Christmas Letter

Counting Our Blessings in 2011:

(somewhat in chronological order)

1. The blessing of a 3-day getaway for Chase and me to Walker, MN in January. This “bundle-up-good” trip included a wild ride on a two-person snowmobile, rest, a little Wii competition in our hotel room, and a visit to my grandparents who live in Walker. These getaways for just the two of us are always such a blessing, and we’re so grateful for our parents who lovingly take care of our kids so we can take advantage of them.
2. The blessing of Chase and his landscaping company’s opportunity to represent themselves in the “Minnesota Home & Garden Show”. They built a pond, pond-less waterfall (my personal favorite) and bubbling rock for their display. Putting in water features has become one of Chase’s favorite aspects of his job, and God has continued to provide work despite a slow economy.
3. The blessing of God’s protection over Coleton as we continued with his Immune Tolerance Therapy (I.T.T.) to beat the inhibitor that causes his body to reject the factor that helps with his hemophilia. The months of May and June involved a more intensive step in his therapy, a medication that is closely related to chemotherapy. It went well and seems to have been successful. Praise the Lord!!!
4. The blessing of an excellent pediatric hematologist and hematology team at the Minneapolis Childen’s Hospital & Clinics!!! They’re the best!
5. The blessing of a wonderful nephrologist for Coleton. Coleton developed Nephrotic Syndrome earlier this year and required a kidney biopsy, which went very well. With minor treatment, his nephrotic syndrome is all but gone. Praise the Lord!
6. The blessing of the support and prayers from our family, church body and friends, including meals and caretakers for Sarina and Willow amidst multiple hospital and clinic visits.
7. The blessing of a 2nd 3-day getaway for Chase and a-very-pregnant-me in May, this time to Duluth, MN to celebrate my birthday. Our cozy hotel room overlooked the drawbridge canal, and we enjoyed watching the ships come and go.
8. The blessing of a trip to the Pella, Iowa Tulip Festival in May - a special 30th birthday “mystery” celebration from my parents and sister.
9. The extra-special blessing of the birth of our daughter, Willow Arianna. She was born on June 13th. She weighed 7 pounds 14 ounces and measured 19 inches long. She is full of smiles and her latest news is that she just started eating baby cereal and is a pro at it.
10. Willow joined Chase and me on a 4-day getaway in September to celebrate our 6-year anniversary. Some friends generously offered their beautiful lake cabin to us up north for a much-needed time of rest.
11. The blessing of Bible studies and book studies with special friends: “Understanding the Times” by Dr. David Noble, “The Abolition of Man” by C.S. Lewis, “The Reason for God” by Timothy Keller, “The Gospel for Real Life” by Jerry Bridges, “How to Manage Your Money” by Larry Burkett.
12. The blessing of softball - a time of recreation and good fellowship for Chase on our church’s softball team, cheered on by the rest of us.
13. The blessing of a boat for Coleton from “Wishes & More”. Coleton’s doctor recommended Coleton as eligible for a wish through “Wishes & More”, and his wish was for a boat to enjoy two of his favorite things: swimming and fishing.
14. The blessing of Coleton’s first “Men & Boys’ Retreat” with his daddy and a great group of guys from church.
15. The blessing of my first “Women’s Retreat”, including a great time of fellowship with the women of our church and excellent teaching: “The Lies Women Believe” by Nancy Leigh DeMoss.
16. The blessing of Chase’s annual hunting trip with dad, brothers, uncle, cousins and friends. Always a highlight of his year, Chase loved experiencing a new area in the boundary waters. No deer on this hunt, but he did get a doe in the early part of the archery season, so we’re enjoying venison yet again.
17. The countless blessings of family and friends like you!!!
18. Above all, the blessing of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, whose birth we celebrate!

“For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior,

which is Christ the Lord.”

Luke 2:11

Merry Christmas With Love From the Elgards!

Chase, Sarah, Coleton (5), Sarina (3) & Willow (6 months)

Coleton's Kidney Biopsy

Getting scrubbed up so I can be with Coleton in the O.R. until he falls asleep.

Apparently, I looked pretty silly.

We didn't quite make it to Coleton's bedside when he woke up, so once we were there he didn't want to close his eyes, even though he was still so sleepy. Chase told him that he would hold his hand and he could close his eyes. Coleton gripped Chase's finger and immediately closed his eyes and fell back asleep.

Pastor visited us today and read Coleton the story of Zacchaeus.

"Couponing"

Today was my first attempt at “couponing”. I’ve been wanting to “learn the art” for a long time now, but finally after hearing some recent success stories from friends, I determined to make it a goal to educate myself and give it a try. I’ve been doing a lot of reading and asking questions, and it looks like I still have a ton to learn, but today was my first time putting into practice what I’ve learned so far. With about a dozen coupons (2 were “stacked” - for the same item), and a great deal going on at Target right now: Buy 7 frozen food items, get a $5 gift card off your next purchase, I was able to get this...

...for $17.67; all of which would have cost me $41.00. Now, to those who are avid “couponers”, this may not seem like a huge deal, but I’m pretty excited about it. This is what I bought:

4 bags frozen vegetables (with 1 Target coupon)

3 small containers Cool Whip

2 Weight Watchers meals

4 single-serving frozen yogurts

1 box (6 count) mint chocolate chip ice cream sandwiches

7 frozen juice concentrates (2 - o.j., 2 - 100% fruit juice, 2 strawberry daquiri, 1 - lemonade)

2 small blocks cheese (with 1 Target coupon)

4 boxes pasta (2 - whole wheat) (with 1 Target coupon)

dishwasher detergent (with 1 Target coupon)

cotton balls ($0.62 with 1 Target coupon)

aluminum foil ($0.62 with 1 Target coupon)

Halls cough drops ($0.19 with 2 coupons)

floss (free with 1 Target coupon)

A couple tips I got that helped: When shopping for the frozen food items, or for an item that you have a coupon for, look for something that’s very inexpensive to begin with (frozen food items for around $1 or less). Also, in some cases, as in mine, it worked best to do separate transactions: First, buy 7 most inexpensive frozen items; get $5 gift card. Second, buy 7 more frozen items; apply $5 gift card to that; receive another $5 gift card. Third, buy 7 more frozen food items; apply $5 gift card to that; receive another $5 gift card. Buy the rest of your items (use coupons); apply $5 gift card to that. It seems tedious, but using a credit card it actually went very smoothly. You could always buy the 21 frozen items all at once, getting $15 in gift cards to use towards your next purchase, but I wasn’t buying a lot of product outside of the frozen foods.

Anyway, thought I would pass along the tips and info. for those of you who might be interested. By the way, these Kemps Frozen Yogurt Parfaits are really good!

The CJV Bible - Coleton James Version

Introducing Baby...

We had our second ultrasound today. We are just over 21 weeks now. The kids were so excited to see the baby, as we all went together as a family. Of course, Chase and I were excited, too! We were able to see some great views of the baby, including the baby's mouth opening and closing, eyes, four-chamber heart pumping that the doctor said looked all good, feet, hands, hand holding onto the feet...it's so amazing! Here's a couple of our favorite pictures:

This is a picture of the baby's face. On the left, you can see the eyes and mouth (open) clearly.

This is a little blurry, but it's a picture of the bottom of Baby's foot, a hand at the upper left, and part of the other foot on the bottom left.

Update on Coleton

Coleton being silly with his nurse, Sue

We had Coleton's monthly check-up today, regarding the Immune Tolerance Therapy he's been doing, and I just wanted to give everyone an update and ask for continued prayer. The level of factor 9 in his blood when measured 24 hours after getting factor were at less than 1%, and that has been pretty common the past several months; but his levels when measured 1 hour after getting factor were only 6%. (The lowest they've been at since starting I.T.T. is in the 30s, but 60s and 70s have been more common.) Also, his inhibitor level was at 1 today, when usually they've been at 0. So, this is just indication that the inhibitor is causing the factor that he gets to get "eaten up" very quickly. For now, they decided to increase the amount of daily factor he gets and also slightly increase the dose he is already taking of an immune suppressant. That is all we know for now. We'll just have to wait and see how those changes effect him. I wasn't totally surprised by the levels today, because we've been seeing increased bruising all over his body in the past couple weeks; but I didn't expect them to be quite that low. Thank you so much for your continued prayers! Over all, Coleton is doing very well, enjoying life and just being a boy.

Coleton Goes to the Dentist

Coleton had his first teeth-cleaning at the dentist today. His Auntie Jennie is a dental hygienist, and she has of course been encouraging us in this direction. Jennie did a great job of teaching him all about the dentist, introducing him to "Mr. Thirsty" and all her other tools. Coleton loved it and is looking forward to the next time he gets to go to the dentist. I think he feels like quite the little man, and I have to say I was quite proud of him. Of course, when you have Jennie as your dental hygienist, it's hard not to like the dentist. After our cleaning was Jennie's lunch break, and she took Coleton and me out to McDonalds for lunch - another highlight of Coleton's day!