The Bethlehem Candle

I've been a little negligent in posting during these busy weeks of the holiday season. We have a lot of fun pictures (school play, skating with Santa, making Christmas cookies, building a Gingerbread house, etc.), that I will post after Christmas (they're on the computer at home and we're in Whitney at Jon's parents).

Tanner has had a several migraines again over the last several weeks. The medication seems to help them be not as severe, but, they still keep occurring. We saw the geneticist again recently and he has no more answers at this time, but, is continuing to do more testing.

The advent candle that was lit this past Sunday was the Bethlehem candle that symbolizes Peace. I've thought about that the last couple of days and have been so thankful to the Lord for the peace that He has brought us both through His son's birth, and also the peace He gives us with Tanner's diagnosis. Despite the pain and struggles and unknown, we truly do have peace. We are so thankful that we can have this special time to celebrate our Savior's birth! We hope you have a wonderful, joy-filled Christmas!

Our Little Snow Angel

Can you believe we had snow in College Station today? It started with sleet and a few snowflakes this morning and then snowed quite a bit more this afternoon! Tanner was excited and signed - same as Michigan! He made a snow angel and a small snowman and then wanted to have a snowball fight, but, Mom is not as much fun as Dad. Jon is currently in San Diego for a conference and is missing out on all the fun, he would've thrown snowballs with Tanner. I just told him he could throw them at the car and I would take pictures (nice huh?). The two of us had a relaxing afternoon together; enjoying a fire, playing in the snow, finishing up some Christmas decorating and drinking hot chocolate. I also added a picture of Tanner, Hattie and Ody enjoying their advent story. Tanner is loving the daily advent stories and learning more about the true meaning of Christmas. What a joy it is to see him learning that Christmas is not all about Santa and gifts and what it's really all about. Though, it's also fun seeing him talk about Santa and the reindeer landing on the roof, coming down the chimney, leaving gifts & taking off again. If you ask him where Santa is right now, he's working at the mall :)

Tanner continues to have his daily, chronic headaches, but, hasn't had any migraines for over a week. We're happy about that, but, disappointed the daily headaches are continuing. A few days ago Tanner was really energetic, playful, and happy and we realized that he didn't have a headache that day! We thought that maybe the medicine was starting to work, but, the next day he was more lethargic and less perky. It was sad to realize how much this affects him. We haven't seen him feel that good in a while and so it's easy to forget what he was like before the headaches. It's hard to see him hurting and then realizing how much it affects his everyday life. You could continue praying for these headaches to subside so that Tanner can be more like a normal little boy again!

Tomorrow night (12/11) Tanner will be in the annual deaf Christmas play at school. He's excited to be the forest ranger and has been performing his part during practice professionally and taking it very seriously - it's so adorable. We're looking forward to a fun weekend of ice skating with Santa and attending a deaf Christmas play at a deaf church in Houston before Jon comes home on Monday. We're definitely having a fun-filled and busy holiday season! We hope that yours is enjoyable and restful as well.

A Terrific Thanksgiving

We hope you had as nice a Thanksgiving as we did! We had a fun weekend with my parents here. On Wednesday we met some of Jon's family at the zoo in Waco. On Thursday we enjoyed a nice Thanksgiving dinner and games with my parents and our friends the Boysen's. Besides visiting Santa's Wonderland and being entertained by the hayride to see the Christmas lights, we also had a memorable time cutting down our Christmas tree. My Dad thought it was interesting to be cutting down a tree in the midst of cactus with no snow (though it was chilly that day, so it sort of felt like winter.) Tanner loved picking out a tree and wanted to cut down the first tree he saw (actually, he wanted to stop and cut down all Christmas trees that he saw - even on the side of the highway :)) but, he was patient and waited until mom found one she liked better.

On the health front, Tanner has continued having headaches. They seem to be occurring daily, he often wakes up with a headache and usually goes to sleep with one as well. We saw the neurologist today and are increasing his medication again. Hopefully this will help decrease the migraines, but, he's not sure it will help the daily chronic headaches. This is hard. We hate to see him suffering and not being able to do anything to help. The verse that was chosen for Tanner's dedication at church is an encouraging one.

"Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be terrified; do not be discouraged, for the LORD your God will be with you wherever you go." Joshua 1:9

Cousins at the zooGrandpa & Grandma Lenger with Tanner (bison in the background)

Tanner and Great-Grandma Heberta warm Thanksgiving afternoon

a fun hayride through Santa's Wonderland

This is the one!

Tanner's rendition of the tree farm, the tractor and hay ride

Christmas 2008!

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!