new fav pics of my big man

Sometimes it's hard to get him in action cause he is so fast! I got a number of great ones....thought I would share.

Info and more pics...

Again, thank you to all who have followed our famiy and kept us in your thoughts and prayers. I feel like I can't say that enough.

I just wanted to share some updates for those of you who may have just started to follow our family.

October was the diagnosis month. If you want to read about it you can click on October.

Our cousin and her husband, Kalie and Robert, have worked really hard and put tons of time into a website for us. There is information regarding Sanfilippo and we also just added bio's for Jayden and Brooklyn and got paypal set up. Thanks again, guys!









Jayden's new bounce house!













Brooklyn and her cousin, Lucy













The family









Jayden, Lucy, and Brooklyn









Jayden at his preschool winter concert (singing a Happy Kawanza song!)

Disney

Well...we made it back from Disney is one piece...barely. We knew going into this trip that it was going to be a difficult time, and it was.

RECAP:
Tuesday
we left via limo for o'hare and Jayden and Brooklyn did great on the plane! We got to Coronado Springs and settled in. We checked out the grounds and had dinner. The weather was warm....the only day we can say that.

Wednesday
we went to Magic Kingdom and followed Pastor Joe's detailed itinerary. Jayden, Brooklyn, and I did Dumbo, we all did small world (yes, even Chad and Tyler!) and of course, we did space mountain (not Jayden or Brooklyn!). It was a busy day and the kids did great. We even saw the fireworks show at the end.

Thursday
was a downtown disney day. We shopped and Jayden rode the choo choo train and Brooklyn posed next to the princesses. Later that night, we had dinner with our dear friends, Kelly and Jake, who were also attending the conference.
After, we headed to the first session of the night. It was hard. We were submerged into MPSIIIA....name tags and all. We went into a room with other parents (and kids) living with Sanfilippo. It was challenging to see other kids who have progressed further in wheelchairs, some were making noises, twitching, some with severe mental special needs. Two other moms proudly showed pictures of their sweet children that have gone to heaven. And there we were. Kelly, Jake, Jut and I....shell shocked as words of feeding tubes and home modifications, IEP's, and prescription drugs danced in the air. We later met some of the parents I communicated with when we first got the diagnosis. They were wonderful. I am going to try to remain positive about things, so the best thing was meeting the other Sanfilippo kids and parents.

Friday
was the full day of the conference. Jayden and Brooklyn went with Ama, Bubba, Chad and Tyler for the day. (Thank you for taking them!) I know they had fun. J went swimming and Ama even did our laundry. I which I could report the day was better. The conference just was not good. We didn't learn anything...in fact, it was more despair than hope. Again, connecting with other parents was really the best part.
We later joined the family at Planet Hollywood for dinner and celebrated Kelly's birthday. That was the highlight for Friday.

Saturday
was Hollywood Studios. Jayden loved the playhouse disney show and even met Handy Manny! He was a bit scared though. We also did tower of terror and rockin roller coaster. Favorite part? The Christmas lights show.

Later that night Jut and Jay went to the hotel pool. J took off running and fell, bumping his head on the concrete and scratching his face under his nose. We thought everything was fine but he woke up the next morning and was stumbling all over. He threw up as we were waiting for the ambulance to come get us. We thought he maybe got a concussion...

Sunday
morning was spent in the ER getting a CT scan. Joan texted everyone and you all began to pray. The CT scan came back normal and we left by noon with no answers. They thought he may have moved the fluid in his ears, causing a balance problem which made him nauseous. I have to tell you now, that I felt broken and defeated. Jut and I feel so fragile. The littlest thing sets us off into this overwhelming feeling of brokenness and helplessness.
We attempted to do epcot when we got back cause J was feeling ok. Bad choice. I ended up carrying J back from Mexico to the bus, and later took a 3 hour nap with him. Oh yeah, did I mention I had a head cold?!

Monday.
By now we were ready to come home. We spent the morning at Downtown Disney and headed back to the airport. The flight was good....not as good as the flight down. Oh yeah, did I mention we think Brooklyn has Croup? Just another thing.....

So, a hard trip.

If you are wondering why Christmas morning I am up so early writing a blog, it is not because "Santa" is putting Christmas presents under the tree, it is because I have been helping Jut get 3 inches of water out of our basement since 5 this morning and we just finished. We are idiots and j got a huge bounce house from the entire Boyce family so last night, we unplugged the sump pump to test it out and forgot to plug it back in.

I know.

Well, Merry Christmas. We hope you are having a better one than us!
Jut made a great point last night. It is so easy right now for us to get worked up about all our problems...we are standing in quick sand. But Christmas isn't about us. It is about Jesus. We celebrate his birth and rejoice He alone is the savior. he alone is the only thing saving us. Although that is getting harder for me to see in the moments, I still know it's true.

some sweet things..

the last few weeks I have been bad at updating the blog....here are just a few snapshots of sweet things that people have done for us...

Jill made us a turkey from tracing our hands
Our Beach Bible Family covered our home in prayer
The girls took me out for an evening of fun

some pics...

our new website

A huge thanks to Justin's cousin, Kalie, and her husband, Robert! When everything happened in October, they contacted us and offered to create a website and handle donations. We knew that this was a great thing to do, but knew we didn't have the ability, physically and emotionally, to even begin to think about creating and maintaining a website, let alone donations. We never thought we would be a family that needed financial assistance. However, it looks like that is sort of part of being "missionaries in Holland" (for those of you who know the poem Experiencing Holland). We have received many blessings already and can't even imagine asking for more support.

Kalie and Robert have gone above and beyond and anticipated our needs, thus, creating a beautiful website that articulates our needs exactly and we can't thank them enough! I have dropped to ball with helping them with everything...and they have been so patient!

They even made us fancy business cards to hand out! What a fabulous blessing to us! Please take a moment to check out their hard work. You can also access our blog through the website so now you can just visit this link.

We love you Kalie and Robert! And...I will try my best to finish everything before DISNEY!

www.buildwiththeboyces.com