Before and After

Before surgery

Perched on Mama's lap...a little sleepy at only 6:15 AM

All dressed for surgery

Silly girl rolling her eyes (probably at Pastor Kraig!)

Granny comes bearing gifts from afar (Pennsylvania!)

Breathing treatment (she was as happy as a clam with Granny holding her)

And she's off to see the surgeon!

After Surgery

In PACU (Post-Anesthesia Recovery Unit)

Before Morphine

Now in PICU (Pediatric Intensive Care Unit)

After Morphine

Good Night!

Before-Surgery X-ray

The severe curve is called kyphosis.

Since she had her head tipped back for this x-ray, you also get a good look at her VP shunt.

After-Surgery X-ray

You can see the two rods side by side.

There is still a very slight curve, but the huge curve is gone!

The cables wrapped around near the top of the rods allow the rods to grow with her

so that she will not require surgery every year to adjust.

Before-Surgery Back Pics

This is one of the few really good pics of her back I have.

She was less than a year old here, I believe.

Ready for surgery

The discoloration over this area is probably due to how much they had to stretch the skin to put her all back together after her myelomeningocele repair two days after birth.

After-Surgery Back Pic

Yesterday Madeline was pretty sleepy most of the day, waking only to wimper, sign cup, and get more morphine. She drank lots of water and generally looked at us like, What did they do to me?? She ran a high fever which Dr. Didelot said is completely normal for spina bifida kids. Evidently the since so many of her nerves are dead, they cannot tell the brain that there is inflammation, so anything this huge causes high fevers especially at night for around three days. Last night she was running a fever up to 103.

So far today she has been awake more, and her temp is down to 99.5. She has had some valium for muscle spasms. She ate a couple bites of pudding and drank lots of PediaSure, cried when the bubbles and music went off on the thingy at the side of her bed, refused to smile for Mommy, and smiled and blew a kiss to Daddy when he came in!

We were moved out of PICU today, so we are all settled into our private room with a private bathroom and shower!

We've been so blessed by so many of you. Diana and Kirsten Metz kept the girls overnight so we wouldn't need to get them up so early in the morning, my mom drove from Pennsylvania to be with us during surgery and then to keep the girls through the week. Pastor Kraig and Aunt Pam and my mom's friend Susan spent hours with us here. We've received so many texts, emails, phonecalls and Facebook wall posts, and to top it off, a bunch of Glen's Twitter friends from all across the country went together to bless us with "out-to-eat" money (and evidently, we're going to have to eat a LOT (: ). You know who you are, and there is no way we could ever thank you enough.

Our worship pastor, Liz, sent me this verse yesterday, and I was so moved by it: Proverbs 14:26--Whoever fears the Lord has a secure fortress, and for their children it will be a refuge.

Happy 5th Birthday, Olivia Grace!

Miss Olivia turned 5 this week! I can't wrap my mind around that. Bittersweet, indeed. She's growing into a lovely little lady, with her innocence and charming personality always leaving us with smiles and chuckles.

Since it was her big birthday #5, we let her pick what she wanted to do. She picked Chuck E. Cheese (We should have known). We invited a couple of her friends to join us. That day we were blessed with a healthy dose of beautifully fluffy snow, and the restaurant was practically empty, thus reducing the noise level to that created by our own children!

What a beautiful smile from Elizabeth!
The rodent himself

Opening a handmade card from Lizzie.

Olivia has been attempting to reproduce it all week.

Olivia, Elizabeth, and Kalli

Carli was sure that Olivia would need help riding her new bike.

Olivia donned her new tutu.

Madeline and Daniel

Daniel Ray and Madeline Kate are exactly two weeks apart. It was such fun this Christmas seeing them interact with each other. Aunt Kayla envisions Daniel pushing Madeline around in her wheelchair in the years to come. Hoping they'll always be close!

Christmas at Mom's!

Christmas at Granny's is: Sweet. Loud. Yummy. Fun. Giggly.

Did I mention CRAZY! With the 6 grands, three of them practically babies, CRAZY it definitely is, but we wouldn't have it any other way! :)

No way!

I've always wanted to sample Rosetta Stone to see if it would be right for our family. Here is a great way to WIN a Level 1 Homeschool program...so no money lost if it doesn't work for you!

Follow the directions below to enter:

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By helping us spread the word you can win a Rosetta Stone Homeschool Edition Level 1 program, language of your choice, valued at $249.

This is a computer based curriculum and Rosetta Stone will also include a headset with microphone, and a supplementary “Audio Companion” CD so you can practice lessons in the car, on the go, or where-ever!


Students participate in life-like conversations and actually produce language to advance through the program. Rosetta Stone incorporates listening, reading, grammar, vocabulary and writing along with speaking and pronunciation lessons. For parents, the new Parent Administrative Tools are integrated into the program to allow parents to easily enroll up to ten students in any of 12 predetermined lesson plans, monitor student progress, grade completed work (the program grades the work automatically as the students progress), and you can view and print reports for transcripts. Homeschooling a lot of kids at your house? This program is designed to enroll and track up to ten students (five users on two computers) and will work for nearly all ages — from beginning readers up to college students.

To win this program, copy these paragraphs and post them in (or as) your next blog post, and/OR post about this contest on your facebook page. Then go to the original page at
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and leave a comment saying that you’ve posted about, or have linked to, the contest. Please make sure the link works to get back to the original contest page when you post, and good luck!


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In case you can't tell, Madeline is thrilled to be mobile--all over the house, she is!

I didn't realize until today that October is Spina Bifida Awareness Month. Erin at Tear & Mend so sweetly reminded us of all the many families out there who face a seemingly devastating diagnosis. One in a thousand (or so) babies are diagnosed with SB, and approximately half of those babies are aborted before their parents have the chance to realize that these babies are WORTH IT (as Erin said).

Being decidedly pro-life, Glen and I never considered or wanted to end my pregnancy. However, I do remember in that first rough day thinking that I could understand a little more why some mama's might consider it. It's terrifying to wonder what extreme difficulties your little one might go through. Today I ran across a blog written by a mother who struggled intensely with her decision. This was one of the most tear-jerking and eye-opening posts I've come across, and it hits so close to home, knowing the uncertainties that come with a spina bifida diagnosis. Also addressed are the varying reactions she received in response to her honesty and vulnerability. If you have the chance, stop by and celebrate her decision of life. Then continue to pray for peace for her and her family as she walks through the weeks and years ahead.

Today I can't imagine my life without Madeline, special needs and all. I wrote last year, "What did I do to deserve this?" Through ups and downs, challenges and victories, one smiley and determined little girl brings joy to our home every day, and I wouldn't want it any other way.

Am I the only one?

I seriously need your feedback on the following question:


Am I the only homeschool mom that occasionally has to take the day off just to catch up on housework after a bizarre week? I hate to not appear perfect here (heehee) but I seriously couldn't take it one more moment. I knew I'd never have time to get done what needs done if we didn't take off. Kokomo is on fall break anyway, but we had decided not to take off since we didn't count all of our vacation as educational.

Still to go:

• the rest of the dishes
• mop the kitchen floor
• laundry
• kids' room
• finally finish sorting through the fall/winter clothes and...
• get those boxes out of the house
• possibly make cookies for the campaign bus
• go to a campaign rally
• exercise
• transcribe a sermon due back tomorrow
• figure out the rest of school this week...

A mother's work and all that, but I have three Excedrin in me now to cover pain from wisdom tooth extraction on Tuesday, so I have lots of caffeine energy! :)