post them! A quick synopsis of our Christmas- The weeked before break we went down to Indiana for our annual Christmas party with Brendon and Amanda Aspenson. Micah and Lisa Kephart, Josh and Shelly, Aspenson's, and us.....yup- pretty fun. Micah and Lisa were absent this year because little Caedmon still needs his mommy! They were missed! That Sat. we drove down to Marion to celebrate Elijah's birthday with Jay's family. His Pirates of the Caribbean party was a smash hit, thanks Kel!
The week of Christmas break we took of on Thurs. to head to Marion OH for Chrismas with Jason's fam. Sorry- no pics from this event, Kelly took them all and they're posted on her blog! On Christmas Eve, we loaded up in the car and headed down to FL! It really was a great trip. The kids were angels and it was fun being with my whole family. Christmas morning we were in a hotel and had breakfast at the Waffle House- UNFORGETTABLE! It may sound Scrooge-like, but we had a blast! We got down to Orlando that afternoon and had Christmas with my family the next morning. On Wed. it was off to Disney!!! What an experience. It was the busiest day of the year....need I say more? 12 hours and 5 rides later, we were pooped! The kids thought it was heaven. Seeing the kids faces light up in It's a Small World was priceless. When Zeke saw Mickey Mouse on the stage in front of the castle his jaw dropped and his little eyes were like saucers! The wait for Pirates of the Caribbean was like something out of a Holocaust movie, but the ride was AWESOME! Elijah and Emmy were hysterical. When Jack Sparrow popped out the barrel, I about lost it! On Thursday night we went to Dolly Parton's Dixie Stampede. I know it sounds totally hokey, but we LOVE it! It was our second time and just as fun. Emmy couldn't get enough of all the horses. The rest of our vacation was spent relaxing and swimming in the pool. The weather at the end of the week was heavenly, 83 and partly cloudy....why do we live in MI again???? Well, enjoy all the pictures and hope all of you had a great Christmas!!

Look who's 3!!!!!!!

Well, my little baby boy is officially no longer a baby. I've been feeling a bit blue today realizing a stage of our life is fading into the past and a new one is taking it's place. But more than anything, my little man brings more smiles, joy and laughter to my day than I could ever have imagined. We went to Target for some groceries tonight and I kept telling him that 3 yrs. ago we were in the hospital meeting for the first time. He just looked at me like, huh? On the way home I told him I loved him so much and he says, "love you,too, Mom..." Melt my heart!
BTW- I will be posting late tonight or tomorrow a slide show a synopsis of our Christmas vacation and trip to Disney-check it out when you can!

Christmas at the Grate's

The dining room (I LOVE the window sill!)

Pictures of the living room.

The Charlie Brown Christmas tree (hey, it was free AND it's real!!)
The snowmen in our room.
Emmy's tree (Barbie, of course!)
The tree in the boys room
The Christmas village
The stairway
P.S.- Sorry for all the haphazard posting, but I can't get it all in the right spot! Any suggestions?? The only way I can view it to make any sense is by clicking on each post separtely in the left hand column...

Elijah's 8th Birthday

Last weekend we celebrated Elijah's 8th birthday at a hotel here in GR with an indoor waterpark. After being presented with many different options for his birthday and party, he opted for no presents from Mom and Dad and a trip to the waterpark! We had an absolute blast. We went swimming and then all joined up for pizza ,cake, and presents. Mom and Dad-Josh, Shelly and Noah and Zoe- and Brad, Sara and Ethan and Lily Emerson were all there. His birthday isn't really until the 14th, but it was the only free weekend we had, so we did it a couple weeks early! Here are some pictures from the event!

Look who we visited!!!

We had an extra special Thanksgiving this year. We we privileged to visit Burke and JoEllen Hummel and meet their precious babies Maylee and Jakobi. I was looking forward to this day more than you can imagine. Seeing their journey through blogland just wasn't quite enough - so while we were in OH for the weekend we took a jog over to Canton. What a blessing it was. I was overcome with such emotion seeing those little miracles. I stood outside of little Maylee's isolette and bawled my little head off. Funny how things affect you. After spending some good cuddle time with Jakobi, we went out to lunch. Let me just say, the four of us should never be allowed in a public place at one time. What a zoo! I think our waitress though we were totally nuts. Oh well!! We had a blast! A special thank you to Burke and JoEllen for taking the time to see us and sharing the babies for a little while!
Note the OSU Buckeye in the crib- this was an endless top for Burke and Jay... endless.....

Vote for Christmas picture!

These are just a couple examples of our vain attempt to get a good picture for Christmas cards. Thought I'd post them and see which y'all thought we should use! We took these at Jason's parents house on Thanksgiving day - let me tell ya- it was a 3 ring circus trying to get everyone to smile. Kelley even had to stand in the middle of Marsha's new dining room table to get a decent shot! P.S.- you can also vote for a new picture... HA!!! Happy voting!

Annie!!!

Last Tuesday night we (well....Grandma...) took all of us girls to the Broadway Theatre Guild's production of "Annie". Zoe and Emmy are pretty obsessive about the movie and can often be heard singing rousing rendition's of "Tomorrow" with way too much vibrato. (I'm not kidding...) We thought they'd love the live version and decided to make a night out of it. We got the girls dressed up in matching dresses and went out to a really nice dinner beforehand. Really, it was just too much fun! Here are some pictures of our evening. P.S.- I have a couple more entries of our Thanksgiving weekend and our visit with the Hummel's that I can't wait to for you all to see, but Blogger is just being a pain in the B-U-T-T!!! Hopefully tomorrow.....

Halloween night

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Random pics from Halloween night. We had an absolute ball. We all gathered at Josh and Shelly's for pizza at 5. Unfortunately the pizza didn't show until about 6 so we thought we'd try to get some pictures taken. Try getting 7 hungry, excited, dressed up kids under the age of 7 to smile nicely at the same time. Yup, pretty much impossible. Seriously, it was a complete circus! Most of our core team came along for the ride and really were a big help. It always amazes me what a blessing it is living life together. Just for reference the kids you might not recognize are Brad and Sara Emerson's- Ethan is Darth Vader and Lily is a princess. It was pretty funny when Ethan and Elijah showed up dressed up as the same thing. Emmy was dressed as Dora (to Zoe's jealous dismay), Ezekiel was the cutest pumpkin ever, Noah was a cowboy and Zoe was an angry pink unicorn(see picture above...). Just another memorable night with the Syswerda/Greenhouse clan!