Mollie

Okay so look at me...can you believe it two posts in two days!!! Crazy I know! Anyways I thought I would post an update on Mollie. Anyone who reads this knows that we have been through some serious medical issues with Mollie over the last 18 months...which is crazy to me because that is basically half her life. We have been to more doctor appointments than I would care to mention, so many blood tests, xrays, scans, surgery, ect. Well, we are currently receiving treatment from the Infectious Disease doctors at Children's Hospital. They are really great and truely care about Mollie. It is such a refreshing experience every time we go. Now...each visit usually involves lots of screaming on Mollie's end becasue as you can imagine with so much poking and proding happening over these last 18 months she has developed a pretty good case of doctor visit adversions. However, the staff at Children's is so patient and understanding to her. In March our doctor wrote a letter to The National Health Institute (NHI) asking permission for them to take Mollie's case to run an analysis of her immune system. Our doctor explained the details of Mollie's case and they accepted it. It was really a great thing. They are basically the only facility in the world that will run the extensive immune test that our doctor was looking for. Therefore, Mollie and I made the trip to Dallas for the blook draw. They had to take A LOT of blood to send overnight to the NHI. Our doctor also submitted her blood as the control comparison. Needless to say, it was an aweful day for us. Mollie cried so hard and so long. It took the lab techs over six times to get the amount of blood necessary for the test. They stuck her and stuck her and stuck her. Her little veins would roll and bust making it near impossible. Her little arms were black and blue all over. I cried more than I have in a long time. It was excruciating pinning her down so they could use her as a pin cushion. Even our doctor felt terrible about the ordeal. She felt so bad she walked us to our car apologizing and trying to confort us. She also called us the next day to check on Mollie to make sure she wasn't too tramatized. The NHI will be analyzing her immune system by looking for a specific defect in one of the specific cells that is suppose to clear infection from the inside of the cell. If the cell is not emmitting the chemicals that treat the cell from the inside it could be the reason why she has had multiple cases of the this NTM (nontuberculosis mycobacterium). However, the test can take up to 1 year before results are found. We aren't in a hurry and it won't change the treatment it will just provide valuable information for her future. Meanwhile we are still taking two heavy duty antibiotics with check ups every 6-8 weeks. Just about a month ago the second nodule burst through the skin and drained. It happened in the middle of the night. Although, it periodically continues to drain. All of this is good and it means the disease is progressing through the proper stages so that the body will eradicate it. Even though it is gross it continues to look better with each passing day. We are encouraged by the progress and hope that in a few more months we will be able to stop the medication. Our doctor is very hopeful too. God has provided us with the strength to get through this. The biggest draw back to all of this is that Mollie's development has been delayed. She barely talks, is somewhat withdrawn from social settings, and struggles to communicate. Being that she will be three in July we worry about her communication deficiencies but we continue to try to be patient. As she improves in her overall health and wellness feelings we notice that she is coming out of her shell more and picking things up. I know that we are going to have to play catch up for quite a while with the hopes of eventually getting to a place where she speaks clearly and communicates with others appropriately. It is trying at times and makes my heart break for her because I know she must be so frustrated as well. I just love her so much and would do anything to take all of this away from her. For any one who knows her, Mollie is such a sweet and loving little girl whose temper can get the best of her when she just can't express what it is that she needs or wants. She is smart, funny, loving, energetic, and wonderful. I look forward to when she shows all of that to people other than just us. On a positive note friends and family are noticing the changes in her as she continues to feel better. Please pray for her...pray for her continued speech development, improvement in health, and social ability. All prayers are so appreciated and I know that God is listening. He is already interceded for Mollie multiple times.

Also, Mollie took on potty training at Christmas. She learned in about two days what to do and has been doing great. We have a few ups and downs every now and then but we couldn't be happier with how quickly she grasped the concept and ran with it. Once she put panties on she hasn't touched a diaper since or even a pull up. She sleeps in panties at night and nap time...and keeps them dry. We just love that she acts like a big girl. We have had a few accidents every now and then but I am impressed considering all that she has been through that she mastered this potty thing so quickly. I must admit not having to change diapers has been great.

She is doing gymnastics once a week and loves it so much. She has learned a lot over this year and really seems to thrive. We are working hard to place her in situations that give her structure but also provide a fun outlet to develop social skills as well as gross and fine motor skills. I have been so pleased with how well she is doing. She has her "recital" performace this week where she gets to show off all she has learned and I am so excited. I know it will be wonderful.

God gave us a special blessing when he place Mollie in our family. Even though she is nothing like her sister and does everything in her own way, God has used Mollie to stretch me, increase my faith, and learn a deeper and greater understanding of love. Our family is honored to have Mollie as a member of our family. God is our provider and healer and as he continues to work in Mollie I look forward to see just what and how he will use her to further His kingdom. We love you Mollie and are so proud of your determination!

House for Sale!

I know it has been forever. I have so much to get caught up on but it just seems I don't have time or I am exhausted. So I will start by stating this...our house is for sale. About 18 months ago we thought we would try to sell our house and see what happened. We didn't have a plan but we just thought we would test the waters. Well after about 3 months on the market we decided to go ahead and stay put. It was perfect because I ended up going back to work and lots of changes and adjustments took place and it was truly better that we were here. God really guided us through that and protected us from a potential bad decision. He also provided us with a great opportunity to buy a lakehouse. So now we own two homes. Needless to say taking care of two homes is really hard. Two yards, two sets of bills, two places to clean is hard work. We love going to the lake whenever we feel like it and we have done some serious praying. We have decided to permenately move out to the lake. The lakehouse needs some work and some tlc but in all honesty we really want to raise our children on the lake. So we feel like it is just one step closer to meeting our goals. With all that said, our house was listed just a little over a week ago. We are really trusting God that he will provide the right buyer. We have done so much work to make our current house our home and we hope that someone else will want to make it their home. I believe God is going to bless this move and provide us with an opportunity to build beautiful family memories on the lake. Please join me in praying that God would put together this puzzle for us and send us a buyer at the right time. Please pray that we would be able to make all the adjustments when we move that would make it easy for all members of our family. Please just pray that God would be completely entwined in this process.

I don't have any pictures to post but I promise on upcoming posts with more updates I will post pictures! Hope to be back soon especially since we only have 10 more school days left.