Goodbye Sweet Claire

Today we had to say goodbye to our sweet Clairey. She was Born May 5, 1999 and died today, December 15, 2007. She was so dear to our family. Her life was too short. Everywhere I turn I am reminded of her. From the mess left under Shawny's chair with no Clairey to clean them up to no one there to greet me at the door. I know I will have a hole in my heart for a very long time. This has been a very painful day. She will always be missed. She was a very good dog. Claire with a 12 year old Santa. Can you tell we didn't have children yet. We must have been desperate, bringing our dog to see Santa:)
If you are wondering what happened to her, here it is. We returned home from Muskegon Sunday night and Claire appeared to be doing fine. Monday she kinda laid low. Tuesday I said, "I don't think Claire is feeling to well." She just kinda laid around. Not much spunk. Wednesday I noticed she wasn't eating or drinking much and her urine was kinda dark against the snow. Thursday I knew something was wrong. I encouraged her to eat a little meat and gave her a Tylenol (Bad move by the way, Tylenol is toxic to dogs). I also gave her a bath and a hair cut. She looked nice and I was sure it would help her feel better. Still no improvement. Sleeping a lot, no eating or drinking and really dark urine, no other symptoms. I let her sleep a lot on Friday but around 6pm picked her up to give her some love and noticed her belly was yellow. Not kinda yellow but really yellow. At that point I could see all of her skin was yellow. I instantly knew this was an emergency. We had to wait to see the vet until Saturday at 8am. When we saw the vet we were told Claire was in severe liver failure. The costs of treating her were to high and the chances of her being cured were slim. After many many tears we made the painful decision to have her put to sleep. I have never had to endure this before and don't know if my heart could handle doing it again. It was one of the most painful decisions I have ever had to make. I am just thankful Claire isn't in anymore pain and that the live failure hadn't progressed any further. From what I was told, the later stages of liver failure are much worse. Lyle dug tearfully her a grave in the semi frozen ground behind our house. She was so loved and we will miss her dearly. Now I must head to bed without letting the dog out and having her follow me to my bedroom to sleep. I'm so sad.

My Little Man

It's tough to be a man. Why, with all the shaving you hardly have time for anything else.

Grandma Joyce bought Shawn a toy shaving kit. For a few days, each evening he would lather up and do a thorough job of shaving. I got such a kick out of it. Take a look. He's very serious.

I could just kiss those sweet cheeks!!!!

Decorating the Christmas Tree

As usual, we bought our tree the day after Thanksgiving from Williams Tree Farm. The unusual part was picking it up on our way home from Muskegon, at 8pm, with our little Escort loaded down with luggage and hunting gear. The next day we decorated. The kids were so excited. This is the first years they have actually been a HELP in the process. You know how it can get. About the time I couldn't handle one more decoration being broken the Clark kids called to see if they could go sledding with Sierra and Shawn. They headed outside and stayed out for about 3 hours building snowmen, snow forts and sledding. Sierra set up the nativity with a little help from Shawny.
Shawny helped check strings of lights to see if they were working and set up, or partially set up about every other decoration we have. He was everywhere. Wow!! what a mess:)
Sierra, sporting the Mrs. Clause glasses. Oh yeah, I have to tell you we went to see Santa and Mrs. Clause at the Mall. Shawn & Sierra are sure this is the REAL Santa. After she sat on his lap, Sierra leaned over to me and whispered,"Mom, Santa has stinky breathe. Don't tell him though." She also said Mrs. Clause must have went on a diet. She was very thin.
Sierra and Shawn gave our little Santa and Mrs. Clause a makeover, brushing their hair and washing them up.

Our First Broken Bone & School Pictures

We had quite a day today. I know this x-ray doesn't show up well but Shawn has a break right below the wrist through his radius bone.

On Monday the kids were home from school because of a snow day. In the afternoon the kids were sledding with the neighbors. With a little help from Sierra, Shawn and Abby flipped off their sleds and Abby landed on Shawny's wrist. I could tell Shawny was hurt because he had that look in his eye. We mom's know the look. Not only did he have the look, but he had no desire to play for the rest of the day, from 3:30 until bed time. Normally he just shakes it off and heads back outside because he doesn't want to miss a minute of play time with his friends, Jon-Michael, Abby and Jerad Clark. To shorten this story, we went to the doctor this morning at 9am, Munson for x-ray's at 10am, waited at Munson until 11:30am, want to the Orthopedic specialist at 2:45pm and left with a cast around 5:15pm. From there we had to go to Wal Mart to pick up a Sharpy that could write on a black cast don't you know:) Well we can be thankful it was a typical break and shouldn't effect his growth. He should only have to wear it until January 4th.

While I'm posting I figured I would include the kids latest pictures. They are growing and changing so quickly these days!!! Where have my babies gone?

Tooth #2

On the way to FW Friends, our Wednesday night kids program, Shawny thought his tooth might fall out. I said, "If if falls out tonight at FW Friends I think you will be entitled to a prize from the prize box." Well thats all it took. Right after we entered the building he pulled it out. When we shared it with the FW Friends Kids, all of the sudden they all started trying to pull out their teeth so they could get a prize too. I was bustin' up!!! Sooo, the moral of this story is.... Kids will do anything for a prize..... or is it Leanne, you had better watch what you say or our church will be full of toothless kids.

A Successful Year

Today is the last day of rifle season. I have to say, I'm not feeling as bad as Lyle and John. They are mourning while I am celebrating. They have had a good year. Lyle got a 7 point on opening day and John's patience was rewarded the next day with a nine point buck. If you want the gory details you will have to ask Lyle or John. They would be more than happy to fill you in. Here are the pictures of their trophies. Look at the smiles on these boys.

One Down and One To Go

Last week Shawn lost his first tooth. I know this is a kinda yucky picture but you can see how thrilled he was. His teeth have been stubborn about coming out. His 2 front bottom teeth have actually come in and are waiting for a spot to fill. His other bottom tooth is also very loose but not quite ready to come out. Hopefully it will happen in the next week or so. Just after realizing he had pulled out his tooth he lost it in the carpet. After searching for 15 minutes or so we gave up and used the vacuum with a new bag. We found it within 5 minutes.

37

Today I turned thirty seven and I was reminded to remember all that God has done in my life as I looked at the scripture for today posted on my blog. I know this scripture was there just for me today. I couldn't begin to list all that God has done in my life but I will list the top ten that come to mind.
1. My parents who modeled their faith before me.
2. That I asked Jesus into my heart at 10 years old, the night before our family was in a tragic car accident in which I very well could have been killed.
3. That God brought Lyle into my life, my life long love and companion.
4. That God gave me the privilege to be called mother to a sweet little girl, Sierra Joy.
5. Sixteen months later our second gift arrived in the form of a little boy, Shawn Oaklee.
6. I have had the chance to be a pastors wife for the last 13 years.
7. We were able to build a home 4 years ago. What a blessing.
8. I am able to stay home with my children.
9. My family is healthy.
10. Today I have a new niece, Adalena Cathryn Black. My brother Tim and his wife Kim's second child born this morning at 6:31 am, 9lbs 13oz. and 21 inches long.

Trick-or-Treating

Sierra was a precious cowgirl, fully armed. (Not fully armed at school I must add) Shawny was a friendly skeleton as you can see. We had a great night for trick-or-treating. The rain ended around 5:30 and we were good to go. The first stop was Grandma Deerens. She even had treats for her baby boy and his wife.


Shawny and Chandler the ghost.
Sierra and Paige as Harry Potter

Bryanna Joy Deeren

Welcome to the family. What a true joy!!! Boy does this bring back memories. She looks so much like Sierra did. She is about 5 pound in this picture but was around 4 pounds when she came to live with Bryan & Suzanne. I'm so glad we got to meet her. Bryan & Suzanne have 4 children already, now with Bryanna they have 5. She is sure surrounded by love. Three older brothers and one sister, all 7 and under. That sound like a whole lot of work. Also a whole lot of blessing. If you are curious about their family I have a link to their blog to your right.
Shawn and Sierra felt a connection with her right from the start. Sierra especially. Sierra also shares Bryanna's middle name, "Joy". What more can be said.

Shawn and the older boys are quite the buds. Caleb, on the right, requested a visit to his friends house (cousin really) for his birthday. How sweet. They live near Grand Rapids and we only see each other every 6 months or so.
The boys are wonderful caring big brothers for their new sister.

CC Loves the Snack Table

Sierra is lucky to have her Kindergarten teacher again as her 2nd grade teacher. Sierra is in a 1st/2nd grade split this year and not only does she have Mrs. Johnson, she also has Mrs. Enderson every afternoon. Every afternoon she and about 11 other students join Mrs. Enderson for Social Studies, Math and Science. Sierra loves her and is enjoying the small group environment. She just finished watching a caterpillar go though the stages of becoming a butterfly. A couple weeks ago they released the butterflies. She wrote about it and I can she she has learned a lot.
We must not forget Sierra's beloved Mrs. High, the speech teacher, and Mr Plum a 3rd grade teacher who just happened to jump into the picture. Sierra goes to Mrs. High twice a week to work on Auditory discrimination. Sierra is the envy of many, many, many of the children at Westwoods. Everyone wants to go to Mrs. High's room. Shawn has had a hard time accepting the fact he isn't going to get to go to Mrs. High. Mrs. High did however schedule a special lunch with Shawny last month to make him feel better.
I asked Sierra what her favorite thing in the room was and she went over to the snack table, sat down and said, "The snack table." You would never know this girl can eat by the size of her. She loves food!!

Shawn Loves School

Ok mom, I'll update my blog :) Shawn has the same teacher Sierra had last year. This has added a measure of comfort for him, also in the fact that Sierra's classroom is next door. Mrs. McMellan is a great teacher and Shawn is digging right in. Every day he comes home with books he has written and all kinds of projects he has created. One day he came home with a man he had constructed out of scrap paper. I'm not kidding when I say the man was at least ten foot long. It was stuffed in his backpack. Hanging up that piece of art work was a trick.

I just have to tell you, yesterday Shawn came home with a book he had created and read it to me. He said, " This book is called The." I said , "ohhh?" He continued, "Well it's really called The Boat but I didn't know how to spell boat so I just called it The." He is so stinkin cute!!!!
At his open house Shawn showed off his favorite place in the room, the reading area. He created a paper person and had written a letter to mom and dad and placed them in his favorite spot in the room. I'm so glad he is enjoying school and that he is a pleasure to his teacher. He's a great kid.

Hi Mom

To the best Grandma a kid could have, a wife dearly loved by her husband and a mother who is adored by her children.

Don't kill me for the pictures. I just want everone to know who you are and you look fine!!!

I'm so glad you are figuring out how to check my blog. Don't forget to visit some of my friends.

The other night, after I talked to you I decided to change my template. That can be tricky. I changed the template but in the process I wiped out all my links and extras. I had saved the old template so I could undo what I had just done, however, it just wasn't working. Long story short, I had to redo all the links and extra stuff. It's still a work in progress. Can't for you to come and visit. Thank you for your prayers for Sierra. I couldn't believe, 100% on her spelling. What an answer to prayer. She is so encouraged:)

I need to get going. I've got to get my grocery game completed so I can go shopping tomorrow. You should check out thegrocergame.com . You can check it our for a month or something like that for $1. Just don't forget to let them know I referred you:) I get some free weeks or something. Beth is the true grocery game guru though. She actually saves money on her grocery bill each week. I save money but I buy more and therefore spend more each week. Lyle's not really impressed so far but I am having more fun shopping:) Love you

My Little Writers

It is so fun watching my kids grow. It is amazing to watch them develop their writing skills. I'm sure I couldn't have done this stuff in 1st & 2nd grade. Here are a couple poems from Sierra's poetry folder.My dad is special to me. He loves me and he plays with me. By Sierra 5-07 She sure does love that daddy.
Worms are slimy and they are brownish with a little pinkish. By Sierra 5-07 They sure are!!!

My first pool. I was scared. The pool was deep. Should I jump? I will jump. By Shawny 9-07

Can you see the two stick people in the pool?
Flowers at Charity's wedding. Shawny 9-07 He really had to decipher this one for me. But when he read it to me I could totally see it. I think this is a picture of Sierra although it could be Charity. Andrew and my niece Charity Thompson were married 8-06. Shawny and Sierra were so proud to be in their wedding.

Aren't they precious. Shawny brings home about 5 pages like this every day!!! He is one busy kid. It is amazing to see the progress from the time they enter 1st grade to the time they exit 1st grade. I'm a little scared of how much Sierra will have changed by the time she exits 2nd grade. They are growing so quickly. My babies!!!!! Where did they go????

Back to School

They are growing so fast!!!! It's hard to believe that I have two kids in school full time. Shawn is in 1st grade with Mrs. McMiellen and Sierra is in 2nd grade with Mrs. Johnson who just happened to be her Kindergarten teacher as well. Sierra gets to be in the same class with Jon Michael Clark and several friends other friends from her 1st grade class. I just had to show last years picture as well so you could see how much they have grown and changed.