TEAM KYLE T-Shirts

Here they are! Our team shirts for our first year at March Of Dimes - Team Kyle. This year we are honored to be a part of Children's Memorial Hermann Hospital - Team Kyle. So awesome that this year we could support them as well!

For those of you that are local you can come pick up your shirt! Otherwise I will bring your shirt to the walk. The shirts are $10 each so please click the button over to the side of the site and that will allow you to pay for your shirt. If you have more than one shirt to pay for please just go through the process more than once.

As an additional fund raiser for March of Dimes I wanted to offer this T-shirt to those even if they are not walking! So many out there have been on Kyle's Team even if you can not come and walk this weekend! So order away - they are $10 and after we pay the cost per shirt we will donate the rest to March of Dimes! Just use the link on the side of the site and I'll get them mailed out asap!

Thanks everyone for all you are doing to support the AMAZING cause of March of Dimes!

going to bed...

After the adorable pics of kyle I posted the other day I figured I should put up an audio of the 2 hour ordeal of going to bed... OMG I am so over this "not obeying at bedtime" stuff! :) and just kidding about the upload. I didn't record it.

Happy Happy Boy!

It doesn't get much better than this! pure dirt and pure joy!

Even with an injured nose! he is still happy.

"E IDES EGGS IN MY ARD"

This is what my 4 year old (Jack) said tonight when I asked him what easter was all about. Now you might be wondering why he was missing so many consonants... his mouth was stuffed with more candy than I have ever seen and as he spoke drool was spilling out every corner and if you know jack - he would not want any of the candy juice to spill out!

my 7 year old just walked up to me and said.. "the sherrill story!!" (that's the name of this blog). and looks at me and says "your ruining my life!" I thought he meant that I was embarrassing him... but no.. he informed me that if I put his name all over facebook someone would steal him! He is so black and white, HONEST and rules oriented! Amazing kid! in fact he won the HONESTY award at his elementary school - the do a pillar of character a month. I was so proud of his integrity and character that was shining through!

so back to tonight..... so i'm a bit dis heartened that the 4 year old believes the true meaning of easter is the bunny and the candy.... but then at bedtime Jack tells jadon there is a shadow in his room and he wanted him to come take care of it. so by the time I get in there Jadon has his arm around jack and is praying with him and "dismissing" the darkness and "inviting the glory of God" into the room. and letting jack know that the power that "conquered the grave - lives in him" when I walked in Jadon looked up at me and says - "mom, i'm going to cry - this is just so powerful!"

WOW! jadon's name mean's God has heard - God is so evident in his life.

and ANOTHER jadon story - there is a sign in my office right now that just showed up one night in jadon's hand writing and it says...

"Family: for His name: You have a plan for me and my family!"

this kid is amazing. and to all of those that are worried about jack... he knows 8 bible verses by heart and is fascinated by God - "the good guy" and Satan "God's bad guy." it is all just still over shadowed by candy.. :)

Kyle Singing "Zaccheus the wee little man"

forgive the iphone quality - maybe i'm not doing it right but the quality seems a little rough in this video. However the talent is amazing! Kyle really latched on to this song when he learned it at school - now, believe it or not it has to be one of our night night songs. Notice the amazing dramatic interpretation he gives in the voice! I LOVE IT!

COME WALK WITH US! April 25th in Houston, TX!

or

CLICK HERE TO VISIT KYLE'S TEAM PAGE!

It has been over 2 years since Kyle was born too soon. Could you ever have imagined we would go from this 545 gram baby with just an ounce of hope....

.... to this amazing little man...

...with a world of hope and so much more! and so many of you have been there every step of the way. If it wasn't physically I know it was in prayer, in thoughts and in LOVE.

God has done the unimaginable, the indescribable, the unbelievable and He has and is healing Kyle. Will you come celebrate with us and support an organization that helped kyle and all of us every step of the way. The March of Dimes is an organization that exists to help moms have full-term pregnancies and babies begin healthy lives. They also bring comfort and information to families with a baby in newborn intensive care. This information was priceless to us when Kyle was in the NICU.

Please join Kyle's team. walk with us; donate as we walk; walk with us & have others sponsor you as you walk - You can do all three or any combination! To be involved click above on the March of Dimes link and it will take you to my personal March of Dimes page where you can:

1. click on DONATE NOW which is sponsoring me as I walk! - don't forget to leave a message on my page when you do!

OR

2. WALK WITH ME which is joining Team Kyle and walking with us on April 25th! If you choose this option March of Dimes will have you set up your own fund raising paige. You will be linked to TEAM KYLE and will be able to get others to sponsor you as you walk. Don't be intimidated by this - it is all for a great cause and raising even $10 is a huge step toward the future of children born too early!

You can also click the TEAM KYLE link at the top of this post or HERE to visit the Team Kyle page - you can donate or sign up from here too. You can also view the Team Kyle roster and our total donations! I will be in contact with everyone on TEAM KYLE to let you know details soon!

THE WALK is 5 miles - however if you want to be a part of TEAM KYLE and don't feel like you can make the 5 miles - don't worry you can come and see us off and welcome us back and hang out under the family teams tent! You can also walk as far as you can and stop at a check point and one of the volunteers will give you a ride back to the finish area! also - wheel chairs are welcome!

There will be lots going this day - food, fun for the kids - it is really a whole day family event! So come and have fun!

More than anything - for my own heart - to stand shoulder to shoulder and walk the March of Dimes walk with those that walked Kyle's journey with me - I can not imagine any picture more beautiful. Please come join us!

Thank you for fighting with us to rescue other little guys like Kyle.

(OH! and if you register to walk - don't forget to put in your T-shirt size!!! We are going to print great T-shirts to give you to wear at the walk! If you donate but you can't walk with us and you still want a shirt - just let me know!)

What Joy...

God has restored my joy. for two years I grieved - grieved what? many would ask that question and I guess I have asked it too. I didn't grieve any one thing - I can see now that I just walked the path the Lord set me on. and then one day (much more detailed story than I am writing now) someone approached me and asked me to pray - I did and God restored my joy. I have been sitting in that, living in that, loving in that. the days have not been without trials but Joy is there. When I realized that if God's love - which I knew to be true - could take a child from it's mother; to allow a mother's heart to be torn in that way... then that is a love I will never understand. A love that will never have a definition that make sense to me. It, LOVE, GOD will never fit in any box I could make. But even so a love i get to receive. and LOVE I want to receive.

There is a song by addison road. a song I'm sure so many have heard. I had heard the song but never the lyrics. so one day on my way to my new job (after being out of work for 2 1/2 months - like i said, not without trials) I am listening to some music and I hear this - the second verse of the song...

I guess I thought that I had figured You out
I knew all the stories and I learned to talk about
How You were mighty to save
Those were only empty words on a page
Then I caught a glimpse of who You might be
The slightest hint of You brought me down to my knees

I thought I knew who God was - I had created a version of him that I could live with, that suited my style of worship, service and so on. I truly loved God - loved his ministry - loved people... and then kyle was born, and then I watched him suffer and I watched him get worse and I watched mother's lose their children, and I watched tiny, tiny, babies suffer - I watched my own son suffer - this is when I caught a glimpse of who he might be. A God that is not contained in a box. A God that is still a mystery - I had been kidding myself to think I had figured it out - I was kidding myself in my comfort - in my stories that I had learned to talk about. and the next line of the song almost made me have to pull the car over. the slightest glimpse of Him brought me down to my knees. .... just the slightest glimpse - just one little baby - one little family - one little hospital - one small set of 116 days - I was destroyed - I fell to my knees and had no choice but to follow God down a road of Faith. I will never know all of who he is. He is mysterious and He is all. He is everything. I can't wrap my head around it. But Faith has been given to me and I sit here now with a smile on my face as God teaches me and grows me and increases my faith, my joy, my peace, my desire to know him more.

another song I just heard from one of our worship leaders at our church - What Joy What Joy for those who's hope is in the name of the Lord. what peace what peace for those whose confidence is him alone.

and wow - what joy- what peace I have.

I have been studying the old testament lately and it is so clear that we are God's people and he LOVES us and this love comes with a huge plan that is for God's glory and we may never know. but know or not - we will serve the Lord.

Update on EEG

I got a phone call from Kyle's Neurologist the other night. He explained a little bit what the results of Kyle's EEG were - we have an appt in December so I am sure we will discuss it more then. The findings of the EEG were abnormal - which in my book isn't so bad b/c we have been told it will always be abnormal - b/c he will be compared to other kids his age and his brian developed 1/2 out of the womb which just plain makes things different. His connections and electrical activity is expected to be different. So that didn't sound so bad. The main finding we discussed was that his background activity was slow and spread out. well to a mom that sounds pretty rough - but Dr. Clark assured me that this statement is referring to the electrical activity in the brain... not kyle's cognitive ability. Well - so does generally slow and spread out electrical activity affect kyle's cognitive ability? Theoretically the answer is yes - it does and it will. the clinical answer is "we shall see". and as of right now - kyle's brain looks immature and kyle looks immature - so that matches. but kyle is progressing in learning and concepts - and so there is not a reason to think (even according to the neurologist!) that this would stop. So I obviously felt much better after speaking to him. Slow is just not the word you want to work with when they are talking about your child's brain!

So here is my take - I don't like the punches that feel like they come out of no where. They are hard to swallow and feel like they knock me back to standing in the NICU. that sickening feeling of not knowing. but here is how I will look at it. Kyle has to fight harder and I will help him. I do believe the Lord is healing him. He will be able to sort shapes and do puzzles - it might just take more work. So work we will do! I will use this as a reminder that Kyle needs to work hard and that means me working hard! I guess as moms we all need that reminder sometimes. Thanks for praying - I could not have a better group of friends that keep me focused during moments of stumbling. I love you all!

EEG Results

I was having a perfectly normal day. Kyle had picture day at school today. I got a call about Kyle's EEG results and they were not what I expected at all. So in my head I start scrambling for a verse that makes it make sense. A scripture that makes it okay or that reminds me that this is not about me or about Kyle. ... ... can't think of one.

I'll keep trying.

obviously I didn't the results we wanted. didn't get the results that I was expecting.

on a positive note - a good reminder to stop slacking on therapy. It is so easy to listen to everyone comment on how "normal" he seems and how their child did that same thing and they are "normal". and I fight all of those thoughts but somehow they do creep in and make me feel okay if I miss one infant massage or one 30 min session or one time wearing ankle weights. Kyle is doing so much more then anyone ever thought he would. I believe he is being healed and is so amazing. He deserves to be fought for!

I should know more details from the doctor in a few days and I'll update more then.

October Update

Halloween was too fun. John was out of town and uncle kevin saved the day. Kyle made it to about 7 houses and then uncle kevin took jadon and jack around to the REST OF THE NEIGHBORHOOD! they had a ball! then they spent the rest of the night scaring me with all their masks!

Kyle was a super hero - he learned to say Hero! Jack was a pirate and if you ask him he was a "scary pirate". Jadon is the greatest story..... he wanted to make up his own costume this year. so he saved up his points from stickers (he gets stickers on his chart for his responsibilities and stuff) and he got to buy a mask at walgreens.... it was a creepy michael jackson mask but he thought it was a zombie! so he loved it. he wanted to be something scary this year and dad said yes.... so anyway - I have always been a little judgemental to the kids that come to our door and are half way dressed up and just have a mask and some blood running down the neck... they look like they just threw it on to get some candy...... ????..... well jadon very carefully decorated his mask with black and red paint - to look scary and bloody. then he turned some sweat pants inside out to make them black and then the took an old indian shirt he made from his kindergarten thanksgiving day feast and turned it inside out and backwards and put paint on it too. then he wore his mask... he worked so hard and was so creative and detailed. and when I saw how proud he was of what he had made I felt so bad for judging all those sweet little guys who were probably just being creative too! so i learned my lesson this year. all 3 boys looked adorable! when I get my video camera fixed I will post a video and catch up!

kyle is doing so well these last couple of weeks. everyday is a new word or 2. we are up to 2 word sentences and naming objects. "daddy's keys. daddy's room. mommy's car. mommy's lap. " he is learning new things everyday. We are working hard on singing and teaching kyle to say no and making choices. we are still working on leg weights lots and and parallel movements. Kyle has his EEG friday to check for any seizure activity and maturity of brain wave patterns. He qualified (after some long fighting) for another round of RSV shots this year and we have all officially been vaccinated with H1N1!

some pics...

Jack being a "scary" pirate!

Jack enjoying life and ice cream.

Kyle listening to his headphones.

Jadon with his tie - on picture day at school.

Jadon had crazy sock day at school and we must have really talked it up at home b/c Kyle found them after jadon got home, put them on, and ran around saying "crazy sock". (in his own little version of talking!)