Graduation!

Last night we went to Mark's graduation. He received his Bachelor of Arts in Religion. I am so proud of my husband. He has worked so hard for the past 2 years. I have to brag a little and mention that Mark graduated with honors, Summa Cum Laude! He wouldn't tell you that, but I will. It was so fun for Lulu to see her daddy graduate. Every time she saw him she would wave and give him the biggest smile. We were all so proud of him. Here we are with my parents, Tom and Chris.Here is Mark with his parents, Don and Connie. Don lives in Southern Oregon and flew up and stayed with us for 5 days and Connie lives in Central Oregon and drove up for the graduation.Here is Lulu and Levi with Mark's grandparent's, Linvel and Teddy.

We had to be there a bit early because of pictures. So I got our seats and camped us out on the floor while we were waiting. Lulu ate her dinner and Levi played with his cars and trucks. Here is the faculty and graduating class of 2010. Mark is smack-dab in the middle.We had a fun night. It was a late night too. We got home around 11pm. Lulu and Levi did great! I knew it was going to be a long night but having both grandma's there to hold them helped so much and having both grandpa's there to play with before hand was a blessing. Again I am very proud of how hard Mark has worked. He's not done yet. If the Lord wills Mark is going to be heading into his Masters of Divinity next.

When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. Then he said to his disciples, "The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest." Matthew 9: 36-38

Come now, you who say, "Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit"- yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. Instead you ought to say, "If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that." James 4:13-15

The Grandpa's

Here is a picture of our children's Grandpa's. My dad, Tom in holding Levi and Mark's dad Don is on the right. Don flew into town from Oregon on Thursday and is staying with us until Tuesday. He's up here for Mark's graduation and to see two of his five grandchildren.

Silly Faces

I had to step outside to this picture of Levi. This is what he does at our sliding glass door. He loves looking out into the back yard and he also loves to put his mouth all over the glass door.

Lulu and Levi have so much fun together. She points out squirrels, cats and birds to him. So, what are you both looking at today? Oh, it's daddy mowing the lawn. This entertained them for a good half hour.

Father's Day 2010

Mark had a nice Father's Day. We celebrated on Saturday. What did Mark want to do? He wanted to go to Costco! So we walked around Costco and then relaxed at home.

Lulu made him a beautiful card. And we made Mark a very special gift. I remember Mark used to say how "someday" when he's a father he can't wait to wear his "world's best tie" to work. Well, this isn't quite the tie but it still allows him to show off that he's a pretty awesome daddy. Sunday afternoon we went over to my parents to see my dad. We made him the same shirt. Look at the world's best dad's!! They are both wonderful fathers and I love them both very much!!

Running Errands Is So Fun!

Today Lulu, Levi and I had to run and errand to go pick up Mark's cap and gown. He will be graduating with his BA in Biblical Studies and the commencement ceremony is June 28, 2010. The seminary he's going to is about 45min away and it's in the same city where my brother Todd and his wife Stephanie live and work. So not only did we pick up the cap and gown but we spent lunch with Todd and Stephanie at the local farmers market. They both left work to join us. Stephanie got a beautiful bouquet of flowers and Todd bought a squash plant for their garden. We both picked out some organic coffee beans from a local vendor. Lulu picked out a pastry that had ham and cheese rolled up in it and I bought the biggest snap peas I have ever seen. We had fun, it was too quick but at least we got to see Todd and Stephanie who we miss seeing and love so much.

Mommy's Little Helper

It's so fun for Lulu to be able help with Levi....and for me too!

Eye Surgery

(Update on Levi's eye at the very bottom of this post)
Yesterday Levi had eye surgery to place a tube in his right tear duct. He's been having many eye infections due to his blocked tear duct. We did have it probed back in April but that didn't work. It ended up closing up again and getting what seemed to be worse. So, yesterday Mark and I took Levi to Children's Hospital for the procedure while my mom stayed with Lulu. I just have to say that Children's Hospital is one amazing hospital! What they do for kids and their families is incredible. Everyone we worked with was so caring. We got checked in and Levi got to meet his nurse that would be with him into recovery. Everyone who works at Children's really has a heart for these children, you can tell just by how caring they are towards the entire family. Levi was not enjoying getting his temperature taken. But then Daddy made a funny face and he was happy again. Then we got his gown. He looked so cute in it. What a cutie-pie! Ready for sugery. Here is Mark and Levi. We were in our own little waiting room waiting to meet with the doctor and the anesthesiologist to go over all the details. Lots of kisses were given. Levi's nurse gave him a stuffed dog that got to go into surgery with him. Mark was showing Levi all the fun gadgets in our room.....trying to keep busy. His surgery was at 8am and we had to be at the hospital at 6:45am.
While we were waiting, Levi fell asleep. The doctor came in and marked his right eye (that's the purple spot on his forehead) and talked with us about what she would be doing. Then the anesthesiologist came in and went over what she would be doing and then left. Then about 10min later the anesthesiologist came back to take Levi in to the operating room. This was where we had to say goodbye. I had a few tears, but knew God was in control and protecting my little boy. Then Mark had a plan to distract me for the next hour by buying me a coffee at the snack bar. This actually took up a lot of time because once we sat to enjoy our coffee for a bit our pager went off. This meant that the procedure was done. Now we were just waiting for the second page which meant Levi was awake and we could see him! They told us it would be about 30min for him to wake up.......well, it was only about 10min until we got that second page. You should have seen me running, Mark was left in the dust (not really.) I was so excited to see Levi. We went back to our private waiting room and I was just chomping at the bit to get my hands on my little guy. We got to the room and the doctor came in to tell us how it went. I'm glad Mark was there because I couldn't concentrate on what she was saying....all I could think about was "we are here, the pager went off, where's Levi" and finally I hear him crying and the nurse brought him in. I scooped him up and started nursing him right away. He was very groggy and slept on me for quite a while. I was very happy to have him back in my arms nursing. Here we are going home! We were told that we would be in recovery for about 4 hours so that meant we would be getting home around 1pm. Well, we were home by 10:30am! Mark made the bed and got me water so that I could just crawl in bed and relax with Levi the rest of the day if needed. Well Levi had other plans. He was wide awake and ready to play. Here he is sitting on our bed playing with his new dog. Here's Levi looking at his really cool band-aid that he got. That's where the IV was. And of course he had to taste it. Since Levi was feeling so good we all went out in the backyard and played. We are so thankful for all of this to be taken care of. You might notice Levi has socks on his hands. This is so he can't get his little fingers in his eyes. The doctor did tell us that sometimes kids can pull the tub out on their own. It's no big deal if this happens because it will just come right out but obviously we want the tube in there. It should be in there for 3 months. The tube is connected to Levi's upper tear duct in the upper eyelid and then goes into the lower tear duct in the lower lid. The tears will now drain down from the upper lid where they are produced into the lower one to drain into the nasal passage. We can see the clear tube in his eye, but it's very small so we have to look hard to find it.  (Edited to add: Levi did end up getting his finger caught on the tube only 6 days after his surgery.  He pulled it out about an inch.  So it looked like he had a loop of fishing line hanging out of his eye.  It was awful looking but didn't bother him.  We had to tape the loop to the side of his nose.  The next day his doctor at Children's Hospital had us come in so she could remove it.  I was really upset about this.  For all we went through to have it in for only 6 days.  BUT!  6 days was enough because now it's 7 months later when I'm typing this and his eye is perfect.  He has never had an infection since and it's healed just fine.  Praise be to God!)O LORD my God, I cried to you for help, and you have healed me. Psalm 30:2

Family Photo

Mark 34, Kimmy 27, Lulu 3 and Levi 9mo.
It's always nice to have an updated family photo, so here it is.

9 Months!!

Hi everyone.....It's me Levi. Today I'm 9 months old and I weigh 20lbs and I'm 27" long. My favorite food is lasagna.....not too fond of baby food anymore, that's for babies. I'm cruising around on furniture a little bit, but if I'm in a hurry I speed crawl looking straight down while my head clears a path.....or bonks into a wall. I can say Dada and just started saying Mama! Mommy thinks it's really cute. I love pointing at lights and airplanes. I love splashing water in the bath and jumping on beds especially in my crib while I hold on to the side. Daddy told me he can only lower the crib one more notch so I better not bounce out. I have four teeth but I'm working really hard on my fifth one. My big sister Lulu and I have fun playing blocks and barn. She doesn't know it yet but I'm practicing walking with mommy by holding her fingers and I'm going to be running faster then her soon....WooHoo, here I come ready or not! Well, I'm off to go chew on something. Love Levi!

Roses On Our Front Step

This morning Lulu woke up and remembered that Grandma told her there would be a surprise waiting at the front door. Here she is ready to open the door and find her surprise!
Roses!! From Grandma's garden. Lulu loves flowers and especially the ones from Grandma's garden.
Thank you Gammie-Goo we love you!