My Big Girl!

London is looking more and more like a toddler all the time to me. She is a funny little thing packed with personality. She is almost 1 1/2! Yay for nursery time! We still have to get London to walk. She stands up in the middle of the room, cruises, and will walk if you hold her hand but nothing on her own yet. I secretly think she can walk and just doesn't. She has also started climbing stairs and loves going up them but cant figure out how to come down yet....so she climbs up and then sits at the top and cries until you come get her. London is out little fishy. She absolutely loves the water. When we go boating or anywhere with water she just wants to be in it all the time. London is happy little thing and we are glad that she is part of our family.

She looks like such a big girl with her hair in pigtails!

Getaway

Shortly after the funeral was Emily's 25th birthday. She told me that she really wanted to do a getaway. (She's been telling me that for years, but I finally listened to her this time). We decided to go somewhere fun and new, so we decided to try Pigeon Forge, Tennessee. (home of Dollywood). We weren't sure what to expect, but found a nice little hotel where we could relax and enjoy life. Grandma & Grandpa Rupp volunteered to watch the kids for the 2 nights we were gone, which I am very grateful for. We drove up Thursday night and enjoyed the sound of kid freedom all night. Friday we explored and found some great little shops. (They have a bunch of Christmas shops there open all year round, one even had a fancy hotel that we had to check out. It was a very nice place with Christmas themes and decorations up. If we ever make it back there, that's where we are staying.) We took advantage of our kid freedom and went and saw a movie, and then played some miniature golf. (I tried to let Emily win because I know how competitive she is, but she was too impatient for some of the obstacles, and from time to time I have to use some of my mad skills and remind her why she married me). On Saturday we got to have our favorite Golden Corral breakfast buffet with unlimited bacon, and then went for a little hike in the Smoky Mountains before coming back home. It was a great trip and I think she convinced me to do these getaways a little more often. A very Happy Birthday to my beautiful bride! What an amazing wife she is to me and wonderful mother she is to our children. I don't know how I got so lucky to have her as my eternal companion, but I'm very grateful I do. I don't know what I would do without her in my life. I love you Emily for all that you do and all that you are!

We tried to get a picture of the Pigeon Forge sign, while moving.

Showing off my mad putting and dressing skills.

The Christmas Story display at The Inn at Christmas Village.

I couldn't resist touching the lamp. It's a major award!

The hiking trail we took in the Smoky Mountains. Not too demanding, but definitely felt it afterwards.

I like to get out in nature.

The cute little waterfall at the end of the trail.

Sandbox Adventures

We decided that Brayden is getting big enough that he needs to have a way to burn off energy, be playing outdoors and be constructively destructive. So we figured the best way to accomplish all of that was to get him a sandbox. Since we are renting we didn't want anything permanent, so we went to the store and found a Little Tikes turtle sandbox. Luckily for frugal dad, there was a baby swimming pool on clearance right next to the turtles, and it was only $10 instead of $40, which meant we could get a few toys also. Gotta love summer clearance sales. We even got some extra sand since we're pretty sure it will somehow lose sand over time. We got it set up and use the regular swimming pool as a cover for it. Brayden got up from his nap and came out in the yard to see what Dad was doing. He picked up the upside down pool because he's curious like that and was super happy when he saw the sandbox and toys under it. He had so much fun that he got Jason to come play with him. Jason wanted satsified with only digging holes and building hills, so he added some water to make it more fun.

Brayden loved the idea of adding water to the mix and had to try it himself.


Of course by the end, Brayden was pretty much covered in sand, so he got bathed in the hose.

Madison's Funeral Service

We had an amazing memorial service for our little angel Madison. Emily & I could not have wished for anything better. We truly have felt the tender mercies of the Lord throughout this whole experience. Heavenly Father truly hears our prayers and knows how to comfort us. We are extremely grateful for all the love and support shown to us. We could not have made it through this without everyone else. We were very blessed to have all of the Rupps and Sessions come out and be with us for this special event. The talks, poems, and musical numbers performed at the memorial service were truly inspired and we felt the Spirit comfort our souls. A very special thank you to our friends, family, and great Bishop for your participation and loving support.

This is the special burial dress that Grandma Rupp made.

This is the special burial blanket that Grandma Sessions made.

Special flowers from family and friends.

Brayden & London seeing Madison for the first time.

Family gathered at the cemetery. We found the perfect

resting spot for our little angel in the Garden of Faith.
Very near to a friend of ours and some trees.

We decided we wanted to do a balloon launch in Madison's honor.

We let off 14 balloons, 1 for each day she lived.

All of her cousins got to participate, though there were some

who didn't want to let go of the balloon.

Emily and I saying our final goodbye.

We are so grateful for the exceptional service provided to us by the Byars Funeral Home and Sawnee View Cemetery for making this difficult process easier to handle and helping us create a special final memory tribute to our little angel.

We had a luncheon back at the church that was jointly put on by both Relief Societies. The food was incredible, and the love and support shown to us and our families was truly exemplary. Thank you so much Milton & Webb Bridge sisters.

Madion Faith Sessions' Funeral Service Info

On August 6, 2010, we will be holding a funeral service for Madison.

It will be held at the Church of latter-day Saints located on 510 Brannon Rd. Cumming, GA 30041

The Itinerary for Friday, August 6th is as follows:

9:30-10:00am: Family Viewing

10:00am-10:50am-Public Viewing and Visting (RS room)

11:00am-11:30am-Funeral Service (Chapel)

1:00pm-Grave Dedication (Cemetery-by invitation only)

2:00pm-Luncheon (Family and close friends)

If you need anymore info let Jason or I know.

Madison's Final Moments....

We just wanted to update everyone on Madison...

Madison passed away on August 1, 2010 at 1:14am. This is the story (condensed version) of her final hours and moments...

On Saturday, Jason and I met at the hospital around noon, during Jason's MBA class break. Usually, we did not get a chance to go to see Madison together between the kids and schedules, so it was nice that we were going to meet and be able to be together. When, I arrived at the hospital, the doctor was waiting for me, and said that Madison was not doing well. I called Jason and told him to hurry and get to the hospital as the UGA MBA building is about 10 minutes away from the hospital. When Jason got to the hospital, the doctor came and talked to us. She said that Madison's lab results were elevated and she was back on the Oscillator, the high powered ventilator. Also, the doctor said that they had been able to feed, small amounts of milk, all night and she had done ok with it. They were interested in why she did so well over the night eating, since she had been unable to tolerate the feedings before. They did an x-ray which came back abnormal. At that point, the doctors were unsure of what was causing the problems. I asked the doctor on a scale of 1 to 10 how worried she was about Madison and she said about a 9. Not good...

Jason had to go back to his second class, since it is finals time, and I went back to pick up the kids, at my parents house. Jason and my dad were going to meet, at 4:30pm ,after his class, to give Madison a blessing. After Jason got home, I was going to go back to the hospital to be with Madison during the evening and night.

I got home and put the kids down for afternoon naps, and decided to lay down and take a nap too . Just after I laid down, I got a call from the doctor telling me that they did another x-ray and found a perforation in Madison's bowel. They were unsure of how bad it was but that she was in critical condition and we needed to get back to the hospital now. I called Jason and my parents and we all left right away to go to the hospital. Thank you sweet Bonnie for dropping everything and coming to watch the kids!

When we got to the hospital, Madison was surrounded by nurses and the doctor. The doctor talked to us about Madison's condition and our options. Basically, she had a perforation in her bowl that ideally needed surgery. However, she was too small and too unstable to transfer her across the street to the children's hospital. The perforation was causing air and junk to leak into her stomach and the air was crushing her lungs. The second option was to put a drain into her stomach and let the air and junk out. A surgeon from the children's hospital would come over and do the surgery at her bedside. Even though the surgery was not long term and did not have a high long term success rate, something needed to be done immediately. I talked with the surgeon, on the phone, and we decided to go ahead and do the drain surgery.

Before the surgeon did the surgery, we were able to give Madison a blessing. Jason gave her a beautiful blessing, as he had with all her others, we all felt the Lord with us. The surgery solved the immediate problem, however, there were other complications such as her brain bleeding she had had as well as her kidneys had stopped functioning early that morning around 5am. Her liver was already damaged from only being on iv nutritional and not milk and they were concerned that she would not be able to get big enough, only on iv nutrition, to get the major surgery on her intestines.

We waited until the 10pm test results came back but they did not look good. At that point, Madison was beginning to swell since her kidneys were not working and she was on a morphine drip as well as other pain medications. We began to pray that we would know what to do for our sweet baby. We were blessed to feel that Madison's purpose on this life had been fulfilled and it was her time to go. We had my parents and Jason's parents come back down to the hospital so that they could be there for her final moments. We had to sign a DNR and DNI so that we could take her off her machines.

Since Jason and I had never gotten to hold her, only touch her through the incubator, we decided that we wanted a chance to hold her, while she was still alive, and before things became critical and we did not have that chance.

The doctors and nurses gave her a lot of pain medication and put her on a portable ventilator and moved her into a private room so we could hold her. It was so great to be able to hold her! Everyone was able to have a chance to hold her and then the doctors pulled out her ventilator. Madison lived about 5 to 10 minutes and then she joined her Heavenly Father. We were able to continue holding her as long as we wanted and then take out all her IVs and pick lines and give her a bath and dress her. The doctors, nurses, and hospital staff were so wonderful. Thank you to Jenn and Chris and Ken and Donna for taking the kids for a couple days so that we could have a break and plan the funeral!

The ward has been amazing and so loving and we are grateful for everyone's love and support.

Jason and I know that Madison is with her Father in Heaven and that Families are Eternal and Forever. We are beyond grateful for this knowledge and the comfort that it has brought to us. We know that our sweet baby is a perfect little being and it gives our family renewed drive to live better lives so that we can be with her once again. We have had our moments, and will continue to do so, but for the most part we are doing ok. We are at peace knowing Madison is in a much better place and we are grateful she is not suffering anymore. We are proud of her for fulfilling her mission here one earth and being such a brave little girl for doing so. She fought a great fight and is "our little lion".We love our sweet baby so so much and while we miss her, we are so greatful she is part of our family.