Thank You Aunt Linda

Thank you Aunt Linda for the Christmas money. We bought the kids scooters. They are having so much fun on them. Isaac was mad for two days that his didn't have four wheels. He's over it now and loving it.

Jump Rope for Heart

I love that the school lets me come up to the school so much. They let me bring the baby while I make copies. They let me come anyday I want for lunch and yesterday for Jump Rope for Heart they let parents come and watch. I love to see Makayla experiencing school and friends. Her Valentine's Day Party is this week and I'm helping out with that. I'm guessing next year with two kids there I'll have even more chances to be up there.

EVERYONE'S SICK!!!!!

O.K. so I think everyone's almost over it. Jackson threw up on Saturday. I was sick Sunday night through Monday night and then Tuesday evening and last night Makayla and Isaac were throwing up:( I hate throw up. Nothing's worse. The only thing worse is Isaac eating a bright blue Basket Robins "Blueberry something or other" one hour before and staining my carpet with his throw up. I think we'll all be back to normal tomorrow. I hope.

I'm having a full physical tomorrow some hopeful I feel 100% by than.

Makayla started swim lessons last night (five hours before she spewed) She loved it and I'm so excited for her to have something she loves and It's fairly cheap. I mean compared to dance and sports. All she needs is gogles and a suit and she's set. So, until she gets sick of swim lessons it will be her thing. I think they have swim teams for little ones, but she said "NO WAY" Maybe when she gets a little more confident. She loves to remind Isaac that swimming is a sport. It's really cute. She also loves to go running with me. So maybe she'll be a cross country runner and a swimmer.

Isaac starts soccer in March. Hopefully it's a better experience than the last two times. It should be. It's not co-ed and they'll all be about the same age. They play on grass instead of inside on the hard floors.(falling down won't hurt as much)! And they get to play games which is his favorite part. I think he'll love the cleats and shin gaurds too. Which I got both second hand for total of $7. What a bargin.

Events of the Logsdons

Our Saturdays here lately have been great. I play football every Saturday morning with some guys in our stake and then when I get home we find something to do together. Today it was the park and motorcycle riding. It was a beautiful day today. It got up to 67 and was just perfect. When I first got the bike, Isaac burned his foot on the exhaust pipe and hasn't been on since. Today he was brave and went on a ride and didn't want to get off! Then we all took turns on the bike and, as you can see, Jackson got in on it too. When he got off he said, "again!". He cried when it was time to put it up. Chauntel recorded Isaac laughing while he was watching America's funniest home videos the other day. His "belly laugh" (as we call it) is the funniest thing to hear. We love it when he does it. He didn't know Chauntel was recording him. She said that the best laughs of course were before she could get the camera. Jackson threw up today right after nap. Hopefully it is just a short lived something that doesn't spread to the kids. And I have gas. That's about it for now. I'm sure when Chauntel reads this, she'll think of other stuff to write about.

Makayla's new art center

Makayla has a new art center. We had our old computer armoir in the front room with nothing in it. She's turned it into her own little art center. She sits at it all day coloring, painting, cutting, and writing letters to friend and family. It's so great, she watches alot less t.v. and fights less with the boys because she's kept busy. I hope the novelty doesn't wear off. She got her nine week report card last week. She always does amazing. But what surprised me was that her highest score was in Art:)

COPY CAT

Jackson, is the biggest copy cat, ever. All day long he copies the kids and Jeremy. From every word to every body movement. It's hilarious to see him try and fold his arms like dad or run into the same wall that Isaac did or throw the same tantrum that Makayla is or even yell at Isaac to stop like mom is.

FYI Jackson is trying to fill Jeremy's shoes by getting a job at Krispy Kreme:)

Oh and the picture of the kids clapping was on Monday night. We were learning about Martin Luther King for Family Home Evening because it was Martin Luther King Jr. Day. We were listening to his speech on You Tube and the kids got really into it and started clapping for him. It was really cute.

FUMBLE

The boys love to play Fumble (Football) in our empty front room. As long as jeremy will play with them they'll play. I catch them playing by themselves or together also, but with dad is their favorite. Jackson is going to be a tough LITTLE guy.

INEVITABLE

So it's inevitable that my kids WILL have a underwear picture blogged about every four weeks. But I thought it was really funny that my kids were roller skating in their underoo's. Makayla is getting a little better at keeping her clothes on, but Isaac has his clothes off about every other day, when Jeremy comes home from church or work. Jeremy always says "Oooh, I forgot it was naked day" as he pretends to start undressing. The kids roll their eyes and say "Daaaad, it's NOT naked day." Every time. In fact, it's INEVITABLE:)

It seems like I have nothing to blog about. Which is so crazy because for the last amost two years there's always been something to blog about. Life must be calming down. Which would be really nice for a change. I don't think we can afford anymore excitment for awhile. It seems like all the excitment in our life is costing a lot more than we thought it would.

I know blogging my new stuff is maybe a little wierd but my sisters and mom wanted to see. We're eventually going to get a family picture and put it above the firplace and my shelves need a little more something (I don't know what). The two big pots are on my stair landing. Which my mom tried to help me find something to put there but it is a tricky area to fill.

Which bar stool?

O.K. so I tried to email these to my sister and mom and couldn't figure it out. So I'm blogging them and I guess I'll just ask everyone which one it your favorite. I'm a total stress ball when it comes to choices. The wicker one doesn't swivel like the others but they also a little cheaper.

Dinosaurs

I took the boys to the Heard Museum this weekend to see this Dinosaur exhibit. They had soo much fun. They had a trail outside of dinosaurs along the way every so often. The dinosaurs would growl and move and they were life-size. The first one we went to, neither one of the boys were too sure what to think. Jackson had me pick him up pretty quick and Isaac looked close at first, but when the growling started backed off pretty quick. After a while though, they realized that they were probably safe since Dad could beat up any dinosaur that he wanted to. Last week Chauntel and Kayla did the girl thing and saw Enchanted, so this week was the boys turn to go out. Next Saturday will be the whole family.

if you have pictures from christmas please email me them this is pretty much all I have (Rochelle, Mom, and Bailey)

Merry Christmas . . . a little late

Merry Christmas everyone! We're a little late with our post because we were in Washington all of last week and spent Christmas with Chauntel's family. I'm sure she'll want to update everyone with that. We had a lot of fun. This picture has everyone in it except one of Chauntel's sisters (Jillian) and a nephew (Tre).

WORD OF THE DAY - LASTERDAY
When we were coming home from the gym yesterday, Isaac was telling us that he wanted to have a friend over to play and we were asking him which one he wanted to have over. Makayla offered a name of a friend and Isaac says, "He came over lasterday already."
As he said it, I thought, "that has got to be one of the greatest words ever." If you think about it, yesterday means the day previous, but lasterday means any time in the past. There's no rules or bounds for lasterday. Because Isaac is so smart, lasterday is now part of my vocabulary as well.

Lasterday as a practical example:

Chauntel: "Jeremy, we really need to go out on a date. We haven't been in a while."
Jeremy: "Really? It seems like we just went on one lasterday."

Awesome.

Miracle

This is a cute picture of my older sister Rochelle with two of her three kids.

My sister was diagnosed with stage 4 breast cancer about three months ago and has been doing chemo. She is now cancer free with two more rounds of chemo. So she'll be done in mid February. Without having to have a mastectomy. Yeah!!!! I think so many people have been praying for her and because of every one's faith that prayers are heard and that miracles happen everyday. I'm so happy for her and her family. This Christmas will be one to remember. I can't wait to get home and see everyone. Let the count down begin. 6 days!!!

Jeremy was easier to tag than myself (I'm still working on that one)

I've been tagged to say 5 things you should know about my husband.

1. He's a very hard worker. When something needs to be done he can figure it out and get the job done. With only a little nagging:) Which includes house work. He's a real man and does more than his fair share of dishes, laundry, and floors. I love him for it. His hard work is evident in his two businesses.

2. He also knows how to relax and have a good time. He is funny, entertaining, and people always feel comfortable around him. Unless they're blowing it then he can be pretty hard to be around. He tells it like it is and usually says what's on his mind. (He's not afraid of confrontation, which I'm scared to death of, so I'm always total stressed out when he's telling people they're blowing it ex) waitresses, pizza places, etc.

3. He is a great friend to have. Everyone he knows is his best friend and he'll keep in touch with them for the rest of their lives. There's no hiding from him. He'll call old bishops, parents, and mission comps, etc. and hunt people down. He's always calling, writing, emailing, or getting together with old friends. I'm so very bad at that so it's definitely a talent that I admire in him.

4. He's very good at getting what he wants and almost aways does get what he wants. It's a little annoying when it's not what I want, but it's also an amazing talent he has. We watched "The Secret" and decided that Jeremy has been living the secret his whole life. He just acquired four new pump rigs for his business for free. Positive thinking! This is also something I'm trying to learn from him.

5. I believe it is a talent to have many loves or passions and Jeremy has many passions: sports, red juice, taco soup, banana bread, the guitar, his motorcycle, steaks, the scriptures, church, discovery channel, history, CNN, The Week, friends, the kids, and ME.

One Hott Momma

The other day I was upstairs with the kids in the Game Room when Kayla had her Barbies out playing with them. She had a new one that she was playing with and Jackson was up with us also. While Kayla was playing with it, Jackson pointed at Barbie and said, "Mom". It was then and there that I had realized that truely all of my dreams had come true. I actually had married Barbie.

Christmas Caroling Surprise!!

Last night Jeremy was out of town. So I was doing the bath and bedtime routine by myself. I had gotten Jackson out of the bath and into diaper. Then I got Isaac out and wrapped him in a towel. I wanted to get Makayla started on her bath and then I would get Isaac dressed while she finished up by herself.

While I was getting her started, Isaac came into the bathroom to inform me that people were at our door. So I wrapped Isaac back up in his towel and went to get the door. When I realize the door was already slightly ajar. So I opened the door to find our stake president's family and friends laughing on my porch.

It occurred to me that Isaac had answered the door naked and they confirmed that assumption. They then sang a beautiful carol for our naked family (Isaac in a towel flashing them every so often, Makayla in a towel, and Jackson in his diaper) I was red with embarrassment and they say their song with a little chuckle here and there. I heard them laughing all the way to the car after I shut the door.

I hope every caroler doesn't get such a warm greeting from us this season.

Post Card Project

Makayla has a post card project at school. Their class is trying to get 100 post cards by the 100th day of school. Makayla doesn't have any yet because I've completely forgot to ask anyone. I would be really great if some family would send one to he. I was going to put the address but it's probably better to have you all call and get it from me, rather than posting an address on the blog. So if you'd like to send a post card call me for the school's address, email me, or mail it to our home. I love you all and can't wait to go home for Christmas. We are also having grammy visit for a few days before we leave. I can't believe how great this Christmas is going to be. Tuesday were having family pictures taken. Hopeful theses will turn out better than the last two time, right.

I think I forgot to post that Jackson doctor (GI) doesn't think he's allergic to anything including Milk (according to his biopsy). Which would be great since he's been eating soy and rice milk, yogurt, and cheese. It doesn't explain why he pukes every time I give him cow's milk. So I'm supposed to try milk again. I'll let you all know how it goes. I'm a little scared.

I wasn't going to blog, but my mom convinced me that people love to hear my problems:) I feel like everyone might think I'm dwelling on the negative too much or make things sound like too big of a deal.

The kids all have a viral form of Bronchitis. They're having to do breathing treatments every 6 hours and Isaac has an ear infection also. Because Jackson just had surgery, they sent me to go get an X-ray of his lungs to make sure he didn't have pneumonia. Which thank goodness he doesn't. While we were doing the X-ray, they did a bone age scan of Jackson's hands. I've never heard of it before. It can tell you if your child is genetically small, or just small for his age and will just be short; or if there is something wrong and he's not growing like he should. (either because of growth hormone deficiency or malnutrition) Jackson's bones are 11 months old and they should be 21 months (he weighs 20 pounds and wears 12 month clothes which for some families is normal but not for ours). From what the doctor told me that's pretty severe. I made an appointment with a specialist for that and one for an immune specialist. Both are booked till the end of January and beginning of February. So it will be awhile before we really know whats going on. Hopefully before that, we'll be able to get him to eat more and gain weight. Maybe that will help. I don't know anything about bone age so I don't know if I should be worried or not. I'm just trying to get through having the kids home from school another whole week:) In someways its been really great to have them home since we didn't get to enjoy Thanksgiving week. They are sick though so we haven't been out except for the doctors appointment.

For those who would like to visit http://www.jacksonsmellon.blogspot.com/ I'm putting a lot of pictures from the hospital on that blog sometime today.

We're Home!

O.K. so everyone already knows we're home from the hospital, but I just had to share how very happy I am to be here. All the way home from the hospital I was so excited to get home. It was quit a different experience being at the hospital with out Jeremy this time. I don't know if I could have handled another night there. I think having my home teacher come up and hold the baby so I could call family and get something to eat saved me (and having a great book to read)(i think i lost 5 pounds while I was there, it's amazing how not eating does that) I think Jeremy told everyone that the baby wouldn't let me put him down for the first 24 hours. It was a little hard to go to the bathroom and get sleep that first day.

Now that we're home, I think my body and mind have check out for a while to deal with the stress of the last few weeks. I'm ready to go back to normal but my mind and body are still checked out (I can see it all over our cluttered house) It doesn't help that all the kids are sick, and it's freezing and raining outside. The baby started coughing the day before surgery and now has a temperature again. I'm going to see his doctor Monday or Wednesday.

In light of Thanksgiving and my gratitude post a few weeks ago, I'm going to share some of the things I'm grateful for.

I'm grateful for the experiences that the Lord gives me to see what I'm made of. A lot of those experiences tell on me and what I truly have a testimony of. I hope that makes sense. I think a lot of times we say we have a testimony or faith in certain principles, but until that principle has be tried we can't truly know for ourselves.

I'm grateful for a loving, helpful, faithful, passionate husband. I only knew my husband for 6 months before we got married. The Lord truly blessed me with a good one. I've heard too many sad story to not know how truly blessed I am to have Jeremy in my life.

I'm grateful for happy, beautiful, smart, healthy kids (and by healthy I mean it could always be worse than it is. I see a lot of different situations in my visits to the doctors and children's hospitals)

I'm grateful for family. I think one of the blessing that has come from all the many health problems on both sides of the family has been, more communication and connecting. Jeremy and I both come from amazing families. I couldn't have asked for better families.

I'm learning more and more about what it means to be grateful for trails. My sister is a great example of that. She blew my mind and my whole argument when she said she's grateful for the trials she's going through right now. She was the one reason I couldn't understand gratitude for trials in the first place. It's easier when you're the one going through the trail than when loved ones are going through them (in my experience anyways). Don't get me wrong I've always been able to see blessing all around me in the mist of hard times. Life is to wonderful to let one bad experience or trial sour your whole outlook on life. I can even see blessing that come from all trials, but I can't be grateful that Rochelle has breast cancer or for Jackson being born with coronal synostosis. But I guess those aren't my trials to begin with so I don't have to be grateful for them. I however still have side effect or my own effect that come from their experiences that I need to find gratitude in. I hope my feels make a little sense. I'm not as grand as Jeremy and expressing myself in writing.

Isaac AKA The Ice Man Logsdon

Isaac's striking resemblence to Chuck "The Ice Man" Liddel is probably no coincidence. Chuck Liddel has a mohawk also. He's a fighter in the UFC. If Isaac's future in candy taste-testing doesn't work out, then off to the UFC it'll be. He walks around in his underwear everyday, all day. He'll announce as he's coming down the stairs or if you ask him why he's not dressed, he'll tell you he's a boxer right now. He's had so much fun with his mohawk this week. Again, I don't know if he knows we're going to have to cut it for school on Monday. I think he's going to be upset. He's been asking me to get one "so we can be twins". He's always wanting to be twins with me. It's great.

While Mom Is Gone

There's an update on Jackson's blog (link on the right) of his surgery today.

Isaac's been asking for a mohawk for a while now, so while we were waiting on news about Jackson, we did it. It's a little off-centered, but he kept wanting to see it in the mirror and moving his head. He loves it. When school starts next week, I don't know if he'll let us shave it off.

Kayla wanted to post a picture of her birthday party. She had a Hanna Montana party.

Off to the Hospital

I just sent Chauntel and Jackson off to the hospital this morning. I'm not able to go due to a virus that I have come down with the last few days. I haven't been able to even get out of bed since Sat. night. The doctor told me yesterday to stay away from the baby and pretty much told me to not even go to the hospital to see him. I can't believe the timing of all of this. Chauntel has pretty much been a single mom for the last few days, and will stay with Jackson until he comes home. I wish so much that I could be there for him also. When he had his last surgery, we were both there - for Jackson and for each other. I was telling Chauntel again today how I felt like I was almost letting Jackson down but then said that I guess it's a blessing that I can be here for Makayla and Isaac during this also. After I said that, it really hit me how true that was. I'm feeling a lot better today, but it's relative to how I was the last few days.

As I was in bed yesterday really hating life at the moment, Isaac brought me a cup of milk that he got all by himself for me. I was asleep when he brought it, but when I woke up, he asked if the milk made me feel better. I told him that it did, so he smiles really big and runs out of the room. He comes back a minute later with his stuffed rhino that he sleeps with every night for me to lay down with. It broke my heart how much he was wanting to help me. He then came back with a stuffed frog and his favorite books, followed by his pirate ship filled with toys to play with and then a plate of his favorite rice that he got out of the fridge - he even put it on my favorite KY Wildcat plate. I told him again and again how much he was helping me feel better. Chauntel was gone all day yesterday with Jackson's pre-op appointments and so while I was in bed, Kayla and Isaac pretty much did as they pleased all day. I was so impressed with how good they were all day. They checked on me every 20 minutes or so, would get me water when I needed, and Makayla even came in to tell me that they had turned off the TV to do other things.

I think that from now on, the updates will be on Jackson's other blog that we thought he was finished with already. The link to his blog from his previous surgery is on this blog. www.jacksonsmellon.blogspot.com He goes into surgery at 7:30 this morning. Chauntel and him left at 5:15 to get there for his pre-surgery stuff. We thank everyone for their concern and support and will keep ya'll posted on his stay at the hospital.

Jeremy

On for Tuesday

Sorry I didn't post sooner. Jackson's surgeon thought it was fine to wait til Tuesday, for surgery. So tomorrow he has pre-op and Tuesday's the day.

We're all sick today, but poor Jeremy is so sick.(actually the kids aren't anymore or they're at the tails end of being sick) I hope Jeremy feels better by Tuesday. He's eating lots of chicken soup and oranges trying to feel better.

We stayed home from church today because we were sick, but Jackson and I were going to anyways to keep him health:) I dislike staying home from church so much. It is hard getting ready for church alone for 8:30 church, and sitting through sacrament alone is hard, but staying home on Sundays is so much harder than going. I don't know what it is, but keeping the kids entertained and the house clean all day is absolutely impossible. So at the end of the day the kids are so cranky and the house is a mess, both of which make mom cranky and very tired (so off to bed I go @ 8:15:) I love ya all.

A Little New News

Jackson went for his check-up yesterday, to get cleared for surgery. His pediatrician wanted to do some blood work (just in case) She's afraid he has immune problems or growth hormone problems, etc etc. So on Monday we'll get results from that, results from his gut biopsy, and his head gunk culture. That should be an interesting day. He ped. said that his white blood count is elevated (Rochelle you might understand what that means) His head is still swelling more, and he still has a fever. She was wanting us to go back to the E.R. last night. But after talking to Jeremy then the craniofacial surgeon (that's doing his surgery) They decided that we should go to see him today (Saturday) at 10:30. Then the surgeon will decided what to do. So we could go into surgery today.

We cut the babies hair last night to see his head better and so the doctor could see it better. he woke up today with his left eye also most swollen shut. I wish I could get our new camera to download picture so you all could see how horrible my little man looks:)

I think I'm pulling for surgery today. I feel the sooner the better. I love you all.

What a Joy Jackson is

Monday night we were sitting at the table trying to figure out how I could go to Houston with Jeremy and Jackson. Jackson had an appointment with his original surgeon, and I really wanted to be there. Up until then, we had been switching turns taking him and then having to relay messages. That is so hard to do. Unless of course you speak doctornees. So at 6:oo we decided to all go. And by 7:00pm we were all off to our great wonderful friends the Carter's home. Without them I wouldn't have been able to go. They even watched Makayla and Isaac while we went to the appointment. (Thank You)

I'm glad I went. We feel a lot better about the choice to have the doctors here in Dallas open him up again. He will be having surgery on Tuesday, November 20th. We tried so hard to still be able to go to KY for Thanksgiving. We are so very sad we won't be there. Everyone was going to be home this time, which I don't think has happened since Makayla was 6 months old. Since then, there are 6 more grand kids and one new spouse. It really would have been amazing.

Jackson has an infection. The lumps on his head (which are so big) are full of gunk. The one on top of his head got a red lump on it that popped the other day. I can't believe how much gunk came out. However much your imagining, triple that and you might have it right. It was so thick and yellow-green. I showed Isaac and told him Jackson had snot coming out of his head.

It's really crazy. All the doctors, three pediatricians, one nurse practitioner, two neurosurgeons, two craniofacial surgeons, and a handful of interns that we saw have never seen or heard of this happening, especially this far out from the surgery and this severely.

On Tuesday, they will open him up along the same cut (ear to ear) and flush his skull, scrub it and clean it really good, treat the infection and make sure everything else is O.K. That's it. I'm so glad they don't have to take his skull off again (we all thought they might have to at first) He'll be in intensive care one night and then maybe go home the next day. They said one maybe two nights. I hope only one. It's so hard being away from the other kids.

Oh yeah, Jackson also had an endoscope done on Monday. His G.I. said he doesn't have reflux and they are checking to see if he's allergic to gluten. I really hope he isn't. He also said he may have a eating disorder. Not like anorexia but towards textures. Which could be why he won't eat and why he gags and chokes on his food. Whatever that means I really don't know.

DADDY DOCTOR DATE

Jeremy is such a Super Dad. He took Jackson and Isaac (who were both tired from last night's adventures) to Jackson's 8:30 Dr. appointment. He had to leave at 7 to get there on time. At the appointment, the Doctor was upset that I hadn't gotten an endoscope done alot sooner and so they scheduled one for Monday. Then while he was there, Jackson's Pediatric Dr. called to see how our ER visit went. She got very upset that the ER didn't do more and let us go home. So she called Jeremy back with an appointment to the Crainofacial specialist at 11:30 at the same hospital they were at.

I had a Dr appointment, so after my appointment I headed straight over there. By the time I got there they were in the waiting room bundling up to leave:(

The Crainofacial Surgeon wants another CT scan done. The one they did at the ER wasn't good enough (I could have told them that, he was screaming and moving around the whole time, because they didn't want to put him under, probably because it would have been more work for them) He than said that it looks like a CSF leak. There could be a slight chance it's just irritation from the plates and screws. That's why they need the CT scan. If it is a leak, they're ready to operate ASAP. The big bummer is that none of the crainiofacial Surgeons in all of Dallas area are in our insurance network:( They seem to think that even if we tried to have the surgery done in Houston, because we've moved, it would be out of network also. So his Dumas (or skin of his brain) was probably punctured during surgery and fluid has been leaking since. Which makes sense why the helmet Dr. was so stumped, but it doesn't make sense why the surgeon didn't catch it at 6 months after surgery. Especially since he had fluid (which we thought was bone) coming out the top of his helmet.

We'll keep you posted. We're trying now to get someone to call us back to schedule a GOOD CT scan (GOOD idea) I should ask for a refund for last night!

I love you all

Halloween

We had so much fun on Halloween. (I left my camera at a friend so I'm waiting to develop the film from Halloween:( Makayla was Hanna Montana, Isaac was a green power ranger, and Jackson was superman. Jeremy had a halloween shirt on that said "I am the treat" and I was Hanna's bff Lola. I think Halloween is my most favorite time of the year. I just loved handing out candy (I maybe crazy, but that was my favorite part) I love opening the door and handing out candy. It was perfect weather here and the kids looked so cute. I had such a hard time doing this, but I threw away about 2/3 of the candy we had and have personal eaten about 1/8 of it myself already. I'll probably have to throw away the rest of it. I bought really great candy this year. It's almost unbarable to throw away almond joys and reese's PB cups. I almost cried. (Dr. Oz gives me the courage J/K)

ER!

Just a quick update. I took Jackson to his Ped. doctor and she and all the other docotors had never seen anything like Jackson's head. They had three guesses, of what could be wrong. All guesses sounded aweful. So they sent me to the E.R. We weren't able to get there until around 7 pm because of school letting out and finding someone to watch the kids. They did a CT scan and weren't able to find anything wrong. So they sent us home:( They told us to just to take our CT film with us to Houston next week. I'm a little bummed that they don't know what to think. So now I guess we wait. Jeremy is at Jackson GI appointment right now so hopeful that appointment is more fruitful.

PS you can't really tell by the pictures how bad his head looks. but it's pretty yucky. If you look on his temple you can see a little swelling. That was taken a few days ago. It's gotten a little bigger since than.

Gratitude

What an amazing head Jackson has. It's been through so much. As you see from the pictures, the doctors did such a great job on his head. (jury is still out on the helmet doctor)

We've been so worried about his health lately that I didn't notice that something was wrong with his head. I thought everything was over and done with. Jeremy and I had been noticing more and more lumps on his head. But we just thought we were noticing things that had been there all along, but were just now noticing. Until last week. His head is swelling on top, fore head, and his left temple. The top of his head is red now and with all of his long hair it was hard to see. Which was the point of his long hair to start with. The hard part is that his doctor is in Houston and when you call you have to leave messages. He has a GI appointment that I've been waiting for 6 week to go to. The kids have school and Jeremy has work. Of course we can work around all of that. It just means asking friends for help. I'm so worried, I hope the Doctor calls us back tomorrow and can get us in Wednesday. (Jackson has had a low grade fever for 3 or 4 weeks, but he's cutting two teeth, so who knows what to think with his diarhea, fever, swelling, and crankiness)

I hope everyone knows that my worries and heartaches are not the for lack of gratitude for what the Lord has given me or lack of faith that the Lord is all knowing and loves me and all of you.

Our lesson on Sunday was on Gratitude. I pose a question for all that read this blog. Is there a difference in having gratitude in our trials and gratitude for our trials? and is it required of us to have both? I will be waiting for all your posts. I will have to admit, I have a very hard time understanding gratitude for trials. My answer to my own question will have to wait till I've done more studying and pondering.