Laura's B-Day (9 Years Old!)

Well, I figure I may as well just keep on going chronologically. Laura celebrated her first birthday in the United States on May 30th - she is now a 9 year old!

She had a super fun birthday - her day was special at school with the track meet (see post below) and being able to bring treats (Tootsie Roll Pops!) to share with her class (Juancho also brought treats for his 'birthday' that day...since he's a summer birthday, he got to share his treats that day in class too.

But Laura's day started out receiving presents. First thing in the morning - just after breakfast she got to open a present from Miss Amy, a friend of ours who had mailed Laura a very special present in the mail. The were earrings! Silver heart ones with a rhinestone, gold crosses and sparkly post earrings. She was thrilled!



She also got a present from Mami & Papi first thing in the morning...a cute often with this butterfly shirt and a pair of white capri pants.



Then after Laura came home from school, she got to open 1 more present (the rest of her presents were given to her at her group birthday party). This was a present that she had been BEGGING for over the last few months...so it got the shiny bag. A little confusing as to what it might be - with the bag placed upside down and all...



Could you guess what it was? If you guessed a fish, you are right! The fish (which Laura named 'Rachel') is a lovely dark blue with purple accents - a Beta fish (that Mami does more of the taking care of it seems...).



The day after Laura's actual birthday, we had her birthday party. It was a 'homemade' McDonald's birthday party! What I mean by that is that we went to McDonald's and ordered lunch for the kids, but I brought my own cupcakes, candles and lighter and the Play Place provided great entertainment. Given the crazy busy life we had going on at the time, an easy, simple birthday party was great. It was the first birthday party that Laura has ever had, and she was beaming from ear to ear the entire time! Grandma & Grandpa Meadows drove up for Iowa for it...this is a picture of Grandpa Meadows watching videos on the camcorder with Juancho and Angie.



All in all a fun birthday that Laura (and all of us) will remember forever!

Laura's Track & Field Day

So I'm going to try and catch you up blog by blog on the events of the past couple months. On May 30th it was Laura's 9th Birthday (I'll save that for a different post) and it was ALSO the Track & Field Day for 2nd grade at school. Laura was signd up for 3 events - 800 meter run, jump rope and hula hoop. She did great in all 3 - came in 3rd in the 800 meter run...pretty good for a girl who is shorter than most of her classmates! I was able to go with Angie and my niece Ashley who was staying with us for a while. We had a great time and got to meet Lucia - a volunteer at the school who had been assisting Laura in various classes. Lucia was a local college student from Mexico who was a great encouragement and help to Laura! One funny thing that has come out of "Track & Field Day" is that now, with the many field trips they take at YMCA Day Camp, both Laura and Juancho often ask me "Mami, what are we doing tomorrow for Track & Field?" when really they mean "What is the field trip for tomorrow?". Super cute! :) Anyway, on to the pics!



This is Laura & her friend Karyme (from Mexico). Karyme was Laura's 'buddy' throughout the school year and helped her translate for friends, teachers and homework when needed!



Angie: "Look Mom, La La 'wunning' (running)...yeah La La!" (yes, Angie totally calls me "Mom". She's my most 'Americanized' of the 3 I think...)



Laura working hard during the Jump Rope Competition. She didn't stay in to the very end - those little feet got tripped up. But boy did she work hard...and still beam from ear to ear when awarded her participation ribbon!



The Hula Hoop Competition...how FUN! Reminded me how completely HORRIBLE I would be if I tried to Hula Hoop now...but back when I was Laura's age, I could swing that hoop for hours! Laura did great in the competition and as you can see - enjoyed herself fully!



The Track & Field Day ended with the different 2nd grade classrooms competing against each other in tug-of-war competitions. Great fun!

Normalcy...

I almost didn't remember what my log-in was in order to jump back on and blog. I've been missing it and wanted to get back to it to instill a sense of normalcy in life. I've missed giving you guys the latest in the life of my kids AND catching up on what's going on your world via your blogs! Some of you know why life has been 'not normal' lately and some of you don't. I won't be talking about that story here...this is the place to catch up on our three favorite Colombian-Americans! They've been busy these past couple months! I'll give you a few highlights and leave you with some fun photos too!

**John & Laura started YMCA Day Camp 3 days a week in June and they've gotten to participate in some GREAT field trips like going to the Water Park, the Twins game, Fort Snelling, Grand Slam, to a movie (Wall-E) and more! They love it! John is such the giver - every time they do a craft, he does his best to do at least 3 crafts - one for him, one for Angie and one for his parents...such a good boy!
**Angie has been able to develop some friends through some 'play-date days' that she often has - usually on a weekly basis. Her favorite friends are Claire & Ivy, Maddie and Rachel & Jake - she often says "Mami, we go to friends house today?"
**John & Laura are doing summer school during the month of July - 4 days a week for 3 hours in the morning. They get to ride the bus to and from their summer school and are both enrolled in the ESL program. Their English ability is improving by leaps and bounds - they can understand nearly everything and surprise me on a daily basis on the excellent English sentence structure and growing vocabulary that they have! We do still do English & Spanish at home.
**We did a "Mini-Vacation" to Iowa to visit my family in late June. My little brother auditioned for and was selected to be a member of 'Voices of Liberty' - a very select DisneyWorld choir. They are an a capella group singing patriotic songs and known for their wonderful Christmas shows as well. In addition to singing daily at Epcot Center, the group has performed around the world - including for several Presidents! So we wanted to visit Tio Jon before he left for Florida for his first BIG gig after graduating from college. We also got to survey the intense flood damage Iowa City sustained. The homes of my parents and sister were spared, but the home church I grew up in was nearly drowned in the flood - at one point is had over 5 feet of water inside of the building! The waters have receded and major demolition happened inside the church, but by all accounts it looks like the building as a shell can be spared!
**My 18 year old nephew Ryan was flooded out of his summer job and decided to move up to MN for the summer to live with us and help out with the kids - he's been a joy to have around...and he is GREAT with the kids - they love him!

These are just a few things...I'll be telling you stories of fun adventures we've had in some of the posts to come...

OK - here's a few pics...



We celebrated 6 months of being a family in early May by going to Los Andes - a Colombian/Ecuadorian restaurant in the Uptown area of Minneapolis. In this pic you see Laura sipping a 'Colombina' - a popular soda in Colombia. Both her and Juancho were so excited to order 'La Banda Paisa' a traditional plate of Colombian food. It was a special day!



I unexpectedly got FREE tickets to take the kids to the MN Children's Theater to see "The Magic of Mrs. Piggle Wiggle" one night. The kids LOVED it! Even Angie was riveted throughout the entire 2.5 hour play! The MN Children's Theater is one of the best in the nation! I was so thankful to get free tickets - they would have cost us well over $100 for all of us to go otherwise. The kids are STILL talking about that fun night!



I LOVE this pic of Angie - it was taken when the kids were playing with the sprinkler out in my parent's yard in Iowa. This pic just shows the pure joy and carefree-ness of being a kid - she is still such a peanut with her slight frame, but she makes up for that in personality, that is for sure! :)



This is the classic 'stair-step' picture of the cousins on the Meadows' side. From L to R it is: Heather - age 13 (my sister Jenni's oldest), Joel - age 12 (my sister Debbie's youngest), Juancho (what a character), Sarah - age 11 (sister Jenni's middle child), Max - age 9 (sister Jenni's youngest), Laura and Angie (who was a little tired by this point...). Our 3 have a GREAT time playing with their Iowa cousins AND their MN cousins!



Here is John & Laura standing in front of my home church in Iowa where my mom works and my family are active members. By the time this pic was taken, the floodwaters had receding significantly. Previously the floodwaters had completely covered the 6 foot tall sandbag wall you can see in the background and over 5 feet of water stood for several days INSIDE the church!

Angie's Headband Creation

Angie - being the youngest and the one around the house most of the time - definitely has the most pictures. And she is so darn photogenic and cute, I have to keep a camera close by at most moments! So here are a few pics I snapped a few weeks ago when I was working from home and Angie was mostly playing contentedly in my office. Notice her pink princesa costume (par for the course for Angie!) and her creativity! We love it! The first 3 pics are in sequence. I call them the "Headband Creation"

Step 1: Angie finds a rolled up thin-ish piece of paper (methinks instructions to a dice game kept in a film cannister - anyone ever heard of Farkle?) and decides it would be a stylish headband. Commences to place in the appropriate spot on her head...

Step 2: Gotta get this centered just so...

Step 3: Creation Completed! Outcome? Success!

Picture Blog

I have a few pics to download of the kids from last week. This blog post will be few words - many pictures!

April Showers Bring May Flowers!

Pure Bliss!

Laura helped pick out a bouquet of flowers from Grandma's funeral

for us to take home

Angie & Cousin Isabel ("Issy" - age 6)

Laura & Cousin Abby (age 11) with the bouquet of flowers they picked for our family to take home.

Angie & Issy dancing (notice Angie's flower?)
Laura on the way home from Grandma's Funeral Day - she exemplified what we all felt...exhaustion!

Thank you to those of you who left comments and were praying for our family. It was an exhausting and emotionally draining week. It feels good to get back into a regular routine this week. We rest in the knowledge that Grandma's feet are walking on streets of gold! The kids did well with processing the death. They asked many questions and seemed to understand. They grieved. They rejoiced too as we spoke of Grandma in heaven. It seems they are really beginning to grasp the truth of God's Word.

Robert did a wonderful job eulogizing his grandmother with perfect words. The day of her funeral was cold and rainy. But as the pastor pointed out - the rain shouldn't signify tears or sorrow, but NEW LIFE as he urged us to rejoice in the NEW LIFE Grandma has in heaven.

Thanks again! I hope to be back on a 'regular' posting schedule this week!

June 1929 - April 18, 2008

Grandma Helen passed away on Friday afternoon. We learned from the doctor that her stroke was massive - so massive that the swelling in her brain had caused irreversible damage that would make sustaining life impossible. What a blow that was to hear! At that point the family decided to invoke a DNR 'Do Not Resuscitate' order in the event that she went into another cardiac arrest or something - which the doctor felt was imminent. The doctor said at that time that he did not believe that she would last the day - even attached to the machines that were breathing and pumping her heart for her. Though if she did and time went on the next tough choice would be whether or not to remove her from the machines. However, true to Grandma's form, she saved all of us the difficulty of making that choice. Mid-afternoon on Friday she went into another cardiac arrest. Much of her family was at her bedside in her final moments.

It was sad to see a Grandma who was so vibrant and lively just a couple days before be gone in the blink of our eyes. But yet we know that is how Grandma would have wanted it. We know she is dancing on the streets of gold right now with her Maker! We've had some good conversations with the children as we envision what Grandma might be doing right now in heaven. That has really helped all of us keep perspective in the midst of our sadness.

Grandma's wake & funeral are scheduled for Thursday night and Friday morning so we have a busy week ahead of us. Pray for Robert as he helps the family with the details and as he prepares his eulogy speech for the funeral.

Thank you for your prayers, encouragement and other practical help (thanks babysitters!) - we are thankful to have a strong supportive bunch around us!

Update on Great Grandma

After the doctors were able to stabilize great grandma at the hospital they were able to start the diagnostic process to find out what was going on with her little body. We've discovered that she had major congestive heart failure. A couple of valves that she had a bypass on 6 years ago had failed. Right now her heart is functioning at only a 1/3 of the capacity it was before. However the doctor felt that was repairable and recoverable.

The CAT scan she had later in the day didn't have as promising a diagnosis. In addition to her major heart failure, she experienced a massive stroke. From the CAT scan it appears her brain has suffered extensive damage - to the point that if she survives the next few days, she may not be able to walk, talk, or handle any daily functions on her own any more. At this point she is showing total listlessness on her right side. She is heavily sedated and breathing and heart machines are doing much of the work for her - though she is doing some breathing on her own and as mentioned before her heart is at about 30% functioning on its own.

Overnight her vitals didn't change much - for the worse or the better. It will be a waiting game for the next few days I think to see how her body begins to respond. We are praying for a couple things.

1 - We know our God is a God of miracles. We are praying that if God chooses to, that He would show his glory through miraculously healing Grandma.

2 - But if He doesn't, we pray that all will hold fast to the truth that God is God and He holds Grandma in His hands. We pray that if it is time for her to go Home, that he would take her home peacefully.

Thank you for your prayers - we feel them and are grateful.

I also have to give a major shout out to our friends the Lee's. They came in and pinch hit for us last night when we got the call about Grandma's stroke. They took the kids for the evening - and the ended up staying overnight! Our kids love playing at the Lee's house. Jake is around John's age and Laura & Rachel are in the same grade. Tracie & Boyd are great with the kids too - and it was awesome for us to spend some devoted time with family members and grandma last night. THANK YOU!