Thank-you, Jesus!

We've a lot of progress in the last couple of weeks, thank-you Jesus!  Along with asthma, Emma has been diagnosed with Vocal Cord Dysfunction, or VCD, which is triggered either by asthma or stress or a combination of the two.  To explain it simply, when some people have stress they might throw up, or shake.  In her case her vocal cords close causing her to cough and not breath well until they reopen which can last a few minutes or many hours.  It can be so severe a trip to the ER is required, which is what we have had to do twice in the last year or so.  There is no medication for VCD, she'll have to learn to control it through relaxation techniques.

We made the very difficult and "last ditch effort" to keep Emma in school by moving her to another Elementary school that is newer (less than five years old) but more than twice as big as her old school.  The first week was a little rough, but by the fourth day she made it the whole day!  She has had NO asthma attacks, only the VCD.  We were elated to say the least!! And hopeful that it might work.  So, it seems she is allergic to something at her old school.

Some people might think the following is a coincidence, but I know God planned it:  at this new school, in one of Emma's classes, another girl has been dealing with the same coughing issue as Emma for the past 4 months.  Because of this, the teachers and nurses are used to the "interruptive" coughing and noises. So Emma can stay the whole day even if she is having VCD symptoms.  She has quickly made lots of friends and really enjoys the classes (once she can figure out where they are in the building).  I have never seen her smile so much and so big!

Della's cast has come off and she is also making great progress!  She can walk much better with her walker now that her foot is straighter.  She also has even more movement in her weaker leg which is amazing to us!  She is very persistant with her physical therapy and her leg is healing very well.

First cornrows in her hair - took mom 2 hours

 We celebrated Eli's 9th birthday, he's our second oldest.  He requested an ice cream cake with raw cookie dough.  All the kids made him drawings for his birthday :).

Josey

Wyatt

We are thankful to have a "break" from physical issues for now.  Now onto the continued planning of our fundraiser for the orphanage Della lived at in Africa. We have a silent auction planned with services and merchandise of all kinds like an antique tobacco basket, quilts, gift baskets, photo sessions, meals, etc. :