3 Months Old

Hey Israel...You're 3 months old now!

What are you up to these days?

*You weigh 10 pounds!

*Your newborn sized clothes are just starting to get a little too tight on you and 0-3 month clothing is just starting to fit...although you still "swim" in a lot of them!

*You still sleep wonderfully! About 10-11 hours at night...straight!

*You are very much on a schedule and you know it! You can tell when you are tired and when you are hungry...and it's always right on the mark for when your schedule says.

*You SMILE all the time! And it just melts my heart!

*You are still a very happy and content baby...you enjoy looking at your mobile, gazing out the window, being in your bouuncy chair...or just hanging out on the floor.

*Your sissy is such a big helper and she is now allowed to change your diaper, change your clothes, pick you up and carry you around (All supervied of course!). She thinks it's pretty special to get to do these things with you.

*Jaxon loved making you smile and is always doing silly things to see if he can get a reaction out of you.


*You haven't learned to laugh yet...but you are surely working on it.

*You still don't think the car isn't the most fun place to be...and you will just cry and cry...unless it is nap time and then you will give in and fall asleep.

*Finally...you realized that the bath isn't the worst place in the world! Thank you Jesus! You are actually kind of enjoying them now, which makes it so much nicer and easier for me!

*You can put yourself to sleep in your own bed now! But we found if we put you in your swing to sleep you will stay asleep a lot longer!

*You are an amazing baby and such a huge blessing to our lives.

You continually bring joy and smiles everywhere you go. You have a peace about you that everyone comments on. You are a true gift from God and we are so truly thankful for you, precious little boy! We can't believe how fast you are growing...but we are trying very hard to treasure every minute with you, because we know how quickly time passes by!

V-A-C-A-T-I-O-N here we come!!!

Hooray!!! Finally a vacation! We are so excited to finally take a vacation! We are heading to Sunny California to visit family and enjoy the beach and even go to Sea World! We are planning to drive straight through the night so the kiddos can all sleep and so we can have extra time to spend with our family in CA. Jon's parents were supposed to be going with us on this trip, however due to health problems they won't be able to make it. We are all very sad and will miss having them along. However we totally understand their reasons for not coming. There are always more opportunities for vacations...but never another Nana. (Take care of yourself Mom and Get Better soon!!!) We have never taken Israel on any type of vacation...and Rachel and Jaxon have never been out of the state (Unless you count going to WA which is only an hour away...lol). The kids are beyond pumped and have been counting down the days for weeks now! My dear friend offered to take Rachel and Jaxon Tuesday and have them spend the night and keep them through Wednesday until we leave so Jon and I have a good opportunity to get things all packed and ready. What a blessing! Anywho...we are off to enjoy a break from "real life" and spend some wonderful quality time with Jon's brother, his wife and our beautiful niece Amanda :-) "See" you all when we get back!

(PS I have a blog post dated for 6/18 because that's when Izzy turns 3 months old...and you know I have to have a 3 month old update blog. So don't think I'm crazy and have to blog when I'm gone...it was done before we even left!)

Doctors Appointments and Such

I haven't blogged since Israel's last doctors appointment and thought it was probably time that I do. He had another appointment at Dornbecher's Children's Hospital a few weeks back. Saw 3 doctors and 4 nurse practitioners, were there for well over 4 hours and got some good news...some not so good news. It was an exhausting day to say the least! I won't get into everything...because that would be a very long blog, and to be honest...most of you probably wouldn't read it all anyway! Lol! So I will just key in on a few of the bigger things.

Israel now weighs 10 pounds! Yeah for continued weight gain! However I think it is hysterical he is only in the 6th percentile for his weight! He doesn't seem little to me! Maybe he just carries all of his weight in his cheeks! Lol :-)

We met with the Nurse Practitioner first and she was very pleased with Israel's growth and progress. However it doesn't appear that his jaw/chin has changed at all yet. Please continue to pray that his jaw will start to grow out on it's own! We then saw an ENT and she agreed with everything the Nurse Practitioner had to say, as well as she added that his breathing was still great. (I could have told you that!). Many babies with this problem have lots of airway issues. Thank God Israel doesn't! Next we saw a Plastic Surgeon. She as well said all the same things that the other two said. Although she noticed that Israel's tongue is not only tethered to the bottom of his mouth, but the front of his tongue is tethered down too. Meaning he can not move his tongue at all. This will eventually case problems with eating as he starts on solids and also cause major speech problems as he begins to talk. She believes he will need to have his tongue clipped somewhere between 12-15 months of age. Now normally this would not be a big deal, however due to his very small jaw/chin, this will most likely cause a new problem for him, airway obstruction. Which means that his tongue has no where to go, except backwards into his throat, causing him to not be able to breath...obviously this will be a major issue! So what do we do about that? PRAY REALLY HARD that God will heal him. And if God doesn't heal him? Have surgery. Israel would need a surgery done where they would basically break his jaw, put a spacer in each side, and slowly widen the gap in the spacer each day to encourage new bone growth. Thus making his chin larger. We aren't to excited about the thought of this and are asking that you would please continue to keep little Israel in your prayers. God is the greatest physician and we are trusting in Him to heal Israel. Thank you again, for all of you who are so faithful to lift us up in prayer. We love you!

Please Excuse the Dust

Yes...please excuse the dust while this blog undergoes some construction :-) I am in the process of making some changes, so if things aren't normally where you find them or something looks a little "off"...just know I am working on it :-) It will be back to normal before long. Thanks for your patience.

Life Without Limbs

Have you heard of it? Life without limbs? Crazy though huh? But there is an amazing man out there whose life is reality in this phrase. His name is Nick Vujicic and he truly has no arms and no legs. He is a man after God's own heart. A man who has taken everything that God has given him and used it for HIS glory! He is a 26 year old from Australia and he was born this way. The doctors gave no reason or explanation. He was born into a christian family and has known of God his whole life, but it wasn't until he was a teenager that he realized his purpose for living. He is now an inspirational speaker who travels all over the world, bringing the message of Jesus and salvation everywhere he goes. I have been to his website many times, watched YouTube videos of him for hours, and always hoped one day I would have the honor and privilege of meeting him, and this past week it happened! It was totally a God thing too, because it wasn't one of his public appearances. He was speaking at a high school graduation event an hour and a half away from where we live. My sisters husbands sisters husband used to go to the church who was putting on this event. He heard that Nick was going to be there and knew of our sweet Israel so he passed the message on to us. We called the school to see if we could come. They said it wasn't a pubic event, however there were no tickets and no one would ask why you were there. So we went! We had only found out about it a few days before hand, so we found a babysitter (Thank God for Nana!) and Jon, myself, Izzy and my sister Melanie went to see Nick speak. It was amazing and truly inspiring! After it was over, we got the opportunity to meet Nick and talk with him a bit and even get a few pictures :-) When we introduced him to Israel, true joy and excitement came over Nick's face! He became super excited and called his friends over to meet Israel too. He kept saying things like "What a miracle! What a blessing! A gift from God" and they just kept coming. It was a moment I will never forget! For the first time, a complete stranger looked at Israel and saw how perfect he was and how capable he was to be used by God, as opposed to all the stares, comments and whispers we get any other time we are in public. Nick even asked if he could get a picture with his own camera! Nick is a miracle for us, and for Izzy. I thank God for him!!!


You should check out his website! Click Here!

Sometimes Miracles Hide

I recently came upon a song that sang it's way right into my heart, and I just coudn't not share it with you. I pray that as you hear these words that it would minister to your heart as well, with whatever miracles might be hiding in your life right now.

Sometimes Miracles Hide

They were so excited it was coming to be, two people so in love and now soon there would be three ( or five). For many years they planned it, now soon it would be true. She was picking out the pink clothes, he was looking at the blue.
The call came unexpected, the doctor had bad news. Some tests came back and things weren't right, said you're gonna have to choose. "I'll wait a week for your decision" and then the words cut like a knife, "I'm sure everyone will understand if you want to end its life". Though they were badly shaken, they just had no choice. Because they knew God creates no accidents and they were sure they heard His voice Saying

Sometimes miracles hide, and God will wrap some blessings in disguise. And you may have to wait this lifetime to see the reasons with your eyes, cause sometimes miracles hide.

It seemed before they knew it the appointed day arrived. With eager apprehension they could barely hold inside. The first time they laid eyes on him confirmed the doctors fears, but they held onto God promise they were sure they both could hear.

Sometimes miracles hide, and God will wrap some blessings in disguise. And you may have to wait this lifetime to see the reasons with your eyes, cause sometimes miracles hide.

Though he was not like the other boys they thought he was the best, and through all the years of struggle neither whispered one regret. And the first day that he started school and took his first bus ride, they'd remembered the words that God had spoke and they both broke down and cried.

You see to them it did not matter why some things in life take place, cause they just knew the joy they felt when they'd look into his face. They learned that sometimes miracles hide, they said God has wrapped our blessing in disguise and we may have to wait this lifetime to see the reasons with our eyes, we know sometimes miracles hide. We've learned sometimes miracles hide.

Sometimes Miracles Hide
Bruce Carroll