The big 6!

Oh Kodabug! Happy 6th Birthday sweet boy!

I thought I would be able to type pages and pages about this day but I find myself speechless...in awe, of the amazing young man you have already become. You are the comedian, the "ham", the encourager, the friend, the great reader, the shoe tier (a BIG deal!), the athlete, the hugger, the constant helper, and the most amazing big brother. Oh how I love you!

and I thank God for you everyday!

Catch up...

Here's an update in pictures...

Taking after her momma!

with Aunt Cawey at Casey's graduation...

 so proud of their Uncle Casey...



 Supposed to be a picture of the Bigham men...Brynne didn't want to leave her Biggie!



Quick snapshot on the sidewalk after Casey's graduation...

Koda had a hard time "versusing" his friend Hayden during his first T-ball game

Koda's 1st at bat = Koda's 1st home run!

Datch & his biggest fan!

Craig was really excited about pictures as we had a blast at Aunt Christy & Uncle Zach's for Easter...

Here we go....

Payce, look...there's some over there...

Even Knox got in on the action with a little help from his daddy...

Cutest little bunny!

CHHHHEEEEEEEEEEESSSSSSSSSEEEEEEEEEE!

1st T-ball practice

Game faces on!

Trooper McDonald Golf Tournament tee off!

Sports, phonics & gammaglobulin...

Ok, so are you wondering how those are related? Well, those are the new things in our life. It's Koda's first year for "organized" sports. We started with in-door soccer in Lubbock and even though I know it is organized...watching a bunch of 5-6 year olds running around chasing one soccer ball looks anything BUT organized. But Kodaloves it and I definitely see a lot more of his daddy showing up...the desire to win, the frustration of not and the definite love of anything called a "sport"! Next, is t-ball... Craig is not only coaching Koda's team this year but he is also in charge of the t-ball program.  He loves it (& is awesome at it)! and I am so excited he is finding his place here in Post. I've had fun helping him organize, proofread, schedule and even name the teams...our team is the "Lugnuts"!

So where does phonics fit in? Koda is READING and doing so well. It is one of my favorite times of the day when we get to sit down and listen to him read and with such EXPRESSION! and to hear him practice the same phonics rules as I learned...and Brynne is picking up on some of it. Koda even reads her favorite book "Pete the Cat" (which, if you haven't read it...you need to). I've videoed it a couple of times but every time we've had some sort of interruption. I'll get it done and be sure to share it. I figured I better get their love for each other on video as proof to show them when they're teenagers!

The gammaglobulin?.I'm sure I've misspelled it but today we got a slight glimmer of hope in the mystery that is our Brynne Brynne. We have been doing some immunology testing and today we got a phone call that one of the tests actually came back not "normal". My hear jumped! Ok, I know you are thinking....WHAT? You were happy about this? YES! With pretty much every test over the last two years not really showing ANYthing close to an answer...we might actually have something to focus on. PRAISE GOD! We still don't have an actual name but we do know that at least part of what Brynne has been dealing with is an IDD (Immune Deficiency Disorder). She will start undergoing a monthly treatment to, in non-medical words that I can't pronounce, basically give her immune system a huge boost. We are so excited to have a glimmer of hope of a name of something. We have been repeatedly reminded that the doctor's believe this is only part of what's going on in her body...but we'll take it! Thank you Lord for your continued faithfulness!

In other news, we are completely and totally excited about what God is going to do through Brynne's Smiles. You can read more about it at http://www.brynnessmiles.org/.

Thank you for keeping up with us...we love having you as part of our lives!

Trooper McDonald Memorial Race

Today was an awesome event...the Trooper McDonald Memorial Race! We got the amazing opportunity to celebrate the life of our good friend Jonathan McDonald and show Laura and Kacyn how much we love them. We are humbled by the fact that Laura chose to donate the proceeds of the race to Brynne.

If you don't know Laura or didn't have the chance to know Jon, you are missing out on some amazing people. Alison & Stuart Blalock are two other people we are blessed to know and are looking forward to getting to know better.  Jon was Stuart's best friend and he and Alison organized the race.  It was AMAZING! There are over 275 people there to run a 5k or walk 1 mile. Brynne & I walked the mile and Craig and KODA ran the 5k. I'm so proud of my boys!

We are so blessed by the outpouring of love and support and some day we WILL pay it forward.

                                              

Jon, we miss you! And I know you are proud of Laura and the amazing woman, mother and friend that she is.

I didn't have the chance to take as many pictures as I would've liked but there were cameras everywhere so I'm sure we'll get some awesome shots to remember this amazing day.

Our Rainbow

Sunday we went to the corn maze after an exciting session of family pictures! It was weird being on the other side of the camera but Jamie of JamieLynne Photography did an awesome job of entertaining us. (You should see her dance! Love you Jamie!) Biggie & Bma (Craig's parents) accompanied us to the maze.

On the way to the maze we saw an awesome rainbow and Koda said "Momma, look how beautiful God's promise to never flood the earth again is, but you know what? You can't have a rainbow without the rain!"

How true is that?

Brynne & her spaghetti

Ok, why is it that I only post every 3-6 months?  I have no idea really, but tonight at dinner was a 1st for Brynne...SPAGHETTI! Not that she really "eats" it but she trys and she really wants to do everything Koda does. So tonight she had her first experience with spaghetti.  I couldn't help but share!

California

Well, we're back! (ok, yes, we've been back over a week and I'm just now getting to this!) Before going on this trip we were unsure of what would actually happen but hoped even though we were going for Brynne's appointment we would have a little time to at least go to the beach. When the appointment was scheduled, we were told Brynne might have to spend some time in the hospital so to plan to be there several days. Well, God truly blessed us with not only a great appointment with Dr. Martin but with several days of rest and fun!      WARNING: I didn't plan this to be a long post but it turned out to be that way...feel free to skip to the end if needed!

Here's what our schedule looked like:

Wednesday: We had a great flight to LA on Southwest Airlines! We were blessed by someone we don't even know with 4 tickets to/from California. WOW! Isn't our God awesome? We anticipated having problems with taking liquid, syringes, etc on the plane but Southwest had already been notified about it and there was no problem at all. On the flight Brynne loved looking out the window and kept saying "You see that?' "You see that?" pointing at everything. Koda got his "wings" and was allowed to see the cockpit and even sit in the captain's chair. Talk about excited! After landing in LA, we got a rental car and a GPS!! and headed to the hotel in Santa Monica. Our hotel was about 5 blocks from the ocean and as soon as we dropped the bags off in the room we headed to the beach.  (If you haven't ever used priceline.com, you should! we got a great hotel for a really good price...thanks abby for the idea!) Santa Monica pier was great!  Although a little breezy, I enjoyed watching Koda & Craig enjoy the beach for the first time. Brynne wasn't too sure about the sand but she had a blast watching Koda. We enjoyed fresh seafood and walking around the pier.  Koda never quit smiling and told me "Mom, this is the best day of my ENTIRE life!" 

Thursday: Thank you Lord for the GPS! Well, sort of :) As we headed to UCLA for our 8 am appointment we couldn't quite get the thing to work but we finally did and got to the address listed in plenty of time for the appointment. Or so we thought!  After walking in a maze of hospital halls for what seemed like miles we finally figured out the GPS had taken us about 3 blocks from where we should have been.  Oh well!  After a nice walk, we ended up at the right place, right time and Dr. Martin (pronounce Marteen) was waiting on us.  No long wait, no crazy paperwork, we walked right in... and no rush to see the next patient. Dr. Martin has patients world wide and his specialty is rare pediatric diarrheal disorders so he doesn't have a ton of patients. He spent 2 1/2 hours with us before his conference call with the National Institute of Health (NIH) and then after his conference call spent another 1 1/2 with us.  During his conference call we went to have several tests done. After the appointment he even took us to see the lab where they will do all the further testing.  A treat for us & the lab technicians because they never get to see the patients they are researching and trying to find a diagnosis and possibly a cure.  He even walked us back to our car (good thing, cause we probably wouldn't have been able to find it!) I had spoken to Dr. Martin on the phone & by email several times but meeting him in person was great because he took the time to explain things in terms we could understand, answer our 1,000,001 questions, and was great with Brynne & Koda.  

After the appointment we had time to head back to the beach. I took them down the coast a few miles south to Venice beach.  So relaxing and fun! Craig was like a little kid in the waves and Koda couldn't get enough of the sand and water.  Brynne and I hung out on the towel and enjoyed the sun! For four hours we did nothing but play...it was awesome!

Friday & Saturday: We were also blessed with the opportunity to go to Disneyland & California Adventure.  What fun!!! We met Pluto, Mickey, & Sully and saw Woody and several others.  Brynne absolutely loved seeing Mickey & Minnie and pointed them out everywhere we went. The rides were great, the weather was nice, the time together was amazing...and we were worn out! Again Koda never stopped smiling and Brynne did really well the 1st day.  The 2nd day was a bit much for her but she was a trooper and we enjoyed some Mom & Brynne time while Koda & Craig finished their list of rides. The only mishap was the spilling of bubbles on my camera which caused me to temporarily stop breathing :)! (Fortunately after three days of drying out it seems to be working perfectly now!)

Sunday: We were all worn out so we slept late and rested for a while. By noon, Koda was ready to get out of the room so we headed out to the Aquarium of the Pacific in Long Beach. It was packed but still a lot of fun. We got to pet sharks, stingrays and starfish! Koda also enjoyed learning  how to be a vet. So much fun!

Monday: Koda begged to go back the beach and since our flight wasn't until late afternoon we spent all morning at the beach building a sandcastle and enjoying the fog & mist. Again, so much fun! We headed to the airport early to make sure we would have time to handle any issues with Brynne's medical equipment getting through security.  It of course took longer than the Lubbock airport but no major issues.  The flight home was uneventful and the feeling of our own bed was definitely nice!

So....what did we learn? Was it worth going all that way? Yes. Of course the unexpected vacation was absolutely amazing but most of all we got some answers. Not necessarily all the answers we were hoping for but none the less they were answers. After looking at all of her medical records over the last 18 months and then actually seeing her (& her hair!) Dr. Martin gave us a diagnosis of a genetic disorder which will have lifelong effects. Because her symptoms and characteristics don't match any known disorder she will be part of a research grant from the NIH to use a new DNA technology. He was hopeful because of her development being on track and was amazed at how she happy and cheerful she is. With some minor modifications, we'll carry on with what is working and feel blessed everyday that God has blessed us with a wonderfully happy, very special Brynne and her amazing big brother who couldn't love her more! Someday we may even have a Brynne's Syndrome in the books!

Thank you for all of your support and prayers. We know that God has an amazing purpose for all of this and we know in His time He will reveal it to us!