First fruits from the garden!

Anna's first ice cream cone

Anna's first joke

Anna 'got' s joke for the first time! A couple of weeks ago Anna, Grandma Van Hal and I were watching a Diego episode. Diego said that a specific animal was nocturnal and sleeps during the day and is awake at night. Grandma said, "Just like Mike.". Anna laughed and said, "Mike sleeps in the morning!"

p.s. Mike is Bryan's brother and has been living with us while attending Seminary

The cleaning and scrubbing
will wait till tomorrow,
for children grow up,
as I've learned to my sorrow.
So quiet down, cobwebs.
Dust go to sleep.
I'm rocking my baby and babies don't keep.

~Anonymous

I'm alive and getting well

It's been a pretty crazy few weeks, most of which I only remember as if they were a dream. As of last Friday, I'm back home. The last few days at home have had there ups and downs. I want to get back to everything, but my body is far from ready. All-in-all, I'm getting a little better everyday.

Thanks to everyone for their prayers and support. Knowing there were so many to encourage me helped give me the strength to keep trying when all I wanted to do was give up.

Thanks!
Bryan

Bryan is home!

Things are looking up! Bryan was able to start eating a few solid foods today. Barring any complication, Bryan should be going home tomorrow or Saturday. Please pray that Bryan's for Bryan's pain management once he gets home.

Bryan is doing a little better every day. Today he is being upgraded to eating soft foods. His pain level is within reasonable limits. His white blood cell count is not going down as it should so he will have a CT scan this afternoon to see if another abcess has developed in Bryan's abdomen.

Thank you for your prayers!

Bryan's feeling a lot better today. His digestive system is starting to pick up a bit and he's taking lots of walks around the unit. His doctor says he may be able to go home on Thursday or Friday.

Bryan is still very tired, but his pain level and nausea are much better today. He'll be receiving blood this afternoon and intravenous nutrition tonight. Both should help with his energy level. His digestive system is starting a kick in a bit which is a really good sign.

Nothing new to report- Bryan's condition is about the same as it was yesterday.

Bryan's having a tough day. He's been getting blood because his hemoglobin level is low. His intestines are not contracting the way they should so his digestive system is getting backed up and causing him to vomit. Please pray that his digestive system will kick into gear. On the up side, he's been able to be out of bed and walking around his unit a couple of times today.

Bryan is doing surprisingly well today all things considered. He's reasonably comfortable and getting lots of rest.

Bryan is out of surgery but we won't see him for another hour or so. The doctor said that things went well but Bryan was in worse shape then they thought. His intestine had perforated (probably why he went from feeling fine to being in horrible pain so quickly) and the infection had spread through his abdomen. They removed the unused intestine and created a new colostomy site because his old one had developed a hernia.

Just got a call from the operating room. It's going to be awhile, but it's going well.

They still haven't taken Bryan for surgery. Once he's out it will probably be about 4 hours before I have anything to report.

Surgery tonight at around 5:00.

Bryan news

Bryan has been in the hospital since Sunday. He has an infection in the part of his intestine that is no longer being used due to his colostomy. The infection has entered his bloodstream and is causing considerable pain in his abdomen. It was decided today that he will have an operation tomorrow to removed the unused intestine. They will also most likely create a new colostomy site because the current one has a large hernia. Bryan would prefer not to have any visitors at this time. I will try to post here when we know the time of the surgery. Thank you for your prayers!

Jen

First day of preschool!

Today our little girl went to preschool! Her teachers tell us she did a great job and we are very proud of her.


Excuse the poor photography- I was trying to be stealthy :).