Oh Baby It's Cold Outside!

I have so many wonderful things to blog about, but this will have to do for a while. Ashley got all dressed up Tuesday morning and it was just precious. I decided to do a little video about Christmas time- enjoy! :)

Ho, Ho, Oh, no!

It is officially Christmas! We have decorated the house, hung the lights outside, the cards are ready to go (as soon as someone addresses them...) and now, we have talked to the big guy. Ashley was sooooo excited to go see Santa this year. She totally knew how cool he was. She wasn't scared in the least. In fact, the minute she saw him face to face, she proudly proclaimed that she wanted a "Caillou movie". (Yes, she watches too much t.v. Yes, I am a bad parent for that. I'm over it.) We waited entirely too long for our thirty second meeting with the man in red, but that's ok. It's what you do as a mom. One more Christmas box is checked. And nothing makes me happier than checked boxes.
What did not make me happy is what ensued over the next few days...
It all started the day we went to see Santa. When Ashley woke up from her nap too early and complained that her ear hurt I blamed it on her 2 year molars busting through...
After a cranky Wednesday, a sleepless Wednesday night and puking in the car on the way to school Thursday, it began to dawn on me that this might not be just her molars. So, we went to the doctor (once I cleaned the banana yogurt puke off of her, me, and the car. YUK)
She was diagnosed with her first ear infection- and you know it's not good when the doctor takes a look and says, "wow, that does not look good." and it wasn't. She had a fever over 101 all day Thursday and puked two more times. She laid on the couch literally the whole day, and for those of you that know my child well this is very, very, oh so very unlike her. She was pitiful. :(
But after a few days of antibiotics and a lot of Motrin she is on the mend. She has begun coughing though which freaks me out when I have several friends whose babies have RSV and pneumonia. I pray that she will push through and be fully better soon.
I guess when she saw Santa Tuesday she should have asked for a bill of good health instead of a movie... I will be sure to remind her next year to choose wisely.

Catching Up

My how time flies... I can't believe that it is already December 1st! The past couple months have been an absolute blur. I have been reminded time and time again how precious time is and how much I love my family and friends. I honestly don't have the time it would take to tell the stories and such for all that has happened in the past six weeks, so I will have to let the pictures do the talking. These are some of the highlights and the fun times that we had in October and November. Enjoy!

The State Fair of Texas

Fall Festival at Prestoncrest

Celina Big Orange Pumpkin Patch with Nana

Happy Halloween!

At the FW Zoo with Emily and Andee

Ashley's Fall Program at Sunshine School

Thank You God for Creatures Great and Small

(the 2's were bears!)

We love Mrs. Nicole!

ICE! at the Gaylord with Emily, Anna and the Momma's

Viewing and Funeral Information

I wanted to pass along information regarding the viewing and funeral services for Christopher.

VIEWING:
Thursday 6:00-8:00pm
Allen Family Funeral Options
2120 W. Spring Creek (b/t Independence & Custer)
Plano, TX

FUNERAL SERVICES:
Friday 10:30am
St. Francis of Assisi
8000 El Dorado Pkwy
Frisco, TX

Burial following funeral services at cemetary behind the church

Reception at church following funeral and burial

Denise has requested that in lieu of flowers, she would prefer if everyone would either donate to the American Cancer Society on behalf of Christopher, or donate to the Seibert Family Fund to help Ethan for his future.

Christopher has gone Home

Christopher Seibert went home to be with the Lord this morning at about 6:45 a.m. Denise was at his side. Please keep Denise, Ethan and their extended family in your prayers.
If you would like to send your condolences, Denise has asked that in lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the American Cancer Society or to their donations web page which will now become a site for Ethan's future. www.ourseibertfamily.com
If you would like to send a note to them or help in any way with meals, etc. Please leave a comment and I will email you back.
Thank you to all of you who have been keeping this family in your prayers. Whether you know them or not, I know that it has helped. Chris was in so much pain and the Lord knew he needed to be healed, it just wasn't meant to be on this earth.

Update on the Seibert Family

I know that it has been a few weeks since I have updated the blog with anything, especially with news concerning Chris, Denise and Ethan. If the last three weeks have been a blur for me, I can only imagine how Denise is feeling. I talked with her today and she said that Chris has been sleeping the majority of the time since Saturday. He is not eating much at all and is only able to carry on short conversations while he is awake. They were able to get a hospital bed hopefully delivered tonight to ease his discomfort from laying on the couch and getting in and out of bed. It is looking like the end is near and my heart aches for them. I pray on and off throughout every day for them and some days I don't even have the words and I can only pray for God to give strength and peace to them. I understand now what his will for Chris is and while it deeply saddens me I also know that the ultimate plan is in HIS hands and not mine.
On a positive note, I have been so relieved and overjoyed to see the outpouring of love and support from friends, neighbors and even complete strangers. When this journey began there were so many needs to be filled and praise God, He has provided for so many of them. Meals are being delivered almost daily and cleaning has been arranged thanks to Mitzi, another friend and neighbor. Many people donated to the website and that has been a huge blessing for them. They are under a deep pile of medical bills from the past year and a half and it is such a relief for Denise to know that she can take care of at least some of that. I am just glad that unlike so many who lose a spouse all too soon, they are able to spend these last precious days together as a family. I pray that it brings Denise some sense of peace in the coming months and years.
Please continue to keep Christopher, Denise and Ethan in your prayers. If you would like to follow their story more closely you can visit
http://livestong.blogspot.com/
If you would like to donate please go to
www.ourseibertfamily.com
Thank you

"Did you go to the zoo today?"

Note to readers- Marc and I are the only ones laughing at that title...
carry on. :)


Nana, Ashley and I went to the Ft Worth Zoo today to celebrate Nana's anniversary (Grandad is out of town ). We had a great day and the weather could not have been more perfect! Ashley had so much fun and loved the gorilla, hippopotamus and elephants the best. A wonderful surprise too, we happened to run into one of my dearest friends, Katie, and her kids while we were out there! Great day-

Ashley found this stick in the first 5 minutes at the zoo. It didn't leave her hand the whole day.

She is "fishing" in this picture. She said she caught the big one, but it got away...
It is tough to get "posed" shots of this child. I am satisfied that she is still and smiling- who cares if there is a sippy cup in the picture and it's blurry.
Hugging the baby elephant. Notice the stick?
All tuckered out (again, stick... check!)
The gorilla concurred.

Who Built the Ark...

Ashley, apparently!!

She asked me to take this last one. I love the cheesy smile! :)

Fall at the Arboretum

The beautiful weather has continued around here and we made two more trips back to the Arboretum this week- yes, two THIS week!! First time was with Nana, Ashley and I and the second time was for our Sunday School Fall Picnic. Both days were wonderful! Ashley loves pumpkins so she was in heaven!!

She loves to sit on pumpkins! Seriously, she searches them out and "tries" out most of them!

This was the Sunday School Picnic day. Ashley has that look on her face b/c she was looking for the petting zoo (which is apparently not there on the weekend). She was not very happy about this at all.

Look, more pumpkins. Gotta sit on these too!

Sad update on the Seibert's (Love One Another Post)

I would have posted this more quickly, but honestly my days have been very busy since a simple phone call. I got a call from Denise on Saturday that I will never forget. She just said that Chris was not doing very well at all and that she was scared. She said that she was waiting on a call back from his doctor and that they might have to go to the hospital and would I come watch Ethan, who had just gone down for a nap. Of course I said yes and was out the door, trying to hold it together and fearing the worst...
Fortunately it seemed the whole street was out in their yards as I ran down to their house and our other neighbor Joel followed me down. As we walked in, Denise was essentially getting the news from the doctor that Chris has entered liver failure and it was worsening quickly. We watched as Denise received the devastating news that this was the end of the road for Chris here on earth and it was a matter of days to weeks.
I have to be honest, I have never been around anyone when that news was delivered and to watch this strong, brave woman literally crumble onto the floor was the hardest thing I have ever gone through. (let alone processing the fact that our friend is dying...)
It has been a whirlwind couple of days full of phone calls trying to set up hospice care, priests, help from friends, care from strangers, etc. I have been truly blown away by the kindness of strangers and the sheer numbers of true angels that have come out in this time of need.
That said, they are still desperately in need of financial assistance. The medical bills are staggering and will only get worse in this last stage of care. Then the real challenge of trying to heal emotionally and take care of a child on her own will set in. I am praying for more angels to step in and make this a little easier on them financially.
Most importantly though, I ask that if you are reading this, please stop and say a prayer for them. Pray for peace, strength, wisdom and comfort and BOLDLY ask for a MIRACLE! I know it is God's time and not ours, but I also know I serve a merciful God and that He has the power to heal what medicine cannot. I praise God for the work that He has already done to answer so many prayers.
Here are some websites again:

http://www.ourseibertfamily.com/
this is to donate to the Seibert's

http://livestong.blogspot.com/
The Seibert blog that should be updated soon by a friend that is staying with them (thank you Amber!)

http://devine-memories.blogspot.com/2008/08/plea.htmlHer
This is the photographer's website. She is also a good friend of Denise's and has been posting needs for the family

http://themillermemo.blogspot.com/
This is another neighbor and friend, the Miller's. Mitzi is setting up meals and care for the family.


Thank you so much for caring enough to do something. Whether it is prayer, donations, food, etc. it all counts and it is all very much appreciated!

Metamorphosis

I promise you when we left the house this morning, Ashley had on a cute little outfit- a skirt and t-shirt, a bow in her piggie-tail and little white socks and tennis shoes. This was at about 5:45 this evening...

She decided to change shoes when I was bringing her fall clothes out of the other closet. She saw the nike's and had to make a shoe change then and there.

Notice the visor being used as a belt... and yes, that is a pajama top over her t-shirt. A winter PJ top, no less...

I think the bow and piggie tail were just caught in the crossfire...

She insisted posing in the chair for her picture. Her hand is raised in protest in the other picture because she is showing me that she wants to go take her pic. in the chair "o'der"

Gotta love 2 year olds. :)

Beautiful Weather

After the wind, rain and devastation that Hurricane Ike brought to so much of Texas, the DFW area was lucky to have a gorgeous stretch of weather this week. Mom and I celebrated the return of cooler temperatures by taking Ashley to the Arboretum on Tuesday. We had a blast! Fall at the Arboretum doesn't start until this weekend so there was hardly anyone there but all the flowers were already planted and beautiful. It was also one of those rare Texas weather days when it is cool in the shade, warm in the sun and a gentle breeze that hits just when you need it- ah, bliss! For the first time at the Arb. Ashley spent much of the time out of her stroller and just ran, and ran and RAN!! Needless to say she came home that afternoon and took a LONG nap!!
Here are some of the highlights of the day:



Nana and Ashley

Nana brought back a cool squeaky duck necklace from Mackinac Island for Ashley.

Ashley wore it for the rest of the day... and the next day.

The Spitting Frogs

I was amazed that Ashley actually listened to me and didn't get drenched

while running around the frogs!!

Running

More running

Loving on the deer statues

Oddly, she kept calling the smallest deer "Piglet"??

Just the right size...

"Cheese!"

Thanks for the ride, Piglet deer

Lunchtime

Nana made Ashley a snowflake that she turned into a blanket for her doggie