Well here is our lovely hotel in downtown San Antonio. It is nice and clean and I have no complaints about it. There is a trolley stop right in front of it, which is nice because the trolley and/or bus are our main sources of transportation right now!!

I was going to write about our trip, but I am sooo tired right now and we have to get up early in ther morning, so I will say my "blogging" for another time. I will just put up the update for anyone who didn't get it by email:

Well Kaedy finished all her tests here in San Antonio today. We talked to 3 doctors - Dr. Campbell, the orthopedic surgeon; Dr. Smith, the general surgeon; and Dr. Pinero, the pulmonologist. They were all very nice and they all were very impressed with Kaedy: her size and her development.

The doctors had lots of good things to say today:
1. they are saying Kaedy does not have Jarcho Levin
2. they think that she just has a few anatomical anomalies that caused some other problems.
3. they say it is not genetic, that it would be extremely unlikely to have any other children with this
4. they think she will soon be off the vent

We did find out that she has a herniated large intestine. They are planning on moving that back to where it belongs tomorrow during surgery.

Although the doctors would not say today whether or not Kaedy had been officially accepted into the titanium rib project, they all said (at one time or another) that she would have surgery tomorrow. They are supposed to give us the final word early in the morning and they are planning on taking her into surgery about 7am.

They are planning on doing the following things: (which could change during surgery)
1. taking two ribs from the right side to stabilize the left side.
2. implanting two VEPTR rods (the titanium ribs) - both on the left side, one close to the spine, one closer to underneathe the arm.
3. fixing the herniated intestine
4. detaching the diaphragm and reattaching it lower down

It is supposed to take approximately 5 hours.

That is all we know right now in the physical realm. However, we know the TRUTH and the truth is that she is healed.

The verse we have been standing on all along is Luke 8:50. "Do not be afraid, just believe, and she will be healed." We ARE NOT afraid and we completely believe that she IS healed. Thank you for agreeing with us about this and for your prayers. We praise God for her healing and that she is restored from head to toes. God is a good God...ALL THE TIME. He is not responsible for this, but we know who is....and he has been found out, ousted and owes us back the previous 9 months. HALLELUJAH!!! Please join us in thanking Him for her healing...

Having received Kaedy's miracle, in Jesus' precious name,
Kahri

Well we got the stuccoing done. I will post a picture as soon as my wonderful hubby comes home with our camera. He should have already landed at our airport here and is probably on his way to his car. He is going to call us once he gets to his car and then we will be prepared for the big surprise! It was a much bigger project than I thought it was going to be, but, thanks to my neice, Brittany and Paula it wasn't so bad. ;-) I think it looks AWESOME now!! I decided it is just phase 1 because I have plans for much more, but it looks really good and at least it looks nice for when we have guests now!

The new lamp is REALLY bright compared to the old one. The old one had 1 60 watt light, this one has 5 60 watt lights! I am going to install a dimmer switch, maybe tomorrow and maybe when we get back from San Antonio, I will have to see how things go.

I had thought of sending myself a package at Red Roof Inn or checking in some luggage so that I could have more stuff while I am there but I am not planning on being there very long. I will take enough stuff for a week and we will go from there. If I wasn't such a fast reader it wouldn't be so difficult. ;-) I am going to do a Genesis study by Chuck Missler while I am there, though, and read a couple of other books that I have been wanting to read. My friend lent me a fiction book, too, which I will take with me for "lighter" reading! We cannot take much on the airplane. It is very small. Our nurse called it a cigar tube on wheels! We can each take a small bag. I will have to find a place to do laundry down there, if I end up staying longer than planned!

Kaedy said "dadada" the other day and now she says it consistently! She also says "hi" pretty consistently. She hasn't put her lips together yet, so no "mamas"!

I have a lot to do the next two days: get packed, get food for the girls and their sitters, get Britty's school plan written down, church tomorrow night, prayer time with the Lynns Friday night, aaaaah! LOL I know I can get it all done, no problem. :-) I just would like to sleep as well! HAHA.

Okay, I am going to get off of here and play some mindless game until Michael calls. Anything to keep me awake.

Blessings to all who read this!!!

If I didn't know how the devil works, I would say that God was giving me some good stories this weekend already! I woke up early this morning and kissed my hubby goodbye then went back to sleep for a few hours. I got up about 7 and the girls got up soon after. I took Emily to Grandma's and Britty and I went to Lowe's to pick up stucco and supplies for redoing our kitchen while Michael is gone.....aka the BIG surprise! Sherria met us at the house at 10 and we got everything out of the kitchen and taped all the cabinets, windows, ceiling, walls, etc. We started stuccoing around 1130 or so and after a few trial and error things we got done about 2pm. We needed to go get another bucket of stucco to do a second coat, so we did that and got some lunch and came back. As soon as we started to put the second coat on, the wall started peeling. Soon an entire wall of stucco had come down including the paper in back of it and the first few layers of drywall. There were several places this happened so we ended up with only about 1/4 of the room remaining stucco'd. We needed to get cleaned up to go get Emmy and go to church, so we did that and after church we were going out to eat with some friends. That was perfectly wonderful and relaxing. Until we realized how much work we had left at home. Soooo, we left there, went and got Sherria's overnight stuff and went back to Lowes (3rd time) for some primer. We explained to the salesperson what happened and he was VERY helpful and gave us a primer to use to not have it happen again. We got home about 945 and started working again. We primed the messed up places, went over the still stucco'd places and then stucco'd the primed plaes when they were dry. We are now ready for bed. (more than ready.....) The neighbors are having a BIG b'day party with a live band and a pool party. It is STILL going on and it is after midnight. They told me they would keep it down after midnight. I think I am tired enough now to sleep through anything.....

well....off to the shower and then to bed. Got to be at church bright eyed and bushy tailed. We are going to finish it up tomorrow. I think it will look great!

Many blessings to all who read this!

Well Michael is off to Las Vegas tomorrow morning early for a business trip. It is Walgreen's biannual managers' meeting. He will be gone for 5 days and we are all sad. It just won't be the same around here without him!! We have a surprise planned for him for when he gets back, I won't put it on here, yet, in case he reads this in the morning before he goes. Anyway, it will take some work on our part, but it will be nice to finally have it done! :-)

Michael and I went on a "Kaedy date" again tonight. We went out to eat at Delta Cafe and then went and visited Kaedy. She was in a GREAT mood and was thrilled to see both of us at once. She is still teething and was enjoying sucking on a vibrating teether. We played a little while and then it was time for her to eat. Michael "fed" her through her tube and then I rocked her to sleep. It was a really nice time.

The girls and I took Kaedy outside again today, for her second time ever. Rachel, the nurse who is going to go with us to San Antonio (not the original one, this is the one after talking to the dr), said we needed to get her used to being outside so she doesn't "freak out" next Saturday. So we took her outside with Kurt, one of the RTs. She did very well. It was about 98 degrees and VERY humid so we didn't stay out long. She closed her eyes for most of the time and scratched the side of her seat with her hand. (that's one of the things she does when she is nervous) I will take her out again tomorrow to gradually get her used to more and more time outside. They won't let me take her outside on my own, so I have to wait for a nurse or RT to be available. They have a critical patient right now up in ICU so the nurses don't have a chance to "play" with me. Hopefully there will be someone able to go out with us again tomorrow. After we took her outside, the girls and I played with her awhile in the play room. Brittany made some cool Tinkertoy creations while Emily played in the house and car they have there. Kaedra played with a Fisher Price Telephone. After about 15 minutes she got very tired and started yawning. I turned her toward me and cuddled with her and she went right to sleep. What a darling!!

Well...off to do school and laundry.....a mother's work is never done. :-)

well let's see.....lots and lots has happened since I last blogged. First of all, Kaedy has two teeth!! She just got them this last week and they popped out one after another. They are a little tender for her, but she seems to like them. :-) She is trying to learn to blow kisses. She makes a kissy face, but does not know how to "let go" of the kiss. She is really showing her wonderful personality and just really blossoming lately. I can't wait for everyone to meet her. She SOO loves to be the center of attention! LOL We leave for San Antonio a week from this Saturday. Hallelujah!! it is time for some more miracles! :-) Our goal is to have Kaedy home by the Tuesday after Labor Day, if not sooner. Our doctor does not think that will be a problem at all.

I have been simplifying my life. (or attempting to) I got rid of my darling dog, Sugar. I adored her and she worshipped me, but she pooped everywhere all day long and I couldn't take any more of that. My house and my sanity are more important. It has been hard, though. I try not to think about it but then I do and I go on a crying jag for a little bit. Enough of that, I don't want to go on one now. I also had to give up volunteering to do the FAITH (my homeschool group) library. I have had the library in our attic for the last two years but I was very overwhelmed and not doing a good job keeping up with it. It had become overgrown very quickly and I needed help. Luckily some friends from the group came and got it and are taking care of it. Another Hallelujah!! A monkey off of my back!! I gave away our piano because it kept wanting me to put money into it. My idea was I would sow our piano for a new piano. Well it worked! Today one of my closest friends offered us her keyboard. Isn't she awesome???? Isn't God AWE-SOME??? Now I don't have the fuss of the piano that we had, but I can still get Britty lessons and she will be able to practice!! I still have many more things to simplify, but at least I am on the road.

We had Brittany's b'day party this past weekend. She had 5 friends over and there ended up being 3 Emilys, 2 Brittanys, an Averi and an Alison. It was a "spa" party and they did each other's nails and toe nails, they did peel-off masks, cucumbers on the eyes, computer hair makeovers and soaked their feet in salts. They stayed up until about 4am when they woke me up. I came down and told them since they had woken us up they needed to go to sleep. They were good girls and were quiet the rest of the night. :-) They are all very sweet girls and I love them all.

For Brittany's actual b'day we went to Big Splash with one of the Emily's (the one from church). They had a WONDERFUL time and I met a great family there while lounging in one of the pools. They have a little girl with CP that they are believing for a complete healing for. I ended up talking with her mommy most of the afternoon which was very nice, even if it was totally unlike me!!

We started 5th grade today. We are doing a new curriculum, it is AWESOME. I LOVE it!! It is called Ancient History: Adam to Messiah. It is from the Heart of Wisdom people. Today we got through 1 1/2 lessons and we really like it. We are going to be learning so much and big changes are happening now that Brittany is in the "logic" stage of her development. The only thing she is having problems with right now is she does not like to re-do any of her work. She is going to have to get used to that so she can learn to write papers properly. I know she will become accustomed to it, though, it will just take a little practice. She also needs a little more time on memorizing math facts. I figure she can really work on that while I am in San Antonio so that by the time I get back, she has them down pat.

Well off to bed for now....have to be ready for another school day tomorrow!!

I love our church so much! And my Pastor is just wonderful. I am going to write some short notes from his sermons on here to "tickle your brains" a little. He has sooo many good things to say and I want to share them with all who will listen! (also, he is on The Oasis station 90.5 here in Tulsa at 10:30am M-F for those of you who are local. He can also be heard on many other stations in the U.S. as well as on SkyAngel and the internet worldwide!)

-If your mouth will feed your heart faith when you don't need it, your heart will feed your mouth faith when it DOES need it.

-Refuse to let the devil talk you out of God's word.

-The power that Satan couldn't keep in the grave is the same power we have within us.

-Overcomers never desert their posts.

-Move onward and upward in the overwhelming power of God.

-The Lord will only be in us as much as we will let Him.

one of my favorite David Ingle songs is "Put on the Garment of Praise for the spirit of Heaviness." Pastor talked about that verse this weekend, it is Isaiah 61:3. That is a great one to remember when the devil is at your door.

Many blessings to you all!!

I had a WONDERFUL birthday! After Michael and I spent the day with Brittany and Emily, we went to see Kaedy. She was a little tired, but we spent awhile with her and then rocked her to sleep. We were planning on going out to eat and seeing a movie afterwards, but we ended up just seeing the movie and not having time to go out to eat. Oh well, now we have a gift certificate for another time!! We went to see Mr. And Mrs. Smith. It was a fairly enjoyable movie. It wasn't something I would want to own or anything like that, but it was entertaining for the evening. The one thing I have to say is that I am SHOCKED at what passes as PG13 these days. I thought I would be "safe" sticking with PG13 movies to not have a lot of questionable content, but I was very wrong. No PG13 for Britty!! (at least until her 35th b'day! LOL)

Yesterday was the groundbreaking for our new church site. I put pictures up at http://members.cox.net/kahri/Groundbreaking/index.html It was a GREAT time. I am so excited to watch the new building forming. It will be closer to our house, too...about 2 miles away. Have I mentioned how much I love our church? Brittany is going to church camp today. I can't believe all the fun things they are going to do for camp. They are starting out at Incredible Pizza today and then they are also going to be boating, bowling, swimming, fishing, going to a water park, as well as having chapel everyday and baptisms! Britty will be ready to sleep for a few days when she gets back!! LOL

The girls, Michael and I went to see Kaedy this morning. After not seeing her for two days, she was a sight for sore eyes. She is still not feeling that great, you could tell from the way she acted, but she did smile at each of us and we each had a chance to cuddle with her. I was looking for a really great picture of the three girls together, but although we tried several times, I didn't really get what I was after. We will try again next time!!

I have to talk to Dr. Carey tomorrow about the nurse he wants to go with us. She is not a Christian and I do not feel comfortable taking someone that won't pray herself or even agree with us in prayer over the baby. The Respiratory Therapist we are taking is a spirit-filled believer and we like him a lot. He has worked really hard with Kaedy and is part of the reason for her success on the home vent. Michael and I are in agreement that we don't feel comfortable with the nurse going, though, even though she has been on these kind of trips before with the little girl from this area that has been in the titanium rib project for several years. Anyway, that is on my agenda tomorrow.

Also tomorrow, we are going to set up our tent in the backyard and sleep out there. My birthday is on Saturday, so I thought it would be fun to wake up on my b'day in a tent! Michael won't sleep with us out there, though, which is the only bummer. Other than that, I am really excited.

Okay, we are off to bed. I will write more later....leave me a comment and let me know you were here....anyone? anyone? anyone?

Well, I am so sorry I have neglected you, poor blog. I FINALLY have a moment to sit down and try to get caught up on things....

My body tried to catch a cold from Kaedy and I don't feel too great. It's great knowing that I am healed, though, so I don't have to worry about any of these symptoms! But until my body lines up with the word of God, I am taking it easy and I can't see Kaedy - even though she is the one who gave it to me! That reminds me - would you all agree with me in prayer that Kaedy is not sick in any way and is able to travel to San Antonio? I would appreciate it! Then we can stop waiting to witness her healing!

I haven't taken her outside anymore....don't know when we'll have another chance to do that, but we have been to the playroom a few times. She is standing up really well in physical therapy (with help) and is sitting on her own very well! I have noticed MANY changes since Michael and I started the schedule of each of us going everyday. She has developed by leaps and bounds. Especially socially! We are doing sign language with her and while she hasn't signed back yet, she watched us intently. We are also taking food to eat up with her. I realized that she doesn't normally see people eat so I have been taking breakfast up to her everyday and eating with her. It seems to be working really well...she actually ate 6 spoonfulls of cereal!! (she was just putting it in her mouth and not swallowing before)

We did buy a new van...it is a used 2005 Grand Caravan. I LOVE it. It has the stow away seats and the automatic doors and trunk. It is wonderful...it will last us a long time. We were thinking this will probably be Brittany's first car! That's hard to believe!!

Speaking of Britty, she is going to be going to church camp next week for 4 days. She is SOO excited.

Well, I'll write again more soon....here are updated pics of Kaedy http://members.cox.net/kahri/kaedypics.html.