Joel Thorne -- 7 weeks

From 1 to 6 in a flash

Joel Thorne

1 to 6 weeks

Children are a gift from the Lord

September 2011

Katrina 5 1/2

Samuel 2 1/2

Joel 6 weeks

Cast Removal

Wednesday marked the day when
Samuel went back for his 2-week check
for his broken leg.
They cut the cast off, which
he thoroughly enjoyed, by the way, and
took an x-ray.

Unfortunately he needed another cast
put on.
More unfortunate news, I had to help put
the cast on so I could not get any pictures!
This new cast, however, is a boot cast.
He can walk on it.

Any guesses as to what he did
taking his first steps with the boot cast
(the next day, mind you as he was quite
apprehensive walking on his foot)?

If you know him at all, you guessed correctly!

Joel Thorne 5 weeks + a few days

This picture is worth ...

a million words, I think.

Photo Shoot

Our good friend Dan came this week to
take some pictures.
Samuel was in a cranky mood, as you can clearly see in this first one!

Pancho Sr. and Pancho Jr.

Samuel was a tiny bit more content outside in his wheelchair.

But, then it was time for another
picture and he put his scowl back on!

First "party of 5" shot outside of the hospital!

Pancho and Emelys

Thanks, Dan, for the pictures!
And thanks to your whole family for
the delicious dinner. We all really enjoyed it
and the time we got to spend with you.

Mighty in the land

Today Joel was dedicated at church.
We wanted to have him dedicated while
Pancho and Emelys were here and this is
already their last Sunday with us.
Where has the month gone?
I digress...

Pastor Engle chose Psalm 112:1,2
as the commissioning verse for
us as Joel's parents.

Praise the LORD.
Blessed are those who fear the LORD,
who find great delight in his commands.
Their children will be mighty in the land;
the generation of the upright will be blessed.

Oh God, how we desire to find GREAT
delight in Your commands, not only
because Joel (and Katrina and Samuel) will be
mighty in the land and blessed, but also because
following Your commands brings an abundant life.
Please help us to daily delight in Your Word and in
Your instruction to us. Amen.

1st Field Trip

Today we went on our first field trip.
We were invited to Camp Forest Springs for the day.
We left bright and early (7:30 AM) with 3 kids in
tow, Nana driving and me in the passenger seat.
Upon arrival we registered and then met with
everyone to choose our outdoor education
class for the morning.
Katrina chose the bog walk.

We learned very interesting things about
God's creation of bogs.
Katrina had the BEST time exploring and
discovering many things on the way
to the bog, at the bog and on the way back
to the main camp.
We ate lunch and then had some free time.
Katrina and Samuel wanted to get to the
waterfront so we were on our way.

Nana took Samuel on a paddle boat ride.

Meanwhile, Katrina and her dear friend Leah looked for
shells, frogs and minnows.
They are definitely birds of a feather!

After exploring at the waterfront the girls
decided to go to the Rec Barn and try out
the climbing wall.
Katrina did an excellent job climbing
and has set a goal for herself to get to the
top the next time we are at Camp.

No day at Camp Forest Springs is complete without
a stop at Main Street.
Katrina enjoyed birthday cake ice cream, her
favorite CFS flavor.
Samuel enjoyed 3 Laffy Taffys, his favorite
Main Street treat.
I indulged in a Cherry Coke and
Joel will enjoy it tomorrow!
(I mark the milk so I am sure to give it to him
during the day, just in case he has an
aversion to caffeine!)

All in all it was an incredible day for our first field trip.
We are looking forward to participating
in the next field trip at Helene's Hilltop Orchard
in a few short weeks.

take 2

Not much better than take 1
(lower right picture)
Samuel and Joel have similar expressions yet again!

Joel Thorne -- 1 month

How deep this father's love for his son

And so it begins...

This morning I tried to get a picture of
the three kids.
A good picture, I should note!

No such luck!
Katrina did a great job.
Samuel and Joel, not so much.
In the lower right picture Samuel and Joel
have similar expressions.
Those rascals!

Joel Thorne -- 4 weeks

8 pounds 11 ounces
21.5 inches

Just to put things into a little better perspective:
* the clinic where we take the kids has an old-school
scale so I am not convinced he is that weight.
(he weighed 7 pounds 5 ounces at birth and at his
2 week check he weighed in (on this same scale)
at 7 pounds 12 ounces - 2 short days after leaving the hospital
weighing 6 pounds 15 ounces)
* I am even less sure that he is that length!
(he was born measuring 19.5 inches)

Either way, this is the scale we are now using!
We know one thing:
He is growing!

A Wheelchair from Nana

Doesn't that sound like a good title to a book?
Maybe I will write a book with that title someday...

Samuel's nana is extremely resourceful.
As soon as we were told he would have to be
in a non-weight bearing cast for 4 weeks,
my mom said, "I am going to find him a wheelchair."

Sure enough, this evening, the same day we
had the cast put on, she pulls into the
driveway with a miniature
wheelchair in her trunk.

She loves her "little man" so
very much and goes to many
extremes to make sure he knows it.

Nana, I love you so much.
Even though I cannot say much now about
how you display your love for me,
please know I feel it.
Someday I will look at this blog post
(thanks, Mama!) and see another
way you have demonstrated such
unconditional love to me.

Cast Time

This morning I took Samuel to
get his "permanent" cast put on.
He did a great job.
As you can see, (upper left photo) the doctor was quite a character,
which helped keep us all in good humor.
When we arrived we were shown the color
options he had.
His first choice was pink.
I urged him to choose something else,
for his papa's sake.
His next choice was green.

Samuel has adapted very well to life in a cast.
He gets upset from time to time, as anyone would,
but he has accepted the challenge in stride.

Thank You, God, for blessing Samuel
with a super demeanor especially during
this time.

Sleeping like a baby

Have you heard this saying?
"Sleeping like a baby."
For our other two children this saying never
seemed to be true.
Katrina and Samuel were not great sleepers.

Joel, on the other hand, is the kind of
baby where this was first voiced.

We are praising the Lord for such a
good little sleeper.
Especially right now when we have
quite a few other things going on.

There's a first time for everything . . .

We have all heard
"There's a first time for everything."
Well, last evening at 6:15 we took
our first trip to the ER with Samuel.

He was riding his scooter in our cul de sac after
the rainstorm, slipped and fell.
He was screaming and I ran to attend to him.
When I got there he could not stand up.
I carried him inside, all the while he was screaming and
set him on the floor.
I removed his jeans because I figured he must have
scraped his legs badly and found no abrasions.
I tried to ask him where it hurt and what he wanted
me to do about it, but he was quite worked up.
Eventually he asked for a band-aid but even that did not help.

Samuel, our second-born, is not a cry-er.
He is SUPER tough and loves being outside.
He has fallen countless times and doesn't even cry
so we knew something was wrong.
Panchito came downstairs to see what was happening
and I told him that I thought we would have to take Samuel
to the ER because he would not put any weight on his leg and
he would not calm down.
So, we loaded him into the Neon and headed to
St. Clare's.
We arrived and he was still quite out of control.
The doctor eventually took a look at him and by this time he
had calmed down almost completely (probably due to the Tylenol
we gave him on the way, the doctor said).
The doctor noticed his right foot was swollen and when he
touched Samuel's leg, he winced in pain and began to cry hard again.
They took some x-rays right in the exam room and came
back with the verdict:
Broken tibia bone.
He is now in a splint until Tuesday when they will
put him into a non-weight-bearing cast for 4 weeks.
Then he will get a walking cast.

Please pray for him.

He is a go-getter and if you know him at all,

you know this is not a cliche statement for

this 2.5 year old.

He LOVES to mow the grass and is outside

as much as he can be so this is going to be

quite the challenge.

We are working on getting him something so he

can be more mobile independently but right

now he is relying on his papa to take him here

and there.

Thankfully Panchito is home for the long weekend and

can carry him around.

Once he has the more permanent cast he

will be able to crawl around on his own

but even that is most likely not going to satisfy him.

How can you mow the grass crawling?

He is at Target right now getting some Legos to

add to his collection as this is one of the only

indoor activities he really enjoys.

We will keep you posted!

All 3 at 3 weeks

Here are Katrina, Samuel and Joel at 3 weeks.
I think Joel has his own "look."
What do you think?

(yes, Katrina is posed on an elk horn thanks to her
uncle Nick who took those pictures while he
graciously took care of her while I was asleep --
needless to say, as a first time mom I was horrified to wake
and find her laying on the elk horn -- he took some with the
horn over her as well!)

Joel Thorne -- 3 weeks

K is for Kindergarten (and Katrina)

Katrina is in Kindergarten!

A through H

Today was Katrina's first day of school.
Here are some highlights...

a -- first day of kindergarten photo
b -- Papa took Katrina and Samuel to school
c -- Katrina getting off the "bus"
d -- balloons to celebrate the occasion
e -- eating breakfast at school
f -- 1st day of kindergarten certificate
g -- pancake with grade on it
h -- taking her first "test"
(simply a checkpoint to be sure she completed her work)

It was a wonderful first day.
Samuel and Joel cooperated nicely.
Samuel even participated in some activities.
We are excited to dig back in tomorrow!