Sore neglect - Feb. 1

The word on the street is that I have let the picture gallery here go to sore neglect since the beginning of the new year.  My eldest son's roommate, Dennis, pointed out today that when Warren Harding was running for president after World War I, that his campaign slogan was, "Return to Normalcy."  I didn't know there was a history behind that phrase. Returning to normal has just been a slow reality for us and as the wheels pick up and spin faster and faster along that track, I think I have fallen further and further behind in updates.  I'm not sure whether to apologize or to celebrate that or both.

So, here are several moments in the somewhat normal, whatever that means, life of Asa, the wild and wooly toddler man with even wilder hair.  

Yes sir, we have a climber.

This was selfless taken while eating goldfish.  Food is now fun!  The favorite - Tilamook yogurt.  Don't try to feed him another brand.

This picture means a lot because we spent so much of last in the land of low counts, neutropenia.  Playing in the dirt outside was not a reality.  Asa now begs to go outside every single day.  And we gladly accommodate.  Yay!

Yes, a horrid, grainy pic, but this is the crazy hair with the sun behind it.  We absolutely cannot figure out what it is, whether it's truly blonde or headed toward curly, but for now, a good portion of it sticks straight up, even though it's long enough to lay flat.

All done now! - Jan. 4

I caught it!  The shot we'd been talking about!  (see http://graceinspades.blogspot.com/2014/12/an-end-end-dec-18.html)  Asa signing "all done."  Of course, he was eating Sunday lunch, but still, ALL DONE!

A Carol for Asa - Dec. 27, because we are not video tech savvy enough and too busy eating turkey and repairing the cooktop (yes, it flaked out, too) to get it uploaded on Christmas

An end. The end. - Dec. 18

Sometimes you just don’t know what to say.  I think we’ve spent so much time wondering when there will really be an end, that the end just seems so very…quiet, quiet in the middle of busy. 

Today we went for our last visit of 2014 to the TCH oncology department.  It was a long wait as clinic normally is, and as we sat and visited with others deep in the battle, still looking for answers, it seemed sort of surreal.  For us it was a minor affair, just bloodwork and a simple visit with Asa’s oncologists.  And good results.  All the loose ends, the things that seem to still be flying loose at the edge of our vision, were tied up tightly, snipped clean and called done. 

Long day done at Texas Children’s with a little more excitement than we wanted - Dec. 8

The title should technically say long day finished, but, honestly, by the time we left the med center this afternoon, we were starving and done, just soooo done.  After the 4am wake-up call and out the door before 5, it was in some way good to be first in line at the MRI department, though it still baffles me always why if you arrive at 6, it takes them until 7:30 to start the procedure and that is good time. And today the MRI took a fair hour and a half, leaving us with about 3 hours of bad waiting room morning talk show entertainment and yet more entertaining toddler fit-throwing accompanied by sketchy parenting.  We were grateful Asa did well today as he is still slightly congested from the household flu epidemic, though the anesthesiologist didn’t think he sounded poorly at all.  If he didn’t sound badly before the MRI, he does now.  He’s croaking like a barking frog between flu residuals and the breathing tube they used in the MRI.  Perhaps that will be better in the morning.

Off to the med center and more toddler fun! - December 7

It’s that time again.  Off to the med center day tomorrow for what we are praying is our final MRI trip.   We would ask for your prayers, as our entire household has been deeply under the weather with the flu this past week and we are just now barely on the mend enough to get through this type of excursion.  We are grateful that Asa is first on the docket in the morning, which unfortunately means we have to get up long before dawn, but thankfully means that we are not sitting waiting all day long with a ravenous toddler, just stuck in a waiting area with a sleepy one.  We also have an eye appointment after our MRI to look at Asa’s eye that does not drain properly as a result of the anti-viral given to him in such high doses when he was critically ill with adenovirus.  Tomorrow’s MRI will be followed up by a doctor visit later in the month. 

Thanksgiving in small possible steps - Nov 27

Thanksgiving shouldn’t be an I don’t want to crawl out of bed day, not that I haven’t felt that way about parting the covers just to shove a cold turkey in a warm oven.  But we think it shouldn’t be that way, that thanks should pour forth regardless.

Today I got to listen to my husband battle to be a family leader, grasp for words that are just…hard.  You know God is good and gracious and we hold hands in prayer in privilege, but we were all standing in that circle figuring out how to put words, out-loud words, to the thanks, that gut-wrenching, poured out thanks, thanks that really are just groanings.  The words were hard and fumbled.  Three down, two delivered and standing.  What do you say? How do you act? You want to be like Job and choke out the “and yet will I trust you” words, but how do you shovel sweet potatoes when there’s no spouse, much less offer thanks?