Abrakadoodle Week 2

Here is Nicholas' art work form today. Its is a landscape inspired by Wolf Kahn - the bottom is supposed to be grass/land and the top is supposed to be the sky.


My mother-in-law came home yesterday from Brookcrest. She is glad to be back home, but we don't know yet whether she will stay there and get therapy, or if she'll go to Mary Freebed and have more intense therapy there. Before she left Brookcrest, her therapist told us that she doesn't think the Mary Freebed program will work for her because she probably won't ever recover mentally from this. This was quite hard to hear. I guess we can just keep on praying and hope for a miracle. She is doing very well physically though.

Making a Cake

Yesterday Nicholas and I made a cake. He sat on the counter and helped stir it and helped me put it into the pan. I let him lick off the spatula when we were finished and I'm pretty sure he enjoyed it! My sisters and I always loved licking the spatula/beaters when we were kids - and I have to admit I had a little myself :)

The Next Paul Klee???

Well probably not. :) Nicholas had his first Abrakadoodle Twoosy Doodlers class this past Thursday. Its where kids (ages 20-36 months) learn about color, texture and more while experimenting with new and innovative materials. He's not quite 20 months yet, but I think he'll do just fine. It seems like it will be a lot of fun for both of us. This week they had to create an unusual self-portrait inspired by artist Paul Klee. Here is the one one that is supposed to inspire the kids:


And here is the one Nicholas created all by himself (well I glued the pieces on for him):


So what do ya think???

Chasing Ducks

Nicholas knows how to keep himself entertained when we go to visit my mother-in-law...



An update on how she's doing...
They met with the Brookside on Thursday and the good news is she is making progress physically. Bad news is insurance will only pay for two weeks of treatment there, so she'll have to leave next Wednesday. They are still looking into options of what do do next - if she'll stay somewhere else or if they will have someone come in a few times a week to do therapy with her at home.

Some Good News

Just wanted to update you all on my mother-in-law. She got into Brookcrest which is where she really wanted to be to do the physical therapy program. She was declined at first (something about the cost of her medication), but she was reevaluated and they accepted her. She moved in there last night and we went out there to visit her and see the place. She seems to be doing very well. In fact when we got there she wanted to take a walk around with us - and it was even her idea. She told us that the more she exercises, the stronger she will get and the sooner she can get out of there and go home. We are seeing more of a positive attitude the past couple of days, which is really encouraging for everyone! Please pray that she keeps on doing well and that she continues to have a good attitude.

Kind of a weird picture but thought I would put it out there anyway :)

Cute Chalk

I recently bought Nicholas some cute chalk - and yes I did buy it cause it was cute. Little did I know that the color on the outside is very dark and rubs off easily on skin. So you can about imagine what happened when Scott gave it to Nicholas to play with last night.




Notice the perfect Nicholas-sized hand print on his forehead...

I guess it made for some cute pictures :)

And a little bit of an update on my mother-in-law . . . they think they found a place in Hudsonville where she can stay and get the therapy she needs. She will hopefully be able to leave the hospital and get in there tomorrow to start the treatment.

Please Pray

Please keep Scott's mom in your prayers.


It was about two years ago that she was diagnosed with a cancerous brain tumor which spread to her lungs. They were able to remove the tumor and have been successfully treating the cancer in her lungs ever since - which seemed to be working well.

About a month ago, she began experiencing stroke-like symptoms. The doctors ran a lot of tests on her to rule out more cancer and they all came back negative. She has been working with Scott's sister, who is a physical therapist, to get her strength back on her left side of her body.

Last week she went back in to the hospital because she was having pain in her chest. The doctors found blood clots in her lungs. She has been there since so they can keep an eye on her. They want to make sure they don't get to her heart. Since she has been in bed all this time she has lost a lot more of her muscle and needs help doing nearly everything. We hoped she could get into a program for stroke victims, which would include very intense physical therapy, and even talked to her doctor about this. Other than the slow recovery from the stroke, she seemed to be doing ok.

So you can imagine our shock when the doctor told us yesterday that there wasn't anything else that he could do for her. He said the next step would be to bring hospice in to take care of her. What?!? We couldn't believe it! We just weren't sure what changed (other than the blood clots) with her health. The last time she went to see him, he told her that he expects about an 85% recovery - but it could take a year to get there. And now all of a sudden it seemed there was no more hope.

Scott's dad met with the doctor and social services this morning about all of this. They gave him some information on getting into a light physical therapy program, which they are looking in to. They aren't positive that it will work, but hopefully it will build up her strength enough to get into a regular therapy program.

Please pray that she will have the will power to go through with the therapy - which she isn't a big fan of.
Please pray for comfort while she is away from home. She will probably have to stay somewhere while she is in the therapy program and she really wants to be in her own house.
Please pray for healing - both physically and mentally.
Please pray for the entire family as everyone has a lot of very important decisions to make the next few days regarding her health and care.
Please pray for a miracle!