Matthew received his first quarterly report card for 3rd grade.  He has all A’s , B’s  and one C in physical ed.  Yeahhh, we couldn’t be any prouder.  He loves his school and it shows! Keep it up Matthew…..!!!!!

Yes, Matthew is fine again.  Thank you for your prayers. As he gets older he is really handling his illnesses much better and it seems they pass faster too.  Hopefully he will have a healthy winter.

After having a bad night of vomiting several times the night before last, Matthew is running a fevor of 102.6 right now. Hopefully it is something simple that will fix itself pretty quick. He doesn’t want to miss school Monday since it is field trip day.  So maybe we can all say a little prayer for Matthew for a speedy recovery! Thanks everyone!

The kids and their big lips! Opa got these at the Cracker Barrel and thought the kids might get a kick out of them. It sure brought back memories for him ….!      November 2007

Matthew and his cousin Noah Labor day 2006

 Matthew and his cousin Ashley they are both 8 years old. Actually Matthew is 3 weeks older! What a cute couple.

Meet Matthew and his horse Katie.

Yeah, finally. Today was Matthew’s first class in  therapeutic horseback riding.  As you can see above Matthew just loved it. He acted like he has been on a horses back all of his life.   I wonder if it has something to do with him always riding his little bouncy pony at home, ha ha.

It was absolutely wonderful watching him. They even changed horses on him soon into the lesson because he did better than expected; so Butterscotch was exchanged for Katie who is much more lively.  Having Katie trot really got Matthew laughing out loud and of course signing more.

As one of the pictures shows he even got to ride sitting backward on the horse.  Laying down on his stomach on Katie was also one of the excersises they had him do.  Than they played  heads shoulders knees and hips and toes. Matthew couldn’t get enough of that. Chip, the instructor happily commented that Matthew didn’t even mind his singing.   Matthew did so well, we were so proud of him. 

I am sure he can’t wait till next Monday. I know I can’t.  Just seeing him so happy brought me joy.  

Hopefully he won’t be to terribly sore tomorrow.

Matthew is doing well right now and enjoys his time at school. His notes from the teacher read, had a wonderful day, had a great day, excellent day etc., I think you get it.  We are glad to hear that. Hopefully he will get through Fall and Winter without too many sick days. Matthew will start therapeutic horseback riding October 13. Can’t wait to see what that will do for him. Please check back for updates!

Sitting here tonight  I remembered what Kiki had told me and I wanted to share it with you.  During Matthew’s doctor’s visit the other day she found out why she had to buy all of his clothes in a size 5 now, even though not too long ago he still fit in a size 4.  Matthew grew 2 inches and gained 4 pounds in the last year. That is huge for him. He stands at 42 inches and weighs in at 42 pounds now.   What a coincidence  42″ - 42lbs.  Kiki is not complaining believe me.  After all these years he has finally outgrown his clothes in one year instead of two as always before. Yeah….!!!!  Mom enjoys picking out clothes for her big boy!  Good timing; school pictures are coming up.

Today John had his annual customer appreciation day.  This year he combined Matthew’s raffle with it.  And again it was a success. John is a very special person with a very soft and giving heart. Matthew is very lucky to have someone like John back him.   With the money raised by John and everyone else’s financial support, and there are many of you supporters out there,  we will be able to help Matthew with the expenses of his upcoming therapeutic riding sessions. Yeah….., we are so excited. We truly believe it will benefit Matthew in many different ways.  I have talked with people that have been involved in this type of therapy and they all agreed that it will be good for him.

What is so amazing to me, is the truly genuine caring of people. I feel they have adopted Matthew there.  A picture of him holding his DynaVox is now hanging up in the establishment for everyone to see.  And I have been told that John is so proud of it that he keeps taking it down to show it off to anyone who asks about it.

We were handing out Matthew’s business cards as a thank you and to let people know that there is a place for them to find out about Matthew’s progress or learn more about his syndrome, if they wish to do so.

Matthew stopped in for a short while to socialize and to get to know some of the people that support him.  Shortly thereafter they had him pull the winning ticket out of a jar.  He  raised his arm up high to show off  the ticket.  People started to applaud and he sure got a kick out of that and joined in.  Oh, what a moment it was!!! Matthew loves attention.  But then it was time for him to leave he was getting restless, so Dad took him and sissy home.  Mom got to stay and visit for a while longer.

Once again - from the bottom of our hearts -  thank you to all who so graciously stand with Matthew on his journey through life.  You will always be in our prayers.

God bless!

Grandma (Oma) Margit and all of Matthew’s family

John in front of Matthew’s picture!      

Below is a copy of the cards we had made for Matthew.

 After that scary encounter they had the other night , Matthew ended up at the doctors. He didn’t have croup, they tested him for allergies now.   The pulmonoligst said, it still all has to do with his small and floppy airway though.  I will keep you updated once we find out more. The nebulizer treatments sure are helping. He  does them all by himself now. Oh boy if you try to help him, he pushes you away.  Well, he is getting to be a big boy. I think sometimes we tend to forget that, because he is still so small for his age. Thanks for all your prayers.

Kiki just called me and said she has had the scariest night in a long time. Matthew was up coughing and wheezing so bad she was debating if she needed to call an ambulance. Luckily she had some meds for the nebulizer handy and it helped it calm him down. She is calling his pulmonologist this morning. He probably has cruop again. Please pray for Matthew that he will be better soon.

Thanks to all! And God bless!