Seven, Disney, Norovirus and Jobs

Loftin turned 7 on March 16th (first day of Spring Break for us) and that morning, when the kids woke up, we had a big surprise for them....



surprise from Jennifer Sheppard on Vimeo.


Loftin has been asking almost everyday for two years, and now Lucy has joined in, when we were going to go to Disney and with all that has gone on with MG, we haven't been able to plan a trip. I told Loftin and Lucy one day you are going to wake up and we will say "we are going to Disney World!" So, literally about two months ago, sitting at Children's hospital when MG had RSV, Lee and I had the idea to plan a spring break trip. We managed to plan this surprise with Mary Graham's surgery pending and hoping and praying that she would be fully recovered, as it was only 3 weeks after her expansion and gtube surgery that we would be heading to Disney. With help from Bill Wingate, our neighbor and disney travel agent, we were able to plan a great trip. And of course Lucy started running 102 fever the night before and was sick most of the trip, but she hung in there. Motrin was our best friend and Mickey, Minnie and Cinderella seemed to help too :). It wouldn't be a Sheppard vacation without someone getting sick (aka "Sheppard Christmas 2012" when we all got the stomach bug-Lucy throwing up all the way to Tallahassee, me throwing up all the way home). After returning home from Disney we all (Lee and Loftin only briefly, me and Lucy are always the worst victims) got the same stomach/fever virus which I have now learned is the norovirus-have you heard of it? If so, you know it's terrible....run far away from anyone who has it. It's not like a typical stomach virus, it lingers for up to a week. So I'm still dealing with it and hoping to be at the end. I know this is what Lucy had at Disney, bless her, she rode all those rides....and now everyone in Disney World may have norovirus :(

MG got an ear infection and respiratory infection right when we returned home (but antibiotics can treat all of that, thank goodness). I really had my doubts back in January that we would make to this magicial place. But I prayed that God would allow us to get there and have an awesome family trip. I even had a few people praying that the trip would work out, you just never know with our family.

So, enough of our sickness woes......it was a wonderful trip and we can't wait to go back! Here are some pictures to show....

The famous Cinderella castle picture

Apparently when you turn 7, you have to be cool in pictures

MG's ride

Princess dinner

My kids favorite thing was getting autographs

Loftin got to be Sleeping Beauty's prince, he secretly loved it

Meeting characters at "Chef Mickey" breakfast
Look at MG's face....she loved them from afar, but when they got to close she would cry or try to get very small in her highchair 

Check out MG again

Aloha from the Polynesian

Disney World is exhausting, but she loved every minute of it

Dumbo, about the 5th time

Loftin kept saying, "I can't believe Walt Disney made all of this!"

Enjoying the pool

Remember, she is running 102 fever in most of these pics, you would never know it, she did have a few meltdowns, but I think everyone does at Disney World (no pictures of those)

My favorite, Tinkerbelle magically appeared in their hands when we got this picture :)

Loftin has seemed so much older to me lately...7 just seems big. I wanted to share his school journal from back in January. I believe God has grown each of us in different ways this year. The other night, he was sick and thought he might throw up (everything these days is related to stomach bugs, bleh) and he looked up at me and said, "mommy can we pray?" On one hand I almost laughed, as he was hanging over the toilet, but on the other hand, it was so moving....he was desperate and needed God and was asking for prayer. I teared up and we prayed right there on the bathroom floor. In this moment I knew that God was becoming more real to him. And so many days I feel I fall short as a mom, juggling all three of them with MG's disease, and God gently reminds me that He is taking care of each one of them, filling in all the gaps where I miss, and I miss so many, He's loving them perfectly.

Here is his sweet journal....it is the perfect way to describe our days...we eat donuts and deal with oxygen. Loftin has handled all the change over the last two years so wonderfully and that is only by the grace of God. Praise God for all his blessings in the midst of it all.

Another quick funny story....lately Loftin keeps saying, "mom you should get a job." And he is very serious about this. He said he doesn't want me sitting around all day getting bored. Really? Without jumping down his sweet little throat, I calmly said, "i have a great job, I take care of daddy, you and your sisters." Last night it came up again and I asked what kind of job they thought I should have and Lucy piped in, "you should be a taxi driver!" Have no idea where she got that. Then Loftin said, "I think you would be a good doctor." Well, little do they know most moms are both of those things....driving kids around all day and being their doctor when they are sick (I guess for me a little more with all of MG's issues). In fact, I may open my own clinic... now that I have all this equipment I can start seeing other patients in my home :)

We are hoping a praying for good, calm (yeah right?) smooth,  healthy months ahead. Mary Graham's next surgery in Philly is Aug 6th. And we will get to see the wonderful neurologist at CHOP at that time to as we are doing more genetic testing these next few weeks. Since she has had the gtube, she has gained one pound in just a month-this is huge! But, since she's been sick she's not tolerating her feeds at night and keeps throwing up in the middle of the night. Not sure if she had the norovirus too. Please pray this resolved, as she has lost some of that weight she just put on. Just don't want more new "issues" with her.

I am planning to change things up a little on my blog....adding more of our entire family "stuff" rather than just MG medical updates, although I will still be doing those of course and putting those on the caring bridge site too. I pulled out all my scrapbooking stuff the other day, laid it all over my den floor and looked at it and thought, "I really hate scrapbooking." So much easier to write and add pics on my blog to remember fun memories about the kids.

We are always grateful for your prayers for MG and our family.