Dad's Surgery

Dad before surgery

My dad had triple bypass surgery. It was an eventful few weeks from an abnormal heart scan/stress test, angiogram, to bypass. And to make it all more dramatic, my parents were supposed to leave for a trip to Turkey two days after the angiogram where they found significant blockages. So the trip was cancelled and surgery was scheduled. My dad has done amazing though! He was up walking the day after surgery and he was discharged after only 5 days in the hospital. He is slightly frustrated with his energy level, but give him time and he will be going stronger than before! I am so thankful that he found this before a heart attack and that everything has gone so well.

Jachin's Surgery

(Jachin wanted to lay around with his shirt unbuttoned for some reason!)

Jachin had is tonsils and adenoids removed....finally. I decided to take him straight to the ENT when you could hear him snoring through a closed door. His tonsils were HUGE and you could see them pushing out his neck. I thought his glands were always swollen. Who knew you could see tonsils like that? We scheduled the surgery and they told us that he should start eating regular food the day of surgery. In fact, they told us to stop at the Sonic around the corner from the surgery center on the way home for a hamburger! That was the best advice ever. We told Jachin that he could have as much ice cream as he wanted as long as he ate regular food too. So he had that expectation from the beginning. He was eating Doritos the day after surgery. He was heavily drugged though. Jachin hated the pain meds and I had to beg him to take them sometimes. We switched to plain Tylenol fairly fast. I think the narcotics made him feel weird and he didn’t like it. Jachin was out of school for a week and loved being home. It was hard for him to go back. His friends at school made him cards and his teacher brought a balloon over. He is very loved!

Pinewood Derby

Jachin and Andy made a black car with lightening bolts. They didn’t win any trophies, but I could see that look in Andy’s eyes. He was mentally planning next year’s car! Jachin had fun with his friends from RAs despite the outcome.

Boaz Kerson McDonald--It's official!

We had a courtdate today for the State of Oklahoma to acknowledge Bo’s adoption. Judge Bonner officially changed his name to Boaz Kerson McDonald. We went back and forth on his name, but finally ended up with Boaz as his first name. We think that will be easier since he goes by “Bo.” I decided to not hire a lawyer for the adoption. I didn’t use an agency for the Haitian adoption, why start now? But I did need a little help from the lawyer grandparents. ;) The court proceedings were short and sweet. We had no problems with the order that Papa made, and the judge simply glanced at the pile of paperwork. He had us swear to be Bo’s parents and let Bo hit the gavel on the bench. Kimberlyn and Nana were watching as we officially adopted Bo. It was a stressful, but surprisingly easy day. I went up to the State Health Dept to get Bo’s Certificate of Foreign Birth. That was more stressful than the court proceedings. We waited for a long time, but finally they gave us his official “birth cert.” Now if Bo needs a birth cert, we can get a copy from Oklahoma instead of trying to track down one in Haiti (that is in French)! My next step is Bo’s citizenship....

For the photo album of today, click here.

Ski Trip

We took the entire family on the college ski trip this year. It was a blast! We took the kids out of school for 4 days and drove to NM on the church bus. They were so good on the 10 hour drive. We stayed at the Miller’s house, which made it an incredibly cheap trip. Robin and Joel drove down and were the hostesses with Joel’s mom. What an amazing family they are, with such servant hearts. Jachin took ski school the first day to learn to snowboard. He loved being cool. Kimberlyn also took ski school to learn to ski. She had little pink skis to match her all pink snowsuit. Bo hung out with me in the lodge. He was not so excited about the snow and cold weather. I guess when you grew up in the Caribbean, you aren’t happy about bundling up and freezing. It was so fun watching them on the slopes. Kimberlyn was a speed-demon! She would just go straight down the hill with no fear. Jachin had a small bout of altitude sickness, but quickly loved boarding. Robin and Joel took the kids home for us one afternoon so that I could ski with Andy. It was so fun going fast. I guess that is where Kimber gets it. Bo enjoyed wresting with all the college guys, being as rough as he could be.

Click here for the ski trip photo album.

"We aren't millonaires, we aren't billonaires, we're just blessed"

Jachin said the above line, and we thought it was very concise. We try to tell our children that we have so much more than most people in the world. This helps when they complain about not having a certain toy, candy, movie.....or whatever. I didn’t say it cured all that greediness. :)

I was sitting in the kitchen today feeding Bo his beef soup--and it hit me. How blessed are we in America, that we have meat, milk, & soup EVERYWHERE. In Haiti, Bo barely had enough nutrition to stay alive, and he lived in an orphanage. He was one of the lucky ones. He had a huge “rice belly” due to the lack of protein. And now everytime I throw leftovers out, I am reminded of how blessed we are.

This was especially true this Christmas for me. I of course wanted things for Christmas, but it was a bitter/sweet thing for me. I actually felt guilty this year for how much we were given. I am very grateful for my wonderful family who wants to show their love for us through gift giving. And I am grateful that my entire family is taken care of financially. I never want to be ungrateful to God for what He has given us, and I never want to forget those that don’t have it. I made fun of my brother-in-law for giving my sister a goat for Christmas. But they have it right. My sister gave him a TV (out of their blessing she showed him love) and he gave money to WorldVision (out of their blessing & love they helped others).

Christmas 2008

We had an amazing Christmas this year! The kids went to the Christmas Eve service with Andy while I went to work. Such is the life of a hospital RN. We had Christmas at our house (just the kids, Andy, and me) Christmas morning after I got home from work. We put the turkey in the oven, opened presents, and I went to bed. Three hours later the turkey was done, I got up from my nap, and we loaded up to go to Nana and Papa’s house. We ate with Jeremy & Mel, and Grandmother & Papa Cross. We stayed up late talking. It was a lot of fun. All we were missing was Jenny & Jacob and the girls. We were able to celebrate Thanksgiving with them this year though.

Late Christmas night we went home to sleep for a few hours before we would get up and pack to leave for Houston. Jachin’s birthday (Dec 26th) is always a lot of fun because family is always around. He opened his birthday presents before we started our 7 hour drive. It was great trip except for one thing, we almost got a ticket. I made the mistake of giving Bo a Zicam, he got car sick, and I was drapped over the seat trying to clean up. At that moment we saw flashing lights behind us. The policeman informed us that being in the car without a seatbelt was against the law. However, he felt sorry for us and gave us a warning for “speeding.”

In Houston we stayed in Mimi & Pa’s new house. Heather and the girls made it to Houston a few hours after us. It was fun all hanging out together. They even played Lasertag for Jachin’s birthday. We always feel like we get too much every Christmas, and this year was no exception. We have so many people that love us, and spoil us! THANK YOU!