Much excitement!

Well, my Pampered Chef kit arrived today! I am officially a consultant! I have 5 shows, a silent show and 3 pending! God is faithful! We may not have SSI right now, but we sure have other income! Believe me... I'll take it over SSI any day!!! :) I'm very excited to get started with learning how to use every thing and then demonstrating! I am so looking forward to it! -Mindy

my miracle boy...

Mr. Joey is an awesome miracle! He had his scope today and had no complications to speak of! He woke by sitting straight up to take his stuff off saying "Go, I go!" Too cute! He has gone strong ever since and has had a GREAT afternoon! Now, we just wait for the biopsies! -Mindy

We are here!

We have arrived in Cincinnati! We are very glad to be here tonight instead of leaving home at 3 a.m. tomorrow! Whew! Tiring! The kids are very excited to be here! We are staying at Wingate by Wyndham. They discount for the children's hospital! SO, works out nicely! It is nice to be staying in a CLEAN and SAFE room! Very nice! Now, to wait until the morning! Mommy is already feeling the nerves! I hate when my babies get put under for a procedure! I'll be glad when he is all done and in my hands! -Mindy

Hurray!!!!

Well, I am now a Pampered Chef Consultant! I'm very excited! I will begin doing my shows as of Sept. 14! If you are interested, you can e-mail me at pfohl4@hotmail.com I'm very excited about this! I love to cook and I absolutely LOVE pampered chef!!! I have 4 parties booked already! So, if you are interested in purchasing pampered chef, having a book party or having a party in your home... I'm open for business! :) I'm really looking forward to this opportunity. With the kids health improving every day, my calendar was getting empty! So, I decided to fill it! It's exciting realizing that instead of racing to the doctor nearly every day some where here or there, we are now getting to do things of our choice and getting to apply ourselves to things that our family can enjoy and benefit from! yeah!!! We'll see how it goes! -Mindy

adjusting...

I want to thank all of you for your prayers and your praises along with us! I am still floored and really not knowing what to think right now! I'm so excited that God has done this! I am truly hitting a place though where I have to re-learn life. I want to leap to protect them from EVERY germ. I want to guard how much they play... I have to learn that their little bodies need some freedom. They certainly are not apprehensive what so ever! We went shopping yesterday with Aunt Christi for wedding stuff and they were a ball of fire the whole time! Laughing, being stinkers, getting in to trouble! Just ate up! They were adorable. They however are going to have to learn new boundaries. They really don't know how to act in public and what their boundaries are... so here we go into the land of the unknown!!! -Mindy

Bursting at the seems!

I remember when I was pregnant with joey, a special friend came to me and told me that she had a dream about Joey and he was a beautiful young man! This meant the world to me as we had almost lost Abby in labor. AFter he was born and we started to go through our "hard times" some one else told me the same thing. I was over whelmed with emotion as I stood there beside my sons bed side and they told me that Joey would die a premature death because he had Mitochondrial disease. I remember in my heart saying "why God? Why my baby?" But I held onto those promises. Then, Abby was "diagnosed" as well. I was devastated and heart broken. Things started to go terribly wrong here lately. joey was worsening. So skinny and going back words every sing day! We were in fear we were going to loose him. I 've never felt such urgency! I demanded a new set of eyes and we landed ourselves in Cincinnati. All this is to say to you that cincinnati called today. The blood work is in. They are not 100% sure, but they are 90% sure that we are not facing mito and we do not even have a metabolic disease!!! My babies are going to grow up! I'm going to watch and enjoy every minute! God promised me my son would be a beautiful man of God and I AM GOING TO SEE IT!!! I feel like they gave me my kids back today. The tears have been flooding! The laughter coming! The joy being celebrated! We don't know what is wrong yet, there is something wrong... but they said it is not the life threatening we have been lead to believe! All restrictions are now gone and my babies are mine to enjoy! Please pray for us as we walk through the next several months with diagnostic. We need the right treatment and lots of prayers for gas money, etc. to get to Cinci! God is faithful! Every prayer you have prayed has been HEARD AND ANSWERED!!!! We love every one of you! -Mindy

Cute Angel food pics...

So, here is our morning run down!

Abby helping Dora bring in a load of Salisbury steak...
Joey helping pick up boxes
Joey coming in with excitement from hugging daddy at the truck!
Joey Hanging from the cart as Dora and Abby pushed it in. He thought he was just absolutely.

Good time...

I was so thankful to be there this morning! Angel food went really well! Every one had everything done by 7 a.m!!! Awesome work! HUGE thanks to every one who came and helped! I know I love being there and was so thankful to be there with all of you! I am home early cause my kiddos don't do mornings and were GROUCHY!!! But, they enjoyed helping unload the truck and playing with a friend while we all boxed up the food. so, I was thrilled for what I could do!

Ug!!!

Well, I am up at 6 a.m.!!! That is a sin I tell ya!! No one should be allowed to function at this time of day!!! I'm getting ready to put my kids in the car and head to the church for Angel food's distribution day. I will confess, we had the worst night we have had in a long time! Both of my kids were up off and on ALL NIGHT!! I think some one doesn't want me to plug back in to church! My kids health isn't in the way right now because they are doing beautiful, so, That crazy Devil had to throw something at me... but I'm going any ways! Sleep is overated! Please pray that lives will be so dramatically changed through the churches new out reach center. Distribution day is so much more htan just handing out food that was ordered... it's about access into some one's life that may not know Jesus! I want to see every person that walks through that door experience the mighty, unending, healing love of jesus!!! So... here I go! Off to share jesus with my hands and my hugs! Thanks all! -Mindy

Book Monster...

Jeff caught this on film and cracked me up! Joey is really starting to get into books! What you see here is Joey sitting in the "diaper" basket. I always keep a basket of diapers on the top of the book shelf. Well, it was empty. So, he climbed off his little truck to sit in the basket and enjoy a book! Ha! Crazy boy! made us chuckle!

My ear is BURNING!!!!

Ok, so I have absolutely been on the phone ALL STINKING MORNING!!!! It's crazy! I started my morning with our $6,000 dollar scare!!! Yep, you heard me! We got a bill for one appointment at $3,000 for BOTH kids!!! Whew! Thankfully, it was an error. The price is right but the insurance they had was not! They have a new computer system and Joey was listed as a kid from Kentucky and abby was listed with no coverage! So, that was fixed! Next up, I had to call the pharmacy. We owe them for medications. So, had to get that all in line so we could continue getting meds and figure out how much and when they needed paid! Next up, finding a room at a discount price for when we go at the end of the month for Joey's procedure!!! So, every thing is done and I am DONE on the phone!!!! No more no more no more!!! I want to thank every one who participated in the Arby's update! Also, for those who helped with the Avon fund raiser. Every thing so far is going to be covered I think by those to fund raisers! Also, those of you who have continued to support the Joseph fund! It means the world to us! We could quickly go under and so many of you have worked to keep our heads above the water! So HUGE THANK YOU!!!! WE pray that within the next year, we can turn around and bless others in need as well! Until things are settled with the diagnosis though, we are in the boat a rockin! Thanks all! -Mindy

Thriving...

I am just so excited! The kids just seem to continue to do so well. I don't understand why now and why it took so long, but I know that God is faithful! They are just thriving so much right now. Joey had PT yesterday and we witnessed another miracle. His PT was bubbling when she brought him back to me! They worked on steps. Joey usually does well the first couple of tries and then goes backwards due to fatigue... but this time... he IMPROVED as he worked. Stronger and more steady as they went on! No fatigue!! None!!! Isn't God amazing?? I just am very thankful. We are praying that when we go in for this scope on the 29th for the tummy issues we'll find out more to say that we don't have mito. I know many of you are doubtful that this is the right direction. I know you have expressed concern, but in my heart of hearts, I have always felt mito was not the real deal. I want that so much! However, we are still on our meds, still taking EVERY precaution the doctors direct us too... but we are waiting in excitement to see what happens. All I can do is trust and pray that God knows best. Mito or not, he has their days numbered and I just have to enjoy every single one of them! :) Hugs to all! -Mindy

Oh shoot!!!!

Well, I forgot my camera tonight! :( Bummer! We had a great time! Christi and Jimmy's wedding is coming up quickly! So, tonight, Christi, our mom, Rena & Julie all got together and made up flower arrangements. The bouquet, the smaller one to toss, 4 small bouquets for the bridesmaids, 12 boutonnieres for the guys, I think 4 or 6 corsages, and the rehearsal bouquet with the bows. So much fun! We had a lot of laughs and every thing looks awesome! So, it was a good night over all! The guys kept the kids busy so we women worked hard! Every thing was just beautiful! I'll have pictures as soon as my sister shares her camera with me! :)

What more could you ask for???

Every day, I live in this world of agony within myself waiting on the doctors to tell us what is going on with my babies. Is it mito? Is it worse? Is it better? Is it a miracle? Some times you never know the answers to your questions... we may face that in this case... but we can look at one thing and that is the proof! A month ago, my son had more lethargy than times of energy. He never played, he laid around... now, he chases his sister and laughs! You call my house and it isn't just fussing or quiet from sleep... there is real chaos on the back ground. You see us in public and we are starting to look like a normal family. A three year old that walks, a two year old that rides in the cart or a stroller fussing because he hates shopping! We are starting to live again. I don't know what tomorrow holds, but I know that God has given us back today! I will celebrate in it every moment! So, when you press play on this video and you hear the laughter... listen to the miracle of life that God has given us... Know that your prayers have changed two little lives and enjoy the results!

Fun with adjusting...

This weekend, we got to go on our first family picnic. We used to go all the time when Abby was just tiny, but we have never gone with bubby. It was so much fun! The kids had a blast!

Daddy and Abby swinging...
Walking along the river and Joey thinking about diving in!

It has been a real adjustment for us! We are completely grateful for how well the kids are doing. The changes though have been hard for us in that we still want to protect protect protect. We have been so ingrained with not letting them experience things that it is ridiculous! The doctors had us so convinced that if we breathe we could loose our kids. It's been wonderful having some restrictions lifted and experience life together as a family! Our new rules are really helping both the kids and they are so happy! So, it's just wonderful! We are so thankful that we switched medical care!

Pictures...

I took some pictures of the kids this weekend at a park. My friend, Natasha enhanced them with some extra color on her photo program.... so, what do we think? I don't have a great camera... so I was pretty shocked how they turned out!

Arby's benefit dinner...

Thank you to friends and fellow church members for participating today! Arby's opened their doors yet again to help raise money for the kids medical care. It was a blessing to see all of you there! Thank you! Here are some pictures...

The crew that made it happen...
Abby and Joey showing how good they are feeling!
Abby and Joey playing with Sydney Pinkerton... They were giggling so hard! You can see all three of them were having a blast jumping, etc.

grumpy

You know, I have just faught being grumpy all day. Most of the day was good but other parts, I just couldn't get anything right or accomplished! Oh well... the day is done and all are well. I suppose that means I should go to bed and hope not to be a grump in the morning! For any who can't make it... don't forget you can join us for church at 10:30 live via the internet. http://www.farmlandfriends.org/ Also TOMORROW IS OUR BENEFIT lunch! We will be having lunch at Arby's from 12-3 Hope to see you there!

Questions and excitement!

So... to answer a question that was asked... my weight loss blog is on the right hand side... there is the section about me, then about the kids, then about fund raisers and then there is my link to my weight loss blog and then my fishy ticker swimming along. Oh, AND NO she didn't wear the pretty white dress posted on my last blog entry!

Tonight was tons of fun! Jeff and my brother put the roof onto Logan's play house tonight while Rena and I visited/enjoyed watching the kids play in the yard/ water!!! The bad news... I FORGOT MY CAMERA!!! Oh well!

Miss Abby held a frog tonight. It was about the size of my finger tip but I was proud of her! She was so brave!

Joey held a blue gill tonight. It flopped out of his hand and landed on his shoulder. He didn't even flinch! Grabbed that fish and guess what next??? Yep, you guessed it! Took off for his sister! She screeched! She was so not into the fish! She loved the fishing though! She talked non stop all they way home! It was great! We had fun!

Oh dear...

Well, I am taking my pretty princess to the farm tonight! We are going to Uncle Mike's house to introduce fishing... should be an interesting evening! Wish us the best of luck! We'll do well as long as we don't loose a kid in the pond! :) Abby is very excited, but I'm not sure if she knows what she is really getting into! :)

All right...

Well, I have entered this journey of being healthy... in an effort to share my experience and ASK YOU for accountability... I have created a second blog that is linked just above my moving fishy... so you can follow me there! I will be posting recipes and all kinds of interesting info you might like yourself! :) So, here it goes! Life on the road to getting healthy with Mindy!

Hmmm...

Well, when Jeff gets a hold of my camera, I find some interesting pictures... Just thought I'd share what I found...

Enjoy the tour??

proud moments, viruses, bee stings, plane jane!

Too start...

Proud moments...
Today, miss Abby brought me her little magnetic writing board thingy... (I know... so descriptive!) and says "I can do it mommy" I look at it and was so proud I gasped! She had written the capital and lower case Ii and told me what it was! YEAH!!!! She's getting it!

Viruses...
We spent the after noon at the doctors office from 2:30 on. Joey was tested for strep because his little throat was red... negative! Yeah! Did a chest X-ray to check for any aspirations or pneumonia's... all clear! Checked urine... found slight abnormalities. Dr. Shoemaker said in normal cases, he wouldn't worry, but Joey being Joey, he sent it for some cultures to ensure there is not more bacteria than what showed initially. He doubts it will show any thing... so we have a grand ol' viral infection. Tylenol and fluids! Yep... oh and plenty of rest! :)

Bee stings...
It officially happened! Abby got her first bee sting tonight! Mommy comforted her and daddy made a baking soda paste. Let it dry... stinger came RIGHT OUT! Yeah!!! She had no reaction. We were nervous. My sister swells, itchy and gets a headache and daddy is allergic completely... she was good to go! Whew! She tells us though, she'll never play in the back yard again! That's just it!

Plane Jane...
I changed my blog... true and simple. Nothing to overly exciting to grab any one! Sorry. I don't know why... but I just want every thing simple right now. one of those moods I suppose!

There is life in a nut shell today! Night all!

-Mindy

The Princess Project...

We were recently blessed by The Princess Project with gifts for the kids. We are so thankful! The kids have completely enjoyed it!

Introducing, Prince Joey

Introducing, Princess Abby

Thank you so much Princess Project!

First week under my belt...

Today was weigh day! I have my first week under my belt! I have now lost a whopping total of 8lbs. since starting! Yeah!!! I'm so excited!!!! Ok, well, here goes for another week! thanks for the prayers and well wishes! I am just so excited that I am finally able to get on the right path! Now, to stay straight on the trail.

My new look...

I have a new look! Here is my hair before...

Here is my hair after... I gave up 6 inches of hair today. I'm so thankful to have some shorter hair! Seriously easier to take care of. I was going to do locks of love but with my sisters wedding coming up and my husbands preferences (yes, I love him enough to respect he likes long hair!) I decided to just go this length and no further.

Joey is still very sick tonight. Poor guy. He's just miserable. I'm going to take him to the doctor tomorrow for sure. He just keeps spiking the temp. Hope you all have a good night!

Sick little man...

Well, this is my sick little man today! His eyes are heart breaking! Poor guy! Oh, did you note that he put daddy's socks on this morning? ha! Silly boy! He's holding his own, but you can tell he feels AWFUL! -mindy

Dragging bottom...

The fussing has stopped and my babies are asleep! Joey's temp rises than breaks... it's a repetitive cycle! each time it rises though, it goes just a little bit higher. I'm exhausted and so are they! Sissy is starting to act sick as well. :( So, I'm dragging my bones to bed. Night all.

Doctor mom...

I have spent my afternoon watching the thermometer. Joey is sick. No symptoms except fever and cranky. Has me puzzled!!! Please pray this is nothing. He needs his strength up for the procedure being done at the end of the month1 Thanks!

Joey's Moment...

Alright, here it is! this is Joey's song that was wrote just for him by Songs Of Love! We have been so blessed by these and have found it so awesome that they would do something like this. He dances in his car seat along with sissy when we play it! Hope you enjoy! I know we did!

Alas... my day is done!

Well, my day has come to a close! I managed to cook up 20 servings of food to freeze for Jeff & I this week. The laundry is put away, the fish tank is cleaned (thank you Jeff!) and my dishes are done, dried and put away! Oh, and the food pantry is straightened at church now! :) Whew!!! Now, I need to drop! :) I tell you, having meals prepared is awesome! I threw something in the oven for lunch today and kept right on going! I have done my "diet" with no issues or bumps! Wahoo! I'm going to get healthy and I'm so excited! The other GREAT news! I got a call from our Insurance Agent and I am OFFICIALLY on health insurance... That is a HUGE praise! I have not had insurance pretty much for 6 mths. now. Now I can go take care of my body! :) For all my home bound friends, don't forget you can join us in church by watching live in the morning www.farmlandfriends.org It starts at 10:30 a.m. and you just click on watch service live! Not the same as being "in church" but it is wonderful to still be a part! Hope to see some of you there whether you watch by net or whether you are there! Night all!

Smells so good!!!!

OK, this cooking thing is so hard!!!!!!! Every thing smells so good! So far, I have made 4 diet recipes... the first was chicken tettrazini, the second was chicken Ziti, the third was Mexican tortilla casserole and the fourth is a broccoli cheese soup! That one is currently still in process! :) I tell you, this is working out wonderfully to help us with our meals and sticking to a weight loss plan, but whew!!!! The cooking is so hard not to stand there and taste! It smells like a smorgasbord in my kitchen this morning! I have learned one thing... my cooking things need an advancement. I don't have enough pots and pans! I didn't realize just exactly how much I have to work around things in order to finish a project. Oh well! Keeps my mind working well to be creative! Right?? I could do a cooking show called "When you don't have enough!" I'm enjoying this! I love cooking! OK, back to my soup! Have a great Saturday all!

Onto the path...

OK, so weight loss is my goal! I have been thinking so hard about what to do! My friend Cari invited me to start cooking with her and freezing the meals! So, my light bulb came on tonight! I can't stick to a diet or healthy eating because I don't have time!!! But, if I had pre-made meals in the freezer, cooked, divided and fat and calories listed... what excuse do I have, RIGHT? So, that is exactly what I did tonight. Of course on smaller scale than Cari and I are talking about... I started my meals for the week! I'm very excited! Jeff and I cooked up 4 meals tonight! They are freezing as I type! Yeah! I"m really praying I can do this. I have to find something that accommodates the chaos and busy times of our lives... so here it goes! I added a new ticker on the side... you can watch my fishy swim to my end goal! Look out! Cause here goes my best attempt thus far! :)

The appointment...

Well, our appointment went fine yesterday. It was VERY long. Abby had an ECHO done on her heart upon arrival, then both kids under went an EKG. After this, they had the cardiologist come in. He stated that both kids hearts appear to be VERY healthy and normal! At this point, abby's heart is fine as far as the rapid heart rate goes. They are not overly concerned because her heart rate is some what typical of a three year old at this point and they feel that maybe she is sensitive to feeling it beat. I would normally be doubtful, but talking with another doctor earlier last week, she felt the same and wondered if card. wouldn't agree. They did! So, I'm relaxed a bit more about that! Then the genetics doc came in. We are established with another genetics doc there... so we won't be seeing this lady again. However, she talked with Dr. Leslie (the genetics we are seeing) and they had a game plan to get started. They are completely starting at baseline. They ran some blood work yesterday! Poor Joey I think he lost half his blood! they are doing this on him because he is the more symptomatic and severe. They are doing some metabolic work up, but also looking at chromisomes. This will tell us if there is some sort of genetic defect. She really expects it to be negative, but wanted to pursue it just in case because it had never been done. She talked with us about Mitochondrial disease and told us it is very difficult to pin point and VERY time consuming. She was a bit baffled why when Joey was diagnosed, we went in on the Oct. 31 and by Nov. 2nd, they told us that he had mito. She said there is not enough underlying proof yet to say for sure. YES the symptoms are there... but not all and not enough to comfortably diagnose. So, many of you have been asking what is going on... I know we have been VERY quiet about things. We are struggling emotionally with all of this. Cincinnati is strongly leaning towards saying the kids have been WRONGLY diagnosed. We don't know what this means yet. That is some of why we are apprehensive to be sharing. Some of things they are thinking would be much less frightening than mito, but AGAIN they can't say it isn't mito yet. This is very hard on us as parents. Any parent facing mito would give their life to hear "oh, we're sorry but your kid doesn't have mito." However, they are not saying that so we are in that breath holding balance now of waiting to find out. We want more than anything to get our hopes up that we aren't facing something so life threatening, but we are scared to get our hopes up because if it TRULY IS mito, we are going to be so heart broken in the end. So, this is why we have continued to ask for prayers more than ever. It feels like we are waiting for that mallet to slam down on the desk with our verdict of life threatening or not... Ug! Anyways, we are trusting God and we know HE holds the future no matter the verdict. A diganosis doesn't change his plan for my kids because he CREATED THEM from their inmost being KNOWING full well what they would face! As a mommy though, emotionally it is hard to stay focused on that truth! I just want so badly to take this burden from their little shoulders! So, thank you for praying with and for us! We appreciate it! We'll update as we go to see what happens!

Sudden case of the sneezes...

For those who tried to view earlier... the video SHOULD be fixed. Sorry!

First of all, PLEASE DON'T LOOK AT MY LIVING ROOM. the kids and I had an all nighter in the living room last night cause they were having trouble sleeping... since it was both of them, we had a camp out! :) So... excuse the bedding! After returning home from Cincinnati today from our 5 1/2 hour long appointment plus nearly 6 hours of driving... my kids were wound for sound! So, here they are having a sudden sneeze attack! Too cute for words!

Long day...

I had to go to Indy today to pick up our medical records. Apparently, they are having difficutly getting them transferred, so I will be the transferee... We had a member ship to the childrens museum... so we paid visit today as it is about to expire! The kids had a great time! We took some friends along with us. That was a lot of fun! My camera died when we got there...so my friend took loads of pics and will be giving them to me on CD. SO, YEAH!!! Anyways, we had a great time. The kids REALLY enjoyed it and loved have friends there to share with! I spent a long time tonight reading through the records... please just pray for answers soon! Thanks!

School days....

We started our morning with some skating and singing very LOUDLY!
Started out working very hard!
Joey's red apples.
Putting the right amount of objects with the correct number.
putting the right numbers with the right object... note the 2... ha! I was proud though, she did this all with out prompting! Yeah!!!
Our black bunny and green basket... she also traced the outline of the basket before coloring.
One Brown Dog...

Writing lesson...
Free hand, the letter Ii
Just to stinking cute!
Finger painting our apples...
The finished product!

This is how we actually started the day... cracked me up! Too good for just a picture! Hope you enjoyed our school day! We sure did!

Miss Abby's moment!

This is the song written for Miss Abby by Songs Of Love. She absolutely adores it and asks for it to be played constantly! It is actually very calming to her! We have found on the way to appointments, she listens and does so well! It's great! We are so blessed and thankful! Hope you all enjoy it too!

Smiles & laughter...

Joey has been so sick and life has been so "down" here lately that it just feels WONDERFUL to be having these great days! We have had giggles every where this morning! The kids started by chasing each other with those push popper noise makers and then they have continued with playing all morning laughing and giggling! So refreshing!!! So, here is some action I caught on film this morning! Miss Abby keeps telling bubby "oh, your my little guy!"

He ran to tackle her...
Gave her a bear hug and yes... BOTH FEET off the floor! That is a total body bear hug!!!
And here is how it ended! Joey is almost as big as Abby and whoops!!! the bear hug ended in a pile on the floor! What a great day! Your prayers have all made this happen! God hears every single on of them and I believe he is FULLY answering them! THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!