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Showing posts from 2007

Christmas Pictures

Here are some pictures from our get togethers this weekend. Matt and Meghan at Grandma Betty's house: Dad and Matthew at Grandma Betty's house: My family at Hope and Chad's house: Matt's family at our house (Uncle Denny, Aunt Jan, Jessica, Aric, Grandma, Grandpa, George, Sandi, Lissa and us!): The lovely ladies with our scarves and trivets! (Aunt Linda, Sandi, Lissa, Heather, and me): Us after we exchanged our gifts before heading up to Hope and Chad's: Steve, hiding behind all the loot:

Wednesday Update: 12/26/07

Merry Christmas!! We had a wonderful and very FULL Christmas weekend…and it was great!!! We were here, there, and everywhere visiting, eating, hugging, talking, laughing, eating, eating, and eating some more!!! Saturday we headed up to McCallsburg for the afternoon at my Grandma Betty and Grandpa Gene’s house. It was a full house with cousins, Aunts, and my wonderful Uncle Larry! We had a nice time hanging out there with everyone. My parents hadn’t gotten to see everyone for a while, and it was good to have them there! Sunday we had some of Matt’s family over to our place…his Aunt Jan and Uncle Denny from the Chicago area were in town for the holiday with their daughter Jessica and her husband, so they all stopped off at our place to meet up with Matt’s parents, sister, and grand parents. It was a full house at our place! We munched on goodies and talked throughout the afternoon, showing them pictures of the new house and catching up. As we lay in bed Sunday night, we couldn’t

Wednesday Update: 12/05/07

This is our first week of no therapy, and I have to admit…it sure has been nice. While we will surely miss the folks at Timber Creek, and seeing them on a regular basis, it is so good to go home and just be with Matt. Last weekend my parents were visiting from Texas to celebrate Meghan’s 5th birthday. Saturday was an icy, snowy mess…but we were determined to make it up to Roland to the party. We loaded up the car and drove very, very slowly and very, very carefully all the way there. The trip home was much better, the roads had cleared up by then, but it was worth the long, slow drive up there to have the day with my family. It was a perfect day, all cozied up together talking, laughing, and just being together. We talked a lot about Matt’s upcoming trip to China and all the exciting things going on in our lives…and of course spent a lot of time playing with and spoiling Meghan and Matthew. Sunday they all came over to our house for the day. I took Mom, Dad, and Meghan up to se

House Pics - Again

Here are a few more pictures from this past weekend with siding (minus two pieces on the garage) and a roof! We had a GREAT weekend...I'll post more about it later.

Thursday Update: 11/29/07

We are just settling in for the night…after having a three hour conversation with Ruth Lycke from the China Connection. Our heads are spinning with all the information…it was a very, very insightful conversation!! We discussed her experience, as well as that of various other patients, and we learned a lot about what to expect, and talked about all the possibilities. There are still lots of unknowns, and of course, no guarantees…but after talking to Ruth, we all feel encouraged that there are things which could be worked on and improved through treatment over there. We are very excited to let everyone know that Matt is on their schedule to go to China in March!!! I will be receiving more information tomorrow…Ruth will put me in touch with a US manager and a China manager to help coordinate all the logistics of the trip. They will handle setting us up to travel, and get everything ready for Matt in China. It is incredible to think that we are really going to do it…after all these m

House Pics

Here are more pics from the inside of the house. This is the view of the dining/living room...I am standing in the kitchen. This is the view of the kitchen area...I am standing in the dining area. This is the view down the hall...the basement steps are on the right, where the half wall is...the front door is just after them. The hall bathroom is straight ahead.

Wednesday Update: 11/28/07

Happy Thanksgiving…a little late!! We had a wonderful Thanksgiving and a highly enjoyable long weekend at home! It was soo great to have extra time off together, and we soaked it all in. Thursday we headed to my grandparents’ house for a delicious turkey dinner with my aunts, uncle, and cousins. It was a full house…but it was great. We talked, laughed, ate, and had a really good time. We stopped by the new house on our way up there and I took a bunch of new pictures! It was exciting to see the house with windows, doors, and the rooms all framed up inside. The siding was supposed to come this week, so I’m sure I’ll be posting more pictures of that soon! It was the perfect way to start off the Thanksgiving holiday…being excited and so very grateful for the new house that we’ll soon be living in. Friday and Saturday we hung around the house, watching football and decorating the house for Christmas. I got some real garland and put it up on the front porch again this year…and I also

Tuesday Update: 11/20/07

Here are a couple more pictures of the house…things are really starting to take shape and we couldn’t be more excited! Well, maybe we’d be a TAD more excited if we had an offer on our house…but I’m sure it’ll work itself out. We had a buyer come and look at it Friday for the second time, but have yet to hear any feedback from her. This is the third buyer who has viewed our house multiple times so we’re just HOPING that sooner or later one of them makes an offer!! In other news, we heard from Ruth Lycke at the China Connection yesterday!! She is going to come down to our place next Thursday to talk about her experiences and answer all of our questions. Matt and I intend to sit down and come up with a list so we don’t leave anything out. She thought that things looked good for Matt, so we are anxious to talk through the details and see if we could really make this work. We are SO excited!! We also made a big decision this week, in regards to therapy. After much thought and discuss

Tuesday Update: 11/13/07

Well, it has been another busy, but good couple of weeks. The most exciting news is that work has finally really started to take off at the new house!! They started framing it up last Monday and by Friday they had all the exterior walls done. It was so exciting to actually walk up and IN to the new house for the first time. Of course, it is still hard to visualize where the walls will be and everything, but it is finally starting to look like a house! YAHOO! We’ll be driving by again tomorrow to check out the progress, so I’ll try to get updated pictures out there as well. We showed our house again last Friday, and are keeping our fingers crossed that we might finally have a really interested buyer. Let’s HOPE!! This past weekend Matt and I went to Iowa City for the IA/MN football game. We hadn’t been out to a game there for a number of years…and it was so much fun. We found our seats easily and sat next to some really nice folks who have been sitting in that spot for a number

Wednesday Update: 10/31/07

Happy Halloween!!! Well, it’s been another busy week for us…but it’s been good. We traveled to Iowa City on Monday for follow up appointments. Matt had an MRI in the morning, and we met with the Neuro doctor afterwards. Nothing new to report on the MRI…it looks pretty much the same and we all agreed that we’ll just continue to follow it for now. It was good news indeed! We had a few hours to kill before seeing the eye doctor, so we went and had a yummy lunch at Old Chicago…then stopped in for some Hawkeye gear shopping at a local Hawk shop. We browsed and browsed for quite a while…and were quite surprised at all the things you could buy with Hawkeye stuff on them…flip flops, toilet seats, purses, clocks, lamps…you name it! I was on a mission for a new IA sweatshirt to wear to the upcoming IA/MN game we’re heading to on the 10th of November…and of course, I was successful! And Matt got a new hat and t-shirt as well. Matt’s follow up with the eye doctor went well also. We discus

Wednesday Update: 10/24/07

Well, not too much news to report, but I thought I should probably post a little something to that effect. We’ve just been busy with the usual…and things have been going fairly well. I had a conference in Orlando last week, so George came down and stayed with Matt. I enjoyed the sunshine and time away, but as usual it was hard to leave Matt…and it was good to get back to him. He did fine with his dad, of course…but missed me and the way we do things. We just have a way with each other…it’s hard to explain, but the trust, love, and commitment we have for each other…it’s so strong, and I try to remind myself everyday how lucky we are to have that. It’s hard sometimes though, in the midst of daily struggles, frustrations, and stresses to remember to be thankful for the many, many blessings we do have. I have to make a conscious effort to do so these days. I hope that once we are through the stress of selling our house and building a new one that I don’t struggle so much with a bad a

Tuesday Update: 10/09/07

Well we weren’t all that lucky on the weather this weekend…Saturday was great. It was HOT for October (in the mid 80’s). Mom and I took Miss Meghan down to the pumpkin patch for the day. Unfortunately Little Matthew was sick and Hope had to stay home with him. Meghan had a pretty good time though, alone with Grandma Kathy and Aunt Emmy…and of course, we thoroughly enjoyed playing with her and watching her run and laugh. I’m not sure what she would say the highlight of the day was (probably the ‘roller skater girl’ she got in her Happy Meal), but she really had fun climbing the hay, riding on the tractors, feeding the goats, and sliding down the big slide. We also took the wagon ride out into the pumpkin patch…and rode it back talking about the cows, the flowers, and all the things around us. She got her face painted, and we shared a cup of homemade ice cream together…even though she really wasn’t sure that was fair. ‘Take little bites Aunt Emmy! Are you done yet Aunt Emmy?’ Me

Friday Update: 10/05/07

They poured the basement floor and garage floor this week! Things are starting to take shape at the new house...can't wait for the framing to start, which should be next. Matt and I are meeting with Ralph this afternoon to just go through some things and make sure we're all on the same page! Fun, fun! We've got a busy and fun weekend planned. Mom is visiting for the weekend, so we've got stuff planned with Hope, Chad, and the kids...and the big Cruise to the Woods is on Sunday. Right now they're saying a 40% chance of rain in the afternoon...let's hope it holds off so we can enjoy the day withouth the worry of rain!!! The car looks good and is running good too...and we're all looking forward to the cruise. Pray for dry weather!!!!!!!!