Update on Jerry

Many of you know that this past June my father in-law's docs found a mass in his lung. It looked like a malignancy and acted like a malignancy on scans, they were unable to biopsy due to the location. Dfil smoked for many years. If it quacks like a duck, walks like a duck, looks like a duck......
His first surgery was scheduled for July 11 th but was postponed in the 11th hour due to iffy bloodwork. He finally did have his surgery last week. The duck turned out to be a horse. The 99.99999% sure cancerous tumor turned out to be a fungal infection. He was discharged from the hospital on Sunday and considering the majority of this surgery is doing quite well.
Thank you for all the prayers, I will try to keep everyone posted on how he continues to do!

Space Camp

Ian went to Space Camp this past week and had a wonderful time. It wasn't THE Space Camp in Huntsville, AL, which he dreams of going to someday. It was Space Camp sponsored by the Challenger Learning Center. He and his fellow campers ran two 'missions'. One was Voyage to Mars and the other Rendezvous with a Comet. Ian served as Navigator for one and Medical Officer for the other. When they weren't working on their missions they did projects and crafts, talked with an astronaut (John Blaha) and toured the only standing WWI aircraft hanger still standing (which is also a museum now).
The camp was kind enough to provide all the campers with a CD of photos. Gee, how did they know that I blogged :-)

Worlds Most Tolerant Cat

That is what we have.
Pumpkin and Ben

Lucy

As you can see, she is no worse for wear after her recent experience.

More reunion details

For those not 'in the know'...the family reunion was Chris' parents, their 8 children, 5 spouses and 46 grandchildren of the 62(?) grandchildren. That is who you see in the pictures. All first cousins or aunts and uncle to my children.
I'm not posting who's who to protect the privacy of my nieces and nephews. Anyone who may be wondering who's who can leave a comment or email me.

PHOTOS!!

The much anticipated photos from the reunion....
this is what I have so far. Most snapped the night before we all left when it was realized most of the week had been spent chatting and not taking pictures. I've asked other family members to send me their pics so in a few weeks I hope to have a more comprehensive album. I also need to edit a lot of video (I took much more video than stills)
in the end I hope to have a nice DVD for all the family complete with titles, stills, video, music etc...

We're home...again...

Lucy was in the hospital. Nothing big. Just a bit of gastroenteritis that she couldn't handle without some IV support. She is doing very well now. Not womitin' and the diarrhea isn't bad at all. She is finally drinking again. Thankfully she was still breastfeeding and that helped her.
I'll give an official shout out "THANK YOU!!" to our pediatrician, and all the nurses. Lucy wasn't THAT sick in perspective to some of the other children there but all the nurses and PCA's were attentive and helpful and kind. Everyone from the nice person who was cleaning the room and talked to Lucy and brought her a toy from the playroom to the gray ladies who made toys for the children in the ER to the nurses who promptly came whenever her pump started beeping to the phlebotomist who had to wake us at 5AM for blood draws to her pediatrician (who kept me 100% in the loop and involved in decision making ) were all professional and caring. No one wants to be in the hospital but I couldn't ask for a better experience then we had and wouldn't hesitate to recommend it to others.

Quick note: WE NEED MORE NURSES!! All our nurses were running like madwomen the entire time. They were constantly trying to meet their patients and the physician's needs.

and an aside to parents and other people with loved ones in the hospital. Your nurses are not your slaves, use that call bell judiciously. Do whatever you can yourself including cleaning up after yourself and your child. Treat your nurses with kindness and respect, they'll appreciate it.

Sorry for the delay

We were at the family reunion in KY and have all been settling back in now that we are home.
I have lots of pictures and video to share.
Here is the finale of the amazing fireworks show my bil Matthew put on. This video was taken a good 200 yds from the show to give you some perspective of the scale of these pyrotechnics. Matt put hundreds of hours of work into this show, and would put most small, medium and even some large towns to shame. It was a 25 minute show, this is only the last few minutes.