Settled Into Our New Home!!

It is official we are all now Minnesotans (don't know about the spelling)!! Last week Shannon and I got to move into our new home and unpack everything while the girls stayed with my parent's in Iowa. Then on Sunday we all came home together and have enjoyed our new home together. Aubree was very excited about her new room and it was like Christmas for her when we unpacked all the toys. For all you parents don't go buy new toys just put them away for about a month or more and then let the kids unpack them and they will think they are in heaven!! It has been nice so far waking up and enjoying our new space. Trinity seems to like her new room and new environment. I think she will always be happy as long has she is with the people she loves. Most of all it is nice to have us all under the same roof at night. We really missed having Shannon around. We would like to give a special "Thank You" to our parents for letting us live with them while we were awaiting our new place.

With a lot of to-do's on my list for the week, my number one is to get doctors setup for Trinity. She needs to see so many that it is quite overwhelming, but I think we have been living in a fantasy world for the last 2 months with no surgeries and no doctor appointments.

We want to "Congratulate" our friends Sarah and Travis Turnbull on the arrival of their little boy Sayer Michael. We are so happy that he is healthy and that he has brought such a blessing to the Turnbull family. Please pray for them as they adjust to the changes in their lives.

We will be sure to post some pictures of Trinity soon. She has grown so much and gives us a lot of smiles. We hope you all have a blessed week!!

Update

Sorry that we haven't updated in awhile, but things have been going pretty good. We kinda had a scare on Monday thinking that Trinity's shunt was not working again. She was vomitting and just not acting like herself, but it ended up being a bad cold. We are just glad it wasn't the shunt.
She continues to do physical therapy in Pella and it is going really good. Trinity is learing to waive bye-bye and gets really excited when she does it. It is funny how you take the little things forgranted with your kids. We get so excited when Trinity does something (like eating solids for the first time). She definately has made some progres, but we still have a long ways to go.
We did find a house and we will be moving next week. We are really excited to finally be a family again and to get Trinity into some doctors up there. Shannon has been living by himself for the past month in Minnesota and the girls and I have been living between Lynnville and Montezuma. We are just blessed to have such great parents that love us enough to let us live with them!!
I can't "thank" all of you enough for all the prayers. We feel them so much!! I am asking that you also remember Shannon and I in your prayers. Not very often do I talk about our feelings through all of this, but lately I have really been struggling with things, and when I see other children and then realize how far behind Trinity is and start wondering if she will ever crawl, walk, or even roll over. My heart breaks for her, but sometimes I think it selfishly breaks for myself. It is very hard to not be bitter at times, but God is constitantly showing me how much he loves Trinity and loves us. For those of you that know Trinity, she is full of smiles and is such a happy baby. She has definately been Shannon and my inspiration through all of this. I don't know too many babies that could go through all that and still have a smile on their face. I am sorry for rambling, but sometimes it is nice to just let it out and to have people praying for ya. We are so blessed to have such wonderful family and friends!!

Physical Therapy

Last week we started physical therapy for Trinity in Pella. She's been going GREAT!! Paula is her PT and she does a fantastic job with Trinity and shows her so much love. Trinity is showing more strength in her neck and does a better job of keeping her head up when you have her in a sitting position. She also lays on her tummy and holds her head up good when she does that. This has been one of the best decisions Shannon and I have made. We are determined that Trinity is going to be the percent that walks!! If you live in Pella or the surrounding area and need some PT I really recommend Sterling Physical Therapy!!

We still have not found a place to call home yet. Shannon and I looked on Friday and found a couple different places, but we are waiting to hear back on them. Please keep this in your prayers. The girls and I really miss Shannon and we need to get Trinity in Minnesota so we can start our search for doctors. I can't remember if I posted this or not, but we did get Trinity approved into the Shriner's hospital in MN. They have scheduled her first evaluation on January 9 (that is how far they are booked out). We are really excited for that!!

We just want to say once again how blessed we feel to have such great family and friends!!! Many of you have blessed us with money, gifts, and tons of prayer. We don't have enough "Thank Yous" in the world to express how grateful we feel!!

I also have to brag, the picture above is of my nephew Kodie's go cart. My dad had this painted on the front of it.
Have a great week!!! Love~The Arthur's

Poker Run Benefit

This past Saturday people gathered to show their support for Trinity. Bikers came from all around the state and some traveled from Illinois. This was another humbling experience for Shannon and I. We would like to say a special "Thank You" to Paul and Caryn Webb, and Randy and Gale Johnson. They put a lot of work into an awesome event! It started with a 100 mile Poker Run (motorcycle ride) including 5 stops. It then ended in front of the Montezuma Tap Room where they hosted a dinner and dance. They also had different raffles and a 50/50. The winner of the Poker hand gave the money back to Trinity and the winner of the 50/50 did the same. There honestly are so many amazing things that happened that day, I don't have enough blog space to blog about it. It was great seeing people we knew and people that we didn't come and support our baby. Someday we will tell Trinity about the amazing people that love her and supported her when she needed it the most. Shannon and I did not know the Webb's before they did this, but they have become our friends for life!! Thank you to everyone that came on Saturday and showed your support. You will forever be engraved in our hearts!!

Trinity is doing really good. She started therapy yesterday in Pella. We wanted to get her started on her therapy so we were not getting behind. We will make that trip twice a week. We have still been trying the solids, but she is not real sure about it and still has some issues with choking.

We have not found a home yet in Minnesota, so please keep that in your prayers. It is getting to the point that we really need to be finding something soon so we can get Trinity the doctors that she needs. We have looked at so many homes to buy that we feel like God is telling us that we are not suppose to buy right now. So with that being said we are going to rent until we are comfortable with buying something.
The girls and I continue to live in Iowa and Shannon started his job yesterday.

This is a picture of the band that played on Saturday night and some of their biker group from Illinois.
Love~The Arthur's

6 Month Appointment

It has been quite the week with a lot going on. We have been so busy trying to get things ready to move, packing enough clothes for about a month, and getting doctor appointments in.
Trinity is doing really good! She had her 6 month appointment today, which was about 2 weeks overdue, but we couldn't do it until she healed up from the surgery. He was very pleased with how Trinity looked and was growing. She weighs 16lbs 14oz and is 24in long. She seems to be a little shorter then most kids at her age, but they said it was pretty common with spina bifida. On Thursday we go to see Dr. Gilmer for her checkup. Her incision is healing really good and she has been holding her head up more and doing really good with her upper body strength. We also started feeding her some solids. She doesn't mind it, but she only eats about a 1/4 of it and then decides that is enough. Hopefully over time she will develop more of an appetite for it.
On Saturday Shannon and I enjoyed our 5 year anniversary. We had a great day and evening! My mom has been here and watched the girls for us so we could go spend the evening together, something we don't get to do very often. We have been very blessed over the past 5 years with a wonderful marriage and two beautiful girls (what more could you ask for). As we continue to go through life Shannon and I vow to eachother that we will do it hand in hand with God as our guide.
So with two final words as we head towards Minnesota, "GO VIKINGS!!"

Trinity is Home!!

Sorry, I should have updated this a couple days ago, but things have been busy. Trinity got to come home Saturday afternoon. She continues to amaze us! She's doing so good and is keeping her head up and showing more upper body strength. She has started to smile again and is acting more like herself. Dr. Gilmer will see her again on the 11th and then we are hoping to move on the 12th. We have a lot going on in the next couple weeks so please keep us in your prayers. Thank You~The Arthur's

Trinity Update

Hopefully everyone enjoyed a beautiful week! Trinity is still recovering in the hospital and doing great. She moved from the PICU to the Peds floor yesterday afternoon. She no longer has the head dressing and they removed both her IV's. She seems to still be in a lot of pain and discomfort ( I guess if I had surgery on the back of my head I think it would probably be uncomfortable to lay on all day long). We are crossing our fingers that she gets to come home today. Shannon took last night's shift at the hospital. It was nice to sleep in my own bed and take a shower in my shower.
Aubree came to the hospital the other night and read a book to Trinity, so I added that picture. She really loves her sister and is always so concerned about her. I also added the picture of her head. I know you can't see it real great, but it gives you an idea of how big the incision is.



We really appreciate the words of encouragement and the prayers. It has been a long week for us emotionally. Hopefully we will be updating in the next few days to say that she got to come home!