Wow it has been a long time since our last update.  The Giesens have been very busy the last few months.   In March Shane and I were helping the city Fargo fight back Mother Nature.  We spent several days sandbagging, cleaning out our lower level, and plugging all the drains in the basement.  We did not sustain any flood damage but our neighborhood looked like a war zone.  There were National Guard troops blocking off the street to our house because there were earth dikes across several streets near our home.  The streets in our neighborhood were lined with thousands and thousands of sandbags waiting to be placed.  We do not live near the river but we had a drain in our neighborhood that empties into the Red River.  It was pretty scary. 

Before all the flooding started, Shane and I decided to start looking for a new house.  We have been looking off and on for the past few years and the events of last summer put our house buying on hold.  We found a house we liked in West Fargo.  We moved in May and closed on our old house in June (can you believe we sold our old house in 7 days?).  We have been trying to unpack all the boxes.  It is amazing how much stuff we have accumulated (or I should say that our kids are spoiled and they have way too much stuff).

Kobe has become the typical boy toddler.  He loves balls, cars, trucks, and his 4-wheeler.  He also enjoys throwing EVERYTHING, hitting EVERYTHING, spitting (he has been watching his sisters too much), and thinking EVERTYTHING is his.   Need I say more?  His speech is beginning to pick up.  Now we have three kids trying to talk at ALL times.  Our house is never quiet.  Since the doctors took away the cyclo in January his hair growth is slowly getting back to normal.  We get a lot of stares from people on his hairy arms but we don’t care.  He is still on 7 meds and he takes them all so well.  His last checkup was in April and all was well.  The next one is on Monday and we hope they will start to slowly take some more meds away. 

The girls are adjusting well to our move to West Fargo.  The neighborhood is great and there are a lot of kids.  Taylor and Brynn already know most of the girls on our block.  Kobe too has a friend already.  There is a two year old boy who lives next door and his name is Cobe ( small world!).  The girls are busy with swimming and gymnastics this summer.  Taylor is going to Girl Scout Camp next weekend but the only way she would agree to go is if I went with.  I hope I survive!  I hope Shane survives with Brynn and Kobe for two nights. J

I cannot believe that Monday will be exactly a year from Kobe’s first heart transplant.  I do not know how we all survived.  Kobe is definitely our miracle.  Thank you to everyone for keeping our family in your thoughts and prayers this last year.  We are also thankful to all the Doctors and Nurses at Mayo who never gave up on our precious boy.  Without them we would have not had the chance to experience the joys of this past year.  We also pray and thank the donor families every day.  Their gift of life has given our family so much joy and happiness.  It is hard to be so happy for our one year anniversary knowing that they also have a one year anniversary as well but it is not as joyous as ours.  I can only hope that we meet them someday to show them that their child’s spirit lives on in Kobe.  And last but not least, thank God for giving us this miracle.