It isn't Christmas till someone gets hurt!

So much to blog about! Things have been so incredibly crazy over the last couple of weeks that I haven't had time or energy to even think about blogging. Tonight, however, after consuming too many diet cokes, I'm wide awake and ready to blog. But I have to do some backtracking first!

Mom- Bless her sweet little heart! She went into surgery on Thursday, Dec. 18th at 9:00 am. She was actually scheduled to go in about 7:00 but things got delayed when it was discovered the stupid, I mean ignorant, nurse mistakenly gave her orange juice at six in the morning to bring her blood sugars up. Now, even I know how important it is to go into surgery with an empty stomach! The doctor and anesthetist argued for a good hour about the safety of proceeding. Finally, the surgeon's opinion won out and Mom was finally wheeled into surgery around 9:00. It was a long, grueling day for everyone involved and over ten hours later she came out of surgery and was placed in ICU. The surgeon met with all of us to report on the surgery. He was pretty arrogant, and feisty, but that was exactly what Mom needed. Everything went pretty much without a hitch and Mom did remarkably well, considering the condition she was in. The biggest surprise was when the pressure in her lungs actually decreased after the heart valve was replaced. That was the one issue which was most concerning. She actually had four procedures done, one to stop the fibrillation in her heart, one valve replaced, one valve mended with a plastic ring to help it to close properly, and a quadruple bypass on the blocked arteries. Just the fact that she was able to come off the heart/lung machine without complications was a miracle. But 'tis the season for miracles! Many miracles later, prayers answered, and blessings fulfilled and my Mom is on the mend. She came off the ventilator just a day and a half after surgery! She was moved out of ICU within three days! Had all tubes and IVs removed a couple of days later and now has only a feeding tube that is only used at night. She is scheduled to be released on Monday to a transitional unit in the Logan hospital where she will rehabilitate for probably another week. Considering the fact that even the surgeon went into this with a 50/50 prediction, I'd say she's done pretty darn good! Of course, the many prayers and blessings given might have had something to do with it! My mom is amazing, though, and we definitely had our Christmas miracle.

Now, Christmas at our house, on the other hand, was a different story! First of all, we were hit with the wretching gumboo a couple of days before Christmas. It hit a couple of kids and by Christmas day had worked it's way to Jay and I. Not a pleasant way to spend the most glorious day of the year! As many of you, it was a much more humble Christmas at our house this year so as we began opening presents we decided to prolong the excitement and take it one present at a time. Now, normally we start out that way but after a few rounds the kids get tired and we give the go ahead for a rip-fest. Anyway, Jordan was having a struggle opening a particularly difficult package and decided to break out his handy dandy pocket knife that his cousin had given him at the family Christmas party. You can guess the result! A sliced hand and emergency run ensued. Six stitches later, he rejoined the festivities. Of course, by then the momentum was rolling and the other kids didn't want to wait for his return so they finished up opening up their presents and Dad and Jordan opened their remaining presents when they returned. A little while later, Jordan went out to check on his dog in the dog run, only to discover the poor thing had expired in the middle of the night. So....Christmas was a "gut" wrenching experience all the way around from bathroom time, ER run and stitches, topped off with the demise of a beloved friend. I was never so happy to see a holiday pass! And that's saying alot because if you know me well, you know how great my love is for everything Christmas! We also were bestowed with over a foot of new fallen snow so travel of any kind was out of the question. Thank goodness we had enough good excuses not to venture out of the house!

That being said, I truly do have much to be thankful for. This past year has brought many significant experiences and blessed events. It's also brought difficulties, heart ache, and pain. But through it all, I know that the love of the Savior brought me through. I learned some great lessons, grew through the trials, found a part of myself that I had lost, and came to understand more deeply what the most important things in life are to me. I have an incredible family that I couldn't do without. I have awesome friends who support me even though they may not understand some of my life choices. Most importantly, I know my Heavenly Father loves me. What more could I ask for?