January!!!!

We have done a lot of fun things since Christmas break ended! First, we got bunnies!!! The one in the picture above is Butterball. He is two-years-old and very sweet! The other one, which I need to get a picture of is Jazzel. She is about five or so. She is also very sweet, but doesn't like to be picked up like Butterball.

The girls love their bunnies!Leah has done so well in school! She loves to draw a picture and write a story about it! In this story, she is telling about the Shepard's and their BIG star they followed to find baby Jesus.

I love her love of writing, and I love her love for Jesus! She is really starting to show how God is working on her heart. At dinner tonight she said this prayer " Dear Jesus, thank you for this wonderful day ( I love how descriptive she is becoming in her vocabulary) thank you for our food and our bodies, please save my sisters, because I love them and I don't want them to go to hell, I want them to go to Heaven with you Jesus, Amen! "

It really warms this Mamma's heart to hear her pray that, and to know that she truly understands salvation and to see her concern and love for her sisters. I know God has a special plan for that sweet girl! : )Madelyn Kate turned Three-years-old on the 8th of this month! I can't believe my youngest and baby just turned three!!! I love seeing her personality! She is so funny! She loves to laugh and to make others laugh too! She is also her sisters little shadow, which is sweet to watch the three of them play together. I can see three best friends when they are all grown up and have families of their own. What a sweet time that will be!

What am I to do with no little babies and three potty trained children?!?!?



My Emma Grace went and had her MRI done last Tuesday and we went to see her Doctor yesterday to get the results of her test.

Emma's ball joint in her shoulder is permanently deformed. Because the nerves of the Brachial Plexus on the left side of the neck and arm were over stretched at birth, her arm lacks in what they call a balanced muscle. The muscle in the front part of her shoulder is over working, therefore it is a lot bigger than the muscle in the back part of her shoulder. So the muscle in the front is pulling her shoulder inward and down. So she has what they call inward rotation.

She has NO external rotation.

Their plan of action is to slow down this process of inward rotation, by going in surgically and cutting the muscle in the front and moving it to the back of the shoulder to create a balanced muscle in her shoulder. Hopefully it will pull her shoulder back some and give her some more function. It will not solve her problem, but we hope it will slow down the internal rotating of her shoulder. Her Doctor was very straight forward with us, which I like. Because, Emma's socket has been reshaped from a normal "c" type shape to more of a side ways L shape, her arm will continue to turn inward. The only other thing they could do for her as she gets older and if it gets extremely worse, is to do a reconstructive surgery of her shoulder. They would go in and cut her humerus bone and move it to a position that would give her better external rotation. : / We are praying that this surgery will not be needed and that the muscle transfer will take!

Emma is scheduled to have surgery on Monday February 13th. Please keep her in your prayers!

I don't know why God has lead us down this path, it breaks my heart to see Emma suffer. But, I know that God has a plan for all of this, even if I can't see it right now,and honestly can't understand it. He loves her more than I can even imagine! Thankful for His grace, thankful that his mercies are new EVERY morning!

"Because of the LORD's great love, we are not consumed, for His compassion's never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness". Lam 3:22-23