Merry Christmas from the Willis family!!
As you can see our family has grown this year once again…we proudly announce the birth of Roslyn Joy born October 13, 2009 weighing in at 7lbs 11 oz and 21” long. It was a smooth delivery and Lynel did not have to be induced this time as with the other two…water broke about 12:30 am that night and she was born at 5:13am on Oct. 13th in room 313! So, “13” is her lucky number. She is such a sweetie and an easy going baby. Roslyn loves to smile and beginning to laugh—we are so greatly blessed with her.
Brynna Grace is now 20 months and she has surprised us at how quickly she’s growing up! After bringing Roslyn home in October, Brynna began using the potty chair pretty well and telling us consistently that she needed to go “potty”. She’s very much on her way to practically being trained. Along with being our more serious, yet very curious girl—she loves exploring (rather, tearing up) the house, coloring, and going with mommy to the Auburn library for “story hour” where she sings, dances, hears a story and plays with other kids her age afterwards. She’s probably more like Jeff as she is interested in objects with buttons and more of a “techie” it seems. She’s our big helper and loves her big and little sisters—though, still learning the art of sharing! J
Haley Faith turned 6 last July and for a little girl with 1/3 of her brain missing, she still continues to amaze us. This year she began kindergarten ¾ time and she is spelling words, counting to 100, rhyming words, knows her “opposites”, learning to use the “intelli-keys” with the computer for writing, and her teachers tell us what a great sense of humor she has…that if they or a child comes in the room grumpy, all they have to do is talk to Haley and she makes them laugh and smile. God still uses her to remind us how powerful He really is through her. She literally “begs” to talk with people—especially when we’re at the store. Just about every time we give in to let her speak to someone, we realize very quickly that God had directed her to that person and through her innocent smile and chatter, it opens doors for us to be able to share how great God has been in Haley’s life and that they, too can experience His great love for them.
We have received some unexpected yet wonderful blessings for Haley this winter. We got a call from the Corvette Club from Springfield, IL and they wanted to purchase a new "Amtryke" bicycle for Haley--she has completely outgrown her other one and we were needing to seek a replacement. This will be wonderful for Haley helping her use her legs as physical therapy. Then, the Corvette Club also wanted to purchase an additional item for her--so we mentioned that she has gotten to big for her "little Tykes" baby swing for our swing set and could use a bigger one out of the special needs catalog. Now she can swing with her little sisters safely! Finally--we got a call from Connie Schneider, a retired school teacher here in Auburn who lost her son, Roger at age 20 to toxic anemia and the only motor control he had was to smile. Connie heard Jeff sing/share his testimony about his life and Haley at a banquet held at the Auburn High School. She saw Haley on the front row cheering him on and it stirred her heart. She explaied to me they began the "Roger's Smile" Foundation out of Indiana and we are discussing the possibility of getting Haley the "intelli-keys" for our computer so she can use it at school and now at home for years to come! It is definitely a "Merry Christmas" for her this year! These were things that cost hundreds of dollars and the Lord knew we were going to need a little help---we're so thankful!!
As most of you know, Haley will undergo a special surgery January 5, 2010 called a Dorsal Rizotomy—a procedure where the doctor goes through her spinal column and severs the nerves that are making her muscles in her legs too tight from the cerebral palsy. God truly opened the doors for this (we were actually turned down 3 times) and Dr. Park at St. Louis Children’s will perform the surgery. It will require extensive physical therapies 4-5 times a week for the next 6 months to a year, but in the end, we’ve been told that she’ll sit, use the potty, use her hands, and walk so much better! He turned her down 3 times due to her original diagnosis of the neural tube defect, giant encephalocele and we think he simply thought she was more of a “vegetable”—but when he saw the video of her, he said he said he “didn’t know why” but felt he really needed to see her and try to help her. After seeing her, he said how rare it was to find a child like her---and that perhaps in time as a teenager, she would walk independently! Wouldn’t that be awesome?!
We will travel to St. Louis January 4th as she'll be video-taped and xray-ed and get all things in place for surgery the next day. Jeff and I will hopefully stay at the Ronald McDonald house nearby and Nana Trudy will take off work that week to help watch Brynna and Roslyn. If all goes well, Haley will be home January 10th and will begin her physical therapy Monday Jan. 11th right away.
Jeff and I are doing well—praying about where the Lord would have us so that Jeff can eventually move back into full-time music ministry at a church. We've been glad that we haven't had to move yet somewhere since we've really needed to stay where we are while having a baby and getting Haley ready for surgery. We'd love to stay where we are here at Grace SBC in Virden--we're still praying for the Lord to open those doors, and for the meantime it has been a wonderful church home for us.
We are now officially "outnumbered" and keeping up with 3 girls with one that has special needs has definitely been very fun yet challenging. Needless to say, we’re done trying for a boy! J We are very blessed and we covet your prayers as always and thank you for wonderful love and support!
love, Jeff, Lynel, Haley, Brynna and Roslyn
As you can see our family has grown this year once again…we proudly announce the birth of Roslyn Joy born October 13, 2009 weighing in at 7lbs 11 oz and 21” long. It was a smooth delivery and Lynel did not have to be induced this time as with the other two…water broke about 12:30 am that night and she was born at 5:13am on Oct. 13th in room 313! So, “13” is her lucky number. She is such a sweetie and an easy going baby. Roslyn loves to smile and beginning to laugh—we are so greatly blessed with her.
Brynna Grace is now 20 months and she has surprised us at how quickly she’s growing up! After bringing Roslyn home in October, Brynna began using the potty chair pretty well and telling us consistently that she needed to go “potty”. She’s very much on her way to practically being trained. Along with being our more serious, yet very curious girl—she loves exploring (rather, tearing up) the house, coloring, and going with mommy to the Auburn library for “story hour” where she sings, dances, hears a story and plays with other kids her age afterwards. She’s probably more like Jeff as she is interested in objects with buttons and more of a “techie” it seems. She’s our big helper and loves her big and little sisters—though, still learning the art of sharing! J
Haley Faith turned 6 last July and for a little girl with 1/3 of her brain missing, she still continues to amaze us. This year she began kindergarten ¾ time and she is spelling words, counting to 100, rhyming words, knows her “opposites”, learning to use the “intelli-keys” with the computer for writing, and her teachers tell us what a great sense of humor she has…that if they or a child comes in the room grumpy, all they have to do is talk to Haley and she makes them laugh and smile. God still uses her to remind us how powerful He really is through her. She literally “begs” to talk with people—especially when we’re at the store. Just about every time we give in to let her speak to someone, we realize very quickly that God had directed her to that person and through her innocent smile and chatter, it opens doors for us to be able to share how great God has been in Haley’s life and that they, too can experience His great love for them.
We have received some unexpected yet wonderful blessings for Haley this winter. We got a call from the Corvette Club from Springfield, IL and they wanted to purchase a new "Amtryke" bicycle for Haley--she has completely outgrown her other one and we were needing to seek a replacement. This will be wonderful for Haley helping her use her legs as physical therapy. Then, the Corvette Club also wanted to purchase an additional item for her--so we mentioned that she has gotten to big for her "little Tykes" baby swing for our swing set and could use a bigger one out of the special needs catalog. Now she can swing with her little sisters safely! Finally--we got a call from Connie Schneider, a retired school teacher here in Auburn who lost her son, Roger at age 20 to toxic anemia and the only motor control he had was to smile. Connie heard Jeff sing/share his testimony about his life and Haley at a banquet held at the Auburn High School. She saw Haley on the front row cheering him on and it stirred her heart. She explaied to me they began the "Roger's Smile" Foundation out of Indiana and we are discussing the possibility of getting Haley the "intelli-keys" for our computer so she can use it at school and now at home for years to come! It is definitely a "Merry Christmas" for her this year! These were things that cost hundreds of dollars and the Lord knew we were going to need a little help---we're so thankful!!
As most of you know, Haley will undergo a special surgery January 5, 2010 called a Dorsal Rizotomy—a procedure where the doctor goes through her spinal column and severs the nerves that are making her muscles in her legs too tight from the cerebral palsy. God truly opened the doors for this (we were actually turned down 3 times) and Dr. Park at St. Louis Children’s will perform the surgery. It will require extensive physical therapies 4-5 times a week for the next 6 months to a year, but in the end, we’ve been told that she’ll sit, use the potty, use her hands, and walk so much better! He turned her down 3 times due to her original diagnosis of the neural tube defect, giant encephalocele and we think he simply thought she was more of a “vegetable”—but when he saw the video of her, he said he said he “didn’t know why” but felt he really needed to see her and try to help her. After seeing her, he said how rare it was to find a child like her---and that perhaps in time as a teenager, she would walk independently! Wouldn’t that be awesome?!
We will travel to St. Louis January 4th as she'll be video-taped and xray-ed and get all things in place for surgery the next day. Jeff and I will hopefully stay at the Ronald McDonald house nearby and Nana Trudy will take off work that week to help watch Brynna and Roslyn. If all goes well, Haley will be home January 10th and will begin her physical therapy Monday Jan. 11th right away.
Jeff and I are doing well—praying about where the Lord would have us so that Jeff can eventually move back into full-time music ministry at a church. We've been glad that we haven't had to move yet somewhere since we've really needed to stay where we are while having a baby and getting Haley ready for surgery. We'd love to stay where we are here at Grace SBC in Virden--we're still praying for the Lord to open those doors, and for the meantime it has been a wonderful church home for us.
We are now officially "outnumbered" and keeping up with 3 girls with one that has special needs has definitely been very fun yet challenging. Needless to say, we’re done trying for a boy! J We are very blessed and we covet your prayers as always and thank you for wonderful love and support!
love, Jeff, Lynel, Haley, Brynna and Roslyn
