Let your faith be bigger than your fear

Madi is saying "CHEESE" This was taken 2/20/13

Gracie and I made the long haul to Sugarland yesterday morning for her Orthopedic appointment on her leg. Poor girl was so scared being in that office and seeing that doctor. He is such a nice doctor but I guess when you are two years old and someone causes so much trauma to you, you'd be scared too. The doctor took a look at her leg and manipulated it several different ways. Gracie did well and was in no pain which was great. After the exam... sit down... are you ready for it???.... he said she has healed so well from such a hard, big, traumatic surgery and she doesn't even need to wear braces! He said for us to enjoy our spring and summer, let her be a kid, do whatever the other kids are doing, and he will see us back at the year anniversary of the surgery which is the end of September. What a relief! I am so proud of where this little girl is. Six hours of surgery, a really bad infection in the leg, hours of rigorous physical therapy, a horrible leg brace; all of it she endured and came out on top. She is nothing short of amazing! There were times when I started to second guess our decision but I am so glad we did this surgery. To see her walking and slowly running takes my breath away when I think about it. She went from not being able to even stand up straight because of that leg. She was so unsure of herself before surgery and now she has confidence. When we walk in and out of school I am so proud to be her mom. She wears her backpack and now carries her nap mat. Everyone cheers her on and is stunned by how fast she has healed and how well she is doing. We are often stopped on the way in or out with people saying these things to us. Gracie proves time and time again that she might be the underdog but she will amaze us all! She is such an inspiring little girl!

We do have the big appointment Monday with the upper extremities Orthopedic. It's been a little crazy to get the required records for that appointment. Texas Children's record department thinks they are going to charge me $1.49 per page for Gracie's medical records. It would literally be over $600 for her records. Records by the way they don't give you when they see your child or do any procedures. After all the money our family and insurance has paid to them, you'd think they wouldn't charge us for our own records. They literally get over a hundred thousand dollars from us each year. It's sickening! 

We sold one of the girls' cribs on Sunday. Very bitter sweet. 

I am very proud of Ricky. We've been talking for some time about him finishing his degree but he never took action. He found out recently that his company will reimburse him for his tuition and half the price of the books he will need. Basically he will be finishing his degree for nearly free. That is a huge blessing! Anyway, he has finally decided to finish his degree so he can be an Engineer! I am so happy and excited and proud of him! He is naturally smart. He can figure numbers in his head quickly and accurately where as I'm trying to get the calculator out and figure it, he's already got the number.. annoying :) Anyway, this will be great for his career future and our future as a family. We've gone back and forth so many times about him leaving his position where he is now for positions that would make a lot more money but they all require traveling at length and we know that isn't best for our family. We'll both be the first in our families to have degrees which is also awesome because it breaks that cycle too. 

I'll start school back this summer as well. After working full time, going to school full time, and dealing with all the medical stuff with the kids last fall, I was near a mental break down. I was so unhealthy. I'm really excited to start back with Ricky because there are 4 classes we can for sure take together. That will be nice because we can study together and also will only have to buy one book and just share it. I have 8 more classes until I have my Associates Degree but I'm going to transfer to a 4 year university and finish my Bachelors. I might go for my MBA (Masters) after that but it depends on what is best for our family when that time comes. Not killing myself and overloading myself by only taking 2 classes each semester plus a mini each of those semesters will have me ready to transfer at the end of this fall. I could do more classes and transfer sooner but I'm really not in a hurry. I have several more years until I can go back to work and I really don't want to finish my degree until I'm ready to go back since some companies I'm interested in only recruit from colleges. That means the companies recruit you graduating year with offer letters. I am so excited to have a plan on paper with goals that are achievable and beneficial for our family. We are really trying to lead by example! 

this was 1 year ago. so crazy to see how much they've changed!