I am so enjoying this warm weather, but I have a question....what is it about warm weather that makes me want to deep clean? In the winter, when it's blustery cold outside and I'm stuck inside, the dust piles up, but when it's absolutely beautiful outside I clean until I'm exhausted! I've waited 6 months for the sunshine so I could go outside, but then I spent the entire day yesterday cleaning. Something just does not seem right about that. But it does feel good to get some stuff done. I did get outside today though. This morning Sammy and I met Haley and the girls down by the Tridge and we went for a nice walk. We let the kids play at the park for a little bit too, which they thoroughly enjoyed. It felt really great to get some fresh air and exercise...although I'd have to say I got quite the workout yesterday also!
Tomorrow morning we are going to a pancake breakfast and award program for Annabelle. She was chosen as an Absolutely Incredible Kid by the teachers at school. She was nominated for displaying the characteristics of good citizenship, respect of self and others, trustworthiness, responsibility, caring and helpfulness. There was one child from each grade chosen to represent their grade. Her teacher, Mrs. Filhart, sent us a letter to tell us about it and said that Annabelle was an amazing student. We are so proud of her. I don't think she really understands what the big deal is, but she is really excited about getting pancakes!
On Sunday, we are celebrating Easter with Andy's family since we had to miss it the first time. It's also Haley's birthday. It should really be a nice day. I'm really looking forward to spending the day with them, not to mention the good food we'll have! I hope everyone has a great weekend and takes the chance to spend some time with your families.

Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good!
His faithful love endures forever.
1 Chronicles 16:34

Where did the sunshine go? Where is the warm weather? When I woke up this morning, I was reminded that we live in Michigan and that cold weather will prevail! That's right folks, it's snowing...again! Yesterday we had thunderstorms and possible tornadoes and today, snow! But, being the optimistic person I am, I'm just going to try to make the best of. The kids and I are going to cuddle up on the couch together and put in a good movie. Maybe we'll make some cookies or something. I hope everyone has a good day and take some time to enjoy your families, despite the gloomy weather. The following is the verse of the day and I found to it be perfectly fitting...

This is the day which the Lord hath made;
we will rejoice and be glad in it.
Psalm 118:24 KJV

Well, its official...spring has sprung! I know that it has technically been "spring" for a few weeks now, but after this weekend, it's officially confirmed...by me! The weather was absolutely gorgeous! Warm air and sunshine...what more could a person ask for? We made our first trip to the park, after we got ice cream,of course, and I even stopped at a few yard sales (the first of many, I'm sure.) After being cooped up in the house forever, I almost forgot how exhilarating fresh air could feel. I love it! This weekend was just a preview of all that spring and summer have to offer and I look forward to every minute of it. We all know how quickly it passes. I can't wait to start tending to my flowers and planting a vegetable garden. We are also planning on many more trips to the park...and ice cream! The kids really enjoyed the nice weather this weekend too. Despite the wind, they had a blast at the park...they hopped from one thing to the next like they had finally found their long lost friends. They were not to happy with me when I told them it was time to go... but then again, they never are.This weekend was just what I needed to refresh my soul. God is amazing...He always knows what I need and when I need it. I am so grateful for all the times He has brought me through the "stormy" weather, and blessed me with sunshine.

For, lo, the winter is past, the rain is over and gone; the flowers appear on the earth;
the time of the singing of the birds is come.
Song of Solomon 2:11-12 KJV

Andy had his final visit with the doctor yesterday at the Mayo Clinic and he got a great report! He has had asthma since he was 2 and we were concerned that it was getting worse and that there was possibly damage done to his heart from all the straining he had put on it from not being able to breath. But, praise God, it is not worse...actually its just different than it was before....its kind of hard to explain, but there are lots of different aspects to asthma, some of which even doctors don't understand yet. He now has an atypical asthma, which I guess means most ppl with asthma have more common symptoms than he does. The good news is its controllable with a few medications. He also had an echo-cardiogram done on his heart b/c he has a family history of severe heart conditions. Everything is perfect, his cholesterol, blood pressure, and everything were just where they should be.

The doctor was so wonderful and gave us lots of useful information to help us make our home a safe environment for Andy. He is extremely allergic to dust mites and grass which irritate his asthma. The doc said we need to make our room as dust mite free as possible, starting with our bed most importantly. 98% of the allergens come from our bed. When we lay in bed and move around the dust mites get scattered in the air and then while we are sleeping we are most susceptible to those allergens. So we need to start using these mattress covers that don't allow dust mites through and I have to wash all the bedding in hot water once a week. I will have to put more effort into keeping our home as dust free as possible, but it will be worth it to see my husband living better. We also have to try to keep as much of the outdoor environment outdoors as possible. Andy can not mow the lawn or be outside when anyone is b/c he is so allergic to grass...he can't even get it on his skin! And as you can imagine, he is really "bummed" that he is not allowed to mow the lawn anymore!

I just wanted to thank all you again for your thoughts and prayers through this journey. We had a few stressful and uncertain moments, but God was with us each step because of your prayers. We feel we are now prepared to start living better and healthier, not just for ourselves but for our children.

We finally made it home from Minnesota around 3 am Wednesday morning. We had to stay through the weekend since Andy had an appointment Monday morning. We were hoping that we would be able to see the doctor for the follow up before we had to leave. So we waited for someone to cancel or a spot to open up, but by 11 am Tuesday we decided we just couldn't wait any longer. We'll be driving back on Sunday for the follow up on Monday. Hopefully everything is okay and he will be able to get Andy on some kind of regiment.

Since we had some free time through the weekend we decided to make the best of it. On Saturday we headed to Minneapolis to go to the Mall of America. The guys weren't to excited about it, but we promised to take them to Cabela's the next day. Unfortunetly, we found out later that they would be closed because of Easter (which isnt' necessarily a bad thing actually).
The MOA is really cool and there is so much to do besides shopping.
They have a 7 acre indoor amusement park, an aquarium with sharks, a movie theatre, and a NASCAR Silicon Motor Speedway...it's a high tech indoor stock car racing competition. Andy and I decided to test it out and it was a lot of fun! My favorite part was the larger than life Lego land...
it's amazing the things they can build with legos.
Easter Sunday didn't go as we had planned of course. We really would have rather been home with our families. We ended up having our Easter dinner at Applebee's and then spending the rest of the day relaxing in the hotel. I don't think I will ever complain again about all the running around we do during the holidays. It was so hard being away from the kids. Luckily our hotel offered free long distance so we were able to talk to them quite often.I couldn't be happier to be home. It feels so good. Life is going back to normal today...Andy's going back to work and I have housework and groceries to get. I have a whole new appreciation for it. Hopefully everything will turn out okay when Andy has his follow up and he won't be gone to long. I'm still not sure if I will be going back out. I'd like to be there with him, but I hate to leave the kids any longer.
This last picture is from the view of the 18th floor of Mayo...I just loved the architecture...
it stood out from all the other modern buildings.
Thank you everyone for your thoughts and prayers again. Your friendship means more than words can say...it has given us strength in our time of need. Love you all!

As most of you know we are here at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota. We left early Wednesday morning and drove for about 13 hrs through Michigan, Wisconsin, and into Minnesota. We had wonderful road conditions and made really good time considering the number of times we needed to stop for gas or food. We checked into our hotel around 7:30 pm (8:30 Michigan time). On Thursday morning we had to be to the clinic by 8:30 am. Thankfully the hotel offers a free shuttle to and from the clinic b/c traffic here is CRAZY! Once we had Andy all registered, we headed up to his first appointment. He had to do a breathing test to get a baseline for how is breathing is. Then we had to wait a few hours to see the doctor. He asked us lots of questions about Andy's history and his past and present health so he could get a feel for his case. He was a little concerned about why his health would haven gotten worse in the past 6-8 months all of a sudden, but thankfully he wasn't to concerned about his heart. He said that Andy would have to have a few tests run so he could have a better idea of what was going on with him. He ordered a CT scan for his sinuses and his chest (lungs and heart), an EKG, and an allergy test. All of which should be able to give us the answers we need. The only bad part is we have to stay here until Monday b/c of they were unable to get all his tests done this week and he is scheduled to come back here the following Monday to follow up with the doctor. I was upset about that at first...I guess it was just a shock to me b/c I wasn't anticipating it at all...I figured the latest we would be home would be Saturday. But the more I thought about it I realized that it had to be God's plan...He has been so faithful to us in EVERY step so far, and I truly believe He had His reasons for keeping us here. I'm okay with staying here now, although I miss my kids terribly, but I'm still really praying that we will be able to see the doctor before we leave so we won't have to make another trip back. And in a way, I am grateful that we didn't have to leave today b/c when we woke up this morning there was lots of snow and the roads were very slippery....we would have had to drive in that.
So, I guess since we are here we are just going to make the most of it. We will have to miss Easter with our kids, but luckily the Easter Bunny is willing to make an extra special trip to Grandma's house to leave the kids their baskets! Tomorrow we are planning on making the 90 minute trip to the Mall of America. This place has 4 levels and a 7 acre amusement park so we should have lots to do.Today I took some pictures at the Clinic. There is all kinds of art work, glass work, and sculptures there. They even have Mayo's first ambulance....of course it was a horse drawn ambulance.Before I go, I want to thank everyone for their thoughts and prayers. It is appreciated more than words can say, and I know they are being heard. I have felt the Lord's presence in every step of this journey. He ceases to amaze me.

We had a fun weekend even though it didn't go as we had planned. On Saturday Andy was going to go walleye fishing at the Bay, but on his way there his truck broke down. He ended up getting it fixed but he was late meeting his friends, and they took off without him. So, unfortunately he didn't get to go fishing. The kids and I went over to Grandma Cameron's because she was finally home from Hawaii. Haley, the girls, and Teresa were also all there. We had lunch together and just visited. Grandma let the girls play with the American Girl dolls and clothes. They just adore Grandma's extensive doll collection. Of course, I got to hold the baby again...she is so precious. She even opened one eye to peek out to see who was holding her. She was a tired girl because her mommy kept her up all night...although mommy says it was the other way around! And as always, Ariana was adorable and entertaining!On Sunday, we had a nice family day together. Andy had wanted to go fishing, but he couldn't find anyone to go with him so we were the next best choice...just kidding. We have been wanting to check out the Grossology exhibit at the Midland Center for the Arts so we decided to go there. It was quite interesting to say the least. Each area is a different part of the body and it explains how that part works and why. It was really neat, although I'm not quite sure the kids understood what it was about...they just liked the "slide" that started at the mouth and took you through the esophagus, stomach, the intestines and out the...well, we'll just let you use your imagination! We also got to go through the Hall of Ideas. I think the kids, and Andy, really enjoyed that. He played with everything. I love watching him interact with the kids that way...it warms my heart.Over all it was a very nice day...it's always fun spending time together.

Finally, we are getting some normalcy back into our lives. Before all this bad weather and illness hit, Sammy and I would head out to the mall once a week to hang out with Haley and Ariana. We always had so much fun taking the kids for lunch and then letting them run wild in the play place. And of course we always went to the book store so they could play with the train set. It was nice for Haley and I as well because we got a little exercise and some much needed "adult conversation." We both have very tiny houses, and after being stuck inside for so long, the walls seem to close in around us. So, yesterday seemed the perfect time to get out again. We had such a great time. Sammy and Ariana always have so much fun together. And I finally got to hold my new little niece, Adalyn. It is always such a blessing to spend time with Haley and her girls. This is Ariana "hammin" it up for the camera. She is so silly!

I took this picture last night as the sun was setting behind our house. I think that God knew I needed a little bit of color in my life and this was the beautiful picture He painted. I am so grateful that God sends me these little gifts and that He has made it possible for me to enjoy it.

What a great weekend! I am so glad that we were finally able to get away, especially after being sick for so long. Friday we headed to Manistee to stay the night there. Of course, the weather was terrible and the roads were covered with black ice, but we made it safely. After we checked into our hotel, and cranking the heat in our room (it was freezing), Andy took me to a little novelty shop that he had discovered when he had been working in Manistee. Unfortunately it was closed down. He was really bummed and pouted about it for quite awhile...LOL! So we just drove around for awhile since there wasn't really much else to do. We stopped off at a little hole-in-the-wall joint for lunch. It was pretty good and the people there were quite interesting to say the least. That's the fun part about eating at places like that. For the most part we just hung out at the hotel and relaxed in the peace and quite...something that doesn't happen around here very often. I know it sounds boring, but it was actually really nice.

Saturday we got up and headed off to Traverse City around 9:30 am. First we stopped at a little restaurant in Bear Lake for breakfast. And of course when we got to TC we had to stop at Gander Mountain. We finally arrived at Hannah and Dustin's around 12:30. I was just so excited to see her that I could hardly hold in my excitement. Being that it was the middle of winter, and there's not much else to do in TC except snowmobile or ski , so we pretty much just hung out at their apartment most of the time. Hannah did take me to the scrapbook store she works at, and of course I bought some really cool stuff. We also went to the Underground Cheesecake factory and got a sampler box... ..YUMMY! After that we drove around for awhile to see if we could find any cool places to take pics, but everything was so drab. We ended up by a pier and got some cute pictures...of us! There really wasnt much else to photograph. Over all it was a really great weekend. I know Hannah felt bad because we didnt do anything overly exciting, but to be honest, it felt great to just relax. And anything I get to do with Hannah is fun. Seeing her this weekend makes me realize how much I enjoy her company and how much I truely miss her. It also makes me realize just how special she is to me. It amazes me after all these years, and with so many miles between us that we are still so close.