Remembering Caleb

Today, we watched our friends go through something NO ONE should ever have to go through. They buried their precious 14 year old son, Caleb. We just never know the plans God has for us, but we just have to trust in Him and He will pull us through. The next few days, weeks, months, years, and every Christmas Eve will be painful for Curt, Carla, Ashley and Heath, and Zach as they adjust to life without Caleb. Please continue to pray that God will heal their broken hearts, wrap His arms around them all, that God will forever be present in their marriage, and their personal life. Right now, Caleb is really enjoying life to the fullest, since he was not able to in his earthly body! Thanks to our wonderful God, Caleb is probably "running", instead of walking, the streets of gold and talking his big brother's ear off!

There are a lot of wonderful memories that our family has of Caleb, which we will cherish and hold so near and dear to our hearts . His big belly laugh, his love for Pooh, camping, hockey games, and the look, or I should say glare :), he'd give me if I were to stand between him and his Pooh show on TV.

We love you so much Caleb and we can't wait to see you at the gate!!!

The "bittersweet" Christmas season....

Well, as some of you may know, our dear friends had a son Caleb who was terminally ill. After a couple of rough months, Jesus called him home on Christmas Eve. This is all so bittersweet.... the family was all able to be there, Curt and Carla were having their party with just their kids. We now have the peace that Caleb is in a much better place with no disabilities and pain free. I know that I can't even imagine how wonderful Christmas morning must have been in heaven with the angels rejoicing! After a phone conversation, with Carla, they are still in much need of prayers. They are in a shock and are in the process of having to adjust to life without Caleb. Our friends have have had a lot of pain and suffering in their years, they not only lost one son but two sons to the same disease. So please send them prayers of comfort during this very difficult time and that God will show HIS presence in their lives with HIS loving arms.

Santa!!!!

We took the kids to see Santa, at my mom's work and it turned out to be quite nice. I didn't have the hastle of having to wait in line at the mall for a five minute, if that, encounter with Santa. Abbie told Santa that she wanted a Reindeer webkinz, which she got :), and Bryce didn't scream this year! When Santa asked Bryce what he wanted Bryce said, "candy." I believe the only reason he said that was because Santa was giving away candy.

Trimming the tree

Say cheese!

The finished product. The tree ending up being bigger than expected, and I think it topped off at 8 1/2 feet.

Daddy's little helper - or not????

Looks like quite tough-manual labor!

This is the one! Abbie picked it out....

Helene's baby showers

Helene had two showers within two weeks - man that girl was busy! The first one was at the Howard Miller Library and her sisters did a great job and had great food! Abbie was extremely excited 'cuz this was her first shower that she has ever been to. I don't think she fully understood what a "shower" is and why it is called that, but what child does at that age! Thanks Michelle and Bev! Then a couple of weeks later, my Aunt Gail and Sarah had the last shower. We all gathered at DeBoer's Bakery and had a fantastic breakfast buffet! Helene got such wonderful gifts and we all had a great time catching up with everyone's busy lives. It's just so amazing how many new baby items are out there now. My baby is two and a lot of the gifts that Helene got weren't even around two years ago! Wow how things change in such a little time! Another big thanks to Aunt Gail and Sarah for doing a beautiful shower! I am counting down, less than 6 weeks, for my brother and can't wait to meet my new little niece or nephew!

Thanksgiving with great families!

Abbie and Madisyn, Austin, and Hudson Lubbers at the kiddie table!

The gang is "feasting" away

Kim asked Ryan to help the kids with the craft. Man.... what a guy! He helped with the crafts instead of watching the football game and having "manly" conversations! Thanks again Kim and Ryan for having us over! Kim is starting to make me look bad and maybe I should have the family over next time!

Abbie's Thanksgiving School Play

Abbie and Maddie - two cute little Pilgrims!

Abbie's class did a play last week Tuesday for parents or V.I.P.'s about the Indians and pilgrims. It was a cute little play and the class had a great time working on the props! As you can see, the prop that the class was the most proud of was their deer! They even got creative and had made an arrow that stuck out of the side! Too cute and too bad that I couldn't get a good picture of that arrow!

Windemuller's new blog

ourkids-ourangels.blogspot.com is Curt and Carla's new blog site.

I had the privilege of being able to spend a couple of hours with Carla today and it was so nice to be able to do that. During those couple of hours, we worked on her new family blog. Carla hopes this blog will highlight the joys and sorrows of what their family is going through.

Thanks Carla! It was a fun two hours, with lots of laughter! We will continue to pray for you guys and be with you every step of the way! Just remember..... our Lord, will not walk ahead of you or behind you, but beside you! God Bless you guys!

So..... who are the Windemullers??

I've been so busy with just getting prayer requests out, that it was brought to my attention that people would like a little history of the family. So, with Carla's approval.....here we go! I can't even tell you how many years I have known Curt and Carla. I guess if I wanted to add it all up, it has been close to 20 years - wow time flies when you are being goofy! I guess goofy is the word that comes to mind when we are with them or when we think of them! I have been through the joys and the sorrows with them. I have had the pleasure of witnessing the birth of Josh, the day we celebrated Josh's new life with Christ, Caleb's birth, Zach's arrival into the family by adoption, many birthday parties for Ashley, sporting events for Ashley, observing what Curt and Carla went through when diagnosing Zach's autism, and MANY MANY more that I can't even begin to list. Brandon and I have had the honor of being Ashley's youth group sponser back when she was in junior high and then the honor of being at her wedding. Brandon and I hold this family near and dear to our hearts. The Windemullers have had many mountains to over come and Satan has sure made his presence in this family, but they have held on to their love for each other(as husband and wife) and their Savior. Both Josh and Caleb have been diagnosed with Leigh's Syndrome. This is a very uncommon disease that really no one can predict what will come next, only the Great Physican can. The disease is terminal and basically it impairs bodily functions, including organ functions. Both Josh and Caleb suffer from continous seizures that the doctors try to control with medication. As for Josh, he entered the gates of Heaven when he was only three years old and is now enjoying life to the fullest. Then there is Caleb...... I still remember visiting Carla when she was pregnant and then the many visits after Caleb was born. He was my healthy chunky buddy, until about 3 months of age. I still remember that day as if it was yesterday. I remember getting the call, from Carla, and she then told me that Caleb suffered a seizure which was the start of the disease. From that day, the doctors jumped on treating him with meds to control the seizures and I am sure that is why Caleb is still alive today. Caleb is now 14 years old and we had the honor of watching him grow and the priviledge of being at his birthday party about a month ago. What a special little - big guy :)! As things are taking a turn for the worse and Caleb's days on earth are number, prayer is the only thing that matters right now.

Here are some prayer requests:
1.)Pray for comfort. Lately Caleb has been more fussy and things are obviously wrong and he can't vocally express things and fears.
2.) Pray for peace. Between now and the time when God calls him home. May they all feel the love of God wrapping His arms around them.
3.) Strength... There have been many sleepless nights or a few hours here and a few hours there. I pray that God will give them strength. They not only have Caleb, but they have Zach too. He is in Junior High and he has needs also.
4.) Frustration. Pray that God will continue to bless and strengthen their marriage. Satan wants to use Caleb to put a wedge in the family, but as Christians, Satan will never win!
5.) We know that we can't pray for healing, God has much bigger plans for Caleb! What a wonderful day it will be for everyone when we meet our Savior. I'm sure we are all anxious for that day and to see our loved ones that have been having the joy of rejoicing with the Lord day after day after day.....

I hope that this will give everyone a little understanding why I have been keeping them in my blog. This family is very important to us amd what an honor that we have had the priviledge of walking with them step by step.

Psalm 121:1,2 I lift up my eyes to the hills - where does my help come from? My help comes from the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth.

Trick or Treat!

Everytime at Halloween, I make a point to get to most of my family members. Even though it means having to break it up into two days. This year, on Friday night we went to see Brandon's parents and grandma - then headed off to church for our trunk or treat. I would've gotten pictures of that, but somehow I ended up getting stuck sitting on our tailgate handing out candy. On Saturday, I was able to get to my side of the family and to my best friend for some priceless pictures!

Sisterly/Brotherly love? Hmmm, let's give that a year or two :)!

My parents, can you tell that the kids are getting sick of pictures?

Uncle Jeff and Aunt Helene

Abbie, Ben Nykamp, Bryce

My grandparents

Brandon's grandma

Caleb

As of this morning, Caleb took a nose dive. His heart rate and breathing was quite high so hospice has now put him on oxygen full time and upped(sp?) his valium and morphine. Carla said that he is quite fussy today so she is not quite sure what is going on in his precious little body. This is another downfall so we ask that you continue your prayers for peace and comfort for Caleb and his family.

Update on Caleb

Thanks to everyone for their many prayers! Curt and Carla have sure felt them over that last couple of days! Caleb has been resting more lately, which is a HUGE answer to prayers. Carla has now been able to get some more sleep during the night. Caleb has been a little more fussy, when he is awake, which is making Carla wonder if maybe his seizure activity is picking up. That is just a guess though, they have no way of really knowing. Caleb is still VERY critical and so they ask that you continue to pray for peace, comfort, and rest. Sometime next week, hopefully, I am going to help Carla set up some type of blog or carepage. She is leaning more towards a blog so she can also highlight the good that their family is experiencing. I will keep you all posted when the blog is up and running. Once again, Curt and Carla are very grateful for the many prayers and everyone's act of kindness.

Prayer requests

Dear friends of ours are having a difficult time now. They are about to lose their son to a disease that he has been battling most of his life. Things have taken a turn for the worse and right now, the family is just asking for prayers of peace and comfort. Please pray for Caleb, as he is about to leave our world and soon he will be living in his Heavenly home. Pray that he can get comfortable and will have peace. Pray for Curt and Carla as they are about to lose yet another son to this same disease. Pray for Zach, he is autistic, and is not understanding everything right now and for Ashley, who has been recently married. Right now, she is torn because she is not able to be there all the time. The devil is really working hard right now, on this family, and there is comfort to know that as Christians he will never win!

Ashley and Bryce

Carla, Zach, and Bryce

Curt, Zach, and Abbie

Zach, Abbie, Caleb, and Carla. (Sorry guys, didn't mean to cut you out of the picture)

I'm Goofy!

Funny how stupid little quizes can make sense sometimes and Goofy is my favorite character!

What our Saturday Mornings were like - SOCCER!

Abbie and her friend, Olivia

Just standing there - posing - and looking pretty!

I will admit, I am a little sad that soccer is done for the season. It now means that snow is right around the corner and shortly we will be wishing everyone a Happy Thanksgiving and soon after that Merry Christmas. It just doesn't seem right - time goes WAY too fast!

Halloween at Hidden Ridge Campground

The Pumpkin Chuck - Well, macho man(Brandon of course) only chucked the pumpkin about 10 feet. Don't worry, hunny I still love you! I'm not going to say much about this because he probably chucked it 10 feet further than what I would have.

The Pumpkin Roll - we bought the girls pumpkins to roll down the hill with other kids their age and I think Alexis came in second. Too bad they only award first place finishers.

The golf cart that my dad rented for the weekend was loved well by the kids. We put MANY miles on it!

A princess, a witch, and goofy??? Odd combination of characters if I must say so myself :-)! Don't worry, we didn't let "goofy" drive the cart!

Frantically running back to the campsite to empty their bags so they could reload on more sugar - they claimed that their bags were getting too heavy! The girls counted and they came up with 138 pieces of candy - I think that is about 10 to 20 shy of what they might've gotten since they were eating the candy as they Trick-or-treated to the campsites! I didn't get a picture of Bryce - bummer, but he made the adventure about an hour into it and then decided to take a nap. Everyone at the campsites thought he had the cutest costume.

It was really nice that Alexis came along with us. Abbie really enjoyed having a friend there. I didn't see much of them, they were always on the go!

Swimming Lessons - a busy two weeks!

For the past two weeks, Abbie has been having swimming lessons everyday for 40 minutes with her class. It made mornings quite complicated for me because I had to remember to pack more than just the normal everyday homework, books, and lunches. I had to focus on swimsuits, towels, goggles, and other items that a 7 year old going on 13 would need :-)! One day really stressed me out because it was school picture day. I didn't want my daughter to look like a drowned rat in a yearbook that the whole school district would look at. Then there was relief when I found out that the schedule was switched around. I will admit that I am a crazy mom that has to have her kids looking just right :-)! I was even planning on making a special trip to school to make sure she was picture ready! How crazy is that!

Abbie and her friend Tanna

Sorry a few of these pictures turned out blurry my digital camera doesn't have the best of zoom. I really need a camera that has great zoom and snaps pictures on demand!

Time to rest! (Swimming the length of the pool 5 times would tire anyone out!)

Abbie is also in private lessons, which is every Friday night for a half hour. I have been doing this a few times throughout the year for the past three years and have had Ms. Kerri every time.


The highlight of the lessons are at the end when Abbie can jump off the diving board. I think if you are to ask her what her favorite part about swimming lessons she will tell you jumping off the board. It really comforts me to know that she has become such an excellent swimmer! She does qualify for the Age Swim Team, but at 7 years old, I really didn't want her to have that much responsibility quite yet.

Allegan County Fair

I am now able to update the blog! Our computer has been fixed for a couple of weeks now, but I just didn't have the time. We went to the fair with the Mazureks and had a great time. I just wish I would've thought of getting pics of Abbie, Bryce, and Emma - shoulda coulda woulda huh?? Sara's brother and cousin had livestock there so the kids were able to get right by the cows to pet them. Again.... wish I would've used the camera! There was an exhibit that was for kids and the kids were able to milk a cow (not a real one of course) and look for eggs. We had a great time and great weather!





























We probably spent the most time by the tractors, we just couldn't get Bryce away! I can only imagine what he will be like when it is time for the combine to come out by us! Hmmmm..... probably free babysitting service because he will just sit by the window for hours if there is any tractor in site!

Back to School

Wow, where has the time gone? My girl is now in 2nd grade and is quite the "preteen" sad to say. She is now of the age that she chooses her clothes and fashion, and I have to admit she does have good taste! It's really hard to believe that a 2nd grader knows the latest fashions, but they do. As for her 1st day of school pic, this is the best I could get because she didn't want to waste a whole lot of time "posing."

Extreme bow fishing

Sorry, but I don't have any pictures for this post, but I still wanted to keep up on what we have been doing. Brandon, Ben Mazurek, Tim Smith(from church) and his son Hunter spent a long weekend doing Extreme bow fishing. Ben has a fifth wheel and a fishing boat so the guys hooked those things up and took off for the Illinois river. They had it all planned out, two guys would stand on the back platform with a bow aparatis hooked to their fishing pole, one would drive, and the fourth would stand with a baseball bat. Why a baseball bat you ask? Well, the guys went fishin' for carp and when you pulsate the motor of the boat, the carp would fly out of the water and the guy with the bat would have to try to hit them back to the water instead of having the fish jump into the boat. Both Brandon and Ben went to bed one night with a headache 'cuz they each had a carp, the size of their arm (25 pounds) fly out of the water and hit them in their heads. I would just love to go along just to watch them. They all came back with plans to do this again next year - I think this is going to be the annual guys weekend out!

Camping at Hidden Ridge RV resort

My dad took Bryce to the playground one afternoon and as I walked up, this is what I saw and just HAD to take a picture. Kinda a "monkey see monkey do" type of situation here!

During the week of camping, the kids consumed quite a bit of melon - 3 watermelons and 4 cantelopes. Pampers diapers do hold up very well :-)!

Abbie had her friend Alexis along, which was a lifesaver. Without Alexis, I have a feeling her week would've been boring. Those girls are such preteens, at seven years of age, it is unbelievable. We had a great and stress free week! I think most of my stress free was because we were camping on a cement pad with nice grass around us instead of dirt and weeds - my trailer stayed nice and clean!