A terribly sad story. Prayers Please!

There is a blog called Nie Nie Dialogues, that i have been following for some time. As a blogger myself, I loved reading what came from her heart. She had a special way with truly enjoying the little things in life. She took pride in motherhood and continually made me think "I wish I thought of that, ok, well at least I can now 'borrow' that idea!" I found comfort in her life and faith in God, and the pure love their little family of 6 had for eacheother. Yes, she is only 27 years old, but a beautiful mother of 4! Hearing this news the other day when I checked in on her blog completely devistated me:

Stephanie (Nie Nie) and her husband Christian were in a plane crash on Saturday evening. From what they can tell, the plane crashed shortly after take-off in Eastern Arizona. The flight plan was to refuel, side-skirt a storm and head home. There were three people on board, Stephanie, Christian and his flight instructor. The flight instructor's condition was most severe following the crash. He passed away that evening. Christian was admitted with burns cover 30% of his body and a broken back. Stephanie entered with burns covering 80% of her body.

The doctors are focused on their burns right now, and they are still in critical condition. All other fractures and internal organs checked out to be fine. The burns are severe and will need surgeries, grafts and most of all, loads and loads of time. It is still very touch-and-go as it pertains to their survival and recovery . . . Stephanie being more critical than Christian.

As of September 25th, Stephanie continues to fight! Doctors have not updated her status of very critical condition. Although she is starting to react more to outside stimulus, she continues to be in a medically induced coma (and probably will be for months). Last week's skin graft surgery (using her own skin, if you will recall) was successful. Doctors wanted at least 30% to take (typically, the body does not accept the whole skin graft) and we were told that 50% took. Of course this means that she will have many surgeries in the future. In fact, she will have another skin graft (her own skin again) on Friday. Thus the life of a burn patient. There is a very long road ahead for the whole family. Not just emotional and physical, but also monetary. Their medical bills are already at $2 million and their insurance has a "lifetime maximum" of $1 million. It is estimated that Stephanie's expenses alone will be around $5 million.

I am so deeply saddened since hearing about this tragedy. My heart just breaks for this family. I haven’t stopped thinking or praying for them since I heard about them on the news. They are a very strong family of faith and love- for eachother and for God. Through Him they will get through this. But I still can’t help all of the thoughts racing through my head of my fears for this family. Along with the prayers of recovery (currently Stephanie has a 60%-80% recovery rate) I wonder will their four beautiful children even recognize their mother after this is all done? Will Stephanie ever feel beautiful again? I am just so very sad. Please take some time and read some of Nie Nie Dialogues. Through these journals you will also fall in love with this family, just as I have. Stephanie’s sister, Courtney has taken over her journal (along with 3 of their 4 children- the baby went to another sister) to keep everyone up to date on the status of the family. If you would like to read her own personal blog as well, please click here.

Please keep this family in your thoughts and prayers. If you would like to help in any way, all information regarding how can be found here.


My heart is with you Nielson family!

Johnny Appleseed Festival at Mapleside Farms

Yesterday was a really great family day! We decided to go up to Mapleside Apple Farm because they were having their 35th Annual Johnny Appleseed Festival. These fall fest's are always such a great time here- lots of great food, vendors and music. Bonnie was also going to be coming up with the girls and Jill and Granny, so it would make it even more fun.

We got there first and made our way inside to check out the Apple House and all the yummy homemade goods. They were handing out Apple Cider Slushies (Yumm-o!) and also a taste of a relatively new Apple called Honey Crisp. They were sooooooo delicious. Keep your eyes out for these; they seriously were the best apple's I ever had. Aside form the apples, Jackson’s favorite part of the Apple House is definitely the huge buffalo head above the fireplace. We had to look at it and talk about it for forever! He has a stuffed buffalo that Grammy and Pop brought him home from South Dakota, so he recognized it right away. Although this one was MUCH bigger!

Next we decided to head on down to the festivities outside. After smelling all the yummy food it didn't take long to realize we were starving. So we headed over to the food tent for lunch and to listen to some music. The food was just excellent (not your normal "fair food") But then again, Mapleside has their own restaurant. Jackson got to try his very first corn on the cob. At first he didn't know what to do with it, but once he got his first taste he just wanted more and more! It was too darn cute. He eventually got really good at biting the corn off the cob, and was loving every bit of it.

After lunch Bonnie and their crew arrived so we headed over to the face-painting booth so Anna could get her's done. Boy was it beautiful! Her entire face was done in pink swirls, and adorned with a jewel and glitter. After she was done you could just see how beautiful she looked and felt. It was really sweet. Next it was on to the pony rides. Jackson just enjoyed running around and looking at everything free of a stroller so just the girls decided to ride. Sophie was just to cute- all her squeals and smiles! She loved it!

The rest of the day we wandered around looking at all the booths, getting some fun freebies (like Jackson's new shades?!) and enjoying the great music they had playing. It was really a wonderful day. After such a stressful past week with Jackson being sick and all- this was much needed. For all of us.

By 3:00 we were pretty tired after all the sun and people so we thought we would head home to relax. We thought all our excitement was done for the day until we were on our way home and North Royalton was having their Fall Fest. We spotted the whole tree lawn of the town square FULL of tractors. We absolutely had to stop for this one. If you didn't already know, our little Jackson ABSOLUTLY LOVES tractors. Every kind, big ones, little ones, you name it. We even had to get him a book on tractors so he could look at them all day long (which he does, believe it or not!). So seeing this many at one time and so many different ones up close, he was in heaven. He couldn't contain his excitement, running from one to the next with his little fists clenched like he does when super excited. This was by far the highlight of the day.

When we got home every inch of Jackson just shined with happiness. All he was doing was dancing (lots of "happy feet"), playing with his new balloon, kissing us, kissing the kitties, and talking about tractors nonstop. Our Happy Little Man is back to us- finally. It was a good, good day for all of us.

Jackson vs. Roseola

This was by far the hardest week I have ever had with Jackson. On Tuesday, from what seemed like out of nowhere, Jackson developed a pretty high fever and was extremely whiny and clingy. He didn't know what he wanted- wanted to be held, and then wanted nothing to do with you, hitting and screaming, then playing and kissing. He had really no appetite and hasn’t even wanted much of his bottles. It was a huge and pretty scary roller coaster. At first I thought that maybe he was just teething but he was just getting more and more demanding and angry which isn't like him at all. He is usually so loving and tender. But whatever was bothering him was affecting him so badly that he couldn't express it in words so he just got extremely frustrated.

On Thursday we had his 18 month Well Baby Check Up so I just figured I would bring him in there and ask Dr. Biglow about what in the heck could be wrong with him. Since he didn't have any other signs of illness, like coughing, sneezing, etc. she said that he probably just had a viral infection of some kind and to just keeping doing what we have been with keeping him comfortable and giving him his Motrin every 6 hours to keep his fever down. She said that he very well could have Roseola which is a viral infection that consists of a high fever lasting 3-5 days and then as soon as the fever breaks they develop a light pink rash that starts in their torso and then can spread to their arms, legs and face. It isn't itchy and shouldn't bother the child. The good news is that once the rash breaks out they will be better in just a day or two. We just had to wait it out and see what happens.

Well yesterday was a very testing day on how good of a mommy I really could be. Jackson hasn't been napping well, only about an hour a day when normally he sleeps 2-3 hours. He wakes up still tired, and completely angry and crying. There was nothing I could do to calm him down. On Thursday he did the same thing but I was able to take him outside and after an hour of crying he finally calmed down and we sat outside in our bare feet and ate O's and drank juice. But unfortunately yesterday was a rainy mess. No going outside for us. It took me 2 hours and lots of tears (I must admit in both of us) to finally calm him down. I know that I would need to try and keep it together because me getting upset would only make things worse on his end. I also know not to take it personally but after a week of crying, whining, restlessness and then bouts of rage in between it was hard to understand that it wasn't just me and that all of a sudden my child now hates me. But the thing is that as soon as he would finally calm down and the Motrin would kick in he was Mr. Love Bug again, hugging and kissing me. I am not one that recovers so quickly from frustration and tears, so we were both on one big huge emotional roller coaster!

Well thankfully this morning Jackson woke up seeming more himself. Scott let me sleep in so I could recover after such a difficult day and working that night (what an amazing husband!). Once I woke up though around 9:00, Jackson started getting cranky again. I couldn't help but wonder yet again "Is it me?!". But after having some calming quiet time with Daddy on the chair Scott noticed a rash that was beginning to develop all over Jackson tummy and back. After a little bit it started spreading to his face and neck. Well sure enough our Little Man does indeed have a case of Roseola. What a relief to finally know what in the heck is wrong with our sweet baby. The best news is that we are now in the final stages of the infection. The rash can last anywhere from a few hours to a couple days but he should be back to his silly self by hopefully Monday-- My sanity depends on it!

Labor Day Weekend

This past Labor Day weekend was a big one for all of us- especially Little Man. On Saturday we had Neil's cousin, Johnny's wedding. This was a big deal because all of our usual babysitters were going to be busy. My parents and Bonnie and Neil were all going to the same wedding and Sandy and Don were leaving for their vacation the day before. So we all were going to be very brave and all of the kids (Anna and Sophie and Jackson) were to be babysat by Tesa, Neil's 15-year-old cousin. Now, Tesa has watched Anna and Sophie many times, but it was going to be the first time for Little Man. We were only in Lakewood so if anything were to happen we could run over there ASAP, so we were feeling pretty good about the whole thing. And boy am I glad we did. Jackson was so good! He had a blast with Tesa and the girls. Since he is so comfortable with the Stenger's house and with both of the girls being there with him things went really well. I guess it was a little difficult getting the babies to bed, but we figured it would be that way. But Tesa handled it all very well, and when we all got home the babies were all happy and sound asleep in their beds like angels. It is such a good feeling knowing that we now have another babysitter if we needed one in a pinch.

On Sunday, after Jackson's nap, we met up with a few of the other Kanengeiser's out at Rick and Judy's house to go to the Geauga County Fair. What a blast this was! Unfortunately Judy wasn't able to join us due to a twisted knee, but Uncle Bob, Aunt Deb and even Sara who is was in town from Toledo University (!) , Grandma K, and Aunt Peggy (Judy's sister) along with Rick and our crew, we were a pretty good bunch! From what I learned, this fair is the longest running fair in the country! And boy, is it a lovely one! We all had a blast- Jackson especially. I knew he would enjoy the people watching and all the animals but I wouldn't have guessed he liked it this much! It was so cool seeing all these animals up close and being able to touch all the farm animals too. Little Man got such a kick out of touching the cows and goats. It was so cute! Plus we all shared Fair French fries with ketchup and malt vinegar- one of all our guilty favorites! Jackson’s new favorite thing lately by the way is ketchup. Yummy, does he gobble that stuff up!!!

Another pretty special thing for Jackson was he got to ride rides! OK, one ride. But he rode it three times! He was only old enough to ride the merry-go-round, but oh my goodness did he love it! I could have died just watching the look of joy and hearing the squeals from him! First he rode it with Daddy, and then we wandered around the fair a bit. When we came back to the merry-go-round he rode it one more time with me and then with Grandpa right after because he loved it so much he didn’t want to get off! We have wonderful pictures from it but they will be coming later because they are in print form. I need to upload them to the computer so check back soon! This really was a fantastic day!

On Monday, Labor Day, we all headed over to my parents house to celebrate my dad’s birthday. It was a perfect afternoon- the weather was beautiful, excellent company and great festiveness all around. It got pretty warm by late afternoon so my parents pulled out the sprinkler and we let the kids go crazy and play in the water. Usually Sophie and Anna are the daredevils, flying through the water and dipping their faces in it while Jackson stays off to the edges and just lets the mist hit him- but not today. Today he was super brave and ran right into the water, put his head and hands right in it, and just had tons of fun! I was so proud of him!

Over all it was a super busy weekend. But it was a really great one with lots of family time and lots of fun experiences.