What are you Thankful for?

What are you Thankful for? If I had a penny for how many times I have heard this question in just the last day I would be rich. What are you thankful for, well where do I start. I am thankful for the wonderful family that I have. I am thankful for my mom, who I still think is superwomen. I am thankful for my dad for supporting us all. I am thankful for my wonderful husband who has gone above and beyond what I ever imagined. I am thankful for my awesome children, who have come a long way. I am prouder of them then anything I have ever been proud of. I am thankful for a roof over my family;s head, food in our tummies, and the jobs that my husband and I have. Although we have struggled and contine to struggle, we have each other and for that I am so thankful. I am thankful for my church family and all that they have done for my family. You all cannot believe how much you mean to us!! I am thankful that I am walking with God by my side. I would never have made it where I am without him. I am thankful for good friends and co workers. I am thankful for all the men and women who are putting their lives on the line to give us the freedom that we have. I am thankful for our health and healthcare. I am thankful for answered prayers. I am thankful for all the little things. I am sure there are many other things that I am thankful for and I am forgeting them. What are you thankful for?

Leeps and Bounds

As this year comes to an end, I have been reflecting on my marriage, my kids, and just life! I don't get a lot of time to do this normally, but some recent health issues gave me a chance to slow down. On November 3 I had what is called a Leep Procedure to remove abnormal cells that were found on my cervix and in my vaginal canal. Sorry for TMI, but that is what it is! This was due to the HPV virus and found during a routine pap smear. The pap smear came back abnormal and my OBGYN did further test to find the abnormal cells. It is not Cancer, but what she called, "Precursors". The Leep procedure is an outpatient procedure, so I was home the same day. I was on strict bed rest for the rest of the day, and light duty after that. This gave me lots of time to reflect on things!

During my time of reflection, I decided to make some changes; good changes. I am spending more time with my kids, my husband and most importantly my Bible. I realized that all those things are getting dusty because I leave them on the shelf for too long before I pick them up and pay attention to them. Life is too short to take these important items for granted. It is time for me to step up and for me to put my actions where my mouth is. This is going to be hard for me because I have a lot of bad habits I need to break, but I will do it for my family.

Alex is doing better in school now and I need to step up to encourage him. I need to be a good role model and show him that hard work pays off. Nathan is growing up and becoming a man, so I need to work hard to lead him in the right direction. My husband is a hard worker and provider for our family and I need to show him that we appreciate him. So with that being said, I am off to go care for the baby, read my bible and get some housework done!

Abigail pictures

LONG OVER DUE I know! Abigail is 5 months old today! She is about 14lbs 10 oz. and I am not sure how long. She is still nursing, but gets solid food everyday around 6pm. I am making most of her food and sometimes give her store bought. We are cloth diapering at home 90% of the time.She can roll in both directions. She interacts with toys, people, the cat and anything else she sees. She is almost crawling and we predict she will be fully crawling by Thanksgiving. She is very happy and spoiled.
Luke is so good with her and so are the other boys. It is so fun having a girl in the house. She is definately the baby! She gets held a lot and loved on by everyone. We are going to have to put up the baby gates again soon, so that she stays in one room. It seems like we just took them down. We will also be transistioning her into her room soon. She has been in our room since birth. She will share a room with Luke. I am a little anxious of this transisition and not sure how either her or Luke are going to handle it. I will let you all know how it goes!

FYI

People have been asking for pictures and I would love to comply. However, our computer is on the frits and I cannot upload pictures right now. Just thought I would let you all know that!

Sickness

A horrible sickness plagued our home this last week! It started on Thursday with Nathan suffering flu like symptoms. Then on Friday Alex was not feeling well and threw up that evening. By Saturday Luke and Abby were coughing and Abby had a fever. Sunday it hit Lloyd and he ended up calling in sick on Monday. I am the only one who did not get it. Abby and Lloyd are still fighting it and the rest of the family seems to be doing better. I hate that Abby has it because she is miserable. She sounds hoarse from coughing and I keep having to suck her nose so she can breath. I took her to the doctor and he says it is just a cold and she should be better in a week! That seems like an eternity to me! He also said not to give her medicine because it does not make the cold go away it just makes her feel better! Well DUH! Isn't that the whole idea is to make her feel better. I have been giving her little bits of cough medicine when I feel she is really needing it, but I try not to give her to much. With this sickness has come new challenges with Luke. He is not eating much these days. I would say he gets 95% of his calories from drinking milk. I am trying to put a stop to this, but it is hard when that is all he wants. To get him to eat these last few days we are having to treat him like a baby. Even then we can only get him to take about 3-5 bites. It is very frustrating! I know this shall pass and prays it does so quickly! On a side note, Nathan got a position on the Freshmen football team and is working hard to stay with it. He has practice everyday after school and does not get home until after 6pm. I wish Alex would find an extra curricular activity to put all his energy into!

Update

WOW! A lot is going on in the life of the Dunwald-Campbell family. With the end of the year right around the corner; I am looking forward to a fresh start! This has been a long year. As some of you know, we have behavior problem with Alex. Well top those behavior problem off with puberty and we are in a whole new ball game now! These behavior problems started when Alex was about 2, but got worse as he got older. These last few years have been the hardest. With this year topping the charts. He started Middle School this year, a new school, is going through puberty and has been off medication. Well all this bundled together to make life very difficult for us. We have had to make some decisions that are not exactly what we had planned. Some of the changes include, new therapy and therapist, new phychiatrist, possibly being put back on meds, and new plans for school and home discipline. This as all taken a huge toll on our entire family. It is hard on our marriage and the other children. I am losing time at work and lots of patience. We are at a loss as to what is going to happen next. We don't really know what to do with Alex at this point. Talks of him going to a behavior school have been thrown around, but we are doing everything in our power to keep that from happening. However, if something does not change soon that may be the only option! I have been praying and have lots of prayer warriors on our side, so I know the whole issue is being protected and guided by the Lord Almighty! He is leading the way. We are believing for complete restoration of Alex's mind and body. I am going to be requesting the pediatricion to to a full blood work on Alex to rule out any hormonal inbalance or thyroid issue. Please be in prayer with us that all will turn out well even if it means putting Alex back on medication. This has been a long journey for our family and we know that longer roads are ahead. However, we stand tall and strong knowing that God is leading the way!

Love is the answer...

Have you told you kids that they mean the world to you? Have you told them that you are proud of them? Have you told your spouse that he/she is your everything? Have you told them that you could not picture your life with out them? We are parents and spouses I think forget these little things. I know I do! We are learning about love at my church right now and it is really hitting home for me! I think a lot of us really do not know what it means to Love. Did you know that Love is a choice and a commitment? My husband and I made a commitment to one another and to "our" children (I had two children from a previous marriage for those of you who did not know) when we got married! We made an agreement from the very being that divorce is not an option. No matter what we are going to commit to one another! Did you know that love is an action not just an emotion? Yes, it is great to have the emotion to go along with it, but remember love is a choice! Love is a skill that you can learn and practice makes perfect! What I am getting at here is that if more of us would just take the time to love then there would be more love. You know what comes around goes around. I think one of the hardest things to do is to love unconditionally! If we could all just abide by the golden rule what a difference the world would be. Now I know that not all people are capable of this and I know that the world is not a perfect place, but I also know that it has to start somewhere! Let's choose to love one another and let love be our #1 goal! Reach out to your family, your friends, your neighbors, or even strangers! "Test yourselves to make sure you are solid in faith. Don't drift along taking everything for granted. Give yourselves regular checkups. You need firsthand evidence, not mere hearsay, that Jesus Christ is in you. Test it out. If you fail the test, do something about it!" 2 Corinthians 13:5