Life as a Leach

We carved pumpkins with Emily and the kids!  We had a good system going:  Matt dug out the pumpkins while we sifted through to pull out the seeds.  Later, I washed and roasted them...yum! Then we started in on the actual carving and decorating.  Emily was a big help with this!  She is so good with the kids. Caleb drew his and carved some of it.  Matt helped too.  Pretty fun! Abby wanted Elsa.  (shocker!)  I printed off a template and did my best...it looked better the further away you were.  Close up, the general consensus was that she looked more like Ursula from The Little Mermaid.  :o/ Emily's mom sent some very cute decorations, so we used them for our third pumpkin.  The kids had a lot of fun decorating this one! Cuteness!

Emily just fits right in with our family.  She jumps right in and helps with the kids, chats easily, and just seems to be one of us!  I am so thankful that God sent her to us.  We ALL love her! After church on Sunday, we visited a local farm.  Our family tends to make the farm circuit around this time of year because we really enjoy the fall festivals. The first places we hit were the moon bounce and slide.  Abby was really excited...until we got over there and she saw all the rowdy kids!  She knows her limits, so she waited a while until it was a little calmer. We have no idea who this little girl is on the right.  She grabbed Abby's hand and went on down with them... We visited the animals, which is another favorite of my kids.  They love petting the animals and getting them to eat out of their hands!! After waiting in line for the hayride, we rode it down the country rode until we had a view of some beautiful ...

This past weekend, the bea-u-ti-ful Emily came to visit!  We had a great time! After Abby and I picked up Emily at the airport, we came back to our house and got things ready for a family dinner that evening.  My dad recently had a birthday, and we also wanted to get everyone together to see Emily again too. The kids all love Emily!!  Lucy especially bonded with her.  She is everybody's buddy, but there is most definitely a special connection between Abby and Emily that can't be ignored.  

We have many more pictures and memories to share.  Stay tuned!

The connection these girls have is beautiful! Before Abby even met Emily, she loved her.  We talk about Emily a fair amount at home (and a lot more now that she's visited!) and Abby was anxious for her to come on the day of her arrival.  After her nap, "Is she here yet?"  When I explained that we have to pick her up from the airport, "Are we going to get Emily yet?"  When the door opened, "Is that Emily?" While Abby played the normal I'm-too-shy-to-give-you-hugs card when we first saw Emily at baggage claim, she very quickly warmed up when we got home! She even told Emily (without any provoking or even discussion) that they are Best Friends Forever!  (She said Anna is still her best friend too, though!) There was an instant connection between them--like Abby just knew that Emily was a kindred spirit.  She certainly doesn't understand the magnitude of having Emily visit, but she definitely understands that they have ...

We are all relishing in the wonderful weekend we just had with our beautiful friend, Emily .  In case you're new here or have forgotten, Emily is one of just ten people living with CCMS, and at age 19, she is the oldest girl we know of.  She contacted us pretty early on in our journey and we have kept in close contact with her over the last three years, but this is the first time we have met in person. To say that Emily is a blessing is an understatement.  She found us during a time when the only two children we'd found through the internet with CCMS had major physical and cognitive delays.  Seeing that Emily was living a typical life with plans to go to college (she is now in her sophomore year) gave us so much hope when the doctors weren't.   So we were thrilled when she asked back in October if she could come visit us during her winter break.  We picked her up from the airport Thursday evening, after her parents managed to get her an earlier fligh...

Remember Emily?   She's the young adult with CCMS that we have been fortunate to get to know over the last few years.  I talked to her mom for an hour the other night, and I can say we are blessed to have a family who gets our life.  It's really interesting to the surgeries and therapies she's had and get a glimpse of what could be in store for Abby.  We don't typically have any indication of what Abby is going to need in the future, so learning about Emily's journey is as close as we will ever get!  Plus, she is such  a sweet girl with a huge  heart.  Just read a little of her blog! We've been saying for quite some time that we would really love to meet Emily in person.  So, a month of so ago, we started really planning!  After our recent conversation, we have chosen a date and Emily is going to come visit for a long weekend!!! It means so much to us that this college student wants to give up part of her winter break to hang out wit...