Monday, August 25, 2008

The Hard Times

Sorry that I haven't posted for a while. Life here has been very busy. In May, while grocery shopping, Laura, my best friend here in Wisconsin had a seizure and woke up in the ER being told that she had a brain tumor. She is 35 years old. She and her husband were completely and totally shocked [as any of us would be]. The doctors have been monitoring the tumor since May and it was behaving itself, however a few weeks ago, her follow up MRI showed quite a bit of growth. The doctor then told them that he had no choice - a biopsy was definitely needed and he would remove as much as he could. Rob and I have been supporting them through this since May and it is a huge weight for us all to bear. She had her surgery one week ago today. The last week has been filled with ups and downs. I have been there a lot over the last few days helping in any way I can.

What do you say in circumstances like these? If any one has a good answer to that I would like to hear it. I have found over the last few days, that our friends don't want answers right now, they just want to know someone is there when they need them to be. We are all waiting until Wed. when they will get the pathology report on the samples that were sent following the surgery. There could be darker days ahead or reason for great celebration.

God keeps giving me Psalm 23. I just keep thinking about it over and over. With all that Rob and I have walked through in the last 2 years, it has comforted me in an incredible way. I have it printed out and stuck to one of my kitchen cupboards so that I see it each day. The version I printed out is from The New Living Translation. Maybe it will comfort some of you if you need it right now as it has been comforting me. Here it is:


Psalm 23
A psalm of David.

1 The Lord is my shepherd;
I have all that I need.

2 He lets me rest in green meadows;
he leads me beside peaceful streams.

3 He renews my strength. He guides me along right paths,
bringing honor to his name.

4 Even when I walk through the darkest valley,
I will not be afraid, for you are close beside me.
Your rod and your staff protect and comfort me.

5 You prepare a feast for me in the presence of my enemies.
You honor me by anointing my head with oil. My cup overflows with blessings.

6 Surely your goodness and unfailing love will pursue me all the days of my life,
and I will live in the house of the Lord forever.

Sunday, August 10, 2008

The Baby

I know that I already posted for today, but I'm really busy this week and so I will post both of these today and then not feel guilty when there isn't something new here until the end of the week. :-)

Here are some new pictures I took of Spencer. She was crawling on our front lawn that was in need of a mowing, and it looks so lush and vibrantly green all around her. She just loves to be outside. She loves to investigate any rock, flower, insect or blade of grass that she comes across. This is something that we hope to encourage in her as we are trying to teach our children a love for this Earth that God has entrusted them with. I know she's mine, but I think she is just a doll!! :-)





The Lost Tooth

I think that I had forgotten the excitement of losing your "baby teeth" and getting your big grown up teeth. But of course like most things, you get to re-live these moments as your children experience them. I have to say that I am really enjoying that part of being a parent. Here's a picture of Lauren right after she lost her left front tooth. She was so thrilled. She loves the big hole in her smile. She looked at me right after and said, "Mom, I'm getting closer to being a grown up!" I hope not too much closer my darling girl. This is going WAY too fast for your Mom! :-)





Thursday, August 7, 2008

The Eagle

Seth came into the living room the other day looking just like this. He said, "Look Mom, I'm an eagle!" He was very proud of his self made costume. I asked him to get ready for a picture and this was how he posed - with his outstretched wings and scrunched up face [this was for his beak :-) ]. For a child with Autism who is supposed to not have an imagination or be able to pretend, this was fabulous stuff. I am still amazed at what God continues to allow Seth to achieve.


I just love the rubber glove "eagle feet"! :-)

Tuesday, August 5, 2008

Our Little Climber

Here's our little angel looking all innocent and cute....formulating her plan.
She starts with the little ottoman and then when your back is turned she...

...hauls herself up to the top of the back of the couch.

Here she is getting ready to actually hold onto the window and look outside at the world. Only 10 months old and already yearning for independence. Those of you who know any Tannahills will understand that she comes by that honestly enough. :-)

Monday, August 4, 2008

The Madison Zoo


We had a wonderful day yesterday at Henry Villa's Zoo in Madison Wisconsin. It truly is one of our family's favorite places to visit in this lovely state of ours. It is a FREE zoo so when you have a limited budget for entertainment [like we do] this is a wonderful family outing. We have gone many, many times over our years here. The older kids are standing on this bridge watching the geese and ducks swimming. It was very restful!


Here's Spencer on her dad's back in the Snugli. She had a lot of fun watching everyone at the park and at the zoo. She doesn't really care for her stroller, so we have resorted to putting her in this. After hours of carrying her, Rob has decided we need to invest in a baby carrier with a sturdy frame to support her little rolls.







There's nothing like an "underdog" from your dad!






Our Seth LOVES to climb just about anything. Here he is on the climbing rock in the kids climbing / play area. While many other kids attempted to climb this and gave up, he had no trouble with this and absolutely no fear.







Of course he made it all the way to the top!







Here's Jonah in the kangaroo's pouch in the kids climbing area.

Friday, August 1, 2008

Starting this again...

Well, I am returning to blogging after a very long absence....too long! I have received some e-mails in recent days directing me to the blogs of friends and decided that I need to get going on this blogging thing again. Now that we have 4 children...that's right 4 I really need to be capturing these events in our lives. For those of you who have been out of the loop [and that would be many of you since we had a complete hard drive crash early in 2007 and we still don't have all of our e-mail addresses back], we are still in Fond du Lac Wisconsin and God has blessed us with a wonderful new addition. Her name is Spencer Grace Tannahill [named after Rob's two wonderful sisters] and she was born on Sept. 21st 2007. She is 10 months old now and has added so much to our lives. Rob and I had always wanted 4 children but after Seth was diagnosed with Autism, we decided that we were done. Well, God decided differently. :-)
I will post some pics later today after I once again figure out how to do that. I hope that you will come along with us and watch our family as we walk this journey of life.