Our little China doll

We are not sure when these were taken, but they are from our friend in China that helped Madelyn get her heart surgery in 2006. Since she looks so healthy it would have been after her surgery so she would have been about 2. He sent these to us today. We also found out alot more about her history and her surgeries. We are so thankful to our new friend who was so generous in not only sending us these photos but for helping our little girl get the surgery she needed. Without his loving heart and generous support, Madelyn would most likely not be here today.

I hope you enjoy these photos as much as we have. I just cannot stop looking at them. How amazing that God brought this man to us but so much more amazing that He brought Madelyn to our arms.

I will post some Christmas Pics soon, the kids had a great Christmas (as did the parents).

A little bit of everything

Hard at work on those Christmas Cookies
Maddie likes to play in the flour!!

Joshua's Christmas Program for School

First day of Panther Basketball Camp. Yes, I am bragging when I say he does really well and loves to play. He made one shot where the whole gym clapped for him, it was neat and he liked that!

Our main course at the Melting Pot...Lobster tail, shrimp, chicken ,pork, salmon and filet mignon.

And the dessert that we DID NOT have room for....but we ate it anyway :)

Lets see, where to begin. Matt and I will be celebrating our 15th anniversary on December 18th. We spent the night in St. Louis and had dinner at the Melting Pot. For those of you wondering, you fondue everything, it comes raw and you cook it at your table. The food was fabulous and we were so stuffed! Then we headed to the Fox to see the Rocketts Christmas Special. Matt was able to land us third row seats and the show was great! I didn't want it to end. On Sunday Joshua had his school program, grades 1-6th are all involved so hundreds of proud parents and grandparents were there. He also began another season of Panther Basketball Camp. He really enjoys the sport and he understand the rules.

Now onto Madelyn's news. Back towards the end of October Maddie developed a cold and cough. Since that time, the cough has gotten worse off and on. We have talked to her Pediatrician at Childrens and they had us give her Delsym, an OTC medication. Last week, after two months of waking up EVERY night coughing, I decided to take her to a local Ped just to make sure her lungs were ok. She told us that the Lisinopril Maddie takes for her Blood Pressure can cause serious side affects, including chronic coughing. We then spoke to Childrens again and her Ped there said take her off of it for three weeks to see if the coughing subsides. In the mean time the local Ped (which is really great) decided on a chest x-ray, just to make sure there was no Broncitus or Pneumonia there. She didn't hear anything but was being overly cautious. Well......today they called us and Madelyn has Asthma....sigh...... At this point they think its mild but she began breathing treatments tonight with a tunnel and inhaler which she will continue for a while. She was actually excited to hook this crazy looking thing up to her mouth and when we squirted the spray in, she never even knew it. She's such a trooper, she never complains about taking any medication. So right now we are praying she will grow out of this and in the mean time the treatments will help her sleep at night (help all of us).

On the bright side, the kids are looking forward to Christmas next week and hoping for some snow....not the ice we got today!

Happy Holidays!

A few new pics for everyone to see! The kids are very excited and looking forward to Christmas. Maddie has gotten into the "I want everything I see stage"while Joshua seems to only want some Wii games from Santa.

We have ALL been battling the colds around here and can't seem to shake them. Maddie has been coughing for at least a month and has so generously shared with all of us along that time :) TIS THE SEASON!!

The rest of the family is doing well. Very proud to say my mom (Linda) wrote an essay about going back to college and WON a scholarship....so proud of her. Jeni (my sister in law) is doing much better with her pregnancy and she and my brother Ryan are expecting a little girl in April.

Matts business is doing fabulous, they keep very busy, PRAISE THE LORD!

Happy Holidays to you all!