Haylee Jean is......ONE YEAR OLD

Well first of all let me say.....WOW!!!  My baby girl is ONE year old!!  I can't believe it!!  So much has happened this year, but she was definatly the BEST thing!!  She is growing up to be such a sweet, BIG girl!!  She weighs almost 22 lbs (about 6 lbs less than her brother who is THREE years older!!).  She has one tooth (bottom left) and gets around just fine crawling.  This girl does not care about walking at all (which is FINE with me).  She has a smile that melts even a strangers heart and LOVES her big brother.  He can make her laugh a laugh you have NEVER heard before.  SO SWEET!!

Today we had a HUGE #1 birthday bash for her with our church Life Group.  We usually meet every Wednesday night and eat dinner together so we did the same tonight and then ate cake and opened presents!! SO MUCH FUN!! 

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, HAYLEE!!

Birthday Bow!

"Cupcake" cake

"Happy Birthday, dear Haylee.  Happy Birthday to you!"

She LOVED us singing her to her.  She noticed the cake right away and kept pointing to it...and then when she figured out we were singing to her......

....her face lit up (it's hard to see in the picture)

"ooooh....is this really mine!"

"I could do this"

"This is SO good!!"

"Can I do this EVERYDAY?" 

And yes that is cake up the nose...NOT a boogies"

"I WANT MY CAKE BACK!!"

PRESENT TIME!!! 

Haylee had NO idea what the presents where but ALL the other kids did, so I put all the presents in the floor and told them to have at it!!  ALL the present were opened in about 5 seconds...NO LIE!!

Happy Birthday, sweet girl!!  We love you so much and you bring so much joy to our family!!  You are truly ONE OF A KIND!!!  We are going to have so much fun with you this next year!!  You are growing up so fast and I know will continue to grow just as fast this next year. I have one request for you..please be easy on your big brother...don't beat him up too bad!!

Prayer Request for Garrett

Hello everyone, well I want to request prayer for Garrett.  Today we had an appt for Garrett to get his hearing tested because he has had a hard time listening lately.  He also changes what we say....he says "what" a lot so we thought that maybe it was becoming a habit so we would start staying, "you heard what we said, what did I say?" He would repeat it but it wasn't what we said it just sounded like what we said (doll/ball). 

....Anyway we decided to get his hearing tested and we found that he has a signifant hearing deficiet.  A normal 3 year old should be hearing around 15 (whatever they measure it at) and he is around 40-50.....BUT when they test his nerve signal, he is numbers are running 0-5 which is OVER excellent, so that is telling us that the nerve is working just great.  There is something (probably some type of fluid) in this space (middle ear) that should be filled with air that is blocking the sound waves.  The doctor said try putting in a good pair of ear plugs and that is how Garrett is hearing (poor guy!!).  We were refered to a Ears, Nose, and Throat (ENT) doctor so we should be able to fix this.  Please just keep him in your prayers and the doctors find what is causing this.  I will keep you updated!!

UPDATE on Isaac Godwin

I got this email from Isaac's girlfriend tonight!!!  KEEP PRAYING!!!

Hi everyone, thank you so much for all the prayers. God is really moving and doing a miracle in Isaac's recovery. Today he was breathing without the ventilator for most of the day, but this evening they put him back on it so his lungs could rest. We praise God for this because that means he didn't have to have the treik put in his neck. Tomorrow they'll access him again and if all is still going well with his breathing they are going to take him off the vent. That is a huge praise! So pray that he continues to breathe normally and STRONG!

As far as brain function goes... we need to see more. He did well a few days again when he gave the Dr. a thumbs up, but today he was in and out of it. So pray for God to wake him up and fully restore his mind. Lastly was a small thing - his temp was up when we left tonight. So pray that it goes down so he doesn't get sick or infections.

Pray for Mr. Godwin (Isaac's dad) and Mrs. Godwin... because they are both very strong and very tired. Mr. Godwin has a sore throat and that hinders him from being close to Isaac. Pray for his healing! Isaac needs his dad to encourage him.

Thank you for your prayers and love, God is good and we'll let you know how tomorrow goes.God Bless

 ~Kristi~

A Prayer for Isaac

Commonwealth Lake Park

It was another gorgeous day today so the kids and I decided to find another BEAUTIFUL spot in Oregon!!  It seems like everytime we go out, we find the most BEAUTIFUL spot EVER!!  We had a really good time.  A friend of ours told us about this park and it was really neat.  There is a sidewalk around this gorgeous pond/lake.  It's about 0.8miles total around the track.  There are hundreds of ducks on the pond and there are trees, green grass, picnic tables, a playground, bridges, etc....  It  was awesome. 

Take note of the color of the grass.....IT'S FEBRUARY!!!  Grass doesn't seem to die here!!!

Sweet Big Brother!!!

UPDATE on Isaac Godwin

This was written a little bit ago on facebook by Isaac's dad, Ivan Godwin:


"This is Isaac's dad.  Thank you for pursuing God for Isaac's recovery.  We are believing God for Isaac's complete healing. God did an amazing work in Isaac's body last night, astonishing even the doctors. He is breathing on his own and we are working to remove the respirator altogether. We are praying we will not need to have the tracheotomy.  The doctors are working to ween him from the respirator today. Pray
that God makes that possible. He has been sitting up on occasion, opening his eyes and responding directly to the doctors. He even gave the doctor a thumbs up."

The Godwin Family

Hannah, Mayra, Eli, Isaac, baby Elizabeth, Kris, and Ivan

Some really good friends of our family was involved in a car accident last Saturday.  Their 19 year old daughter and 22 year old son collided with another vehicle..Hannah is stable and healing at home after a 2 day hospital stay and Isaac is in critical condition in Lubbock.  He is currently on a ventalitor and their family needs ALL THE PRAYERS!! 

Lord, I pray for a complete healing for Isaac!!  He is a man after your heart and has so many more people to show Your way.  I pray that he will wake up and start breathing on his own.  Please give Hannah peace of mind and allow her to trust in You!!  Give Kris and Ivan peace.  Allow them to know that everything is going to be ok.  Allow them to rest peacefully each night knowing You are in control and their son is being taken care of my YOUR SON!  We love you and praise you.  We know that you know what is best!!

A Day of Sunshine

Big Girl Car Seat

Haylee will be ONE next week and she was growing out of her portable car seat so we decided it was time for a BIG GIRL car seat!!  Toys R Us was having this awesome trade in deal where you traded your old car seat for a discount on a new one....so I traded a broken car seat we had and got an AWESOME deal on this beautiful little girl BIG GIRL car seat!!  

 

Happy Valentine's Day

Happy Valentine's Day!!

We love all of you and miss seeing everyone more often!!  We hope everyone and a LOVELY day and hope it was filled with lots of love.  We had a great day together.  Josh made us a GREAT breakfast and we went to church. The kids loved their little goodie bag and we just enjoyed spending time together!!

Opening the box from Nana and Papa

"Thank You!!"

Valentine's Tea

Garrett's preschool had a Valentine's Tea today for the parent's.  The kids all served the parent's cookies and drinks.  They sang a couple of songs and we enjoyed looking at the crafts they made.  It was very cute!!

Praying for a food.  The little boy in the grey and orange shirt is Garrett's good friend Grant....TOO CUTE!!

Garrett serving me my plate  (Josh couldn't come because of classes) :(

Prayer Request for Debbie Old

About a week ago I asked for prayer request for a friend.  Her name is Debbie Old and needs prayers SO BAD right now.  She had surgery last Thursday and they found that the cancer spread.  I'm not sure on the details but to my understanding it's everywhere.  She is still recovering and FIGHTING in the hospital and has a LONG road ahead of her.  Pray that God heals her, takes the cancer out of her body and be healthy again.  If that is not God's will pray that this is an easy battle for her and her FAMILY!!!  God bless you all!!  We love you and you are ALWAYS in our minds!!! 

PS....Amy, Garrett prays for your mom EVERY NIGHT....he says "....and God please heal teacher Debbie, she was my teacher but now she is Haylee's teacher and my old church, that's Nana's church too."


"Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid." John 14:27

Chicken Stock

I was reading another friend's blog and saw that she made her own chicken stock, so I decided to give it a try!!!  You save ALL your extra veggies left overs....including skins and peels (that would sound good in chicken broth- exclude asperagus, tomatos, etc...).  I actually ONLY had the ends that I would USUALLY throw away.  You also save all leftover poultry...including bones!!  (You don't have to have the poultry...then it would be veggie stock!)  You put them in a freezer bag and let them accumulate.  When your bag is full you throw it in a pot, fill it with water...I used about 8 cups, throw some seasonings in....I used about a teaspoon of each..."give or take"

Basal

Garlic press (minced and skin)

Sage

Thyme

Salt

Pepper

Italian Seasoning

Parsley

I then brought it to a boil and let it boil about 20 mins.  Then I turned it down to low/simmer ALL day.  When I went to bed that night I turned the stove off...left the covered broth and turned it back on low when I woke up and let it simmer all day again!!  That night I had CHICKEN BROTH....and it is GOOD!!!

Sunny Weather

It has been sunny here the last few days so I try my best to get the kids outside!!  We ALL need it SO bad.



 

I took Garrett to the playground Sunday afternoon while Josh smoked us some chicken and Haylee took a nap!!  Garrett was thrilled to get to go on a "surprise" with JUST MOMMY!!!

Yesterday was so pretty so my friend, Julie and I decided to go to the zoo for a few hours.  All of our families had been sick and we'd all been cooped up in the house and our kids needed MUCH NEEDED running around time!!

"Bye Bye"

Puff-a-lump

The other day I get this box in the mail and it has this puff-a-lump in it that looks EXACTLY like the puff-a-lump I had when I was a baby!!!!!  WHAT IN THE WORLD!!!!!  My parents found it on e-bay and decided to get it for Haylee!!  HOW AWESOME!! 

Haylee also has been "stealing" Garrett's known orange Texas blanket!!!  The one that he has LOVED since he was a baby and she just laughs and rubs it on her face.  So I decided she needed a blanket too!  She is sitting on her new blankie!! 

Nathan Sorenson...Future OSU STAR!!!

Josh's nephew Nathan Sorenson signed a contract with Oklahoma State University on Wednesday!!  Congratulations Nathan!!!  Check out ESPN, they have highlights of him playing.

http://insider.espn.go.com/ncf/recruiting/tracker/player?recruitId=69541&season=2010&action=login&appRedirect=http%3a%2f%2finsider.espn.go.com%2fncf%2frecruiting%2ftracker%2fplayer%3frecruitId%3d69541%26season%3d2010

Nathan we know you're going to make it big!!!