Upwards Saturdays Begin!

Sam and his good buddy, Caleb Hubler.

Posing after the game.

Watching to see if his one shot goes in - it didn't. but who cares, it's just fun!

Emma and her friend Cassandra Hubler.

Bringing it down the court!

We had a wonderful, busy day going to basketball games. This was our kids' first time, so this sports parents thing is new to us. We really enjoyed it and the kids had a blast!

Moda Bake Shop Giveaway

I've never followed quilt blogs before, but I've just been introduced to a bunch and they have so much great stuff on them. Great, more ways to waste my time! Here's a link to a lady I just checked out today. It's part of a group of blogs who are in a big giveaway from Moda. Check it out if you're interested.

www.thepolkadotchair.blogspot.com

Idaho Falls - Rosy's accident

I'm sure everyone knows by now, but I'll summarize anyways. Last weekend we went with all the Mitchells to Idaho Falls to see the air show, which was at Dave's client, the IF Airport. Right before we were leaving the hotel, Rosy's fingers got shut in the hinge side of our hotel door. In medical speak, they were "avulsed from below the nail to the tip". (Avulsed means pulled or plucked off.) We rushed her to the ER where God in His grace, brought us a hand surgeon who was very good at hand surgery and kind to Rosy as well.

This is Rosy while we waited for him to come - he was in surgery fixing someone else's hand emergency. After Dr. Wilson sewed her fingers back together. Tired but not in pain, thank God.
A long day - she was incredibly brave through it all.

Today we went for her 1 week dressing change. We had no idea that it would be terrible.

Sorry if this is too gross - does the blurriness help? The bandages were stuck and it was pretty painful to get them off. It caused the middle finger to start bleeding. 2 hours later it had saturated her entire bandage. We went back at noon where Dr. Andy did a digital block and cauterized it. It didn't seem to stop the bleeding, so he wrapped it tightly while he went to consult a surgeon. The surgeon told him to do a tourniquet wrap for 15-20 minutes to see if it would stop. While he was on the phone, I prayed with Dave & Rosy that God would stop the bleeding so we could go home and not on to a hand surgeon. When Dr. Andy unwrapped it to do the tourniquet it had stopped bleeding. Thank you, God for giving the answer we wanted and showing Rosy the power of prayer. Here she is with her new slightly darker pink bandage -- after a nap and some Tylenol and Motrin.

Psalm 12:8

I was doing my daily Bible reading and came across this verse:
"The wicked freely strut about when what is vile is honored among men." Wow - I feel like David wrote that today! When such wickedness - homosexuality is what comes to mind - is honored, trivialized, normalized the wicked do truly strut about. I always thought the adults might be exaggerating when they said the world was getting worse and it was a bad time to raise children but I'm actually beginning to feel like that now with my own children.
But I'm grateful to know that our God is the same God whom David loved and it fires up my desire to teach my children to know Him so that they'll be prepared to live for Him in this sinful world.

Emma's Birthday

For Emma's 9th birthday, we took her friends to a dance studio where they were taught some dance and just had a great time.

I don't know if you can see it, but it says Emma down the middle. Another creative cake experience!

Sammy's Birthday

For Sam's 6th birthday we had a Harley party. Our friend, Jay, brought his Harley over and gave the boys (and Emma) a ride down our street. It was pretty fun!

This is about as creative as my cake's get - but Sammy thought it was cool. (I can't get the pictures and words to match so you'll have to figure it out yourself!)

Last Day of School

Here is Emma on her last day of 3rd grade with her teacher, Mrs. Page. I can't believe she's on to 4th grade only 4 weeks from today!





Here is Sammy with his kindergarten teacher, Mrs. Emery. Emma had her also and we really enjoyed having her again. My boy is going to 1st grade! (sniff sniff)

Remembering last weekend

It was gloriously sunny and warm! This weekend has been so awful - I don't know when it has rained this much in Boise!
Last Saturday we worked all day outside and then met some friends, the Plantings, at a park for a picnic dinner. We had great fellowship and the kids all enjoyed playing and riding their bikes around the track at the park.

6 Weeks Out

It's been 6 weeks since surgery and Dave is feeling pretty good. He's had a lingering cold that has made for difficult sleeping the 2 weeks, but he hasn't had any headaches during that time.

The kids were especially excited for today because he can finally pick them all up! I'm excited because I get to stop picking them up! :)

We got our first EOB from the insurance company and it looks like we finally have coverage so we're grateful for that too. We've heard that we have the policy that's basically only good if you have brain surgery -- well, we did, so start covering!

Once again, God has been so good to us in all of this - which He still would be if it went poorly, but we're grateful it's gone this way!

Back to Work

After the longest time off of work since Dave started working, he went back today for half of the day. He said it went well although he didn't get much done. :) Then he took a nap for the afternoon and is doing well now.

He had one migraine this weekend and still has headaches but they are less severe. Also, his numbness is still coming and going, but the severity is lessened here as well. So, we're encouraged that he is going in the right direction.

Here's an unrelated silly story: We were trying to tell Rosy about a "wordless book" bracelet and couldn't remember what the blue represented. Sam offered from the back seat, "Let's look it up on God.com."

Feeling Better

Dave has been doing a bit better this week. He's been seeing the chiropractor a lot to help with his sore neck. Because of the angle at which his head was held in the vice during surgery he's had a lot of stiffness and pain in his neck.

He also had a couple acupuncture treatments which usually help with the migraines.

He asked the nurse practitioner at Mayo and she said people who have a history of Migraines before surgery usually have a string of them afterwards, so perhaps that is what this was.

Through all of this God is good and gracious and has provided for our needs! Praise Him!

I think the honeymoon is over

Dave was feeling pretty great really, until Wednesday night of this week. He woke up at midnight with "an ice pick" in his head. I likened it to a knife later and he corrected me. Apparently he is tune with the crucial difference! The next day he was pretty wiped out and his head hurting quite a bit. Then Thursday night it happened again around 5 am. Since then he's been in more discomfort and just feeling worse over all and very fatigued. Strangley, I'm feeling more fatigued as well!

We're thinking perhaps the nerves are all waking up as the swelling is pretty much gone. We've had a couple of meals from friends, so that has been very helpful for me.

Dave also received a gift from the 1st grade daughter of friends of ours. She had drawn pictures and written him a note and included her National Geographic Kids magazine I think for him to read as he rests. It was so sweet and Dave really enjoyed it. Thanks, Sweetie!

A Quick Note

Dave got his staples out yesterday. Two of the nurses got to try out the staple remover for the first time on his head - which didn't feel that great. But, his incision looks much, much better. He has been resting pretty well and is enjoying getting to read some of the books stacked by our bed.

Home Sweet Home

We got home yesterday afternoon at 1:30. We had to get up at 7 to get to the airport so it made for a long stretch of activity for Dave. He went upstairs to his bed and took a 3 hour nap, which felt great. He was still pretty peaked looking last night but had a great night of sleep and looks much better today.

He's been taking it easy today and I think got a little bored today when he came in at 11:20 and said , "I guess I'll have lunch now." I think he's going to have to figure out how to be a patient patient. :)

Here are a couple pictures from our time at the Mall of America:

Bev took the girls to the American Girl Bistro where even the dolls got food. They said they don't discriminate and allowed Rosy's non-American Girl doll to eat with us as well. :) The boys ate at the Bubba Gump Shrimp Co.

Here's one of the many "jerk your neck around the corner" rides that we did. I've already been to my chiro twice since we got home!

"I've walked so much my legs are going to have a heart attack"

That, in the words of Rosy, is how I feel tonight! We went to the Mall of America at 10 am and came home on the 8 pm shuttle. Rosy was there all day with no stroller or any assistance. She only staged a couple of sit downs towards the end. We went to the Aquarium, had lunch at the American Girl Bistro (the "men" went to Bubba Gump Shrimp Co), rode rides for 3 hours and then shopped. We are exhausted!

I will mention that the only thing Dave did was lunch. He has been feeling very fatigued and his numbness is very significant. It is his whole arm and hand and the left side of his chest. We're told this is normal, so we're praying it will subside in the next couple of weeks. Dave (as are the rest of us) is very ready to be home!

We leave the hotel on the 8 am shuttle (yuck!) for our 11:30 flight and should arrive in Boise around 1:30. It's a 3 hour flight with a time change. So now I must finish packing and get three very tired kids to bed!! My camera battery died today so I'll post pictures when we get home!

Follow Up Appointment

We went and met with Dr. Lanzino this am. He smiled when he greeted Dave . . .perhaps he feels like he knows you better after he has cut open your head. :)

Everything looks good - Dave has swelling on the right side of his face from the temple down to the chin. They said that the swelling follows the laws of gravity too so it will "slide" down as it is being reabsorbed by his body. His numbness is pretty significant right now, but Dr. Lanzino said that it should be much better in 3 - 4 weeks. He slept almost sitting up last night and seemed to do much better. So he will need to get lots of rest and just allow for the time his body needs to heal this. There is not much likelihood of it happening again -- there are no other malformations in his brain. They know this b/c there have been 7 or 8 MRIs of his brain in the last couple of months! :)

We're all packed up and ready to head to Minneapolis, so now we're just waiting for our shuttle. The Clinic people and really everyone we've encountered have all been very gracious and kind. It is a pretty neat place and really instills confidence that the people who are taking care of you really know what they're doing.

A giant paper cut with staples in it

So that's how Dave described his head this morning. Sounds nice, huh? He has not slept well the last couple of nights -- I'm sure the double bed and not having his pillow are not helping. But his head has started hurting more and he has weird dreams and sensations which I imagine are side effects from the surgery. He stayed "hotel" from church this morning and took a nap and appears a little more rested now. I think once we get home he will be able to get better rest.

Also, for those of you who have had trouble posting and still want to, go ahead and try again. I opened up access to everyone. I think there were some restrictions before. I'm not entirely sure.

A Praise

I know many of you have prayed for Sammy in the last month and even further back. He has smiled more in the last day or two than he has in quite a while and the main difference is his eating. Tonight at Famous Dave's he had ribs, corn on the cob, apples, muffin, brisket and pork! Dave and I asked him if he was happy that the surgery was over and that Dave was doing well and he said yes and was really smiling -- and then got embarassed that he was so happy. :)

So, thanks for praying and Praise God with us! (He just came and told me he's starving and we ate 45 mintues ago!)

The Socks

This is Dave again. All my friends at work will be glad to know that I did get to keep the socks and will even be wearing them home on the airplane to help protect me from blood clots. After that, I won't need them, so you're welcome to them.

A Little Fun

I've had requests for a new picture of Dave's head so here you go. He's feelin pretty good today. He took a Percocet last night but spent the night hallucinating and feeling pretty weird, so he's going to try to stick to Tylenol. His main complaint is the stiffness in his neck and shoulders from the position of intubation and surgery. He's also quite fatigued (of course!) so is pretty much laying low and snoozing whenever he feels like it.

John rented a car and he & I took the kids to the House of Bounce! John was able to see Dave for the first time last night. He is still tired but feeling much better. Bev now appears to have a minor stomach bug so she is staying in their new room for now. We're hoping it will pass quickly and praying it does not move on to anyone else!