Busy, Busy, Busy

December has been extremely busy for us. We started the month by celebrating Emma's 9th birthday. It is so hard to believe that she is nine. She is growing up way too fast and turning into a beautiful, loving, young lady. We are so proud of her. She is a great big sister and is so excited to have Keliah joining our family. I don't think a day goes by that she doesn't talk about her.

This year Emma celebrated her birthday at DeBrand's Chocolatier. DeBrand's is an internationally known company and is famous for their wonderful chocolate. We are so lucky to have them right here in our city. Anyway, Emma invited all the girls in her class for a tour of how their chocolate is made complete with samples. Once the tour was over, instead of cake, the girls were able to pick something from their candy counter while Emma opened her gifts. All the girls had a great time and were nice and sugared up by the time their parents came to pick them up.




The next day we got together with Matt's family to make kiekels. This is some sort of Swedish doughnut made out of potato dough. We make these and Christmas cookies every year. It is tradition to eat kiekels Christmas morning. Jaxon and Drew had alot of fun helping with the cooking and decorating. They even proved they were definitely a part of our family by liking the kiekels (I along with most of the others married into the family do not like them, however, all the kids do).



Drew got a little "sprinkle happy."








The weekend after that, Matt's cousin got married and Drew and Gabe were the ring barrers. They were absolutely adorable in their little tuxes and did a fantastic job.



The wedding was absolutely beautiful and the bride was even more beautiful. Instead of giving favors away to their guests, they had carriage rides that took their guests through town to see the Christmas lights. They even had Santa arrive as a special treat for the kids. As you can see, he was a huge hit. Drew was completely amazed. From the moment he walked through the door, Drew followed him around and just stared. It was so cute.









Finally Christmas came and all the kids were ready and as excited as ever. Christmas Eve we spent with my mom, sister, her husband, and my niece. This year they all decided to stay over night so they were also here for Christmas morning which made for and exciting time opening gifts. Actually, it was alot of fun despite the fact that our living room looked like a toy store exploded in it. All the kids were more than happy with their gifts from Santa and other family members. Later in the day we went to Matt's parent's for Christmas where we had a wonderful lunch and the kids opened more gifts.




Jaxon was so excited to get his very own iPod. He has been asking for one but we have been telling him he wasn't going to get it. I really don't think he expected it.

This was Emma's big gift this year. I am usually not one for stuffed animals, but as soon as I saw this Old English Sheep Dog, I knew this was "the" gift for her. Ever since we had to give Sadie away, Emma has been the one to really take it the hardest. There are days when she will just start crying and when you ask her what is wrong, she says she misses Sadie. As the other kids were busy opening their gifts, she laid on the dog for the longest time and even shed a few tears. It was definitely enough to break my heart.



One of the things Blake asked for was a blender he could use to make smoothies in. He was pretty excited when he opened this. He has made quite a few smoothies for everyone and they are really good.



One of my projects this year was to make matching aprons for Matt's mom and Emma. Those two have a special bond and love doing everything together including baking. So, I quickly whipped up these two aprons and I think they were a hit.

This train set has been a part of Matt's familes for a few generations. It is so cool to see them play with this year after year.




As for Drew, he is doing really well. He has bounced back from his surgery very quickly. He was released from the hospital on Tuesday morning and was in quite a bit of pain. He took his pain medicine through Tuesday evening, night and one dose on Wednesday morning and has had nothing since. He has about a 4-5 inch incision across his abdomen and it doesn't seem to phase him at all. Honestly, I was kind of looking forward to a little "down time," but Drew surprised us all with how quickly he recovered. He continues to do well and will go back for his post op check in a couple of weeks.




So, as 2010 draws to an end, we have so much to be thankful for and are blessed beyond measure. Although we hit a few hurdles along the way, the end result is that we are all happy, healthy, and together. We look forward to 2011 for many reasons, and cannot wait to see what the next year will bring us.

Happy New Year from our family to yours.

Update

Well, after a long, tiring, emotional day, we are finally settled into our room. Drew is sleeping soundly and is just as sweet as can be. Unfortunately, I forgot the cable to download pictures from my camera, so no pics this time.

The surgery took about three hours and there was good news and not so good news. The good news is that Drew does not have a catheter because he did not need anything in that area repaired. Praise God! Honestly, I just felt terrible thinking that he may have a catheter over Christmas. So, as far as that goes, all is great.

Now, for the "missing jewel" (as his doctors refer to it). After a small incision was made with no success of finding it, a larger incision was made across his lower abdomen and it was found. Because of the size and location, it had to be removed. Because of it having to be removed, it fertility rate is very, very low. In fact, the doctor does not think he will be able to have children the "normal" way. Honestly, this news did not really affect me the way I think the doctors and nurses thought it would. As the doctor was giving me the news that Drew may never be able to have children of his own, I just kept thinking, "okay, no big deal, there are other ways of having children."

Overall, Drew will lead as normal a life any other boy. The important things are that he is happy, healthy, and has a family that absolutely adores him.

Thank you all for you thoughts, prayers, and comments. Please continue to pray that he heals quickly. Knowing Drew, he is not going to like being "down" for long:)

Prayers, Please

I know, I know, I have been really bad at updating the blog, but things here have been crazy busy. Now that my final are over and the kids are out of school for Christmas break I am hoping to update the blog more as well as get some much needed cleaning, organizing, and sewing done around here.



For now though, I am asking for prayers for Drew. He is going in for surgery tomorrow afternoon. Right now there are alot of unknowns as far as how long and exactly what they will be doing. They will be repairing a small hole from the previous hypospadias surgery that was done in China. His doctor does not seem concerned about this at all. His biggest concern is the undescended testicle. During one of his recent visits the doctor was unable to feel it and is concerned it may be higher (much higher) up in his abdomen. If this is the case, the testicle will most likely be removed leaving him with only about a 40% chance of being able to have children later. The doctor will not know exactly what he is going to do until he starts the surgery. We are hoping he is able to locate the testicle laproscopicly so Drew will not have an incision. Either way, because of the hypospadias repair, he will come home on Tuesday and will have a catheter for 5 days or so.

Please keep Drew in your prayers over the next few days that all goes well and he has a speedy recovery. I am hoping to update the bog if possible.