He's Home!!

Cayel was released from the hospital Thursday morning and made it home later that afternoon, which has his family celebrating! Yesterday I kept the kids out of school (with the blessing of their teachers) and headed up to Spearfish to spend the day and evening with Cayel, Marcy and Josh. It was just awesome to see him and hug him, watch him run around and giggle and laugh. Wow - just looking at him made me so thankful! One of the things Cayel kept asking to do while he was in the hospital was to go home and feed the duckies - so that's exactly what we did yesterday afternoon - took him to the fish hatchery in Spearfish to feed the ducks. Here's some pics:Here's Jack - these poor ducks acted like they were starving, and were eating right out of our hands.

Here's Noah:

And Cayel is off and running!!!

We're now forcing ourselves to leave them alone this weekend, so he can get back into a routine, get lots of rest and they can have some much needed family time.

We're having a great morning here - Mark made us belgian waffles for breakfast, we lounged around and read the paper while the kids played Battleship (thanks Uncle Josh!) and now they are at baseball practice with Mark, while I'm snuggled up on the couch watching "Deadliest Catch." The boys have a soccer game this afternoon, which I'm dreading because it's only about 32 degrees out and the wind is howling 30 mph. Maybe conditions will improve by then . .?!

Last week I helped drive Jack and Noah's classes on a field trip to Reptile Gardens, which was a lot of fun, even though I've been there WAY too many times. :) Here's Noah petting an albino python . . .

And Jack gets in on the action:

Here's Jack's class

And Noah's class -

Thankfully, that's about all that is going on with us! I have another field trip to drive for on Tuesday (I think we have one each week now, through the end of school), and a pretty quiet week besides that. Yeahhh!!! :)

An Update . . .

Okay so I had to post another picture of our little Cayel just because he's so darn cute and he's all we're thinking about right now. Lots of you have so thoughtfully asked for an update on him, I apologize I haven't done that yet - just have had a crazy week. Anyway, we established a Caring Bridge site for him, and the address of it is www.caringbridge.org/visit/cayelholmgren - you can check out his progress there. He's doing better, thankfully - he had a big turn-around overnight last night which is awesome. It sounds like he'll have some extensive inpatient physical therapy to go through, but they are currently working out the details of that. Anyway, prayers are still most appreciated - not only for Cayel but for Marcy and Josh as they really need some emotional and physical strength at this point.

We are hoping for a blessedly normal weekend around here . . . normal stuff, like hanging out together as a family, a soccer game, a birthday party, a dinner at Grandma and Grandpa's. In the not-so-distant past, I've found myself agitated when things become too routine, kinda boring and not very exciting. God has shown me, however, in the last few weeks, what a gift "normal" can be. Wow, how we overlook that! I've been following the story of a young mom in Sioux Falls (age 27, I think) - a dearly loved kindergarten teacher with a husband and 3-year old daughter. This young mom was diagnosed with stomach cancer at Christmas. Her website is www.caringbridge.org/visit/meganoconnor. Last night, only 4 months later, she lost her battle, and my heart is absolutely broken for not only her, but her family, and especially that tiny 3 year old little girl who won't know her mommy. I know God has a plan for all of them, but oh my word, does my heart hurt for their situation.

So, I'm now determined to look at each day of "boring-ness" as a true gift from God. I'm so unbelievably thankful that I'm here to break up Jack and Noah's fights, that I'm here to clean up their messes, do their laundry and deal with their pickiness at dinner time and even deal with bad attitudes, bad manners and grumpiness. Those are blessings, because I was picked to go through that stuff with them and ultimately I get to revel in their big hugs and kisses and "I love yous". How lucky I really am!

And my last thought for the day - for crying out loud, parents, make your children wear helmets - no matter how hard they fight you on it - learn something from Cayel's accident. This was so preventable, which is what is so frustrating! This is going to be my new cause - helmets!! :) Only one spill off a bike, skateboard or skates, and your life could instantly be changed forever.

Anyway, give your kids a hug and have a great weekend!

Please Pray . . .

I've been meaning to put up a new post for the past few days, and haven't been able to find the time - and I now I do so with a heavy, but at the same time thankful, heart . . . . This precious little boy is our soon-to-be nephew - my brother's fiance's son (I wrote about his 2nd birthday party below) - and he was in a horrific biking accident this afternoon in Denver. Cayel's dad was pulling him in a trailer behind a bike when the trailer tipped over and Cayel ended up with a skull fracture and hemorraging in the brain. His left side was paralyzed following the accident. He went into surgery at Children's Hospital in Denver late this afternoon, and after 3 hours, was waking up asking for macaroni and cheese. :) So, the great news is that he's still with us, is communicating and has recovered most of the mobility of his left side. He is still having difficulty moving his left hand, so we ask for prayers for that, and he did have to have a plate put between his skull and his brain, so we also ask for prayers that this won't bother him, and will serve it's purpose of keeping skull pressure off the brain. Obviously, his mommy and my brother could also use prayers - for strength, peace, and clarity in this difficult time. It was a very tense few hours around here tonight, and while we are still concerned for his recovery, we are SO THANKFUL that surgery went well and he appears to be okay. I've said it before - he is such a sweet little peanut, my heart just breaks for what he's gone through. I don't think I'll ever let my own children out of this house again without a helmet on - I don't care what they are doing. Talk about an eye-opener.

On the lighter side, I survived my retreat this past weekend, and it appeared to be a huge success. Record turnout; 100% attendance (which is unheard of!!) and lots of great feedback. All at once, I'm relieved it's over, I'm still completely exhausted and I have no idea what I'm going to do with my time now! :) Ha ha, that last one was a joke. Things don't seem to have slowed down this week one bit, not sure why that is.

Saturday evening when I got home, I couldn't move - I basically crashed in a chair and didn't move the rest of the night - just stared off into space. :) Sunday after church we had the BEST time at Bear Country's Cub Fest - their annual introduction of the new cubs to the season pass holders. The best part is we got to pet all of them - oh my word, they were SO CUTE it was just unbelievable. Here's some pictures:

Last night, Mark and I attended the Newsboys concert with some friends and it was AWESOME - loved, loved, loved it. I could follow them all over the country . . . I'm just totally hooked.

This morning I had MOPS and it was a nightmare - one thing after another went wrong - why can't I just finish out the year peacefully?!? NOT going to happen, it appears. I truly had no idea being the Coordinator could be so stressful. Ah well, might as well go out with a bang, I guess . . . .

Then the news this afternoon about Cayel and I have turned into a complete ball of nerves!! I'm seriously debating spending all of tomorrow hiding out in my bed and bathtub - wonder if that would work. Yeah right, NOT going to happen - this house has been neglected for far too long with all the retreat preparations the past couple weeks, and I'm also trying to get some things ready for the school's consignment sale this weekend. My goal is to sell enough stuff this weekend that I won't have to have my own garage sale in May. I hate sacrificing a perfectly good camping weekend to sit in my garage for a weekend. Wish me luck . . . .

Oh and by the way, it was a record 85 degrees here today! Spring has arrived!

Long Time, No Post!

It's been a while since my last post, but for good reason!! I've been up to my eyeballs in retreat planning (I'm organizing our church's women's retreat, which takes place on Friday/Saturday). I'm amazed at how many little details and logistics there are to an event like this . . . . wow. It truly has been fun preparing, though, and I'm getting really excited (and nervous!) to see this all come together. 48 hours from now, it will be underway!!

We were also busy over the weekend with a trip to Sioux Falls to see our new nephew/cousin. My sister's family lives on the other side of Iowa, so we met in Sioux Falls for a fun hotel weekend - and to satisfy my HUGE need to get my hands on this baby!! He was a little lovebug and I got lots of cuddling in, so I was very happy. Gotta get back to work - will do a longer post next week once life gets back to normal. I'll leave you with several pictures of our fantastic time bonding with our new member of the family . . . .

Yeahhh! Me and Aaron . . . . .

Great-Grandpa drove over from Worthington to meet Aaron too . . . . .

Noah on the waterslide . . .

And Jack (with watergun in hand) . . . . Zonked out by the pool . . . .

Noah holding his new cousin - the boys LOVED holding him . . . Noah, Colby (the big brother), baby Aaron and Jack

Jack getting his turn . . . (looks proud, huh?)

The 4 cousins . . . .