Basketball Weekend

Grandma Powell came earlier last week to hang out with Micah while Barb worked long hours with a council meeting. At the end of the week, Grandpa Powell & Uncle Johnny came for the basketball tourney. Micah & Grandpa are reading the atlas & charting their course for their next train show/farm toy show visit.
Sunday Morning Micah was on a sugar high...any wonder?? Ahhh...Grandparents :)

A lil' glimpse of the Basketball Wonder.... he's number 21!

After the first game, Micah started to understand that his dad couldn't come over to him everytime he ran up and down the court. The second and third game he was able to sit and watch better. He was always ready for the end of the game when he could run up and down the court. Steve can't wait for the Father/Son Tournaments.

This is the day after Steve sandbagged in Fargo..I was proud that he could raise his arms this high.

Micah checkin' out his train layout again...

Blizzard AGAIN

Just yesterday you could see the GRASS and the GROUND was bare...by tomorrow they say we should have 20 inches of SNOW. It is C-R-A-Z-Y! Of course these pictures don't do the BLOWING and dirfting of snow justice. I barely made it out of the alley and obviously won't be making it back in the garage. We were all sent home from work early as the parking lot was quickly being taken over by huge drifts of snow. The minivan was able to plow through so I got home. Ahhhh...these are the days I really miss the Blazer.
Steve's haulin' in the recycling bin before we can't find it any more...

We haven't seen this many birds at our feeders in a long time...poor birds...they must be so confused...WE are so confused!

Cereal Boy

Here's our big boy sitting & eating his cereal BY HIMSELF on the couch.

(not too smart as shortly after this picture he & the couch were wearing the cereal)

Just Sunday Micah and I were out walking around the block, sloshing through puddles and getting our shoes/boots stuck in mud! Literally. Micah ventured off the sidewalk (big shocker!) and I had to get him out of the mud. In the process, my tennis shoe got stuck and stayed there. So, Micah and I are standing on the sidewalk as I'm calling Steve to come and rescue my shoe (and us). I really should have taken a picture. The look on Steve's face was classic as he walked up to us.

Prayer Update

SuperJoey Update:
Last Thursday, March 26, 2009 8:55 AM, CDT Mark writes: "Hello all....Sadly, SuperWill was not a match for SuperJoey. It sounds like it will just be more intense chemotherapy in SuperJoey's future. We'll find out more at his next appointment on Monday, 3/30.Thanks for continuing to send us your hopes & prayers!The Jeglosky's"

Today, Monday, March 30Mark Writes:"It is good to have an end to journey toward; but it is the journey that matters, in the end." ~ Ursula K. Le Guin
So begins the next chapter of OUR journey.....
SuperJoey will be admitted into Children's Hospital/Mpls tomorrow at 9:00 and he will spend 4 days there getting the hardcore chemo this next phase requires. His week will consist of lots of chemo, spinal and otherwise. He should be back home with us Saturday. We will do the hospital admittance 3 times, every 2 weeks during this phase.
After dealing with the bad news from the last 2 weeks the best we could, we are all ready to dig in again and take on this next battle. It's gonna be even longer now, so we might as well hit it hard and not look back, right?
SuperJoey's physical therapy (PT) went very well. His legs are responding very nicely to the splints and he may go to a shorter, ankle high splint soon.Thank you for your wonderful thoughts, prayers and well wishes!
Hop on board...the phase 4 train is leaving...we need you on TEAM SUPERJOEY, so jump on, we've got room for you all!Love,Team SUPERJOEY

Micah Nelson Update:His appointment went well last week. The doctors did find some concerns with his vision so he will be going to a vision specialist in a couple weeks. After that appointment, then they will determine what is next.

Jim Sedore:Keep praying for his upcoming surgery and time with his family.

Fargo/Moorhead:
Pray for the flooding and the countless people it is affecting.

Thanks so much...Barb

Micah & Mommy!

Crazy sleeping pattern and all....I love him to pieces!!! My not-so-little lil' boy! He's growing up so quickly.

Home Scenes

Playin' upstairs with Daddy...

Yes, here we have Micah standing in front of the train video brushing his teeth while trying to get dresses. Look at those cute lil' legs!

More upstairs playin' with dad...

Another shot of that cutie...

Yum...Yum...yum....waffles & bacon!

Playin' Around the House!

Here we have Micah...the lil' bear...being chased by a BIG BEAR!

Abercrombie, North Dakota

Steve has been preaching at the Lenten Services on Wednesday night at a neat country church in Abercrombie, ND. Abouot 45 miles from here. Micah and I have gone a few nights...we get back so late that it doesn't always work well. Usually when we are there, Micah and I spend the time in the basement fellowship hall/nursery room. Here's Micah going up the "ramp" to the upstairs. It has a bit of a "steep grade" so that adds a bit of excitement to our nights!


This is a small river near the church, swelling, and threatening to take over the parking lot!

This is the church...it has Beautiful Stained glass windows.

As we're approaching the church...this is the view...

Interior & Exterior

Some of you are aware my husband is an AVID (maybe obsessive is the correct term) FARM TOY COLLECTOR. In this house we don't have the capacity for him to have his own ROOM of Farm Toys...thus he is SPREADING them out a bit. He is pretty clever & has found that the crown molding is a fine place to display some of his 1/64th scale collection. Thankfully, the molding around the windows downstairs is not quite wide enough! Here are some shots of his recent interior decorating.

Micahs' room

His office.

We've also been experiencing some Spring Melting...this is the small moat that was beginning to form around our house.

This is from the house to the garage...I guess we won't be abandoning the boots yet!

Super Joey

Hello praying friends…thought I would send another prayer request your way. This is “SuperJoey” the son of a friend from high school.

This is from his Caringbridge site:
Hello...My name is Joey and I am the youngest son of Mark & Sharon Jeglosky. I am 4 years old and I have a big brother, Will, who is 5 years old.I was diagnosed with Leukemia on Monday, Dec. 1st, 2008. I found out Tuesday, Dec. 2nd, that it is the "ALL" type, (Acute Lymphocytic Leukemia), which if I have to have Leukemia it has a very good percentage for cure.I began my treatment Wed. Dec 3rd, during my stay at Childrens Hospital and came home Saturday, Dec. 6th. I am doing extremely well considering all I am going through and have taken on the name "SuperJoey".I started my 2nd phase of treatment on 1/7/09. Up to now all blood tests results have been good and treatment is going very well.I started my 3rd phase of treatment on 2/4/09. The blood tests continue to come back very good and I am handling treatment with great courage!Everyone's support has been amazing!!Thanks to you all for your thoughts & prayers and keep them coming please!!Love & blessings,"SuperJoey" JegloskyToday

(3/17) Mark writes:I don't have much to say....not what sure to say.....Dr Bostrom just called and SuperJoey's chromosome doubling situation has a name: Doubling of the Hypodiploidy.After numerous conversations with other doctors, Dr Bostrom thinks that there might possibly be a bone marrow transplant in SuperJoe's future. Sucks......We have to bring Will down to Thursday's appointment and have his blood tested for a match.Thoughts are blurry.....Faith is pushed......Feelings are numb........Thanks for listening and keep the prayers rolling please!Mark

3/19 Mark writes:

It feels like we are starting all over....It feels like we took 2 steps foward and now we are taking 5 steps backwards.We expected a lot of ups and downs, but to go from everything being exactly where we wanted it to be, to a bone marrow transplant, well...it feels like the first day we found out all over again.Big brother Will was a "star" today. He had his blood taken and he is very much aware why and can't wait to hopefully help his best friend out!Now we wait.....the results of Will's blood test should be back in a week. If he's a match, a bone marrow transplant will happen. If he's not a match, then the bone marrow transplant probably will not happen. Please pray that Will is a match! God, I pray he's a match!SuperJoey's percentage of cure went from an 80% chance down to a 50-50% chance...a flip of the coin...are you kidding me? No words...no answers.We need another miracle...please help us in making it happen! PRAY, PRAY, PRAY (I know you are & will)Love,SuperJoey, SuperWill and their Side-kicks

Micah Nelson Update

Sarah Nelson writes:

Just got back from our consult with Dr. Dinsmore. He is a GREAT doc. Took his time with Micah, had good communication with us, and told us that he would have to refer us to a pediatric neuro specialist in Marshfield. (A nearly 4 hour drive south of here.) They had hoped to do the CTA and EEG today here in town, but Micah needs to be sedated for the CTA, even though it is much shorter than the MRI. They aren't equipped to do that in our small hospital. :( So, Dr. D. is getting that set up for us next week. There's a chance we can do the CTA in Marquette, which would be closer. He's going to work on scheduling it and will let us know what day next week it will be. He is willing to do gen'l observation on Micah after the tests, but he is an adult neuro and feels Micah's needs warrant a specialist.Thank you for your prayers. We wait.

--
Thank you for continuing to pray for our friends!
More info on us sometime this weekend...

Prayer & Blizzard Update

Micah Nelson has an appt. Friday morning with the Neurologist who will be in Ontanogan. Tests will be done the same day! Thanks for all your prayers!

And yes...we're in the midst of a blizzard here in Fergus Falls! The interstate is closed, most of the area was shut down today. The wind has been whippin' around turning the motion sensored light into a strobe light! Steve didn't have school today so stayed home with Micah. They had a good time around the house & at the grocery store. Played with trains, put tractors on the molding around the windows, and watched a few videos. Steve was even able to get a little homework done while Micah napped. As I was leaving work I had to plow through a huge snow drift that had conveniently located itself in front of the car. Ahhh.... it's days like today I long for the Blazer. Maybe again someday.?.

Praying you are safe & warm.

Micah Nelson Update

Sarah wrote the following at 1:30pm Monday:
Thanks everyone for your prayers for Micah and for us.His MRI showed two items of concern that we are going to be finding more out as soon as we find a doctor who will take his case here. Currently his file is sitting on a neuro doc's desk in Hancock, and he is deciding if he will take Micah as a patient or not. Please pray for guidance for him and for us. Otherwise, we will be driving to Marquette more than likely to see a specialist there asap.Micah's MRI showed a possible small aneuyrsym in his right carotid artery. We origanally understood this to be in the left, but it is in the right. Also, they found multiple lesions throughout the brain, consistent with his Neurofibromatosis Type 1. He will be having a CTA and some additional heart exams to decide treatment, if necessary and possible.As you can imagine we are all saddened, but not all together surprised as we knew that this is what his NF could hold for him. Please continue to pray for him, for his medical caregivers, and for us.

At 5:15am Today (Tuesday) Sarah writes:Barb and Friends - thank you all so much for praying for our Micah during this time. We hope, hope, hope to hear from the doc today as if he will see Micah or not, or if we have to pursue another specialist. The good news is that the abnormalities in his brain scan have not affected our son's love for life, nor his activity level. We take that as a good sign. Your prayers are so appreciated!

Another Prayer Update

Thank you for your prayers for our friends. Sarah especially wants me to thank you and continue praying. Friday the pediatrician in Tennessee was able to get all the paperwork faxed to the doctor in Hancock, MI. Pray that tomorrow there will be an opening to get Micah in for the testing he needs with the neurologist. God must have known she needed something to keep her mind off of Micah's situation as she found herself with another son in the emergency room last night with an inner & outer ear infection. Needless to say, she is lacking sleep at this point. Continue to pray: 1)Sarah to keep it together emotionally for herself & the family, 2)her husband Dave as he has a busy week with many visits to make, 3) they are caught between insurance--leaving one, starting another...pray that at least SOME THINGS will be covered, 4)"Big" Micah--a miracle of healing.

--this is "little Micah" asking you to pray--

Weekend Pics

Grandma & Grandpa Powell & Uncle Johnny visited Friday night to Saturday. Grandpa brought a few new pieces to Micah's train layout. A helicopter landing, a tunnel and bridge. Micah was pretty excited. He had Grandpa crawling all over the floor much of the 24 hours they were here.
They also watched the "All About Trains" video. It's hard to tell who's having more fun!

Micah & Grandpa & Grandma Powell

Misc. Photos

Our Little Reader

Our Little Cell Phone user. He likes to talk on the phone. He likes to push the buttons on the phone. He likes to hang up on people.
He also deleted all of his dad's contacts on his cell phone. UGH.

Our "friends?"...birds, squirrels and bunnies visit our bird feeders. We attract chickadees & sparrows mostly...but did have a woodpecker the other day!

Please Pray

Please Pray…I received a call from a dear friend and the doctors have found an abnormality on the brain of their 5 ½ old son adopted from Korea that they believe is a brain aneurism. They have just moved to the UP of MI (last Friday) so they need to find a new neurologist to do more testing. His name is Micah and the parents are Dave & Sarah Nelson. Dave is a pastor in the AFLC. They have 6 children and Micah is the youngest. We became close with them when we were in DeWitt, IA.

Thank you for your prayers.

Esther, Micah & Micah

"Big" Micah & "Baby" Micah in July 2008

"Baby" Micah & "Big" Micah, August 2008

The Nelson's (minus oldest son, Joe...oh, and Ben is hiding behind Sarah)

August 2008...we met up with them in Nashville.

The Wilson's Visit

Our friends, the Wilson's (Jeremy, Shannon & Anora), were here checking out the area last weekend. Jeremy is interested in going to Seminary so they were here to get the lay of the land, meet with professors, and check into other things. We had a really good time with them!

Micah liked hanging out with Jeremy, telling him all about life.

As you can tell, Micah was a little TOO friendly at times...here you see him trying to pull Anora's hair!

I think in this picture he's trying to take her stuffed animal. How sneaky of him!

Yes...our handsome lil' boy still models the pacifier on occasion.