Logan got his kidney!!!

Hi this is Marilee Jessica's cousin :)! She wanted me to let all of yall know Logey got his kidney on Sept 4!!! I got to go to Corpus to be with her during the surgery! Logan did so good! He was in the hossy for 4 days and they are now out pt in Corpus! She cant log on to the bolg from the hosptial, but if you would like to talk with her your welcome to email her at JessicaLFlores1@aol.com

Not me Monday!

Welcome to Not Me! Monday! This blog carnival was created by MckMama. You can head over to her blog to read what she and everyone else have not been doing this week.


This week I did not tell my oldest child I would pay him to clean his bathroom. I wouldn't do that. He should clean it because it's his job and not for the reward. The reward should be a nice clean bathroom. I also didn't "forget" to pay him his money and not remind him. That would just be wrong.

I did not reuse Jaden's non-wet disposable diaper the other night on him the next night because we were running out. Not I!

At the library Wednesday I did not get so caught up chatting with my mommy friends that I completely neglected my son's urgest pleas to find a table to do his craft on. I did not feel horribly bad about it.

On Saturday night (Sunday morning 4 am) I did not call Logan's nurse because there were 4 huge pieces (chunks) of fibrin in his bag. I didn't get the orders for heparin and everything only to turn around and somehow have the fibrin disappear on me. Not me!

In just a few minutes I am not taking my kids outside to swim to wear them out so that they will sleep well tonight. Before we go outside I am not making them completely clean up the living room.

And Logey has not been activated on the list for one week now. And I do not feel as though it will never happen even though we have only been waiting for one week. Not me, I'm patient as can be!

Not Me Monday!

Welcome to Not Me! Monday! This blog carnival was created by MckMama. You can head over to her blog to read what she and everyone else have not been doing this week.


Welcome back to Not Me! Monday!

On Saturday we did not participate in the
Texas Organ Sharing Alliance Donor Memorial Service. It was not a big fancy to-do at the Country Club. Logey was not asked to be one of the representative recipients, having his candle lit by the family of one of the donor's families. Just as the family was finishing their speech about said donor I did not hear what every mother dreads. Thunder in the diaper. Followed by the distinct squirting sound. I then did not see a puddle of poop on the carpeted floor of the Country Club. I did not take Logan to the bathroom, quickly change his diaper, rinse off his pants, and then dress him and get in line to have our candle lit. During this highly emotional time I was not thinking mostly about the puddle on the floor and the poor attendant who would find it later.

We did not start back to school today. I did not want to strangle my oldest child who doesn't seem to remember anything from before the summer.

Oh and Logey is not officially activated on the UNOs list for a kidney! We should NOT get a call anytime now telling us to get our behinds to Corpus to pick Logan up a new kidney. We are not highly praying for his donor and their family. This is not such a bittersweet time for me.

Miracles

Someone told me today that I should be praying for a miracle for Logan: that God will grow him a new kidney. I've heard this a few times. I don't quite understand it. I've also heard that I have no faith because I don't pray for God to grow Logan a new kidney. I have plenty of faith. I know that if God wanted to grow Logan a new kidney, he could do it. I know that if it was his plan, he would do it. For Logan I pray that God's will be done but that I'd really love it if he would keep Logan on Earth here with us.

What I told her today was, God has already given us a miracle. He kept Logan alive when no one thought he would make it. He's kept Logan alive despite all the horrible, scary odds. He's made Logan's brain work well and he's made him strong enough to walk despite the odds. God has given us a miracle. Miracles come in all shapes and forms.

My cousin's good friend lost her son due to multiple organ failure. He was under a year old when he died and he had already had more pain in his little life than most people ever have. When he died, I thought his mom was rather cold as she hardly cried. This was pre Logan. What she told my cousin was that the hard part was before, watching her son suffer, this was the easy part. God's miracle in her life was that she was able to maintain her faith despite horrible circumstances. Did she not have faith? She has more faith than most people I know. Yet, she still lost her son. But, she knew her son was in a much better place and that she will see him again someday.

Which brings me to another point. Prayer. When God doesn't answer our prayer exactly how we would like it, is he not listening? He is listening it's just that sometimes the answer is, "no." God sees the bigger picture while we only see a small, small window. God has a plan in our lives. And God's plan is always much, much better than any plan we could have ever devised, even when we can't see it at the time.

Last year when I lost my grandma and Logan went on dialysis I felt like God was punishing me. I've since realized that I wasn't being punished. God knew I couldn't take care of both of them. He also knew that Grandma was ready to go home to him and to her husband. While I NEVER would have planned for her memorial service to be where I got the life changing dialysis call, God knew what was best for me--even when I had no clue. Which now brings me to my favorite Bible verse of the year, also our focus verse at church.

Rejoice in the Lord always; again I say, rejoice. Let your gentleness be known
everyone. The Lord is near. Do not worry about anything, but in everything by
prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to
God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your
hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
Philippians 4:47

While I know this Bible verse was not hand picked for me by either God or our church, I really feel like it fits well with my life this year. It reminds me to be patient because lately I have an issue with patience. It reminds me to pray and then have peace that God will answer my prayer. God will answer my prayer in the way that follows his plan. And THAT is the miracle in my life.

Not my Child Monday!

My oldest child did NOT throw a pity party at Chili's on Saturday because I did not order him pizza. He did not actually cry real tears because I wouldn't order it for him. The child is not 8 years old and should very well know better by now. My middle child did not take out all the crayons in two crayon boxes and leave them on the floor to be messed with by the dog and his baby brother. And the baby did not climb on top of the table by himself. He is NOT big enough for that. He also did not tackle his brother at church. My children are much better behaved than that. They are perfect angels all of the day AND night!

A little quiet

I've noticed that Logey around mid day needs a little quiet time. Not really nap time or even lying down time but just sit on the bed and play with his pacis quiet time. It seems to be his respite of the day and when he doesn't get it (in mommy's bed--he's very particular)he's just a bear the rest of the day.

I guess we all need a little quiet in our lives sometimes. I know I do. So right now though I could be doing a million other things like dishes or laundry or cleaning something else, I am just going to sit in the quiet, listening to the bread maker and the fan, and my little one playing with his pacis. It's the simple times that remind us what is really important in our lives.

Toot yout Horn-- Toot, Toot!

edited to add: Cristian's pictures of his theatre company. It was a big company of over 75 kids.

Mr. Alex, Cristian's teacher.

Anna, Cristian's first real crush. : )

Part of Cristian's "A Rather Different Set of Friends" cast

--Plus a few random orbs.

Cristian holding his flowers for Anna

Well, after my Not Me Monday post it definitely will feel good to toot my own horn a bit. We've gotten back into the routine of going to church. I am so glad. I've missed it so much! Since Vidal works on Sundays I have to go on my own with the three kiddos and sometimes that just feels too overwhelming. This week I decided to try out the lovely nursery our church has. I haven't tried it out before since I figured a) Logey wouldn't go and b) I would worry about him too much. But, he's bigger now and I think he can handle it. So I braved it out and dropped him off after singing. And sure enough.......... he LOVED it! He didn't even know I was gone until I came back. Jaden stayed in the nursery with him and they played and played and played. It was great being able to sit with Cristian and cuddle with him a bit while listening to the message. Have I mentioned I LOVE our pastor?

My other toot (hehe) is that I feel like I'm managing to keep our sense of humor through all of this--even through my tears at times.

And now I am going to toot a horn for my oldest boy. I feel like he gets neglected out of this blog. He is such an awesome boy and he has done great in his theatre class. His teachers have said that they were considering him for some of the much larger roles but he was just a bit too young. He is playing the white rabbit in an interesting rendition of Alice in Wonderland. More accurately he is playing Buneary (Pokemon character) in a rewrote rendition. I am really interested to see their creativity come to life and I am so glad that Cristian is making so many friends and having such a great time. He is a VERY popular little boy. The cast/crew ranges in ages from 8 to 14. Cristian being 8 makes him the youngest and most definitely the smallest. Do you think he lets that bother him????? Not a bit. Instead he has become a quick favorite of the girls in his class and the one bully is now afraid to mess with him for fear of the wrath of the girls in his class. Smart boy.

I will definitely be posting video of his production in a few weeks. Which brings me to a small, teensy, weensy prayer request. That we don't get a kidney in the first 3 days Logan is activated. As much as I am ready for him to have a new kidney, Cristian's play is July 30th and Logey gets activated either the 26th or 28th. How horrible is it that I was too excited by him being activated early that I don't remember which day it was?? Cristian would be heartbroken if he had to miss his play but he would also be heartbroken if he wasn't there for his brother's kidney transplant. My mom said that we should wait to have Logey activated until after the play but if God forbid he got a complication and we missed a kidney at some point--I couldn't forgive myself.

Anyway, so TOOT--TOOT!

Not me Monday!

Welcome to Not Me! Monday! This blog carnival was created by MckMama. You can head over to her blog to read what she and everyone else have not been doing this week.

I have many Not Me's this week because there are a lot of things I definitely did not do this week.

I did not switch to disposable dipes at night because I was tired of changing my sheets. I then did not use said disposables several times during the day because I was too lazy to wash diapers. I am NEVER lazy.

Last night I did not get upset at my husband for TWO days ago saying some (what I perceived to be) rude comments about housecleaning At the end of our arguement I did not burst into tears because I was shaking from worry and feeling on edge about Logey's transplant.

I did not spend the entire month of June irritated at all drs because Logey's transplant was put on hold for vacation time. And now that the time is looming ever closer I am not so nervous that I can't sleep and I am not at all edgy and a bit crabby.

I am not at all frustrated that there is no to know when we will get a kidney. I am always ready and willing to follow God's daily plan even when I don't know what the plan is. I don't ever resist.

I am not trying to convince my cousin to come for a visit to help get my mind off Logey's transplant. I have not been bribing her with a million fun things we could be doing.

And in a little while I am definitely NOT going to go watch The Bachelorette.

A year gone by

Wow, I realized the other day that a year has gone by since Grandma has been gone. A year of no adult diaper changes; a year of no being slapped for looking at her wrong; a year of no back aches from carrying her to and from; a year of no ocassional smiles that both surprise you and light up your day; a year of no raspy voiced, I love you Jessi. I would take all of the bad for the simple moments of wonder. I know she would love to watch Logan get into everything and she would love to spank him on the butt as he walked by. Not a day goes by that I don't miss her though I can't say I miss the stinky diaper changes. I would take a million of them for one more hug from her. I can talk about her now with crying and I can laugh at the good times. I can't say that this year without her has been easy. I see so much of her spite in Logan. I guess her spite and her spirit. He's mean like her and got tons of fight. It will suit him well though really. I think that was her gift to him. He has her spunk as well. I finally changed my voice mail to inclue Logan and take Grandma off. Her book closed a long time ago and in it's place is Logan's.

And so Grandma, we will see you soon in heaven, but hopefully not too soon. We'll miss you while you're gone from us but we will smile at your memories. You had more impact on my life than you will ever know and I am blessed to have had you in my life, even when at the time it didn't necessarily seem like it. I hope you are enjoying dancing your days away and eating your peanut butter-banana sandwiches and drinking your bear. Love you Grandma.

Hungry Baby : )

Lately Logey has been really hungry for food. This is awesome because before we were lucky to get one bite down him. He's still not swallowing a whole lot of food but even if all he does is put it in his mouth and chew it up and then spit it out, at least he's getting used to eating with his mouth. And this IS exactly what he does. Thank God for dogs!

Our friend Chris has been visiting and Logan has really taken to him. I found them like this while I was making dinner. We're glad to have Chris here, we've missed him.

Poor Cristian has had swimmer's ear this week. He was in so much pain! Thankfully he's feeling much better. And I'm really hoping it doesn't come back.

Adventures at the Children's Museum

The little boys chilling on the front porch.

Feeding the ducks at lunch time.

Logan mowing.


Very worried about these piggies nursing.

Smiley boy : )

Ride 'em cowboy!

Logan loved this light.

Afternoon at Nana's House

The other day the boys went to my mom's for the afternoon. They had a blast playing in the pool and their daddy barbecued. They had an awesome time in the pool. Well, the older boys did. Logan did a nosedive and then decided that he wasn't fond of the pool so much afterall.

The boys enjoying the pool

"That's okay guys, I'll just watch from here!"

Logan staring off.

"Get me out of here!"

Playing in the hospital

Logan actually has a blast everytime we go to Corpus. I'm sure if left up to him we would be living there. But, since it's not up to him we'll stay here. : ) He loves Driscoll as well. He loves talking to people in the elevator. He loves playing in the play room. He loves everything about it which I guess is great since soon we will be spending A LOT of time there.

Logan playing with the blocks--I LOVE the lighting in the Driscoll playroom.

The Lazy Blogger

Since our news of having to wait until August, I've become quite the lazy blogger. It probably doesn't help that we've had some busy weekdays recently with Cristian's drama class, playgroups, and VBS. This week should be a slightly calmer one and I'm really looking forward to it. We don't have quite so much running around planned. I have tons of pictures to update with so be prepared for LOTS of pics. I've come to terms with waiting until August for Logan to be activated--not that I have a whole lot of choice. God has a plan and I know that his plan is way better than anything I could ever have planned up. So we're just enjoying our summer and not thinking about the rest too much, except when we have to, of course.

Not me Monday!

Welcome to Not Me! Monday! This blog carnival was created by MckMama. You can head over to her blog to read what she and everyone else have not been doing this week.


This week I definitely did not get super bummed out when Logey's dr said he wouldn't activate him on the transplant list because our surgeon is going out of town the beginning of July. I did not have to hold back tears and say rather bitterly, "well, he couldn't have chosen a better time to go on vacation!" I would never forget to look at the bigger picture like that.

Once we got home I definitely did NOT cry to my mommy. I'm a big girl and big girls don't cry::: insert song here::: The next day after I got over my pity party I was not told that to cheer me up my grandmother was going to take me for a mani/pedi/haircut. I was not secretly super happy for the day out even though by then I was feeling much better.

Today I did not enroll my son in the last minute into a theatre class not so much because of him but because I took that same summer theatre class when I was 15 and now he was finally old enough to enter being 8 now.

I now I can not think of anything else related to this post and so off to NOT watch Bachelorette.