Merry Christmas!

Holiday Greetings to all our Family & Friends!
I have ordered Christmas Cards for this year (a little late)
& haven't received them yet!
I will be sending them out to everyone I have an address for.
If your mailing address has changed in the past year
or if you have not received a card from us in past years,
please send your mailing address. We wanted to send out a wish that your Christmas be the Merriest & the New Year be Joyful! We love you all & have warm thoughts for each of you & pray that you & yours are happy & well! For all who have prayed for us & served us in any (& every) way over the past months with Callie's accident & the passing of our loved ones, we express deepest gratitude. May the true spirit of Christmas fill all our hearts until it fills the whole earth is our Christmas Prayer!
All Our Love, The Butler Family Jeff, Dana Justin, Alisha & Aiden Matt, Ashley, Gage & Garrett Jamison, Monica & Trenton Micah, Amber, Marcus, Elsie, Burke, Emma,
Haley, Hayden, Brinley & Callie
~attached picture taken Thanksgiving 2008~

Happy to Report!

Last night we got back from Callie's last Dr.'s appt for the YEAR! The feeling I had as I walked away from the building was one of immense relief & elation that bought tears to my eyes. The appt was with Callie's opthamologist. He said that the surface of her cornea is looking better. That was very good news! We are now at every 2 hrs. around the clock for Callie's eye ointment & medicine. While it is still a challenge to keep her from putting her fingers in her eye, she had slowed down a bit. She has been getting a cortisone drop 3x a day which I think has helped significantly.
We also were able to have a few sweet visits with our dear GREAT & GRAND-mother "Grandma Mac". If ever there was a model of the perfect Grandma, she would be the best one to look at. The effect she has had on my life is beyond measure. She is slipping slowly from this world to another & will be missed, but will live on in the lives & memories of her family.
We are still working on helping Callie relearn her social skills! She will soon begin having an Early Intervention Specialist come in to help with this, as well as help her with eating & other things. I don't know how I could do it without all the help, especially of my neice Sarah. The help she gives, helps me to keep my sanity.
I have ordered Christmas cards which I hope to receive soon so that I can get them out. We feel so blessed this Christmas season! We thank you all & pray for a most Joyous Christmas to you all!

Happy Birthday Baby Boy!!!

(Oh~ I mean Burke!)
Today is Burke's 13th Birthday!
He is the youngest of our boys. We love having him in the family.
He is a young man of many talents. He is good at most everything he tries.
And he is peaceful (most of the time).
He built us a toasty warm fire today. We hope you know how much we love you
& have a wonderful day today!
All our Love,
Mom, Dad
& kids

Stitches ~ No Stitches!

Well I got the pictures backwards, but Tuesday Callie got her stitches out.
Her Opthamologist didn't like the way her cornea was looking, so he sent her to
see the corneal specialist. He was concerned that something may need done to

her cornea before Christmas. After the cornea specialist looked at her yesterday,
he feels that nothing needs done right away. She will see him again towards the end of
January. Right now we're just in a holding pattern with the exception of therapy.
She is a 24/7 job to keep her from hurting herself (digging in her eye & nostril on the side
with the palsy, with head & body slams when we try to keep her from it). She doesn't like for us to put the artificial tears & medicine in her eyes (which she needs once every hour around the clock~if you feel to cry for me, you may. I do every now & then). She doesn't seem to have alot of feeling if any on the left side & she really gets herself messed up. Aside from that she is doing so GREAT! Her walking has had major improvement since she had the eyelid lift surgery.
We are so grateful to have her here with us this holiday season & many more to come!


May this Holiday Season be Joyous for You All!

Love The Butler's

Warmed Inside & Out!

Today has been such an emotionally tender day for me today. My Dad's funeral yesterday was such a perfect & fitting tribute to his life. My heart is overflowing with love for him & for the blessing of having Callie with us still. I can't even imagine (& don't want to) what this season would be like without her. This evening we were able to enjoy the First Presidency Christmas devotional by firelight, with the wood that we were able to go out & get with my Dad last fall, followed by a cup of hot chocolate with some homemade marshmallows that Ashley made for us (yummy)! It has been a very nice Sabbath for us & we hope it has been for all of you. We are so grateful for the love & support of all our friends & loved ones through these times of trial for us. We continue to be amazed by you all. Some dear friends of ours even gave out a very large number of rooms in a local hotel, to our friends & family that came up for my Dad's funeral. I pray that they will be blessed an hundred fold, even more!!!

Love to All with Peace & Comfort this Holiday Season,
~Dana & family

Callie gets her stitches out on Tuesday. All but the one she managed to remove on her own. Ashley has gotten, Callie is Dancing now! She just hasn't seen her do it yet!

Home from Surgery ~ Funeral Information

Callie's surgery went well. It got my nerves alot more than I expected it to. I felt so bad at first, but even though it must be extremely uncomfortable at the least, she does seem glad to have it done. The Dr. told me that she would probably be grouchy for 20 minutes or so right after. She didn't disappoint that expectation one bit. In fact, I say she was down right ANGRY! But after a little nap, she's perked right up & seems very happy to be home from it!


For anyone interested in the whereabouts & time for my Dad's funeral, it will be on Saturday at 11:00am with a family viewing at 10:00am & also a viewing Friday night from 6-8pm. They will all be held at the LDS Downtown Bldg in Show Low. Contact me if you need more info, or a place to stay. There has been much generosity for our family.

I am humbled to tears! Thank you everyone for prayers, love, support & everything!!! May each of you be blessed in very special & tender ways.


Much tender Love
~The Butler's

Tomorrow is Surgery Day!

It has come time for Callie's surgery. It is scheduled for tomorrow morning. It has been difficult to decide whether or not to postpone it, but when I talked to the Dr.'s office & found out that the soonest that they could get her in would be Dec. 31, I have decided to go ahead with the original date. The next time most of you see Callie (within the next couple of weeks) her eyes will be "shockingly open". Also, it will make the damage to her left cornea visible. I don't know what the precedence is, but it is my prayer that this will heal without requiring further surgery. I hope having both eyes open will help with her balance & being able to get around, as well as the many other ways we generally take for granted, being able to see out of more than one eye half-way open! I thank you all for your continued prayer on our families behalf & ask that you would include my Dad's wife & all those affected by his passing. I'm so grateful that he lived this long! I'm so gI cannot begin to express the significant impact that this man has had on my life, but to attempt, I will leave with a verse to a song that begins to. . .

Ordinary Man

An ordinary man, he says he's nothing more than just an ordinary man,

And you might think you'd believe him though I'll never understand,
how love can flow so gentle from an ordinary man.

There's magic in his touch, when I'm sick or broken hearted,
there is magic in his touch, of his hand upon my head
& when I hear his soft command,
I know that I have felt that special magic in his hands.

If my Father up in Heaven is anything like him
then I would give the world to be with him for all eternity. . .
and tell Him thanks for sending me to just
an Ordinary Man.

I'm feeling too sober to express myself right now, so I want to link you over to our oldest daughters blog to read a tribute she made to my father who passed away this morning! My life has been blessed to have him & to have my beautiful daughter who has such a beautiful way of expressing herself! http://ourhappynest.blogspot.com/
Love to All
~Dana

"Thanks-Giving" tribute to All our PCH Friends!

To ALL of YOU (including the many we don't have pictures of) & all who have given support to Phoenix Children's Hospital. What a phenomenal Institution for the wellness of children! Also, to everyone in Show Low, EMT's, ER staff, Flight Crew etc. We Thank You & Ask for Bounteous Blessings to be poured out upon you & your family & loved ones now & Forever!!! Our Holiday Season will be one beyond compare thanks to your inspiration, talent, gifts, expertise, skill, compassion, dedication & care that was performed for Callie & our whole family!
In the first moments after the accident, Callie wasn't breathing & I held her not knowing if she would ever breathe again, with our 4 year old looking on astonished by all the "blood in Callie's nose" & everywhere. Then the miracle of her beginning to breathe, but not knowing if she would live long enough for her Dad to hold her again.
To lay in a Coma for days & days
not to make a sound for weeks. . .
then to be able to walk out of the hospital talking, a day short of 2 months, is far more than we could have ever imagined!

With deepest gratitude. Our lives are changed forever & we are blessed, for this we will love you forever!

The Butler Family
Jeff, Dana, Justin, Alisha, Matt, Ashley, Jamison, Monica, Micah, Amber, Marcus, Elsie, Burke, Emma, Haley, Hayden, Brinley, Callie & nephews Gage, Trenton, Garrett & Aiden, not to leave out our Angel Rhionna

(next our special family & friends!)

Happy Thanksgiving to ALL!!!