I can't believe that my baby boys are graduating from preschool. At the ceremony we realized that they will be graduating from high school in 2023. It just seems like such a short time away. Who knew that if you blinked everything could change this quick. It's such a bitter sweet moment for me. I want them to move forward and progress, but their is a big part of me that just wants them to stay little forever. I was on the Amanda Dickson Show and the other lady's on the show were talking about their children getting married and having children. On the way home I realized that it wasn't that far off for Courtney.

Maliyah had her Kidney clinic appointment this last Tuesday. Her liver enzymes are slowly rising, the doctors reassured me that everything was still okay. As a mother I can't help but worry about her health. Maliyah recently had a UTI and the doctors said that they are getting really worried about oral antibiotics even working for Maliyah anymore. So that is starting to be a concern for her. The plan for treatment for Maliyah will be changing if this becomes the case. I really am not worried at this point, but with be even more careful with her health.

Kendra's infection that she had over Christmas that nearly took her life ,is trying to come back. We tried several different times to remove her antibiotics, but the result was an instant fever. So ID is worried that she may need to return back to IV drugs. We all want the IV therapy to be in September, so we can have a fun Summer.

The girls are working very hard at school and making huge strides in their PT and also in their core strength. Their Robot Legs are taking a lot more time then I thought.

I can't wait for the Summer Time!! I am really getting sick of all the projects and homework the kids have. The girls have 5 more days of school. Which seems like it will never get here. I got some great advice from D Wright today. She said, don't over schedule your kids during the Summer because the best creativity comes from boredom. So I thought that was a great thing to take into account with the Summer coming. And it takes a lot less pressure off me to entertain the kids.

At the kids school they have a fitness goal. They are tested on different level of fitness. Courtney came home with a paper that said she had hit the National Goal in fitness. She was very excited about that. She worked very hard to achieve that goal.

I will update pictures later today. Have a great day!! :)

I know your inbox is full. I know you get a lot of emails. Thanks for reading mine! : ) Let me share with you why I send this every day.

Here is a quote from Dave Dravecky, the major league baseball pitcher who lost his pitching arm in his battle with cancer:

"I'll never forget the feeling in the pit of my stomach and in the depths of my heart when I first heard the word 'cancer.' My world ground to a halt. I desperately needed information. I needed encouragement. I needed hope."

Dave's quote reflects my heart in sending you these HopeMinute emails. It is my prayer that they offer you and your child hope and encouragement when you need it most. That they remind you that God is still on the throne, that He loves you more than you can comprehend, that He wants a deep and personal relationship with you, and that He promises to either calm the storm or calm you in the midst of the storm.

Hope is indeed a very powerful medicine. I have seen it work miracles. And wherever there is life, there is hope. Always.

Please join us for the first Annual Faces of Hope Event here in Utah. This Charity has given so much hope to our family.

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/92141/hopekids/invite_resources/foh_invite.html

Thanks

This past Friday Courtney's bird Shelly pasted away. It was a very bad time! All the kids cried, but it was worse for the girls. To make matters worse the bird didn't die of natural causes, so that made things harder because it could of been prevented. But on an upside, all of the kids are safe, so a bird can be replaced.

These last several weeks have been very nice and relaxing. I finished up the last of my finals last week. The girls have last minute school projects to finish and then it will be summer for everyone. Can't wait!!

The kids are going to be taking swimming lessons. The boys are getting signed up for soccer in the fall. Can't believe in a couple of weeks, my boys will be turning 5. Time goes by so fast.

Maliyah's broviac broke and ended up taking her to the ER to get it fixed. It took 4 hours and then we were finally able to come home. When the tube broke there was blood everywhere and Maliyah was afriad all of her blood was going to come out. It broke my heart to see her like that. Courtney went with us to entertain and play with her. It was a fun night other then being at the hospital.

I have been getting a lot emails from everyone, so thank you. The kids love reading them too. I had no idea our show was on Discovery Health, I just thought TLC was going to show it. The kids still enjoy watching it, I on the other hand never want to see it again, LOL. It's really weird to watch ourselves on TV.

I promised Courtney that she could earn some roller blades. She did so well these last several weeks, that we went out and got her some today. Courtney is having a great time.

I needed some new running shoes also. I try to run at least 4-7 miles several times a week. My shoes were getting torn up. I hope these shoes will help my feet from becoming numb. It's really a big pain, and it seems to happen around 3 miles. I am not really training for anything, just trying to stay healthy. I have even gotten Jake to get his butt out to exercise too. I am to the end of Spring Semester, finals week is the next 2 weeks.

Jake was outside getting the sprinklers up and running for this summer, he turned them on and was trying to fix different things. Austin walked up to Jake and said "what in the hell are you doing". Jake really tried not to laugh. He told Austin that hell was a bad word. He said he was sorry. Of course Jake blamed me for Austin's mishap. I do have to laugh about it. Kids really say the funniest things.

This year has been extremely stressful. The girls have had many infections and surgeries. I can't even remember all of them. I like to block most of that stuff out.


I am finishing up my second semester of college. I have aced all of my classes so far. Even with all of the girls set backs I have been able to stay on top of my school work. I will be starting the summer semester. It's my escape for right now. Kendra and I were on the way to one of her surgeries and got into a car accident. That is her 2nd. She just cried for a second. The police officer that arrived at the accident was really helpful. He also knows Jake's cousin that is a highway patrol officer. He was so good to Kendra. We made it to her surgery on time. The doctor was a little mad that we were late, but I wait for them all the time so it's his turn to wait for me.

Jake just finished another part of his schooling. He is one smart man!! If only I can get him to figure out the yard that would be so great.

Courtney is doing very well in school and will be starting back up in her competition team in June. She is excited and has missed dance. I on the other hand am not excited!! It's a lot of work to get Courtney to all the practices and performances, she will start dancing 10 hours a week. We are hardly going to be able to see her. But she enjoys it and that is really all that matters. We got a new cage for her bird Shelly, she is so messy. Courtney got sick of vacuuming her room everyday. She also wants roller blades, so is trying to earn those through chores around the house. She only has one more year of elementary and then she is off to middle school. I can't believe how fast she is growing up. She gets prettier everyday. The boys are starting to notice too. A couple of them showed up at our house a couple of weekends ago. Jake wasn't happy about that. He is very protective of the girls.

Kendra is the life of the party. There is nothing that she can't do. We took the kids to Classic Skating and both of the girls put on roller skates and were able to get around very well. It was great to see both of them so brave. Kendra looks more like Courtney everyday, well all my girls look very much alike. She was also baptized in March. I took Kendra and Maliyah to get special white dresses for the occasion. It was the prefect day for her. Kendra recently got tested at school for next year and she is testing at a 5th grade level. She loves school!

Maliyah has had a really tough year so far. She has had far more surgeries this year then Kendra. She is on IV antibiotics for an infection. I just do them at home every 8 hours. It's really not bad. The medicines are making her throw-up, so we are working on getting them changed to something else. Regardless of the year Maliyah has had, she is still testing at a 5th grade level as well. We have tried several times to get her off of her feeding tube and she doesn't tolerate that very well. We need to make sure by this time next year she is done with it. She is getting stronger everyday with her Physical Therapy, she is getting faster on her walker and even able to take steps with her crutches. Both girls can wear their "robot leg" for about 10 minutes. I just hope they don't have to modify them anytime soon. Maliyah was baptized as well in March. She was excited at first and decided to go second right after Kendra. She got really scared, I told her everything was going to be ok and finally she agreed. I really didn't want to schedule a different baptisim for Maliyah. After Maliyah was done, she told me that it wasn't scary at all. I was so proud of her.

Justin and Austin attended their Kindergarten Orientation. I can't believe they are going to be 5 in June. They are the best little boys. Each day gets easier with them. It's nice to feel like I am on the down hill side with them. They already have gotten all their shots for Kindergarten. I really will miss all my kids. It's a bitter sweet moment having everyone in school. We got new carpet in our house last week, Justin had some friends over to play. When they walked in the house Justin ordered all of them to take off their shoes. It's really cute to see the kids taking pride in our home.

We recently found a good deal on the Internet for the Disney Cruise. They are cruising from California this next year, so we booked it. We are going to the same place Jake and I went for our 10 year anniversary last year. The kids are saving their money for the trip.

I think that is a great update for now.

I am also going to be posting new pictures, so check those out. :)