My First MRI

Today we had a pelvic MRI scheduled at the Royal Infirmary in Aberdeen to more closely examine our baby's brain and cyst beside it.

As with most MRI results we have to have wait for our doctor read the results first then she will contact us. So we know nothing new at this time.

This was the first time I've ever had to have an MRI and I was a bit nervous, especially when it comes to the whole "do you have any metal in your body" talks you get. I was wracking my brain trying to determine if I'd ever had some elementary school accident where some long-forgotten object was lodged in my leg (alas, and never fear it was only graphite from being "accidentally" stabbed by a pencil by "Mike" in 6th grade).

After an initial mild (mild!) panic of going into a tube strapped down I settled into the 20 minute session where I repeated memorized scripture and praise songs.
Nothing like magnetic resonating imagery to give you some quality time with the Lord.

We will update as soon as we know results, realising we may not know much more than we already know now.
Our last update, and what we know now:

Friday was a hard day for our family--a day where our faith was put into practice; where we begin to walk our talk and live out the songs we sing, the lessons we teach and messages we preach.

We had a scan with an obstetrician at the maternity hospital in Aberdeen and now have a diagnosis. Our daughter has Dandy-Walker Syndrome. There are several variants ours being "a complete absence of the cerebellar vermis (the area between the two cerebellar hemispheres), and cyst formation near the internal base of the skull". This can result in quite a severe handicap. There is no treatment, in-utero or postnatal, for this only therapy to help in areas of coordination or learning.Genetic screening has been offered to determine if the cause is from an extra chromosome, either 13, 18 or 21. The first two defects being "lethal" the latter, Down Syndrome. After extensive conversation and with the agreement of the doctor Mark and I have decided against the screening as the risks of such testing outweigh any rewards--we would know just "to know".There will be many more scans, appointments and an MRI in the near future as the doctors monitor any changes and seek any further knowledge to be gained. We will begin posting on our blog saving any major development news for email and then, of course, our monthly eUpdate.We covet your prayers in this time--for our baby girl and for strength for our family. You can't believe how much it means to us to know brothers and sisters in Christ and congregations around the world are petitioning the Father on our behalf. Throughout this all we are reminded that God gave His Son for us--He has held nothing back. As a parent that sacrifice takes our breath away--yet should we withhold any of our most precious treasure (our children) from Him?
In Christ,Mark & Jordan

Again, thank you for lifting our precious little girl and our entire family up before the Great Physician.

My Husband is Amazing

Just letting everyone know I love my husband.

No really, I do.

He's a handy guy to have around and plus he's put up with me for nearly 11 years, 9 of which we've been eternally yoked in matrimony.

 I am not afraid to put butter mints in my mouth like teeth, even on my wedding day.

I don't care who you are, it's hilarious to see someone like that--corn off the cob is great too.

Not only has this guy repaired several things in the manse for us, put in new shelves in the pantry, fixed the downstairs toilet, replaced the upstairs bathroom cabinet (get an idea of his handiness?) but he has also fixed my computer.

My lovely, large screen, perfectly organized iMac decided to have a temporary fritz (as an Apple fan it pains me to say that) mid-update to the Mountain Lion operating system. If you just went into a technology-illiterate haze it's ok-I'm just regurgitating information Mark tells me.

These precious photos were GONE! :*(    

(is that how you do a crying emoticon or what?)

This was a near catastrophe as ALL my life is on this computer including over 13 years of a highly organized iPhoto library.

We're talking organized, y'all, down to the dates of every month and how old my children were in that month--I can look up pictures according to the year, month, day or age of the child--fabulous really.

Not only has Mark set up my computer with an external drive running on Time Machine (enter techno-haze again) but he also has restored my computer once before.

This time it didn't work.
Oh. No. 
I had a few photos here and there, no remembered settings, no organized library, no happiness (ok, well that's a bit of a stretch). But it felt as if I was a stranger wandering around on my own computer. I despaired...

But guess what? He fixed it for reals! We love Apple, but we do NOT want to take our products into an Apple store, mostly for the cost of a genius.

Restored!!!

So this afternoon I was able to spend some blissful time updating the past 6 weeks of photos into my good old iPhoto library.

OH MY LANTA. Do you SEE how many pictures I have?!

I love you, Mark Anderson!

Oh yeah, we totally were made for one another.

(MINISTER DISCLAIMER: Christmas 2003 and his shorts are there, just rolled up...)

More Thankfulness

It's time yet again to post some things I'm thankful for.
I'm going to go ahead and say that there are quite a few food pictures, it's ok though because I wouldn't judge you if you were 6 months pregnant doing the same.
It's super-bad-guy fun roaming around the house and town snapping pictures of my favourites!
This will be so much fun, promise.

Steak Pie. 

Kinda has a strange name to us Americans but our local butcher, Kenny Thompson, carries the best I've ever tasted. 

Roast beef. 

Gravy. 

Pastry crust. 

Amen.

Good friends: 

The kids love playing with all their new Scottish friends. Here they are in Caedmon's room playing with Evan. He's presh and lets them tackle him and carry on with such shenanigans.

Large playground:

Each week we enjoy special family outings. Most often we like to traipse along the shore of the sea. This is a fun and terrifying time as there are cliffs and 2 and 4 year old girls involved. 

Cullen Ice Cream:

The stuff legends are made of and only 7 miles away. This is said ice cream with the fabulous Cullen beach in the background.

2 Year Olds:

I had to put this up so I'd remind myself to laugh about it one day. 

Sunday morning, mommy's ColorStay (read: semi PERMANENT) Lipstick in bright flam-dinging red, 2 minutes of unsupervised 2 year old comes up with this lovely sight...

We ended up late for church if you're wondering.

DVD's:

We're not into TV here at the Anderson household. So we have a plethora of movies. They help on the infamous Scottish weather days. (disproportionate a bit...top 3 shelves: kids, bottom shelf: momma & daddy)

 Sweet boy:

If there is a flower nearby my son will pick it and give it to me.

Oh my heart.

Grocery shopping:

Provides me the opportunity to take the following photographs.

You read right, folk, 

hot dogs in a can and Kangaroo Steaks are for purchase.

Funny Stuff:

One of my favourite things is laughing, at me, at funny junk or signs posted in hospitals.

No Photoshopping here, just plain made-Mark-snort-and-giggle-out-loud-in-the-waiting-area sign.

PS- In regards to my last post script: KINDLE FOUND!!! 

Dearest aforementioned Evan found my wonderfully organised Kindle tonight while playing with our kids! I can continue on my quest to read a ridiculous amount of books in a ridiculous amount of time.