A Joyful Heart

Proverbs 17:22

"A joyful heart is good medicine, but a crushed spirit dries up the bones."

Zoe has been nothing but a joy to be around these last couple of weeks.  We have had the best time...whether we've been at the zoo, the arboretum, Target, the pool, or chillin' out in Mama and Daddy's bed watching a movie.  She's just the best company!  Last night she wore herself out giggling. We were all out in the back, she was cruising around in her stander, and laughed at absolutely everything.

She has a happy little heart and she's great medicine for me and Jay. That's for sure.  We all get a little worn out sometimes, and she certainly knows how to cheer someone up and bring life to people.  I hope that it's not just a phase, like some of her other newly discovered character traits.....

New behaviors include saying the exact opposite of everything I say, wanting blueberries instead of strawberries, arguing whether outside really means outside or inside, telling me she wants "my ways" when I tell her not everyone gets their own way...it's all very complicated and she knows exactly what to say that's completely different than what I told her to do or say.  It's actually hard not to laugh at her sometimes.

We are still trying to settle in around here.  Nothing is hanging from the walls except for the computer monitors (they look great, honey!).  Boxes are still everywhere in the guest bedroom.....we have about 10 days to get that room in order with Maddy coming to visit.  And we still need a few more big items priced out like tree trimming, pest/bug control, miscellaneous stuff that houses that have been vacant for awhile need....But that will come in time.

Dallas Arboretum 

It was perfect weather for the Dallas Zoo!  Cool, cloudy, and breezy.  

She just loved the zoo!!  We are definitely taking Daddy next time.

Right now, Zoe and I are headed out back to swim and get some sun!  Hope y'all are having a good week.  Love to all.

Our life these days

We have wrapped up another school year and moved into our new house since I last posted.  As you can imagine, there has been very little time to post anything lately!  I am so happy the last chapter of our life is over!  That was a very hectic, sleepless, exciting, nerve-racking, and crazy few weeks.

Lovejoy Life...
We had an extremely successful pop show - celebrated several "Guilty Pleasures" in the history of pop music.  On top of all the pop show preparations and rehearsals, we have also had our very bittersweet and fun glow-in-the-dark choir banquet, traveled to Austin for the ridiculously successful Texas State Solo and Ensemble Contest (love our outstanding choir students!!), were honored at 2 very prestigious awards ceremonies for our famous Music Man production back in January, sadly said our good-byes at graduation ceremonies, and celebrated all weekend with our graduates.  We also received word that our Varsity Women will be performing at TMEA next February as an invited honor choir!!!  For you non-music teachers out there, it's a very big deal to be chosen, and we will be traveling to San Antonio to perform at the convention for parents, faculty, and every other choir director in the state.....like I said, it's been a very exciting AND nerve-racking month! It feels good to breathe again :)  Bethany and I have some very big decisions to make in the next few months so we are already getting the ball rolling.

Murphy Life...
We are living in Murphy now!  Our new house is a one-story home built in 2002 I think??!!  We have lots of hardwoods and tile inside for little Zoe to move around easily.  We have fabulous neighbors who are incredibly friendly and have already included us in some get-togethers.  We have a little work left to do in the house...yard work, pool lights, leaky faucet,  (comes with the territory I guess!?) and we will be settling in over the next couple of weeks.  Come by and visit us and swim too!!!

Zoe Life...
She is still amazing us every single day.  What a joyful little songbird we have on our hands.  In the last month her singing and talking has tripled.  She counts to 30 (22-29 gets a little confusing), scoots backwards on her bootie, likes to bulldoze in her wheelchair (not encouraged whatsoever), gives lots of hugs and kisses, "kicks" in the pool (looks like her hips are doing more of the work than her actual legs right now), and dances, giggles, and performs for anyone and everyone.  We are easily impressed I suppose, but she seems to be thriving.  I'm expecting big things this summer, lots of sweet memories, and big milestones.

Brooke and Jay Life...
We are ready for a little time off - time to cook dinner, time to hang a few pictures in our new house, time to buy some chairs for our backyard, time to sit together, time to just look at each other and remember why we are here on this earth, time to encourage each other.  Those are things that get put off when 2 people work 50-80 hours per week per person.  Life is very complicated.  I don't understand God's plan right now, but I do know that we're on the right track.  That's all we need to know right now!  I keep reminding myself daily of this verse:


"For just as the heavens are higher than the earth, so my ways are higher than your ways and my thoughts higher than your thoughts."  Isaiah 55:9


I hope all of you are having a great week!!  We have certainly gotten started on the right foot :)

Zoe P sings God Bless America

I just had to share this for all of my friends!  Enjoy!

Graduation

This time of the year is busy for lots of reasons...one of them being graduation.  As a teacher, it's special to see those you've invested in all year (or for the last 3 years in my case) grow, achieve success they only dreamed of at one point, and then witness a child changing into an adult right before your own eyes.  They begin to move on to bigger and better adventures, and you can only hope that they take a small piece of you with them into their next chapter and beyond.  As a music educator, it's even harder to see them go because you see the legacy those who are leaving have created.  A small part of them stays with you and the choirs in the years to come.  We have many more memories with our Lovejoy kids (all crammed into the next four and a half weeks of course!!), and then one year ends while another one begins.  It's extremely bittersweet and emotional.

I was also overcome with several emotions tonight at Zoe's feeding therapy appointment.  Good news, I promise!!  She has "graduated" from feeding therapy!!!  After 16 months of feeding therapy, 4 swallow studies (2 of which were traumatizing), and many trials, Zoe is cleared for normal "thin" liquids and no longer needs weekly sessions.  She has come a long way...November 2010, we couldn't go anywhere without her baptizing some poor stranger (or friend or family member) with vomit, and this summer I get to give her an ice cold juice box while we sit out at our new pool.......no more thickening, no more whisking, no more prepping everything.  She gets to eat and drink like every other 2-year-old, and for that we are thankful.  Also, her therapist Breanna, along with Dr. Swift (her neurosurgeon) helped us come to the decision to have that surgery back in January, so we know that helped as well.  

God is so good.  The bittersweet part about this whole evening is that we have come to just love Breanna, and now we don't get to see her anymore!!  It's a strange feeling.  Someone was here, made a huge impact on our family, changed our daughter for the better, and now she's gone.  It just seems so sudden.  I'm sure I'll be saying that a lot in the next 18 years though.  We will still keep in touch I'm certain, but feeding Zoe has been such an event and now she's all "normal."  I feel a little bit like I graduated too.  We are so grateful for all of the people who care for Zoe, and we pray for them daily.  We couldn't have walked these last 26 months without any of you!  

So it's been awhile since I posted, but just so you know we are in-between closing dates right now.  We sold our home 2 weeks ago (another surprisingly emotional day for me), and we are waiting on the official closing date of our new house!  Right now we are currently living at my parents, which has been AWESOME!  I'm sure they're ready for their space again, and the dog is fortunate he is still alive (he ate an entire UNCOOKED meatloaf off the counter yesterday), but we have loved being here with them.  They have sacrificed so much for me my whole life, and they just continue to do so....it takes a lot to let our crazy family and ridiculous schedules into your home, and they have been amazing about the whole thing.

Here are a couple recent pictures of our beauty.

Going "cruising" in her soon-to-be new house!  She just goes everywhere now!!

So today ended up being a great day!

We had a blast down at the Arboretum today.  Thanks to Aunt Missy (my sister, VP of sales at the Dallas Arboretum), we got VIP status down there.  It was just fabulous and Grammy got to adventure down there with us.  Zoe was so cute and loved visiting all the waterfalls, tulips, and gorgeous hills.  She loved getting all around in her chair.  We even brought her "walks" (her AFO braces) and did a little bit of standing on some large stones!

The day did not start off so well as we attempted to get a successful swallow study this morning down at Scottish Rite.  We were there to see what's happening inside of Zoe's throat since her surgery.  We definitely see improvement from the outside - no more choking, no more tearing up when she swallows, improvement in chewing, etc.....To be PC, we were unimpressed with the process this morning.  We have a history with this one lady on staff there who Zoe (actually none of us) can stand.  Zoe was just miserable sitting in that chair waiting to begin the test, and it just got worse after that.  To make a long, horrible story short, we will unfortunately be rescheduling........hopefully somewhere different.  We love Scottish Rite and sing nothing but praises about them; however, our family has a few personality conflicts this particular "team member."  YIKES!

Anyway, needless to say I am loving Spring Break!!!!!!!  Weeks like this one make me want to be a "full-time Mommy," just like all the other working teacher mommies out there.  We are so blessed to have careers that allow us to have these special times with our families.  I will never take that for granted.

I'm off to enjoy pulled-pork tacos on our patio with Jay and Zoe.  Enjoy a few favorite pictures from today!!  It was pretty bright outside, even with all the clouds so she's a little squinty.

Zoe turns 2

As promised, here are a few pictures from the party!  It was a wonderful weekend of celebrating with family and friends from both near and far.  I'm sorry for the delay, but nasty sickness circulated our household for 2 weeks after the party, but thanks to Spring Break we have some time to post some pictures now!

More happy memories with Papa, Gramma, Rachel, "Katie," and Sissy

She loved it!  (and still does!)

A piano??!!  For me??!!  Maddy's showin' her how to use it...as if she needed any help ;)

Hugs for Rachel from Florida...we completely surprised Zoe at school on her birthday!

HUGE cookie cake!

Zoe's friends waiting to celebrate with her at school.

                                                    

                                                                  Zoe ready to party!

We have seen better days...

We have definitely seen better days BUT the Gralls are on the mend!  ...everyone is finally getting healthy again and work is slowing down temporarily for both of us.

Birthday pictures are on the way!!  It's been very hectic the last 2 weeks and we all know I'm not mother-of-the-year, but I think I should have time to blog about her birthday this weekend.

Zoe's annual review for therapy services was this past Monday, and she met ALL of her goals that we set 6 months ago!!  Go Zoe, Go!  We are so proud.  Her feeding therapy will probably continue, but we will most likely start seeing her therapist less and less after the upcoming swallow study.  Yay!  And we are going to start getting more creative with her physical therapy during playtime.  After some discussion with her PT, she has a long road ahead of her and her goals are a little vague at this point because we don't know what to expect in this next year.  One thing is for sure that we are extremely optimistic and hopeful.  Her new "leg up" game is very encouraging to see though, and we are gonna start there.

Spring Break is 7 more school days away, and both Zoe and I are excited about sleeping in, planting some flowers, playing at the park, singing and playing piano, and relaxing as much as possible.  She's earned it for sure.

Jay and I are celebrating our 5-year wedding anniversary this Sunday!!  I don't know where the time has gone, but we have a lot to celebrate this year!  Each year looks incredibly different from the last, and I am looking forward to spending some time this weekend reflecting on our life together, eating some good steak (as per tradition!), and cherishing our little family.

I hope all of you are having a great week and enjoying this incredible weather right now.  Spring doesn't last long around here, so get outside and enjoy it while you can!  Love to all!