Another Medical Prayer for Whtiley is Needed

Real quick.... I'll fill you in.

Whitley recently had an EKG before starting some medication. At first the regular pediatrician, (whom is brand new to us as our ped. since birth has recently retired) was a little uncertain about the EKG. She agreed to start the med. on the lowest dose and said she'd like to send the EKG to a cardiologist. The night before last, the new Pediatrician calls and said the cardiologist noticed some right atrial branching and to stop the meds. immediately! This is all we know at this time as they passed the EKG on to Children's Hospital here in Denver. For now, no meds and be patient as we wait to hear from them. They feel she is okay so long as the meds. are stopped, until they can figure out what is going on.

We are very thankful to have such good care and are hopeful for a good outcome! As always, we pray for healing if it God's will. Irregardless, we pray for acceptance, whatever the outcome may be. We thank you in advance for your prayers.

Fairy Tales Do Come True

The Disney World castle lit up for Christmas at night.

The icing on the cake: Beautiful fireworks implode in the background!

You may have heard us speak of our friends, Karen and Norm, whom we met on our cruise several years ago. If you were really lucky, you may have also seen two of the beautiful videos they have put together for us: One from the cruise and another from all the cathedrals in Europe.

Recently, Karen sent me the photos above, from their recent travels to Florida. (They have a daughter there who is studying to be a nurse anesthetist.) As you can see, the photos are really spectacular.....and trust me, it wasn't just a "lucky" shot. These two have been developing a video production company over the last several years. Norm is a computer guru and Karen recently "retired" from working at a school. The business became sort of a hobby turned moonlighting business.

I'm recently told that they purchased new gadgets and hardware for Christmas, including video in high definition! Anyway, I really wanted to share these two photos with you and I asked them if it was okay to share a little bit about them on my blog, to which they agreed.

So, if you are in the Detroit area, and you are in need of a photographer or videographers these are the people to see. The couple are fun, talented and people of integrity and I think you will love their work!!! If you would like a contact for them, please let me know and I'll be happy to connect you to them!

Amish Heritage Figurines

About 2 years ago, I started this collection while rummaging through all the for sale items on E-bay. I instantly fell in love with each unique quilt square, the adorable children's faces and the mixed media. These adorable figurines were crafted by a lady named Anne Dezendorf in early 1990's. Most items go for $30-75, but some of the rarer, larger pieces are over $1,000!!! Needless to say, I do not own any in the latter price range!

The top piece photographed up above is entitled Jacob & Toby

This figurine feature an older sister teaching the younger how to ice skate. To physically view the piece, one can see the blade of the skates and the scoring of the ice. All parts are done in resin, except the scarves are knitted with yarn; that is the mixed media portion I love!

This is called "Winter Fun" - Martha & Lizzie

To date I have collected 10 pieces, two if which are Whitley's as she payed for them with her own money. Like mother, like daughter!

Double Shootout With a Doxie!

Saturday night card playing at the Samuels can be a challenge. Look out for "Goosebumps", the Dacshund, and her sly right handed game!

Goosebumps lays down her hand. She's a "WEINER"!!!!!

Science Experiment

Whitley's Science journal filled with research and observations

Abstracted teeth specimens line the counters in various cups. One row is filled with lemon juice (an acid) and the other pop (sugar).

HELP!!!! My kitchen has turned into a science lab. For over a week now, abstracted teeth have lined my counter in little cups; EEEeeewwww!!!

Daily, my little scientist dons safety glasses and rubber gloves and scours each labeled tooth with a particular cleaner ranging from fluoridated toothpaste to baking soda. Two teeth serve as controls and are washed with water only. The goal is to see which type of toothpaste works best on acids or sugars.

In our research however, we predicted some problems that may obscure our data. For example, the teeth come from various donors at an oral surgeon's office and each of those donors may have varying degrees of healthy enamel on their teeth. As a result, some teeth may hold up better in certain conditions than others. We tried to atleast match the same donor one per acid and sugar to alleviate some of the variables.

Another problem is that my kitchen is going to be a mess for almost a month and requires extra sanitizing after each and every brushing. I have thought intensely about what led up to this experiment and about how to ensure this never happens again. My solution????

Never EVER buy your child the Playdough DR. DRILL N FILL unless they have promised to go to dental school!!!!!

I'll close with one last informative message: Brush daily and floss only the ones you want to keep!

New Year's Resolution

This blog entry is alot like the days follwing Christmas. Merchants deeply discount their wares and offer as much as 75% off. Not to be outdone, I am calling this blog entry my 2 for 1 special as I'm about to post another fabuous read and share my New Year's resolution with you. In reality, the two go hand in hand, thus the 2 for 1 deal.

The book I am suggesting is called: THE SHACK -Where Tragedy Confronts Eternity, by Wm. Paul Young. (sorry, picture would not upload)

The story is about a man named Mackenzie Allen Phillips. His youngest daughter, Missy, has been abducted during a family vacation and evidence that she may have been brutally murdered is found in an abandoned shack deep in the Oregon wilderness. Four years later in the midst of his Great Sadness, Mack receives a suspicious note, apparently form God, inviting him back to the shack for a weekend.

Against his better judgement he arrives back at the shack on a wintry afternoon and walks back into his darkest nightmare. What he finds there will change his world forever.


The book is profound and has caused me consider a new perception in the way I view God. It has caused some wrestling and unrest as I had to admit to myself that I really did not fully trust God with my life, or I would not be so controlling and fearful with my life and those who I love. As I type, I am still evaluating, but one thing I know is that this year, I resolve to trust God more with my life. Of course there is always a few pounds I could shed, and to get good grades, but allowing myself to trust God more is the clencher.

If you should pick up this book, I hope you will be blessed by it as well! Happy New Year & Welcome 2009!

Hittin the Slopes!

Okay, I finally got up the courage to go skiing with my family. 17 winters have come and went and I decided it was time to give up my title, "Lodgegirl". I will admit, I kept of couple of good reads in the car just in case I chickened out.

John is a beautiful skiier and really good instructor because I feel that I did really well, thanks to his coaching and patience.

Whitley's Norwegian genes are definately expressed the most when she is on the slopes. Today was her first time to ski on her new snowboard. It is a difficult sport, but she did extremely well and had a lot of fun!



This is my cousin Karen and her husband Scott. They are visiting from the "Show-me-State" and so we decided to show them a fun day on the slopes. Scott is originally from Montana and has skiied before so he did really well. Karen, was determined to get it and by her second day, she did GREAT! They have two girls, Paige & Payton, who also skiied. Unfortunately, I did not get any pictures of them as they were in ski school all day and my camera froze up at the end of the day.

This is Whitley coming down on her new Burton Snowboard. I never could skateboard, much less come down the side of a mountain on a banana peel, so I am impressed!

There is a little story behind this picture. You see while John was teaching me to ski, he was also chomping into Whitley's first day of snowboarding. She had asked him several times, "Dad, when are you going to take me on the lift?"

Unfortunately, her Mother was not a quick learner, so Whitley took it upon herself to go on her own. All the sudden we looked up and her she is going up the chair lift! If you will notice, snowboarders go up with one foot out of the board and then have to pop it in as they get off the lift! (scary) Anyway, we gasp as we see her and say, no yell, "Whitley!!! Why are you going up there alone????"

She just smiles, gives us two thumbs up and says, "Chill out; it's my second time and I did great!"