I love Christmas cards. Just look how much I love them!
Here we are, in the middle of our summer Christmas, thousands of miles from friends and family, and in a way, they're all here, looking at me from their festive family portraits or giving their blessings in the form of sparkly stationary. Our friends don't seem so far away. Now we can take down our Christmas tree!
Here we are, in the middle of our summer Christmas, thousands of miles from friends and family, and in a way, they're all here, looking at me from their festive family portraits or giving their blessings in the form of sparkly stationary. Our friends don't seem so far away. Now we can take down our Christmas tree!
Even though we are four weeks into the new year, we haven't been able to get to removing our holiday decor. We ended up in the States for the holidays, rather unexpectedly. Danny's ACL surgery rehab was going to go past Christmas so we decided at the last minute to join him. We didn't tell many people because we didn't know what our schedule would be like. It turned out to be a very good thing that we went! The surgery went well, but when they went in to install the new ACL they found that he had also ruptured his meniscus - that repair pushed his recovery date forward an extra 3 weeks! We flew in the day of his surgery. The trip itself was horrible. Gigi was so exhausted after 12+ hours of travel that she threw up in my mom's car on the way home from the airport... onto Toby who, praise God, was asleep at the time. I reached Danny's hospital room at the very moment he was coming out from sedation, while my mom whisked the kids off to her house an hour north.
The first week was tough- Danny required around the clock care- to move his leg, to move his therapy machine, to hand him things constantly. I had to drive him all the time, everywhere, listening to him anticipate every potential driving error I might make with a preemptive correction. His painkillers made him irritable with unpredictable mood swings. So. Much. Fun. But as always, God was refining me, allowing these trials to mold my character and teach me about sacrifice and patience, and the consequences of taking the edge off your stress with cheesecake. I gained 12 pounds in 3 weeks! We took advantage of our time in Florida to fall back into step with things at our old church. Noemie played the viola at a Sunday night service. I jumped into the choir for the Christmas cantata. And of course, we were at all the services. It was so good to be back home again, even if we were sleeping in a one-bedroom hotel room with a sagging mattress.
The first week was tough- Danny required around the clock care- to move his leg, to move his therapy machine, to hand him things constantly. I had to drive him all the time, everywhere, listening to him anticipate every potential driving error I might make with a preemptive correction. His painkillers made him irritable with unpredictable mood swings. So. Much. Fun. But as always, God was refining me, allowing these trials to mold my character and teach me about sacrifice and patience, and the consequences of taking the edge off your stress with cheesecake. I gained 12 pounds in 3 weeks! We took advantage of our time in Florida to fall back into step with things at our old church. Noemie played the viola at a Sunday night service. I jumped into the choir for the Christmas cantata. And of course, we were at all the services. It was so good to be back home again, even if we were sleeping in a one-bedroom hotel room with a sagging mattress.
The kids and I left Monday of this week (and arrived Tuesday), not sure when Danny would be joining us. When we finally arrived at the airport in La Paz (after a layover in Lima), we were beyond thrilled to meet up with our escort, who navigated the 2000 ft. steep descent through inner city switchbacks at 20 mph down to our neighborhood so I wouldn't get sick like I did when we first arrived. So thankful! Noemie was queasy but didn't throw up and she leaned over to me and said, "I feel so blessed!" Danny's post-op evaluation was Tuesday morning. He was on a plane by 10pm that evening! How's that for a miracle! The kids had a great surprise when they woke up Wednesday morning. Several, actually. With Danny now home, we were able to open our Christmas presents, since they all got left behind when we went to Miami. And, in what was perhaps not the most judicious move, went to pick up a puppy from a friend who couldn't keep her.
We named her Luna Josefina. She was already house trained, and isn't much of a shoe-chewer, but she is a digger. And her favorite place to dig? Our indoor garden. Four times in 24 hours she dove into her excavations, every time requiring us to sweep, replace the soil, vacuum and treat the carpet, and wipe down the hardwood floors. She would take advantage of my distraction while I made breakfast or was dealing with the sudden onset of fevers, Gigi in particular nearing 104. Within a day, all kids had headaches and fevers, and Danny, who was back at work Thursday, came home Friday looking pale and weak. He would miss work the whole week following on account of the flu, while our house was filled with a ceaseless symphony of chest-racking pulmonary expulsions. A cough-cophony!
What a week! But it is so good to be home.
Home here, home there.
Whatever home means.
Every now and then Luna runs across the house and my heart jumps, "Ack! There's an animal in the house!" And then I think, oh yeah, I let it in.
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