The Mitchells: Valentine's Day

Thursday, February 14, 2008

Valentine's Day

Here is a slideshow containing pictures of Joe and I...before kids! Looking at these pictures again I realize how much more I love my husband every day. Here are a few reasons that I love him so much...and that I know God created us exactly for each other:

He stays up at night with our kids so that I can sleep, even when he's the one who has to get up early the next morning and spend the day at work. (That's right, even during the week Joe will get up with either kid so that I don't have to.)
He does the dishes EVERY night...amazing.
He does as much (if not more) laundry than I do...and doesn't procrastinate, which I'm good about.
Joe prays for our family daily, but also prays over me for decisions and for strength. He makes sure that our children see the importance of prayer. His true desire is that all of our children come to know Jesus Christ as Savior and that they develop the same relationship with our Lord that we have both come to rely on.
He makes me laugh...out loud. I don't usually really laugh out loud, don't know why, but it's rare...Joe makes me laugh out loud, all the time.
He knows I'm crazy and he loves me anyway, might even love my craziness.
I never knew that a man could literally ache for his children, I've watched my husbands heart break and grow at the same time with our children. I know that my father loves me endlessly, but I've never watched as a father fell in love with his children...I've watched it twice now.
He is so smart with our family finances. He keeps us budgeted and makes sure that we are tithing to the church, giving to ministries, and being good stewards.
He loves to be in shape. He is excited about running another marathon this year and is excited about our family doing outdoor things together (not sure we'll ALL be running). I'm really proud that he did a marathon in June 2007.
He loves us. He loves us all unconditionally. He is so commited to our family and never wants to be anywhere more than at home with the 3 of us.

Happy Valentine's Day

Love: Andrea, Ella, and Billy

4 comments:

Kristian and Katy said...: that's really awesome. what a great husband and daddy!

katy; 3:06 PM
Maggie said...: Andrea...I truly loved that!!!; 7:29 AM
Anonymous said...: You have a fantastic husband!; 10:32 AM
Anonymous said...: What a Blessing to read about the love that is shown in your little family...!!! May He contiue to Bless you and yours..From Aden,Jr's Aunt Donna; 11:01 AM

Ella's Story

Elizabeth "Ella" Hope Mitchell was born on May 10, 2006 at 3:45pm...by 5am the following morning the whole world turned upside down. The doctors came in to inform us that while Ella had been resting in the Newborn Nursery, she began to have irregular breathing and seizures. It was touch and go for the next 3 days. We were told several times that she probably would not make it alive through the ordeal. She had contracted Group Beta Strep which had resulted in meningitis. Due to the seizures and the infection we had no idea what the long-term effects would be. After Ella spent a long and trying month in the NICU we came home to see where the effects of her illness had left us all.

A few months later, almost a year, we had an official long-term diagnosis...Ella has Cerebral Palsy. She is a happy and loving child. She struggles with physical delays, cognitive delays and all sorts of things that have come and go.

2-eye surgeries to correct lazy eye
3-EEG's to check for siezures
5-MRI/MRV/MRA to check actual brain damage
3-CT scans for brain stuff
1-G-button/feeding tube surgically put in (and then Ella removed herself)
10 (approx)-Swallow Studies
1-Scoliosis Study
2-Kidney Reflux tests
2-Upper GI tests
1-24 hr reflux test
8-hearing tests
countless UTI tests
seemingly a million developmental tests
a hand splint
bath chair
adaptive stroller/wheelchair
stander
gait trainer
AFO's

ha, not to mention all of the therapist...currently: OT 2X/week, PT 3X/week (2 land, 1 horse), ST 3X/week (2 oral motor, 1 speech), develomental 1X/week, vision 2x/month, and we are about to start ACCDAT camp.

As of 4/8/2009.