Currently How Long, O Lord?: Reflections on Suffering and Evil By D. A. Carson see related

Shalom's Hip Dysplasia Surgery

Hmmm...  I haven't been doing much journaling in my paper journal, and xanga was a pretty good way to keep some thoughts going for a while, so let's give it a try.  Probably nobody checks it anymore anyway, so it'll be kinda like I'm journaling in my book :)

Last Monday (July 19), Shalom had what might be her 21st or 22nd surgery, maybe even 23rd... who knows anymore?  Her surgery was for hip dysplasia that resulted from the treatment of her Langerhans Cell Histiocytosis (LCH).  The open area from the tumor caused the bone to ride high into the pelvis, and the long term danger was that she could need a hip replacement very early in life and have arthritic symptoms (I think I'm saying this right).

We tried to ease her into the idea of having a surgery because we didn't know exactly how she would respond to it.  We started talking about how she would go see a doctor to help her bones, and then we made some other comments here and there.  At one point she was showing people including us how well she could jump and run, so she clearly didn't need to see the doctors anymore :)  About a week before the surgery, our friend Chuck Maycroft came by while we were gone and crafted some ramps on our internal steps to make it easier to move around in the wheelchair.  When the kids came home, they fell in love with idea of ramps in the house immediately.  This, of course, also prompted the conversation in which Hannah had to explain that Shalom would be in a wheelchair and would need the ramps to get around.  At that point, she transitioned to being generally in favor of going to see the doctors.  [Now, after all the gifts and attention, not the least of which being the extra attention we are giving her, she says she wants to keep her cast and wheelchair forever!]

The day before the surgery I had the great opportunity to go see one of my favorite bands, the Lost Dogs, in concert in Ottumwa, Iowa.  Great band, great show... weird town.  I'm pretty sure you'd meet a "Cletus" there.  They're past their glory days, but their music just keeps getting better.  I was also glad to be able to take the trip with my cousin Ryan, with whom I had not spent much time in quite a long while.  It was very good to catch up.  After the concert we drove back to Omaha and I spent the night at Scott & Anita's.  Ryan was crazy and went all the way back to Polk.  It was almost 2 am when we got to Omaha, so...  do the math!

Shalom was supposed to go in for surgery at 1 pm, but it got pushed back to 3 pm.  The worst part about that is probably the fact that you are supposed to stop feeds at midnight of the previous day, and it makes a little kiddo pretty hungry by the end of the whole ordeal!  Shalom went into surgery around 3:50, and the procedure took about 2 hours and 45 minutes.  It was certainly not a completely laid back moment, but on the spectrum of surgeries it was less intense than a lot of hers.  Actually our thought after the surgery was, "Now comes the hard part!  Four to six weeks of nearly complete immobility for a five year old!"

After she got out of recovery, she had a short time to welcome Uncle Scott and Aunt Anita, and then she got to bed.  They brought Shalom one of her new favorite possessions, a stuffed tapir.  Yeah, it's strange, but I had an obsession with aardvarks, so I guess it's par for the course.  We were told that even though Shalom might normally be able to go home the next day, since we were from so far away it would probably be better if we stayed two nights. 

To our surprise, then, Hannah called me the next morning (I was staying with Calvin at Scott & Anita's and we had gone to the Henry Doorly Zoo when we woke up) and said we were being released.  Evidentally she had done well enough overnight that they thought she could hack it.  I left Calvin with Anita (as was the plan anyway) to go see the tigers (his fave at the moment) and ride the train and skyfari and came to help pack up our stuff and get moved out.  Praise the Lord Jesus for such a good initial recovery from the surgery!

The next day or two posed a few complications, such as pooping (codeine causes constipation) and maneuvering  and keeping the pain under control, but by now we've mastered many of those things and the swelling has gone done, the pooping is regular, and the pain has subsided.  We also got a nice little gift called a "Cast Cooler" from a family at church, the Dunagans.  Basically you strap this wrap around the cast and hook it to a vacuum cleaner and it sucks the cast dry in a fraction of the regular time it would take.  This decreases damage to the cast and also keeps the odor down from urine and other bodily smells.

I guess when you stop updating you have a lot to say when you start back up...

P.S.  I couldn't put this as "Currently Listening" because it's not listed, but you can download for free some GREAT tunes at David Potter's website here.  Watch for his full length CD this fall!

Currently Family Driven Faith: Doing What It Takes to Raise Sons and Daughters Who Walk with God By Voddie T. Baucham Jr. see related

Christmas stuff

I think it is pretty safe to say that we're not doing much on xanga anymore.  I'm really sorry for those who keep up with us on here, but if that is the case, I would recommend getting a facebook account and friend-requesting me on there.

Here's what we did over December...

We took part in the Singing Christmas Tree again this year.  We were in the drama cast for both nights, and we definitely had another great year doing that.

Hannah is a LOT older now -- turned 29 on December 22!

We opened gifts together and celebrated the birth of Jesus as a family... lit the advent wreath, sang Christmas songs, and such.

We went to Christmas Eve services and took part in reading the Scriptures.

Opening gifts  ^

Calvin likes to play under the tree

"I AM SO EXCITED!!"  ^

Sander Family Christmas in Seward

A new cousin -- Christine Noelle Sander!  12/30/08  ^

Moore family Christmas in Omaha

Shalom & Calvin's Christmas picture

Our Year in Review:

1)  FacePlant ski trip in February

2) Calvin Andrew Moore is born! 6/2/08

3) Summer camp at Timberlake -- I caught a gar on a goldfish cracker! 

4)  Family vacation to northern Nebraska

5)  Thanksgiving cuteness

6)  Shalom is a big helper with feeding Calvin

7)  Singing Christmas Tree drama

Currently Watching Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed By Ben Stein, Richard Dawkins, Robert J. Marks II, Mark Souder, Gerald Schroeder see related

I recommend the aforementioned movie.  Good stuff.  I like that Ben Stein.

I haven't put up any pictures in a while.  Pictures first, then funny stories.

Funny stuff from Shalom this week...

Today Calvin was grabbing for an electrical cord.  Hannah said he shouldn't play with it.  I was carving a pumpkin and asked if he should have the knife instead.  Shalom said, "No, Calvin shouldn't have the knife because he will cut his eye out and then he'll only have one eye."  Well said.  It's fun to watch her start to connect the dots of logic in normal every day conversation.

I think it was last week some time that she had pooped and I came in to find her entertaining herself as she often does by speaking for various characters that she has invented.  In this case, she was throwing little toilet paper wads into her potty.  The little poop fish was saying, "I want to eat some too," but the big poop fish was saying, "No, I'm going to eat them all."  Eventually he decided to share.  [She was not touching the poop, fyi.]

We're getting closer to our new house.  We have taken the First Time homebuyer class to get a $4000 grant toward our downpayment, which is actually $6,000.  It's a bit complicated, but the long and short of it is that because we bid higher than HUD appraised the house, they will only let us get a loan for the appraisal value, leaving us to come up with $6,000.  As with all things, we're just trusting the Lord to provide for our needs, and as always, He is using many and various people to take care of us.

This week we got a free cabinet grand piano and a free fridge from people listing on craigslist.com.  Special thanks to Chris Beaty for helping me load the piano, and special thanks to Ben Reis, Mark Coddington, Craig & Corina Garrison, Chuck Maycroft, Chuck Medberry, Chris Hiegel and Chris & Randy Beaty for being willing to help me unload it.  [I planned better for the loading than the unloading...]  It was really heavy!

Currently Watching The Man Who Came to Dinner By Bette Davis, Monty Woolley, Ann Sheridan, Jimmy Durante, Billie Burke see related

Just a few little updates in our lives.

We're getting closer to buying this house.  We still don't have a closing date, but everything seems to be coming together.  More info eventually, and hopefully some pictures!

Calvin has figured out how to roll from his back to his tummy.  He had already been able to roll from tummy to back, but today he really figured out the reverse.

Shalom has been doing GREAT at chewing and swallowing food!  She is getting really close to being able to get everything by mouth.  She still lacks a bit of motivation sometimes, but this weekend she really started chomping on some chips and other little snacks.  Jell-o and yogurt were already in her diet, but the new move to more solid foods is really encouraging.

A little over a week ago Shalom did a little faceplant in the mall and bled all over when she split her lip open.  She had done the same thing about six weeks prior, and I think that made it bleed a little worse this time.  It healed up pretty fast.

Currently Watching The Great Escape By Steve McQueen, James Garner, Richard Attenborough, James Donald, Charles Bronson see related

We're Buying a House!

We've held off making an announcement for a little while to make sure everything looked like it was going through in an orderly manner, and things are looking up -- Lord willing, we're going to buy a house!

This has all happened very suddenly, although we've been praying for the opportunity (but not looking for it).  We'd like to be able to open up our home to kids in foster care with physical disabilities (like Shalom's), and we just don't have the space in our house.  We think God is opening the door at a property not too far from where we are.  It is a pretty good little house that (due to foreclosure) was in our price range and was actually bigger than the house we're renting.  So many of the houses in our price range that we have looked at were the same size or smaller that we began to wonder if we'd ever move into a bigger house (without a lot of work).

The house will need a little bit of work, but nothing that can't be done over time.  We hope to move in around the end of the month.

In church news, Free Life has started up and we're heading in the right direction.  We've got some students that actually like to sing!  What a nice change of pace!  We've really noticed a good turn-around in the respect level and the participation of kids in our group.  Hopefully that will start to translate into students coming to outside events besides Youth Group, but in the meantime, we'll take what we're getting.  We still don't have a high school pastor, but we've got people covering the bases for now.  We also just got a new senior pastor.  We've enjoyed having Pastor Mike Neely (most recently from Columbus) join the team this Fall.  We certainly miss Curt and Fay as well, and we pray they're finding fruitful ministry out in the Scottsbluff area.

Calvin is FOUR MONTHS OLD and growing quickly.  He's got great head control and is a very happy boy (except when he's hungry!).  Shalom is still doing really well as a big sister.  She is experimenting with food by mouth and will consume a little more, especially liquids and things like drinkable yogurt.  Other than landing a full-body rash and an ear infection these past couple of weeks, she's been healthy.

Shalom is excited about the new house and has connected the fact that we could potentially get a dog now.  I wonder if Mommy prompted that thought at all...  Anyway, she has come up with some great ideas for each of us getting our own dog and just knows that our cats will love the new family members.  Shalom will also be able to have more of a play room in the new house.  Hopefully her doll house and puppet theatre can be somewhere useful instead of just tucked out of the way all the time.

People sometimes tell me that they still go to this blog to find out what's going on with us... so I'll try to keep updating it :)