The Lyon's Den

Yesterday was a very full day and I have sunburns on my calves and arms to show for it. We started the day with the local Run Drugs Out of Town 5K. Aaron hasn't done a fun run in almost five years and thought it was about time. He didn't get to do a whole lot of training beforehand...maybe got out with the jogging stroller twice a week for a couple weeks. He ended up doing very well, and lots better than he thought he could do. Aaron ran a mile around the Tierra Buena track not too long ago and could only pull it off in about 8 and a half minutes and was kinda disappointed. Well yesterday he managed to average just under 7 minutes a mile for the whole 5K. He came in 4th in his age category (20-29) and he'll be 29 in just a couple of weeks. Not too shabby I say! It was pretty well organized and they even had games and a bounce house set up for the kids. And some raffles that we didn't win. :(

As soon as we got home and got Aaron cleaned up from the run, we headed to Woodland to the Scottish Highland games. I think that is where most of the sun damage happened. It was pretty interesting watching all the men in skirts and the events that went on. IE: caber toss, hammer throw and highland dance competition. I think the kids' favorite part was visiting the Scottish animals. I personally thought the Scottish cow was beautiful. The dogs were the boys' favorites though and got to play with little Scottie dogs the most. All in all it was a good day and everyone seemed to have a good time. Oh, and I must not forget to mention tasting Scottish Pasties (meat pies) and Haggis (you don't want to know, but it involves sheep stomach, heart liver and lungs).

The boys had an Easter Egg Hunt at Great Grandma and Grandpa Hawley's place. It was a really nice day and lots of fun for the kids; as you can tell by their huge cheesy grins!






















Brechin was pretending to fall into the ditch/ creek. He really was just copying his big brother.

Well as most of you know, we've had a very challenging past 5 weeks....all to do with my pregnancy. We've been through the depths of despair and are on the upside right now. We had some tragic news about our baby girl and things are finally beginning to look more and more up. I've seen a couple of different perinatologists and today I even went and saw a Pediatric Cardiologist to have an echo-cardiogram done on our little girl. In case some of you haven't heard, we were told our baby most likely had a chromosome problem and would be incompatible with life. By an amniocentesis, we have ruled that out which now gives us some hope. We don't and won't know the extent of any structural defects or brain defects really until she's born. But we did find out about her heart this morning. It looks like she has what is called a Primum septum defect, which is a hole in a certain spot of the heart. It really is great news compared to what we were looking at. This heart defect has nothing to do with the rest of her development. Blood is going where it should and the heart shouldn't slow her down any until about 4 to 5 months by which she will have had surgery by then. She should have a normal delivery (from the heart's standpoint at least) and will hopefully be able to come home with me from the hospital. About three or so months later they will have to do open heart surgery and close the gap. It is a very successful surgery and as far as the heart goes, she should have a normal life once that is fixed. We still aren't out of the woods with her other problems. I have another ultrasound in 2 and a half weeks and maybe we can rule out some other problems. We truly appreciate everyone's prayers and fasts in our behalf. We know many of you have been suffering along with us. I know that it is by the faith and prayers of so many that things are really coming together. We love and appreciate all of you. We will keep you updated with the progress of our little girl.