Our Weekend

Our weekend was full of stuff to do... First off Ryker, Reegan, Larkyn and myself seem to have developed a cold, which totally sucks.

On Saturday Reegan had her Ballet performance with is a very big deal it's a three hour show from preschool dance classes right up to the Big girls... This is Reegans third year at Ballet and once again it just amazes me who she can get up on that big stage and do her stuff with the rest of her class. My sister is going to kill me because after I was seated I realized I didn't take one picture of her in her Ballet costume!!! (My Bad)

After her show we had a great time cooling off in the pool Saturday was a very warm day. Larkyn can now jump into the pool on her own from the steps.. The cutest thing is her life jacket instantly turns her over onto her back and while she floats off in to the deep end she waves and says Bye... Bye... I then launch a rescue mission and one of the kids bring her back to the steps were she rest for a second and jumps back in !!! I hope to get this on video soon.

Reegan and her friends down the street

David assuming his life guard position!!!

Ryker teaching Larkyn the basics of swimming above the water.

HAVE A WONDERFUL DAY!!!

One Year!!!

It will be one year this Sunday that we received Larkyn's referral. I knew the moment I saw that picture that this was the little girl we had been waiting for.

The day we finally got that call I had been at Reegans end of the year beach party for her preschool. David and I had been waiting for weeks to get the news... We new our referral was on it's way the CCAA and our coordinators confirmed this... so we waited.

Here she is posing with her referral picture.

Our beautiful girl

For all those people out there still waiting for their referral, your day is coming. Your wait is longer then ours and I can't imagine if we were still waiting how hard it would be. But once your referral comes it won't matter anymore because you will finally have your little one.

Visitng Stephen

Both David and I are back in Toronto right now. Stephen has changed so much since we were last here.
All good changes, he's started the first steps in a long line of many more to come.
The only tube he has left is his feeding tube, which we are constantly making sure he does not pull out. Stephen enjoys sitting in his chair most days and we have taken him outside to enjoy the warmth of the sunshine. Unfortunately even though his mouth is now free from tubes he has yet to make a sound our try to utter a word. When that day comes, once again there will be a happy dance around Sunnybrooke.

It's very hard to decide if Stephen can recognize anyone at this point, most of his movements are similar to that of a new born, he's able to squeeze your hand if you take his in yours but if you ask him to squeeze your hand he doesn't consistently do it. The doctors here want to see more consistency with things like that.

Despite the fact that Stephen has a tremendously long road ahead of him his friends and family have high spirits that there beloved Stephen will once again energize any room he enters.

Letter From Donna

June 3rd, 2008


Dear Friends;

Steve has opened his eyes! Not only is that fact amazing but the story behind it is even more so. On Sunday morning many churches were praying for Steve. Between 10 and 11am our church, Elmvale Community Church had dedicated that hour to prayer and praise. It was about fifteen minutes into that hour on Sunday morning that Steve opened his eyes. I know hundreds of you are praying and it is working! How gracious of God to answer our prayers so fast! He is so good to me! I was in the depths of despair and now I am practically floating.
Steve is still not what they would call awake yet as it is a slow process of waking up but he is on his way. He is showing many good signs of his abilities. His right side had gone quite still for a few days but it is now moving again. He is focusing on faces and had made a couple of attempts to talk. Yesterday, he was focusing on a friend on one side of the bed and then turned to me on the other side of the bed and looked at me. He then raised his arm and ran his fingers through my hair and rubbed my back. It was a piece of normalcy that felt so good! He also ruffled our son Andrew’s hair when Andrew was hugging him goodbye.
Steve is still being ventilated to keep his airway clear and currently has another bout of pneumonia that is quite common when intubated. The doctors are hopeful that he will be more awake in the next few days in order for them to take the tube out of his throat. I look forward to hearing his voice.
We are on our way to recovery friends. It is a long and bumpy road and not one that I would have ever chosen. Thank you for all your support and prayers. Please continue to pray for a full recovery for Steve, endurance for me and comfort for our family. We are all really missing him.

In His Grace,

Donna Langman

Some One Pinch Me!!!!

So here's the Story... three years ago while Madonna had her Confessions on the Dance Floor tour my husband surprised me with two tickets in Vegas to see the concert. I was more then excited, Madonna and Vegas who could ask for more.

The day finally arrived I was packed and ready to go... We said our goodbyes to the kids and off to the airport we went. We managed to leave in plenty of time but the traffic was horrendous and for some reason my husband thought the time for departure was later. So once we arrive at the airport we had a nice diner. After finishing my husband double checked the ticket and that's when her realized the departure time was sooner rather then later... So we checked in and then proceeded to US customs. Now before I finish let me tell you we have been to the states many times before, but on this day as we ran thought customs looking rather stressed the officer there must have decided to make our day even worse. You see my husband has a funny kind of citizenship he was born in France but has a Canadian passport. This has never been a problem before but on this day the customs officer decided to make it a big problem and refused to allow my husband into the states. I don't know if anyone out there has ever had to deal with custom officers but they can be very scary people when the want to be. I even tried the tear thing and all they did was say that I was welcome to go but my husband was not. To this day I don't understand why all of a sudden they decided to make this an issue and since this incident my husband has rectify the problem... But I was in shock at the time,, to say I was disappointed would be an understatement.

As you can imagine my husband felt terrible and he promised me that if she ever had another tour that he would do just about anything to get me there to see it.

As luck would have Madonna starts her Sticky & Sweet Tour this fall, and you guessed it I AM GOING!!!

Here's the layout of the stage at BC Place. Pay particular attention to section A4.

Now here's my ticket.... Notice anything ... do you see an A4 anywhere on this ticket??? Look closely!!! Right there in the top right corner FLR - A4. OMG... I will be so close I will be able to smell her!!!!

Thank -You soooo much David!!!!!!

Update On Stephen Langman

This picture was taken last year while my son visited with Stephen and Donna. This is Stephen and Abby his daughter.

After Last weeks MRI when Stephen's family was told that he had an Diffuse Axonal Injury to the brain spirits were very low. The doctors explained that with injuries like these they no longer say when he wakes up because in 90% of cases people don't wake up. They also told Donna that if he did wake up he could have speech, memory and moter skills problems, but until he wakes up they will have know way of knowing the true extent of the injury to his brain.

Well Saturday Stephen started to open his eyes for very short periods and so far each day he wakes up for a short period. He's still intubated so he can't speak and seems very confused, but he is starting to respond when asked to give a thumbs up by the nurses.

You can call it the miracle of so many prayers or you can say just dumb luck, what ever you call it Stephen has taken his first step in a line of many steps.

Thank-You everyone who has prayed for Stephen and his family, He's still not out of the woods yet so lets keep those prayers coming...

From left to right Andrew (Stephen son) Conner (Stephen's nephew) Ryker and William (Stephens oldest boy)

In The A Blink Of An Eye

lives can change in the Blink Of An Eye. Last Tuesday when I got home there was a message on my machine. The message was from my closest and dearest friend Donna. We have know each other since grade two, our friendship over the years has seen us through boyfriends, break-ups and sharing a condo together. When I married she was my matron of honour. Donna travelled out west each time I had a baby. This January for my 40th birthday she surprised me by travelling out here to spend some time together. And so the pain I felt when I heard that message and listen to her tell me her husband was in a coma was beyond words. Donna is a very strong person both in her personality and in her faith. Seeing her beside her husband day after day praying he would wake up was a true testament to the person she truly is.

David joined me on Friday last week, he's been Stephen's friend since public school and there friendship is a mirror to Donna and mine.

When we left on Monday Stephen was still in a semi-comatose state, he was still moving around in his bed but still was not waking up. As of today his ECG, and CAT scans seem O.K. He had an MRI on Tuesday which brought some troubling news. We now wait.. wait.. and wait more for Stephen to wake up... As the days go by I think we are all feeling that this might turn into weeks or months and when he does wake up what kind of challenges will he face. In a blink of an eye that family has changed forever.

When David came down he brought Larkyn with him so we took this opportunity to visit one of Larkyn Orphanage sisters. It was great to see Claudia and Simon and there sweet Madelyne.

Larkyn and Maddie

Two girls just hanging out

Me, Larkyn, Claudia, Maddie and Simon

Our cooks prepared us a wonderful lunch thanks you guys!!!

Sweet Maddie

Letter from Donna

Dear Friends;
As you have all heard, my husband Steve Langman had a bad dirt bike
accident on Monday, May 19th. He was riding with his brother Brent
off of County Road 29 when Brent, who was following, came upon him on
the ground. It is his assumption that Steve hit a rut which sent him
into a tree or tried to go around it and miscalculated the closeness
of the trees to him. He had a helmet on which I am certain saved his
life. He was unconscious but breathing. An ambulance was able to
drive down the trail as they were not far off from the entrance of the
trail. The ambulance then met up with an air ambulance and he was air
lifted to Sunnybrook hospital.
For a head injury it takes 72 hours for the full effect of the trauma
to take place. As I write this letter, that time has not passed.
Steve has a fractured skull over his right eye which is causing the
eye to swell but not enough that they are going to have to do surgery
at this point. That is not the main concern though as he has two
contusions to the brain, one in the front and one in the back. It is
his brain that is the greatest concern. Fortunately, it has not
swelled to the point that they need to drill to relieve the pressure.
Steve was under sedation up until Tuesday afternoon. It was my hope
that he would wake up after the sedation wore off yesterday, but that
was not the case. Steve is still unconscious and no one but God knows
when he will wake up.
There are many positive points to mention. His spine and neck bones
are good. His overall state of his neck will be determined after he
wakes up. He has moved all four limbs. He responds to me talking to
him and has squeezed my hand 3 times. I think he just needs more time
for his brain to heal before he will wake up. It may be days, weeks
or months. Then, it will be more months before he is back to the busy
Captain Fun that we know.
I know there are many people praying for Steve and that is so
reassuring. Thank you for that. Please pray for his body to be
healed from head to toe, for patience and endurance for me and his
family, and for our 4 children who are waiting for their Daddy to come
home. That is probably the best way for anyone to help.
This was simply an accident. Steve is a very skilled rider who was
been riding since he bought his first dirt bike when he was 15. He
built a dirt bike track with some friends and rides there regularly
with them and our 11 year old son, William who also dirt bikes, and
our other sons, Andrew and Isaac, who ride ATVs.
Our life has changed in an instant but I am counting on the fact that
God stays the same.

In His Grace,
Donna Langman

Sent on the TELUS Mobility network with BlackBerry

I Need Your Prayers

Tuesday evening I get a call from my dearest friend in Ontario. Her husband (my husbands best friend). Has been in an accident and is still in a coma. I got on the next flight. I am in Ontario now. He still has not woken up but the Doctors are very optomistic. Donna is such a trooper her. faith and strength is getting her through each day. Please pray for Stephen that he wakes up soon. Pray for Donna and there four children.
Sent on the TELUS Mobility network with BlackBerry

Blogging Etiquette

At least once a week I try very hard to check out all the blog's that I faithfully read. I truly feel it's a privilege that these people have allowed me to share my thoughts and feelings on there blogs. I read each blog with an understanding that they have allowed me to be in some small way a part of there family, and I thank each blogger for that.

When I log on to to my blog the first thing I do is always read any comments I may have... The next thing I do is ALWAYS pay a visit to those bloggers who have left a comment on my blog. I truly feel it's important to leave a comment if only to say Hi, Have a great Day and thanks for paying my blog a visit! It's just the polite thing to do.

Think of this... if someone were to knock on your door today would you not answer the door, and if you did answer the door would you not at least say hello and thanks for dropping by?

Even if you get an abundant of comments on your blog site... the descent thing to do in my opinion is to at least say hello back !

I believe this would be called Blogging Edicate.

First Kool-Aid Stand of the Year!

Well this Saturday our temperature hit 29 degrees.. and you know what that means. Kool-Aid. Reegan's first Kool-Aid stand brought in a profit of over $10.00. After about 5 minuets she was complaining about how boring it was to just sit and wait for people... but after an hour of people stopping by she realized how much fun she was having.... Our neighbours were fantastic for stopping by and drinking a very sweet cup of kool-aid.

Trampoline Fun

You will have to excuse the first part of this video.. They had the video camera turned on it's side not realizing that you can't rotate it later.

Larkyn very much enjoys the trampoline .. take note of the big brother trying to trip his littlest sister.

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY

I want to wish my mother and mother-in-law the happiest of Mother days. I love you both dearly.

I want to wish all those first time mother's out there a Great Mother's Day!!!

For the mother's in waiting, next year I hope you have your little one in your arms for Mother's Day.

Have a wonderful Mother's Day everyone.

"MOTHER"S RULE"

Good Bye My Lover!!

65 Degrees Brrrrrrrrrr

After the Pool opened the kids drove us nuts to allow them to go for a swim... We warned them that the heater had not been turned on yet and the pool would be cold. Ryker didn't care one way or another he was going in, he had been waiting over 6 months for the pool to open up.

Reegan being the wise one was very cautious and hesitated more then once before jumping in... If you listen closely you will her David assuring her it's warm like a bath tube. Father's can be so cruel.

The pools heater has since been turned on, and now is a lovely 88 degrees.

Enjoy!!!