Fixing the sink

Daddy and his boys fixing the kitchen sink. They changed the leaking facet to a new, wonderful, non-leaking one. Of course they all had to help Daddy!

Grandpa Schnarr's Homegoing

My Grandpa has always been a big part of my life. At times, my family lived with my grandparents, other times we lived within 1 mile of them. All in all I think 13 of my 17 years at home were spent within a short distance to Grampa and Gramma.

Several years ago Grandpa started his fight with cancer. Recently, the battle was getting worse. As a family we went to visit them both in August and in November. I am so thankful for the time we had with them.


Sunday April 3 we got word that the hospice nurses thought Grandpa would pass within 24 hours. Every time my phone rang, I held my breath thinking it was THE call. The next few days were so hard. My Grandpa preached at my wedding, he was the one we would always go to with Bible questions, he knew everything! My first job was working with Grandpa and Dad with the painting and paperhanging business and then in rehabbing homes. I used to have to pick scraps of pasted coated wall paper from my hair because "somehow" it always seemed to fall on my head. I was the "gopher" for Grandpa for a long time until I was finally a painter/paperhanger as well. When I stopped to think of my memories with Grampa and Gramma I realized I have way to many to even write down. I have nothing but memories with them. They were always around and always a part of my life. They went to my choir events, church things, any awards ceremonies from school, they were there. If I tried to list them all the list would just go on and on. I can't say I remember any particular "gift" they gave me, because any of the tangible gifts they gave me were not as important to me as what they did give... they gave me their time, their prayers, their love, and a Godly heritage!

Grampa was saved (saw himself as a sinner and knew that only God could save him through Jesus' shed blood and resurrection from the dead) around 17 years old, went to Bible college and served God in full time ministry for over 40 years. He started a few churches, pastored a few others, was a missionary, etc. Grampa and Gramma spent their lives serving God and touching thousands of lives. Other men are still in the ministry today that Grampa mentored. One of Grampa's worse pain days ever his Pastor asked him what he was looking forward to about Heaven. His Pastor thought he would answer "No more pain." But not Grampa. His answer was that he is looking forward to not sinning ever again! He knew in his pain he had said hurtful things to people he loved and was tired of a sinful world, looking forward to never sinning again! There is no doubt, Grampa knew Heaven was his home based on the Bible promise that "Whosoever calleth on the name of the Lord shall be saved." Praise the Lord! Sunday night Gramma made sure we all got to skype with Grampa. Even though he couldn't talk she said he could hear and understand still.

Later that night, based on my understanding of his vitals, he slipped into a coma. He didn't wake up again. Late on the 5th and into the 6th my aunt, cousins, and other family were there with him and started singing hymns. They then played the song that became his favorite in the last few months, "I can only imagine". After the song my aunt told Grampa that everyone was alright, that if he was at peace with God stop imagining and make it reality. When he was ready go, make Heaven a reality. A few breaths later Grampa no longer had to imagine what Heaven is like. He was there!

We left on Thursday for the services. Friday morning was the viewing then the grave side. The memorial service was later that night. Praise the Lord one of our nurses was willing to go with us and help take care of Dillon so we could sleep at night. It was a huge blessing.

The services were hard for me, not because I don't know where he is, but because I will miss him. JayDonn kept reminding me that I will talk with him again and see him again - when I get to Heaven one day. Thank you Jay! I needed to be reminded of that! Josiah sang "Celebrate Me Home" at the memorial service. You can watch that by CLICKING HERE.

We will miss you Grampa, but we are celebrating you home! Not "good bye", but "we'll see you later!"

New due date

This baby is doing well, I am finally not sick every single night! I am getting some energy back! yippee! They did move the due date from Sept 12 to Sept 10, not a big change but still. I reminded the doctor that I have fast labors and she said it is noted in my chart already! :o) They didn't seem to take me too serious when I warned them with Truett but when I only arrived 20 minutes before his birth I think they understand I wasn't joking! heehee


Dillon has been doing great. He is not on oxygen during the day and some nights he doesn't even need it now. Instead of my giant oxygen tank being filled every single week we are getting it filled every 3+ weeks! Thank you to everyone who prays for him, God has been helping him every single day. We are working on finding a place to take Dillon to get him fitted for contacts instead of glasses since it is impossible to keep glasses on him.

Nothing else has changed really... Have a good weekend everyone!

Announcing...

Baby Kuenzi #4!

Due to arrive Sept 12. At 10 weeks old and about 1.5 inches I could see him/her stretching out his/her legs, flipping around and even holding and pulling on the umbilical cord! We were surprised Jan 31 when we found out that we were having another baby, but we are excited. This little one has made me more sick than any (or all 3 of the others combined!). I have lost about 5 pounds so far b/c I have not felt like eating. It is getting a little better as time goes on. I thought I was only 4-5 weeks but I was actually 8, now I am 10. We plan to find out if it is a boy or girl this time.

PT at CHOP

Today was one of the "land" days for his PT at CHOP. Instead of being in the pool we worked with Dillon on land for the first time. He did....

GREAT!

Dillon did so good, I was so proud of him! He was trying to roll over, he stood up, he was wide awake and trying the whole hour! Great job Dillon!

Sorry the pics aren't the right way - it was going to take too long to mess with them! :o)

Here Dillon was "bridging" (if that's how you would spell it?) which is lifting his bottom off the mat. She was surprised and pleased that he was doing that right away.

Click HERE to watch the movie of Dillon trying to roll over.

Jay's Jabbering

More of Jay's Jabbering for your entertainment:

It is a sweet and sad one...
The other morning Jay woke us up about 5am outside our door crying and saying "Mommy my ear hurts, can we pray about that?" It was so sweet and yet so sad! He had a double ear infection (his first ear infection ever). He was in SO much pain. I am so happy he knew the first thing we should do is pray. It was horrible. He was crying all morning, clinging to me, just laying on the floor trying to sleep all morning, waking up from his naps and screaming. he was reapeating over and over "It hurts me!"
But, by 1pm his ear infections were gone! (I'd say praying worked!) I gave him 2 doses of oil of orangenol, 2 doses of 50% peroxide 50% water drops in the ears, and the acupuncturist worked some points on him.
I saw how much pain he was in and realized that this is the pain Dillon is often in and can't even say anything until after the ear drum ruptures. Oh Lord, please give me wisdom to know right away if Dillon gets another one!
But it was amazing, by 1pm he was fine again and hasn't had any more problems. I did a few more drops in the ear to be sure it wouldn't come back but that's it!

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Jay woke up too early this morning so I told him to go back to sleep for a bit. A few minutes later I hear...

"Mommy, I prayed and asked God to bring the sun up and He answered already! I opened my window and it is up!"
Me, still trying to sleep: "That's good Honey"
Jay "So... can I get up now?"
Me to Josiah: "Oh boy, he is going to keep us on our toes!" :o)

Dillon update

Dillon has been doing great overall. He has still been off oxygen during the day for the most part. A few times he has needed a little, but such a huge change from before!

A teen girl from church came over this week so we could do Dillon's patterning. I am thrilled! I LOVED doing his therapy again because I know how good it is for him. If you live close and are willing to help or know someone who could help 1 or 2 times a month for 3 hours please let me know!! Thanks!

The most current update on Dillon is that he aspirated on Friday afternoon and is not feeling well. We started on the oil of oragnol right away. His oxygen levels are stable but his heart rate is 150-170s, which is high but not too high. Last night the nurse had to call me several times and have me come down for an hour to help calm Dillon becuase his heart rate was over 200.

Please pray this gets under control fast! I know Truett was sick and in the past when Jay had a cold it was RSV for Dillon so I am praying this will not turn into anything more serious and that we will be able to treat him at home. Thank you for praying with me!!

Jay update

Jay is growing so fast! He is working on school books for 5-6 year olds even though he is 3.5. He does so well with school. He can write most of his letters, he knows all their sounds, he can read 3 letter short vowel sound words. He amazes me! I am getting ready to start an official "school" with him this coming week. Someone sent me this link: http://www.hubbardscupboard.org/literacy.html

on facebook and I really like it. I am using the 3 year old curriculum because I think it is important to strengthen his foundation knowledge of the Bible. So this week will be able creation. It is set up to do 3 days a week, I may try to do more or move faster through it since we don't need to work on the numbers 1-7 since he already knows them.

Truett's immunizations

Truett. Well right after Truett learned to sit and had been sitting all that day and the next, he got immunizations at the doctor. He got the 3rd in the Hep B and the first time for a flu shot. I didn't really notice at first, but Josiah did. He stopped sitting, he stopped smiling, he would stare "through" people, he could no longer pick up a cheerio without shaking (if you saw the video I posted before you would have seen the way he was acting). It was scary!

Josiah and I have decided AGAINST any more immunizations for Truett since we saw it clearly hurt him. It set him back a month in his development and I think it changed him permanently to some degree. He was so advanced with his coordination (at 22 days old he was holding his head up so well, at less than 3 months he could play with toys and push the buttons to make music, he was well on his way to crawling, he was advanced) then all of a sudden he stopped and has had to catch up again. He is sitting again, but it took till just this week for him to crawl. His coordination is not what it used to be. He still struggles to feed himself cheerios when Josiah had seen him doing it no problem at all before this flu shot. We started looking into immunizations more and found they have

• 5,000 mcg 2-phenoxyethanol which is ANTIFREEZE!
• aborted cow blood,
• 200 mcg FORMALDEHYDE!!
• sodium phosphate monobasic monohydrate which is TOXIC,
• 250 mcg ALUMINUM
• 5,000 mcg YEAST
• Neurotoxins
• Cancer causing agents such as polysorbate, and the formaldehyde
• Ground up animal carcasses
• human blood
• MRC-5 cells pieces of aborted human babies (varified by my sister's doctor who was one of the ones on the team that invented the incubators for pre-term babies!)
• Potassium chloride used in lethal injections
• Potassium phosphate a liquid fertilizer agent
• Sodium borate used for cockroach control
• Urea, metabolic waste from human urine
• Soritol which is not to be injected - but is!

Media reports that 36,000 people die each year from the flu which is why it is worth the risk of the immunization. The truth is that about 770 people die a year from it. HUGE difference. They do not have any long term testing on the safety of the flu shot and the combinations of ingredients. They GUESS which strands to include in the vaccine before flu season even starts since it takes so long to make it so you are NOT getting the strands that are the real problem this year, you are getting what they guessed to be the problem.

I just have to put this quote in here for you to read I got from some of my research:

To reduce how virulent the viruses would be once injected into the body, the viruses are strained through animal tissue or human fetal tissue, especially from late term abortions. Other tissues that have been used are chicken embryo, calf serum, monkey kidney, embryonic guinea pig cells and cells from the dissected organs of aborted human fetus.

Read more at Suite101: Cancer Causing Agents Added to the Flu Vaccine http://www.suite101.com/content/research-links-flu-vaccine-ingredient-to-potential-negative-long-a228395#ixzz1BDPHMmeS

I have always been against immunizations but Josiah was for it because he didn't know all this. He didn't know that by the time the kids are 3 they have had over 31 immunizations! Each one contains some or all of those ingredients. Would any of you give your baby antifreeze to drink? NO! So why on earth are we letting them inject it into our children!?!?!?! I don't know but I am 100% sure the doctors hurt my little Truett with it and I don't want to ever get another one. Look into it. Do research and make a decision you feel is right. Josiah and I do not have peace about giving these anymore. I am just heart broken that it took Truett being hurt by it to get us on the same page and to stop getting them.

Honestly, please don't leave any comments for immunizations. I have done a lot of research on this, both in the past and again recently. I don't care if you are for it, you can deny the evidence of what immunization can do - as my doctor did - but I saw the PROOF of it! I saw my child regress, stop using major motor skills for a month, stop using the fine motor skills and never got it back, I saw him stop interacting with my husband and I the way he once did, and not get back to normal after it. So stop listening to the people who make money by convincing you they are ok and do research. If you wouldn't give your child antifreeze then why would you give them immunizations?

So Truett is now sitting again, and started crawling this week. He is always fussy though and loves to be held. He was sick last week which may be part of his fussing. I hope so, I hope this will stop and he will be more fun-loving and content like he used to be.

Aquatic Therapy

I can only find one of my aquatic therapy pictures and it isn't loading. I don't know what's up with it. But Dillon is doing great! Every week she does better and better. The therapits has said a few times that she didn't think he would do this well. He tried to turn over in the water (rolling in the water is easier than on land, plus we help once he raises his arm to indicate he wants to). She put a mesh bag on one leg so he would get more input from the water on that leg and be thinking about it, while we were actually stretching the other leg.

I am so pleased with Dillon, I can't believe how well he is doing in there! I have always known he loves the water, but I am thrilled to learn how to use his love for water to help him!

Make a Wish has approved Dillon for an endless pool so we can do therapy with him every day! I am so excited! The only hang up is they don't pay to have it installed or the sunroom/enclosure needed so he can use it year round. So Josiah and I are trying to figure out what to do in that area. I am so thankful we will be able to do this therapy with him... soon... hopefully!

Family Arrives

Josiah's family started arriving on the 30th. His parents, sister and her boyfriend, brother and his wife, other brother and his girl friend, and his Grandma all came.

Everyone.

Aunty Hannah brought a gingerbread house to make with Jay. He had a blast!

We went to Philadelphia (Penn's Landing) for New Year's Eve to bring in the New Year for the fire works. The fireworks were cool, but there was some loud music. Dad and Mom had a good idea... to bring in the New Year we stood together and sang Amazing Grace! I don't know if any one even really heard us, but what a cool way to bring it in, and God heard!

I honestly can't remember the order of everything we did while they were here but it was fun. We went to Philly one day (Liberty Bell, Betsy Ross house, etc) We went to Lancaster one day. (Dillon stayed behind with the nurse as itw as cold and a lot of driving and just not his thing.)

We had fun playing games in the evening (even if the guys do cheat!) and talking with each other. Thank you everyone for taking the time to come here!



We took Grandma to this little Swiss place near us that makes their own ice cream and chocolates. They have their family history back to Switzerland on the wall. Grandma is from Switzerland.



Wow, another full year come and gone. We are now in 2011! I can't believe how fast time goes. I graduated high school in 2003! I got married in 2005! Wow! What did we do for Christ in this last year? What more can I do for Chirst in this coming year.

Christmas 2010!

Christmas 2010, come and gone! Wow, can you believe it? This year it was just the five of us, I still am amazed at the fact that there are five of us! But anyways, my parents were unable to come for Christmas and Josiah's family came a few days after so we had a quiet day together.

We woke up, had some breakfast, read the Christmas story then opened one or two presents. Then through out the day the boys opened gifts slowly... so slowly in fact they even had some for the next day. We had a nice big lunch and just enjoyed the day together. We played, sang songs, watched a movie, etc.

Thank you Lord for another year to celebrate your birth. Thank you for being born, leaving a perfect throne in Heaven to come to this earth full of sin where you suffered for me. Thank you Lord.

Catch up - again

It seems all I do on my blog anymore is "catch up". I'm sorry for those who do try to follow my blog that I haven't been keeping up. I will go through several different blogs so they are under the proper title so please bear with me!

Jay's Jabberings

For your enjoyment these are brought to you by Jay:

Daddy: Do you know what that is? (pointing to a wreath)
Jay: A round Christmas Tree!

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Jay praying before bed: And thank you Jesus that I could exercise in China and that Truett's umbilical cord fell off.


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Jay praying before bed: And please help Mommy to get saved when she grows up so she can go to Heaven with you. (He has also prayed this for Daddy)


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I know there are more, but I can't think of them. I will try to keep adding as I remember these cute little things.

Aquatic Therapy

Dillon's first aquatic therapy went great! He did wonderful! He relaxed into the water and let the water stretch him. I learned how to move him and do some things with him. We got some great pictures - but the nurse accidently took the camera home with her so on Tuesday I can post them! :o) I think he is really going to enjoy aquatic therapy! (MY legs do NOT like it so much though!)

I can't wait to learn more (in two weeks we go again) Now I need to find an indoor pool nearby that would let me take Dillon in and work with him a few times a week...... any suggestions?

Daddy's Birthday

Yesterday was Daddy's 28th birthday! Jay helped me decorate and make a cake. Then Jay sang Happy Birthday to Daddy. Click here to watch it.

Check out the video to see the card Jay made. I was upstairs while he was working on the card. I came down to see that he wrote " H P B" He knew those were some of the letters in Happy Birthday all on his own. Then I told him the letters to write and he wrote Happy Birthday all on his own! He is doing very well. He is reading some words now and is trying to learn more. Everytime I turn around he is reading a book now.

For Daddy's birthday Truett got Daddy a new tooth! His first tooth came through yesterday! One more is almost here, hopefully soon! He has been cranky and runny nose because of them! Click here for Truett's first cheerios

Happy Birthday Josiah! We love you!

Dillon's friend

We went to Dillon vision class again today and his friend was there. Addison is a little girl who loves Dillon. She wants to be near him all the time and she wants to know all about him. Her teacher told me when she wasn't wanting to work this week the teacher told her she needed to do her work if she was going to play with Dillon since she talks about him a lot. She is a sweet little girl! :o)

JayDonn

The other day in the car Daddy said something about Dillon walking one day. Without missing a beat Jay answers

"He will one day when we get to Heaven. Yes. He will."

Oh what a day that will be! I can't wait to see my baby run and jump and play and if I have to wait till I step into eternity to see it I will!

I really need to write these down as they happen because I forget by the time I go to write them in here!

Salvo Photography

This was the first time we ever had professional pictures takes so I love them!!

My little goof ball...

Daddy and his sleepy boys

I wonder what he is thinking?

This was near the end of the photo shoot and Jay was getting hyper so he wasn't in this one!

Beautiful sleeping boys. I LOVE LOVE LOVE this one!

and I LOVE LOVE LOVE this one too!

I can't believe how much he has changed since these were taken a few months ago!

My sweet baby Dillon!

Too bad his hair isn't dark like Daddy's any more

This is my favorite family shot!

Can you tell who the clown in the family is?

Thanks Raquel for taking these!

Truett sat up!

Truett sat up today on his own. I was upstairs and he was in the basement with the nurse when she called me to look quickly. There was Truett sitting up! Congrats baby Truett you are growing up! ok now you can stop! :o)

I didn't get the picture from the first time, but then later in the evening he did it again! Here are the pictures from the second time he sat by himself...