Joshie's new car

Joshua's new car came the other day and it came at such a great time too. He was so excited when he saw it and just kept jumping up and down saying "yay!" It was pretty cute. His car actually has a radio that plays a couple different tunes, blinkers and a horn. It's too cute.

Healing slowly

Here are a couple more pictures of Steve's injuries from the accident. His leg is pretty swollen where the bruise is and he has spent his time either lying on the couch or in the easy chair since coming home from the hospital. It is very painful for him to stand or try to walk due to the puncture wound in his foot. And the other foot has bruising on the bottom of it too from the crash. We have also discovered that he chipped a tooth and injured his jaw. So, chewing has been difficult for him too. He really doesn't have much of an appetite though. He's drinking plenty of fluids and eating softer foods for now. I also attached a couple photos of the accident scene. You can get an idea of how far his bike went off the road and how damaged it is. He is really fortunate that he even lived through this crash!!

Steve

Well, here we go again. Another scary visit to the ER. Only this time it was Steve! He was in a motorcycle accident yesterday and was beat up pretty badly. He went airborn after hitting some gravel and hit a barbed wire fence. Thankfully, the worst injury was his dislocated, broken wrist. It took two surgeons to help put things back together for him. And now he's recovering in the hospital! He sure gave us all a big scare. We are so thankful that he wasn't injured any worse than that. We know it could have been SO much worse.

Just for fun :)

Just for fun, I thought I'd post a picture of Jorie and William from 2004. They are sitting in the same exact spot in my parent's yard as they are in the pictures below this one. We love those rocks. They are a good spot for playing and for taking cute pictures. :)

Cousins

My sister, Heidi and her family have been in town for the past 2 weeks. Kami and her son, Elliott, are also staying in Bend for the summer. So, we have been having alot of fun with all of the kids together. We decided to line them all up last night for a few pictures. Sitting on the steps they are in birth order....from left to right we have Joshua, Luke, Elliott, William, Jorie and Ryan. I also got a couple cute shots of Jorie and William playing together. :) They are just 16 months apart in age so enjoy some of the same things.

Pilot Butte

We took the younger two kids to Pilot Butte the other night. We decided to bring their wagon this time and they had a lot of fun pulling eachother in it. We decided instead of walking up the butte that we would walk around the track at the base of the butte. It worked well to take the wagon to do that. The kids both enjoy climbing on the big rocks there and picking wild flowers.

Sam's visit to Bend!

Ryan has had his best friend, Sam, visiting us for the past week. Summer break for Ryan can be a little boring. Maybe more so than other kids as he cannot participate in much physical activity. So, having his friend visit is a huge blessing! This is the second summer we have had Sam stay with us since he moved away and I think we will make this a summer tradition. He visits us in the fall as well. But, doesn't stay nearly as long. Ryan and Sam enjoyed THREE trips to the Sun Mountain Fun Center for bowling and the arcade, the High Desert Museum, trips to the park, BBQ's and home-made icecream, a movie at the theater and lots and lots of time to just hang out and visit. I really do wish I had gotten more pictures of this time here. But, Ryan is not very fond of getting his picture taken anymore. So, I got a few anyway. Here they are doing their lemonade stand. This is also sort of a tradition that they started a few years ago when Samuel lived in the neighborhood. Also a picture of them from today, his last day here. We will miss him!

My funny boy

Joshua is at a really funny age right now. And to help me remember all the funny things he is doing, I am going to try and write them down here. So, here is one that happened just the other day.

Ryan uses a Bipap machine at night. It's a machine with a mask that goes over his nose to help give him deep breaths when he is sleeping. There are 2 hoses for this machine that I have to clean on a regular basis to avoid any water-born bacteria. They just LOVE to grow in those tubes! Well, the other day I walked into the bathroom to find Joshua cleaning one of the hoses for me. Only he was cleaning it in the toilet! It was pretty funny, even if it was a little gross. Thankfully, the toilet had been flushed. But, I didn't bother saving that hose!

Farewell Bend Park

We took Jorie and Josh to Farewell Bend Park last night. It's a beautiful park near the river with a large grassy area for kids to run around, a covered area for picnics and a really neat playground. You can also walk down a pathway that goes along the river. Jorie spent the afternoon yesterday at a school friend's house. And afterwards, we picked her up and took her and Joshua to the park. As soon as we got there, Jorie spotted another friend from school. She is our little social butterfly. Always wants to be near her friends. And has made some good ones this past year in school. Ryan is doing well and we pray for an uneventful rest of the summer as well as fall and early winter!! I like that he is averaging about 3 years in between each hospitalization. The last one was July of 2006, and the one before that was 2004.

Picnic at Pioneer Park

Our church had an outdoor service at Pioneer Park this past Sunday. The kids had such a fun time that they wanted to go back as a family on Monday and have a family picnic there. But, we quickly learned you don't have a picnic on the grass with geese nearby! The kids really wanted to sit on the grass. So, we brought a blanket and laid out our food. As soon as those geese saw us and the food, they headed straight for us! It was a little scary having all those birds around us wanting our food. They are not afraid at all!! It was pretty funny and made for a very memorable day. In the last picture, you can see how close they got to Joshua. They wanted the cheese he was holding. :)

Trip to Seattle

Before Ryan got so sick, our family (minus Joshua) traveled to visit his best friend, Samuel, and his family in Seattle. Ryan and Samuel met several years ago when his family moved into my parent's cul de sac. Ryan and Sam became close and basically inseparable any time that Ryan was at his grandparent's house. Sadly, two years ago, Samuel's family moved away to Seattle. And although, Sam has come back to Bend several times to visit Ryan...we had never actually traveled, yet, to visit him and his family. Jorie is also really good friends with Sam's younger sister, Lily. All four kids write letters back and forth to eachother. And whenever we are together, can't get enough of eachother. But, there is something special about the bond between Sam and Ryan. Like nothing I've ever seen before, really. They have so much in common and just have such a special friendship. We had been planning this trip to Seattle for quite some time and everyone was excited. So, to have Ryan get sick during the trip was really, really sad. But, we are so thankful that Ryan was able to enjoy parts of the trip before he started getting really sick. Little did we know at the time that Ryan would get SO sick that he would end up in the hospital upon returning home to Bend! Now in order to really appreciate the picture of Samuel and Ryan together in Sam's room, you would have to know that in Ryan's entire life, the only other time I can remember Ryan playing at a friend's house and actually being able to get into their room was probably first grade. Either he can get into the first level and then is unable to get upstairs where the bedrooms are. Or, he is unable to get into the home at all due to steps. So, to be able to have the independance of getting into the house and then up into Sam's room was such a HUGE blessing for all of us! It was something that actually brought a few tears to my eyes when he actually got in there. We weren't sure his chair would fit through the doorways when talking on the phone before our visit. Their home has a paved outdoor ramp that leads to the upper level. And, from there Ryan was able to get through to Sam's room. We also visted the Seattle Center for a picnic and the kids had a blast climbing trees and running around. After that, we traded kids, we took Samuel with us up the Space Needle and his family returned to their home with Jorie. Jorie also had a ton of fun playing with Lily. And ended up getting to have a sleepover on the last night we were there. ;) It was a great trip and one we will never forget. Even though Ryan did end up getting sick, I think we would all agree it was still so much fun.

Ryan is home!

Our precious boy is home! We are so excited that he is home in time to celebrate the Fourth of July. I braved the crowds at Costco this afternoon to get some fireworks and some yummy food for Ryan. After not eating for a week, food sounds so good to him again! Here he is trying to eat a couple bites of cracker at the hospital and also a picture of him in Seattle...the place where it all started last weekend! I hope to make another post of our Seattle trip soon. It was great up until he got so sick. We appreciate all the prayers!

Ryan update

This has been such a scary illness for Ryan. He is currently in the hospital and getting pumped full of fluids. They could not get an IV started after multiple attempts. So, they finally placed a PICC line which is a more invasive, but more permanent type of IV. They actually thread the IV catheter up the arm and across to be close to the veins by the heart. This boy is such a trooper. We hope this stay is short!!! One of his favorite holidays is the fourth of July and I want him home for that! We appreciate your prayers!