Possibly the Best Book Ever

Ok, I admit, I may be biased. But it is a REALLY good book! Sam has been writing a series of books this week which all feature a member of our family in a superhero role. The books about John and the boys all have them fighting off evil villains with amazing powers. Last night Sam said he was going to write one called Super Mom. I couldn't wait to see what my super power would be. I figured it would be something like letting my kids stay up past their bed times and making lots of chocolate cake. But no, it is so much better!

Here are a few pages to fill you in on the basic plot:

It was breakfast time at the Neumans'
While I was cooking, I heard the cry of hungry children in the world, so I donned my super cape.
That's me flying above the hungry children with food shooting out of my hands to feed them.
Amazing! Could you ever imagine a better super power to have? I love it!

Splish Splash Will was Taking a Bath!

Baptism Day

You may have noticed that there have not been many updates coming from the Neuman household lately. That is because two weeks ago I caught my left index finger in an immersion blender. (John wanted me to post a picture, but you can thank the heavens that I decided to spare you!) This has definitely been slowing me down especially in the picture taking and blogging departments, but I got my stitches out Tuesday and I am learning to use the injured finger to type again. It is amazing how quickly it quit working! Anyway, January 20th was Will's baptism day, and so I made a cake. However, I could not decorate it. John surprised me by decorating it himself. I thought he did a lovely job! Given that Will was such a surprise the wording could not be more appropriate. Good job honey!

Big, Big News!!!!

We have some really exciting news. I have been dying to tell everyone, but until yesterday the details of this news has been under an embargo. So here it is...there has been a major medical breakthrough in the treatment of cavernous angiomas. Researchers at the University of Utah School of Medicine have found that the use of statins (cholestorol lowering drugs such as lipicol and zocor) stop bleeds in mice affected with cavernous angiomas. They are now enrolling patients for a human trial!!! This could mean NO MORE BRAIN SURGERIES!!!!!

Here is a link to the press release announcing this discovery: http://www.angiomaalliance.org/documents/AngiomaAlliancePressRelease18January2009.pdf

This news is beyond our wildest dreams! What we have been praying for could be right here on the horizon--a non surgical treatment for cavernous angiomas!!!! We have applied to the clinical trial, but the researcher has not made a final decision about whether he will permit children in the trial. However, we know this is in God's hands, and we will just continue to pray that He will keep watch over our boys.

So here is where you come in... Angioma Alliance (the patient advocacy and research group we work with) is essential to the success of this clinical trial. We will be identifying possible participants. But we can't do this if we don't have any money and given the state of the economy our donations have seriously dropped. The grants that we count on for a siginificant amount of our yearly income are no longer available. This is just not the time for our organization to go under--far too much is at stake. So what I am asking for is everyone's help. If you can make a donation, great! But we are also looking for fundraising ideas. We are counting on a great turnout at the wine release held in Bakersfield every year, but I am also hoping to figure out another strong fundraising event. We are also going to be raffling off a smart car, the tickets are $50. It would be great if you wanted to buy a ticket or even better if you would be up for selling them!! We hope to sell at least 800 tickets, so we can use all the help we can get! Also, as a part of our annual family conference we will hold a 5k run /walk to benefit Angioma Alliance in San Francisco on April 5th. Any takers???? Here is a link to angioma alliance http://www.angiomaalliance.org/

But most importantly we are asking for your prayers. We hope you will join us in praying for the doctors, the researchers and the patients in this study. And also for God's will for Jake and Sam.

FINALLY!!!

Sam and I were able to make perfect bread at 7000 feet!! Usually it collapses in the middle, but not this time! It turned out just like the recipe. And the wonderful part is that the recipe is for ongoing loaves that take only 5 minutes a day of your time. You just keep scraping down the dough from the sides of the bowl, which you keep in the fridge and you get your own starter f0r sourdough. You can have fresh bread every day for about $.50 per loaf and save lots of money every year. Now really, what could be better than eating hot, fresh, french bread, with very little effort AND saving money!! Life is good.

If you want the recipe let me know and I will post it for you. But if you know me very well, you will think the recipe's source is hilarious! It is true...I now read and love Mother Earth News.

Our next project...chickens!! Stay tuned...

What's so Funny?

Jake and Sam are really into reading a comic book called Get Fuzzy. They always have their noses in it! Will finally got his hands on it, but like me, he just doesn't seem to get what they find so funny!

A Day in Oatman, AZ

On our way home from Bakersfield we decided to stop and stay the night in Laughlin. The next day we went to an old mining town that my dad told us about called Oatman. It was right up Jake's alley. Wild burros roam the streets, you can have a root beer in a bottle, there are gun fights in the street and junk is for sale everywhere!. We all loved it!
When we slowed down to park our car this crazy burro stuck his nose in to see what was going on!

Will got his first cowboy hat

Oops! We lost track of Will for just a second while in the hotel room!

Just Some Pics of Our Family

All of my nieces
My sons and my nephews
John and Anna

Matt, Aaron and Amanda

Aaron's cool shoes

Sleeping Angel

Gracie, Jessica, and Anna

Silly Girls!

Lucky Will, so much attention from so many pretty girls!

Lookin' good in Aunt Kim's glasses

Uncle Brad and Will

Uncle Brad taught Will this great new trick. They both thought it was hilarious. Good job Uncle Brad!

A Day with my Goddaughter

On January 2nd I got to spend the day with my goddaughter, Erin. I don't get to see her as much as I would like, and I don't think I've ever had her all by myself for the whole day. It was wonderful! She is the funniest smartest little three year old. Everything she says is hilarious, even if she doesn't mean for it to be! She was explaining a lot of things to Will, and my favorite part was that she had her own name for him, Wilbur. Too funny!

New Years Eve

Sam and Alex attended a vacation camp at a local gymnastics studio. On their last day they came home with these trophies. I was a little skeptical about how they got such amazing trophies after three days, but I had no idea that they won the trophies for diving. Dumpster diving that is! The gymnastics studio had thrown them away and Sam and Alex salvaged the treasures!
Will has a bath with hopefully his future wife, Ally Bowles!

In a strange reveral of roles, all the teenagers and young people stayed home and played board games on New Years Eve. Only my mom and dad went out to party! Anna, the family's makeup expert, got my mom ready.