VBS was a blast! It ended last night with a cookout for all the kids and their parents. Lizzie was such a trooper this week. She had perfect attendance along with Katelyn and Sarah:) Today she was lying on her tummy and, with some assistance from me, pulled her head up to see what was going on. At first she protested, but then as the girls and I kept shouting encouragement, she actually smiled. Smiles and work usually do not go together with Lizzie.

I have all the medical equipment stacked neatly in the garage ready to send back when the doctors discontinue it. I am amazed at how much stuff we needed to make sure Lizzie was going to be okay. So many machines that intimidated us at first; so many procedures that were a bit unnerving; and now nothing. Lizzie has been healed by God. We know it's going to be a long road ahead, but she is alive and well. When I seek her lack of physical improvement, it makes me sad. But then I remember how far she's come. God is so good!

Well, everyone is this house is awake, except Liz, so I need to help get these people in the bed!

Today at Lizzie's PT, the vision and hearing consultants came as well as her regular PT. Lizzie protested at first, but went on to show a few of her new tricks. The vision consultant said she thought Lizzie had a big brain, and had learned how to manipulate the adults in her life. (I think that was a very polite way of telling us to make her do more for herself:) At times I can push her and be the meanie, but other times, I just cave in and let her have her way. The therapists also pointed out how much Lizzie admired her Momma... and her Daddy. Right now the girls are singing/yelling the Veggie Tales theme song to Lizzie. She is dancing on the floor!

Last night was our first night of VBS. Lizzie went and had a great time. She napped for most of it. Katelyn and Sarah loved it too. It's called Wildwood Forest, so the church is decorated like a forest with Rangers as the leaders. I'm having fun too as "Old Story." I'm supposed to be an old adventurer, so Stacy and I tried to turn my hair gray with baby powder last night. It didn't work, so I just wore a camouflage do rag. The girls are still at the age where they thought I looked cool, not weird!

Stacy finally downloaded our recent pictures, so I'll post some today.

It was a great day here. Katelyn and Sarah went swimming while Lizzie and I visited with a friend. It was supposed to be 107 here today. I'm not sure if it made it, but it sure felt like it. The weather in the Panhandle is pretty extreme - very hot in the summer and very cold in the winter. However, no matter the temperature on summer days, the nights are wonderful. At about 7:00 the sun goes down and the temperature drops dramatically. It's light out here until almost 9:30, so there's plenty of time for outdoor fun, or yard work:) When school starts, the girls complain that we are making them go to bed when the sun is still up!

We should hear something on Lizzie's stroller next week. I'm praying that we get it quickly. We are thankful for the loaner, but Lizzie will be fitted to her stroller. It will be made just for her. The lack of "her stroller" has definitely not slowed us down though. She loves to ride in her car seat now. Katelyn and Sarah sit on either side of her and they sing all the way to our destination, whether it's five minutes or five hours!

Today was another busy day here in the Ross house. Lizzie and I went to a Bible study this morning. We had a wonderful time talking and marveling about God's love for us. Lizzie contributed from time to time as well with an "oh" or "ah."

This afternoon LizBeth cried every time the PT even talked to her. She did enjoy the new toy for a little while, but it soon wore off when Liz realized she was having to work at it. The girls loved VBS again tonight. Sarah came home telling me she ate mouse meat! (It wasn't real. It was just pretend and it was yummy.)

We are all going to bed early tonight. Hopefully, it will be a peaceful night here in the Ross House. No babies crying to be held or little girls giggling and asking for one more drink or one more hug or one more kiss. Wait - aren't those the things we will miss most later on? Maybe just one more kiss or one more cuddle is not so bad:)

Well it's late Monday night and everyone is asleep. It's so quiet and peaceful. We have a had a pretty busy day. One of the churches here in town is having VBS this week, "Roam in Rome." The two older girls went and had an absolute blast! They were telling us how they were able to go to the Market Place and buy things or watch the potters make pots. Then they were able to meet Paul and a Roman soldier. (Katelyn told me the soldier's angry face looked just like mine!) Anyway, after meeting with Paul, they had to run away and hide in the cave church. They are excited about going back tomorrow night. Our VBS starts next week. I'm excited about that. Last year, we prayed for 35 children to attend and had like 75 on the first night! God is so good! This year we are praying for 100 to attend.

Lizzie crashed out before the fireworks went off Saturday night. We all sat in the front yard and watched the city's display. It was great. We spent that day at the park and eating snow cones. I love my family. God's blessings are so wonderful.

We did, however, oversleep this morning. Our PT rang the doorbell this morning at about 9:50, and it occurred to me that Lizzie might have an appointment today. So I jumped up and ran to the door. Sure enough, there was our PT complete with toys for Liz. Needless to say, she is coming tomorrow at 2:00... in the afternoon:)

Today is cloudy and windy. Lizzie prefers the clouds, but does not care for the wind one bit! We have a small chance for some rain later on this evening. We sure do need it.

We heard yesterday that Lizzie should be getting her adaptive stroller soon. We have a loaner for the time being. It helps LizBeth sit up straight by supporting her trunk. Most of the time, she likes it.

The girls and I went up to the school to work today. I am making lesson plans now. It's always fun scheduling the school year in the summer, because it usually proves to turn out differently once school has started. Katelyn thinks she's ready for third grade because "I'm really smart." Sarah is ready for second grade, but she's napping right now so is unavailable for comment.

We pray everyone has a Happy Fourth of July tomorrow!

Oh my goodness! If there is anyone left still reading my blog, I sincerely apologize for not updating it sooner. So much has been happening in our family. We are so excited with Lizzie's progress. She is eating baby food with a spoon at least three times a day. She jabbers nonstop and said "Momma, Momma, O Momma" last Sunday! (Boy this post has a lot of exclamation points already!) Lizzie is growing so fast. She still has her wildly curly hair too.

Since school let out, we have been to Chillicothe, Missouri to see my family. We were able to see my 15 year old sister and my __ year old dad dance in the annual Father Daughter Dance in Kayla's recital. It was great! The girls really enjoyed it. The next week we all went to Church Camp here in Oklahoma. At the beginning of camp, Lizzie was trying to win the Crankiest Camper award. She was cutting six teeth at once! Poor baby. We spent Monday night from 12:30 to 1:30 in the car while Lizzie cried at the top of her lungs. Eventually she felt better and enjoyed camp. As soon as we got home, we headed back to Chillicothe, Missouri for the Relay For Life scheduled there. Unfortunately we were rained out, but I was able to walk the Survivor Lap with my sister. That is my favorite part of the whole thing. God is so good! We had one more week out and about in Ada with Stacy's parents. Then last weekend, Stacy and I went to Eureka Springs for our 11th anniversary and left all three Ross girls with their grandparents. Now we are home until the third week of July when we go to see my grandma and family in northeastern Arkansas. Whew.

Now we are home and playing catch up with house and yard work. Lizzie was so happy to be home. She squealed and laughed at our cats. Katelyn and Sarah are becoming even greater helpers. They take of their sister as much as they can. In fact, they trade off room cleaing for baby sitting!

My new goal is to update daily again. For most of our friends and family, this is the only way they get info from the Panhandle Family and Elizabeth's progress. We have a check up scheduled for some time in October, but other than that we are just hanging out and having fun. God has blessed us tremendously.