2014 Surgeries & Hospital Stays.....

We had quite the busy last couple months of 2014 with kids and their various medical needs.  It was a little stressful and hard to watch them go through all they had to go through, but we were very blessed and everyone turned out okay....well at least as good or better than they were before ;)

We started with Linli who needed a few procedures after coming home from China to get a baseline of where she was and check internal organs, etc.   She had one here at Logan Regional and one done at Primary Children's.  She did fantastic and everything turned out to be great news.   She will be good and free of surgeries for quite a few years....maybe in her tweens or teens.   so YAY that was amazing news!   She handled everything like a champ!

Next up we had little Meili with a very big surgery.   It was time for her bone graft....something we had been dreading for years and knew would be a long and hard recovery.  They took a small piece of bone from her hip and grafted it into her mouth.   She truly amazes me.   She has been through more than any little girl should ever have to endure.   She tries so hard to be so brave but it is so hard because she knows exactly what she is getting into every single time.   It breaks my heart to see her go through the anticipation as well as the surgery and recovery.   She did amazingly well though and the surgery went just as planned.   After we got home and she saw how much her face was swollen she was so sad because she said she would be ugly now.   I told her it would be okay and that she was so beautiful no matter what but that her swelling would go down and she would look like her old self in no time.   In just a few weeks she went back to her doctor for a checkup and as you can see she was as beautiful as ever!

Next up we had JD giving us some grief (no surprise there right? ;).   As you know from previous entries he has had a problem with a racing heart.   The first time or two it happened it seemed like it was a bad reaction to strep.   This last time it was bad and didn't go away.   We called Primary Children's and they had us do several things to try to get him out of the tachycardia.   Nothing worked and just made him feel awful.   They told us to go straight to the ER.   Again they tried everything to convert him to a sinus rhythm.  We had sent the EKG strip down to Primary's to see if they could figure out what was going on.   They were just about to put the shock machine on him to see if they could stop his heart and restart it in a normal sinus rhythm.   This would have been a horrible experience for him and I was so worried.   Just as they were seconds away from doing that, Primary's called and said we know what it is.   They said he was in ventricular tachycardia and would send life flight for him.   The doctor came in and told JD he was lucky and was going to go for a little helicopter ride.   Well, JD didn't feel very lucky and burst into tears.   At that very moment, he converted to a sinus rhythm by himself.  We were so grateful and felt so blessed.   We still had to meet with the cardiac surgeon and he explained that JD has an extra loop of ventricles or something (i'm sure if Russel was explaining it would much more technically but no one would probably understand it anyway).   Apparently, his blood would get caught in the same circuit just going round and round causing the heart to beat so fast.  For the surgery they would just basically go in and cauterize that area so the blood flow wouldn't get trapped in that little circuit.   It was a long surgery and seriously scared me to death.   Something about someone messing with my little boy's heart was just about enough to put me over the edge.   But once again, everything went perfect and he did great.  

In the recovery room, he was hilarious.  He kept talking about Russel being Mickey Mouse and every time Russel would say anything to him, he would use his fingers (with the red tip) and act like he was shooting a gun at him.   He wouldn't say a word to Russel, just pretended to shoot him every time Russel said anything at all.   Entertainment at its finest :)

We are so very grateful to wonderful doctors who took such good care of our children. What an amazing blessing it is to live in a world with such advanced medical technology.  We are also grateful for brave strong children and for a loving Heavenly Father who blessed them with everything they needed to make a full recovery.   

Christmas 2014....

Christmas is always my favorite time of the year.   There's just something magical about it....the snow, the lights, acts of love and service.   This year was no different but it was also very bittersweet at our home.   We were missing Josh so much and were reminded of him at every turn.    Aside from missing him we felt a connection with our Savior like none else.   We knew he was exactly where he should be and honestly what he was doing was far more in line with the true Spirit of Christmas than anything we were doing.   We felt truly blessed to have him serving our Lord and Savior during the Christmas season.   We felt the love of our Savior so perfectly.   Having a missionary out at Christmastime, although hard, is truly a beautiful thing and really made us evaluate and think about what is really important at Christmas.   We are truly grateful for the sacrifice of His son and the love of our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ and feel honored that Josh continues to serve him full-time.   What a blessing to our entire family.  

As is tradition we had the Hansen Family party on Christmas Eve complete with a visit from Santa.   What a great night.   The kids love being with cousins, eating yummy food, exchanging gifts, doing a service project, and of course finishing off with the Nativity.  

As we prepared to talk with our sweet boy on Christmas day, I thought it would be fun to have matching shirts that said Tucson and also send him one as part of his Christmas PJs.   What a fun surprise when we started skyping with him....for everyone to match him...right??   Well, after the shirts were custom ordered and everyone was super excited, we learned Josh would not be able to Skype with us.   I was so disappointed at first and tried really hard to have a good attitude.   I talked to a few missionary moms and some actually had done it both ways and preferred the talking on the phone instead of Skype.   So I decided whatever it was, I was just excited to talk to my boy.   We also knew Savanah would be home visiting for Christmas and thought it would be fun to surprise Josh with her being there.   

The call finally came and it was AMAZING to hear his voice.   He sounded so good and of course some of us cried just hearing him talk.   We put him on speaker phone and talked for a little bit and then told him each of the kids had a question or two they wanted to ask him.   As we went around the circle, we had Savanah ask her question (with Josh still not knowing she was there).   It was the cutest thing ever.   We didn't know if he would recognize her voice or wonder if it was Abi, etc.   As soon as he heard her voice, he had a very long pause and then said "wait...who's this?"   We all started laughing and she said "guess who?"  He of course knew right away who it was and it was a pretty darn good surprise.   We had a wonderful time talking with him and didn't want to say goodbye.   I'm pretty sure it was everyone's favorite Christmas present.   What a truly wonderful blessing it is to have a missionary serving our Lord.

Treehouse Pediatrics Christmas Party.....these kids have some mad bowling skills to say the least ;)

Winter Recitals....

Meili's ballet recital was so cute.   I was a backstage mom for this recital which was fun with all the cute kids.   They all did great and had a fun time.  

Meili also had a Chinese program at her elementary school right before Christmas break.   It's amazing to me how quickly these children catch on to a new language.   They did terrific and all looked so adorable.   Such a fun day.