A Week to Remember

Our week of fun and scary times is almost over! It has been a week filled with cozy moments, wild boys, a husband who I am learning more about every day, and a couple of pretty tense hours throughout the surgery of our precious little baby.

Mike took this week off of work knowing that Sammy would be having his surgery on Thursday. I am so very glad he did, because I needed the extra week of support he was able to give me leading up to the surgery time. And this was a very minor surgery! I can't imagine my children being in severe pain or having to go through major surgery. It makes me cry just to think about it, and to think about all of the parents I know whose children have gone through major health issues and some extremely scary times. I am so glad we have a God who loves us and is near to us even when hard times come and things happen that we don't think we can get through. I feel so blessed when I watch Oprah and see all of the suffering and heartache around the world and know that most of that I will never have to go through (unless I become a foreign missionary at some point in my life, but right now I know we're right where God wants us to be).

Sammy's surgery went very smoothly and we could not have asked for a better surgeon or nurses. The only time he was really in pain and mad was when he was in recovery, and they came to get me to see if I could calm him down. The only problem was that the bottle they were trying to feed him wasn't warm enough for him. Easily solved, and he was soon a happy little baby sucking down the first food he'd had in 8 hours. Mike was called back to the recovery room soon after, and good thing, because he was more anxious than I was to see our little boy get safely out of that hospital. Mike isn't comfortable in doctor's offices and hospitals, and he really just wanted to go home! Sammy was fine after a nice long nap at home, and he didn't even need any more of his pain medicine today. He was jumping and giggling in his crib this morning, and is acting like nothing ever happened to him. He's back to his normal little self!

Mike and I have baked 3 apple pies and an apple crisp this week. There is an apple tree close to our home that no one is picking apples from, so we've been taking advantage of its abundance of red, sweet, crunchy apples -- after getting permission from the owner, of course. We even gave him one of our pies. He mentioned that the apples would make great pies, so we felt it was only right! I got a good tip from my grandma, who said that her mother (who recently passed away shorty after her 100th birthday; she was born in 1905) would put the pie filling into a pie pan, then freeze it and store it until she was ready to make the crust, and then she could thaw out just the right amount. I'm not sure if Great-Grandma had apple trees, but I know she grew strawberries and lots of other yummy veggies, because she made the BEST strawberry jam I've ever tasted, and would make the world's yummiest chicken and noodles over mashed potatoes when we went to visit. And her green beans... yum! We always ate too much.

I had a day off on Wednesday, and went to some fun stores, including Old Time Pottery with a friend. We had so much fun, and they are beginning to put out their Christmas merchandise, so it was fun to talk and plan and dream. It's an absolutely enormous store, so it's easy to get overwhelmed, but the prices are awesome, and it's totally worth the drive.

Mike goes back to work next week, and then he gets the week after that off. I love vacation time!