EMILY GOT HER PERMIT...SHOUT HOORAY!!!!

Everyone stay off the roads!!!! hahaha! Emily got her learners permit today! What a great day for her. She was so excited when they told her she passed and she got the permit in her hands. I even let her drive me home from the DMV...a nervous experience for me but she did great! I can still remember when she learned how to walk and now she is driving...where does the time go???? Now our days will be filled with driving...maybe I should take up drinking...hahaha..! I am not old enough to have a child that can drive or at least I don't think I should be! We are very proud of Emily...she is way excited and we share her excitement! Another driver in the family...more errands for her to run....higher insurance to pay....oh my! Jeff will look forward to the day when she can drive her own self to seminary in the mornings....there is a bright spot to this driving thing! Good job Emily !!!!! (And no, there is no new car around the corner...sorry!!!)

Mothers Day...a mixed day!

This year was another one of firsts for me...it seems like every day is another first I have to live thru. This day proved to be a lot harder than I had imagined it to be. I guess unless you have lived thru what Jeff and I are living thru then it is hard to imagine being in my place. I have four wonderful children (three on this earth who I love more than life itself and love spending every moment with and a fourth that I long for every single day!) I guess you miss the one you don't see the most. Kim told me that she cried after she talked to Will...it is hard to be away from your kids on a day like Mothers Day. I cried because although I have my other wonderful children and they are wonderful, I didn't have my baby. All I have are pictures and a card that Noah made for me last year on Mothers Day. I looked at it and the tears fell over and over again. I barely made it thru church...everyone seemed to sense that it was a hard day for me and were extremely sensitive to my feelings...I appreciated that. Jeff gave me a yellow rose at church...Noah's favorite color...even he teared up as he watched me at church...he felt my pain and could not make it easier and he knew that. I didn't think it was going to hit me this hard but it did and the pain is overwhelming. I took down his hand and foot molds they gave me at the hospital and ran my hand over them. They are so small and every little line is visible. I felt physically sick at not having him here. Life is hard sometimes. Thank you everyone who called me and e-mailed me...you understood my pain and I felt your love....it helped me get thru it. I love you all so much and I appreciate your love and concern...it made a not so good day a little more bearable. I will one day have a joyous and happy reunion with my sweet little boy and my tears will be turned from sorrow to joy....I look forward to that day.

Poor Pugslie!!!

Well, we got Lauren home and then we had to take Pugslie yesterday in to the vet to have her spayed. She did really good but we all feel sorry for her since she came home. She has to wear this cone over her head for 7 days to keep her from biting or licking her incision site and she is in some pain...we are giving her pain medication and that is just making her woozy and tired. When I took her outside to the bathroom yesterday after she got back from the vet she took a few steps, wobbled and then fell over in the grass. It was funny to watch but I felt sorry for her. I picked her up, carried her inside and layed her on a blanket where she stayed most of the afternoon and then Jeff took her out last night and then laid her in her crate before we went to bed. She is still laying around this morning and likes one particular place on the couch the best so we let her lay there. We feel sorry for her with this cone around her head but the vet told us that she had to keep it on. Lauren decorated it with stickers...I don't think Pugslie cares...hahaha! We will be glad when she doesn't have to look like an alien dog anymore...poor Pugslie! (Jeff says poor him for having to pay for all this stuff...hahaha!)

HOME SWEET HOME!!!!

A very short post to say that we are finally HOME!!!!!! Yeah!!! We were thrilled when the doctors let us go today and we have been smiling ever since. I am so happy to be home and Lauren is as well. It was so good to walk into our house and be with my whole family and in time for family home evening night as well. This will be a great family home evening! Lauren is still recovering some from the pancreatitis but she is doing so much better than she was! Anyway...thanks everyone for everything you did for us....the visits, the phone calls, the cards, the e-mails, sending food to our house and esp. for all the prayers that were sent up! Thank you does not seem like near enough! We are so glad to be home!!!!!!

A Funny Story

I have been thinking about this story with all of the interest lately in Lauren's art talent and I couldn't help but laugh...about 4 years ago (when we still lived on Church Street) Emily had learned how to massage our feet, shoulders, and hands and everyone was always asking her to give them a short massage. We suggested that Emily could earn some extra money if she would charge people to do that so she made this chart that said "Foot Massage - 10 minutes - .25 cents, Hand Massage - 10 minutes - .15 cents, Shoulder Massage - 10 minutes - .30 cents." We thought that was cute and everyone said that was very reasonable so then Lauren wanted to get in on the act and she also made a chart that said, "Normal Drawing - $1.00, Black & White Drawing - $1.50, Western Drawing - $2.00, and Family Picture - $5.00" We just looked at her chart and said, "Well, you aren't giving a service, do you really think people are going to pay that much for your drawings...give us a break!!!" We took her sign down because we told her that she couldn't charge that much for pictures and she should just do them for free or charge a dime or something. I guess she knew even way back then that art is EXPENSIVE and that is probably why we don't own any paintings...hahahaha! Oh well, that was so typical of Lauren and we have laughed about that a lot of times. If she ever becomes famous one day none of us will be able to afford her high priced art...hahaha! Something to think about.....!

My little artist...

Just a short blog to let everyone know that Lauren is becoming quite the little artist up here. They got her to paint a picture to auction off at an art exhibit on May 17th at an art gallery here in Chapel Hill (which we will be going to!) She was very excited about that and they also wanted a picture of her and a little background so she can be one of the featured artists (this art show is to raise money for UNC Children's Hospital.) So we were happy about that...but this is the part that I think is so cool..when we first got up here a few weeks ago and you look out the window from Lauren's bed you can see the clock tower on the UNC campus. Lauren thought it would be a good idea to draw a picture from her viewpoint of the clock tower so she did. We taped the picture to her front door. (If you go back and look at a previous post with a picture of her door and click on it to make it bigger you can see the picture of the clock tower.) EVERYONE that passes by her door makes a comment on the clock tower picture and how good it is; esp. when they come into the room and look at it from out the window. I am not very artistic so I thought it was cute but you know, not a big deal. Well they came down today and asked me if they could have that picture off of her door to auction off as well. They were so impressed with it that they felt like it would be a big hit at the art show. I let them have it but told them that they had to scan a copy for me and send it to me. I usually am not one to brag too much about my kids (they are all wonderful, but you know, every mother feels that way about her kids) but I just had to share this with everyone. I am really proud of her and how she pours her feelings into all her artwork which shows in the details and the colors that she uses. I don't know a thing about art but I must say that one day I am going to be very proud when she becomes a celebrated artist....! Jeff and I both think she has real talent. I'll post or get her to post some scans of her art when we finally get home...which I am hoping will be tomorrow or Sunday...we will let you know!

There is an end in sight...finally!!!!

Lauren is doing a lot better. Her pancreatic enzymes are continuing to come down and she is feeling a lot better. The doctors will want her enzymes to be normal before they feel really good about letting her go. She still has pain when she eats solid food but we are slowly coming back to that. They have switched her from iv pain medication to oral as she can now tolerate them without throwing up. She can come home on those if need be. She is drinking pediasure or carnation instant breakfast to help give her nutrients while she is easing back into eating. She is out of the room a lot during the day now at the doctors request so that she can build her strength back up. She walks up and down the halls, goes to the "teen room" and we walk around the hospital downstairs. She is glad to be feeling better and we are glad to see an end in sight. It is looking more and more if she continues to do this good that we will be able to come home at some point this week-end. We may even give her some cornstarch tonight...we are making slow but steady progress. We will be glad to get home and back into a somewhat normal routine. Michael had his appt. with Dr. Muenzer over here yesterday and he got a good report...other than he now has to lay off of the fried foods. He wasn't too happy about that but Dr. Muenzer was strict on that point so we are all going to have to improve our diet...it will be good for us all! Life is beginning to look up and we are now looking forward to our vacation next month...we will all need it.

Life is hard sometimes.....

Today has been an okay day. Lauren ate some cheerios this morning and had a popsicle but her stomach pain has continued to persist. They took her off the tpn this evening with the understanding that she needs to eat more in order to stay off of it. She has only her d10 running which keeps her blood sugar up. She is getting frustrated and tired of being in the hospital. She and I talked tonight and she told me some of how she is feeling inside. It is hard to keep being upbeat when you aren't feeling good. She wants some answers and I told her that she needs to have a good long talk with Dr. Muenzer tomorrow. I know that will help her to feel better. As far as my prediction that we could go home Wednesday....86 that! Her doctor said that it won't be this Wednesday...oh well! We are looking at things like, okay, we are gonna be here until your stomach pain isn't so bad or either gone. We just keep trying to find our silver linings when days like this are here. Lauren got a beautiful stuffed animal cat and a puzzle from Bishop Tiek and Robin today. That made her smile and she has the cat on the bed with her. Thank you so much. She loves it and it brightened her up. Sister Judd also came to visit us today and we had such a nice visit. I really appreciate her taking the time to come and visit with us. It meant a lot! We have great nurses up here and we are always thankful for that. Stephanie (a new friend we made up here..her daughter went home on Friday) called up here today to check on Lauren. I thought that was so kind. I am grateful for good people. Lauren and I both are grateful for prayers and love being sent our way. Thank you all. We will get thru this...one day at a time.

I want to go Home.....!!!!!!

We are so ready to go home! All of the little girls that Lauren made friends with up here are home. The last two left today....and here we still are! She is making progress even if it is slower than I would like for it to be. Today she ate 3 graham crackers, drank some skim milk and is going to have her jello for dinner along with a popsicle later tonight. She is still having some stomach pain but Dr. Muge told me this morning that they can send her home on some pain meds and nausea medicine so I am glad about that. I am going to ask them in the morning to stop her tpn and just let her regular iv fluids run so it will be easier to transition her back to eating. I am also going to make them order her a regular tray for eating so we can choose foods that she likes. Dr. Muge told her she would go to the store and get whatever she wants...we are all anxious to get her back to a regular diet. The surgeon will probably come by tomorrow and talk with me about the nissen wrap they want to do on Lauren but I do not want to have that done for a few months. We need a break from the hospital. I just hope this doesn't come back. I will be glad to be back home with all my family, sit in my own living room, and sleep in my own bed. Lauren and I have been sorting thru her stuff this afternoon to decide what to leave here when we go and what to take with us. We always seem to leave with more stuff than we came in with. We are shooting for Wednesday to get out of here. Michael has an appt. with Dr. Muenzer on Wednesday so we want to be able to go home when that is done. Lauren had one scheduled also but since they have seen her everyday since she has been here I think that will count...hahaha! Anyway....Lauren's pancreatic enzymes are still elevated but I am hoping they will return to normal in the next few days. That's about it for today.

Diagnosis, Anyone????????

Well, today is defintely better than yesterday was. Jeff and I met with Lauren's doctors yesterday afternoon and we went over all the test results they had thus far. Everything is coming back negative or a little off center but not enough to raise a red flag. Lauren's "sed rate" is still elevated which indicates that there is inflammation somewhere but they just don't know where. Not to go into a lot of detail and to cut to the point...they know the pain she is feeling is coming from something but it isn't clear what. They told us that she did have pancreatitis but that seemed to be resolving and Lauren is still having pain when she eats and drinks. I was extremely out of sorts last night, partly because I am way tired and partly because I hate not having a definitive answer. It drives me crazy and I HATE, HATE, HATE GSD!!!!!! This is always the case...we never can really pinpoint what causes things to happen and it always comes back to, "Well, it's just the way GSD goes sometimes"....not an answer!!!!!! Anyway, on the better side, Lauren is doing better today. She ate a spoonful of jello and a popsicle. Dr. Muenzer and Dr. Muge told her to take small steps and ease back into eating. We were so happy that she didn't throw up what she took in today....this is the first time that has happened...yeah! She is still having stomach pain when she eats (which this afternoon her doctors said was probably due to the pancreatitis) and they are giving her pain medication for that. She will have to be eating normally and able to take cornstarch and maintain her blood sugars before she can come home but we are thrilled that she is beginning to make progress. It will be a slow uphill road but we can finally see the light at the end of the road and that brings Jeff and I and Lauren good news. I had lunch with Dr. Muge today and we went over everything again. I was struggling last night to find my balance but I do have it back today. I know that Lauren's doctors love our family and put Lauren's wellbeing at the top of their list. Dr. Muenzer came by this morning on his way out of town to make sure that we were okay and to let me know again that even though we are all frustrated and still searching...we will figure this out eventually. Dr. Muge spent her lunchtime with me to help us think thru more things. I cannot ask for more than that. I think we are all happy that Lauren is showing improvement today and I have been able to breathe a sigh of relief. As Jeff so eloquently says all the time..."It is what it is and we deal the hand that has been given us." That's the best we can do! Thanks for all the prayers...Lauren knows the Lord is watching over her and that gives her great comfort. With that in mind, we can overcome every challenge.

Tagged (I got tagged from Lauren!!!)

A - ADVOCATE FOR: Finding a cure for Glycogen Storage Disease
B - BEST FEATURE: My personality...I think! I was going to say my curvaceous body but I knew everyone would laugh; however, if I had been born back in the 1600s I would have been considered a goddess...ever seen all those statues..look at those big butted women...man, I was born in the wrong time...hahaha!
C- COLOR PREFERENCE- Red but sometimes purple
D - DREAMS & DESIRES: I always wanted to be able to play the piano
E- ESSENTIAL ITEMS: Always having a blood sugar machine and cornstarch on hand
F- FAVORITE FRUIT- Banana
G- GREATEST ACCOMPLISHMENT- My four beautiful children!
H - HAVE NEVER TRIED: Brussel Sprouts...they just look disgusting...little green balls of gross!
I - IF I HAD A MILLION DOLLARS: I would pay off all our debt and add on to our house
J - JUNKIE FOR: Any kind of junkfood!
K- KINDRED SPIRIT: I think both of my sisters...we have this incredible bond that we even can be thinking of each other and the phone will ring and it will be one of us calling the other...hard to explain but I am grateful for it.
L - LITTLE KNOWN FACT: I am like an open book so I don't have many facts that people don't already know about...hahaha! I am scared of heights though and scary movies.
M - MEMORABLE MOMENT: I guess I have several..my wedding day to my sweetheart, the births of my children, and not the best memorable moment but holding my baby for the very last time on this earth..I can still feel him in my arms sometimes and the tears begin to well up...I will treasure that last moment with him.
N - NEVER AGAIN WILL I: say "I can't handle that" because I end up always having to.
O - OCCASIONAL INDULGENCE: BBQ ribs...yummm!
P - PROFESSION: mother, mother, and oh yeah, mother!
Q - QUOTE: "It is what it is"...that's is what Jeff says all the time!
R - REASON TO SMILE: I have an eternal family...nothing better!
S- SILLIEST MOMENT- I guess I would agree with Aunt Libbi on hers but also at christmas time when we would put on Ninna's old record and perform "How Much is that Doggie in the Window" for everyone...remember that Libbi and Kim?
T - TAG SOME FRIENDS: Okay..I'm tagging Kim because she STILL hasn't done it..you too Beth!
U - UNINTERESTED IN: Medicine...I know, I know...sounds crazy doesn't it but I really don't like it!
V - VERY SCARED OF: I already have experienced what I am most afraid of but that still tops the list...losing one of my children.
W - WORST HABIT: Talking way too much and not shutting up when I really should have long ago...also being way too bossy and controlling...well, my goodness, I have a lot of bad habits and everyone sees them all the time!
X - X MARKS MY IDEAL VACATION SPOT: The beach, the beach, the beach! I love the ocean and the smell and all of it..can't wait until June!
Z - ZODIAC SIGN: Libra..you know we are balanced people...hahaha..stop laughing everyone!!!!!

Okay...that was my A to Z all about me...anyone who wants to do one and send it to me, feel free! It was fun. Below this post is another one about our day today!

Having Some Lighthearted Moments

Today we decided that we needed some lightheartedness as these last 2 weeks have been very tiring. Brother and Sister James came up last night to see Lauren and they brought her this totally cool purple guitar clock that you can hang on the wall and it lights up purple. She wanted to have it working right away so two of Lauren's nurses figured out a way to rig it up in her room (thanks Amy and Suzanne!). It is kinda "illegal" and we made it where if we had to cut it down really fast we could but I was grateful for our wonderful nurses who saw that we needed to have something good today so they took it upon themselves to find a way. Another silver lining...like I said, we can find them if we look for them. Then tonight Karen, Jessica and Gramby came up to see Lauren. Lauren was thrilled and she is "perfecting" her rainbow manicure so Jess let her do one on her. We took a picture to show everyone Lauren's handywork...(and you never thought you could be a model, Jess...here is your moment to shine..hahaha!) It has been a better evening for sure. Lauren had somewhat of a meltdown this morning so we needed a better day. Nothing has really changed...thanks for all the prayers and for putting her name in the temple. It sure feels good to know that so many people are praying for her all at once. Below we have posted two pictures...one of the nurses with the guitar they rigged up and the other of Jess showing off her "rainbow manicure". Thanks Jess...you are wonderful! We love having visitors...it makes things brighten up!

AAARRRRGGGG!

Have you ever heard that saying, I am so mad I could scream? Well, that was my we are so tired and frustrated and wondering what is coming up next scream! Did you like that...now everyone when you see the title I want you all to yell that for me..hahaha! Last night after I posted they came and got Lauren for a CT Scan at 10 pm..a little late. They also had to put an IV in her arm which she was not prepared for and she was very unhappy about it. She doesn't have good veins and so it took them a couple of times to get the IV in her. After a lot of tears, consoling, calling her daddy and talking her thru it we got that done. The CT scan went okay other than Lauren tearing up and her lip quivering...she hates being put in the tube. This morning at 8 am Lauren woke up to go to the bathroom and she was told that she would have to have another test done which consisted of her drinking this really nasty bottle of stuff and then for the next three hours she would have to blow in these little bags every 15 minutes (it was a test to check her breaths for any overgrowth of bacteria in her stomach...yeah, I have no idea...), anyway when we were halfway thru the test they figured out that it was being done wrong and told me that they were going to have to repeat the test again...that is when I lost my composure and told them in no uncertain terms that they were not repeating the test. Lauren got very sick during the test and threw up twice while being doubled over with pain. Lauren's doctors assured me that they would not repeat the test. Dr. Muenzer told me later this afternoon that he wouldn't have made her drink it all in the first place...I'm like, well now you tell me. Anyway...she has not been feeling well at all today and they are now giving her morphine every 4 hours around the clock (and for those of you who are wondering...no, she cannot get hooked on it...we have been assured of that)! Dr. Muenzer came and talked again with Lauren this afternoon to check on her and he and I talked about the CT Scan results. Lauren is having some inflammation around her colon and she has some swollen lymph nodes. They are beginning to think now that she may have an overwhelming infection that is causing all this pain. We will be having more tests run to figure it out. She may also have to have a colonoscopy as well. They don't want to leave any stone unturned which is a good thing. In the meantime we will continue to monitor her and give her medications needed for pain and nausea. Dr. Muenzer said he doesn't know when she will be able to go home but it doesn't look like it will be anytime soon. We will continue to keep you posted. Jeff and the kids came up this evening and Jeff gave Lauren a blessing which we were very grateful for and it gave us all some much needed peace. Aren't priesthood blessings wonderful? We continue to be grateful for the outpouring of love we are receiving...thank you everyone!

Our Greatest Champions!!!!!!!

Lauren & Dr. Muge

Lauren & Dr. Muenzer

Today has been an up and down day. This morning was kinda crazy. Lauren fell asleep last night about 7 pm and slept all night and until about 11 am today. Dr. Muge came in and examined her but she was in quite a bit of pain. Dr. Muenzer then came in and examined her and she was having a lot of pain. The nurse came in and gave her some morphine and about 30 minutes later she was feeling much better. Sisters Alvarez and Cunningham came to see her today and that lifted her spirits. Dr. Muenzer came in this afternoon and talked to Lauren a long time. He told her that she was like a big 1000 piece puzzle and that even though they didn't have all the pieces put together that they would get them put together. He told her that many of the pieces look alike when you are putting pieces of a puzzle together and sometimes it takes time to sort thru them, eventually they will get sorted out and put in the right places but it doesn't happen quickly. He told her that her mother grabbed pieces from other puzzles and tried to throw them in with theirs but he had to catch them and throw them out. He assured her that even though she might not see him every minute of the day that he was overlooking everything that was going on with her and he was organizing what was going on with her. She listened carefully to everything he said and she told him that she was patient and she knows he will figure it all out. Dr. Muge will be on call all this week which Lauren was thrilled about. She knows Dr. Muge is one of her biggest champions and she told her that she and Dr. Muenzer together would get to the bottom of her pain. It is so great to see the love and faith that she places in them and I know that with their wonderful care, Lauren will continue to improve. We love her doctors and have complete trust in their ability to "fix" Lauren. They are running many tests and drawing her blood (Dr. Muenzer told her that he thought she had enough to continue giving them some..hahaha). In a few days if things are still up in the air, they will have a meeting with all the doctors to talk about where they want to go next. She seems much more relaxed tonight and feels confident about getting past all of this. You gotta love these wonderful, miraculous doctors of hers who love her and take her well being very personally! We are more than blessed...my prayers are being answered everyday. To everyone who is praying for us...we love you and feel overwhelmed by your love and concern. Thank you...you all are the silver linings that we so desperately need during these times!

Another day.....

Today was a pretty good day. Lauren woke up this morning with her stomach hurting and they wanted to do an ultrasound first thing. She cried as she did not want to have to go thru it again because it hurts her stomach so they gave her some pain medication and we went and had it done. She was good thru the whole thing. The doctor came in today and said that tomorrow they want to do a CT scan of her abdomen so they can get a clearer picture. In order to do that however, they will have to have her drink some isotope stuff in something like sprite. He told her that they would give her pain medication and nausea medication before they got her to drink it and to do her best to hold it down. If she can't, she can't but it is worth a try. She has more color in her cheeks which is good...I think it is because of the tpn that she is on. They increased her lipids today to give her even more calories. She has episodes of severe pain and she says her stomach hurts her all the time but she is a real trooper and goes with the flow. Her enzymes were up just a little bit today so they consider that practically the same. They haven't moved much since last Tuesday. She has made friends with two other girls up here her age and they have all decorated their doors. One of the mothers made the letters for the doors and Lauren added her drawings. She has also gone around and painted everyone's fingernails for them including her nurses. We always try to find good in trying times. She is sleeping now as she didn't feel well earlier this evening and was given some pain and nausea medicine. More later.

Picture of Lauren's Door after it was decorated~

A family day

It was so good to have Jeff, Emily and Michael come up and spend the day with us. We were anxiously awaiting their arrival and when they came it was good to have a day with all my family together, even if it had to be in the hospital. Lauren was really happy to see her sister and brother. Emily was glad they came today because Carrie Underwood came to see the kids today and both she and Lauren got a signed autograph from her. It was cool for them. When she was up in the playroom though visiting all the patients, Lauren was too sick to go up and see her. I thought it was great of her to take the time to sign a picture for Lauren and tell her she hoped she gets better soon. She did one for Emily as well, which thrilled Emily beyond words. Lauren did not have a great night last night as she was in pain during the night. She slept a long time today which is what Lauren does when she is in pain. This evening the pain returned and she was given another round of pain medication. The doctor increased it today as he was in her room this afternoon when she was having severe stomach pains. They are going to run some extra blood tests tomorrow to check more things and he told me that this is something that takes a long time sometimes to resolve. We are getting thru the hard moments and are happy when the pain subsides for a time and have good moments. Jeff brought Lauren all of her nail polish from home as she requested so she wants to give me a manicure and "rainbow" polish...not sure how that is going to turn out but she and I will have a good time in the process I am sure! I hope everyone has a happy Sunday!

Frustration.....

Well, today has been one of those days when you just have to lay everything out on the table, look at it and go from there. This morning the surgical team came by and said that they have taken a different thought process..that Dr. Phillips (the surgeon) has decided that he doesn't want to do the surgery on Lauren on this visit because they want her to be completely healed from the pancreatitis. They worry that they could reinflame it if they do it now. So, okay, we were fine with that. Then I spent a long while talking to her other two metabolic doctors...her pancreatic enzymes have not gone down since Tuesday, and have even gone up some. The doctors told us that unless they jump up 200 or 300 points they consider that staying the same..okay, so now what?? They said that they will repeat the labs tomorrow to check and see where they are. In the meantime, Lauren is still not able to eat OR drink anything without severe pain and nausea. They said that they think they are going to put her on a scheduled dose of morphine and phenergan so she can be out of pain and then tomorrow try and get her to suck on a FEW icechips. We talked in great detail about pancreatitis, my concerns and theirs. One of the things that has them thinking and looking is the amount of nutrition Lauren is getting. She came into the hospital with pancreatitis already in a deficit because she had been sick with migraines and in the hospital only a week before, not to mention she hadn't eaten really well once she came home. So..they have her on tpn for nutrition but the lipids that are the fat and boost the caloric intake they are having to monitor closely because giving too many of them can throw her back into pancreatitis....ARE YA'LL CONFUSED YET???? Okay...so then there is the reflux issue which can be a whole another problem that we are dealing with...is the throwing up from that,...how much more serious is that getting and how long can we wait to have that surgery done???? Then there is the GSD itself which plays in the background all the time and comlicates everything! Now I can take a deep breath and just say we are going to be here until Lauren can eat, maintain her bloodsugar and get the pain under control...we don't have any idea how long that will take so we are not trying to even figure out dates..we are just taking it one day, one test, one lab result at a time. Dr. Muenzer returns on Monday, we will be looking forward to seeing his face I can tell you. Dr. Muge said this morning that when Dr. Muenzer returns he is going to look at them like they are a bunch of dodo heads. We all laughed. Her doctors are great and we know they are looking out for her. We are tired and trying to keep humor around as we look for our silver linings. They are always there. We love you all for your prayers and all the outpouring of love you are showing us...well, look, I just found a silver lining..that would have to be it! Thank you so much!

Crafts, Crafts, and more Crafts....

The last few days have been up and down for Lauren. As long as she is on the pain medication and nausea medicine then she feels okay. She has been sleeping a lot which is her way of dealing with pain and when she is awake she has tons of craft projects to work on thanks to everyone who brought her such cool things. She loves to do craft things and it keeps her mind diverted when the pain level goes down. The nurses love to come in and see what project she has going. We really appreciate them. This morning one of Lauren's doctors came in and told us they wanted to get her to try and drink or eat clear liquids today to see how she would handle them. They gave her pain medication before they got her to drink and then we let her drink water. Within 10 minutes, she was curled up on her bed in pain. She cried and cried and said she wanted to go home and she was really trying. I told her that we knew she was but that she just wasn't ready yet. Because of that, we are now going to wait a few more days before we try again. They are going to change her TPN (the nutrients going thru her IV) a little bit to give her more lipids because she needs the nutrition. They don't want her to go into surgery being nutrient depleted. Her surgical team came by this morning and after examining her said that she isn't ready for the surgery yet. We aren't sure when that will take place. She also had a bone denisty test done today to check on her bones. We don't have those results back yet. They will just continue doing what they have been doing and we are hoping that she will feel better soon. We do have doctors that listen to Jeff and I and we can sit down and work together to come up with a plan for Lauren. I will say though that Jeff and I are very glad that Dr. Muenzer will be back on Monday. We will all be glad to sit and go over things with him. For now...we are just taking things one day at a time. Thanks to everyone for the phone calls, e-mails and visits. We love you for it and it is making our time here easier to deal with. We will keep you all posted.

So how is today going?????

Lauren had her endoscopy today. The procedure went well. They didn't see any ulcers or damage to her esophogus or stomach. It looks like her sphincter (sp?) muscle that goes from the esophogus to the stomach is loose so we are again talking about doing the nissan wrap. Jeff and I will talk with surgeons about that though. She had a really rough night last night. She tried to drink some water and about 15 minutes later threw up. She threw up again later that night and was in severe pain with her stomach. They gave her nausea and pain medication thru her IV and she was finally able to get some relief and go to sleep. Today they told us that they would be putting her on TPN (which is nutrition that she gets thru the IV...Libbi can tell everyone all about it :)! (Libbi has been a great source of help for me to understand a lot of things that I am not clear on....thanks, Libbi, I love you!) She is really knocked out this afternoon, which is a good thing. Sleep is good for her these days. I took a picture of her because she looks so sweet sleeping in her bed. We don't know how long we will be here, as her doctor told us today, she will be here until she gets well! We are taking things one day at a time and Lauren is a real trooper. She handles things very well and we are proud of her. We will let people know as we get more info! Thanks to everyone for you love, support, and prayers. They mean the world to us!

The Ultimate Be All End All Greatest Doctor of All Time...

According to Lauren, he is about as close to walking on water as you can get. He does have the great ability to calm our concerns and patiently answers all my bizarre questions and sometimes irrational worries. He told me this morning that I abuse the word worry..hahaha! What can I say, it is something I do best. It probably drives him crazy though. As you can see from the above picture, when Dr. Muenzer enters the room, Lauren lights up and feels better. He stopped by this morning before he left for his medical conference in Paris to talk with her and let her know what tests she will be having and how things are going at this point. He also told her he would be sending her two postcards from France. She was trilled about that. She is feeling some better today. Her pancreatic enzymes are lower today so we are definitely going in the right direction. Dr. Kepke (sp?) came by this morning and said that he really wanted Lauren to eat little bits today because she needs the nutrition. He said to try and get her to eat saltines and drink some water and see how she does. They are worried that she isn't getting enough protien...she has lost 6 pounds. She is back to under 100 pounds again. We also talked again about doing the nissen wrap on her. They won't do that on this visit though..we will have to come back in a couple of weeks. Another surgery!!!! She will be having the endoscopy tomorrow and we will go from there. Dr. Muenzer said that he wanted them to also do a complete work up for Inflammed Bowel Disease as that is associated with GSD. So I am not sure what tests that would involve. Dr. Kepke also told me today that he told them to go back and look at her ultrasound to make sure there aren't any adenomas on the liver. They start looking for those now. Her ultrasound was good though. We have complete confidence in our doctors over here and Lauren surely feels a lot more secure. We are happy to be in good hands.

We have part of our answer...

After speaking with both Dr. Muenzer and Dr. Muge at length today, we have a part of the picture...Lauren does have pancreatitis and the treatment for that is having nothing to eat or drink until the pancreas can heal. Her pancreatic enzymes are already down today though and they were happy about that. The doctors still feel that there is more going on with Lauren (as they like to say...the problem is always multilayered) and will be doing more tests in the coming days. They aren't sure what caused the pancreatitis or if they will figure that out but they are still planning on doing an endoscopy on Lauren probably on Tuesday (they will have to wait to do it until her pancreatic enzymes return to normal) so that is the day they are shooting for. Lauren had an abdominable ultrasound done today and we will know more about that tomorrow so as Jeff says...our answers are never that easy but at least we have a starting place and we can go from there. Lauren is being very stoic!

A possible answer?????

Well, one of the doctors came into the room a little bit ago and they think they may have figured out what is going on with Lauren. It looks like she has pancreatitis. He said that the treatment for that is no eating or drinking anything for a few days. He also said that it can be a problem in GSD kids. Since he is a resident and we haven't spoken to Lauren's metabolic doctors, Jeff feels like he wants to consult with them and get the facts. It has been our experience that most times when a treatment seems that easy, we get thrown a curve ball. We will definitely be talking to them tomorrow and find out if there are more tests that need to be done, will this come back, how long will it last???? I did do some research on it after the doctor came in but I did so with some reservations as the internet is not her doctor...anyway, we will let you know more after we talk to Dr. Muenzer and Dr. Muge tomorrow.

We are here!!!

We came over to Chapel Hill this morning so I wanted to give everyone our phone number and room number. Our Room number is 6C09 and our phone number over here is (919)966-1729. She is settling in. We have spoken to the doctors and they are going to be doing tests and will probably do an endoscopy either Monday or Tuesday. We'll let you know how things are going. Jeff and I appreciate all the prayers...thanks, Teri, for putting Lauren's name on the temple prayer roll. We are grateful to have such a fabulous group of doctors to see after her. The nurses told us when we came up here this morning that Lauren's doctors sure do fuss over her. We don't know what we would do without them. They keep us steady and assured!

Chapel Hill, here we come!!!!!

Well...we thought we might be able to stay here at Wakemed and be here for only a few days but we always do a lot of consulting with our doctors at Chapel Hill and after talking with them this evening we made the decision to transfer Lauren to Chapel Hill. It is far from our house and hard to be that far away but we have to do what we feel is best for Lauren. She is still having a lot of stomach pain and everytime she eats it gets worse so Jeff and I discussed it afte talking to her doctors and decided to go ahead and get her settled at Chapel Hill so next week they can do a GI work up on her. She wants to be where her doctors are (and we can't blame her for that) so we will be transporting Lauren over there tomorrow morning sometime. We know this is the best decision we can make right now. Please send good vibes our way and call and e-mail us. We will be too far from home for me to leave very often so it will be nice to hear from everyone. We will be trying to keep everyone informed on our blog. I'll let you know when we get there and get settled....!

NOT AGAIN!!!!!!!

Believe it or not, we are back in the hospital! I am sitting up here at Wakemed typing this and thinking...when are things going to get better??? Lauren has not been feeling well since Sunday night but we continued to try and deal with her stomach ache and overall not feeling well as best we could at home. By today it became apparent that she was getting worse instead of better and she couldn't eat anything. Her pulse rate was soaring and after speaking with her doctors at Chapel Hill they made the decision to put her back in the hospital. Needless to say that she cried and cried...didn't want to come back in (neither did her mother) but we explained to her that she had to have some fluids and perhaps we would only have to be here for a couple of days. Please pray that we can figure out what the problem is and get her better and home as quickly as possible. We'll keep you updated!

General Conference

Wow...general conference was so good. I came away feeling more determined than ever to be a better and more dedicated follower of Christ. I loved all the talks...they were so inspiring and I was so excited to hear from President Monson. The mantle has surely passed from President Hinckley to him. The kids loved participating in the solemn assembly....Michael said he would be glad when he was 12 so he could stand up twice. The girls were thrilled when they asked the young women to stand and their faces beamed as they raised their hand in support of President Monson and the general authorities. It made Jeff and I so happy to see their understanding growing. We are now determined as a family to be a little better and try harder each day to, as President Monson asked us, be kinder to one another. I love, love, love General Conference. It helps me so much! We had a great week-end together as a family and actually enjoyed staying in our pj's all day on Sunday while we enjoyed conference together! I hope everyone else found the time to watch it as well! It was a week-end full of being edified!

UPDATE!!!!!

We are home from the hospital! We came home tonight (Thursday) and are so happy that Lauren is now feeling much better. We thought we were going to have to stay until tomorrow but after Lauren woke up this morning with no headache and ate her breakfast, took cornstarch, and ate a good lunch I convinced the doctors to let us go. She is still doing great and I cannot even begin to tell you how great it is to be home again. I am typing this while I am sitting in my comfortable chair at home! Anyway...thanks to everyone for the phone calls each day and for sending Lauren lots of love and prayers. We really do appreciate them!

A Fun Survey

Okay...so I was reading LaNelle's blog and she had this cute survey on it so I thought well, since I am at the hospital with Lauren and have some time on my hands I thought I would fill in the survey with my own answers...so here goes....

1. What is your husband's name? Jeffrey Allen Coombs

2. How long have you been together? Almost 17 years now.

3. How long did you date? Well, that is kind of a long story since we really didn't date before we got engaged...I know, I know...we really did do things backwards.

4. Who eats more? Well, right now Jeff does..I am trying to cut back..I told Jeff the other day that if he didn't have a burning inferno of a metabolism then he would probably weigh 500 lbs.

5. Who said I love you first? Jeff did...it still makes me smile when I remember that moment.

6. Who is taller? Jeff is definitely taller...he's 6' 3" and I am 5' 7".

7. Who has more speeding tickets? I am not sure...I have only had one (before I ever met Jeff)and I don't know how many Jeff has ever had...he may not have had any...hmmm...I'll have to ask...we haven't had any since we have been married. Okay...the phone just rang and it's Jeff so I asked him and he said he had never had any so that makes me having the most...oh well!

8. Who is smarter? Jeff is...he thinks things thru and researches every possible solution to things while I just blaze ahead and try to figure things out as I go...gets me in trouble sometimes and you would think that I would learn not to do that but I haven't yet. I am always learning though.

9. Who is more sensitive? That would be me...it doesn't take much (esp. these days) to make me cry but Jeff is very sensitive to my needs and feelings...that is such a wonderful quality.

10. Who does the laundry? MEEEEEEE (if it is going to get done)!

11. Who does the dishes? Me unless I can convince Emily to do them for me which she is always willing to do...I have such a great young lady!

12. Who sleeps on the right? Jeff does...he sleeps by the door and I sleep by the wall.

13. Who pays the bills? I do...Jeff just works and is glad that everything gets paid on time and he doesn't have to worry with it. He just gives me receipts at the end of the week.

14. Who mows the lawn? Jeff does...he let me do it once but he didn't like the way I mowed so that was the end of it for me..I actually don't mind doing it but Jeff thinks I make the rows crooked...he is funny about how the likes the lawn mowed and so he takes care of it. I don't try too hard to change his mind...hahaha!

15. Who cooks dinner? We both do....depends on who is the busiest that night...sometimes I have a meeting or am going to the temple so he steps in and cooks on those nights. Jeff also does all the grilling out.

16. Who drives when you are together? Jeff does...I really don't like to drive and am glad that Jeff prefers it!

17. Who is more stubborn? Me, me and me! Jeff is so laid back and goes with flow unless it is something he feels very strongly about, then he is like an unbendable tree...but that isn't very often!

18. Who asked who out first? Jeff did...like I said, we had a wierd beginning!

19. Who proposed? Jeff did...and he did it on Jewel's birthday!

20. Who has more siblings? Jeff does!

Okay, so there you have it! Enjoy!

Another Hospital Visit!!!!

Well we are up here at Wakemed once again...poor Lauren..she has been having her migraine headaches again and we thought we had them under control but on Wednesday afternoon her blood sugar plummeted and we ended up not being able to maintain her blood sugar at home. She didn't want to come in so Jeff and I had to tell her that Dr. Muenzer was insistent that she come in (which he was...) so we ended up spending 8 hours in the ER last night and finally got up to a room at 8:00 this morning. By that time Jeff had now been up for 27 straight hours and I had been up for 25. Lauren also didn't get much sleep overnight because the pain was severe. They were finally able to help her pain somewhat and we are now up here for a little while. They are going to be doing her DHE Protocol for her migraines and that can take anywhere from 3 days to 10 days to get rid of the headache! We are hopeful that we will only have to be here for 3 days and that we can get the migraines under control quickly. So say a prayer that we won't have to stay very long and we can all be back home together quickly. In the meantime we are grateful for the nurses who we love up here and for our wonderful doctors. They all care so much for Lauren and bend over backwards to make our stays in the hospital as comfortable as possible! We are blessed to have good medical personnel to look after us!

Happy Easter!

We had a good week-end....laid back and lazy! Grandma and Gramps came over and we dyed easter eggs. Jeff grilled out hamburgers on Saturday and the easter bunny came to see us on Friday night as always. The kids enjoyed the things they got in their baskets and we hid three big eggs around the house and told them that when they found one to bring it to us and it would be worth a cash prize. They loved that.....now that they are older we are finding creative ways to have fun at Easter. Jeff and Lauren made an easter egg cake and decorated it...they even made it look like it had a yolk inside when you cut into it. They are both very creative so it was a fun project for them. Sunday at church the talks were very moving. Lauren spoke first and we were proud of how well she did...she wrote her own talk and then gave it while battling a migraine. She continues to amaze us. We all had a very restful, peaceful easter and we hope everyone else had the same. Happy Birthday late, Jerry....hope your "49"th (isn't it) was a good one and you enjoyed having your grandchildren there! Below are some pictures of everyone dying easter eggs and of the cake that Jeff and Lauren made!

Everyone having fun dying easter eggs

Emily decorating an egg

Lauren putting her own touch on an egg

The easter cake Jeff and Lauren made

The cake on the inside...see how it looks like a yolk!

RANDOM THOUGHTS........

I guess this is a place that I can share my thoughts and feelings sometimes. These past few weeks I have struggled to find some solace in a world that turned upside down for me on July 6, 2007. I have a wonderful family that I love with all of my heart and am grateful for my wonderful husband who has the strength of a giant, the courage of a lion, the patience of Job and the wisdom of the ages. He is my rock and without him I don't know how I would surive. My children are amazing and their ability to understand things so deeply never ceases to amaze me. For me....I know and understand the plan of salvation and for that I am grateful but to say that that knowledge doesn't keep me from missing my beautiful little boy would be a gross understatement. I am thankful that I know I will see Noah again one day and I will have the opportunity to raise him again but until that day it is hard to be here on earth without him. I miss his beautiful smile and I miss him running around the house, playing on the computer, his endless questions and his kisses and hugs. I want everyone I meet to know that I have four children and that Noah is a beautiful little boy that is missed here on earth. I want everyone to understand that he was this wonderful light to our family and that light has gone out here for a time. I want everyone to understand that it is hard to see others with their children around Noah's age and that the pain is real and deep and I long to hold my baby again. I wonder sometimes if my heart will ever heal. I went to the temple this past week and found solace and peace within its walls. The pain at times overwhelms what I know to be true but I do know where Noah is and what he is doing so that helps me get thru the lonely days. Jeff and I continue to move forward with faith but there are days when I just need to say how I am feeling and I guess this is one of those days. I would give anything to hold my baby again and to pick up after him and to chase him around and to change his accidents and tell him how much he means to me. A night doesn't go by that I don't look up into the Heavens and tell him that I love him before I go to sleep like I do all my children. I am thankful Heavenly Father gave him to me and allowed me to be his mother. What a great privilege for me. I have been so blessed.....thanks for listening to my ramblings.....! Below is the last picture we took of Noah. Emily took it on July 4th....I am so thankful we have it.

THE FLU!!!!!

This past week we have been battling the flu! Jeff brought it home from work with him last Friday with a fever of 102. He stayed in the bed for three straight days and I quarantined him to our room. I washed my hands about 5 million times, lysoled everything I could, waited on him hand and foot and made sure he drank plenty and kept medicine in him. On Sunday afternoon Michael began running a fever and had a cough. By Monday morning his fever was well over 103 and I headed to the doctor. We found out (after almost 2 hours of waiting) that he did indeed have the flu and on the way home he tossed his cookies into a bag. We called the doctor and made a dash for the hospital which thanks to our great doctors over at Chapel Hill we were able to go straight to a room and bypass the ER (we look for blessings everywhere!) On Monday night in the hospital, I came down with the flu and my fever began. Taking care of a sick child in the hospital while battling the flu is not the easiest but we got thru it. Michael finally came home on Friday night after spending five long days at WakeMed. Lauren and Emily have now gotten it this week-end but because Lauren was put on tamiflu right away last week she didn't get it bad at all. Emily is better tonight although still congested and Jeff has finally recovered. We all are still tired and I have cleaned and sanitized our house so hopefully we can all take a deep breath now! So much for getting the flu shots this year......! We hope everyone else has fared better than us! We are ready for spring!!!!!

OUR BELOVED PROPHET...

We have had to say farewell to our beloved prophet, President Gordon B. Hinckley. His death has saddened our family, yet my nephew Jacob spoke it best when he said, "It left a tear that brought a smile." We will all miss him dearly and are grateful for his many years of faithful service. Upon hearing of his death, my other children all said, "Wow, Noah gets to meet the prophet!" In FHE last night we talked about the things the we would remember most about President Hinckley...we were pleased to hear the things the kids said. His presence here will surely be missed but we will go on and do as he did...stand for truth and right. Every time I go to the Raleigh Temple I will think of him and be grateful for his great revelation of bringing the temples to the people. He has touched us all in so many ways. In his words...we must move forward with faith!

Our Christmas Time

Where do we start with our Christmas this year? It began this year on Sunday evening with the Wilford Family coming over for a short visit! We got our best present when President Wilford came into our house...thank you President Wilford...it meant the world to us! On Christmas Eve we had a house full of family and friends! Jean's two sisters and their families joined us this year for our Christmas Eve celebration along with our regular friends and family that come each year! We had a great time and had no leftovers....which was great! The soup and ham biscuits were a big hit this year and we had lots of sweets to fill up on as well! The games were fun and the testimony meeting at the end was as always the highlight of the party! How do we thank everyone for sharing this wonderful evening with us. Jeff and I got to open up all of the ornaments our family had wrapped for Noah's tree and we decorated the tree together. Every ornament was just perfect and they all said so much about the things that Noah loved. Thank you all! You made his tree just perfect and each one has a special place in my heart. To my nieces and nephews who picked out special ornaments for Noah...thank you...he surely was smiling when he saw all the love that went in to each one! It was a special time for us. How do we thank Robin and Bishop Tiek for the beautiful remembrance of Noah they gave us. It is already hanging in its spot on the wall and we will always treasure it. Christmas Day, Daddy Tom, DeeDee, Uncle Floyd and Aunt Laurel came to spend the day with us. We enjoyed the day and had fun with them. Aunt Joan came by as well and we loved her visit! We look forward to our visit with Aunt Joan each Christmas day! The day after Christmas (In Sweden I told the kids it is called AnandagJul), Jeff and I surprised the kids by waking them up and getting them into the truck with the trailer already hooked up. We didn't tell them where we were going until we were on the road....we went to our favorite campground, Lakewood, at Myrtle Beach and we spent four wonderful days just relaxing and having fun by the ocean. It was such a great time for our family and we have come home happy to have spent some quiet days together. Below we have posted some pictures we took during our christmas together. Thanks to everyone who made our Christmas special this year! You all made it more bearable for us without Noah and we love you for it. I'm sure Grandma is cooked out right now but we all loved her yummy food! She made enough for us all and to share! Thanks, Grandma! It was the best! We hope everyone had a very good Christmas and Santa was good to you all!

Teri and Momma
Jean and Callie
Lauren cooking eggs in the camper
Emily checking out what's going on in the camper
Noah's decorated tree!!!!

The Wilford's
Dr. Moore and Jean
Patti, Peter, LaNelle, & Stephen
Libbi, Jean, and Kim
Victoria, Emily, and Lauren

A Special Ornament for a Valiant Son

This year we have done a special tree for Noah so that he will always be a part of our Christmas Celebration. Kim thought that this would be a way to keep Noah with us at Christmas. Everyone then decided that they would buy and or make an ornament that reminded them of Noah so that we could decorate his tree on Christmas Eve and spend some time celebrating his life and the light that he brought to us all. Beth and her family will not be here on Christmas Eve so she gave me the ornament that she made for Noah's tree early. I cannot describe the feelings I had when I opened this gift so I thought I would share it with all of you. It is the perfect ornament and it touched Jeff and I so much! Beth...we love you not only for the way that you view Noah but also for the work and time it took to bring this ornament about! Thank you, thank you, thank you! Noah, we know that you are about your Father's business and that makes the seperation easier to bear! We love you! This will always have a prominent place on his tree! Isn't it perfect?????

Merry Christmas 2007

At this christmas season as we celebrate the birth and life of our Savior, Jesus Christ, we wish to extend to all our love and thankfulness for your friendship. 2007 will always be remembered by our family as a time that we had to say good-bye to our precious little boy, Noah. Our family, although not together on this earth, have the joy of knowing that one day we will all be together again. What a happy reunion that will be! We are thankful for the memories we share as a family as they have sustained us during these last 5 months. At this christmas season, we pray that each of you will find ways to spend time with your families and create happy memories, look up loved ones and tell them of your love for them, find friends and let them know of your gratitude for their friendship, and share the blessings that come into your lives daily. We are most grateful for our family times and we will continue to celebrate being together as a family. Noah will always be a part of our family celebration and we know that he will be near as we celebrate this wonderful, happy time of year together. Thanks to all who have given so much of yourselves to us these past five months. Your notes, phone calls and visits have uplifted and sustained us. We are grateful to live in a country where we can celebrate the birth of our Savior and have the freedom to do so! May we all pray for our servicemen and women and share our gratitude to them as well. We love you all and are grateful for your love and friendship! May you all have a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!!!!

Our 2007 Beach Vacation

We had a good time on our beach trip. We stayed busy most of the time we were there with everyone getting to pick an activity. We went to Family Kingdom, Magiquest, Ripley's Aquarium, Putt-Putt, Nascar Cafe and Ride Builders. We walked and played on the beach, rode in the golfcart and spent some lazy days together as a family. We built a monster truck for Noah and went to the Nascar Cafe as the activity everyone chose to do for Noah. We found solace as we walked on the beach and enjoyed seeing our family while we were there. We have posted some pictures so everyone can get a glimpse of our time there. We surely missed you, Noah, but we know that you were with us as you always are in our hearts. Our memories of our times at the beach with you were brought back as we rode around the campground and played in the ocean. You are never far from us! We are looking forward to returning next year with more memories to make.

Emily & Lauren holding Kaitlyn & Natalie

Our Family on the Golfcart....we rode for Noah!

Aunt Kim with her twin granddaughters....Kaitlyn & Natalie The monster truck we built for Noah! Emily beating Uncle Floyd at Air Hockey! Emily & Lauren on the merry go round
Emily & Lauren on the train! Mom & Michael on the tilt a whirl

Lauren, Michael and Emily on the Hurricane!

Everyone at Family Kingdom (Jeff is taking the picture!)

Our Family on the beach! It was a perfect day!Emily & Michael at Magiquest. Michael is sporting a new look!
Lauren playing at MagiquestEmily playing at Magiquest!

Noah Sweet Noah

FAREWELL SWEET NOAH

As everyone now knows, our beloved Noah passed away on July 6th. We cannot express our grief and the pain that we are feeling but we are most grateful to have had the honor of being his parents. We wanted to share a poem with each of you that Jean's sister, Libbi, wrote. She put it into beautiful words and summed up our little Noah perfectly... It is entitled

NO MORE WORDS

He came to us on a beautiful July morn
The sun was shining bright the day Noah was born
Jean and Jeff's 4th child and second son
His journey on earth at last begun!
He was a special child right from the start
And his infectious smile won all of our hearts
He found joy in dancing with shadows on the wall
His laughter ringing as they'd change from large to small.
His number one snack was table salt all alone
And yellow was the color he chose for his own
With his beloved Monster trucks he'd often go "vroom"
And Noah's favorite spot was Grandma's red room!
At the computer one could find him almost every day
Creating on the M&M website where he liked to play.
On vacation at the beach he'd put on his hat
And race to the front of the golf cart where he sat.
He loved little cars and his Dad's "little hair"
And when bedtime came, Jeff must be there
To be with him and hold him close as he fell asleep
So under Jean and Jeff's covers he would often creep
And only "Emmy" could get him out of the car
For in his little world, she was the brightest star.
A child of few words, his patience would thin
When we would push too hard to talk with him.
"No more words" he'd insist with palm held up high
And we knew it was useless to even try!
But other times his voice would ring out clear
When, "Mommy!" he'd say, "Come look here!"
When Jean needed it most he'd appear at his mother's side
To pat her cheeks, give her a kiss, then away he'd glide
And on those rare days when Jean would break down and weep
He'd touch her lips and "Momma, no cry" he'd repeat
Noah's view on life was very unique
A different path he seemed to seek.
In the world's view he was limited by GSD
But we knew that in his soul he was living free.
Unburdened by convention or the woes of man
'Twould seem he understood the Father's plan
For Noah knew this was why we came to earth
And that death is really just another birth
We mourn the time we wanted to spend with him here
And we'll miss the sound of the voice that was so dear.
But we believe as he slipped through the veil with hands held high
He may have whispered "No more words" as he said goodbye.

On Sunday afternoon we gathered all of our extended family together and shared our testimonies with each other about the Savior before we went to Noah's viewing. Below we have posted our testimonies and hope they will bring a measure of comfort to those who are mourning with us. We cannot express our gratitude strongly enough for all the love and sharing that we have experienced this week-end. We love you all and thank you for your loving kindess and goodness. It has overwhelmed us.

Jeff's testimony…

I want to thank each of you for loving Noah. We have felt your prayers on our behalf and have come to know that prayers can reach to us and put arms around us to comfort us. I want my family to know that I know that God lives. Heavenly Father has a plan and I know that this is his will and part of his plan for us. It is up to us to submit to that plan and try to understand. Our Father allowed Jesus Christ to die, that too was part of his plan to allow us to return home. I know that Noah has returned home. Today he is in Paradise, his mission here completed, he has done all he needed to do and he was called home. Knowing that gives us peace and hope. It's pretty simple. I told Jean Friday as we drove home to tell the children about Noah. It is either true or not true. It's as simple as that. I believe, I KNOW the Gospel of Jesus Christ is true and we just have to have enough faith to endure to the end. This moment is not something we wanted to have happen. What our family has is special. Many people in the world do not know what it is like to have this kind of love, this bond, this faith. God's plan is right. It is a plan of love. What we have in our extended family is the pure love of Christ and all I can say is that the world needs what we have. It needs more civility, more love, more faith. We have to share what we have, we have to reach out to others and invite everyone to know what we know…that God lives, that his son, Jesus Christ is our Savior and there is peace only because of him. We suffer great pain today. We have a tiny glimpse of Christ's suffering in Gethsemane. But he not only suffered there but he also had to walk through Gidron Valley and hang on a cross at Golgotha for us. The world believes this but they need to know the happiness that is there for them. They need to know the comfort we find as we read the Bible. The knowledge we have of God's plan keeps us going. And there is a plan, there was no big bang…this earth was planned down to the smallest grain of sand. It is a beautiful plan and we must share it with everyone we meet. Smile, shake hands, share your spirit and let those you come in contact with leave your presence better for the experience. This testimony I leave in the name of my Savior and yours, in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

Jean's Testimony…

On Friday when I found my precious little boy, I realized when I saw him that he was gone. The paramedics worked valiantly in our home and en route to the hospital. I prayed and prayed but I knew that the Lord had taken my baby home. I yearned for peace, I wanted the comfort of peace and I prayed for it but it did not come. Jeff was calm, he felt sorrow but he was at peace. I wanted to be but I wasn't. I know the plan, I understand the plan but my life felt empty. The past few days I have experienced an outpouring of love from my family and friends. On Saturday, I didn't want strangers dressing my baby. I asked my sisters and my Mom to go and perform this act for me. They did what I asked and returned and told me of the peace they had experienced during that service. I was jealous. I wanted to find that peace but although I tried, I could only feel sorrow. Then, on Sunday morning, Jeff and I prayed together for a very long time. Jeff told me that it was time, he said it was time to let go and give our son to the Lord. Finally, I said, "Father, thy will be done. Take care of my son." For the first time in two days, I felt at peace. One of my favorite scriptures in the Bible reads, "Be Still and know I am God" I couldn't be still before but now I was and I was able to listen to the Spirit and feel that sweet peace. I know where Noah is and that his journey has not ended but has just begun. I am honored to have been the mother of a perfect child. My arms are aching to hold my baby one more time but with every fiber of my being, I know…I KNOW Jesus is the Christ, I KNOW he loves us and would NEVER give us more than we can bear. Yesterday I could not find peace but today my Savior has come down and wrapped his arms around me and I feel his love and concern. I know he has not done this to punish us or because he doesn't love us but because Noah is a valiant son of his and was ready to go home. I am so thankful for an eternal family. This knowledge gives me strength and power. Our family is worth more than any silver or gold, greater than any riches. My family has buoyed me up and I am so grateful. I know my redeemer lives and that knowledge gives me peace. When I was a child my Dad made us recite scriptures at the dinner table. I was only five and so he allowed me to repeat the same scripture everyday for years. It was two words, "Jesus Wept." I never knew that it would come to have such significance for me. I know that Jesus is weeping with me now but I also know that Noah is happy. That knowledge brings me peace. In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen
http://baileyrt.googlepages.com/noahcoombs