Out of hibernation...

OK, so I know it's been forever since my last post, but we have had a lot going on. I can't go into tons of details, but God is so good and He continues to add glorious chapters to our testimony. Dan went through a procedure right before Thanksgiving and the doctors are astonished at the results. (It just makes me smile and shake my head wondering what God has in store) During this time, the kiddos spent time with Dan's aunt and uncle, Iris and David and then my dad and mom. They had a great time being spoiled and I actually got a lot done around the house. So now I am back to the blog...We will be in Houston for a couple weeks at Christmas, but I will try to keep up.

A few recent pictures...

OK, so here are some pictures of the kids in the last couple of weeks. I will journal under each picture...

OK, so after (gasp) 3 days without a bath, I gave the kids a bath yesterday morning before heading to the mall to see Santa. Here is my confession...Macy's hair was wet and we needed to get moving, so I took out my hair dryer and brush and had SO much fun playing with her hair. She actually just sat there and let me do it. One more confession on why she just sat there, I have been known to run the flat iron through her hair in the mornings after I do my own hair and the iron has cooled down a little. It just looks so cute. I need help...I can feel myself being pulled into the world of baby pageants and ridiculous amounts of makeup...someone stage an intervention. So this is the picture I took, I paid $22 for the REAL one, but at least there is a Christmas tree in that one. Macy would have none of it....but her hair does look cute, right??
Yesterday was a full day of excitement with Santa in the morning and Trey's kids choir performance in the evening. Dan and I were the annoying parents. We got there early to save good seats and he ran the video and I took pictures. This is one of those parenting milestones...kids singing about Jesus is cute, but when it's YOUR kid, it kind of makes you want to cry and I really know the meaning of "my heart just melted". (Seriously, look at that smile!)

On the way to church I advised Trey not to pick his nose or touch his crotch, and Hallelujah, the only movements with his hands were the motions to the songs!

Another couple of pictures of Macy at gymnastics. She just loves it!

I included this picture to show how big she is.

Loving the bubbles...

Dan and I took the kids to Build a Bear workshop about a week ago and the kids loved it. Trey actually found a medical kit and a wheelchair for his dinosaur. It's so neat to see normal through his eyes.

Macy stuffing her bear

Trey, Dan and Macy

pouty lips Macy

Home again...

Hey everyone,
Dan was discharged from the hospital yesterday afternoon. He is doing fine but still has significant pain in his face from the dermabrasion. Please keep this in your prayers.
Teal

Halloween Fun!!!

We had a great time trick or treating this year!! One of the hardest parts of leaving military life will be not living on base. As you will see in the pictures, everyone in this neighborhood sat on their porches the whole night. I think Trey rang two doorbells!! I just love it!!! It's how I imagine "Pleasantville" to be! Anyhow, we all had a great time.

Dan is still in the hospital and will probably be discharged Monday. After trick or treating, we took the kids up to the hosptial to show off their costumes to Daddy!! Trey even shared his candy!!

Enjoy the pics!!

Trey and Macy....This is not our porch, it just looked nice!
Trey helping Macy

Trey was Dash from the Incredibles

Macy got that Marine tutu for her birthday and when I put it on her, in true girly fashion, she just kept petting it and then looking at me....like "aren't I pretty?"

Just a picture to show how people just set up outside. These are actually my babysitter's parents.

Another picture of the neighbors

No, this isn't our front porch either...maybe next year...

Implants out...

Hey everyone,
Well, Dan had surgery this morning, well, I should say this afternoon...
After last week's 4th issue with his left implant, we decided, through a lot of prayer, to have the tissue expanders removed. Dan also had deep dermabrasion to the scarring on his face and z-plasty done to the scar bands that are near the inside of his eye, by the bridge of his nose. Yesterday was a crazy day with this surgery being canceled, then re-scheduled for Friday, then back on for today with a different doctor. BUT...when we were at the hospital in the pre-op area, Dan's plastic surgeon, Dr. Thomas, showed up and ended up doing the surgery. (I know it sounds crazy, but new patients come in all the time, and these "elective surgeries", get bumped so they can do the life saving skin grafts for the newly injured guys.) Anyway, Dan face is pretty raw from the dermabrasion, so please pray for pain control, as always. He will be in the hospital for a couple of days, and then home recovering. We appreciate your prayers!
Teal

College Station weekend...

Well last weekend, we all went to College Station. As luck would have it, there were a lot of things going on. The initial reason we went was that Dan was asked to speak at the dedication of the "Freedom from Terrorism" Memorial. He did a great job!

Another thing that came up was the retirement ceremony of Lt. Gen. Joe Webber (A&M class of '72). Gen. Webber's son, Clint (A&M class of '98), worked with Dan during his Ramadi deployment and Dan has a vivid memory of Clint helping load him into the emergency vehicle after Dan was injured. This was the first time they had seen each other since. Such a great reunion! Gen. Webber was one of the first Marines we saw when we arrived in San Antonio and was able to tell us when Dan was going to arrive, so he holds a soft spot in all our hearts. The reason all these people were on the A&M campus was that Gen. Webber was retiring after 36 years and is going to be the VP of Student Affairs at A&M. It was a great afternoon!

We also got to go to and Aggie game and had a great time. Dan, Trey, my sister, Tamara, sister-in-law, Anne, and nephew, Luke all got to go. Below are some pictures from the weekend!

Sgt. Major Kent, Dan, Gen. Conway

Clint Webber and Dan

Tamara, Anne, Luke, Teal, Trey and Dan

Trey and Daddy going to the game

Trey and Aunt Tamara

Trey and Daddy leaving the game

Dan, Col. Olbrich and Teal

Col. Olbrich is the commanding officer of the Patient Affairs Team here are BAMC. The PAT team takes care of all the injured Marines. He is also an Aggie!! This picture was taken yesterday (Sat) at his farewell party. He is moving on and we will miss him tons! (You might notice Dan's right shoulder is big, that is the implant that will be taken out this week. His nose is doing good and will have a final shaping surgery sometime in the new year.)

Quite an update...

Well, things around here are as unpredictable as ever. Last Thursday, we went to College Station (more about that in another post...) Dan wasn't feeling great and his left shoulder was starting to get a little red. (Yes, you are correct, this is the same shoulder that has faced the crazy hematoma, the port working it's way out of his body and a bleed after surgery which caused an emergency surgery.) As the weekend went on, the red area began to spread. Well in this house, red, hot skin means infection. So on Sunday evening Dan helped me unload the car and then he headed up to the hospital to have it checked out. (I know it sounds insensitive that he drove himself, but it is just our life and it's not like he was bleeding or writhing in pain) So just like expected, he was admitted to the hospital for an infection in his left shoulder. The reason he has to stay is b/c the course of action they take is IV antibiotics and he has to be inpatient to do that.

So on Monday the doctors noticed that the corner of his implant, not the port, the actual implant, was beginning to work it's way out. How does that look might you ask? You start to see blue under his skin, b/c the implant is blue. Not good. So to spare you all the hours of options and even more hours of prayer, Dan has decided to have both implants taken out. We are scraping the face-off surgery. We prayed about this decision before we went forward with the first surgery and have prayed hard this week trying to hear God's will and direction for this situation and this is where we are at.

Patrick was actually discharged from the hospital this evening, (yes, he drove himself home...I mean what was I supposed to do, his car was already up there:):) We are going to see the plastic surgeon tomorrow morning and expect to have this surgery done next week. My in-laws will be coming in town to help out, and if for nothing else to insure that he doesn't have to drive himself to and from the hospital after surgery:)

Another milestone of the week was Tuesday, Oct. 21. That was the two year anniversary of Dan's injury, but more importantly, 2 years since he lost 3 Marines. For those of you that knew, we appreciate your prayers. Dan was able to talk to all the families of those Marines and I know God was putting the appropriate words in his mouth to offer comfort in the way that only HE can.

Please keep us in your prayers. Although I can laugh at this moment, it has been a pretty exhausting week, physically and emotionally; the anniversary, trying to decipher all the "doctor talk" and really looking at all the pros and cons of all the different avenues have left me less than glowing. (3 hours at a well-baby appointment during nap time didn't help either...) But man is our God good and He continues to renew me.

"Praise the Lord , O my soul,
and forget not all his benefits-
who forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases,
who redeems your life from the pit
and crowns you with love and compassion,
who satisfies your desires with good things
so that your youth is renewed like the eagle's."
Psalm 103 : 2-5

Welcome Home David!!!!!

Hi Everyone,

Well, as most of you know, my brother-in-law, David (Dan's brother) has been deployed to Ramadi, Iraq since March. Praise the Lord, he came home safely this past Friday, Oct. 3. Here are a few of the sweetest pictures ever. There is nothing like a homecoming!!!

First kiss

David and Callie

Sweet David:)

David and Callie in front of their house

One interesting thing that happened while David was deployed involved his promotion from 2nd Lt. to 1st Lt. As most of you know, Ramadi was where Dan was deployed when he was injured. On Memorial Day of this year, David stood in the intersection where 3 brave Marines were killed and two others were seriously injured (Dan and Sgt. Luis Blanco), and was promoted to 1st Lieutenant. Two years ago Ramadi was considered "lost" and through the hard work and sacrifice of many Marines and Soldiers, David was able to stand in the open and be promoted. You don't hear these awesome stories on the news. Here is the link to a great article that was written about it with a couple of pictures.

http://www.marines.mil/units/marforpac/imef/1stmardiv/1stregiment/rct1/Pages/Marinehonorsbrother,fallenMarineswithpromotion.aspx

Welcome home, David! We praise our wonderful Lord for your safe return!

Dan's Home...

Hi Everyone,
Well, Dan was released from the hospital earlier today. He had an uneventful night and is now resting here at home. He is looking pretty good, but says his shoulder feels like it was kicked by a horse. We cannot begin to thank you all enough for all your prayers. We do not take this situation for granted and know that the Lord had His hand over Dan yesterday and still does as he recovers today. I will update again when I have some new information.
Teal

One day, TWO surgeries...

Well, Dan was the first case this morning and around 10 am, I talked to the Doctors and everything had gone as planned. Dan was in recovery and doing well, scheduled to come home as soon as his pain was under control. At 11:30, I got a call from Dr. Thomas saying that Dan was bleeding and they were taking him back into surgery. After a solid prayer, a freak-out moment, and a good run down to where the doctor was, I was able to see Dan. He looked good to me, until Dr. Thomas pointed out his left shoulder. There was an internal bleed where they had just done surgery, forming a hematoma. This can be dangerous if it bleeds toward his neck, b/c it can cut off his airway or circulation, luckily, the bleed was not going towards his neck. Needless to say, within 5 minutes of my getting there, he was being rolled back into surgery to find the bleed, and clean out the newly formed hematoma. (Which if you remember from previous posts is a collection of blood, usually clotted, in a tissue or organ, caused by a break in a blood vessel. I did just copy and paste that definition b/c my brain could not come up with the right words. I have been up since 5am :) Anyway, about an hour and a half later, I talked to the surgeons and they were happy with how the surgery went.

The only reason I am home, updating this blog, is b/c I had to run home to pick up a few things for Dan b/c he will be staying in the hospital overnight. He actually looked great and was in pretty good spirits, all things considered. Two anesthesia's+two surgeries+ one day= stay in hospital. We are both fine with that and considering that my kiddos are in South Texas having tons of fun, it takes all sorts of pressure off me.

We continue to covet your prayers and know that our God is in control! I will update tomorrow.

Surgery Tuesday

OK, so sorry for the lack of updates on this surgery. Dan will be having surgery on Tuesday. The doctor assures us that this should be a 20 minute outpatient surgery. We will see:):) Unfortunately we had to cancel our trip to North Carolina for the World Burn Congress, but we hope to go next year. On a positive note, the nerve block Dan had last week worked! His arm felt so much better, that I actually went away for the weekend. (This isn't making me look very good, with the hair appt and now this:) A friend invited me to a scrapbooking retreat in Kerrville, which is just over an hour away. I left Friday afternoon and returned last night (Saturday). I had a great time and got a lot accomplished. I'm pretty sure that all three members of my family ate pizza for every meal, but everyone is still in one piece. One eventful moment was when Macy had diarrhea during her nap, so poor daddy had to change her, the crib sheets, do a load of laundry all unexpectedly....but such is life. I did feel bad, but he handled it all fine. (I wish I could have been a fly on the wall during that incident:)

I will update on the surgery Tuesday evening. Our kiddos won't be here this week. My in-laws had previously decided to take them to the Valley (south Texas where their extended family lives) when we were going to be in North Carolina for the conference. They decided to still take them, so it will be a quiet week for us, and I know the kids will have a blast and be totally spoiled! Hopefully I use this time for some projects...we will see:)

Monday night update...

OK, well no surgery today. Dan actually had a procedure done this afternoon called a nerve block. He has had this procedure done a few times for pain in his back and neck, but this time they blocked (or hoped to block) the nerves in the neuroma. It took about an hour and a half but we won't really know the results until tomorrow. We will go back to the doctor and they will test it. After that, we will go back to the burn clinic and get some sort of idea about surgery. It still could be any day. We might not be going to that conference after all, as this is our number 1 priority. But, when push came to shove, I did get my hair done today:):) I will update tomorrow when we know more!!! Thanks for all the prayers.

Never a dull moment...

Well, Dan came home on Friday after having gone to the burn clinic and told me that he was having surgery on Sept. 30. The reason being is that the port in his left implant has developed a neuroma, which is a ball of nerves, all around the port. It is so large that you can see it when you look at his chest. This is the reason his left implant has been causing him so much pain (I mean after the infection was taken care of) He has not been able to lift anything or move his left arm much b/c of the pain. The implant has also shifted a little. So this is going to be a "simple" 20 minute surgery to re-position the implant and move the port. Dr. Thomas expects that Dan will not even stay in the hospital one night.

Here's the kicker, we have plane tickets to go to the World Burn Congress in North Carolina on Sept. 30. So at this moment, it is 8:20 am, Monday morning, and we are waiting for a phone call from Dr. Thomas telling us if Dan will be squeezed in TODAY(????) or TOMORROW! It still surprises me that Dan could be having surgery today and we don't even know. I am going to go to my hair appointment as scheduled:) Oh well, life goes on. I will post another update letting you know what is going on.

A couple of statisics...

Well, since I don't have any updates to give you guys, I am going to give you all some information that I received at a forum yesterday at the hospital. What we so casually call the "burn unit", is actually called the USAISR (United States Army Institute for Surgical Research). This is where everything from the ICU and step-down units are located as well as the rehab gym and case managers. Yesterday, Dan and I went to a meeting/ forum that the director, Dr./Col. Renz (I call him Dr. Renz, but he is active duty Army). Every now and then they have these meetings to get all the burn patients and their families on the same page. Sorry for my long-windedness, but at the meeting we heard some pretty interesting statistics. You all always hear me talk about what great care we are receiving here at BAMC, but no details.

There are over 250 staff members in the ISR. This includes doctors, surgeons, nurses, physical and occupational therapists, case managers and a host of administrators, who are a mixture of active duty, reservists and civilian.

Since 2003 there have been 760 burn patients (that's all the ISR deals with) admitted. Of those, there are varying degrees of burns, from 2% total body surface area (TBSA) burns to 100% TBSA burns. (Dan is 47.5% TBSA, all 3rd degree) Of those 760, 40 have not survived. Dr. Renz did not spin this any certain way, but looking at this mathematically, that is a 95% survival rate. Of those 760, 65% are Army, 23% are Marines the the other 12% are Navy, Air Force, and National Guard. There are also civilians admitted to the ISR, but I didn't get those numbers. If you are admitted as a civilian, you do not get your outpatient care at BAMC. You are admitted b/c BAMC is a level 1 trauma center, but it only provides outpatient care to military, (active or retired)

We are so thankful to be here at BAMC. We are absolutely thrilled and satisfied with the care that we have received and that we see others receiving.

Speaking of doctors, we found out that Dan's plastic surgeon, (who after 20+ years in the Army, joined the reserves) will not be deploying. This is great news for us, b/c we won't have to rush these next two surgeries. We have an appointment on Friday and hopefully we can get a date on when those will be happening.

Thanks again for all of your prayers!! Leave a comment and let me know you were here.

A few weeks to breathe...

Well, Thursday we went to see the maxiofacial prosthodontist. They make all sorts of things, but our need is these nasal stents that Dan wears in his nostrils to help shape his nose and keep the airway open. This was a huge relief to Dan b/c the permanent thing that has been in his nose for two weeks was taken out and the removable, more comfortable stints were made. That appointment is 4-5 hours long, so it makes for a LONG day, but it is done.
Then, on Friday, we went to the burn clinic and Dan saw his surgeon. Everything is looking good and Dr. Thomas is happy with how everything is coming along. All the stitches were taken out and fluid was added to the implants in his shoulders. The implants are two different sizes, one is able to hold 500 cc's and the other is able to hold 750 cc's. (The doctor said that they can actually be filled up to 3 times that and will be going over those numbers if his skin will allow it) Well, the smaller implant now has 140 cc's but much to every one's surprise, the larger implant has 320 cc's. They just kept filling it up until the skin was very tight. This is good news b/c the more skin that is stretched, the easier surgery will be. Obviously, we don't expect to get that much fluid each week. The doctor's actually average 60 cc's a week and as time goes on, not as much fluid can be added b/c the skin is so tight. Patrick's shoulders have been VERY sore these last two days, especially his left one (the one that was infected).
As far as surgery goes, the doctor expects that we will be having surgery towards the end of October. So that gives us a little break from that. Thank you again for all your prayers!
Teal

Patrick's home!!!!

Hey everyone,
Well Patrick came home from the hospital today. He is doing great!!! His pain is significantly improved (thanks to all your prayers!!) He has been on the couch just hanging out with the kids all afternoon. He is really looking good and his spirits are high. We should have a pretty easy week; we go to the clinic for a checkup on Wednesday and Friday. Thank you again for all the prayers!! We should have about 8 weeks until the next surgery.
Teal

Recent Kid Pictures...

This weekend, my mom, brother, Tim, sister-in-law, Anne, and their boys, Luke, Sam and Andrew came to San Antonio for a last minute quick get-away to Hyatt Hill Country. My mom came and got Trey to enjoy a little time with his cousins and swim. He had a great time!! (again, he DOES open his eyes, just not when asked:)
Trey and Andrew floating face down in the lazy river...my mom swears she was watching them:) Trey is on the right in the blue swimsuit.

Trey and Andrew (eyes open this time)

Trey and Macy started going to gymnastics at The Little Gym. Macy does a mommy and me class, but Trey is on his own. They both LOVE it.

Macy hanging on the bars

Getting her hula hoop

Macy loves going to the Little Gym!!!

Puerto Rico Pictures

Patrick and I in Puerto Rico. We went on a week long vacation with Victor and Lizette for the wedding of a friend, back at the beginning of July. We had a fabulous time!

Patrick on a street in Old San Juan

Patrick and Teal at the Bacardi Factory. We went on a tour!

Our favorite thing that we did was go on a hike in El Yunque, the rainforest in Puerto Rico. It was absolutely beautiful, the temperature was perfect and there was such a canopy of trees above us that when it rained we could hear it, but only feel a mist.

Teal, Patrick, Lizette and Victor at a waterfall in El Yunque.

Beautiful view

Friday night...

Dan looked great today!!! He was talking, joking and never once dozed off...(this is impressive regardless of just having surgery:) He is experiencing less pain now than in prior days, so that is a HUGE answered prayer. He should be coming home Sunday or Monday. This is not due to problems with his surgery sites, but more for making sure his pain is under control when he is here. Thanks again for all the prayers.
Teal

Thursday Night...

Hey All,
Dan had a pretty good day today...( I mean, 3 milkshakes would make a good day for me:) His pain is under control and there has been a GREAT relief of pain from his shoulder. Still the main thing is a headache, but hopefully that will subside tomorrow when the dressing is removed (it was wrapped pretty tightly). Anyway, my in-laws are here and making everything easier!!! Dan should be in the hospital for a few more days so the doctors can keep an eye on him. Thanks for the prayers, I get to see the evidence everyday!!
Teal

Thursday morning update...

Well, Dan went into surgery yesterday around 12:30 and was finished around 4pm. So much for a short surgery:) The doctors were able to save his tissue expander. So what that really means is that they took it out, cleaned out the shoulder and re-placed it. They also grafted his eye, cut out his bald spot and did quite a bit to his nose. They cut off the blood supply to his nose and trimmed down the actual nose part. After 3 weeks of a really weird looking thing on his face, his nose looks pretty normal. And...I'm sure it will continue to look better as the swelling goes down each day. Dan was pretty coherent yesterday evening (more so than after his last surgery) and his pain was getting under control. The main source of pain right now is a HUGE headache from what they had to do to the bald spot. Hopefully that will subside quickly. Visiting hours do not start until noon today, so I will get a small update in tonight after I come home. Thanks again for all the prayers.
Teal

SURGERY WEDNESDAY...

Hi All,
Well late this afternoon we found out that Patrick (I know, I know, I call him Dan AND Patrick, same person, just bear with me:) is going to have surgery tomorrow. No real emergency, but there was space on the schedule and he was already inpatient so tomorrow it is. He will be second case (at least that's what they are saying now) so he should be in surgery late morning, maybe 10-11 a.m.-ish. He is going to have all the previously scheduled things done: eye, bald spot, nose thinning, but also the doctor is going to go into his shoulder, take out the implant, clean out the area, and HOPEFULLY put the implant back. Patrick is thrilled to be having surgery tomorrow so that he doesn't have to just wait around all day tomorrow until Thursday,(he is getting a little bored.)

Please pray for a successful surgery, pain control, no more infection and that the implant will be able to be put back in. We appreciate the time you all take to lift our family up in prayer.

Teal

We're Inpatient...

ok, so after my LONG update Saturday afternoon, Dan got a fever Saturday night. This is never a good thing after surgery because it signals a problem, specifically an infection. With all that was going on with his shoulder, we wanted to stay on top of it. So up to 4 East. The great thing about knowing everyone at the hospital is that we don't have to deal with the ER. If we ever have a problem or a question, we go directly to the Burn floor step down unit. We know most of the nurses and they know everything about burns and all of these reconstructive surgeries. Long story short, Dan was admitted so he could start IV antibiotics to try to get rid of this infection.

So no real news until this morning, when his surgeon, Dr. Thomas, got to look at the shoulder. We were expecting anything....he could have taken Dan back to surgery this morning....but in the end, he decided to continue the IV antibiotics today and tomorrow, and see what all the cultures say and if his blood count improves. He is tentatively on the surgery schedule for Wednesday to have the tissue expander removed and shoulder cleaned if it doesn't clear up on it's own by then. I am not sure what this means for his previously scheduled surgery on Thursday.

Dan is doing fine. He really doesn't mind being in the hospital. Especially since he can get up and do everything for himself. He doesn't feel trapped. We are truly just trusting in the Lord and knowing that these small complications could be preventing larger ones. Continue to pray for healing, no infection and pain control as the shoulder is still very painful. Everything else is looking great!!

I will update again when I know something.
Teal

Saturday update...Praises!!!!

Hello All,

Well, so much has been going on the last couple of days, so I have a lot to update.

We'll start with Thursday. We are finally down to seeing the ophthalmologist every two days. When we saw him on Thursday, he said that the ulcer had completely healed (prayer answered!) There are still lacerations which are causing dryness and irritation, but God is healing Dan's body. After that appointment we went to another hospital, Wilford Hall. (This is where Macy was born.) At this appointment, we saw a maxillofacial prosthodontist. This is a doctor who makes facial prosthetics. Dan had to have something called nasal splints made. He will wear these in his nose to keep the shape correct and his airway open. It was a pretty long appointment, but Dan got the nasal splints (that were sewn into his nose after surgery) taken out and got the new ones that are removable. It was a big relief for him. He could finally blow his nose and feel clean. (Oh, the things we take for granted:)

My last post, I talked about the pain Dan had been having in his left shoulder. It was more bruised than the other. Well, Tuesday, during another Dr. appointment, Dan's surgeon just walked in to check on him. We showed him the shoulder and he said that it wasn't just a bruise, it was a hematoma. A hematoma is when the blood from a bruise clots and does not dissipate naturally. Dan's hematoma started just behind his shoulder on his back and went halfway down his chest. This is dangerous because if that blood does not go away on it's own it could cause infection or at the very least the doctor would have to go in and surgically remove the tissue expander and clean out all the old clotted blood. This is a praise b/c we were able to be proactive about it. For the next two days, Dan used a heating pad to help clear it up. It made a big difference. OK, back to Thursday night....Dan's shoulder started bleeding a little bit out of the suture line. It looked like old blood, so we weren't too worried.

On to Friday....We had an appointment with Dr. Thomas, Dan's plastic surgeon. He agreed that there was much improvement in the shoulder, and as he touched it, blood shot out of it and across the room. He insisted to us that this was good news, and told the nurse to "milk it". And that is what she did. She massaged the area and was able to get all the old blood out of the area. Sorry if this is a little gross, but this is a praise as well, b/c we had been praying for no infection and no complications. If the blood hadn't come out this way, it would have taken surgery, putting us behind schedule. During this visit, quite a few stitches were taken out, specifically in his eye. They were bothering him and making his vision blurry, so I know that was a relief!!

Speaking of surgery....Dan is scheduled to have his second surgery this Thursday, August 21. During this surgery, he will have his left eyelid released, the large baldspot closed and his nose "trimmed down" (I finally found out what "tweaked" meant:) This one should be a "short" one, 1-2 hours and he should only be inpatient for a day or two. Dan's parents will be here again to help with the kids, hospital visits and caring for Dan.

Speaking of the kids....they are handling this so well. I was a little concerned what the kids responses would be to seeing their Daddy. He looked pretty beat up and his nose was really swollen and bulbous looking. It's as if Macy didn't even see it and Trey laughed and said, "Those silly Doctors...What did they do to your nose???" They are so precious and it is such a relief to all of us that they don't seem to have any "issues" with all that is going on in their lives. To them, this is normal. Trey's best friend, Maya, has a Daddy who is burned too, but is also a below the knee amputee. It was cute to see them discussing that the first time.

We are doing great here. Dan and I are so lucky to have such great family who will drop everything to be here for us. (My mom came in for two days this weekend just to be an extra set of hands, and b/c of that my kids were fed breakfast this morning, dressed and will have clean clothes this week:):) Often people ask what they can do for us or if we need anything, and the honest answer is : PRAYER. It is so beautiful to witness all of your prayers being answered. I hope this little blog encourages you, b/c our all-knowing Lord is watching over ALL of us and desires to answer your personal prayers as well.

Thank you again for keeping up with us, leave a comment and let me know you were here. It is such an encouragement to me. I will keep you updated this week as things progress with Dan's surgery.

More Pictures of the kiddos this weekend...

This weekend, my mom came for a visit and to help out with Patrick. The kids love having her here (and us too!!!) These are some pictures from our friend, Addison's, birthday party. It was quite a zoo!!!

Mia, Trey and Macy
Neither of my kids can look at the camera...

Trey and Mommy (He really is cute when he opens his eyes:)

Macy loved her some animals....

She seriously did not want to leave the pen, oh well....

We had a great time at Addison's birthday!!!!

Happy Birthday Addison, we will miss you!!!

Pics of kids...

Macy playing with Daddy
Trey, Macy and Maya jumping on the trampoline.
This was the original activity...

Then we decided to play with the water table....
(yes, Trey supports John McCain)

Macy decided that the water table should be a pool....

hey, this hose looks fun....

Surely it would be more fun without my clothes...

If Macy can do it, why can't we?????

Back to the trampoline....