Disappointing News

So we heard from the East coast doctors regarding Mia's scoliosis.  The news was what we kind of anticipated, but we wanted to remain hopeful that the experts in the field might be able to do something different with Mia's special case.  So, now we have some big decisions ahead of us.  At what point do we absolutely need to do surgery for Mia's back?  Is it better to wait or not to wait?  How much of her back should be fused?  I guess what is so heart wrenching for us at this point is knowing that if we do end up having surgery, the chances of further risk and degeneration of her back from the surgery are high.  It's not really a matter of "if" the degeneration will happen, but "when"... and there are pain and problems with that which are just so discouraging to us to even think about.  That in itself makes me want to hold off as long as possible, but correcting a smaller curve is easier than correcting a larger curve.  If her back were to not change at all from this point forward, I think the doctors would agree that she would not need a surgery, but knowing scoliosis, that would be a miracle.  So, please be praying with us and for us as we sort out everything. 

Back In The Saddle

Mia started up at MARE again.  She's been riding there since Calvin was a baby--she had just turned 3 when she started riding.  Her birthday is coming up, so we are nearing on 8 years of riding at MARE!  When she first started riding, she rode a tiny horse named Sally.  Her horse was about the size of those at pony rides that people take kids to when they are little.  Now that she is older, she rides a huge horse - Haven.  We love Haven.  Haven is a sweet horse and does really well with Mia.  Her riding instructor this year is the same instructor she had the first time she went to MARE.  This instructor had left and is now back, so it is neat to see her again and for her to see how much Mia has changed.  She is a great instructor, so we are excited for her to be back at MARE. 

So I found some pics, and here is Mia's first ride in November of 2010!!!  She was so tiny!

Scoliosis

Parenting is not easy.  When Mia was born with all of her complications, Brad and I were naive to hospitals and doctors.  We just assumed that everything would always work out and trusted the opinion of the doctor we saw.  We never thought to question much of anything because they were the expert in the field.  Now we are a bit older and hopefully a bit wiser, which makes everything more difficult.  Now when we go about making decisions for Mia or the boys, or even us, we tend to get multiple opinions before making a decision.  Mia has had scoliosis for awhile now and we've attempted a few different non surgical interventions with not much success.  Now that she has had some growth spurts, her scoliosis has worsened and we are coming upon a point where we need to decide if surgical intervention is what she needs and when it should happen.  It makes my mama heart heavy to think about another surgery for our daughter.  She's older now and much more aware of things that happen and even though she is an extremely tough cookie, she does not like hospitals.  I don't blame her either.  So, we've gotten two opinions from doctors in California that both agree, her scoliosis needs a surgical intervention...the one thinks sooner rather than later.  As I'm writing this, I just emailed her x-rays away to another set of doctors on the east coast for a third opinion.  We will wait to hear from them and then move forward in figuring out what is best for Mia.  Part of me wants to run away and hide under a blanket and just hope it figures itself out, but as parent, I can't do that.  So, will you pray with us as we look to God for answers on timing and what our daughter needs.  The thought of surgery seems so final and she is so young, so I need peace in waiting on God and trusting in Him for this. 

Lost Teeth, Dinosaurs and More

Calvin has had a wiggly tooth for awhile now and finally pulled it out a few days ago.  Now he is ready for to be a Jack-O-Lantern for Halloween. 

And of course Halloween is one of his favorite holidays, so he had to spend some of his birthday money on a T-Rex dinosaur that roars and has glowing eyes.  It's almost 3 ft tall and has now become his buddy at home.  We will see how long that lasts. 

School officially started for all of the kids Tuesday/Thursday programs.  This the first time Asher is away at school for an extended period of time.  He told me it was 1000 thumbs up on Tuesday when I picked him up.  :)

And Mia started swim lessons.  She is over the moon happy with that.  She might be part fish with how much she loves being in the water.  The boys have been going since the start of summer, but we wanted to do private lessons for Mia with her seizures and since we had so much going on this summer, we waited until things settled down now.  She's having a blast.