Worn out!!!

Well, between my nerves and trying to roll through my mind over and OVER the appointment with genetics... I'm tuckered! Joey had PT Today. It went well. Abby and I enjoyed a game of Elmo's Go Fish while waiting... I think we even squeezed in some memory games too! Then we were off to the church to pick up something! Then we were home and had a meeting with Gina. Our Avon fundraiser kicks off today and runs through Aug. 11th! If you would be interested, there are hand sanitizers, hand lotion, hand soap, body sprays, bubble bath and bath soap. All are like 3 for $15. They make great gifts for the holidays! 35% of every thing we sell goes to help the kids medical expenses and travel right now! E-mail me if you are interested! pfohl4@hotmail.com Please pray this goes well. We have some large expenses coming up! I know God will provide! If not through this something else! I pray an extra special blessing for Gina for donating her time and resources to make this happen! ALSO, Aug 17 (it's a Sunday) Arby's is having a benefit lunch for us that day to help with funds! Please Join us for lunch! Our last benefit there was so AMAZING! I wanted to just sit and cry! I just was in awe of the line of people coming in because they care! You know people care and you know they are there for you... but seeing all the faces in line, it was over whelming! Thank you all for loving us and supporting us!!!! Also, we kicked off the food pantry tonight with the first training! We had 5 volunteers show up to be trained! AWESOME!! So, if you are interested PLEASE let me know! We'd love to have lots more people helping with this. I pray this ministry grows in LEAPS AND BOUNDS!!! What an incredible way to serve! OK, now... I'm going to drop in my bed! Night all!

Just pray...

We saw genetics yesterday at Cincinnati. The appointment went well and they have promised that they can help our kids. We are thankful for that. We are going to need a lot of prayers as we walk through the next 6 months to a year. We are trusting that God is in control and more than able. We will enlighten more as we know more but for now, we are just asking you to pray for us more than ever! Thank you!

Wet News Paper...

OK, back in my old YOC days when I worked there... we went to a ranch with some of the youth to do yard work. I learned a nifty trick... You can go buy the fancy black stuff and lay down... or you can grab a bucket of water and a stack of news papers to kill out your weeds! You simply dip the news paper and then lay it over the area that you are going to place mulch, flower beds or even rock beds... the wet news paper will keep the weeds from over growing your area. Wonderful and it's not very expensive at all! Just a little trick... many have asked why we used wet news paper on our mulch/play area out back... so here is your teaching!!!!

Food Pantry...

Well, miss Abby was my partner in crime tonight! She helped me put together the food pantry over at the church We absolutely had a great time working together! She says "Mommy, I have a great idea, we can do this together all the time! I like helping!" It was so nice to get to do something and then to get to share that joy with my daughter! I absolutely love it! I am looking forward to helping out with the pantry and I am sure my co-helper will be there as well! Thanks sis! You did an awesome job! You made those shelves shine baby girl!

FUND RAISER...

Ok, we are starting a fund raiser through Avon. This will benefit the Joseph fund. i am not sure when we are kicking it off, but we are going to need to get order forms together. If you are interested in participating please let me know! If you would like to take a form to work, or to your church or even to your family, LET ME KNOW!! 35% of all sales will go to the Joseph fund to help with the kids expenses. If we sell more than 1,500, then 45% will go to them. E-mail me for details. pfohl4@hotmail.com I need to hear back asap though if you would like to help get orders for this fund raiser. Thank you to all! -Mindy

When it all fails...

Well, I have a confession to make today! I have previously posted about how food can be such a sin and have such a grip on your life... well, I HAVE NOT over come since that post. I struggle daily. When I'm depressed, I eat. When I am angry, I eat. When I'm scared, I eat. Really, the only time I don't eat is when I'm 100% petrified! Ha! Then I can't eat! Anyways, Jeff and I struggle so much to find a balance with dieting and being healthy and living life the way we have to live it with the kids medical needs. So, I guess I'm posting today to ask you to pray. I don't want to be this over weight and honestly, I don't feel good. It is a struggle for me every day to do all I need to do carrying around this excess weight. I'm exhausted completely all the time... so that makes it even harder for me. It is a strong hold in my life. I want to over come it... so today is a brand new day and I'm going to try again. Will you join me in praying? I really need God's help in order to do this and do it right! Thanks all!

The difference...

Well, for a couple of weeks now, we have been home from the hospital. Jeff and I feel as though we have seen a huge change in Joey. However, we feared it was just us and our desire to see him better. Well, we had a group of friends over tonight. It was most of the team that went to New Orleans this year... some of them know Joey and they couldn't believe the difference. We didn't have to say anything! They just noticed! I'm so thankful for the changes. I don't know if it is the diet change or if it is the meds they are treating his Cdiff with, but whatever, I praise God every moment! He's happy and PLAYS like a normal two year old!!! Thanks for all your prayers!! They have helped make this difference!

Welcome New blogger!!!

Ok, Brenda has joined the band wagon of bloggers! You can view her blog at http://www.brendacox.blogspot.com. Yeah!!! Welcome to blogging Brenda! It was much fun setting up your blog tonight!

My song writer...

Miss Abby came to me today and said that she wanted to sing me a song that she made. It blessed me so I thought I would share it with you...

A pretty girl

Oh, Yes I am

Jesuse loves me

because he does

Jesus loves me

Yes he does

I hope you enjoyed! She made that up all by herself and I just thought it was absolutely precious!

So very exciting!!!!

Well, I am very excited! We have begun our yard work! The yard has some VERY beautiful landscaping, however it is grossly over grown with weeds. So we are doing a section at a time. Last night, Dwayne and Brighton lott came over to help out... so here is what they did to start...

They tilled up the first area. This one was half grass and half plants... couldn't find where the plants began and yet still the yard ended.
Here they have made a grill pad after tilling and digging out some of the edge of this area.
Here they are taking out the plants, weeds and some of the grass...
Here is the finished product. They covered the ground with wet news paper and then laid mulch down. So we have a small play area that is safe and weed free! There is still a lot to do. we have two more sections that are over grown. There are some poles and stakes where there used to be a deck for a pool. They got the poles out yesterday and then they are going to work on the rest of the ncxt time. There is a cute little area they are going to take some of the left over wood and make a bench in the yard. One of the over grown areas, we are just going to turn back into more yard. So, going to take a long time and a lot of man power... but the guys did GREAT yesterday!

Unimaginable hurt...

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Mito is an awful disease. Many do not realize the affect it has on one's life. In a breif moment, it can take over and life can change dramatically. Today, another sweet baby's life was taken by mito. Please pray for their family. I can't wrap my mind around how they must be feeling. My heart aches with them and I hurt for them. Their caring bridge address is www.caringbridge.org/visit/landonweatherby Please send some messages their way of love and pray for them continuously right now. Landon passed at home today surrounded by family. Thank you for your prayers. I know Landon is cradled snuggly in the arms of Jesus right now and I pray this family would feel those SAME arms of love around them!

OH NO!!!!

Last night, I was mopping my floor by hand mind you. I don't own a regular mop... and I hear this awful squishing sound... I turn to see this sight....

The sight you see here is Joey with ORANGE finger paint... yep! I thought I had put it high enough, but apparently not! Joey found it and had it open while mommy wasn't looking and daddy was doing laundry! Ug!
This... well, that's the carpet... Nothing sacred in the Pfohl house apparently!
Daddy saved the day!!! Yep, it all came out! Let me just give you a hint... don't think you can trust Joey! He's a sneaky stinker!!!! Ha! Oh, now that the carpet is clean and Joey's been washed... we can laugh! So, this brings back memories of the time that Joey put the dead fish in my hand... Do you think I am in trouble??? OH dear!

Farmers Market #2

Yummy Yummy! Corn on the cob in our tummy!!!!

Joey chowing...
Abby chowing...
Jeff threatening me if I don't put the camera away, I'm going to be chowing on digital! Oh, sweet husband of mine... but the corn was good!

Farmers Market...

We had a good time at the Farmers Market today. Ran into a few people we know! That was exciting. Joey was so cute, as we walked in, He started yelling "eat eat!!!" Cracked me up! He loves veggies and he saw all that and thought we were at a buffet!! ha! Miss Abby found these beautiful flowers. All those for two dollars! Can't beat that price! daddy and I found yummy corn on the cob, some peppers, some onions, some peach mmm...mmm.... :) Any one for dinner with the Pfohls tonight???

The local fair...

Last Monday we went with Aunt Christi to the 4-H Fair. We met up with Aunt Christi while we were there. The kids REALLY enjoyed themselves!

Jeff was going to blog using this, but since he was slacking... I stole it! Here we are at the fair!
The kids absolutely loved the animals! They thought it was great peaking in on all of them!
This however was the favorite spot! Abby, Logan and Joey REALLY enjoyed themselves in the corn. I'm looking forward to this fall with the Fun Farm and taking the kids there! I am absolutely enjoying it now that Joey is old enough to play too! It is so much fun to watch your kids play and learn about things as they are having fun!

Starting our day...

Well, we are taking off this morning to the farmers market! I absolutely love going to the farmers market! So much to see and so many wonderful foods at a great price. The kids enjoy it too. They always think it is just great. So, we are headed in for the morning to see what great deals we can get and what fresh foods we can enjoy! Mmmm... Corn on the cob is my big choice i think! Don't forget the melons! Yummy!!! best part of Summer!

Play time...

OK, I have found myself truly fascinated with these photo videos... so I am going to town! I've been taking pictures like crazy. I'm now doing the edits on them to get them the way I like them for the video... I have found some fun cropping tools I didn't know existed on my computer AND I have also found some neat color features I had NO idea that I had. It's so much fun to play. I don't have a great camera, so my pics need a lot of edits to even look ok... but I enjoy them whether they look "great" or just "ok". Besides, most of them are of my babies... what more could I ask for, right???

Memories...

Well, tonight I get to take my kids to Union City to walk down memory lane. My parents have a ministry called Kids' Connection. It is an absolutely wonderful ministry that not only affects kids, but God has used it to change the lives of MANY families! To learn more about kids connection, click here. The picture you see above is the one from when I used to travel with them. I spent 10 years traveling and boy do I some days miss it! I got to minister often. I used to do youth rallies along side of them and I loved getting to preach and getting to see teens lives changed. I really miss the drama's that I got to do! So miss those!!! I loved ministering to the families as well and seeing kids and their parents getting changed! I wouldn't give up what I have now. I love my family and I love that my husband is in ministry... I just one day long that we will have what I had growing up. That we'll all minister together. I pray I can give my kids what my parents gave me. I pray that they will learn how important it is to live your life for Jesus and share Jesus! I'm looking forward to going tonight and watching mom and dad do Kids' Connection and watching my kids enjoy what mommy used to do as well! If you'd like to join in, we will be at the Union City Methodist church from 6:30-8 p.m. tonight!

Busy day...

Well, Joey had physical therapy today! It was a rat race to say the least! I just can't get Wednesdays to work for me! We have to be there at 11 and for some reason, it ALWAYS creeps up on me! So, we put every one in the car and we made it, it was just VERY close! Abby's hair wasn't combed, we forgot her glasses, Joey had no braces on his feet and no shoes, I probably was miss matched as I really didn't pay attention to what I grabbed, but we MADE it! That's what was important! Joey didn't cooperate so he continued the chaos for us through PT. Way to go bud! :) Mommy now really really needs a nap! :) We got a call yesterday from Cincinnati and they are ALREADY going to be seeing Joey in GI clinic. They did not have room for him on the schedule, but they worked it out in order to get us in! Yeah!! I'm so excited! I'm praying we get some answers asap! Thanks for all the prayers! OK, off to face my house ! Have a great day all!

in the market....

Hey all! We just wanted to say that we are in the market for another jogging stroller! we do need one that goes up to higher amounts of weight, not the baby strollers. We got to use one last night for bubby at the 4H fair grounds and it was awesome! The wheel chairs do NOT work there. Abby walked the whole time and was in miserable pain last night when we got home. We would like to do stuff like this more often, but again, we just have to find ways to accomodate their needs. So, we are in the market! if you know of any one selling one, or seen them on sale some where, we would love to hear from you! We either need one single seater to go with Joey's or we'd be thrilled for a two seater. Just let us know if you know of any!

Feeling Thankful...

I can't help but tell you how thankful I am for the family God gave me. My kids have been absolute stinkers today... I started to get frustrated but as I sit here and look back on the last few months, their stinkerness makes me smile! Today, my son played and he hasn't done that in a long time. He chased Abby all around, tried to play peek-a-boo from behind the couch, cooked us up a pretend dinner, through the ball a few times... Abby... She laughed and giggled, got every thing out she could get her hands on, was mommy to her babies... it was just a great day to look on. A few days back, they were both lethargic and out of it... today, they were happy and playing. I'm thankful for the good days. They make the rough waters much easier! A simple giggle, a huge smile, a brother and sister chasing each other... WORTH EVERY MOMENT! Thank you to all of you for your prayers. I know my babies thrive to survive each day because you all pray! Such a blessing to have such a group behind us! Much love to all of you! -mindy

Looking...

Ok, so I have started a new hobby! I know that many of you have seen the video I made with pictures through One True Media. I have learned to do it now on my own with out one true media! SO, here is my question. I am looking for a good scrap booking program for on the computer. Does any one know of any? What is it called? Where do you purchase it? etc etc I'm really enjoying myself! Eventually I would like to get a really GOOD camera... but for now, I'll be happy with what I have! Thanks all! -Mindy

Thanks to my sister...

...I unfortunately know more than I ever cared to as of today!!!

The question is, what do elephants and paper have to do with each other? To answer it... please visit.... drum roll please....

www.poopoopaper.com

A new hope...

I really am not 100% sure how to put words to it, but I feel a new hope. I just hadn't realized how hopeless I feel inside. In one of Jeff's recent sermons, he talked about how when you surround yourself around people that are full of faith, you have more faith and when you surround yourselves around people that are not, well, bad company corrupts good moral... I have come to learn just HOW TRUE that is. I have a new found peace of mind. When we were going to Riley, I was constantly a mess inside. All I could think about was medical and what I needed to do to fight to keep my children alive. Last night, we went to my nephews and sister's birthday party. As I got in the van, I looked at Jeff and said "I have my life back." Yes, there were things I had to worry about still that "normal" wouldn't usual be careful of, but I didn't hover over my kids. I relaxed and I let them have fun. I enjoyed the company around me and I let go. You see, this week, they never said anything about death, they never told us our kids looked just OK for mito... they always said "Oh, for a two year old, he really is looking so good!" They gave us hope that life is going to be OK! They didn't remind us of the painful things of it being a miracle if our kids make it to be teens. nope! they looked at what they can do to get them stronger and gave us hope that tomorrow isn't so scary. It was wonderful! I didn't realize how hopeless life felt... Again, I feel like I have my life back. I feel like I don't have to cling to God every moment and plead with him to not let my babies go from me... I feel like I can enjoy them being two and three now! I'm so thankful that God has given us this safe place right now!

The run down...

Hello every one! We have had a lot of questions from every one, so we wanted to share a bit more about what took place in this hospital stay. So, here is a run down of our trip to Cincinnati. They were ever so kind! They got a hold of a lot of the charting for Joey, mainly from admissions. Their thought process is that first and foremost, they want to get Joey's weight up. they said looking at him, he is extremely unhealthy. Too boney. So, that is NUMBER ONE goal right now. Second, figure out the stooling issues he is having and the lack of ability at this point to gain weight. After seeing his belly mildly swollen, they are confident that Joey has Celiac Disease. They said the blood work is not accurate enough to go on. he will go in for a scope of his stomach and small intestine so they can biopsy and find out what is causing all he is dealing with digestive wise. The third thing they are doing is a genetic work up. They are not convinced that the diagnosis can not be found. They firmly believe it is not that hard to find the issue with the genetic break down as to what we are dealing with. We can say it is just mito, but if we dig deeper, we can treat more aggressively. so, at this point, we continue with mito but will begin a deeper search to figure it out. They are also going to be sending Joey to a muscle doc. they said that even with "mito" diagnosis, he should not be so flopsy-mopsy. So, there is a lot in the go right now. There will be a lot of work up being done and a lot of things that we will have decide on, but I think in the long run, it's going to be better knowing in the end what is completely going on. One thing that may be in the work up is anotherbiopsy. They may send us to the Cleavland clinic to have one of the kids muscles biopsied again. At this point, it may be joey because it has been over a year since his first one. They can do fresh biopsy there with better results than the frozen sample that was previously done and sent off. So, please pray for us. Tons to think about... new emotions we are facing and lots to work through! Hugs to all! -Mindy

So adorable!

Well we are back and in full swing! Miss Abby was very excited to have bubby home and has been very worried about him! She's helping mommy with meds and Gtube care right now. I'm telling you, she will one day be the most AMAZING nurse you've ever met! Any way, bubby was pooped tonight! He has felt good for the first time in a long time and has gone absolutely crazy today! Running, playing, into trouble! You name it! So, he fell asleep well before Abby went to bed. As I was tucking her in, she threw a hug and kiss to daddy and said "That one is just for bubby, could you make sure he gets it?" She snuggles down and after Jeff left the room she looks to me and throws another hug and kiss and says, "That one is for bubby just in case daddy forgets, I know you'll make sure he gets it!" Ha! She had her ground covered! Thanks to all for the prayers the last few days. It's going to take us a few days to truly process all that we just walked out. ALL good things, but still loads of info to process and loads of change coming down the pike! Hope all have a great nights rest... I know I TRULY hope to! Night!

Update...

Hello every one! Joey is doing better today. He has some of his energy back to get up and play periodically. He is still napping a lot and VERY weak. They have found him to have CDiff AGAIN! So, they are treating that. They are making diet changes and talking with a lot of different teams here in the hospital. We have been over whelmed at the information but have found it nice to have new eyes looking in and making some decisions and changing things for the better right now. We'll update when we know more. There are a lot of things up in the air right now and a lot of decisions still being rolled around. They are planning on changing out his gtube from a bard to a Mic-key button. I hope this will help with many things right now! Ok, well enough for now... I'll update with more info when we know more! Thanks all for your prayers! They are deeply appreciated!!! -Mindy

Turn for the worse...

Joey took a turn for the worse through the night last night. we are headed for the hospital as I type. Please pray. I will update when I am able. Family is unaware as of yet. Still very early, I will call when we are closer to let them know what is going on. Thank you for your prayers during these times. -mindy

Songs of Love...

We are very excited! There is a ministry called "Songs Of Love" that writes songs for children who deal with illnesses and they use the child's name and interests in the song itself. The kids were accepted for this and today they both recieved their songs! you'll have to stay tuned as I'm going to work on putting some pictures to the songs, but I'm going to share the songs with you all! I'm very excited! They are just wonderful and Abby's little face just lit up!!!

Out in the yard...

Today, after we had supper, we went out and began some yard work after a little fun! Here is the run down of the day...

Miss Abby enjoying her new bubble maker that Aunt Christi got her.
Chalk time!
Umm... what do you do with these mom?
Miss Abby watching daddy fill her bird feeder so that she could feed the birds! She's been wanting one of these forever!
We put the feeder right out side of the window so Abby could watch... Also, it is in the flower bed that we worked VERY HARD to gut and weed today! I wish we took a before and after pic! Amazing!!!!This is what we planted where the weeds once stood. I'm sure our neighbors will appreciate the change of scenery! :)

This is my favorite spot! I made a little rock bed for our stone that some one gave us on our wedding day. I think it looks really cool! We are tired now and we'll see if we can stand up in the morning from all the work! ha!

I thought this was awesome!

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Oh dear!

I've seen look alikes, but umm... this one has to beat all!!!!

Oh bummer!

Well, He stole my blogging! I spent the whole after noon pitting cherries and I didn't even get to blog about it... you can see my yummies here...

School Day #2

Well, we began our day today... Today was one of those days that confirmed Abby's inability to be placed in a public preschool. She was excessively tired, struggling to focus, struggling to answer my questions and even had one of her eyes drooping while working... it breaks my heart to watch but I'm so thankful at the same time that God has provided a way I can be home and help them through this. So, here is our day...

Working hard!
All done with working with our colors. We had to color the balloon to match the color of the strings attatched to the balloon.
Joey was having a ball trying to match colors. Didn't last long, but his giggles were great!
Joey coloring 1 yellow duck!
Abby coloring 1 big giraffe
Today, Abby got to feed her doggy a bone each time she answered a question right! She was whipping it off like crazy! you go girl!
We worked on writing the letter Ii today. Also, our name, mommy wrote first followed by Abby. She actually did a GREAT job!
We closed with our singing blue birds! Yeah! Another day under our belts!

Million Dollar Question...

What did Joey have for dinner???

Ok, so if you answer correctly, don't expect a million! I don't have it! :)