Christmas with my mom's family

This year was extra special at Mom's because we all were able to be there together. It has been a few years since this has happened. Also, my older brother and sister's families were able to meet Autumn for the first time. It was a great day!

My sister, Tracy, her husband Brian and two sons Carl and Eric came from Pennsylvania. It was so nice to see them. Carl and Eric are such polite and kind young men.
It was nice to see my brother, Scott and his two girls, Courtney and Maddy. Jayna really enjoys these girls. They are so good to her.
Here's Mom and Roger with all their grandkids...Kahnen (with Roger), Autumn (with Mom), Courtney, Jayna, Madison, Eric and Carl
My brother and his wife Jordan with their son Kahnen.
Jayna was very pleased with her new Hello Kitty alarm clock.
Eric played with Autumn all day. He was so good with her.
Mom and Roger enjoying each other and opening their gifts. We love and appreciate them.

This cute video is of Kahnen and Autumn playing together. This is really the first time they have interacted like this. They had a ball together all day.

Happy Birthday Grandma Hess

In the beginning of December, we celebrated Grandma Hess' birthday. Here are some very fun pictures of that time. The grandkids have so much fun together.

Here is Grandma with 5 of the 7 grandkids.
As you can see, they don't hang out long.
Grandma is great for playing with the kids and making them laugh.
Jayna and Taylor can be the best of friends.
As you can see, Autumn cannot just sit with the others. She is always on the go.

Sledding Fun

Since we have had a lot of snow already this year, Jayna has gotten to do some sledding. She loves to be outside in the snow. (She's not at all like her mom when it comes to cold weather.) She began her sledding adventures at Grandpa Gene and Grandma Ellie's on Thanksgiving Day...

Down she goes!
Jayna and Grandpa Gene at the bottom of "Messer Hill."
Sledding adventure #2...Jayna and Taylor with Grandma Hess.
Jayna and Taylor give Grandma a hand at the bottom.
Jayna and Taylor pile on Uncle Justin for a ride.

We have such good sports in our family. It blesses my heart to see how willing they are to play with the girls. Fun memories with family last a lifetime.

Ann Arbor Report

Autumn had an appointment in Ann Arbor today with the Chronic Kidney Disease Clinic, as well as her yearly ultrasound. Not too much has changed in her kidney functioning. Her kidneys are still quite small, but they haven't gotten any smaller since last year. This is a blessing! Her lab work was all pretty good. This is another blessing! Her blood pressure is still quite high, which is not a good thing. They increased some of her medicine and would like us to take her blood pressure regularly at home. We should have our own blood pressure cuff soon. Finally, she isn't gaining weight like she should be. If you know her at all, she is SUPER busy and burns off every calorie she takes in and then some. Our wonderful nutritionist instructed us to put butter on her food so she has some extra fat calorie intake. Another suggestion was to mix a special concentration with her new formula, which is special for those with renal issues. Other than that, they are watching her labs a little more often and want to see us back in June.

After our appointment, we visited the NICU. We were able to see some of the wonderful people who took care of Autumn while she was there. They so enjoyed her running down the hall, talking, playing, signing, etc. They said seeing babies doing as well as her gave them encouragement that their jobs were making a difference. We thanked them for being God's instruments in Autumn's life. Also, a dad of a current NICU baby walked in while we were there and said to Aaron, "There is hope beyond here," as he saw Autumn. I am so blessed when I see God using our children to encourage others. He has a plan and a purpose for everthing. His greatest plan was played out through His son Jesus. Coming to earth as a helpless, dependent little baby; growing up into a man; living blameless in a sinful world; dying an innocent death on the cross. God's plan in all this...TO GIVE YOU AND I AN OPPORTUNITY TO HAVE ETERNAL LIFE WITH HIM. What a loving plan that one was. I pray this Christmas season fills your family with many blessings, especially the blessing of a loving Savior.

Stay tuned to the Hess blog...I am on break and have lots of fun things to share!

O Christmas Tree

Last year's Christmas tree tradition was done on a pretty warm day in between Autumn's hospital stays. We took Grandma Hess with us and had a great time. This year had a bit of a different spin on things...

It was a very cold day.

I had to cut the tree down because Aaron wasn't able to with his hurt hand.
Unlike last year, Autumn was not contained in a car seat. She managed to lose both her boot and sock in the middle of cutting down the tree. Needless to say, she had a very cold foot.
We still had a great time as a family and came home with a nice tree. (Jayna took this picture.) When we got home, Grandma Hess came over and helped get the tree in the house and standing upright. Then, Jayna and I enjoyed our time putting all the decorations on. Thank you Lord for this nice family time and tradition.

Surgery Is All Done

Sorry I haven't posted lately, but things have been a little busy around here with Aaron's hand and the holiday season that is upon us. Aaron had surgery on his finger today. He did very well throughout the surgery and after. The doctor was a little disappointed because he was unable to repair the joint like he wanted to. Aaron lost 1/2 of his bone (at the upper joint) when he injured his finger. The doctor ended up putting two pins in and some bone proteins to hopefully help the bone to grow back and fuse together. Only time will tell. For now, he is to spend some time recovering. He will get the pins out in two weeks or so. The total recovery time will be 4-6 weeks. Thank you to everyone who has been praying for him. Please continue to. God has certainly been shining His light on us. I pray your family is being blessed with His presence and goodness as well, especially throughout this Christmas season.

Something to Pray About

In case you haven't heard yet, Aaron hurt his right hand on Saturday. He was working on the door to our back garage. Well, the spring to the garage door sprung on him to his surprise and got his hand quite a few times. The ER doctor said that he was lucky it wasn't his face and that he only had the injuries to his hand that he had. He ended up with some stitches in his thumb and ring finger, as well as some other significant cuts on his fingers/hand. He also fractured the ring finger at the upper joint and tore a tendon. We went to the hand surgeon today, and he wants to do surgery either Tuesday or Wednesday of next week. There is some infection in the wound that needs to clear up before he can repair the joint. Aaron is currently on an antibiotic for this. Thankfully, he is not in much pain at this point. God has been so good to our family through this. We are so thankful Aaron is not hurt any worse than he is. We are thankful he is not in a whole lot of pain now. We are thankful this can be repaired with some fairly simple outpatient surgery. We are thankful Aaron is able to still work at this point. We are thankful we get to help Aaron out a little bit. There is just so much we praise God for. Please join us in prayer for the infection to heal, surgery to go well and recovery to be quick. Thank you for your love and support.

A Little Bit of Autumn

Autumn is quite a character. She definitely has her very own little personality. In these videos you will be able to catch a bit of who she is. She is all girl, just like her sister. She loves her baby and her purse. She also is walking now, which makes her a super busy girl. Enjoy!

Leaves Part 2

Okay, we had to have another round of leaf raking, jumping and burying. It was lots of fun!

This time Jayna used a real rake.
Apparently, pushing with the rake was easier than pulling.
Now, this is the face of a very happy child!
It's no longer a spectator sport to Autumn.
Jayna and Autumn had fun together! What a blessing to have these two fun-loving girls in the house!

Leaves Part 1

A couple of weeks ago, Jayna couldn't resist the fallen leaves in our front yard. She didn't even want to take time to get the rake from the back garage. She decided the snow shovel would do just fine. Take a look at her efforts...

She worked hard at shoveling them into a pile.

She's having a ball!

Now that there's a pile it's time to run...

and jump right in!

Autumn thinks her sister is brillant and can really put on a good show.

Fun With a Box

It's always amazing how kids like to play with the box more than the toys. Tucker and Autumn loved crawling in and out. It was so cute.

Jayna made a bed in the box. Autumn would crawl in it too and try to snuggle up with her sister. They are so sweet together.

Family at the Birthday Party

We love our family so very much! They have been a HUGE part of this past year, and we enjoyed celebrating with them.

Grandpa Shutes reading with Autumn

Autumn uses Uncle Justin as a stablizer, while Grandma Hess gets her ball for her.

Autumn and her cousin/buddy Tucker enjoy some time with this fun toy.

Our sweet niece Carly wonders what is going on.

Uncle Sep helps Auti with her toy, while Tucker supervises.

Happy 1st Birthday Autumn Faith!

We praise God for this past year and all He has done for our family! What a blessing to be celebrating this incredible year full of miracles! This little spitfire of a girl has something in store for her to further God's kingdom. It is so fun watching her grow and seeing who God is making her to be. I love His plans! They are always so perfect! We had a nice quaint party for her 1st birthday. She really enjoyed herself. We hope you enjoy a few of the pictures.

The birthday girl really enjoyed her balloons!

She had no problem opening the gifts! She knows how to get to the good stuff!

'Hmmm, what is this in front of me...'

'Oh, it's sooo yummy!'

'I just can't let any go to waste. I better lick this plate clean. I probably won't get this again for a long time.'

I Tried, Be Patient

I am sorry, I tried to post a blog about Autumn's birthday, but the pictures wouldn't load. I will keep trying. I have many blogs to share, so hang in there. We'll have some new postings very soon. Thanks for your patience.

Nature Girl

Autumn is our little nature girl. She loves animals, especially the deer in our backyard. Here's a video of her watching the deer and talking to them. This happens everytime she sees them in the backyard. It is really cute. We tried talking Jayna into being in the video because she enjoys the deer too, but she had something better to do in her room.

Serving in Louisiana

Aaron is away this week serving his heart out in Louisiana. He, Mark, Dave and John left from our house Saturday morning at 7:15 am. They are having a nice time together, but they are working very hard. They have been able to meet the people whose homes they are working on, which puts more of a personal touch on what they are doing. They are staying at a church and roughing it a bit. I have been told the showers are outside and quite an interesting experience. Please pray for these men who are serving the Lord in this very needy area of our country. Aaron said the devastation is amazing and they haven't even seen the worst part yet. That is to come. Rest assured that Aaron will post more about his trip when he gets home. Until then, your prayers are so welcomed and appreciated. Pray for the safety of these guys, as well as for the people they are encountering and helping. Thank you!

New Adventures With Autumn

Autumn mastered two things last week: standing and emptying the cupboards. Here's proof of both. She is growing up so fast. It's amazing that she will already be 1 year old this Sunday. We praise God for this past year. He has done so many miracles in her little life. He does so much for all of us each and every day. Thank you, Lord!

Atlantic

We had a band by the name of 'Atlantic' stay a week with us in the beginning of September. One night, they hung around with us for a bit. Here is what our wonderful daughter talked them into doing for her. Can you say lots of "bling?" These guys are great sports!

Brownie will do anything to get Jayna to talk to him. You never looked better Brownie!

Aaron even got into the pink and the jewerly.

Doesn't Drew look good in his pink choker?

Nate is having a great time, can't you tell?!?! It was a fun night!