Easter...

Happy belated Easter! We had an excellent Easter. Let's see where do I want to begin. Saturday Matt worked at the fire station and came home Sunday morning. Talin, my new nephew, spent the night with the boys and I. He slept through the night until 5am. It took him 1.5 hrs to eat his bottle, then he spit up twice, decided to play and refuse to go back to sleep until 0715 which was the time that I needed to get up. I got up and got in the shower which woke him back up. The boys got up about 0745 and played on the bed with him while I got ready. FINALLY Matt got home. Together we conquered getting ourselves ready for church along with 3 boys. We were ready to go load up in the car for church when all of the sudden Talin spit up ALL OVER Matt. When I say all over I mean everywhere. His clothes, the kitchen floor, and of course Talin. So being the wonderful mother that I am I cleaned Talin up while repeatedly scolding my own children that we don't play in vomit. Then I had to clean the kitchen up while Matt was changing. Matt decided that Talin must have not liked his Easter outfit. We got to church about 15 minutes late. It was a really great service. After church we all took a 2.5 hr nap. I definitely needed it because I had been up since 0500. When we woke up, Noah make cupcakes to take to my parents house and we went over there. We played on the jet ski's, swam in their pool and visited until 0900pm. Then we came home and went to bed. It was a fun and busy weekend. We are now refreshed and ready to start a new fun filled week.

Long time no post... Again

Ok, so as you can tell I am no longer the best blogger in the world. Life is crazy and technology is time consuming. I joined facebook so I do the majority of catching up on there. It has been a fun thing to do. So you are probably asking "what's new"? Well here goes...

-Logan turned 3 years old on Febuary 12th.He is so funny. His new thing that he says all of the time is "umm, let me think about that for a moment" while he puts his finger on his cheek. He doesn't even know he is funny. He loves to play outside. The dirtier he gets the better.
-Noah is now playing baseball every Saturday. He is on a team with Reece and Charlie. He plays first base or third base. It is probably the cutest thing to watch. Not that I am at all prejudice. He is almost done with his preschool. They have their graduation in the beginning of May.
-Matt is working at the same firestation 36. He is doing really well. He starts playing on our church softball team tonight. He is really excited about it!
-I have been very busy with work and being a mommy. Nothing really new as far as I am concerned. Still praying for a miracle to have a baby.

That's about it. The Butschek family in a nut shell.

Video and pictures... LONG overdue

Where do I begin???

Since I have not blogged in almost a month, I have a lot to catch you up on. I took off 2 weeks of work after my sister had her baby "Talin". It was fabulous!!! I had so much fun with my kids and hers. I felt like a real stay at home mom. Then reality set back in and I went back to work. At least I like what I do for a living.

Matt got cleared by the oncologist to go back to work on full active duty. He will start his first 24 hour shift back on Monday the 26th. He also got cleared by the oncologist to not have to come back and see him for another 6 months. AWESOME!!! We are starting to feel like life is getting back to normal again.

We have been toying with the idea of selling our house and moving. We still want to be in the Apopka area, we just want a bigger yard for the boys to play in. We don't know though. The market is really low, and we don't want to just give our house away. Almost everything inside of it is new. We are still praying about the timing.

The boys are hilarious!!! They definitely keep us going. They are both so animated when they tell you stories. They fight with each other all the time, but yet they play together really good as well. It is true brotherly love. I just signed Noah up for a new preschool for next year. I think he will really enjoy it. We are trying to decide what to do with Logan. He wants to be a "big boy" so bad. If you look at him, he is just as big as Noah. They weigh the exact same. Thirty eight pounds to be exact. Noah is 1.5 inches taller than Logan. Logan is 16 months younger than Noah. Yeah, I know, Logan is HUGH!!!

Anyways, I have to go. Matt is taking Noah to the monster truck rally. Logan and I are going to have a date at IKEA. I promise I will blog sooner.

Merry Christmas!!!

We had a wonderful Christmas. My sister had her baby on Christmas Eve at 1:13 pm. His name is Talin Justice Smothers. He weighed 7 lbs, 10 oz and was 19.5 inches long. He is so cute!! Jenny is doing well too. She is really sore from her cesarean section. The boys got new bikes. They are so funny to watch. Logan looks so big on his big boy bike. I would love to post new pictures but my camera broke. Matt and I are now in the middle of cleaning the house and putting up new blinds. Well I have to go. Logan needs help going potty. I'll post more later.

It's Christmas time!!

This weekend it hit me. We are so close to Christmas. It's next week. It's crazy how time flies by!! This weekend we went to my Grandfather's Christmas party. He is so cute. He seemed so happy to have everyone come to his party. However, I have to give a lot of the credit to my Aunt Kathy because she is really the person who put it all together. It was lovely and the food was great!!! Today we went to my Grandmother's house in Winter Haven. We always get all of my mom's side of the family together the Saturday before Christmas to celebrate Christmas. We eat and eat, then open gifts, then eat some more. The kids were so good. They had such a wonderful time. They played outside and rode their bikes all afternoon. It was a beautiful day!! On our way home we went to my Uncle Gary's house to see it. He just moved there and his house is gorgeous!! I am really happy for him.

Tomorrow Noah is going to be an angel in the church Christmas program. I will post pictures if I can later. He is so excited about it.

On a different note, tomorrow is exactly one year ago that Matt had his biopsy of his chest and was diagnosed with cancer. We didn't know what kind of cancer it was or how severe it was, we just knew it was bad. But God brought him through it and now he can stand here and say that he is CANCER FREE!!! He has been clear for four months now and doing EXCELLENT!!! I am so incredibly thankful to God for giving me a second chance with my husband and for providing for us in our time of need. I thank all of you for your love, support, and friendship this past year. No words could express how grateful we truly are for each of you!!! Merry Christmas!

Long time no post...

Well where do I start. The weekend before Thanksgiving we went camping with the boys for the very first time. We went to Kelly Park which is right down the street. Thank goodness we chose to go there because we went with Richie and Rachel Grubb and the first night Friday night the temperature got down to 38 degrees and Rachel and I (being the wise people that we are) took the boys home and took nice hot showers and slept in our nice warm beds. We went back to the campsite the next morning and ate breakfast and hung out all day. While the boys were napping, Rachel, Matt, and Richie went and bought space heaters for the tents. We actually slept out there the next night with the heaters, 4 blankets, and our body heat. It was 44 degrees. Yeah, it was cold. I worked on Thanksgiving. It was my only holiday to work this year. Matt and the kids went to my parents. Friday after Thanksgiving I went shopping with my cousin Angela. We had a great time. Matt went shopping on his own. Saturday we went to Seaworld with the Akers. The boys had a ball!!! They are still talking about that experience!! This weekend, Matt took the kids to his parents to visit them. I helped set up my sisters baby room for her. She is getting really close to having her baby. I am sooooo excited!!! Yesterday Matt and I went to Dolly and Jason's house and painted 2 rooms, washed all of the baby bedding, and painted a book shelf. We were trying to help them get their house ready for their new baby. Anyways, I am at work and I have to go now. I will write sooner next time.

Jenny's shower...

Jenny had her shower yesterday and she was totally blessed. She received so many things that she needed it was awesome! Everything turned out beautiful!!! She was so pleased with the way everything looked and ran so smoothly. I was exhausted by the end of the day. After everyone left I helped Scott get their crib down from my parents attic and some other baby items. On Tuesday I am going to help her get everything together and try to look for a dresser for the baby. She needs a tall thin dresser or an armoir. Their house has no storage and space so organization is a MUST!! Reece is so excited about his little brother!! He loves to feel on Jenny's belly and talk to him. Yes he finally has a name but no I am not going to tell anyone. It feels good to be able to call him by name and bond with him more. I can't wait to meet him. Matt had our boys all day yesterday. They hung out at home and played outside all day. They went on a long neighborhood walk and found leaves, acorns, and saw all kinds of animals. My kids thought they were on a nature hunt. It was cute to hear them talk about their day when I got home. Anyways, to sum up, the shower went wonderful and Jenny felt honored, so the goal was accomplished and I was very pleased.

Preshower update...

The cake finally got ordered. I ran to 3 Michael's stores and 2 Joanne fabric stores only to realize that the cake topper that I was looking for was no longer in existence. So I bought ribbon and made my own. Actually my mom made it for me but none the less, it is now done and the cake will be ready by 9am tomorrow. The flowers are done and at my moms house. Her house is already decorated. The food is bought and ready. The gifts are wrapped, and the games are prepared. I finally feel like I have a handle on the situation. Tomorrow I just need to go to the grocery store and pick up the cake and the few last minute items and finish setting out the food. AHHHH, that is the sound of relief for the moment. Matt has the boys today. I am on my own so that I could finish everything. Yes, my house sounds quite and yes I am thoroughly enjoying it!!! I will blog again tomorrow and post pictures of the shower.

Upcoming baby shower...

Well as you know, my little sister is going to have a baby and yes he still has no name. I know... it is very frustrating to me too to keep calling him "boy" when I talk to him or about him, but what can I do? Anyways, my mom and I are giving her a baby shower this Saturday. I am really excited about it because with Reece, she wasn't exactly excited about the timing of her pregnancy and so with this one, she can really enjoy all of the things that you "do" when you are pregnant. Anyways, back to my story. So today I went to Publix to order her cake (yes I know I should have done it sooner, but life happened and I didn't.)and the lady there told me I was confusing and complicated and she couldn't help me. She told me to come back tomorrow and talk to the actual cake decorator and see if they could do what I wanted. She said they might be able to do it in time. AHHHH!!!!! The stress!!! So first thing in the morning I am marching my behind back down to Publix to talk with a decorator to see if it is possible. I even have a drawing of what I want. If not, I need to put plan B into action and find a cake decorator that will do it for me. Otherwise, I am up a creek. Yikes!!! I know it will all work out. Then I was on the phone tryng to get a hold of a person about the food for 45 minutes when I finally gave up and realized that today was one of those days that I was going to accomplish nothing, and I needed to be ok with that and enjoy my kids. The next 2 days they will be with our babysitter and I can completely focus on her shower. I did however get to put together her stroller for her that her volleyball team bought for her. That was so kind of them. Anyways, I will keep you posted on the shower drama. Jenny has another doctors appointment tomorrow. I will let you know how that goes.

Long time no blog...

Well as you can see I am a horrible blogger now that life is back to it's normal crazy routine. Matt is obviously back in town. One of these days I will have him do a blog to tell you about his trip. And one of these days I will take pictures of my kids and post them. Today I went with my sister to her ultrasound appointment. She is 31 weeks and 3 days pregnant. They are still having a boy. There is no denying that he is a "he". The baby looks like Jenny as a baby where as Reece looked like Scott from the beginning especially with the lips. You are probably asking yourself how can you tell from black and white photos? Well some were black and white and some were the 4D color photos. He has chubby cheeks too. It's crazy to think that something so precious and so wonderful would be in a woman's body and yet so many women disregard the precious gift of life that God has given them. I love watching or hearing his heart beat. I love watching or feeling him move. It is truly a miracle. But yet people don't view it as that. It really saddens me especially because there are people who would love and treasure those children but those children won't ever get that chance. Ok, I need to stop talking about this subject because it is making me really sad adn emotional. Anyways, it was a really cool experience to be with my sister and get to experience her pregnancy with her. Maybe one day we will get to do it to. I am now on facebook so if you want to contact me there that is a fast and easy way.

Matt trip...

I know I said I would email you sooner however, it is just now I have information to email you. remember I said in my previous blog that sometimes communication can be a bit challenging. So here goes. On Sunday the guys were at green camp all day and had several services at the church and I think maybe some in other places in other places too, I am not so sure. Again, I will be able to give lots of details when Matt gets home and can give them to me. They spent that night there and Monday morning they drove back to the city. I am not sure what they did during the day but I do know that they met with the pastor of the biggest church in Guayaquil call Centro Evangelico. I am sure I spelled it totally wrong. But anyways Matt gave his testimony about his cancer and what he has learned from it and how God has prepared us and provided for us throughout all of it. So after that meeting the guys went back to the Embassy to eat their dinner and the plan was to eat and go to the Heart of Titus meeting. In the middle of their dinner they got a call and it was Pastor Lore (the senior pastor of the big church) asking Matt and Tony to come preach at the church that night. That is a HUGE honor down there. You don't just get to go preach at that church. Anyways, 21 people got saved that we know of. God is so awesome!!! Today they went to the market place. Matt said they had a really good time. Tony left today to come back home. Matt, Scott, and my dad will return Thursday night. HALLELUJAH!!!!!! If I hear any more news I will keep you updated.

Please keep praying for my precious kids. They are still very sick. It is quite pitiful actually. One of these days I will post new pictures.

Matt mission trip...

Yesterday Matt left for a week long trip to Ecuador on a mission trip. He went down there with my dad and my brother in law Scott. They met up with a man named Tony Nardella and they have a crazy agenda this week. They got in Guayaquil, Ecuador around 1030pm. They are staying at the Christian Embassy in Guayaquil. Scott and Matt are sharing a room. My dad and Tony have their own room. Maggie is the live in house keeper and cook. She made them a huge breakfast this morning and then they went off to Green camp. Green camp is about 4 hours away from the city and the people are very poor and very needy. They live in huts with dirt floors or on the streets. They have one church in the middle of the village. A team of Ecuadorian men and woman make this journey weekly to provide for the needs of these people and share the gospel with them. When the guys get there with the team, they are going to help provide the people with a meal. Matt and Scott are going to preach on the streets, and my dad and Tony are going to hold a church service in the church and meet with the local pastors. At least I think that is the plan. Their days are very long there. They start at anywhere between 8-9am and finish anywhere between 12-2am. There are no naps. The meal schedule is off. Snack bars become your best friend. I will keep you updated as he keeps me updated. If he is in a place with email then he will email. My dad bought a phone from Ecuador with prepaid minutes on it so if they are in a place with reception, they can call us. All that is to say, I will keep you updated.

On a different note, both of my boys are sick:( It started out with just Logan. I actually had to call into work Thursday and Friday because he was up all night with fevers and breathing trouble. I had to give him breathing treatments all throughout the night. Poor baby. I thought it was just allergies and the fact that he was getting his 2 year old molars in until Noah started today getting a raspy voice. I will have to keep an eye on it. I don't want to have sick boys. It has been hard especially with Matt being gone. I hope Noah doesn't follow Logan's path because I don't want to call into work this week however, my kids come first. With Matt being gone, I have no other choice. I will just have to pray against that!! Anyways, I need to go put my big boys to bed now. I will write tomorrow after I hear from Matt.

This week has been a really good week. Noah is well adjusted to his new preschool. He is making new friends. It is really adorable to hear him talk about "big boy" things. Logan is getting used to Noah being gone during the day. He enjoys his time with us individually. His personality is really starting to bloom. Noah and Matt went on a guy date this week to the movies. They had a great time. Noah felt so big and special. They went to the dollar theater to see Hollywood Chiwawa. I probably spelled that wrong. Sorry. They went all out and bought popcorn and a drink together. Logan and I hung out at my mom's house. My grandmother is in town this week and it is so nice to see her. She is a really special lady!! She has endured many things in her life and through all of the hardships she has glorified God in it all. I want to be like her when I grow up. I am definitely still a work in progress. We have our young marrieds group from church coming over tonight. I made brownies so we can have brownie sundae's. It is going to be the first time that any of our friends have seen our new house. On that note. I need to go get ready for everyone to come over. I will try to write sooner that I did this week. I am working Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday so no blogging then. Sorry.

We're all moved in...

That's right... we finally moved back into our house. All of our floors, baseboards, painting, and carpets are done. We have a new air conditioning unit inside and out. All of our clothes, dishes, and china are all clean. All of our bedding and furniture are clean. It is like a completely new house. I love it!!! Matt has been working so hard to get our house back in order. I am so grateful to have him. He is truly a wonderful husband!!

Well I guess I will catch you up on our life since I have not blogged in a while. Matt is still working on light duty at the fire department. He installs GPS monitors on all of the fire hydrants in the county. After work he has been diligently working on our home. Noah has entered his 3rd week of preschool. This week the letter that they are focusing on is the letter "B". They are also working on their shapes and numbers. Logan has enjoyed his one on one time with whomever is keeping him while Noah is in school. He is such a big boy. He is really talking well and trying to do "school" with Noah. I have been doing the same things as always. Working up a storm, taking care of my precious men, and trying to put our house back together. With that being said, I really want to thank my parents for allowing us... all of us, including Riley stay at their house for the last 3 1/2 weeks. You guys truly have blessed us and we will miss being at your house and enjoying your company. I love you so very much!!!!!

Update on baby Maggie... she was put in a step down unit of NICU. She is breathing on her own and eating breast milk. She had to go back on Morphine because she was having withdraws. Please continue to pray for her and her family. She will be 4 weeks old on Wednesday.

Thanks again for sharing our life with us. We truly appreciate your friendship!!

Pictures of boys...

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.