One Year Ago.......

One year ago today we had to say goodbye to a very sweet gentle man with the biggest heart. A day doesn't go by that we don't think about him. He will be forever missed by his family and friends. I will never forget how Noah reacted that morning a year ago. That one small tear right before his Grandpa went to Heaven. I know his Grandpa spoke to him and let him know he was going to be ok. He always told our girls that as long as they did their best no matter what the outcome, he would always be proud of them.

This is a paper Morgan wrote about her Grandpa:

Singing Makes Me Think of You

"Do you people realize that tomorrow is State Contest?" asked Mr. Nabors. "You are messing around and you call yourself the top choir?"
Just then the back door of the Little Theater opened and in walked Blake Ridenour and my mom. He points at me and beckons me to him. I was so afraid to get up as Mr. Nabors continued on in his fit of rage. I put my index finger up to tell my mom that I would be there in a little bit. A look of frustration filled her face and she mouths the word, "Now."
My heart dropped to the floor. All I was thinking was, "What is wrong now? Did I do something wrong? Is Noah okay?" And that is when it hit me, Grandpa. I almost started crying right then. I slowly stood up so I could make my way to the back door. As I reached the door my mom stepped out, but as soon as I saw her, I knew that she had been crying. "What?" I asked. I kept repeating until she answered.
" I just came from Galion," she said hesitantly. " Your Grandpa just passed away."
I burst into tears and buried my head in my mom’s chest. I cried until my stomach hurt. I kept thinking about the things he would never be there to see. After a little while all I wanted was to go home. Rachael Roth had seen the whole scene from inside the office. She came out after a while and asked, "Do you want me to help you get your books?"
I nodded and we started the hardest walk of my life. No matter where I went my classmates would be there. As we walked through the cafeteria so many were staring at my red, blotchy eyes. I hung my head thinking that no one would notice until we made it to the safety of the locker room. I gathered my things and Rachael and I gave each other a big hug.
Then something popped in my mind, State Contest. I had completely forgotten in a matter of five or ten minutes. I knew I wouldn’t make it through the performance. I had to tell Mr. Nabors.
My mom and I waited in the music hallway until the bell rang. I slowly opened the door. Mr. Nabors saw my face and said, "Hey, little one, are you okay?"
I walked to the table where I had eaten lunch earlier that day. I started to say what happened but then broke down crying. All of my friends and Mrs. Kunz ran to my side and gave me a big hug. They had known everything that had been going on. This group of people had helped me through Grandpa’s sickness and were ready to help me deal with his death. My mom proceeded to explain the situation and that I didn’t want to go to contest the next day. Mr. Nabors understood and told me to go home to be with family.
We left the school and went to tell my sister. After this my mom drove us to my grandma’s house.
As we arrived at Grandma’s house, so many memories flooded my mind. Grandpa taught us how to fish in his pond and hit golf balls in his yard. I didn’t even make it in the door without crying. My grandma was there to offer big hugs. As people saw us kids crying they began to cry again as well. Many ‘I love you’s’ and ‘He’s in a better place’ were said, but in the back of my mind was state contest.
We had been preparing for a very long time, and I didn’t want all of that to go down the tubes.

My dad had asked what I was going to do. "Mrs. Baker told me to think about it and make my decision tomorrow."
Through all of this, my grandma had been keeping herself busy by cleaning and yet had been listening the whole time. " You know, Morgan," she said quietly.
"Yeah?" I questioned.
" Your grandpa loved to hear you sing. In fact he loved everything you did. He would want you to go tomorrow."
"Thanks, Grandma," I said as my eyes filled with tears. " I know he loved what we did but it won’t be right."
"Sing for your grandpa and it will be right because he will be there," said my grandma.
After thinking for a little bit, I made my decision. I would go to State Contest.
The next day I traveled to Columbus with the choir. We sang our hearts out and earned a superior rating. The first person I called was my grandma. If it wasn’t for her I wouldn’t have gone or sung for Grandpa.
Because of that day, I will always sing for Grandpa. He will be there for me every time and he is my biggest fan.

We love you and miss you,

Susan, Scott, Morgan, Emily, and Noah

It's always something......

We thought Noah was on the mend...... Then on Sunday and Monday he woke up not acting quite right and was moving nonstop. On Monday he started to run a fever again. I took him back to the doctor. Come to find out he was allergic to the oral antibiotic. We stopped the antibiotic and gave him Benadryl. He woke up this morning and he is a a new man. Doing really well.

Thank goodness he is back to his happy self. Jabbering away and rolling all over the floor.

Susan

To be on the safe side.....

Its with a heavy heart that I have to post we won't be going to Toledao tomorrow. We decided that it probally isn't a good idea to take Noah out. He is starting to feel the best he has in 2 1/2 weeks but we don't need to take him clear to Toledo and risk a set back. He needs to get back to his normal. We are going to Canada in a little over 2wks for his ABR therapy.

Susan

Thanks for the prayers

Thanks for all the prayers. We defintley felt them.Every time I wiped Noah's nose yesterday I would put peroxide on his nose and antibiotic cream. With that and the prays he woke up this morning with his nose almost back to normal.


I was hoping Noah would get back to feeling well by this weekend. I think we are going to make it. That's good because we are meeting Rob and Cathy St. James, Steve Thorton and his wife in Toledo tomorrow to see Don Reese. We are so excited and can't wait. We defintley need some fun in our lives.





Again thanks for the prayers,


Susan

Noah Needs Your Prayers

This couple of weeks has been pretty rough for Noah. He has been battling his first pneumonia of the season. Noah woke up on Saturday morning with a fever, a nose that wouldn't stop running and was coughing quite abit again. We went back to the doctor on Monday. His doctor said the pneumonia was still there. Noah ended getting antibiotic shots in both legs on Monday,Tuesday and Wednesday. We went for a recheck this morning and his lungs are still junky and we are still needing to do breathing treatments every 4hrs. On top of that he has a start of a staph infection on his poor little red nose. He has to have antibiotic cream for his nose and a oral antibiotic as well. When will it ever end........ But , if you know Noah he is still his little smilely self and growling at the nurses when they come in the room.

Please pray for Noah, he needs a break,

Susan

Noah's First Communion

Noah and his other First Communion class mates got together and made unleaven bread.
Noah helped to sift the flour.

On Thursday April 9th Noah had his first communion. It was so neat to witness. Noah didn't seem to like the taste of the wine dipped bread. He gagged quite abit.

This picture was taken when we were in Chicago for ABR. He was pushing cars down the ramp.

Noah has been doing pretty good lately. He had an appointment on Tuesday with his pulminologist. He had a chest x-ray done. It surprised us when they said he had the start of pneumonia. He hasn't even ran a fever or even acted sick. Although he has had a running nose and a cough for about 2wks. At least they caught it really early.

The girls have been doing real well also. They both were on the honor roll this last 9wks. Morgan had a 4.0 and Emily had a 3.765. We are so proud of them. They are both looking forward to spring break next week.