update

it's been awhile, but just quickly wanted to let you know that she needs no tubes (in her ears). the doctor wants to see how she does through the summer! I'll try and post pictures of Sarah in action tonite....

enjoying a "new Sarah"

Sarah has become a "new" girl!! i say this because we are seeing a different side of her daily!

she is getting around so nice now, it's almost as though she has figured out that the things at the end of her legs can get her anywhere and fast!! Last summer we tried to go out to the playgrounds, and though we did, i will admit it was stressful...Sarah was still wobbly and not really walking yet, she cried about everything. she was mostly frustrated that she couldn't go where everyone else was!! we've been to Chuckie Cheese's and she loves climbing in the tunnels... she would never have done it last year!!

this is her watching her brothers jumping on our moon bouncer... the other day she was out playing in our back yard, walking all over the place like she owned it all!!

to look at her, one would never know she has already had brain surgery!! My God is awesome...come back for more spring action pictures!!

we got to meet some new people

I have it in my heart to alwas say thank you to those who pray for Sarah. when SArah first went in to the hospital and they found that she had the brain tumor we knw thr only way to get through it was to lean on Jesus, and to get others praying for Sarah. through Sarah's Care page at http://www.carepage.com/ i have met many people and believe that one day we will see them face to face. then i can say thank you. thank you for praying for my little girl.

but today we were able to meet three very special people. Sarah doesn't realize just how specail they are, but one day when Sarah gets older, she will read this and on the days she doubts, she will know that God has a special plan and so many people stand behind her. with prayer! there are so many people that i don't know, but which i did, so that i could include them in this blog but for now, names will have to do..

fromt eh bottom of my heart I say thank you all for being prayer warriors for a lttle girl you don't even know, but some day will....

i have not shared these pictures but i feel that it's okay to do so now. above at the top, is Sarah minutes before going into surgery. this picture right above, is Sarah a couple of days after so many of you lifted her up. this was Sarah, 100% cancer free just a couple of days after her surgery..

here are a few of you...

explains it all

He has been so good to us!! Thank you Jesus!

it's been too long!

Sarah is doing well...we have been very busy with sick children, but i felt as though I needed to show you some pictures of Sarah...

she is doing so well..getting more and more vocal as the days go by, she is learning her ABC's believe it or not, and loves to listen to praise and worship music and dances, I'll have to video tape her and Tori dancing together!!

she is almost ready for a big girls bed

i say that but I'm not ready for late hour party times that will turn out like this in the girls bedroom....

...needs mommy to get a little more brave when it comes to night time diapers...she is 99.9% potty trained. even when she was/is sick, she hated to wear the diaper...so we tried a day without any...that little stinker showed mommy and daddy off!!

she is truly our little miracle girl!! please keep her in your prayers. she has had to go back on all her meds again, and we got pretty nervous a couple of times with her breathing. She has improved over the course of today. instead of every 3 hours with breathing treatments, she is able to go for 4 hours. And also she is beginning to get more frequent ear infections (kind of funny because up until her sister had tubes, Sarah really didn't have ear infections..now that tubes are in her (tori's) ears, Sarah must feel she needs attention....)

she is growing like a weed!! and seems to love every adventure that is around the next corner!!

MRI

we left this morning at 6:45, it's 5:00 PM and we are just getting back.. the MRI went well and the results are looking good! Thank you to all who prayed for us today. Sarah is exhausted but over all is doing great!

MRI and catching up

Sarah is set to have another MRI on Wednesday the 14th. please pray that she stays healthy. we have a nasty virus running through the house. I was brushing her teeth and noticed that she has little bubbles in her mouth...praying that they will just be gone... Timothy came down with the same thing and was sick for 5 days...

so please continue to pray for Sarah.


She is doing awesome these last few weeks. seems as though she is repeating more things! and is forming more two word sentences! she goes down for naps with no diapers and wakes up during the nights and yells, "potty" if she has to go!!

On more then one occasion both Jacob and myself have confused Sarah and her sister...Sarah is still holding her weight, while her sister is putting it on!! makes life more fun!!

Over this past weekend we celebrated her older brother's b-day at Chuckie cheese's...and it was so neat to see Sarah having fun walking around and climbing into things. it seems as though her little world is opening up...it's sad on one hand to see my baby growing more and more independent everyday but on the other hand she is such a little miracle and it brings joy to see her becoming her own person. Each day is just one more day that we realize just how special she is.

one thing about Sarah that has blossomed is the fact that she says, "love you" with little arms stretched up and lips ready to give kisses!! she will take your heart if you let her!!

okay, didn't mean to get all mushy on you. gotta run i will try and post pictures of Sarah during the next couple of days between the many doctor appointments this week.

thank you for all your prayers and i will keep you posted on her MRI (which is at 9:00 AM)

be blessed!!

i wanted to share with you. Sarah's year in review! it was a wonderful year!! her first for no admissions into the hospital, (I think she may have taken care of her time with in the first year!!!

any way, this slide is long but if you just watch it through you'll be blessed!! i hope you enjoy it as much as i enjoyed putting it together.. i present to you Sarah in 2008

may have a blessed 2009!!

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Sarah enjoying the snow!

I took this, this morning!

Sarah really loves the snow but the reason i wanted to post this is because this is where the scar is, but you can hardly see it!! She truly is our walking miracle!!

I would like to take this time to say a heart felt, "Thank you" to each one of you who prays for this little girl. we don't know what God has in store for her in the years to come, but I do know that it is VERY evident that God has is hand on her!

This Holiday season is the first one for Sarah and us as a family to Really have fun at home. Last year, well she was just getting use to living life with no tumor, she was just re-learning different tasks that she thought she has accomplished...

But to look at her today, she seems like any other 2 year old! she walks around singing, teasing, laughing, crying!! figuring things out on her own!!

I plan on taking pictures on Christmas and sharing it on her care page and here. So many of you have had such a big part in her little life. That i want to share it with you.

From this Mommy's heart, i wish i could personally meet each and everyone of you, to hug you and say thank you. to let you see our little miracle running around and enjoying the life that almost was not.

My prayers for you during this Holiday season is that you will draw close to family and just enjoying them! if you don't 'live near family, call and let them know you are thinking about them. let them know that you love them..

MERRY CHRISTMAS from this Hoffman home

God is watching over her!!

we have officially moved into the home with no bottles and man the stack of diapers are lasting forever these days!!

the other day we watched as Sarah's nipple to her bottle, fell off in her mouth!! man was it scary! she wasn't sucking too hard, she was more like chomping and all it took was one good chomp... and off fell the top part of the nipple! thankfully we were right there watching her this time. That was literally her last nipple in the house. Jacob and I both agreed that they are both old enough to just cold turkey...stop the bottle!! it's been a few days now and we are surviving it!! they are sleeping better through the night and waking up dry!!

My babies are being forced to grow up!! what will life be like this summer? we may be having a family trip to a far away land!! it's in the workings...but more on that later!! Sarah's siblings are home from school today because of a snow storm. we are going to make more cookies and maybe later go play in the snow!!

cookies and crafts

We are headed to see some doctors on Tuesday. we liked to visit them once in a while when Sarah is not sick!!and what better time then now...we made brownies and cookies for the Doctor and nurses that delivered Sarah and her sister. it should be fun!

Sarah even helped put the sugar into the mix! And what kind of mother would i be if I didn't let all four of my kids try it?? Sarah loved it!!


but today Sarah enjoyed doing some crafts with stickers.

if I'm able to I will take pictures of tomorrow's outings!!

enjoying her pony and teddy bear

the girls got one of their gifts early so that mommy could use it to distract them...and it works every time!! the ask me to take pictures!! I LOVE IT!!!Horses like apples right, so why not try apple juice?




and then some fingers to go along with it!! and then there is her fascination with books, puppy's and this brown teddy bear....








i'm so glad this cute little girl is mine!!!

to cute to pass up

what do you think??

some catching up to do.

we we made it through Thanksgiving and Sarah broke her tradition...of being in the hospital!! i thought you may enjoy seeing her eat her first Thanksgiving meal!! We were joined by a very special uncle who Sarah doesn't see often. by the time he was getting ready to go back home Sarah was warming up to him!!

she loved her turkey. the day after Thanksgiving we put up the tree. Sarah loves it! hope you enjoy the pictures.

this one above is my favorite by far

oh and we wanted to pass along the news about her next MRI...it is on January 14th, so please be praying that all goes well!!

she's two!!!

This week has been kind of emotional for me. When Sarah turned one she was in the hospital being air lifted with what the doctors thought was bleeding on the brain. But with God's grace and mercy she is here with us to celebrate her 2nd birthday. (if you are new to this blog and want to read her complete story please start at the beginning of this blog. or start at the post dated July 6th and then go to the post on July 15th)

and celebrate we did!! here are a few pictures of her party and some other pictures of Sarah at home with her twin!!

this one above..this blanket hold a lot of memories...it was the blanket that was given to Sarah when she came out of surgery!

can i brag!!?

Is it okay if I brag about our little miracle girl!!?

she is shocking the pants off us! two days in a row now she is dry! tells us when she has to go potty and goes like there is no tomorrow!! she wakes up and first thing she does is walk over to the little potty!

these two girls go back and forth, right now Sarah is putting her older sister(by a minute;0)) to shame...with this potty training thing!!. don't get me wrong her sister goes all the time, but Sarah is more consistent with, lets see how should i say this....going #2!! I haven't changed a messy diaper with Sarah in DAYS!

I had wanted them both potty trained by two...well they still have 10 days!! and if they continue on the road they are on now...it will happen!!

PRAISE JESUS!! can we say altogether.."diaper days are coming to an end..."hey, i heard that, little voice saying, yep just in time to have another..... nope Jacob and I are not even thinking about #5 right now!! we are very content with our four little blessing!!

This morning Sarah PT came by...it had been almost a month since are schedules lined up and Mr. Matt couldn't believe how well Sarah is getting around!! it was music to this momma's ears!!

well that is all the bragging i will do this time..enjoy these recent pix of Sarah and her crazy, silly brother, Josiah...who is becoming VERY affectionate

EEG is done

We went the hospital this morning...this time with no REAL problems getting there!! PRAISE THE LORD;0)
Sarah was the life of the office...walked right in waved at everyone!! and then found herself a nice a comfortable spot to play inside a little tykes house (if anyone wants to know what she wants for Christmas....I'm sure she'd love one of those!!This one had everything including a fake fire place with a porch on the side..kinda made me wish I was a kid again;0)! she was so funny this time!!
anyway
The fun and laughter stopped as soon as we went into the room with the bed!! she really was better then I had imagined she would be. yes she screamed and cried but it was just because she was strapped down...once she was all wired up we turned off the lights, I actually laid beside her for the testing and the tears turned into actual giggles...
I have to explain. When this appointment was scheduled they asked if Sarah had a bottle or something that comforted her when she was upset...she still takes a bottle once in a while so I brought it today with hopes that it would calm her down...so the lights we off there was the hum of the machine and a little girl snug as a bug with her momma laying beside her, we were trying to get her to go to sleep, so I was holding her bottle for her because she couldn't use her arms..while I was holding her bottle, I was rubbing her cheek bone, this made her giggle, and when I’d stop, she'd say "more" it was the funniest thing!
one the way out she wanted to stop and give everyone behind the desk a kiss....
once the EEG was done we headed down stairs to the doctors appointment where the results were being sent...
The results showed ABSOLUTELY no seizure activities!!
So what's next?we start to wean the Phenobarbital and go back in 3 months to see just the doctor, by that time Sarah will be completely off the medicine.
So I am asking you to please keep Sarah in your prayers for safety and that there will be no seizures, and for us as her parents that we will be very tuned in to Sarah if by chance she does have seizure. We are praying that the seizures do not return, and that this is one more door that is closed behind her!!

pictures of Sarah and her siblings!!

this last one makes me laugh...Sarah was screaming the entire time while i was trying to take these pictures..and then a car drove by long enough to distract her (I took advantage of this distraction, putting my camera on auto and took about 15 pictures...)and the minute the car was out of her view...she started up again!! we are off to the hospital on Thursday for her EEG. We will let you know if anythign changes and how it goes. thank you for your prayers.

pumpkin fun and catching up!

just wanted to share some fun pictures of Sarah.

this is her, last october with her siblings (it's hard has a mom, to look at pre-operation pictures),

and this is her this year, and yes, she is in the pumpkin!!!


here are some other fun things we have been up to these last few days...

she has gotten so brave over these last few weeks, I will admit, it is fun to see her breaking out and letting her little personality shine!!

and here are some still pictures

soon we will passing along winter pictures!!!

but for now i'll sit back and enjoy the nice fall colors!! and times when we can just throw on a lite jacket!! thanks for checking in on her!!

EEG is scheduled

just wanted to fill you in on what will happen now. Sarah needs to be checked to see if she is still having seizures, they will do an EEG on Sarah to see if there are any brain waves that show seizure activity. this is a painless procedure, well..i should say no shots.

for those of you who don't' know what they will do, let me explain...

Sarah didn't like the last one she had done and I'm sure she won't like to go through this one either :0) they will have to attached little wires that have some king of gel substance on one end to her head, (Seems likes at least 40!) but I'm not sure how many to tell you the truth.

then once she is all hooked up they read her brain activity, from the info they collect, they can tell if Sarah is having seizures still, Let me back up for a moment, the doctors do think that the brain tumor was causing the seizures and since the tumor is gone, they now have to see if there have been any, while she is on the medicine for seizures, they will have to wean her from the medicine and do more testing like this as time passes.

From start to finish the EEG takes about 2 hours. about an hour for hook up, if you will, and then and hour for brain activity... this will take place on October 27th at 9:30 in the morning. we will let you know how it goes and I'm sure i will remind you guys to please pray for safety on the road as it seems like we always run into something to try and get us off track...



It really is a painless procedure but for a 2 year old who doesn't like doctors and who will be pretty much in a kangaroo pouch, not able to move, it's going to seem as though they are hurting her...so if anyone out there would like to go with me to support mom...I'll take the support, dad, can't make it because of his job!! let me know!



let me end with this picture, it is Sarah just a few days ago..and this is her scar...

Doctor did an AWESOME job and Jesus healed it up nicely!!