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This is Topic: The Jordans
Following are the News Items published under this Topic.
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I know I've told lots of you about my friend Megan and her pregnancy and asked for you to pray for them. She's been on (patient & faithful) bed rest for 2 1/2 months now at the hospital. Her water broke at just 20 weeks into her pregnancy so they put her on bed rest. She delivered baby Jill today. She was born at 30 weeks and just 3 lbs 1 oz. They are monitoring her lungs now. Please continue your prayers for this entire family whom we love dearly.
Update: Baby Jill is still in the NICU but is off the ventilator and breathing on her own. !!! The power of prayer is great! She seems to be doing well and proving to be quite a fighter!
Here is a little portion of a blog that Megan wrote. I think it says a lot about the power of prayer and what amazing people they are.
Little Jilly surprised us all by weighing more than we thought she would. And she continued to surprise us. Turns out nobody let her know that she was living in a 1 star motel (my womb). Her lungs don’t appear to be damaged due to the lack of fluid at all. The main issues are just due to being premature. In fact the nurse said she probably is doing better than other babies born at 30 weeks who had all their “fancy” fluid because she essentially did a lot of work ahead of time getting her lungs ready. They took her off the ventilator this morning. She is breathing on her own which takes my breath away when I think about it. To be honest, I don’t think I fully grasp the miracle I see before me. I can’t even blame drugs on my state of mind because I’ve only had ibuprofen. I just think it is the feeling of being exhausted after a long journey that I can only muster the energy to say a simple heartfelt thank you to God and to all of you who have lavished us with the most amazing love, support, and prayers a person could ever hope for. I am forever changed by the love I have received ...thank you.
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Our Easter started off with hearing Syd saying "Wake up Myles! Don't you know? It's Easter!" They woke up with extreme enthusiasm about the day! We had a little egg hunt and then we got ready for church. The service was nice and God blessed us with the most beautiful day. It just felt like every Easter 'should' feel!
We headed over to Cynthia and Nelson's house for the day. Sydney and Rachel squealed about their matching dresses. It was so wonderful to be with their whole family again for this Easter. Nelson's parents were there along with Cynthia's parents, sister, brother and his girl friend. The one given about Easter at the Vallacorba house is that it will be a feast and this year was no exception. We had homemade gnocchi, homemade cannelloni, 5-6 different and amazing veggie dishes, homemade spicy sausage and deliciously marinaded steaks. YUM!
After the meal, we did the Easter egg hunt and then we ALL played outside. I think the adults may have enjoyed the weather and toys outside even more than the kids! You have to look at our pictures. It was hysterical and so much fun!
Holidays are always all about family to us. Our parents and siblings were definitely in our thoughts on Easter but Matt and I left the Vallacorba house feeling so lucky to have such a great family here in Montreal too!
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I just returned from a quick trip to Kansas to visit my Grandma. I went by myself and left the kids here with Matt. Grandma is in the hospital because she fractured her sacrum and is having extreme back pain. On top of that she is very short of breath. She got an infection and turned for the worse earlier this week so everyone in the family made their way to Kansas to visit her.
I arrived on Wednesday and seeing her in the hospital was really difficult. She has always been the ultimate care-giver for her whole town, always visiting others in the hospital. It was hard to see her on the other side. She really perked up the day that I arrived so I got a chance to feed her some meals, show her pictures of the kids and just be with her. Despite all the morphine and drugs, she is still so with it. Just when we thought she wasn’t listening to our conversation and dozing off, she fit in a witty comment, like asking for some green beer for St. Patrick's Day.
I was only able to stay for a couple days but the time spent there was priceless. She is so loved. At any given time, there were always over 10 people there visiting her. They even had to give our family an extra hospital room for people to sit and to store all the food that was brought to us.
Grandma is still putting up a good fight despite all her pain. She is getting up once a day and trying to eat but doesn’t have much of an appetite and her breathing is really labored.
Grandma epitomizes optimism and happiness. I hope I can live as happy and full of a life as she has. What a healthy 89 years of life she has had thus far. She is never one to complain and is always saying how blessed she is for her health. She starts each day with Swedish egg coffee, a sweet roll and a smile. Sounds like a good recipe for a happy life to me!
This picture is from a special Christmas in 2008 with Gma in Kansas.
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For reasons unknown, we were without power the other day. We made the most of it though, bundled up in warmer clothes, ate dinner out at a yummy restaurant and then we pretended we were at a camp-out & read books by flash light. The kids loved it. I'm glad it was a fun experience and that we had power by the next morning. I was a little nervous and felt pretty unprepared for a power outage. The outside storage unit worked great as a fridge so, although it was inconvenient, no harm was done!
I'm thankful for lights, internet access and my fridge today! :)
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Okay....blizzard is a bit of an exaggeration, but wow, it's cold. 6 massive bags, 2 car seats, 1 stroller, 2 (really well-behaved) kids and I arrived into Montreal today and were literally blown away by the weather! The wind and the snow are in full effect. Welcome to Montreal's winter!
The kids were ecstatic to see Matt again and took 2 minutes to tear into all their toys and books here. Myles had forgotten that he shares a room with Syd here. While we were reading books tonight in their room, he asked me where Syd's room was. He seemed really pleased to know that Syd's bed was right next to his crib. :)
We were planning to start Syd back to school on Monday but then I found out that tomorrow (Friday) is Pajama Day at school. She was WAY too excited about it to have her miss it. So, we'll see how tomorrow goes. She'll still be on Colorado time and has had NO structured school for 3 months. If I had to guess, I bet she'll rally and do great at school but the second I pick her up, she'll crash and burn!
It will feel good to be back in our schedule up here again. Both kids are missing their friends from school. We're missing our friends too. In fact, we already have a dinner planned with Cynthia's family this weekend!
It was hard to say goodbye to all our family in Denver. Even though we do this each year, the packing, getting the house ready to leave and the actual goodbyes never get easier. It was a wonderful Christmas and couple months at home. Now, we're looking forward to a great year up here in Montreal!
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We went up to the mountains with Matt's dad on Tuesday to ski. It was Myles' first time and we really lucked out on the weather. It was a beautiful, sunny, warm day without a cloud in the sky. Myles was a bit apprehensive at first but once he saw his sister leave on the ski lift, he wanted to be part of it too. Myles did about 5 runs and Syd lasted for over 10. Myles really enjoyed skiing between Matt's legs and had huge grins the whole time. Syd grew by leaps and bounds from last year. Gene and Matt kept her on a tether so she could ski a bit on her own....yet kept her contained and safe! She has NO fear of speed...yet has a tough time with stopping so we had a couple times where she plowed into me, while I was video taping her!
The kids lasted at least 2 hours longer there than I thought they would. They were utterly exhausted that night though and were in bed by 6:00! It was such a fun day and so special to have spent it with Papa!
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| (101 Reads) |
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Our "normal" New Year's Eve consists of both sets of parents babysitting all the kiddos and we go out to dinner and downtown with Mike, Sara, Megin, Lance and friends. We broke the mold though this year. We decided to go up to Evergreen & go to their Skate the Lake event. There were about 3,500 people there to celebrate the new year & decade. It was a family event where they separated the lake into skating rinks and places to play hockey and broom ball. They also had fires around the edges for roasting marshmallows and to warm up! The kids got to take a sleigh ride around the lake too. Off the ice, they had a bouncy castle, tons of ice sculptures, games and face painting. At 8:00 they had a NYE hot cocoa toast and fireworks. We all had such a fun time. I think it will be a new annual thing for us.
Our parents had a great New Year Eve's too. Vicki and Gene went to the Symphony and out to eat with friends. My parents also had a night out on the town with dinner and dancing. It was a fun and memorable NYE for all of us!
Here's a pic of Myles, Syd, Norah and Haven in front of one of the ice sculptures in Evergreen! Here's to a great 2010 full of love & happiness for everyone!
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| (87 Reads) |
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Matt’s mom and his Aunt Cynthia came out to visit us for a few days and it was so nice to spend time with them. The kids were so excited to see Grandma Rainey and they connected with Cynthia right away. Dutch got LOTS of love too. Both Cynthia and Lori are huge dog lovers so Dutch got lots of walks and cuddled all night with them too!
The weather was actually freezing cold while they were here but we still fit in some fun stuff and a little sightseeing in Denver and Boulder. A highlight of the trip was going to see HONK!, a play for kids based on the HC Andersen story of The Ugly Duckling. It was so cute and we all really enjoyed it. The kids have already asked us to go see it again!
We loved having some down time with Lori and Cynthia too at night where we could really catch up and talk about our year in Montreal and everything that is going on for them in Arizona and California. We really enjoyed having them here and sharing how much the kids have grown and changed. I know they had a good time too but I also bet that they are happy to be in warm weather again! Brrrr!
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| (91 Reads) |
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To know Myles is to know Puppy. It's his best friend, companion, confidant.....his everything. He has loved him so much over his 2 year life. The paws on Puppy are super soft satin. He used to just rub the paws while going to sleep but over time, rubbing turned to picking, pulling and tearing. All four paws turned into gaping holes where he could actually stick his whole arms through Puppy, like a puppet. I had done everything I could do to stitch it together last year. Finally, it was time to do surgery on Puppy. I talked Myles through it and told him that we had to fix his "boo, boo's".
My mother-in-law was ready to pass along one of her sewing machines and voila a new hobby for me was born! Vicki is quite a seamstress and a great teacher. Puppy was my first project. I have done sewing projects with my mom in the past but it has always kind of freaked me out. I would do all the measuring, cutting and ironing but make my mom do the actual sewing. Now that I have a sewing machine of my own, I'm excited to know how to use it. Don't worry, I won't be making any of you outfits (!) but I hope to be able to do some alterations, make curtains and such.
So anyway, the Puppy surgery was a success. Myles loves it and is excited about the new paws. He hasn't torn through them....yet. :) Thanks Vicki! What a fun project!
  
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This week we celebrated our 8th Anniversary. We left the kids with my parents and enjoyed a nice evening out. We ate Mexican food (my weakness!) and really had a great evening. We ended the night by watching The Biggest Loser on TV. Are we party animals or what?
I'm so thankful for my sweet husband. These 8 years have flown by! What a magical night in LoDo that was 8 years ago! Happy Anniversary Matt!
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