Noah turned 4...

That's right. I have a four year old. His birthday was Saturday the 27th and we had a spiderman birthday party for him. He had a blast!! He has gotten so big. We had a swimming party at my parents house and we had a spiderman pinata. You should have seen all of the kids with that. It was so cute! More pictures to come.

Our house is finally having some progress made on it. We had our wood floors installed this weekend. Our new air conditioning unit is finally in. Tomorrow we are installing our baseboards. On Thursday the mold guys are coming out to bomb the house with their mold cleaner. Friday we are getting all of our upstairs, the stairwell, as well as the furniture cleaned. Then at the beginning of next week we will finish painting. When all that is completed, I will have a house cleaner in to do a serious deep cleaning on my house before we move back in. So as you can see, there is a plan for progress to be made.

Maggie is having ups and downs. She has not been able to eat yet. Her bowel is not working right. She has been going through withdraws from Phentanyl. However, she has been held by her parents and grandparents. Please keep praying for her continued healing as well as strength for her parents.

As far as our fertility goes... it is a waiting game to see what will happen. We were told to be patient. Patience is not something I am very good at, however, I know that God has a plan and we are not done having children... which ever way that is going to happen. So for now, we are waiting on God to perform a miracle and to give us peace about the issue.

Well that's the scoop on us. Thank you for being a part of our life and for praying for us in all of our different journeys.

Baby Maggie update...

Today was a great day for my friend's baby Margaret (Maggie). She is now off of all of her blood pressure medications as well as her nitrous oxide. She is only on 30% oxygen on the ventilator and she is taking breast milk through a feeding tube now. She no longer has pulmonary hypertension or pneumonia. Today was a huge breakthrough. Praise God for all of the healing that He is allowing to take place in her little body!!! Please continue to pray for her and her family. I know they could all use it.

Overdue update...

We are doing well. Still no progress on the house. None at all. I am a little bit discouraged about that. However, it has been really nice to be able to stay at my parents house. They have been so wonderful to us!!! I don't know what I would do without them! They are a true gift from God. Noah started his first day of preschool today. Yes, I did get a little bit teary eyed watching him walk in to the classroom and become a truly "big boy". He was so excited about going to school. Logan kept asking what Noah was doing and when he would be back. He did good though. He went with my sister and I shopping and had a special day of his own. He is really turning into such a big boy as well. He is so funny!! He says and does the cutest things. I am very glad that I had the opportunity to spend some quality time with him today. Matt is going to go to Ecuador on a mission trip at the end of October with my dad and my brother-in-law Scott. He is really looking forward to seeing everyone down there. They just finalized all of the dates and flight information. On a different note, Matt and I have had a very emotional week. As I stated in one of my previous blogs, we decided to start our fertility treatments again. As it turns out, the chemotherapy has affected Matt and his fertility. We originally went for help because I have problems. We are just trusting God to give us the desires of our heart because we know that we are not supposed to be done having children. Please pray that we will have clarity for the situation as far as what we should do and that we would have peace throughout the process. We have a doctors appointment on Friday to help give us options as far as what we are up against. Please continue to pray for baby Margaret Elizabeth Panzella. She is still in the NICU on a ventilator. She has definitely had her ups and down. Please pray for her family as well. It is very difficult being on a constant emotional roller coaster. Thank you for all of your support!

Not a lot has gone on since I have last posted. We are still living at my parents house and will probably be here for at least 3 more weeks. Everyone is doing well. We are finally starting to feel a little bit better. I kind of had an emotional day. My friend Carrie and her husband John delivered their first baby and things did not turn out so well for them. Carrie is healthy and fine, however, their little girl is not. She had very thick meconium (baby poop) inhaled into her lungs at birth. She is having a really hard time breathing and keeping her oxygen in her blood. She is on a ventilator and is in a lot of need of our prayers. She has improved a little bit since this morning, but she needs to continue to get better. So you ask... why am I blogging about my friends personal business. The answer is because they are desperate for God to do his work in their baby's life and they need everyone to pray for her. So I know that God has a plan for this little girl's life and this is going to be a testimony of his goodness and faithfulness. We all just need to be faithful and do our part and pray as well.

Here's the scoop...

Well we have moved out of our house as of today for who knows how long. There is so much mold I don't know where to begin telling you the story. Basically, we had our house flooded because our windows leaked and our air conditioning unit leaked. We need to replace our entire air conditioning unit. We have torn up all of the carpet down stairs and the tile as well as all of the base boards. We are not going to put in our wood floors obviously until we get this problem solved. As far as the upstairs is concerned, we need to tear up all of the carpet on the stairs. We have to move all of our clothes, bedding, mattresses, etc. out of our house. Yeah, very overwhelming!!! So, sorry I have not blogged in a while. Been very busy with a sick family and a crazy house situation. But the reality is... we have already been through the worst. You know, not even 6 months ago, I didn't know if my husband was going to live. So my house is not cancer, surgery, or anything serious like that. It is all material stuff. The important thing is that we found out our problem and my family is safe.

On a lighter note, my kids are growing up so fast!! Noah has his 4 year old birthday in about 2 weeks and he is going to start preschool. He is totally in love with anything spiderman. He is so smart and witty. He says the funniest things. Logan is 2.5 years old. He is talking up a storm. Sometimes I think he talks just to hear himself. He is our "Mr. Me too". Everything that Noah does and says, he wants to do or repeat. He is our comedy relief. They are both truly precious gifts from God! Matt is doing well. He still has his cough from the mold, but he went to the doctor and got some different medication. His PET scan results came back with a clean bill of health. PRAISE GOD!!! He is so precious to me! He is such a wonderful husband. I am truly blessed to have such a wonderful man!!! We started our infertility treatments again. Hopefully we will be blessed with another child soon. I am working a lot at the hospital and continue to try to be there for my kids so I don't miss an ounce of their life. Tricky I know. All in all, we are very blessed and very loved and I thank all of you for being a part of our lives.

Crazy week...

Well, this has been a very interesting week. Our whole family has been sick. It has been tons of fun! Matt stayed home from work Wednesday and Thursday. The boys were sick Sunday-Tuesday. Now it is my turn. I think the mold is starting to get to us. We are much better when we are not home. The mold guy is supposed to come out tomorrow at 10am to inspect our house. Praise God!!! We finally heard back from the insurance adjuster and he said that we are getting enough money to cover the floors. They are not going to cover any damage to furniture, however, the claim is good for 5years so if we notice anything, we can call it in and they will send someone out to reimburse us. This is the fun part of owning our own home. We did however finally decide on what floors we wanted. I am glad that is done! On a different note, the boys are loving their bunk beds. They both are sleeping through the night, staying in their beds, and being obedient at night. I don't know why we didn't put them together sooner. They are so cute!! They actually get excited about going in their rooms to go to bed. I know that will probably wear off soon, but for now, it is AWESOME!!!!! Matt had his PET scan today. That detects any cancer in his body. We will hopefully know the results of that test this time next week. I am not anticipating them to find anything. The doctor said he will get scans every 3 months. After one year of being clear, they will call him in remission. After three years of being clear, they will call him cured. I can't wait for that day to come!! Anyways, thank you for all of your prayers. No words could ever express how much they have meant to us!!!

We have bunk beds...

This week we moved Logan into Noah's room and they are doing really well with it. Our friends John, Carmen, and Kendrish Aker's came over and helped carry the bed up stairs and put it together for the boys. The kids were so excited. All of Logan's clothes are all moved in and everything! We have only had a few incidences where they have been wild monkey's, but overall they understand the rules of the bed and know that it is a privilege. Yesterday the kids started to get a croupy sounding cough. I am hoping that it is nothing major. It is hard to tell if it is because they have been staying in the house or if they are starting to get sick. When I give them cold/cough/allergy medicine though it takes care of the problem right away. Who knows! We have been shopping for flooring everyday trying to find what we like for a reasonable price. It is very difficult. Hopefully we will hear from our insurance adjuster tomorrow. We are also waiting to hear from a mold and moisture guy. Tomorrow I have jury duty. Fun stuff!! Matt is making me crazy!!!! I am sitting here blogging and he comes into the office where I am and starts to move very heavy furniture. Finally after a few scolding words by me and he telling me that he feels fine and to call his surgeon to tell me that he is fine, he finally gives in and lets me help him. What am I going to do with him? Just continue to love him with all of my heart I guess! Lt. Willis, if you read this... you have my full blessing to kick Matt's butt in his workout this week. If he feels he can move furniture, than I am sure you can come up with some routine to make him burn a few muscles!!! P.S. Time for dinner again! On that note, I think I need to go supervise my wonderful husband!!