ASL Stories and Teaching Dogs Math

Tanner is doing some better, but, didn't feel great this weekend. Friday evening he wasn't himself, but still enjoyed our trip to Waco to see Peter Cook, a deaf storyteller. Here are a few pictures from the evening. Tanner was able to participate in one of the stories with several other kids about a boy at the dentist. He loved being a part of it and was not shy at all. You can see from the last picture that he wasn't feeling great.
Tanner had another migraine yesterday (Sunday) & had a rough afternoon. Later, we were able to get a little work done on math, and Tanner decided Ody needed to learn about tens and ones as well!


We are looking forward to Thanksgiving, Shelly's parents are coming in from Michigan Tuesday night and Tanner has been counting down the days! In case we don't update before then, we hope you have a wonderful Thanksgiving!

More pictures & More prayer

I've finally added more family pictures! It's hard to pick our favorites....but, here are a few more. There are still more that I'll add later.

Thank you for your continued prayers for our family and for Tanner. We have truly felt them. A friend commented recently we looked happy in the family pictures and prayed that was true. Well, God is faithful and it is true! It's sometimes surprising how happy we can be despite what is happening with Tanner and with many others around us, but, I have truly felt joyful recently. I believe that is only from the Lord! It's not always this way, but, thankfully it has been recently.

We would appreciate your continued prayers. Tanner's migraines (which the neurologist believes are separate from the chronic daily headaches and have also continued to occur) have started getting worse. His migraines involve nausea, vomiting, and pain. He had one Friday night and is home from school today with another. Normally the migraines are in the evening and have been pretty well controlled with medication, this is the first time he's had one during the day.

I was happy today that we recently hooked up the new digital converter (yes, we still have an antenna!!) because we now get 3 channels instead of 2 and Tanner enjoyed watching Clifford on PBS this morning (our "new" channel - woohoo!) He's been sleeping on and off this afternoon and is a bit weepy as well, poor guy!

I've been so grateful and at peace today. I'm sad for Tanner and wishing he wasn't miserable, wishing I could do more to take away his pain, but, loving being able to be home and take care of him. What a real blessing! I've had this verse of the Ross King song "You Alone Can Satisfy" running through my head today:

There's no fortune or pleasure, That this world can provide
They have failed and they always will, You alone can satisfy.
You're the Treasure that I've found, You're the meaning of life
You're my deepest desires fulfilled, You alone can satisfy.

I think this is a big reason for my gratefulness and peace today!

We hope you enjoy the pictures!

Future Coach?

A couple weeks ago we went to a high school football game and watched an exciting win! Tanner loves to go to the games. Afterwards, our friend Kyle Walsh, took Tanner into the fieldhouse to see some of the players. Here is Tanner's friend Patrick, Tanner, Alex, and Coach Walsh. Tanner was SO proud :)

Working out like the players!

Family Pictures

Last weekend, our friend and amazing photographer and cinematographer, Igor Kraguljac, took family pictures for us.

Here are a few.....

More to come later!

Geneticist Visit

Thank you so much for your prayers for our visit today. It was a good visit. We didn't get the answers that I was expecting today (though I knew that my expectations were high, I was still disappointed), but, we will hopefully get some answers when we return in December.

The doctor was very thorough and attentive and would like to find us a definitive answer to exactly what type of white matter disease that Tanner has. One thing we wanted to happen was for all of the MRI's to be compared to each other. What a blessing, he will be sending them to a specialist in Amsterdam that is knowledgeable in leukodystrophy to review them. He is also running one additional test at this time (another kind of white matter disease) that was not previously done.

We feel very comfortable with him and the plans to evaluate the MRI's and then go from there. We had a nice day together as a family and enjoyed some good fishing back home this evening. It was an exciting day for Tanner since he finally lost his top tooth (he's been working on it for a while). Jon and I were discussing at dinner how Tanner probably thinks that it's normal to go see different doctors all the time - we're a little tired of the trips, but, it doesn't seem to bother him, thankfully.

Thanks again for your love and support for our family!

The Week In Pictures

Tanner and Matt showing off their pumpkins!

Tanner's idea of a haircut (as a self-stylist)

Mom's idea of a haircut.

You can see how much Tanner enjoys getting his hands dirty! Here he's enjoying the pumpkin carving at school!

Do you like my pumpkin?

A contemplative doctor - waiting in line to go trick-or-treating at the George Bush Presidential Library

Our little astronaut at the space exhibit.
















Enjoying an exciting high school football game!