Reflections

Weston loves to draw and create. He was able to enter in two Reflections entries. He took first place for his photo entry. He went onto the next round of competition but came up empty handed. It was such a good expericane for him. He is so excited for next year. Good Job Weston!

Cast Buddies

Carter and Ryder both had casts on at the same time.

Ryder went down our slide on the Make-a-Wish play set and broke his foot. He had his cast on for about 5 weeks. Carter on the other hand had his cast on to help his walking. He was lucky and only had them on for two weeks. He was such a good boy about it.

Wishing

Carter had the amazing opportunity to be apart of Make-a-Wish. He was able to wish for a play set for our backyard. It was a cool experience for our whole family. He had his star raising ceremony at the Make-a-wish house. He received a glass star and is able to write wishes on it. Than they are able to raise the star to the ceiling. Mike and Kathy where Carters wish sponsors. They are amazing people. I wish that every kid could have this opportunity.

Leuko What?

Our life took a different turn on September 12th, 2010.

Carter was riding his bike when his brother Weston made him crash. Neither Chris or I where by Carter when this happened. Our neighbor and good friends carried him back to our house.

Upon our arrival we knew that something was not right. He said he could not walk. We noticed that his left leg was not moving as it should. Chris gave Carter a blessing and we waited for a little bit to see if we could get him to calm down.

Latter on that night we decided it was time to take him to the Hospital and make sure something was not wrong. When we got to the hospital the Dr did a physical exam and realized that there was nothing physical wrong with his leg. He than decided to order a CT of his head. When he came back to our room I could tell by the look on his face something was wrong. He said that everything looked ok from the bike accident, but that something was very wrong with his brain. He did not know what Carter had but that the white matter of his brain was not normal. To the point that he thought he brought up the wrong CT at first. He released us from the hospital and told us to follow up with a Neurologist at Primary Childrens Hospital.

The next day I was on the phone at 8 am sharp trying to make an appointment as soon as possible. Needless to say we ended up taking Carter into the ER at 1:00 that afternoon because we felt like the matter was very urgent and we need answers soon.

When we arrived to the Primary childrens ER the whole Neurology team was aware of Carter and his CT he had the night before. Having 5 Doctors show up at one time was very scary. For me that is when I knew that this was so serious. We kept on hearing the word Leukodestrophy. Neither Chris or I have ever heard of this desieas before. They started an IV on Carter and admitted Carter to the Neurology until.

The next day Carter had a Spinal tap and a MRI. With the results from these two test we knew for sure that he had Leukodestrophy. While we where waiting for the results both Chris and I came to the conclusion that whatever the outcome was that it was in the Lords Hands. We had faith that we could handle whatever was ahead.

At this point our sweet Carter was still not walking. He was very upset and wanted to go home. After two days in the Hospital we where released not knowing what the future was really going to hold for Carter. We had to wait for about 3 weeks for blood test results. We where lucky and four days after we came home Carter started walking. He could only take a few steps at a time.

Our wonderful friend, Neighbor, Angle, and Carters primary teacher helped Carter get better. I really don't know what I would of done without her. She has been a huge blessing in Carters life and mine.

It has been a slow process to get Carter to where he is now. He walks a little funny. He is going through Physical Therapy to help him.

We got the results from the blood work and found out that he has Vanishing White Matter Leukodestrophy. We are blessed to know that he has one of the slow progressing forms of Leukodestrophy. We don't know what the future holds for Carter and we don't know how long we will have him on this earth, but we know that we are blessed to be his Parents.

We have felt the Lords hand in so many things over the past two months. We have felt his tender mercies. We have truly gotten to know what Charity is. We have been on the receiving end of service and are amazed by the people who have given to us.

Fishing and Football

We had an awesome weekend up in Boise on November 4-7th. Our wonderful friends the Allens and Hartsons put a fun weekend together for our whole family.

On Friday we started off fishing. Jordan Allen (the fish whisper) took us fishing. We all caught a lot of fish that where 20-24 inches. The boys loved every minute of it. I hope that they have a lot of memories of this day. It was something very special.

That night the moms went out for pedicures and dinner. They also took me to two different stores that had donated Boise State University gear to Carter. I was so unbelievably took off guard. I could not understand why people who did not know me or my family could be so giving. Both Chris and I felt so loved.

The next day the boys all went to the Boise State Game. Jordan and Randy where able to get amazing VIP tickets for the game. This was for Carter. They had a blast. Carter received a football signed by the Couch. They loved watching the game.

We are go grateful for friends who love us so much. We have been so overwhelmed by the care and love we have received from everyone.

The past 2 months.

I have been bad with keeping up on our blog. I have been a little busy. As most of you know Carter has been diagnosed with Leukodestrophy. We are trying to get back to normal with life. He is doing well and we are very optimistic.

I want to keep up on our life and what are family is doing.

Weston started 3rd grade. He is loving school and loves to read. He is in scouts now and is very excited about that. He entered the Reflections contest and won first prize for a photo he took of papa and carter fishing. He loves to laugh and have a good time. Right now he wants to be in the military when he gets older. He is a good boy.



Carter is doing well. He is 5 and he started Kindergarten again. He has had a hard time letting me leave the class room. He still has his fun and happy personality. He is very much a fighter.

Ryder is two and loves to copy Carter. He talks very well and loves music. He makes us all laugh.

Chris and I are doing well. We both have been really busy.

Summer Part One Washigton and Oregon

I have not updated our blog in a very long time. We have been really busy traveling and visiting family. The boys and I drove up to WA to visit Chris family and my Bother Travis and his family. We celebrated Cars 5th Birthday with Aunt Anne, Papa and Nana Martin. We went to the Zoo and where able to stop by and visit Grandma Edgar.

Next we drove onto Oregon to visit Travis and his family. We where able to be there for T's Baptism and Papa Listons Birthday. We went to some amazing waterfalls and had so much fun with Travis and his family.

I was able to visit my Best Friend from High School. It was so good to see her and her cute family.

Em and I.

Papa L jumping with the kids on the Tramp.

The play the cousins put on for Papa L's birthday.

At Red Robin lunch after T's Baptism.

The waterfall we hiked up to. The kids had a blast.

C's birthday Cake.

C was supper cute opening his gifts.

Ry with is shades on at the Zoo.

Wes and Car sitting on a hippo being funny.

This Zoo was amazing. There was so much to look at the kids had such a blast.

Papa Martin, Ry and the dog sitting looking for the Raccoons.

The hurt Raccoon the boys loved watching at Papa and Nana Martins house.

Great Grandma Edgar and the boys. It has been a long time scene we have seen her. It was nice to visit with everyone and see family we have not seen in a while.