New Name "Framed Faith"

Some of you may have noticed the changes to the blog. I'm not very smart when it comes to this kind of thing, but after having the blog for almost 6 years and a title, "babygirlarthur", I thought it was only appropriate, with Trinity soon turning 6, to make some changes.
Why "Framed Faith"? This Christmas I received a book from my best friend, Camie. The book is called "The Simple Joys of Motherhood". I spent some time last night reading through some of the pages and a page that stood out to me was "Framed Faith". One of the verses on the page was from Psalm 9: 1-2,
"I will give thanks to you, Lord, with all my heart; I will tell of all your wonderful deeds. I will be glad and rejoice in you; I will sing the praises of your name, O Most High."
The part of this verse that stuck with me was, "I will tell of all your wonderful deeds." Since starting this blog all we have ever wanted was to make sure God gets ALL the glory for the things in our lives and Trinity's. Some of my most treasured pictures are framed! We frame them because we want them displayed and to keep them from getting ruined or destroyed. I treasure my faith and want to frame it! My faith keeps my eyes focused on Him and not the storms of this life that want to take me down with them. My faith gives me: joy, love, hope, peace, grace, forgiveness, strength and an eternal home in Heaven! Shannon and I have been asked at least a dozen times how we stay so strong through all that Trinity has been through. The answer is God and God alone!! He is the only reason I am able to get my head off the pillow in the morning and function through the day. He gives me strength in my weakness and joy in my sorrow!
We will keep using this blog to inform you of things happening in Trinity's life and ours, but also to share our deep love for The Lord! We love your comments, but most importantly we love your prayers!
Just remember one thing as your read this blog, I am not a writer and composition was not one of my strong suits in college, so please don't criticize my grammar!! :-)
"Just as angels are attracted to the light of joy and kindness,
so too, are miracles attracted to the lamp of faith and love." -Mary Augustine

New Year!!

Happy New Year!! We are staying warm here in the frozen tundra, with expected temperatures on Monday of -20. The Governor of Minnesota declared all schools be closed on Monday, so the kids are pretty disappointed to not be going back.

Trinity had an accident while we were in Iowa last week. When we have her out of her wheelchair we carry her like you would a baby around your waist. The driveway was covered with snow and had ice underneath. We slipped on the ice and landed on Trinity's left leg. There was no doubt it was broken. So we headed to the closest Children's hospital. They confirmed it was broken and decided the best option for Trinity was to cast the whole leg. We had also called Dr. Walker, her Ortho at Gillette, to confirm that he felt this was the best option for her. He agreed with the treatment. She will be in the cast for 6 weeks and she will see Dr. Walker a couple times for x-rays in that 6 week time to make sure it is healing correctly. Not exactly how we wanted to end our stay in Iowa, but we are thankful it wasn't any worse.

We will keep you updated on how the healing is going!

Prayers!

Last week Trinity had a checkup for her spinal rod surgery that she had in July. The surgeon is concerned that her rod might be coming away from the upper part of the spine. This can happen with growth. He is not 100% sure, so they are doing a CAT scan on Thursday to find out. If it is no longer attached they will need to do surgery in the next month or two. Please pray that it is still attached and there are no issues! If all is well with the rod he will wait 3-4 months before lengthening it. May God be glorified in the answers to these prayers!

Laughing in the Rain!!

You know those days when you start to feel sorry for yourself or those days that you wonder what more is God going to give me that He thinks I can handle? I have those days far to often, but yesterday I was getting Trinity off the bus and in the rain she found laughter! She thought it was so funny that we were running in the rain and that we were getting wet. She wasn't upset or complaining, just laughing! You see with a lot of things that Trinity faces in life, she finds laughter and joy. She gets up in the morning and starts everyday with a smile on her face and joy in her heart. Her obstacles don't get her down and she never complains. I know she's only 5, but not once has she ever asked, "Why me?". I often wonder if this day will ever come, but for some reason I don't think it will. God brought this amazing little girl into our lives and so many others. She has a purpose and I know that God uses her to open my eyes to the joy that I am missing out on. So the next time I think I need to complain about my circumstances, I'm going to picture my little girl, laughing in the rain!!

Kindergarten!!!

Is this really happening? Trinity is in Kindergarten? Where does time go?

Trinity started Kindergarten yesterday and LOVED IT!! She's only doing half-day kindergarten to start out with and eventually we will transition into full-day. I'm so proud of her, she got on the bus all by herself and didn't shed one tear. Mom on the other hand had a hard time saying goodbye, but I saved the emotions for after she left. She came home exhausted and ready for a nap, she actually requested a nap! She told me her favorite part of the day was seeing Aubree on the playground and watching her swing! I love that she has such a great relationship with her big sister. God has richly blessed me with some amazing kids!!

As Shannon and I were putting Trinity to bed last night, we both sat in awe at where time has gone. I never thought 5 years ago we would be putting Trinity on a school bus all by herself and going to kindergarten! God hears our prayers and answers in His timing, not ours. That is something I have learned many times over the years. Thankful that God has equipped Trinity and blessed her with amazing teachers and a school to attend. About a year ago you could hardly understand Trinity's speech, but today most people that interact with her can carry on a full conversation and understand what she is saying! School is good for Trinity and gives her a chance to have some social time with other kids. We are very thankful!

Summer 2013

We have had a great summer this year!! I wanted to share a few highlights from Trinity's summer with you. I have to apologize, I post so much on Facebook that I forget that we have people that follow on the blog and they don't have Facebook. So some of you never get to see pictures that I post or the updates from surgeries. I promise I'm going to do a much better job of posting on here now that I have a reliable computer to use!!

Since I'm not smart when it comes to blogging and I can't figure out how to caption the pictures, I'm going to have to tell you down here!

1. Trinity was a special guest at the memorial for Will. We had the privilege of seeing Will's new gravestone and it is so beautiful!! She really misses her special friend, but we talk often about the day she will get to see him again in Heaven!!

2. We spent as much time as we could, before Trinity's surgery, at the beach!! Trinity loves playing in the sand and seeing how far she can scoot out in the water!

3. Daddy got a new boat and Trinity loves to fishing on it!! Daddy even bought her a new fishing pole that is lightweight.

4. Daddy even lets her drive sometimes!!

5. Trew and Trinity enjoying some fishing time with the family!!

6. We got to go to the State Fair in Iowa. The kids had so much fun camping in Papa and Nana's camper!!

7. Trinity was a champ again during this last surgery!! God has blessed us with such a strong little girl. She was discharged the same day of surgery and recovered like a champ.

Hope all of you enjoyed your summer as much as we did!!

Surgery July 31

We seen Dr. Walker on Thursday and discussed the upcoming surgery. After seeing x-rays he has decided to replace the lower half of the growing rod to make it longer. He will reconnect the rod to the pelvic bone and add a clamp to help keep it in place. Trinity will more than likely be in the hospital for at the least one night. Her curve was 66 degrees on Thursday. This has gone up about 10 degrees since she got the rod in October of 2011. Nothing to be overly concerned with. He would like to get as much as we can out of the growing rod until we have to resort to something else.

Please pray that all goes well on the 31st and for Dr. Walker and the nurses that will be taking care of her. We appreciate all your prayers and support!