The Craft Family

Annual Hope for Brave Hearts Breakfast Is Back Again.....

2012-02-09T14:20:00.000-08:00

Hey Everybody...
Who's ready to eat a really great breakfast for a really awesome cause? Hope for Brave Hearts is back in high demand. I am having some issues uploading our flyer...so what I am going to give you a blog to go to for all of the details that you will need for the breakfast on Saturday. The blog is: carolinacarters.blogspot.com !!!! I hope that you all will be able to make it to eat with us! Thanks for all of your support over the last few years....And we look forward to seeing you all there.
Love In Christ...
The Crafts
Please keep Parker in your prayers...we get our casts back on tomorrow and he is not feeling the best in the world. He has a cold with a constant runny nose and is starting to cough.....

I Find You When I Fall Apart......

2012-01-25T04:14:00.000-08:00

Hey Everybody...
Have you ever had a day when your riding around in your car and the most perfect song comes on the radio....one that proves how God loves us So Much! Well I had that moment yesterday and thought that I would share. You have to youtube: Josh Wilson "Fall Apart" ! You may have already heard it but...this is my life song! Anyway...we took Parker to see a new specialist, one that we have been waiting to see for almost six months now....but I like him a lot. Dr. Seigel is a specialist in Cerebral Palsy patients. Parker, as you all know, has been in so many different casts, molds, taping and braces for his tone in his body, and continues to have to this very day. So you may ask yourself.... what in the world would Parker need to see a doctor who specializes in this for? Well, Cerebral Palsy has three different levels....and we have MILD Cerebral Palsy. Cerebral meaning "Brain" ...and we all know how complex Parker's brain is....and Palsy meaning "motion/movement"...which we all know Parker is very capable of getting himself from point A to point B! We will not wake up one morning and have our lives turned upside down, not able to speak, or be wheelchair bound. What we have now is what it is going to be. Praise God! Now...this is only due to the tone in his lower body. Parker has always been somewhat rigid in his legs/ankles since he was trying his best to crawl. If you remember, way back when, Parker had therapists that would come to our house because he was dragging one side of his body for the longest time and we couldn't figure out why. So Parker conquered that! He had a fists balled up for the longest time also and with the help of his Savior worked it out too....So this brings us to walking/running. He is running everywhere! But he also falls a good bit and needs some help with his balance and tone. So....we are going to be putting him back in casts Friday and one week after that we will be getting our new braces again. This is not easy for Parker and it stresses him so much so we are asking that you say an extra prayer for him this week as we prepare for this. Please know that we are so thankful to be able to write on this blog and know that prayers have been started and answered here! What a blessing! Our God is so merciful and knows our every need...and we are so blessed to speak His name.
Love In Christ
The Crafts

This is by far the "most rotten" picture we took of Parker this Christmas.....we just loved it!!! When we asked him to "cheese" this is what we got!

2011-12-28T16:13:00.000-08:00

Santa and Mrs Clause had a really nice Christmas too!

2011-12-28T16:12:00.000-08:00

Tractors and a BIIIIGGG....truck we those on the list....

2011-12-28T08:40:00.000-08:00

Parker loved getting Toy Story's "Woody" for Christmas.....he was so suprised!

2011-12-28T08:37:00.000-08:00

Santa Clause came to our town!!!

2011-12-28T08:28:00.000-08:00

You can't have a Christmas without "Wonkin' Wogs"....

2011-12-28T08:25:00.000-08:00

I know of one little boy that had fun this Christmas....

2011-12-28T08:22:00.000-08:00

This is my "Dee Dee's" Tractor that I have so many fond memories on...and now I can pass them on to my son!

2011-11-26T19:20:00.001-08:00

I love this photo shoot on the farm....and these BIG Trees sure made for a nice prop!!!

2011-11-26T19:01:00.001-08:00

Checkin' on the TIRES and Pickin' the Turnips...

2011-11-26T18:31:00.001-08:00

Down on the FARM with Parker...

2011-11-26T18:26:00.002-08:00

Our children had the best time pickin' pumpkins at the pumpkin patch....Parker said "I need dis one mommy, it's so tool"

2011-10-31T19:31:00.001-07:00

Our little ROBOT!

2011-10-31T19:27:00.001-07:00

Coming off the meds....

2011-10-29T20:16:00.000-07:00

Hey Everybody...
I wanted to give a quick update on where we were on Parker. We have been waiting to update anything about the doctors visits because all of the results were not in. I spoke with our neurologist about all of the MR's that we just did and they found that Parker is completely missing his left transverse sinus. Which means that the right side is making up for what the left side lacks! But still does not mean anything towards a diagnosis for our unanswered questions. The transverse sinus is the plumbing for your brain, so the right side is larger, since there is no left, but is still not pressing on anything important that would cause all the chaos! They did see some scarring on the fluid filled spaces in his right ventricle...but yet again...is not pressing on anything of importance. So, we have decided to come off the medicine for now and see what happens. A little scary I know, but if we don't have a diagnosis then we don't need to be medicating the unknown. We are hoping and praying everyday that we have made the best decision for Parker. Our pediatrician is completely on board with this decision, but is not finished digging deeper for Parker. He is requesting all of Parkers' medical records from the hospital to be sent to MUSC for further review, and second opinion from one of the leading pediatric neurologist. The last time we saw him was only about the fluid and he has no clue what we have been through with these "episodes"! So this will give us a fresh set of eyes and another opinion...but maybe this time we might find an answer. Anyway, in the meantime, I have been extremely busy at work, as well as home with my photography side jobs. Please take a look at my blog if you get a moment and check out some of the pics at acraftphotography.blogspot.com! Parker decided that he needed to try on his sissy's nerd glasses for Halloween, and we have enjoyed his little personality...he is so stinkin' cute! Please be much in prayer for Parker as he comes off this medicine that no scary episodes will occur, and please remember our friends at carolinacarters.blogspot.com as their sweet baby girl is awaiting some test results. We will be praying for sweet baby Jenny Kate to feel better real soon. We thank God for all of our precious blessings, big and small tonight...and thank you for remembering us in your prayers.
Love In Christ,
The Crafts

2011-10-29T12:52:00.000-07:00

Rain Rain Go Away....Come Again Another Day!!!

2011-09-25T06:13:00.000-07:00

Hey Everybody...
Oh my Goodness....God could not have picked a worse day to bring the rain! I know that God never had children but if he would have had any clue how hard it was to get a baby out of a car with 30 lbs of bags stuck to my back maybe he could have picked a different day! The funny thing is...every time we have to be at the hospital it is either raining or flooding! So next time I will have us all pray for beautiful weather!!! I wanted to let you know that Parker did great with his MR's! The doctor said that they did the entire work up of Parkers' brain and as long as we didn't hear anything from our neurologist right away...then to rest easy because they only call back with emergent information. It was pouring down rain when we got to the hospital! It just so happened that I had on rolled up jeans and flip flops so enduring the five inch puddles completely helped! Although once I hit the door of the children's hospital, my umbrella obviously had holes because I was soaked!!! Anyway...we have an appointment on Friday for our results so be looking for an update then. We did get our braces for our legs and feet Thursday and they are cute! He looks like the bionic baby when he walks...but we have been told that this is supposed to help tremendously, so we are hopeful! We will start wearing them after therapy on Tuesday so be thinking about Sir Parker...because he doesn't like wearing them at first!!! Thanks for all the prayers!
Love In Christ,
The Crafts

Paker was so excited about this MRI that he tried to run away...and laughed the entire time...then just decided to ignore me and watch the fish!

2011-09-25T05:52:00.000-07:00

Guess what they had when we walked though the door? You can only imagine when they called his name to go back that this "train table" went with us!

2011-09-25T05:48:00.000-07:00

The holding room always makes me nervous...but they got a cosmetic overhaul down there since we were there last! Pretty bad that we even know that!!!

2011-09-25T05:45:00.000-07:00

Oh to sleep like this....it takes a little bit for Parker to wake up after the MRI...but I think he took full advantage of it this time!

2011-09-25T05:37:00.000-07:00

We always have to prove that we can eat before we leave so once Parker got his crackers..."amy the monkey" needed some too!

2011-09-25T05:33:00.000-07:00

Parker and his monkey "amy" sat and enjoyed graham crackers when he woke up...I'm not sure who enjoyed them more!!!

2011-09-25T05:21:00.000-07:00

Keep us in your Prayers this morning!!!

2011-09-23T04:08:00.000-07:00

Hey Everybody....
Just wanted to let you all know that we will be at the children's hospital this morning. Parker is scheduled to have his MRI, MRA and MRV, and of course that means being sedated yet again! This unfortunately has become an old hat for us. Everytime is much harder than his last, because he of course is older and more aware. He has his work up for IV sedation at 9:00am and then we will go down hopefully right on schedule...just please pray that we will because the last few times we have done this they have run terribly behind...and Parker has not had anything to eat since 9:00 last night. He also didn't take a bottle for me last night which always leaves knots in my stomach. Seventy-two hours before any episode Parker has had, he wouldn't take a bottle, so that made me a little nervous last night. We did go yesterday for his AFO's !!! These are the custom molds for his legs and feet. So we will be stylin and profilin' sportin' our new braces. Parker fell to pieces during the entire appointment and it broke my heart. He looked up at me and said "I wanna doe home mommy" "Doe Bye Bye mommy".....you know me I was lookin' for the closest door!!! Anyway...we are still undergoing 2 therapies a week and he is making continued progress in that so....just remember us this morning please in your quiet times or in the stressful drive to work when your stuck in traffic...send up a prayer for us.
Love In Christ...
The Craft

Parker's friend Kelly stopped by the house yesterday with his present and this was such a cute moment captured!!!

2011-08-27T20:34:00.000-07:00

Parker's Second Birthday Party was so sweet...he was so much fun today!

2011-08-27T20:30:00.000-07:00

We opened the gifts first this year...because Mr. Parker wasn't going to have it any other way...

2011-08-27T20:27:00.000-07:00

Parker was soooo excited over his "Train Table"...

2011-08-27T20:22:00.000-07:00

Parker's "Thomas The Train" Cake turned out great!

2011-08-27T20:17:00.000-07:00

Paker was so sweet with his cake...he waited until we finished singing Happy Birthday and then blew his candle out!

2011-08-27T20:12:00.000-07:00

I have never seen a baby enjoy his birthday cake more than Parker did today!!!

2011-08-27T20:05:00.000-07:00

2011-08-25T21:46:00.000-07:00

I'm Two Today...

2011-08-25T21:44:00.000-07:00

Parker got his first dog today...And might I add Clifford was a trooper! Thanks GiGi and Great Papa...He loves Clifford!

2011-08-25T21:25:00.000-07:00

Since Parkers' real birthday was today...he opened some presents...and boy did he love them!!! Thanks Aunt Linda and Uncle Bryant for the beautiful handmade in the U.S.A. blocks!!!

2011-08-25T21:19:00.000-07:00

So I am in the middle of baking Parker's Birthday cake and suddenly thought...I just don't think Betty's Kitchen looked like this when she baked!!!

2011-08-25T21:13:00.000-07:00

How I made bags of coal from old melted down crayons for Parker's Choo Choo Train birthday...

2011-08-24T20:26:00.000-07:00

This is the silicone mold that I chose for the shape of our coal...I was a little apprehensive at first, but they turned out great and didn't stick!

2011-08-24T20:21:00.000-07:00

Karlyn and I had fun peeling the paper and snapping the crayons in pieces for the oven...

2011-08-24T20:18:00.000-07:00

This is what the crayons look like in their melted state after being in the oven...

2011-08-24T20:15:00.000-07:00

...this was our finished product of our tie dyed coal!!!

2011-08-24T20:11:00.000-07:00

Parker loves choo choo trains....so what better birthday present than a train table....

2011-08-24T20:08:00.000-07:00

After staining, cardboarding, covering and flipping over to glue and staple...

2011-08-24T20:04:00.000-07:00

...this is the finished project...and I must say it was worth the time invested!!! The best part is Parker hasn't seen it yet!

2011-08-24T19:59:00.000-07:00

Yet another scary seizure....and ambulance ride!

2011-08-24T05:14:00.000-07:00

Hey Everybody...
Just wanted to let you know that yesterday at 5:30 Parker had another seizure. When I got to my in-laws to pick Parker up, he was sitting in his highchair and he just wasn't acting right. He had very strange movements to his body and they would come and go. Still wasn't sure it was a seizure, but also knew at the same time that this wasn't our Parker we were dealing with. Well it turned bad quick. I called our pediatrician and he immediately, after listening to Parker on the phone. said that he was in fact seizing and to give him his suppository right away. And that we did. When I placed Parker on the floor to see what he would do, he was only walking on his knees, he could not stand up and all that he was saying was "BaBa and GaGa" as if he regressed to 6 months old again. And it was scary. Things fly through your mind like "is he going to come out of this, or did we truly just loose all of his vocabulary with this seizure"! We were transported by ambulance to the Children's Hospital and came home after all of his blood work came back normal. They are waiting on the Keppra Level to see how much Parker had in his system at the time of the seizure. It won't be back for several days. They didn't admit us last night, because by 10:00 Parker was seemingly normal. So we are home, and didn't sleep all that much last night. Parker is back in our room in the pack in play.....I am beginning to think that he likes our room better than his own. We have a lot to learn about seizures today! My father in law was able to get video this time of Parkers' seizure so thank God we have something to present to our neurologist. We have been waiting for that moment of opportunity to present itself and that it did! We have a 10:00 appt with the muscle doctor this morning at the Children's Hospital, and they will take some x-rays of Parkers' legs to let us know his personal opinion on the locking up of his muscle groups....and get this...his doctor's name is "Dr. Locke"! How appropriate. As you all know our sweet baby Parker will be two tomorrow! We aren't having a big party this year for him because of the circumstances! The doctor thinks that it is best to not over stimulate him! Please just keep on praying for our little man.....we need some extra prayers this week!!!
Love In Christ,
The Crafts

Real Love Starts... Where The Pain Begins.....

2011-08-23T08:38:00.000-07:00

Hey Everybody...
Just wanted to give you all a short update on Mr. Parker. We are starting back with our Physical/Occupational Therapy today! Parker is still continuing to tip toe around from time to time, so please pray that we can get this muscle spasticity under control. Daily I pray for our son and I know that God will deliver the answer in His perfect time...but sometimes it is so draining being "Patient"! WOW! I have to constantly remind myself of how uncomfortable it was for our Savior to hang on that cross for me. I'm sure he was tired, impatient, completely undeserving, aggravated, and ready to step away.....funny thing is.... I have all of those same emotions running through me right now...and my God isn't asking anything out of me that He hasn't already endured! So...I can't be complaining....although I think I just did!!! Anyway, we are still waiting on appointments for our Children's Hospital visit. We are still up at 1:00 am and 3:00 am with Parker, but I feel sure that is from the increase of his meds. I have ordered with the pharmacy some melatonin to help him with his sleep. It will be interesting today to find out where we are with his feet and legs so just say an extra prayer for us today. I have some unspoken prayer requests that are in the waiting room of patience as well so if you think about it....lift those up for me too.
Love In Christ,
The Craft

Momma called the Doctor and the Doctor said......

2011-08-17T14:48:00.000-07:00

Hey Everybody...
We just saw our neurologist this afternoon and wanted to let you all know how it went. One interesting fact is that kids "can" physically throw themselves into a seizure during a temper tantrum!!! Lucky us it is another "rare condition", but completely possible! So as we enter the terrible two's it will be interesting to see how Parker does with his tantrums/self inflicted seizure activity. We will be starting back with our physical therapy again because Parker has spasticity issues with his muscles, primarily in his feet and legs. We have also been referred to a "Muscle Doctor" ...he will do a complete diagnosis with Parker to see what is causing the tightening of his muscle groups. This doctor specializes with children with Cerebral Palsy. When the doctor mentioned this today I specifically asked if he felt that Parker had that and he said that Parker gives him no inclination of CP, but there are children that suffer from CP side effects that are never diagnosed with CP. It will be interesting to see what his opinion is of Parker's muscles' because today while his doctor was checking him over he asked Willis and I if Parker had been tiptoeing a lot. And I was shocked that he asked that because in that last week he has been walking a good bit off and on his tip toes. The doctor said that primarily this is coming from the muscle groups being so tight. The tightness is coming from the brain so we will be doing another sedated MRI/MRV to look at his ventricular system to see if there has been any change over the last year. We will also repeat another EEG of his brain to see if we can pick up any silent seizures! So back to square one with therapies! But so thankful to have our sweet baby boy! Today has been such a better day for Parker except for the hyperness of course! We are increasing his meds to please pray that he will sleep through the night. The last time we did this we were up every hour with him. We love you all and I will let you know the dates we will be back at the hospital for everything, but until then continue to pray!
Love In Christ,
The Crafts

Adrinaline is NO JOKE...

2011-08-16T08:25:00.000-07:00

Hey Everybody...
Yesterday afternoon I got another call from my in-laws that Parker was having another seizure at their house. When I got there, by the grace of God, Parker had already come out of it and was talking and mobile! Praise God it didn't last a long as the last. We phoned Dr. Bonnett and he did want to see him just to check him over and thankfully we were called back in our room immediately....because as soon as we got settled he had another one. Dr. Bonnett came in and sat with us through it all and documented everything for the Neurologist for this morning. We are waiting to hear back from neurology, so I will keep you all updated on everything as we move forward with this. I know that we will be doing an EEG and possibly another MRI just to check on the fluid and sure that an increase of his medication won't be too far fetched. I didn't sleep last night so I am living on the support of my cup of Joe this morning and back at work. Parker woke up at 1:00 am and 3:00am shaking a good bit at each time, so I never really went to sleep. This morning he is still not completely himself and is still very aggressive/hyper! But that will go away over the next couple of days. Just be praying for our little man....we love him so much and it is never fun as a parent to watch your child suffering from anything. As soon as he came out of his first seizure yesterday, the first thing he said was "I'm sorry"! Does that not make you want to melt? Bless his sweet little heart! Thanks for always remembering us in your prayers...
Love In Christ,
The Crafts

This is just a sneak peek of Parkers' Two Year old Photo Shoot....

2011-07-22T19:01:00.001-07:00

Parker truly enjoyed playing in the coy pond!

2011-07-22T18:33:00.000-07:00

We went to the park today to play...and Parker had the best time!!!

2011-07-22T18:29:00.000-07:00

Parker...Post EYE Surgery.....

2011-07-18T09:05:00.000-07:00

Our Very First Eye Surgery....

2011-07-14T14:34:00.000-07:00

I have to first explain to you all for not updating this blog sooner. And boy do I have a story for you! When we got to the hotel last night and had every size bag in the world settled into our space...the weather report downstairs offered quarter sized hail and 60 mph winds. A big note across the bottom of the screen read..."Seek shelter in a strong building and go to the center of the room, and stay away from all windows!" Can you imagine the frenzy of it all as we, of course, were on the very top floor! The front desk let us all know that someone would be up to get us if we needed to evacuate to the basement within the next hour! Ha ! Why Not right?! Needless to say the internet was not available for my blogging pleasure. As the storm passed and we were ready for bed...our wonderful neighbors got in to some kind of disagreement/verbal altercation, which led us to moving rooms at 11:30 last night! Crazy I know....our hotel was not on a level that should have displayed that kind of behavior! Any who---This morning we had to be at the hospital at 7:30 and we parked the car on the fourth level of the parking garage to find that the elevator was under a "maintenance check"! Why not right? That's what I said anyway! By the time mom and I got down to check in at pre-op, we were so winded that mom sat down in the waiting room puffing on her inhaler and I was thinking to myself "I need a puff of that too! Oh and I forgot to mention the worst part of it all...Willis fell sick with a fever yesterday afternoon and we had to leave him behind....which made him feel so bad...But we could not take the risk! So we were fifteen minutes late to our pre-op this morning! But all in all...Everything that was supposed to go great, went great, and that is all that matters. The surgery was a success! Parker's eye is not bouncing anymore and is very bloody to look at, but we have been told that it will be that way for several weeks while it heals. The only challenge that we have now is trying to keep him stable while the anesthetic tapers off! We are home now and watching "Thomas and Friends", eating puffs, and throwing Cheerios in the den!!! There's not too much that will hold this little boy down! A BIG THANKS to all of you that have been praying for this trip and surgery in Charleston....And I can't wait to take our first picture of Parker with no "crossed eyes"!!!
Love In Christ...
The Crafts

Another Charleston Trip...

2011-07-01T21:14:00.000-07:00

Hey Everybody...
Just wanted to take a second to let you all know that Parker's EEG that was planned for this past Wednesday was cancelled at the last minute. So, those of you that were praying for us Wednesday....please continue to pray because we will have the appointment, just at a later date. We did have our appointment in Charleston this morning for Parkers' eye specialist....and we will be having our first surgery on July 14th! Dr. Wilson let us know that we will probably need more surgeries but we are hoping for just one. The surgery will take a little over an hour and will be done outpatient at MUSC, and they will do a follow-up appointment one month later. The actual surgery only takes about forty-five minutes, but they don't want to do a sedated exam before surgery due to our past...so they will do a forty-five minute exam first while he is sedated and then continue on with the actual surgery. Because Parker's eye is still bouncing a good bit, they will need to be very conservative with the first surgery to make sure that the eye doesn't turn out too far. So please pray specifically for Parkers' eye surgery, that it will go as planned and that all the doctor's and nurse's involved will have their game face on ready to repair my baby boys' eye.....Oh and they said that we would see immediate results! This is so exciting...and we are hopeful that once the eye is repaired that his vision will follow! I hope that you all enjoy our pics from the beach today as much as we enjoyed the time we spent there.
Love In Christ...
The Craft

Playing in the sand was so much fun today....

2011-07-01T20:40:00.000-07:00

Parker really enjoyed playing in the ocean...

2011-07-01T20:34:00.000-07:00

A day at the beach is such medicine for the soul!!!

2011-07-01T20:10:00.000-07:00

Happy Father's Day Willis.... "As a father shows compassion to his children, so the LORD shows compassion to those who fear Him"-Psalms 103:13

2011-06-23T07:22:00.000-07:00

Can you figure out who this couple is?...We almost forgot what it was like to "dress up" and be seen in public that way!!!

2011-06-23T07:21:00.000-07:00

Happy 10th Birthday Karlyn....We love you so much!

2011-06-05T06:10:00.000-07:00

Karlyn made her wish and everyone had a great time!

2011-06-04T19:23:00.000-07:00

The kids really had fun decorating their fans!

2011-06-04T19:17:00.000-07:00

Kung Fu Panda 2 was AWESOME....and there will be a "3"!

2011-06-04T19:13:00.000-07:00

To all you "KUNG FU PANDA" lovers out there....I made Karlyn's birthday cake this year and it ROCKS!!!

2011-06-04T18:26:00.000-07:00

So you know I have to brag BIG TIME!!! Karlyn made HONOR ROLL for now the fourth year in a row...and was one of three in her class! We are so proud!!

2011-05-31T18:51:00.000-07:00

My strength comes from God, who made heaven, and earth, and mountains! Psalm 121:2

2011-05-28T10:22:00.000-07:00

We have to teach Parker to pull the girl!!!...Not the other way around! He had a lot of fun playing with her at the pool.

2011-05-28T10:20:00.000-07:00

Parker and Karlyn really liked the falls!

2011-05-28T10:16:00.000-07:00

You never grow tired from the walks around this lake!!!

2011-05-28T10:12:00.000-07:00

Parker and Karlyn enjoyed the pool for the second summer visit!!!

2011-05-28T10:04:00.000-07:00

We love the MOUNTAINS so much...that it truly is difficult to leave!!!

2011-05-28T09:57:00.000-07:00

We are back at the beautiful "Lake Junaluska" and it is proving it's peacefulness to us yet again!

2011-05-16T18:11:00.000-07:00

For Once....The Good News!!!

2011-04-25T16:43:00.000-07:00

Hey Everybody...
I hope that your Easter weekend was just as great as ours! The weather was just beautiful and we can not be more thankful to Jesus for dying on the cross for our sins! Our service on Sunday was superb and I must say....I am truly going to miss Pastor Bill when he leaves! He has been preaching from his heart these last couple of Sunday's and his gift will be missed by us for sure. Although we know that his heart is in Haiti....I am praying hard that whoever God has in mind that he will have the passion for preaching the word that Pastor Bill has! My goodness...I could just feel the holy spirit like crazy last Sunday! LOVE IT! Anyway...for those of you who have been wondering why I haven't updated our blog in so long....let's just say...I haven't had to......and that makes this momma so Happy!!! I am extremely grateful that I haven't had to update you all with bad news! Parker is doing great on his meds now. For a very short period of time, we were offering him a larger dose before bedtime and a smaller dose in the morning....but we found that by switching this method, it took care of him lying awake at night starring at the ceiling! So needless to say, we are now sleeping through the night and much better! Unfortunately, once we figured the medicine out we started teething....which again...kept us awake at all hours of the night. You gotta love it! Anyway...Willis and I have been working crazy hours, taking care of our family round the clock and enjoying every minute of our chaos! I hope all is well and that you enjoy the pictures! The kids looked so sweet in their outfits Sunday! Thank you all so much for your continued prayers and I will try to keep you updated sooner....I promise!
Love In Christ
The Crafts

We have had the BEST weekend!!!

2011-04-25T16:19:00.000-07:00

We love to go to the park and enjoy some quiet family time....thought I would share some really sweet moments with you!

2011-04-25T16:16:00.000-07:00

Karlyn and Parker looked so sweet in their Easter Outfits!!!

2011-04-25T16:11:00.000-07:00

As you can all see....Parker made the most of his Easter Egg Hunt!!!

2011-04-25T16:01:00.000-07:00

"For our heart shall rejoice in Him, Because we have trusted in His holy name." --Psalms 33:21

2011-04-25T15:56:00.000-07:00

Easter has never been so fun!!!

2011-04-25T15:42:00.000-07:00

These are my babies' Easter outfits....hand "crafted" by their mom!!! I impressed myself on this one....and wait til you see Parkers' hat!

2011-04-18T17:44:00.000-07:00

I love this time of year....so I thought that I would share some pictures I took of my neighbors yards!

2011-04-18T17:29:00.000-07:00

This was our CRAZY temperature graph for the last five days and our coming home pics!!! Parker sure missed his TOYS!

2011-03-15T19:31:00.000-07:00

Miracles Still Happen...

2011-03-15T14:16:00.000-07:00

Hey Everybody...
We're Home!!!! Parker went all night fever free and into this morning! Praise God! What a nasty virus. I hope and pray that I never have to watch my child go through this again. Home never smelled so sweet! We are a true testament to what our GOD can still do! He was preforming miracles when he walked this earth and He is still preforming them now! AMEN! ...as Parker would say! Thank you all so much for the prayers and concerns. It is so wonderful to know that our little boy holds such a special place in all of your hearts. I met with the doctor this morning and he said that we will need to still be very careful with Parker though. Too much Too quick of course would be very detrimental to our progress. So for the next few days monitoring Parker is crucial. We will still need to basically do everything they were doing there, just from home. We were up again at 4:30 am for more blood work in the treatment room. Parker was sleeping so good and we had to wake him. It adds a whole new perspective on the old saying "Rude Awakening"! But...all of Parkers' blood work came back normal! There are a few cultures that are still pending, but they will be notifying us of that as soon as they are completed! Dr. Haun did say that the number one reason we were able to come home today was because "they were doing more TO Parker than they were FOR Parker at this point". So he let us know that it is likely that his fever may spike back up, but if it reached 104 again that we would of course need to return! We see our pediatrician tomorrow for a follow up with him, since he admitted us, so pray that it goes well. I don't know about you but I loathe "children's waiting rooms" with a passion. I feel like things just jump off the chairs! Anyway...please continue to pray for us over the next few days until we are fully healed! Parker is so sweet, and he has been such a trooper through all of this madness! It will be so nice to sleep in our own beds tonight with no interruption! Except from mommy for temp checks! No more needles! And no more tape!
We love you all so very much...
Love In Christ
The Crafts

2011-03-14T18:00:00.000-07:00

Hey Everybody...
We have had a much better day today....thank you Jesus! Yet another miracle. Early this morning when I wrote in... I was just about ready to fly our baby to another hospital. But...after our last fever early this morning around 3:30 am, Parker has only had one real spike in fever, and that was about an hour ago. We spiked back up to 102.5! They gave us some more meds and we have at least controlled it and the last temp check was 99.5! Which of course make me feel so much better. Throughout the day today he carried a fever of 101 or lower so not too much to fuss about there. Interestingly enough he did eat a great breakfast this morning and he didn't eat lunch but made up for that at supper. He is still not taking a bottle for us. But he is on IV fluids are a huge contributing factor for that. Hopefully, if through the evening, he can keep that fever down we can look at taking the IV out and offering more fluids by mouth. Parker had not pooped in 4 days so they gave him something to help that along and boy did that help....The largest on record here at the childrens hospital weighing in at a whopping 370 CC's which is equivalent to 12 ounces of poop! I know that he has to feel so much better! The nurses were in shock and speachless!!! Sort of a funny moment in the midst of all the chaos! We finally saw the Infectious Disease doctor today...and I really like her alot. She is from the famous St Jude Hospital! She was very thurough in her analysis/diagnosis for Parker. She feels extremely confident in saying that this is only a VIRUS. A nasty one at that! She graphed out his fevers for us to see on paper and there is light at the end of our tunnel. Parker's fevers have made there Peak and are on their way down slowly which she says is very encouraging! We will be taking more labs in the morning just because they are still watching the inflammation in Parker.... normal level is 5 and Parker's has jumped from 20 when we came in to 50. So in the morning if that continues to rise then they will be looking more towards bone scans and things of that nature. Parker's Echo came back beautiful this morning and there was no sign of any inflammation in his coronary arteries....which means that Kawasaki Disease has now been ruled completely out! THANK GOD!!! So we are hoping to get lots of rest tonight. We just got back from the treatment room again because his IV was not cooperating so that is never any fun. Please keep those prayers coming our way because miracles are happening all around us!
Love In Christ...
The Crafts

Please Pray Specifically....

2011-03-14T01:35:00.000-07:00

Hey Everybody...
It's four o'clock in the morning and I of course can't sleep. While I was asking God yesterday in my prayer time to show me where and what it is we are supposed to do with Parkers' situation, the Holy Spirit led me to the story about "Jesus heas the boy"that I shared with you in my last post! I have to tell you all that the Holy Spirit works in such an amazing way. I am looking for answers so strongly right now. Both Willis and I have this unsettling spirit about this whole thing...but we can't put our finger on it. So I "GOOGLE" of course lots of things and when I was in search of some peace and answers yesterday without my Bible in hand I googled scripture about fever. I never even knew that there was a story in the bible about a miracle performed by Jesus on a little boy...let alone with a "High Fever". So let me explain to you all what I think about this nobleman that traveled to speak his love about his son to Jesus and how I truly feel that my questions have been answered through this story. The nobleman had a little boy, and so do we! His little boy had a High Fever and so do we! If you research the story it tells us that he traveled by horseback to get there as fast as he could. Well...it is 4:09 in the morning and the Holy Spirit woke me to Google "how far the nobleman traveled to get to Jesus and how long it took him and what type of transportation if any did he have?" So I did just that and found a map to figure the distance between Capernaum where the nobleman lived to Cana where Jesus was performing miracles and found that it was about twenty miles or so. They didn't have vehicles then so I googled how the nobleman traveled. I then found that he had one of his servants saddle up one of his fastest "horses". So this led me to figure out "How fast it would take to travel 20 miles on horseback..." it may seem farfetched to you I know but just listen....To travel horseback 20 miles it would take about an hour. You may be asking yourself where in the world is Amy going with this and I would say to you that I feel like the Holy Spirit led me to this story for a reason. I don't think we are going to find our answer for what Parker is dealing with here at Richland. We don't feel like we have some emergent, about to die situation with Parker, but something just isn't right. He has had fever now for ten days and no one can find the answers. Something keeps telling me that our answer is at MUSC....which going back to the story isn't twenty miles away but if you take into consideration the time it took him to travel by horseback it equals the time it would take us to get to MUSC. Today we have the Infectious Disease Doctor coming to see us and I hear that she is great! So we are definately going to hear her out...but so much of my spirit says that MUSC is where we need to travel! Please pray hard for us today that our decisions will bring peace to our spirits. Parker is just starting to make us a little bit nervous being that it has been ten days and all with a fever and that he really isn't eating at all. The nurse just came in and his temp is creeping back up again and he is shaking all over. Poor Baby....but help is on the way. Please pray that the Holy Spirit will speak louder than ever to us today as parents on what our next move will be. I love you all and thanks for hearing me out!
Love In Christ
Amy

Jesus Heals A Boy...

2011-03-13T11:58:00.000-07:00

Hey Everybody...
Parker is sleeping off yet another fever. We are not getting a lot of sleep at night right now...everyone has been in and out every hour or two for temp checks...so we make up for that during the day. All of the test results are back and there has been nothing found in any of the blood tests that were performed thus far. We were told by the doctor this morning that she and the other doctors on the floor have completely reviewed Parker's history and results and they are all "perplexed"...and still have nothing to go on. There were some increases in his blood work that they will be continuing to follow closely. One of them showed inflammation somewhere in his body...not quite sure where, and the other showed his white blood cell count to go from 5000 to 11000 over night. This is still within normal range but the jump in several hours time may give them something to go on. They will be repeating the ECHO either this evening or in the morning sometime. The cardiologist that read his report last night was unable to get a clear look at his coronary arteries and they have to make sure that there is no swelling in that area. And not to alarm anyone...but...they are going to also do a cancer screening on Parker just to rule that out as well. Parker is still not eating real food or taking more than an ounce of milk occacionally so that is concerning for me! He is still receiving IV fluids and has for the last fours days. So please pray that his appetite will increase. Also...in the morning, Willis and I will be meeting with the "Infectious Disease" team. They want to get another set of eyes on everything since we are unable to get a handle on the temperature. They specialize in RARE THINGS, so maybe they can shine some light on our little man! As you all know this is day NINE for us having fever. The history of the fever is strange to them because it comes and goes withing two hours time. One minute he seems like he is finally getting back to normal...laughing, wanting to play and saying words and the fever reduces itself and in the next minute we are at 104 again extremely lethargic and only wanting to sleep with a rash all over his chest...even with meds. Please pray that we will find something and if we don't then we will be sent somewhere that can figure out what in the world is going on. Lots of uncertainties still...but what a pleasure to know that in the midst of all the unknowns.... God is our constant hope. You may not remember but there is a story in the bible about Jesus healing a boy....I read that today and thought I would share the story and my feeling about it with you...

Jesus Heals A Boy...John 4:46-54

"Jesus came to Cana in Galilee where he turned the water in the six large water pots into wine.

There lived a nobleman in Capernaum in Galilee. He had a son who has a high fever.

The boy was very ill at the point of death. When he heard that Jesus had come out of Judea and was in Galilee, he came down to the place where Jesus was. He begged Jesus to come down to Capernaum and heal his son. Jesus said to the nobleman, “You people will never believe unless you see miracles.” The rich man said, “Jesus, my son has high fever. He is very sick. Please come down quickly because my son is about to die.”Jesus said, “Go home. Your son is healed.” The nobleman believed what Jesus said that his son is already healed. When the nobleman reached his home at Capernaum, his servant came out to meet him. The servant said, “The high fever had left your son. He had been completely recovered to health!”The nobleman asked his servants, “What is the time when the fever left my son?”The servants said, “The fever left your son at seven o’ clock yesterday.”
Then the nobleman remembered that it was at that very moment that Jesus told him that his son is healed. And so his household came to believe in Jesus.....

You know the nobleman didn't fully believe in Jesus until the miracle was performed on his son. But once he saw it...he believed! We know that we believe in Jesus...we have seen the miracles upon Parker's life... time and time again...Instead of looking at things as why us anymore...I have learned to look at times like these as a testimony of miracles. It may take a little more time...but my God knows why we are here.... and it might just be for that nobleman or noblewoman that needs to see the face of Jesus through our little boy!

Love In Christ...

The Crafts

Still Getting Stuck...

2011-03-13T03:51:00.000-07:00

Hey Everybody...
Still no updates! Our fever this morning is still a BIG 104! They just came back in and did some more blood work! They didn't wait long enough to give the Tylenol because he was still upset from the blood work that he threw up all over our nurse! They gave Parker a suppository instead so hopefully it will work faster! Anyway...as soon as we know some more, we will update!
Love In Christ
The Crafts

A Quick Update...

2011-03-12T19:33:00.000-08:00

Hey Everybody...
We still have not heard or seen from a doctor as of 10:20 this evening. We have been told that some results are in and others we are still waiting on. The blood work that is back, is all negative! Praise God!! The resident came in and spoke with Willis and I earlier today and said that they have taken some of the blood work to the labs to see if it grows any bacteria...which takes a couple of days!!! So still again...waiting on that. Parker has finally gone to sleep now and his temp has gone down to 102.0 which is encouraging seeing the drop from 105! Keep praying though...we need all we can get right now. Love you all....and we'll update soon.
Love In Christ,
The Crafts

At the hospital again....

2011-03-12T15:31:00.000-08:00

Hey Everybody...
First of all, I have to tell each and everyone of you thank you from the bottom of our hearts! We are so completely blessed to have you by yet again for another episode in Parkers' little life! We are continuing to wait on further lab results from today to see if anything comes of that. So we will update as soon as we know! To catch you all up on what our week has been like...as some of you may know we were in the ER with another scary "seizure" Sunday morning with a fever of 103.6. We treated that and were sent home to start on anti-seizure meds to help sustain any lingering seizure activity. Parker has been on that now for 3 days and has done well, other than running in and out of high fever peaks! When I got Parker up yesterday morning his fever reached 103.3, so of course I made a doctors appointment. Come to find out Parker had a right ear infection, we were given meds and sent home. We took his temp while we were there and it was 99.7. so we were thankful that it had finally come down. Once I got home with Parker a few hours later I handed him to Willis and he said "Amy he is burning up!" Took the temp again and it was dangerously high at 105.0! Parker turned really blue and pale and just seemed to be fading quickly. We went back to the doctors office and he told us to head on over the the hospital! We were admitted last night to Richland Childrens Hospital and not much has changed. We are back up to 104.8 again, on our 2nd step of lab work and waiting to speak with the doctor about what our next step is. Willis and I are certainly concerned about the amount of Motrin and Tylenol that we are giving him. We are on nine days now of fever and the level of fever is not easy to look at. We are looking at an area of concern called "Kawasaki Disease"as a probability. We are not sure if this is it or not but they did an ECHO today along with the another set of blood work to rule this out. We will update the situation as we hear of any changes. Please continue to pray that we will find the source of the problem or if we can't find source and it is considered "viral".... then please pray that the fever will go away!
Love In Christ
The Crafts

For all that have been praying...."Verily, verily, I say to you, he that believes in Me has everlasting life" – John 6:47

2011-03-08T20:19:00.000-08:00

Hey Everybody...
Just a real quick update. As you all know Willis' uncle Howard had an aneurysm last week and we really had seen no change in him since. It was decided today that Howard would be taken off of all life support and given the opportunity to thrive on his own...and at 5:30 today, uncle Howard went to be with Jesus! Our family has some ruff days ahead of us and we are overjoyed to know that he is with the Lord but will be missed deeply by our family! Thank you all for lifting him up in prayer this week. Please continue to pray for our family. Of course Parker and I can't travel this week due to his seizure activity so it won't be easy for me not having closure...but Parker is not anywhere near ready to travel at this time. Not to mention being two hours away from all of his doctors could be a real problem if something were to happen. Please know that we love you all dearly and can't say enough about your constant support and prayers.
Love In Christ
The Crafts

"For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future" -Jeremiah 29:11

2011-03-08T09:59:00.000-08:00

Hey Everybody...
Just wanted to update you all on where we are in things. Yesterday, Willis and I took Parker to his neurology follow up visit. At this point, he feels strongly, that Parker is "dangerous" to himself without medicating daily with anti-seizure medication. He also feels that Parker didn't have a febrile seizure Sunday (which of course is brought on by high fevers), but just another complex seizure. Febrile Seizures last around ten minutes, and Parker seized for forty minutes. He told us that the high fever Parker presented was more than likely a catalyst with his seizure, but not necessarily the main driving point behind it. Parkers' brain is complex and obviously there is some misfiring in the brain causing the high sensitivity for seizure activity. He told us again that Parker scares him and that he does not want to see Parker die from a seizure. The length of time that you are actively seizing is crucial to brain activity, and he is not comfortable managing them with suppository's from home. We have been given a anti-seizure medicine to be filled today and start him on. We are very nervous about medicine. All of the possible side effects, and forums that we have read would make any parent question the administering of the drug. But on the flip side of things it is hard to think about Parker having another seizure and either changing him forever with brain damage or even death. So, I guess we take the meds and pray daily for low side effects. Please just keep us and our family in your prayers. We still have no change with uncle Howard and are still waiting on some things to become final before they take him off of any support.
Love In Christ,
The Crafts

"Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time. Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you."- 1 Peter 6-7

2011-03-06T12:37:00.000-08:00

Hey Everybody...
Just wanted to let you all know that we are back home from this morning. Parker had another seizure early this morning. I was doing all of my normal routine mommy duties this morning, and when I went in to wake him up he was face down in his crib laying in throw up! When I picked him up he was shaking all over and was extremely HOT! Once I got him undressed, I had Karlyn bring me the themometer and his temp was 103.6 and climbing!!!! Willis had just called the house this morning to check in with us and I let him know what was going on and that his temp was high...but that I was going to give him some medicine to get the fever down and I would call him back a little later. Well a little later didn't happen because in a matter of minutes Parker went right into a seizure. His little eyes went to the side again, and then his eyes eventually just closed and I couldn't get him to respond to me. Karlyn was my big helper this morning. She brought me the seizure medication and knew exactly where it was, she called the grandparents for me, called her daddy and let everyone know what was going on while I was on the phone with EMS. Thank God for the seizure suppository that they gave us because Parker was only under about 40 minutes this time as opposed to 1.5 hours last time. So it does help! They ran all kinds of test once we got to the hospital and all of them came back negative, so we will be back at the neurologist in the morning for our follow-up which may involve another MRI or EEG. Be praying for our family this week though, not just for Parker, but Willis' uncle Howard. We have been told that they will more than likely be taking him off of life support tonight. This is never easy. But in the midst of it all we have to know that God in in full control of our chaos. We are never promised tomorrow. That is why it is so important to love each other as if it were our last goodbye, our last hug, or the last time we see the smile on their face. Every second spent with Paker is a moment not ever taken for granted. We know that he is high risk until he is three but we're ok with that. God has blessed us with his life more than you all will ever know. Please continue praying for our family and we love you all so much!
Love In Christ,
The Crafts

Parker's 1st trip to the Ocean...

2011-03-01T18:24:00.000-08:00

Hey Everybody...
As you can see, we went to the beach yesterday! Parker had another follow-up with the opthamologist in Charleston, so we took complete advantage of the beautiful weather we were given. We are still not ready for surgery yet! So we will be continuing to patch him for now. Our doctor has stressed to us that we will need to patch for half the waking hours again... which did not make me feel all that comfortable with our history. As you all know, the last time we changed Parkers' patching to six hours a day, it threw him into a seizure and unresponsive for one and a half hours! We have decided to start him out with five hours to begin with and then slowly increase to six this time! The reason behind patching is to get Parker's right eye to stop bouncing. The bouncing is not near as bad as what it used to be, but is still too variable get a good percentage of degree for the surgeon! If we went ahead with the surgery now and don't continue to patch then Parker will run a higher probability for repeat surgeries....and we don't want that. So We PATCH!!! Please continue to pray that his eye will become stronger everyday. Our doctor did let us know that there is a small window of hope that the patching will be so successful that surgery may not even be necessary....which of course is our goal! Anyway...we do have a prayer request tonight, Willis' uncle Howard had a brain aneurysm this afternoon and is at MUSC now in ICU. Please keep our family in your prayers. This has been very scary for our family today and we want nothing more than a wonderful recovery! We hope that you enjoy all of the beach pictures and thank you for all of your support and prayers!
Love In Christ...
The Crafts

2011-03-01T17:59:00.000-08:00

2011-03-01T17:56:00.000-08:00

2011-03-01T17:50:00.000-08:00

2011-03-01T17:41:00.000-08:00

I'm Eighteen Months Old Today!!!

2011-02-25T06:50:00.000-08:00

I turned Thirty-One this week!!!

2011-02-25T06:49:00.000-08:00