Home again!

Just thought you'd like to know we are home with Victoria.  Her incision is healing nicely, she is keeping her food down well and other than teething discomfort is feeling better than she has for awhile.  It is nice to see the lack of pressure in her eyes and even in the shape of her face.  I can't tell you how excited I was to get in the car Monday and come home!  Thank-you for all your prayers!   

Shunt Revision

Come, let us worship the Lord, let us kneel before the Lord our maker. Hope you are all enjoying your day of worshiping the King of Kings today.  This finds us worshiping at Gillete hospital. Victoria needed her shunt to be revised, so we came on Friday and should be going home tomorrow, Lord willing. They will start her on food today, and see how she does with that, as last week, she would throw everything up we gave her.  She was crying alot this morning and they were going to give her some pain meds, but Linda said, let me hold her and see if that helps. Yup, Mommy's arms are the best medicine..settled right down and went to sleep. After having not been here for a year, I am amazed at how many of the doctors and nurses remember us, even go out of their way to come and see us. Oh that they would come to know our Saviour. We have been blessed to be able to stay in the Ronald McDonald house right here in the hospital. Whenever you visit that fine "restaurant" , throw a couple of coins in the Ronald McDonald house foundation...its a great cause. Yesterday I read, to come boldly before the throne of grace to receive mercy and find grace to help in your time of need. Thank you so much for doing just that on our behalf. God is good all the time. Blessings on your day. Bruce.

March and April in the The Mitton House

We have been having some beautiful weather!! Victoria is enjoying this weather a lot. We also had a really fun picnic in March. Something that I do not remember ever doing.

Here Matthew is tying himself off so that he can fix the clothes line. He was sore after he finished the job, but he had the satisfaction of a job well done!!

Daddy got new beautiful laminate wood flooring for our kitchen floor. Here Dad is taking off the baseboards.

We had a lot of extra cream off our milk the other day. What a problem!!We used the extra cream for ice cream. Yum! Yum!

More work on the kitchen floor. Mom and the little boys,(not so little any more:), were Dad's great helpers.

The finished product. This floor is so much easier to keep clean.

Matthew tilling in March!!

Victoria having a CT scan which monitors the shunt . We are so glad that her shunt is o.k.

We were learning about William Borden in our school. He was a man on fire for God during the 1800's. One type of art that was common during his life time was mosaic art. Here is Caleb's attempt at mosaic art. It's a rocket.

JoAnna's mosaic art...the moon:)

The raindrops looked so pretty on the tree, that mom asked me to take a picture of them. I am so glad that God gives us springtime!! "While the earth remaineth, seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease." God always keeps his promises. May God bless you with a wonderful day, filled with opportunists to serve Jesus!

Victoria's Appointment

Just a quick update...Victoria had an appointment at Gillette on Friday.  She had been showing some signs of her shunt flowing a little slower than normal.  They did a scan, and assessed where she was at, and decided that it probably had been partially clogged and then had cleared.   They checked the setting of the shunt;  it was where it belongs at the moment and they didn't feel that it needed any adjustment at the present time.  This was the time that she was due for an appointment, so we were thankful to get her appointment taken care of at the same time as they assessed her shunt flow.  We managed to get 720 miles,   a little shopping and Victoria's appointments all in on Friday, and still got home before midnight.  Rachel and Matthew were my able helpers and companions for the day...we were all very glad to get home Friday night!  We thank God for little Victoria and for His continual goodness.

March in Minnesota.

          Finally,Snow!! Here Rachel, Matthew, Caleb, JoAnna, Marie, and Esther
                                        are enjoying building snow tunnels.

                                          The finished snow tunnels.

 We all enjoyed going to Bemis Hill with the Conroys and with Silas. What a
                                                  beautiful view!

                           Even though there were many bumps on the hill,
                                 we found a good path to sled on, and did
                                                not get too sore.

 Melitia loved going down the hill with my mom. They became good sledding buddies.

 Mmmmm. Hotdogs roasted over a fire taste so good. We also had smores.

 Victoria had a very good time. Here she is having a chat with her daddy.

                       We have made some very good memories at this building.

No Snow!! Now the children are having fun splashing in the puddles.

 With the weather in the forty's and fifty's almost all of our snow is gone.

Isaiah 12:3-4 Therefore with joy shall ye draw water out of the well of salvation. And in that day shall ye say, praise the Lord, call upon his name, declare his doings among the people, make mention that his name is exalted.Isaiah 12:3-4

Victoria's Birthday, Ben leaving.

Here is Victoria wearing a birthday outfit from mom and Dad.
Thank-you Misty B. for the beautiful birthday bow!

Really enjoying your new toy, are'nt you Victoria?!

Opening presents with daddy.
We are so glad that we were able to have Victoria at home for her birthday this year.
Victoria's last birthday was spent in the hospital.

We had an open house for Victoria's birthday and for sending Benjamin off.
Thanks to all that came and helped us celebrate.

We went skating ,when we came home we found out that Mom had frosted this cake
Didn't she do a good job?!

Esther and Benjamin having a twirly hug.

Dad and Benjamin in front of the hotel in Fargo where we said good-bye to our soldier

The night before Ben left we played Phase Ten together.

Here is Rachel with the roses that Ben gave to all of his Girls. We love you Benjamin!!
Ben is not the only soldier in training. Everyone who is a Christian is a soldier in the King of Kings army.
We all need to be training to be the best soldier possible for Jesus.
"Have not I commanded thee? Be stong and of a good courage; be not afaid neither be thou dismayed:
for the Lord the God is with thee whithersoever thou goest." Joshua 1:9
May you all have a great day. Don't forget that we are in a battle!

Victoria is almost two!!!

I just wanted to say that Victoria,at around 3:50 p.m  will turn two years old!! We are all very excited about this. We are so grateful to God for letting us have our little treasure for so long. We will try and post pictures of her party soon. May you all be led of the Spirit today. "But thanks be unto God for his unspeakable gift!."

Skiing

The entire crew. Front row,from left to right, Jeshua C,Matthew M,Ronnie C. Second row; Caleb M, Ellen C,
Isaac K. last row; Linda M, Elizabeth M, Rachel M, and Priscilla K

Jeshua. There was a wonderful view from the top of Buena Vista.
The weather was very, very delightful.

The Lodge.

From left to right; Caleb, Isaac, and Ronnie.
This is the middle and largest lift at Buena Vista

Caleb, Jeshua, and Ronnie were all new skiers. They did very well.  Here Jeshua, Matthew and Caleb (hiding behind the mask) are ready for another fun run!

My sister Rachel. As you can see by the look on her face she (all of us really) was having a great time:)

Priscilla and Rachel after getting of the smaller lift...ready to head down...in the blinding snow...which didn't last too long.

Ronnie and Elizabeth coming up the ski lift. We are so glad that our cousins and aunt were able to join us for a day of fun and exercise.

 Elizabeth did fine on the slopes...but here she is just taking a quick break.  The weather was mild...at first it snowed heavily...but it cleared up and was such a nice day, we really didn't want to stop.

My wonderful mom. Thank-you Mom for taking us to Buena Vista.
Thank-you very much Daddy for staying home with the little girls..we wished you could have come with us.

Our Cousin Isaac hit into a deer.(we are glad you are o.k.) Isaac gave us the meat from the deer.
Here Caleb is cutting meat of the bones..notice his lovely apron:)

"But let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your father which is in heaven."
May our great God give you all many opportunists to share the Lord with others this week. No light is too insignificant. I once read a story about a little girl. She was a housemaid in a large house. Her jobs were lowly and menial. Whenever her companions saw her she was cheerfully fulfilling her tasks. When asked what her secret to joy was,she replied" I know that Jesus sees all I do. I want my candle to burn brightly even in this small corner of the world.
You never know who your life is touching.

Linda's Latest Creations

Um, something interesting for lunch? Nope, just the latest of Linda's projects.

I don't think boiled sweater would taste good anyways. I think she was making sure it was shrunk.




After cooking it, she hung it up to dry and shrink. From there, it will end up looking something like this....

Beautiful wool mittens, lined with fleece. Sold in stores for over 25.00. Made in just about 1 hour. Old sweater gotten at second hand store for .50 cents. Or, Sportsmans guide is selling 4 wool blankets for 31.00. Either way, these are nice mittens. I love my Mitton :))