remembering special moments...

It's been a great Christmas season.  I've really enjoyed spending time with family.  Thanks to all of you who have written about Thatcher, for your thoughts and prayers...we appreciate your support and encouragement.

We started off Sunday with the Christmas Eve service at church.  It was truly magnificent.  It was an 8:00 a.m. service and they kept the sanctuary dark with just candles lit in the entire front area.  The pointsettias were white, as were all of the other floral arrangements.  It was a simple elegance that was so beautiful.  The service was so awesome...with the choir, special music and the congregation singing the Carols of the Season, I just felt so blessed.  Truly a great way to start the day!

That evening, we had the clan over...it was definitely lots of fun...a little crowded but good.  Vern smoked a couple of hams and they were soooo good.  There was plenty of food, with tons of leftovers.   Yay!  Here's Vern's Mom and Dad...smiling cuz they just ate!

Sometimes I wonder why my nephews insist on making funny faces for the camera...well, I guess this shows who they learn it from...Vern's brother, Greg and his son, Josh.  Cute!

On Christmas Day, we opened gifts in the morning.  I never get over the fun of being surprised and surprising Vern and Ashley.  This year, Mom and Dad stayed with us and we opened gifts with them.  I wanted to share a picture of one of the gifts I received from Vern...it's an awesome primitive angel made from a hand painted metal body, head and wings and movable wooden arms .    She's almost 3 feet high and just way too cool to put away after Christmas...I have a spot in my studio picked out for her. 

In the afternoon, we drove up to Fountain Hills where my brother and family (from Idaho) rented a house for the week.  Vern and my nephew,  Josh, had a Monopoly marathon going...as Ashley put it, Josh just refused to die and just kept hanging on by a couple hundred dollars.

Needless to say, it was an all day affair...here's a pic of moneybags Vern with his piles of money, houses and hotels and Josh with his measley remains!

  Josh mustn't have been too upset since he's still smiling.  Josh and Vern are pretty tight...they really look forward to their Monopoly face offs.

Here's a shot of the fountain for which the city is named.  The fountain goes off every hour, day and night, and is quite huge.  It's truly an awesome sight to see from an airplane when flying overhead.

It was an absolutely gorgeous day in the Valley and we enjoyed spending time walking around the fountain area.

Ashley and Nicolas (born just a month apart) enjoyed spending some quality time together.  Ashley, born a drama queen and currently minoring in theater, had to perform for the camera!

Ash got a really beautiful piece of art done with pastels from Tim, Carmen and boys.  Very fitting for our resident horse woman!

Here's one of my Mom and Dad in the forefront of the fountain.  They have really enjoyed a break from the cold winter and snow of Idaho...

Yesterday, we treated the whole family to breakfast at our favorite breakfast place, T.C. Eggington's.   We had a great server with a sense of humor...some of the family members apparently couldn't remember what they had ordered...when she brought out the food and called out what she had, no one would claim it!  We were commenting that we not only have to remember what we ordered but also what our parents and children ordered!

Vern and I were planning to go to the paint ball park with Ashley, our nephews and Vern's brother but we got the news that Thatcher was ready to come home.  So...Ash, cousins and uncle went without us...it was a shame to miss out on that but we were thrilled to be able to bring "Puppy T" home.  His surgery had gone well and he was feeling fairly perky. 

He apparently has a condition called "megaesophagus", something we knew nothing about previously but, thanks to lots of info on the net, have learned a lot...really fast.  From what we have read and been told, this is going to take quite a bit of time and consistency.  This is Thatcher's daily feeding and medication chart...he's on bland food...that's boiled chicken and rice put through a food processer to resemble a mush and he has to eat from an elevated surface...currently it's an old Gateway computer box (maybe he will gain some computer knowledge by osmosis).  LOL.  The major challenge is that he is on 4 meds and they all have to be given within a half an hour of each other, followed by his meal...the suggestion is 3 small meals a day, with each meal taking about 2 hours in giving meds, walking him to keep the head elevated so that the food passes through the esophagus into the stomach (that is done after each med is given as well)...by the time we clean up, it's time to start the process again.  So far, he's done pretty well in keeping everything down...keeping our fingers crossed and prayers sent upward!  Vern and I laughingly said that we are feeling like parents of a newborn baby again...we're definitely going to be tied to the house for the next two weeks...but, we want to make sure that we give Thatcher every possible chance to make it and get healthy again.

Sorry for the long post...it's just been so busy and there have been so many good things to share.  Life really is good...and I appreciate God's blessings in our lives.  Hope you had a wonderful Christmas!

Comments

[Jeanette]

Glad to hear Thatcher is back home. Sounds like fun times among family which is quite nice. Your primitive angel is darling.

What a merry Christmas you and your family had. Blessings to all.

Jeanette :)

[ngaire Bartlam]

I too hope Thatcher is healing and getting ever stronger! You look like you had a fabulous Christmas darlin.. so happy for you..
We had a lovely one too!

Much love and best wishes for 2007...
peace.
Ngai
xxx
( LOVE the printer pressie!! How wonderful for you!!!)
N
xxx

[Theresa]

Your angel is beautiful. I know just where she would fit in my living room....wink wink....