Autumn Day

Welcome First Day of Fall!

We Love the Beautiful Colors!
I hope you find beautiful colors around you!

We are excited to watch the colors all around us.

Utah is a Beautiful Place to live, these photos are taken in Zions National Park, one of the most beautiful places on earth. Have a beautiful Fall Day!

Isaac's Microtia Before & After

Isaac as born with several congenital birth defects, one of them is Microtia. Microtia is an ear deformity that occurs once in every 6,000 to 12,000 births.Children with microtia and atresia usually have severe hearing loss on the affected ear.Although there is a hearing loss in children with microtia, the inner ears on both sides are usually normal. However, Isaac's left ear had no hearing when he was born and it improved to hearing a little less than normal range. He also was missing the Pinea on his left ear and his ear canal is extremely narrow. Dr. Muntz reconstructed a new pinea with all of the curves. Sorry if this last photo is so graphic, it is important to see the beginning stages, so the miracle of plastic surgery can be better understood later.

We are Home!

Isaac and I are home from the hospital now. He is feeling much better. He had a very diffucult time his first day, the anesthesia made him extremely sick, enough for me to seriously think of never doing it again. He is really sore in a couple of places. hopefully, I will do a good enough job taking care of him that it will heal well. Plastic surgery wound care is completely something new to me. Isaac mentioned today how he feels embarrased about his ear cover/bandage. He feels like people are making fun of him, and I never heard anyone at the hospital say anything rude. He will be in a lot of isolation for a while so it can heal well and he won't have to face the public shock of looking at it. He really looked concerned when he saw himself in the mirror for the first time. Sorry if I didn't post much until now, I was real busy taking care of Isaac, and when I slipped out for a minute to update the computers at Primary Children's didn't work out well enough for me.

GoodBye Little Ear, We'll Miss You!

Our hearts are heavy as we say good bye to Isaac's little ear. We really will miss this cute little ear, it is one of the things that makes Isaac unique. We honestly think it is such a cute little ear, but not everyone in Isaac's future will think it is so cute, therefore the doctors insist it is best to build him a new one. I feel so guilty as a mom putting him through another surgery, especially one that seems non-essential. Hopefully the new ear will help him wear sunglasses more easily and give him the self esteem he will need later. I know this isn't as serious as heart surgery, but it does worry me about the pain I am putting him through. When they do each stage of this surgery, they will harvest cartiledge from his ribs which sounds really painful. Please say a little prayer for Isaac that his surgery and recovery will go smoothly without a glitch. His sisters and Dad will miss seeing Isaac for a few days, hopefully we can make the time pass quickly. If you have time to visit on Thursday, Friday or maybe Saturday, please stop by his room for a visit. His surgery will probably be scheduled tomorrow morning and might last about two hours.

Tomatoes!

These are our first few Beautiful tomatoes we picked from our garden yesterday. It's a great accomplisment for our family. We are finally finding some delicious tomatoes to harvest. We haven't been sucessful for several years. Maybe there is hope for us in the future. We definately were not born with green thumbs. We all agreed last night that we had to blog about our tomatoes, so here it is.

Isaac's First Day of Kindergarten

Isaac went to his first day of Kindergarten at Hunter Elementary today, he is Mrs. Henderson's Class also known as "Miss Heidi's Class". Isaac enjoys his new Kindergarten and they enjoy him as well.

In Loving Memory of Isaac's Wonderful Grandpa Southworth

Sixteen years ago today, around this time of day, My dad (Isaac's Grandpa Southworth) passed away due to complications of Lymphoma Cancer. You would think after sixteen years I would be done with the grieving process. However, I never will until I see him again. I miss him so much and the emptiness is still there, nothing will fill that void. When I see others who are still enjoying spending time with their dad I often think "Do they really know how blessed they are to have their Dad or do they take it for granted?" I feel bad that my kids had to miss out on growing up with their Grandpa, he was a terrific grandpa to all of his grandkids while he was here and I am sure he his watching over them still. I often tell my kids, stories about their Grandpa, so that they know him better (however it brings them to tears knowing that they missed spending time with him on earth). This is my favorite picture of me and my Dad, it show's some of his personality and how much fun I had with my Dad. I have a lot of wonderful memories of my Dad. My Dad is such a role model to me, I could hardly ever find anything negative about my Dad. My Mom has let me know he made mistakes, but that just makes him human. He is the kind of Character I look up to in every way, he taught me so much and I will do my best to please him. I look forward to the day when we will meet again. I know his spirit is still alive and well, I feel his presence at times as well as his influence.