Over night field trip!

Caelan is on her over night field trip! They're dissecting squid as I type this! She's so stoked about this field trip!
Can't wait to blog more about it when she gets back from it!

Cancer-versary

My sister found out she had stage 3 ovarian cancer, 6 years ago today.... her type of cancer had a 29% survival rate..... She spoke today at her school chapel, about her journey. It was a story of hope, healing, and Gods blessings, disguised in the ugly aspects of cancer.

I was so happy to be there for this! Here are a few pictures.... Hopefully I'll be able to post the video of the whole thing! That'll come at a later date.

Cupcake wars

Awhile ago we did cupcake wars at mike and Mary's house. It's the girls favorite show and all Caelan talks about wanting to do when she grows up is opening a cupcake shop. Her and her best friend Kate in Idaho have it all planned out. They've been discussing this shop for two years now..... The other day we had Riley drum up a recipe and Caelan drum up a recipe and Mary helped them make the recipe work and then mike, Eric and I, along with Mary's final input, we all judged the taste, appearance and presentation.... Caelan created a vanilla cupcake with cream cheese frosting and a raspberry swirl filling with raspberry drizzled on top. Riley created a chocolate cupcake with an Oreo cookie on the bottom of the cupcake wrapper, then Oreo smashed on top with a cream cheese frosting. We had a tie!!!! Two votes to two votes! ;)

Good news!

Eric is back from the doctor and the spot on his head has been removed!
And the doctor is feeling confident that its just a keratosis.... Basically, the thickening of the skin and not cancerous! We will keep an eye on it as it heals from the doc removing it and then have Eric see the doc again if it begins to grow back or cause any other problems.
So grateful for this news. Grateful for Gods protection.
His grace. His mercy.
Thankful. So very thankful today to have no received bad news.

Sent from my iPhone

Trust.

Last Monday, Eric went to urgent care for a spot on his head that was bleeding.... The doctor was very concerned but felt like he needed to refer him back to his primary doctor and to see a dermatologist right away.... Today Eric has his appt...... We are so concerned about this.... But I am reminded by scripture that we are to lay our burdens at the feet of Jesus. He will help us through all the circumstances that we face..... When I am scared, that is when I need to find trust in the Lord.

Lord, Jesus, be our strength.
Please give doctors wisdom in dealing with this..... Jesus, please let it not be cancer like they suspect it could be.... Jesus, please give us peace that you are in control, and you will see us through this.
Jesus help me be a support to Eric during this time.
Jesus, please be near, allow us to feel
Your presence.

-amen.

A letter from a friend

Caelan is constantly on the phone calling friends in Idaho, she writes letters and sends little things to her friends..... They all do the same for our girls..... All these girls are tight knit friends...... Today Caelan got a letter from her snowboard bestie, Morgan..... Priceless. So sweet! Caelans other friend Maggie contacted us as well last night!!! Oh and Maggie's mom mentioned that violet really wants to talk to Caelan, so she wondered if she could give her our number. Caelan is over the moon about it all. It makes her day when she hears from her friends in Idaho..... Her friendships there are amazing and I LOVE that they've all stayed in such close contact! It's really awesome! Love those girls!

Lucy

Sleepy head.....

Idaho.

Our kids haven't adjusted to life here. We haven't really either. We have had long long talks over the past four months about living in Idaho vs California. Caelan discussed quite a bit with us when coming home from camp with church....
Eric has had a rough time at work..... He signed a contract to do the Read 180 program and to have RSP classes he'd teach.... They put him in SDC
Classes which he hasn't been thrilled about..... A lot of things that were supposed to happen, didn't..... Oh, and last week a Rival gang to a gang that several of his student are in, tagged up Eric's truck!!!! No joke. Having a gang tag your truck isn't the most comfortable thing! It's scary! Life here is rough! And unlike anything we have been used to while in Idaho!!!!

Anyhow, we have had several conversations the last month that got more serious in discussing Idaho vs California..... We have decided we are going to pursue moving back to Idaho at this point. The kids call Idaho home, its what they know and love.... And we are realizing so much now, that it became home for us all. There is so much to love about life there for us!

There is a long list of reasons we have made this decision..... Prayer has been a big part of this decision..... We have really been praying constantly over this.

More than half our belongings are still in Idaho so we just need to figure out getting the things back to Idaho that we've brought here.... Eric has a job lead he's pursuing.... His letters of recommendation have been offered ;) the staff at his work are supportive of this decision and the university of Idaho in Coeur d Alene has been in contact with Eric regarding his doctorate..... We will see how it all works out.

Please please pray for us as we try and bring our family back to Idaho..... We have also been in contact with our bank there..... Looking to buy a home once Eric signs a job contract....

Please be in prayer with us in all aspects.... The kids are very anxious to get home..... We are all anxious to settle in..... And praying we let go of our anxious hearts and settle in with peace that it will all fall into place and work out.

Blood work

I had labs done this morning..... 8 tubes of blood and some other tests done.....
Eric is going to have some things done as well. We were at urgent care with him Monday with a huge mole that's been giving him a lot of trouble.... The doctor at urgent care is very very concerned over the mole so Eric will be going to the doctors Tuesday to have that looked into further. A lot of things going on medically with us.
So thankful for insurance and the ability to take care of things.

Baby Lambert

We went over to Matt and Kendra's this last weekend to watch the football championship game and to meet their newest little bundle of joy! She is beautiful and lovely!!! Welcome to the world Haley Grace! Congrats to Matt and Kendra and big sis Mackenzie!

Inauguration of president Obama

Today marked the inauguration of our president..... The Pledge of allegiance was said and "under God" was omitted. :( our nation is changing so drastically.....

Reminders.

Sweet

Riley doesn't like to read.... She's much more into doing things with her hands, building and making things..... We've been working on her taking more time to read. She seems to be okay with reading when snuggled up next to Eric as he reads his book. Sweet moment. These are moments to cherish..... Oh and she didn't whine like usual.... She has been having melt down after melt down.... Today she went by without having one! This is huge. We had a long talk about why she's been sad and what's in her heart and mind. She opened up just a little.... Hey, a little is better than not at all. Now we see into her heart a little more. Gonna work towards meeting our kids where they are at in life instead of where we want them to be at..... We need to focus on them, their needs and what's best for them. This is 2013. Lets do this!
So thankful God is helping us in this weary time. He's gonna see us through this..... We have to trust His plans for us and navigate the best for us.....

Psalms 91:14

Downtown Disney

Yaya came over for a bit and we decided to go to downtown Disney in search of some "cars" cars Riley was looking for. We went to the Legos store! Which was awesome, but Riley didn't want to get anything there.... Headed to world of Disney and she found 3 cars she didn't have...... But then she saw the Disney Polly pocket sets! Whoa! That was a hit! Yaya got her a set of Rapunzell (spelling?) and we got her a set of Ariel. She was so excited. Here's to hoping Polly pockets will be a fun addition to her play time other than Cars. ;) thanks for coming along with us. Riley had a nice weekend but she's cried missing Caelan, she's really really missed her. Eric said she was crying when caelans bus left the parking lot from church. She loves her big sis! ;) very sweet. We've tried keeping busy so Riley wouldn't get too sad and I think it's worked pretty well. Caelan comes home tomorrow. Yay!

Flying.

My dad and Kathy got us a remote control helicopter and Riley, and Eric and I took it to the park by our house. It was super fun! We were cracking up! Almost took our heads off a few times. Guess we need to learn to better control the thing!

Riley's choice

Since she was 15 months old she got into cars. The cars movie came out and she was obsessed.

I've blogged for years about Riley's fascination with cars and all she ever wants to buy at target or toys r us is another car they've come out with that she doesn't have.

This past Christmas was the first holiday ever we didn't feed into the cars thing. We didn't buy one car.
Last year, when we met with Her neurologist, in spokane, said we need to work her through to other things..... And since all of the recommendations she gave to us that day, we've tried and we made some progress and she had done so well..... So, we thought Legos would be good. She asked for legos and we were overjoyed!!!! Well, it hasn't worked..... Not yet anyway, but we are
Hopeful....

Caelan loves the Legos but, Riley is still on to the cars thing.....

Today's choice since its "her choice weekend" with Caelan gone: watch cars 2 movie.....
Line up all her cars. Have her dad play cars with her.... Then go to downtown Disney and search for 2 cars she's been wanting specifically we can't seem to find yet..... Trying so hard to move her towards other things but with her sadness lately in life we are choosing our battles..... Sorry Dr. Voltz we are right back where we started from.

Taking steps backwards is hard and that's all we seem to be doing these days.

But, maybe that's just how it seems.....

maybe we can look at it as "forward steps" because we are moving towards "what works".....

We choose to Focus on looking forward. Taking those steps, forward. ;)

Camp pictures set:1

There's a website the church is updating with photos for all the parents to see.... So here are some photos I pulled off that site.
They woke up to snow! They're enjoying chapel and off to games.....
Hope Caelan is doing ok..... Nervous hearts here. Big step going to camp for the 1st time. Big step in us letting her..... Gods got her! She'll be ok. Gotta trust! ;)

Just the 3 of us!

Caelan left for church camp early this afternoon. I can't believe it!
It'll be interesting to hear how it all goes..... It'll be a huge time of growing up! Took a camera, has to budget spending money, showering and doing her own hair all on her own.....
Basically, our kids aren't all that independent and we do a lot for them!
Probably too much. This week has shown me we need to teach them more independence...... She's gonna be in for a wild ride this weekend doing everything alone. We'll see how it goes! ;)
Riley was so sad she isn't old enough to go so we told her we'd do fun things! ;) we went to balboa island, ate at BJ's pizza, YUM! Then went to the balboa fun zone! ;) she played $2.50 in tokens and chose to ride the motorcycle with all her tokens. Then she said she wanted to go home, take a hot bath and sleep. She's so excited to have her bed to herself since the girls have had to share a room and Riley's queen size bed. We laughed! She also requested Lola to sleep on her bed with her. Lola always always always slept in Riley's room but has since stopped since moving to California. Funny request to go to bed early and sleep with her puppy. Love her simple mind simple ways.....

Library

Riley got to check out a book at the school library today. She brought this book home..... She said we could all look at it and maybe we would see how much she misses it. She flipped through the pages talking me through it all, "see and look...." And "remember this"...... "Oh and that....." "Awe...... Mom."
Breaks my heart. They love Idaho. We love Idaho. Our hearts are torn. These kids are heartbroken. Just praying through it. God will see us through.

Camp!

I can't believe I have a daughter going to camp! Wasn't she just born 2 years ago..... Often that's how it seems!
She is off to camp tomorrow. Not just any camp, but a camp place I grew up going to! Such a cool thing that its still around and she can experience something I did as a kid and a high schooler!
Please join us and pray for all the campers going, and the counselors and leaders and team at camp! Pray their hearts are open to what ever God wants them to hear. That they would build lasting memories, and have fun.
I'm sending her with a camera. Crossing our fingers she uses it, gets good pictures of her time, and that she doesn't lose the camera. ;) it's not all that expensive but we'd rather her not lose it;)

Jesus Calling.

I LOVE our nightly devotions with the girls and tonight's was perfect for today. The girls have had such a hard time and Caelan came home crying both yesterday and today from school..... Tonight we prayed for Jesus to offer His perfect peace..... Praying for my kids, for peace in their hearts and minds..... They miss Idaho. They miss their friends and are really struggling..... Pray for us. It's been super hard for us in this transition...... Caelan is struggling in school big time. Having trouble focusing, trouble with academics..... For 3 years she has learned Idaho things, state of Idaho and now history and science and such is California..... She has struggled a lot! And it's wearing on her spirit. She got a 56/100 on a test...... She's super hard on herself and has always achieved a's and things have always come easy and they aren't right now because of her inability to focus. She needs a lot of prayers..... We've been in contact with her teacher too. Hoping for better days ahead. It crushes me seeing her struggle and go through all she's going through. Riley is doing ok.... She just kinda is going through the motions day after day. She's doing ok in school, which is good. She's just struggling in other ways..... We just really need prayers, please. We appreciate all of the prayers lifted up on our behalf.