Things are finally getting back to normal...

Its hard to believe but things may finally be getting back to normal around the Black's house. Barron is back at work and feels pretty good. The kids are getting back into the routine of things, homeschooling, playing, running about and causing general turmoil and chaos :o)

Olivia continues to amaze us, she is now starting to speak more and more on her own. The other day she made up a song "howareyou howareyou howareyou" it was very cute. She also continues to find her fair share of adventures, including nose diving on the asphalt, her first trip to the ER after pulling a cuckoo clock down on her head, and perfecting the art of kitchen stool scaling (in order to climb up on the counter tops or into the pantry shelves). She also continues to be our warm little cuddle bug and its hard to believe she has only been home four months, it feels like she has always been a part of our family.

Sleepy Baby

Going, going, gone...

And we continue to make parenting mistakes

You'd think by child number four we'd be past making some of these parent errors...Mistake number one: Olivia was left unattended Second mistake: she was left unattended with a bowl of ice cream. Olivia continues to prepare for her future career as a mad scientist this time mixing up her ice cream to a nice melted soup status, and then trying it out as a hair conditioner and body paint. Third mistake: Popping her into the bath tub with a full bottle of baby shampoo within arm's reach Fourth mistake: Leaving her unattended once again (although I was perched outside the open bathroom door within sight chatting on the phone). Yes with me just a few feet away, Olivia managed to dump the entire bottle of shampoo in her bath and it wasn't until Grace called out "Mommy I think we might have too many bubbles!" did I see the mountain of bubbles surrounding the two girls!

Olivia's Busy Night

Olivia decided she wasn't quite ready to go to sleep the other night, being the crazy parent of four we are we decided to allow her to stay up with us (she did have a late nap that day and we have all had days where try as we might we can't get to sleep). Here she is having chips ans salsa with Daddy at 10:30, happy as a clam. And then finally nodding off in Mommy's arms (a moment worth breaking all "good" parenting rules for) at 11:30.

Yes that would be Olivia up til Midnight

Happy New Year a little late...We spent the evening over at our friends the Dirksen's house where all the kids (with the exception of their baby Chloe) made it to midnight. Olivia not only made it she brought in the New Year wide awake and ready party, but did we expect anything less.

Look even the boys match!

Matching Munchkins

Okay, I admit it I am a matching addict! I love putting my little girlies in "twinsy" attire. And I just can't pass up a good sale rack, esp. if it just happens to come in the exact two sizes Grace and Olivia need, all I can think "Get it in the cart because it must be fate!"

Yeah New Picts!

I can't believe Christmas was almost one month ago! But as you can see we had a great holiday, Olivia jumped right into the swing of things. She loved the trees, lights, Santa and presents. She was amazed at the candlelight Christmas service and insisted on holding her own candle, fortunatly I was the only one who fell victim to the candle wax.

Barron's Home!

Yeah Barron came home today! The Doctors were pleased with his recovery so far and sent him home this morning. The kids were so happy to see him, although we had the big talk about no running and jumping on Daddy before hand. Barron is able to control his pain through oral meds and had all of his tubes and staples removed before leaving the hospital. He is on restricted activity, he won't be going for any runs or lifting anything heavier than 10 lbs for a while. If everything goes smoothly he will be back to work in about 3 weeks and back to himself in about 6.
Its another happy day at the Black's house!

Barron in Recovery

Hi all, I know it has been a long time since I posted, we have been having some real computer troubles (one with a virus and one that is not reading CDs so we are not able to post picts at this time, hopefully we will get some cute holiday picts on in the next few days). However that has been the least of our worries as Barron has taken ill again.

Two weeks ago he was experiencing pain on and off,by Saturday Jan 7 he was in the ER. Sunday he was admitted into the hospital, and Monday the 8th he was transferred by ambulance to Virginia Mason in Seattle. Tuesday he had surgery to remove the tail of his pancreas, the 2 hour surgery lasted 4 and 1/2 hours as the situation was much more extensive then the doctors had predicted. Last Fall's episode had left him pretty damaged, to use the words of his surgeon "It looked as if a hand grenade had gone off inside of him." Barron spent 5 hours in the recovery room (which should have only taken 1 1/2 hours). His pain was pretty intense and managing it took some time.

He spent the first few days pretty groggy but by Saturday he was beginning to show signs of himself. Joking around and even going on a few cruises up and down the hallway. His recovery is continuing to amaze the doctors, and was even enjoying a clear liquid diet today. He still has an epideral, but will hopefully be able to have it removed tomorrow. We hope to have him home by the end of the week, where he will rest and recover for about 3 weeks.

Fortunately my sweet mom was able to take all four kiddos for me last Tuesday through Saturday. My dear sister drove with me up to Seattle, where Barron's Brother and Father also joined us. I had hoped to blog earlier but ended up spending my nights in the hospital with Barron.

The past few months have been a real roller coaster ride. But this last chapter has really shown Barron and myself how far God has brought us. When Barron went back into the hospital this round both of us felt Christ's peace. It was the peace that truly passes all understanding, the peace that is felt when it doesn't make logical human sense. We have felt this before, but never immediately at the time of crisis and never so faithfully through out.

God is so good and wonderful, so generous and Fatherly, I am at a loss of words to adequately describe his love for us. Although I would never wish this journey on anyone else I pray that each of you have had or will have the opportunity to rely on him so fully that you are humbled to your knees. Because for us this is the place where we have seen our Father's face and felt his heart. Broken, weary, anxious, and scared, we were finally able to remove all self dependence and cry out to the One who will carry all of our burdens.

We used to get by waiting for Barron's illness bouts to pass so we could get back to "our life". For Barron and I and our family this is our life. We now feel the need to "live" through these bouts and allow God to carry us and show us his mercy. What a wonderful thing to be reminded of his beautiful mercy that he pours on us daily, not just in times of trouble. This surgery will hopefully help things for now, but because of his genetics Barron's pancreas will always suffer. Will God heal him? Barron says he already has begun, God is healing his spirit.

This journey has brought so many gifts into our lives, how often does one have a chance to really "see" the overwhelming love your family and friends have for you. We are in continued awe at the faithfulness of our friends and family, you all are so generous with your concern, prayer and support. I will never be able to fully express the amount of love we have felt poured out to us.

How often does one have the chance to "see" how strong and loving your marriage is? To have the chance to truly rely on each other, to face the possibility of losing each other. To have the privledge of physically caring for your spouse. What a blessing to be able to reach deeper into our hearts and love each other in a whole new way.

How often is one given the chance to fully "see" ones life? To look at it and see it beyond all the daily fluff. To begin to understand how truly precious each and every day is. To have the chance to re-prioritize things before it's too late.

I'm not the best at putting all my random thoughts in order but I hope that I have shared at least a piece of this incredible journey that God has brought us on, and how very grateful we are to have been taken.

Thank You Girlfriends!

A special thanks to my girlfriends (including big sis) for a wonderful open house. You gals did such a wonderful job. We had such a fun time showing off our latest addition. And Olivia had a great time running around with all the kids!

Olivia's first taste of Christmas

We have had fun watching Olivia's reaction to Christmas, in two words "Love It!". She has taken in everything from the decoration of the tree, opening presents at the Black Family Christmas last Saturday, and of course her ever love of candycanes. We have moved them all to the top of the tree but Miss CLever still manages to find one or two, yesterday she had one down and unwrapped by 9:30 am. When she sees Santa she says "Hohoho" and last night we were reading the first Christmas story. When she saw the picture of baby Jesus she wouldn't let me turn the page, she just stared at the picture. Finally she brought the book up to her face and kissed the baby saying "Mei Mei ai baby" (Little Sister loves baby). It was too precious and I was just amazed, I told her "Baby Jesus ai Mei Mei".

Yep I still love rice!

Where's the best place to eat a sticky blue candycane?

The bathtub of course! Our friend Kirsten dropped off some treats, before I had a chance to say "thankyou and goodbye" I walked back upstairs to check on Olivia in the tub, Noah had already handed off the goodybag, which was now floating in the water, and Olivia had opened up the biggest piece of candy and was chomping away, this girl likes her "yaya" (thats mandarin for candy/sugar/sweets)!