+113 Happy Memorial Day weekend!

Hello to all,

Boy has it been a long week..... When I don't get to talk to ya'll for a whole week it seems like so much happens. Last Saturday James and I turned 3!! Woo Hoo! We didn't get together with family like normal to have a big party but I still had a good day.

We have had some sickies in our family... such as my sister Sara had Pneumonia and I am on Antibiotics for a snotty nose and bad cough. James has had a bad cold all week and so has Hannah and Leah (off and on). Everyone seems to be doing better today though. Daddy still thinks that a lot of this is all allergy related since he has had some bad allergy attacks this week too. Over all we have had a good week and are very blessed!! All our friends at the R.McD House have had bumps in the road this week and really need our prayers. When we start to focus only on our problems and get a little down, it just reminds me to pray for my friends that aren't even home yet.

Today I am going to clinic to get my labs done. Shouldn't be exciting but then boring is good!! I am 3 weeks into getting off my CSA and hopefully I will get to start to wean my Mag. and Blood pressure medicines. I have another week of my Antibiotic ( which I really hate! Blah!) and then maybe I will be almost done with all these medicines. I can't believe how much God has blessed me and my family and are so thankful to you all who are praying for us. Please continue to pray as our journey continues but also please pray for all of our friends at the R.McD house ( Torie, Gracie, Danny, Mckenzie,Sydney,Liam and many more)... makes you count your blessings!!

May God bless you all and hope you have a wonderful week!!

Josiah

+106 almost 3!

Good Morning to all,

I am getting ready for my Birthday on Saturday.... James and I will be 3!!

I sure am enjoying life! My family and I are so thankful for all the Lord has done for me. I love being outside and playing with the cat, enjoy having fun with my brother and reading with my sisters... And so thankful that the Lord has brought me this far. No matter where you are or what the Lord has brought your way I pray that you will enjoy life!

Over all I am still doing well. I do have a cold right now but it hasn't gone into pneumonia like it usually does. I went to clinic today and my Echo showed that my fluid is still there but still getting better. My blood work looked really good and my platelets are 121 (finally!). My sisters and James have colds too, and I got put on some antibiotics (Augmentin) just to make sure things don't get worse. I don't know if it is allergies or just being back. But I am thankful that the Lord has kept me and my family from sickness for the past 5 months.

As we have been home so many people have thanked us for writing this blog... I can't express how thankful we are to you for following our journey!! To know that people read this and are praying is so very encouraging and has really been helpful to me and my family! Please continue to pray for our Miss Torie ( yes, our Miss Torie because she is part of our family now :), she is having some problems with kidneys and such (please refer to her blog)... she is in our prayers and I know the Lord isn't finished with this precious family!

Hope everyone enjoys their weekend!

We love you all and send lots of hugs to everyone,

Josiah and family

+101 over the 100 day hurdle!

Day 101!! Back at the beginning I thought I would never make it to this day... but here I am!

The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases!

The fluid on my heart is going away and we made it home ok. Sorry I have not shared me news before but we don't have Internet at home (and we have had a busy weekend :)! I am doing well despite our van breaking down on the way to the hospital, Sara ( my oldest sister) getting a rusty nail in her foot ( shots on Monday!), no air conditioning, unpacking ...etc. but we are home. There is no place like home. I even got to go to church this morning and everyone clapped for me that I am home safe. It has been so nice to be home in my own bed and freedom to roam from room to room. I do have another Dr. appt and an Echo on Friday and since we don't have Internet I will have to wait to say Hi till then. We pray that everyone has a blessed week.

Lots of hugs,

Josiah

+99 Home (& Echo day)

WE ARE HOME!!!!
How sweet the sound.... after being gone for 5 months it is always sweet to be home. As we started down our driveway daddy started wondering why there was flagging (surveyor's streamers :) all over our property. It was just the beginning of our sweet welcome home. We were greeted by streamers,balloons,welcome home sign (signed by family and friends),groomed yard, clean house and a stocked pantry and fridge. Not to mention visits from family we haven't seem for months. We are so very blessed!!! The Lord is good!! We can't express how much we appreciate your prayers and encouragement for our journey so far ( and continuing). The Lord has brought us so far. Our trip, thou long, was uneventful (Praise the Lord!).

Now as we get home we hit the floor running... we have an all day appointment with our Doctors here in flooded Nashville. My Echo is first, please pray for the fluid around my heart. I have been feeling so good lately mommy can't imagine the fluid building but then again the Lord is in control. If only we could see the bigger picture.
We love you all and look forward to what ever the Lord has in my future.

God bless,
Josiah and family

+98 almost home

Hello everyone,

I am on my way home!!! We are all very excited and can't wait to actually pull in our driveway. Tuesday was a long day.... packing and packing... it seemed to never end. Finally we did pull out of the Ronald McDonald house around 3:30pm. We are so grateful for the Ministry of the R.McD house, they have blessed our family so much! We only went a little ways on Tuesday and stopped at bedtime. I don't like traveling and cried almost the whole time. After a good night sleep I felt better and so did everyone else (..because I was in a better mood). We had lots of hours in the car again but my Uncle let us use his vehicle to come home and I love it ( it has my own DVD player and I can watch Signing Time all the way home :). Even though it was a long day on Wed we got to break up the day by spending a couple hours with my Great Aunt Cindy and Great Uncle Jim. They even had some delicious homemade soups, salads, and sandwiches for us when we arrived.... yumm. Also, I got to play with my cousins Dean and Sarg ( we have never met Sarg before and he is my age), it was a lot of fun. Another good night sleep and we are off today for many more hours to go.... but we are almost home! It has been such a long journey but the Lord is good, He has brought us so far. We are so privileged to have met many wonderful friends along the way. We wanted to share some of the pictures of our dear friends with you ( we didn't have a pic of everyone). We continue to pray for all the families from the Ronald McDonald house and know we have made new friendships for life!!

As you know we left one of our triplets in MN... Miss Torie is still on 5D but her bone marrow test came back that she is 93% engrafted!! Praise the Lord!! We hated to leave her behind but we know we will one day see her again... we can't wait. Also, we included a picture of Miss Gracie Larson. She is the one with the Halo on her head... but good news the Halo is off now and she has had a few really good days.
My family and I are so very grateful that you have all been there to encourage and pray for us. Even though we are almost over this hurdle our journey has just begun. Thank you for traveling with me. I love you all!

God bless you,

Josiah and family

Please pray....

We just got the news.... We are going home!! We do need prayer for our trip but also for Josiah. His Echo showed more fluid building up and they are going to put him on some steroids and send him to Vanderbilt on Friday AM for another Echo. So we make the track home in much prayer that all will be well.

Thank you all for your prayers.
We send lots of love to all,
Josiah and family

+95 Almost home!

Hello Everyone,

We have had a few long days (& nights). We have gotten to go to a farm that has lots of new baby animals. I got to pet some and absolutely love being around them (... just don't tell my Doctors). Also, we got to go to "Stars on Ice". We didn't stay the whole time but I really liked the music and my family really enjoyed it too. On mother's day the R.McD house helped my sisters make some really neat presents for mommy. I wish I could help but mommy is just happy that I am doing so well. In fact, I had another appointment today and the Dr said that I can go home.... IF (notice the big IF :) my Echo this afternoon is good and my fever stays away. That is what is making the long nights. My temp is going up and down the last few days, so we just have to watch it. I think we just have done to much, but boy was it fun! We are all praying that all is well with my Echo and then my family and I will be on our way home tomorrow. We will let you know. Meanwhile, please pray for Tori. She has several procedures today including a bone marrow biopsy and to put a line in her tummy ( plus lots more please check her blog).. all of which she has to have anesthesia. Please continue to pray for God's grace in the families life. We sure love Torie and her grandma's and are thankful they have been here with us during our time. And we can't wait.... they may get to go home next week!

Till later,

Josiah

+91 Twins & TC

Hello again,
Everything is going a little slow... boring actually, but boring is good around here. We have been finding things to do like seeing the parks and lakes. Also, the pitcher from the Twins is coming to play ball today and have a cookout. Jay and I are going to wear our new "Twins" shirt and maybe we can even get Torie to wear hers too. That would be fun.... we will try to post some pictures.

I also had clinic this morning to have blood drawn and they have told me that I need a 4 hour IVIG infusion again on Friday. I thought our infusions were done but hopefully this will help me get stronger to make my trip home... soon.
We also continue to pray for our family, friends and extended neighbors in Nashville who are underwater and dealing with all the tragedy and loss. We miss everyone greatly and can't wait to come home, all in the Lord's time.
God bless and have a wonderful day,
Josiah

+88 Delayed again

Good afternoon everyone,

Hope ya'll are having a good day despite the weather (whatever it may be). Here in Minneapolis it is slightly cloudy and around 60degrees. I went to clinic this morning to have my labs done and my Echo. The doctors tell me we can't leave for at least a week to 10 days... back to our old time schedule I guess. It makes us a little disappointed that we don't get to come home but we would do our follow up at Vanderbilt and since they are under water I guess it's good we are here. God has everything planed out, even when we don't see it :). As for my Echo the Dr. said that I still have some fluid on my heart but it hasn't gotten bigger since Saturday so we just wait and watch. I am still on extra medicine and I will see the Cardiologist next Monday.

I have been feeling pretty good, a little tired but still up to getting into things. I really like sliding my diaper off (since I have lost so much weight) and going into the bathroom and sitting on the toilet. I'm not sure what you do on it but my brother does it all the time and everyone claps for him. So I sit there for awhile then get down(.... personally I don't know what the big deal is). Since we have to be here for awhile longer I might get to meet Miss Rylie. She is coming in next week and we have heard so much about her we feel like we know her. Hope she has a safe trip.

Hope everyone stays safe with the wacky weather we have been having. As I mentioned before we are from middle TN and right now most of it is underwater... please pray for everyone's safety as the water reseeds and the clean up begins. If you want to see some pictures and are on Face book go to "I survived the great Nashville Monsoon of May 1st" or You tube go to "Nashville flood 5-2-10", it is unbelievable. We are praying for all our family and friends back home. We miss ya'll

God bless,

Josiah and family

+87 Back at the RMcD house

Good morning,

I got to come back to the RMcD house in the afternoon on Saturday, just in time to say goodbye to Pa-Paw. Pa-paw left to go home for good and almost didn't make it for all the rain that TN was getting. He did make it safely back a couple hours later then expected and all is well. I am doing good today, just taking it easy and praying that no more fluid comes back on my heart. I have a Dr. appt on Monday and they will take my labs and do another Echo. Please pray that all goes well with that. Thank you for the many prayers for me, I know our Lord is listening and blessing in every situation. Hope everyone has a wonderful Lord's day and I'll touch base with you tomorrow.

Love to all,

Josiah

P.s. Many thanks to Tori and her grandma's for our early Birthday present.... our "Twins" shirts are adorable and we love them!! Tori has a pink one and we can't wait to all get our pictures together... to bad they don't have a "Triplets" team :).

+86 God hears our prayers!

Hello to all,

Boy I can't believe how good I feel. My therapist just thought before that I was ready to go and had lots of energy... look at me now. I have been up since 6:15am after a good nights sleep ( as good as you can in the hospital) and I am so ready to go. I have been running around the room, climbing (even under my bed) and getting into everything. I took a walk in the hall and a therapist was out there, she said " I was coming to do a PT evaluation on you and you look great, eval done!" I have already had my Echo which looks really good and my labs which looked even better then they ever have. Praise the Lord, isn't it amazing how great our God is.... He sure hears our prayers (I know sometimes it's hard to wait to see the big picture, but even then He gives grace.) I am so thankful for all of you who were here for me praying and encouraging my family in times of need. All the Doctors have said that I can leave today and I am just waiting for the "go" signal... then I am outta here! :)

God bless you all and have a wonderful day!!

Josiah