"Charlotte's Web"
My friend Holly and I took our children to see Charlotte's Web today. I have always loved this story and I have to say, the new movie is perfectly wonderful. It is now one of my favorite movies and I am just about ready to buy a pig (George Clooney must be a fan)! Julia Roberts was the voice of Charlotte and had one of the best lines in the movie. Wilbur asked if her if he should worry about his competitor at the fair and she simply answered, "Of course not, what good would that do?" Well said. Of course I cried like a ninny... I have always marvelled at how the spiders protect their egg sacks. When they leave their sacks in my windows, many of them bring a little leaf, that just happens to be curved, and place it perfectly to cover the sac (k?). The saddest thing (that made me cry) is that they die before their babies are born. To have such a protective/maternal instinct and not even see them... tears... ninny!
This is a picture of my personal little Charlotte and I love her! She is actually in there with her "magnus opum" in this picture. Too sweet.

S-A-N-T-A....
"There is a man who rides a sleigh and Santa is his name-o... S-A-N-T-A... S-A-N-T-A... S-A-N-T-A... and Santa is his name-o!"
Abby's class had a Christmas party last Friday and it started with the children singing for us. Too precious. I LOVE the sound of children's voices as they sing their little hearts out! They, of course, loved the "Santa" song but I was moved with "We wish you a Merry Christmas". I think Andrew was pretending to be a reindeer!

Making a gum drop-ring Christmas tree with daddy.

Tasting her creation. If it doesn't taste good, then we should just move on to the ornament project! She was VERY good. I was the one pacing back and forth... dying to get my finger in the icing jar!

The Most Wonderful Time of the Year!
Christmas time is always such a special time. I love the fact that people dig out lights and decorate their houses and yards... just to be FESTIVE! I love the joy in Abby's voice as she squeals with delight when we ride around neighborhoods in the golf cart looking at lights. I love the way she loves to place the presents under the tree after I've wrapped them. I love the way she says, "It's Christmas time!" I love just looking at my tree, at night, in the quiet... it's so peaceful.

Abby seems to be having some nights without seizures. For this, we are so very thankful and continue to pray that His Holy and Healing hand will stay upon her.

Parents Night Out!!!!
We are on our way to the AirTran Year End Extravaganza... aka Christmas Party. It was held at the World Congress Center in Atlanta and far-exceeded any of our expectations (always a treat when that happens!) Joel is the youngest pilot at AirTran and so he decided to "represent" and wear jeans... he WAS the "Cool" one! Elizabeth was by far the best looking mom-to-be, and we were just happy to be there! About 6 baby sitter fall throughs later... we were out the door! Thank you Heidi and Jim (aka, crazy hair!)

Another year almost gone and another chapter in our rather large book of life! How fun to hang out and laugh and dance with you... much needed fun. Just in time too, Don starts training to upgrade to Captain of his plane on Monday. Good Luck honey, I love you! "bust-a-move-baby!"

The girls... what a blessing it is to have two wonderful, amazing, and loving women as friends, in the same town, in the same neighborhood... in the same cul-de-sac! These are two of my most treasured friends... Elizabeth and Ryan! Merry Christmas!

Is it Winter?
What a delightful winter we are having here in the Peach State! We have a week of cold, cold... needin gloves cold, chapped hands cold, runny nose cold... and then whamo- BEAUTIFUL 60 to 70 degree days! Abby took advantage of this Indian summer day by having a "pica-nic" outside. Of course my future geology major has to gather up all the rocks in the woods and bring them to the "party". Rocks to eat, rocks to feed, and rocks to talk to... rocks to put in our pocket and rocks to stroll in the stroller... who needs toys?!

Update:
Thank you all so very much for your love and emails and prayers. Abby has continues to have a seizure a night. Two nights, she may have not had one but I really think I could have slept through a tornado, as I did sleep through the alarm clock!
Our main prayer now continues to be for guidance and wisdom and patience. Energy is high on my personal list of requests. Her fear of having them has declined a lot since the first night and I am so very thankful for that. We'll keep you posted and again, thank you for your prayers.
Don and I had our seventh Anniversary on December 10th. We went to our favorite local restaurant, Thai Spice, and shared our dinner with Abby. It was special and a real treat for her to be with us.
Hope your holidays are full and bright!
Dawn

Daddy and Abby napping. Blessed Father in heaven, give this child's body rest and refresh her with her healing hand and Spirit of love and truth. We bend in this wind and lay her before you. We struggle desperately, wanting to pick her back up and protect her. We are bent Lord and we beg for your strength and pray to hear your whispers in our souls.

"Christmas Chain" Yesterday's Dr. appt. ended up being a six hour plus ordeal and we were supposed to make her chain when we got home. She was very patient and understanding and so we did it first thing after school today! Also after mommy made christmas candy cane mice with 80 kids this morning at her school!!!! wheww....

Abby standing by her Christmas chain. She is all about Christmas this year. She squeals with delight when she sees lights anywhere. She wants to decorate everyday. She wants to "have Christmas" everyday and doesn't really understand why the presents have to sit under the tree. So maybe now the chain can help her realize that "Christmas time" is the entire season and not just the day!

Is that Abby riding her bicycle all by herself!?

Abby had tried for several days to get the peddling down by herself. After frustration on her part and patience from daddy... she knew today was the day! We'd gotten the bicycle for her as a Christmas present but neither of us wanted to wait! So we took advantage of some sunny days and she got a present early!!!

December 5th, 2006.
Hey Mommy... I'm riding my bicycle all by myself... I'm five!

Virginia Here We Come! Precious Cynthia flew in to turn around and drive back up to VA with me. She was in the backseat to help entertain Abby. The drive was a dream! It couldn't have been better. Especially since on the drive home, I was sick within 20 minutes of leaving and house and introducing myself to parking lots!

Ahhh- silence for just a moment or two. Abby's racked out and so Cynthia gets a break from being master entertainer! You rock neener.. love you crazy.

No surprise the "old one" is asleep! This, actually, is just about all she does. She is the one that refuses to die. So there was no leaving her in a kennel. She did great. She slept for three hours, sat up, looked around, yawned (and about killed us with her 900 year old breath!), and then layed back down and closed her eyes!

Playing in the leaves at Grammy's! David and Cynthia had to take care of some leaves before we went bowling so Abby went out to help! Crazy enough, the leaves got done and they even had fun!

These leaves are getting a bit high....

Wind in her hair! Even though the "wind" is from the blower, this girl was having a blast in the leaves and was hamming it up for the camera.

Seizure Update-
Abby had three seizures Wed. night and then one last night. They are way less intense than the 8 she had Tuesday night and so we are thankful for that. Each night as she lays down she says, I don't want to have another seizure." Although the fear is there, it also has been lessened. The past two nights they have happened around 2 .a.m. and so we wake her up completely and give her water and nutritional supplements.
We saw a neurologist yesterday and we have an EEG scheduled for the end of January to get a better look at what her brain activity looks like. We also got the correct amount of diastat in the correct dosage.
So we are sleeping with her and will continue monitoring her sleep for a while. Her restlessness Wed. night was out of control. She tossed and tossed and turned all night... last night was much much better. After seeing the seizures she had Wed. night, I feel she's probably been having those again for a while and may be why she'd been waking me up 5 to 6 times a night.
Please keep us in your prayers. We continue to pray for guidance and wisdom, and now for energy and patience. Please continue to pray specifically for Abby's fears to continue to decrease. We also pray and beg for his mercy upon her and pray these do not get out of control again. Thank you so very much. Much love to you all... Dawn

Winter Update
Here is a sneak peek into our last month. It's been busy and this is the "second" part to the other half I'll try and publish tomorrow. We went to Virginia for a much needed trip home. I have been so home sick this year. The trip was great in so many ways.

As a side note, we are very sad to say that Abby had a cluster of eight seizures this morning. My heart is broken and yet I am trying to cling to "hope" and God's promises. It's been since March of 2005 that we realized Abby was seizure free. This January will be two years that Abby has been on glyco-nutrition and was brought back to life.
She had been in bed with me for a while and was going back to sleep when I heard the long and very hard inhale she takes upon starting to seize. With my eyes shut, I thought that I must be dreaming. Upon opening them, I could see she was in a full seizure and my heart broke into a million pieces and my soul just started to weep. I held her and talked her through it and was just so thankful to be there. She was very shaken and unable to speak afterwards. Just as I started to get her calmed down, she went into another in my arms. She started crying while seizing, which she never did before, and so her awareness and fear of what was happening killed me. As I rocked her in my arms and tried to calm her after the second one, she looked up at me and cried, "Mommy, Abby's dying." After the 6th or seventh one, we saw she was clustering and decided to administer a drug called diastat to stop them and it worked.
This is brief and I do promise to share more later. I have so many precious and loving prayer warriors out there and so I ask for your prayers during this time. Specifically that we be guided to the right doctors and information and have the wisdom and grace that can only be bestowed upon us by the Lord. Also, please pray for Abby's peace. Pray that if she continues to seize, she will be filled with the comfort and peace from the Holy Spirit and her fears be calmed.
We love you all so very much. Thank you for sharing this journey with us.
Dawn

Cynthia and Joe... cute couple and precious to top it off! Love, love you guys... hugs and kisses! Miss you...

During our Thanksgiving visit, Abby had her first adventure bowling. It was so much fun to watch her have so much joy, like everything she does. Each year my brother Derrick and I try to get together for bowling. This year Cynthia and her boyfriend, Joe, joined us, David, and Derrick's "girl" friend. It was priceless!

The wonderful Abby Grace and her bowling ball!
Mommy watch me... the ball is "pushed" down the lane and then minutes, minutes, AND minutes later.... Yeah!!!! It made it! What a smile of delight! We've added a new sport to our list! even though we are "granny shotting", this girl HAS to have her three fingers in the ball like Mommy.

Getting bowling tips from Cynthia... "Use the bumpers for all their worth... the harder you bounce off of them, the more chance you have of striking!"

Here Comes Santa Clause... away runs Abby Grace... right down Little Mall Lane... elves are gawking and then squawking... the child is not in line... then comes Mommy with camera in hand... what do you think you're doing mam? Mommy takes a picture and Santa leaves... elves left standing in disbelief... (read to the tune, "Here comes Santa Clause" for full affect!)

The Yearly Family Picture... This was a histerical moment on Thanksgiving Day... "TRYING" to capture the family in the good family photo to be used in the "Haughton Christmas Gazette". So... balance be gone and attention be not had (by two young ones)... but we are all here!

Dear Aunt Cynthia... What a blessing you are to these two precious children. They are so lucky to have such a loving and caring aunt. This pic was snapped after both these children sat for what "seemed" hours having holiday pics taken together. The highlight was when Abby was holding Christain for one of the pictures and decided she'd just "toss" him aside... LITERALLY. Thank our Father in Heaven for the backdrop they were sitting on that caught him! The whole concept that he couldn't just move over on his own was beyond her! Christian is saying, "Where were ya when I really needed you?!"