Thank you so much for your support and prayers in the last few days as I've been here in IN preparing for my dad's open heart surgery. They started surgery this morning around 7:30 and by about 10:15, they came out and told us they were done. Dad is doing great. I was surprised how great he looked post-surgery and was encouraged to hear the surgeon say that all went better than could be expected and dad was going to be fine. He did say that he has a lot of diseased arteries and that could be a concern in the future, however, he said with healthy eating (which my dad is not too good at) and exercise (which he's terrible at), he would be fine. So we're going to have to get on him to change his lifestyle a little bit, but we're encouraged to know we're going to have dad with us for a while. I had a great peace preparing for the surgery, but last night was hard to think that it could be the last night that I had a dad...it was emotional, and I'm so glad it's over now. I gave dad a hug and kiss this morning, told him I loved him and was so proud of him. As I walked out of the room, he said, "Sara," and as I turned to look at him, he said, "You're precious." It still makes me cry. We had a precious time of prayer last night with him, and this morning someone read scripture and he laid there listening with a smile on his face and a peaceful look in his eyes. That's how he has lived his whole life, and it filled me with great joy and peace to know that my dad knows who his Father is. As we came down to the waiting room, I realized that he truly is one of the most godly men that I know. How blessed I am! We have all been on mom and dad's blog, adding updates as they have become available. Once I get home, or somewhere with better internet connection, I will write about my experience, etc - but mostly for my own therapy, more than anyone else's information. For now, if you're interested in the latest updates, you can visit http://www.mostholyrev.com/. I love you all and thank you so much for all of your prayers. I can't tell you how much they mean, nor how effective they have been...the doctors are still calling this a miracle. I'm just so thankful to have my dad. It's so strange to think that we really almost lost him. The peace in this time is overwhelming, and I'm so thankful for our God. He is truly good. Love and blessings to you all. Sara

Our Trip Here

Well I've been here for several days and life has been so chaotic and busy that I haven't had a chance to write all about what has been going on. Getting here was quite the journey! A 20 hour drive makes for quite the trip. First, I must say that I have been so impressed with my boys. They were perfect in the car, only fussing a handful of times the entire way here. When I put Grant in the van that morning, I explained that we were going to see PaPa, who was very sick. This concerned Grant immensely and for the first 8 hours of our journey, that's all I heard about - "Mommy, see PaPa! Sick!" Poor kid was very concerned and was being so good so we could go see PaPa in the hospital. Mason was an angel, as well, falling asleep quickly after our journey started, and playing with Grant in the backseat for hours on end. I found the start of our journey to be extremely emotional for me. I knew dad had had a heart attack, but somehow getting in the car and starting on my trip up there made it all very real and very emotional for me. We intended to leave by 4 AM but didn't get on the road until 5:30 since Mason was up most of the night and I wanted to get some more sleep since I was driving by myself for 8 hours. It was dark, raining, and combined with my tears, it was an interesting beginning. I wasn't crying uncontrollably, but tears kept slipping out now and then. Soon it started raining harder and the van started hydroplaning, even though I was going well under the speed limit. Unfortunately, it rained for nearly the rest of the trip. We got to NC and picked up Stefi and Dan. We had a great drive for a while, until we got into WV. We were about an hour from Charleston and the roads were windy, it was hard to see because of the fog, and wind was whipping through, pushing us around a tad. Dan was driving, and Stefi was cold, so they had the heat on in the front. I was quite carsick, so I turned the air on in the back. Pretty soon, Grant said, "Mommy, hot! HOT!" I turned an air vent directly on him. It settled him for a minute, when he said, "Mommy, Owie! Owie!" I asked him where his owie was, and as soon as he started to tell me, he began throwing up. He was so carsick that he was literally sick. It was 45 degrees out, pouring down rain, and I told Dan he needed to stop like NOW! Stefi was about to get sick because of the smell in the van, so we rolled down the windows, allowing the cold air and pelting rain into the van. When we got to the gas station, I took Grant out of his seat to find that he was covered in peuk. I took his shoes and socks off and put him barefoot on the ground (remember, it was 45 degrees and raining!), stripped him down to his diaper and the poor boy was screaming and shivering. His teeth were chattering and all he kept saying was, "Yuck! Yucky!" I agreed wholeheartedly. Stefi was scrambling to get him some clothes. Meanwhile, I had wrapped him in a blanket and was holding him. As she opened the trunk, the box of snacks fell out and our food spilled onto the ground. I just got the giggles and was practically doubled over from laughing so hard. People were walking by and giving me the dirtiest looks because I was standing there with my shivering 2 year old while splitting a gut, but what are ya gonna do? We finally got the carseat out of the car and took it into the bathroom. We got Grant dressed, I cleaned out the carseat and put everything in a plastic bag until we could get to IN. But now I had a new quandry....his carseat was soaked, so where was he going to sit? I laid him down in the backseat and told him it was time to go to sleep, which he did after much complaining. But the poor kid rode illegally for the next 6 hours! I figured, I grew up that way, so he should be fine! We got to IN and I stayed up with my mom listening to her talk, sharing our fears, etc. I finally laid down on the recliner at 5:15. We all woke up about 6:00 and got ready to go see my dad at 7:30. My dad looked great! He looked better and said he felt better than he had in a long time. It was so good to see him, although quite emotional. Dad took Stef and I in his arms and wept, saying "I dreamed that you came!" How mean! But we were there, all together, and that's all that mattered. After being there for several minutes, the doctor came in, explaining what had happened, etc. After a few minutes, Dan, who was standing next to me, laid his head on my shoulder. I was thinking, "Dan, I know you're tired, but now's really not the time for this!" I asked him if he was okay, and got no response. By this time, his entire body weight was upon me and I realized he was passing out. I put my arms around him and tried to ease him to the ground. He came to once he was down there and was white as a ghost and dripping water from his face and forehead. The cardiologist casually looked over and said, "Are you okay? You're not having any chest pain, are you?" Stefi just laughed, got up and came over to him and said, "Well what am I supposed to do with you??" We all have laughed about it all week long. It was at this point, after the doctor left, that I was telling dad about poor barefooted Grant in the cold rain. Mom told Stef to interject something and Stef said, "I haven't even told Sara that!" Well, mom wasn't asking her to tell that part, but since I found out there was more to the sotry, I was anxious to hear. It turns out as I was cleaning out the carseat, Stef went back out to the van. As she was walking out of the bathroom, Dan came walking out of the men's room at the same time! She looked at him and said, "Dan, where's Mason!" Dan panicked and they ran out to the van where (although he had shut the doors, they were unlocked) they found Mason sitting there grinning from ear to ear. Thank goodness he's alright! Poor Dan felt terribly and I found it quite humorous. It happens to the best of us, that's for sure! Good grief...thankfully the rest of the week has not been quite so dramatic. I'll write more later. For now, I'm off to take a nap!

Update on dad

Things seem to be looking up for my dad. The first day we were here, he was transferred to the new hospital and seemed to take a turn for the worse which was very difficult on my mom (and the rest of us for sure) but the next day he had recovered quite nicely. His heart is regenerating on its own very well and it seems to be attributed to the power of prayer. God is truly healing my dad, and we all see it as a miracle and a blessing. Things should be much worse than they are at this point, considering how serious the heart attack was. The doctors are encouraged and have decided to give his heart some more time to heal, since it is doing so well on its own. Unfortunately, he still has a major artery blocked 75-80% so they do need to perform surgery, but they have postponed it until Thursday or later. All of my siblings and I have arranged to stay until after the surgery, so that is a blessing. If you want to keep up with regular updates, you can look at my dad's blog...www.mostholyrev.com where we have a family member updating it daily, explaining his condition, what's been done, etc. for the day. Love you all. We covet your prayers and look forward to posting our praise report at a successful surgery very soon.

Things you never expect...

Today was quite the day for me. Yesterday ended with finding out that Chris' uncle had passed away. He was very close to Uncle Wayne, and we are both having trouble dealing with the idea that he has passed away so early. We are taking great solace and comfort in knowing that he is worshiping at the feet of Jesus today. The good part of the morning was spent trying to figure out how to get Chris home for the funeral, etc. About an hour after I booked his plane ticket, I got a call from my mom. "Hey, Sara. It's mom," she said, but her voice was shaking, and I knew something was wrong. My dad hasn't been feeling well for over a month, so immediately my thoughts went to him. "Your dad's had a heart attack." It hit me like a blow. I didn't know what to think, how to respond, what to say. I was ready to hop on a plane right that minute and get there as fast as I could. I still feel that way. After I hung up, I started weeping. Grant, who had just woken from his nap and is usually very whiney and grumpy after waking, came over to me, crawled up in my lap and began stroking the back of my hair, saying, "It's okay, mommy. It's okay." I realized later how silly it seems to think that I found such great comfort burying my head in my two year old's neck, but somehow it was so comforting to have someone there to hold me and to cling to in the midst of feeling so very helpless. Mom was so good about keeping me updated. Any time they would give her any information, she was calling me with the update, which I appreciated more than you could know. So it seems that my dad had a very serious heart attack today. They put in 6 stints in order to stop the heart attack itself, but found that on a large artery that splits into a "V," they couldn't clean it out like they needed to, so they will be doing Open Heart Surgery either on Saturday or Monday. Had they known what they were getting into, they would have immediately taken him to surgery and done a 5 or 6 bypass, but since they have all the stints in, they are only going to do a 2 or 3 bypass. I guess at this point, the bottom lobe is only functioning 20% and the back of the heart is only functioning 30%. But they think they can bring some of the functionality back. They just want to give the heart a few days to gain some strength before doing another surgery on it. So that, in a nutshell, making a very long story short, is the latest on my dad. I will be driving home on Friday via NC to pick up my sister and brother-in-law, and hopefully Chris can come up to Indy to spend a little bit of time with us, as well. It's been a crummy day. Definitely not what I woke up and expected to deal with today. So for you faithful readers of my blog, please keep my family - especially my mom and dad - in your prayers. We definitely need it.

10.19.08 Biketoberfest

We drove down to Daytona, FL Sunday afternoon for the Annual Biketoberfest. Mason wasn't feeling extremely well, so we couldn't take him to the nursery at church, so we decided since he wasn't acting poorly, just spitting up an awful lot, that we would take advantage of our freed up time and go experience something new. We actually didn't go down to where ALL the action was, since we had the boys with us, but we went to the biggest Harley Shop in the world and they had thousands of bikers there with all sorts of vendors, etc set up. Chris had a permanent smile on his face when we got there, and Grant was so excited to see all the "bikes." Mason was so good, despite the fact that he's not feeling extremely well right now, and we all came away with some souvenirs...I even got my first Harley Shirt! Can't you just picture that! Chris got a visor, and Grant liked it so much that he just had to have his own. They're cute in their hats. We had a great time. By far the weirdest thing we saw was this couple walking around with 4 monkeys that they allowed to crawl all over their heads, etc. Luckily, they had fashioned little diapers for them! Next year Chris wants to leave the kids with a sitter and go down to where the real action is. He says it'd be a "cultural experience." We'll just have to see about that! Ha!

Oh Where, Oh Where Could it Be?

For months we have been searching for the remote control for our TV in our bedroom. We had it one night, and then one hot August day, it turned up missing. I tore the house apart several times looking for the stupid thing but to no avail. It was no where to be found. Chris had had a long day at work a few days ago, so he asked me to massage his back before he went to sleep. He laid down on our bed and I was massaging his back, while letting my eyes wander around the room while I was talking to him. He was almost asleep when suddenly, I saw something very unusual. We have a cut crystal vase in our room with orchids in it on the nightstand next to the bed. Between the cuts on the crystal vase, there was an odd reflection. As I stared at it longer, I realized that it was obscured reflection of the remote control!!! We finally found it - inside the vase amongst the stems of my flowers! I burst into laughter and was laughing so hard that I quit rubbing Chris' back, so he immediately woke up and looked up to see what I was laughing at. We both had a good chuckle. Thank goodness the prodigal remote has been found. :-) I wonder how it got into such a weird hiding spot???

(In a Dramatic, Pathetic Voice) My Little Boy is Growing Up!

Well, today, Grant has graduated to the status of "Big Boy." For over a year, his word for water has been, "Low." I have worked and worked with him to say it correctly, but he just wouldn't. He could say the syllables individually, but when he put them together, he would only say, "Low." Well, today that changed. He wanted a drink, so I asked if he wanted milk or water. He looked and me and confidently stated, "Wa-der!" Oh, no! It made me tear up a little bit. To make it worse, he followed me to the kitchen chanting, "Water, water, water!" all the way there. I'm proud of him, but it did make me a little sad, at the same time. So we've passed the days of "Low," and have graduated to big-boy speak. Bittersweet.

10.14.08 Pumpkin Patch

Well, since we finally had our Halloween costumes completed, we took the boys to the pumpkin patch tonight, hoping for a fun family evening and some great fall pictures (it's funny to think it actually is the middle of October despite the very HOT day). Pumpkin patches down here are a lot different than the ones at home - you know, the ones where you go out in a field full of pumpkins that are still attached to the vine??? Here, they are already harvested and are lined up in great big long rows. Definitely a different experience than any I'd had before. But the "patch" we went to had hay bales, and various places set up to take pictures, etc. Mason was great. He was all smiles. But Grant, on the other hand, didn't want to smile for the pictures, even when I showed him I had candy if he he cooperated. We did get a few semi-smiles. He's just in this phase where he doesn't want to smile for pictures for some reason. He did enjoy the pumpkins, despite the fact that he succeeded in thoroughly frustrating his daddy. We left with Chris frustrated and Grant crying all the way to the car. On the way home, Mason started screaming, so I pulled out the cheerios and ended up spilling the whole bowl full all over the car. I think Chris was never so happy to finally get home. Despite all the frustrations, I did have a good time and enjoyed my boys in their costumes. Everyone else thought they were adorable, too, and I even had someone ask me if I were a professional seamstress (Way to go, mom!). She also asked if I were a professional photographer because I had a nice camera. She was funny. Unfortunately, there are a lot more cute pictures of Mason than of Grant. The little booger just wasn't cooperating. So enjoy the ones of Mason and hopefully soon Grant will be in better spirits! :-) Oh, and several of you have asked if Chris was going to be the scarecrow and I, Dorothy. The answer: Probably not. But only because the party we were going to was cancelled. Otherwise, yes that was the plan. And I even tossed around the idea of dressing Emma Lou as Toto! :-)

The Tin Man and Cowardly Lion

We just couldn't get them to smile at the same time!!!

Grant Christopher, our Little Tin Man

Mason Alexander, our Cowardly Lion

Halloween's A-comin'!

While I was in IN, I had a brilliant idea to make the boys Halloween costumes, thinking it would save money. Well, it didn't, but we had fun making them. Unfortunately, I didn't have time to finish Mason's, so mom made it and sent it in the mail today. I finished Grant's today, too, so once he wakes up, we'll take some pictures of him, too!

Potty Training???? Oh the Joys!

It seems that little Grant is "potty training" us, rather than the other way around. We'll sit on the edge of the tub while he sits on the pot for 30+ minutes just waiting on him upon his insistance that he really does have to go potty. After watching his cousin, Jaybin, go potty on the big potty chair, he has great desire to copy him, completely ignoring his own little potty chair. But even this intense desire does not seem to be enough to spur him on to actually using the thing. We'll sit there for hours with nothing, then as soon as the diaper goes on, the waterworks turn on, as well. It's so frustrating! The kid has control. He seems to think of it as some sort of game, and I'm not really sure how to stop it.

Not only that, but he has decided that he doesn't like it when his diaper is wet now, so as soon as he goes, he proceeds to remove any clothes he has on as well as the diaper he's wearing and comes running with his bare little bottom to tell me. I then have to go on a hunt to find the soiled diaper which is laying somewhere in my house. Yuck. The worst are the "Dirty" ones. How unpleasant. So, though I think he's ready to potty train, he has a will as strong as an ox. He's conditioned us to his desires...just how do we condition him to ours??? Ugh.

Air Dart Gun FUN!!

For Christmas the first year we got married (almost 5 years ago - can you believe it!!), my parents got Chris a gun that shoots darts at little styrofoam balls that float in the air since he likes guns and targets and such. We had so much fun competing to see who could knock down more balls for a long time. We put it in the closet and hadn't pulled it out for a while, so one day last week we found it and decided to pull it out to play with Grant. Did we have a ball! We played for a long time - it just didn't get old!! Grant enjoyed trying to get the balls to float in the stream of air more than pulling the trigger on the gun (My kind of boy!), but Daddy enjoyed pulling the trigger (much to my chagrin, Daddy's still the best shot as hard as I try), so great fun was had by all.

10.07.08 Trip to the Hospital Take Two

We sure have been spending a lot of time at the hospital this week! Thankfully, this trip was much less traumatic than the last one. Mason had to go for his six month well-baby check today. He is doing so well and is right on track as to where he needs to be. Even advanced -- they were amazed that he already has 2 teeth! Here are his stats: Length: 27 inches long (50-60%-ile) Weight: 17 pounds 9 ounces (50-60%-ile)

When Grant was 6 months old, he was 27 -1/2 inches long and weighed 16 pounds, 8 ounces, so it's no wonder we think Mason looks so chubby! Grant always was such a scrawny thing. Mason's shorter than Grant was and a whole pound heavier! We sure are enjoying our chubby little man. He's always been such a happy boy and brings so much joy into all of our lives.

Thank you, Lord, for our Mason. He is such a blessing to us all!

Trip to the Hospital - Number One

September 30, 2008 - 5:00 PM Chris was on call today, so I had the kids to myself. Not something unusual, but never fun, nonetheless. We were sitting down at the dinner table and I was juggling feeding both of the kids and myself. I noticed that Grant had pushed back against the table and was leaning on just two legs of the chair. While reaching to pull him back to the table, I was explaining that you just can't do that - you could fall back and really hurt yourself. As I tried to help him come back to all four legs, he swung his arm, loudly proclaiming, "No, Mommy!" Well, the swinging arm provided enough momentum for me to not be able to save the inevitable fall, and down he went - straight back against the floor. My initial response was to want to say, "I told you not to lean back in your chair because this is exactly what could happen." As I picked him up from the floor and held him, this statement was stopped mid sentence because I realized that blood was trickling down my arm. I looked and, sure enough, he had cracked his head open. He was screaming, Mason was screaming because he wanted more food, and I was really freaking out. I got 4 or 5 papertowels and applied pressure for several minutes and the paper towels were pretty soaked. So I paged Chris, adding the numbers 911 after my phone number so he knew it was an emergency and he needed to call me back. I asked him if I should bring Grant in and he told me to go ahead and bring him up to the OB floor where he was working and he'd take a look at him. Poor little Grant was very distraught. He wanted his daddy so badly. All he kept saying was "Mommy, want Daddy! Fix! Mommy, Daddy Fix!" I found it amazing that he knew that Daddy could fix him. Mason screamed the entire 25 minute drive to the hospital. Once Grant knew we were going to see Daddy, he sat in the back seat like a brave little man chatting happily about how his Daddy was going to fix him. When we got there, Chris came in the room and Grant went running. He held on to his Daddy so tightly and wouldn't even come back to me so that Chris could look at the wound. It was about a 1 inch cut and was gaping quite widely. After 2 other doctors looked at it and gave their two - cents (ranging from do nothing at all to let's put staples in), Chris decided to at least put some dermabond on it (less invasive - it's an adhesive that holds the skin together). So Grant endured us holding him down and holding his cut together, something that I cannot believe was pleasant by any means as evidenced by his screams. But all in all, he was a happy boy that his daddy had fixed him. Daddy was his hero. We came home and I let Grant stay up late and watch a movie with me to give the gash some more time to heal before he laid on it for the night. It was a successful trip to the hospital. Hopefully our next trip won't be for a long while, if ever.