Mason turns 6!

This cute little guy of mine turned 6 today!!

We had respite care today, so we decided to take all of the older kids to the new chipmunks movie. It was really cute! Then we headed off to a little Chinese restaurant nearby for supper. Our kids love Chinese food (well, at least the American version of it)

Micah and Megan enjoying their Chinese. It is VERY cold in our neck of the woods, and I don't think they could keep this little shop warm. They decided to eat with their coats on!

Mason with Uncle Curt who joined us for our Chinese supper and present opening


Mason's cake he picked today

Very pleased with the fact he blew out all the candles in the first try!


Cool game sent to Mason from Grandma and Grandpa

A star wars frog habitat. He'll send away for his tadpole and get to watch it transform into a frog.

Daddy and Matthew checking out Mason's presents

Mason's dart shooter. He had a ton of fun with this tonight!

Update on Steve

Steve got out his heart cath at around 11 am. We have great news!! Steve has no blockage in his arteries. He got a clean bill of health. Steve has had pericarditis after a viral infection in the past(about three years ago, I think). This puts him at increased risk for this again. And Christmas Eve, he told me that his chest pain felt the same as it did before when he previously had pericarditis. But in the ER, when they drew blood, his cardiac enzymes were elevated; just barely elevated. Cardiac enzymes are a indicator of cadiac muscle damage. They were concerned because of his family history or heart problems that it would be good to investigate further. So, hence the reason for the heart cath.

When the doctor came and talked to us after the procedure he said his arteries were perfect, but that there was a little inflammation of the heart muscle (myocarditis). This is essentially the same as pericarditis, but with further involvement. And when you have myocarditis, you will "leak enzymes" in the blood. So hence the reason for the increased cardiac enzymes. His ejection fraction of his heart (that tells the strength of the hearts ability to pump blood) was minimally decreased but the doctor said that was due to the infection and when he has a checkup in a couple months, it will most likely be back to normal. Steve will go home today with a anti-inflammatory to take for 3 weeks. The hardest part for Steve will be the fact that he cannot lift more than 10 pounds for 5 days; which puts him out of work for 5 days. He is NOT happy about that. It takes a lot to make Steve sit still. But the fear of his artery opening back up and excessive bleeding from lifting too much weight scares him enough that he'll sit (or at least not lift more than 10 pounds) for 5 days. Maybe it will a blessing in disquise. This gives us 5 days as a family together.

Merry Christmas!!

From the Soldatke Family

*on a side(but very important) note: Steve could use our prayers today. He has been sick with a kidney infection for a couple of days; but very early Christmas morning (around 12:30) started having chest pain and had to go to the ER. Stubborn guy drove himself, because he didn't want to take the kids out in the gigantic blizzard we are having here. He is hospitalized and they will be doing a heart cath tomorrow morning. He is very young to already be having heart problems (35) but has a strong family history, so they are being extra cautious. I, for now, am stranded at home with the kids. It is still too dangerous in my opinion to be out and about. I don't have a 4 wheel drive and don't want to endanger anyone else to come get us at this point. I'm hoping the snow quits, so we can go up and see him. Please pray that the results will be negative. We are putting our faith in God and knowing that HE will take care of us.

Prayer request

UPDATE:

I recieved an email from Kristen this morning. They are home, and are resting. The doctors believe it was just a febrile seizure, though they did not find a reason for it. Thank you for your prayers. I'm sure Kristen will update her blog when she is able.
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I recieved a text message late tonight from my dear friend Kristen. You may remember she is the friend of mine who updated my blog while we were in the hospital. She texted me to let me know that her precious Cayman is in the ER after having a very long seizure. It sounds as if she also has a high fever, and I don't think they have any answers yet. Would you join me in prayer for this sweet little girl and her family who are so dear to my heart? I would appreciate it!

Matthew's new chair

Matthew got his new adaptive stroller. He loves it. See: Excuse the mismatched clothes. We are hanging out at home. He doesn't care anyway.

The seat can be taken off the stroller base and put on the spring base. This is what his seat is on in the pictures. It's like a very fancy (read: expensive) office chair base. It goes all the way down like this picture below to act more like a floor sitter. Matthew can look out the window.


or it can be elevated all the way up to act like a highchair. We use it in the kitchen while I'm cooking and we're eating.

I don't have a picture of him on the stroller base. We're leaving that out in the car, and it's too cold to get it out. The stroller has a shade and even a rain poncho. It sits rear facing or forward facing. It's SOOOOO nice!! As my pediatrician said; "It's the cadillac of strollers." We love it!! Special thanks to our wonderful PT, Chrissy for suggesting this stroller and writing the pages and pages of justification to the insurance company.

Winter Wonderland

Since Sunday, the snow has been steadily falling in our neck of the woods. I think we have gotten around 15 inches total. Crazyness. Last night and today the roads were nearly impossible to navigate with out 4 wheeldrive. I tried to take some pictures of the snow last night; but this is all I could get:

With the flash, all I could get was white snow flecks and without the flash, the house was just a blur

Steve pushes snow as a 2nd job, and this is the only picture I could get of him doing our driveway. Being the farm girl that I am, he even let me run this for a while last night. It was a lot of fun.

Due to this 2nd job, I have not seen Steve hardly at all since Sunday. He puts in some long hours. He pushed snow all evening and all night Sunday and Monday morning. He slept Monday afternoon and evening and then went out early Tuesday again and was out until last night around 6. He slept till midnight and went back out and as of right now (5:30) he is still out pushing. I have to work tonight, so Steve will come home to watch the kids and then go back out when I get home to finish up. He will be one tired guy come tomorrow.

Here is a couple of pictures from today out our front and back windows

We are home!!

We are home!! Safe and sound!! I have alot of unpacking to do; but wanted you all to know that we are under our own roof tonight. Thank you for praying us through this storm!

The Carrier Pigeon's Update

Hi, it's Kristen. Without an update from Jill yesterday I began to worry that maybe Matthew had a set back and Jill felt too discouraged to write about it. OR maybe things are still looking good and Jill is just too busy getting ready to go home.

To end my whirlwind of worries, I decided to stop wondering and just give Jill a call to find out how things are.

Well, the news is, it's good and plans for Matthew's discharge tomorrow are still in effect!!

Hooray!!

Tomorrow will be day 38 in the hospital for them! That is a really long time and it's no wonder that Jill's mind has already taken Matthew, hopped on that plane, and are resting back home. She is so ready to be there!

Please keep asking God to see these plans through.