Merrill and Roberta Simon and Family

I am not too sure that it gets much better than this at this stage of life. I wanted to post this yesterday, but I just ran out of time. Merrill and I received a letter informing us that LisaMarie was in the second grade math Olympics at school. Now this in and of itself is a huge accomplishment. Only the top five students from each class were chosen. So Merrill took off and I got a babysitter for MacGyver. Off we went. Now I am a little sadden to say that we did not really expect much to happen. We felt it an honor that LisaMarie had made it this far. We got there a little early, got a good seat and sat back to enjoy the competition. Oh my, let me tell you we were on the edge of our seats after about three rounds. LisaMarie was faster than we even knew she could be. She was confident, poised and all together in control, not like her parents sitting out in the crowd. Maybe it helps to be the only girl at home with so many boys, you tend to have it more together than most....LOL. Roun

I just have to say, over and over that we have a most wonderful life. This path we have traveled is full of ups and downs, but it is also filled with miracles each and every day. Meet our newest Miracle. This beyond cute little guy is our newest, two year old MacGyver. He had a really rough start in life. His birth mother drank so he has FAS, plus it looks as if he has Hypotonic CP, add to that, Celiac's Disease and we are all set to go. I have to be the first to tell you that Celiac's is taking on its own learning curve. For those of you that do not know what that is, as we did not also, it means that MacGyver can't eat anything that has wheat, barley or rye in it. This includes nearly everything we eat that is prepackaged at all. It is much more than a food allergy, it is classified as an auto immune disease. So far we are doing well on learning how to prepare food for him. What a life!!! Now, back to Mother's Day. I am nearly ashamed to admit that I have never really

Sadly we had to say goodbye to a driving force in our lives. A women who was in reality before her time. Someone whom we loved dearly even though our visits were few and far between. Her name, Micheline Madigan, her title, Michael's grandma, second Mom to Merrill and I, adopted grandma to all of our children. Oh how we shall miss her. We got the call about a month ago. One that we have dreaded and one that we knew in time would come. Micheline had cancer, liver and lung. She was given 4 to 5 months to live. She was not seeking treatment. Like I said, she was a brave and feisty lady. She was from France originally. We called Michael, talked with Mom and set the date. We went to Dallas. Cancer had taken over. She was going faster than anyone ever thought. I believe she held on to see us but more than that to see her beloved first grandchild. She passed away while we were in Texas. We could not go back for her funeral. This has been a hard week. I understand the cycle of life, but tha