PRETTY SNOW

One of our first nice snow falls.

CHRISTMAS 2009

We are at my mom and dad's today for Christmas, something we haven't done for many years. There's a lingering rain/icy dampness here. Will and I went to the only open store this morning, which is the gas station off of I-65-we were looking for ice cream, egg nog, and a white elephant gift. No egg nog, but got the other items. On the way we saw a flock of wild turkey-just wish I had my gun and a permit. Something I hope to do each year from now on is to revisit the book, The Jesus I Never Knew by Philip Yancey. He has a great chapter on the birth of Christ, and helps put things into perspective on this day, and reminds me, what God, through Jesus, has done for me and the world.

INJURY

Well, it was bound to happen at some point...especially after turning 40. Will and I were playing basketball last Friday and I came down wrong or my shoe simply decided to stop, but either way, I heard a crunching sound, looked down to see I was standing on my ankle, then I just dropped. For a moment I thought the worse and figured I'd broken my ankle (I'm a baby, I always think the worse regarding medical things). It nearly took my breath away. Once I recovered, and was able to draw a small crowd to see if I was ok, I hobbled off the court to begin my recovery. I went to see the doctor Saturday morning and he had x-rays taken, from which we have learned there is no great damage-no fracture, no torn tendons...just a high ankle sprain and soft tissue swelling. I'm using an aircast and limp around real good, but other than that, I think I'm ok. It couldn't happen at a better time-while I'm off the road. We'll see how long I can milk this, though I spent Saturday and Sunday doing what I normally do and that is just sit around, so there has been no great change in my lifestyle-phewww!

CHRISTMAS SONG

Thanks to my Facebook friend Jill for putting this on her page. A very unique and entertaining Christmas song combining many favorites. The group is called Straight No Chaser

HOME

I hope to have something new up...but this past week I've been in Chicago for sales conference. The month is flying by...not what I wanted.

WORD OF THE DAY

"Schmee Schmee"
This is Sean's word for marshmallows.

THANKSGIVING

For Thanksgiving, we headed to my sister's in Mt. Airy, MD., where we celebrated Thanskgiving along with attending my niece's wedding. Before the wedding though, dad, Dean, Dawn, myself and the kids headed to downtown Baltimore to see Ft. McHenry, the place in which Francis Scott Key was inspired to write the words of our national anthem. (See link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Star-Spangled_Banner ).


Here are a few photos:

Click on the picture below to get a larger view of the fort.

SURF

I thought this was kind of cool.

THANKSGIVING

I had a great Thanksgiving at my sister's house as well as attending my nieces wedding. Along with my sister Barb and her husband Dean, my other sister Kim and her husband Jim were able to be there, along with my parents. We just got home Sunday night, and it will take a little time to covert the photos, but I'll have plenty of time this week to clean them up and post them.
We saw a serious car accident that added an additional 1/2 hour to the trip. The one car was either ripped in two or pancaked to half it's size. Very thankful for the safe trip home.

TOES

BROWNS GAME

This was the opening ceremonies performed by the Marine Corps, who also did the half time show.

If you watch ESPN pre-game show, you know who Stewart Scott, Matt Millen and Steve Young are. That's them under the umbrella doing their broadcast.

(Click on the picture to make bigger)

MORE TO COME...

It's been busy lately. I have some pictures I want to put up, but need to clean them up a bit. Liz, Will and I had a good time at the Brown's game, though it got pretty cold and the team stinks. It's a whole lot different experience than sitting at home and watching it.

Also, Sean had a pretty good report this past Monday. His O2 is still in the high 80's, and he is now off of Viagra...and since I didn't need it, we threw the bottle away. Now if I could only get those same type of commercials off the air, I could get Will off my back-he is definitely a teenager now.

WORK ETHIC

HAPPY 13th BIRTHDAY WILL

SECTION 350

If you watch Monday Night Football this coming week...I'm sorry...it's the Cleveland Browns playing. But, if you watch carefully enough, in section 350, you might see Liz, Will and I. I read an article that said the Browns may have a blackout in the area since they haven't sold out the game. So I got on StubHub and was able to buy $13 tickets that aren't too bad. Now, we're just not sure who to root for.

ADOPTION SUNDAY

Did you know today is National Adoption Sunday? I didn't either until I heard a radio broadcast the other day. Actually, the whole month of November is an adoption focus month. My local library had a kiosk of books promoting and explaining things about adoption, which was nice to see.

For some of you, you'll remember I went to Cambodia two different times a few years ago, with a minstry called Asia's Hope. Recently, the director posted a few thoughts on the ministries website, and I think his thoughts should be echoed here. Though I think more people should adopt, at minimum I think they should actively be involved somehow with the care of orphans, and this ministry does that. I hope the article I'm posting will challenge you and lead you to pray and think about how you can help the orphan around the world.

http://www.asiashope.org/directors-blog/

88...

...or 89 was Sean's O2 reading today. Dr. Lane said we can limit his O2 to naps and bedtime. His pleural effusion is also completely gone. That's great. According to Dawn, Dr. Lane seemed pretty excited about Sean's recovery, to the point he told Dawn and wanted to go talk to the surgeon right away. I think Dr. Lane was always confident that Sean's recovery would be what it turned out to be, but I am wondering if the surgeons were a little more skeptical. In either case, it's good news and we know God has been the one to ultimately heal Sean.

SEAN

NBA

I'm just glad basketball has started.

DURING A SUNDAY WALK

THE APPLES OF MY EYE

A BOY FROM CHINA

I recently got a book from Love Without Boundaries which profiles peoples' journey of adopting their child from China. It's filled with pictures, stories, and poems. So when I ran across this poem, I thought I'd share it here.

I am a boy from China and I am eight years old;
Too long I have been waiting for a family to hold.

I am a boy from China, in my orphanage for years;
I see so many mei meis leaving; why am I still here?

So much talk of China's girls, but we are waiting too;
Can't you see us; don't you hear us calling out for you?

They say I have a special need, and it could take some time,
But my mei mei has a missing hand and her family found her fine.

I am but one of many, a band of brothers, we;
Please tell the world about us-this is our earnest plea.

Boy or girl no matter, both deserve the same:
A home, some love, a family, our birthright to lay claim.
I am a boy from China and I am eight years old;
Too long I have been waiting for a family to hold.

-By Cheryl C.-

84

That is the latest O2 reading at the doctors today (this is also the highest reading we've had since we got Sean). And, Sean's fluid build up has gone way done. He'll continue on the meds that have brought it down, in addition to him not eating too may salty things so he doesn't become thirsty. I may not have mentioned before that he's not to have too much to drink since he already has a lot of fluid in him. This will help "dry up" that fluid. His skin looks like an alligator right now, but that's the way it's supposed to be for now.

Sean has really come around and is doing quite well, and we could tell the doctor was really happy too. So, thanks for your prayers on behalf of Sean this last week. We don't go in for two weeks now which is also an improvement.

MORE APPLE PICKING...AND MODELING

TODAY'S DEFINITION

Pleural effusion: is an accumulation of fluid between the layers of tissue that line the lungs and chest cavity.

Sean went to see the doctor today and found that Sean's body has not drained this fluid, so his medication that tackles this has been bumped up. He goes back next Monday and if the fluid has not gone down, it looks like he may end up in the hospital again, which would involve placing a chest tube back in him capped by a weeks stay. So, we are hoping this problem goes away significantly in the next week.

APPLE TIME

CHRISTMAS

Tyndale House is publishing a book with Matthew West called Give This Christmas Away, a nice little book with ideas on reaching out to people with the real message of Christmas. He has a song by the same title as the book and it also "appears" on the new Veggie Tale video coming out this all.
Here is a moving video (at least I think it is) that reminds me one thing I can do this Christmas.

DOING BETTER

Sean had a visit with the cardiologist today. Each time he goes in he gets an x-ray and an echo done. Last week Sean had both and the doctor was "concerned" about seeing a plural infusion (not sure I'm spelling that right) in his chest area, which is fluid build up. The treatment was for Sean to continue taking a certain medication to help reduce that. Today, Sean got another x-ray and echo, and the doctor made mention that last week, he was actually "very concerned" about what he saw, but wanted to let the meds do their thing. Had they not, Sean would have ended up in the hospital for at least another week since it would mean getting a chest tube inserted to drain the fluid. Thankfully, the meds have been working, though there is still some fluid in his chest. We will continue the meds.
Also, his O2 levels registered 75-76...so that is encouraging. He still needs to be on oxygen, but is allowed to have it off for very short periods of time if he's playing or something and the hose is getting in the way. Yesterday was the first Sunday we've all been able to go to church as a family in quite awhile. That was nice.

SEAN'S FIRST HOME

STATE OF ADOPTION

I am attaching a lengthy article about the state of adoption in China. It covers several different aspects of the process, including the time it is taking now to adopt from there and why. Reading the article made me reflect on our own process and journey to get a child from China. For those who don't know, we started the paperwork in 2005, had it submitted in March of 2006, and were planning on getting a healthy baby girl...we even had hear named-Erica. If we had stayed on this track, we would just now be going to get our little girl...a four year wait. However, due to the long wait, and God moving us in a different direction, we switched to the "special needs" list, and, upon doing this, within two and a half months were on our way to Guanzhou China to get our little boy. Now, I can't even imagine having anyone different, and as I've told some, being able to switch to the "special needs" list was God giving us a second chance at something we should have done in the first place. There's still a place in my heart for Erica, wherever she is, and I will leave it up to God to help me find her.

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2/cc97dd18-a719-11de-bd14-00144feabdc0.html

SEAN'S CUPCAKE

CLASSIC

A SEAN UPDATE

Our little buddy is smiling again, and cracking some 3 year old jokes. So it seems that on the outside he is getting better, yet on the inside there are still issues. His latest x-ray shows fluid around the lungs, though the doctors aren't overly concerned-yet. We can tell Sean wants to cough, but it apparently hurts to do that, so Sean holds back and then starts to cry. We go in on Monday for a follow up at which point we will see if the drugs are getting rid of the fluid, and to see if his O2 is coming up. There is still the possibility Sean will need a heart cath done to hopefully find these useless vessels and cut them.
Thanks for praying.

OLD, DEAD, AND LIVING

For those of you who are here to find out about Sean, thanks for checking in. Dawn says he's doing well and has been perky today. Finally. He and Dawn talked about going to the surgeon tomorrow to get the surgi-strips removed and Sean said he'd probably cry. Probably right. Dr. Lane also called to tell us we can reduce his oxygen to 1/4 liter...which is next to nothing in my medical opinion. I can't say enough thanks for those of you who have prayed for Sean and continue to do so.

I'm also getting back to one of the things I set out to do this month as I travel around the Midwest this month...and that is to find interesting things at cemeteries I may happen upon. I find myself in Morehead Kentucky tonight and had time to swing by a cemetery near Daniel Boone National Forest.

I've posted pictures of this train before, but had another chance to focus on different parts of it.