How far we've come

This picture was taken about six weeks ago. Jim was out of town and I was at home with Halle by myself. I was trying to convince myself and everyone around me that I was NOT dealing postpartum depression and that I had Mommy-hood down.

And that is when Halle stopped sleeping. Seriously. At her worst, she went 28. hours. straight without sleeping.

I thought I was going to kill her. Or myself.

I took this picture when she finally slept for a few hours and I remember cringing because she is sleeping face-down on my bed which means she was now 1,458% more likely to die of SIDS and the reason she was finally sleeping was because I shoved as much formula down her throat as she would take without choking. In the back of my head I heard the SIDS- and breast-feeding-Nazis lecturing me on my parenting abilities. Also, the laptop in the background reminds me that I was watching non-child-appropriate movies on Netflix while my daughter cried nonstop. The NEVER-expose-your-child-to-TV lecturers can feel free to crucify me for that one as well (The worst part is that prior to Halle I was the SIDS/breast-feeding/how-to-correctly-parent-your-child Nazi... and all the parents smile smugly here.)

I pretty much lost it that week. Between the depression and the crying and the not-sleeping and the being alone I turned into what one wonderful mother calls a "bonafide nutjob".

I wish I could say that I turned to Jesus during this time. But this post is all about honesty and repentance so I will tell the truth.

I became filled with anger.

Angry that I was a mother. Angry that God had chosen to give us this "little monster" when I was NOT ready for a child nor asking for one. Angry that I had given up my entire life for this child. Angry that I wouldn't be able to continue working full-time at the job I loved. Angry that the oneness I had once experienced with my husband turned into bitterness that his life continued while mine did not. Angry that I was unable to participate with him in his activities. Angry that he seemed completely oblivious to how I was feeling. Angry that this baby WOULD. NOT. STOP. CRYING. Angry that my milk supply was tanking and I couldn't even provide for my daughter's basic needs. Angry that I would not be able to sleep a consistent stretch EVER AGAIN. Angry that I was confined to my house. Angry that my body was not as resilient as I had hoped and I was pretty certain my stomach would never again be flat.

This anger led me to despise God, my husband, my daughter and my situation. I had my "escape plan" figured out - down to exactly when I would leave and what I would take. Thankfully I still possessed one small fragment of motherly instinct that kept me from abandoning my child (also the same fragment that kept me from throwing her down the stairs).

I am grateful Jesus still chose to take the cross for me.

So here is where I am at this moment: Mommy-hood is hard. It is especially hard because I am a selfish sinner with two capital S's. However, God is good. I have not yet allowed Jesus to be enough but I praying I will be able to soon say (honestly) that He is. I no longer despise my daughter and I am working on not despising my husband by choosing to love him daily and asking God to change my heart and attitude. God is teaching me to view being a wife and mother as a high calling and ministry and giving me small bits of grace throughout my days to remind me.

Mark Driscoll says that repentance is not sweeping sin under the rug and pretending it doesn't exist. I hope and pray to be the sort of wife and mom who can be transparent with her family and admit that she is a filthy selfish sinner capable of no good apart from Jesus. I pray that Halle will look to Him, and not me, as her example of how she should live and conduct herself.

The moral of my story? I am a selfish sinner. Left to myself I am capable of even more selfishness and sin. Fortunately, Jesus not only went to the cross to take the punishment for my sin but He also sought me at my worst and rescued me from myself. Thank you Jesus.

Hawaii 2010

Jim and I just returned from a wonderful week in Hawaii. It was a
bittersweet trip for us; this is likely the last time we will get a
chance to vacation before Baby girl arrives, but we are excited for
the new addition to our family.

We visited the Hilton property at Waikoloa on the Big Island and loved
every minute of it! The Big Island has a large diversity of climates
and terrains, from snow-capped mountain peaks to rainforest to active
volcanos and sunny beaches. We were able to do and see many different
things. Baby girl seemed to enjoy the island as well (although hiking
in the third trimester is NOT the most fun I ever had!)

Here are a few pictures from our last night in Hawaii. We are looking
forward to returning again in the future!

Three years ago today...

... I was here:
Today I find myself celebrating three years of marriage to an unselfish, Godly, loving, devoted man. He has stuck with me for better and for worse, in sickness and in health. He exemplifies what Paul meant when he called husbands to love their wives as Christ loves the church.

Jim, the way you love me causes me to understand and value my Savior's love for me more and more each day. You seek to glorify God in our marriage by faithfully leading me and sacrificially giving. I do not understand how I am worthy of the privilege of being your wife (especially because I am not nearly as good at being a wife as you are at being a husband!)

Thank you for being such a fabulous example to me, to the people we have been called to serve, and to our child. I can't wait to spend the rest of my life with you!

Shauna, your prayers have been answered.

I should have figured something big was going to happen. Life had become too smooth, routine.

I should have guessed when certain doors closed rather sharply that God was up to something BIG.

And, if that wasn't enough, there were certainly physical and emotional cues. I won't go into details, but it was enough to make my husband wonder what was wrong with me.

Jim and I like to say that the moral of our story is when life become predictable, God turns it upside down... and He certainly did!

We are thrilled/terrified to announce we are pregnant with our first child.

Actually, those are two of the 47 different emotions currently circulating through our minds. We had not planned on being pregnant at this point in our marriage. In fact, we had a few things left on our "Before Kids" checklist to accomplish.

Yet, despite our selfish natures and our meticulous planning, God saw fit to have the last laugh and bless us with a child. Like everything else so far in our marriage, we aren't quite sure what He is thinking and why He has chosen this timing, but we are (slowly learning to be) content to roll with His plans. After all, He's proven over and over that His ways are best!

This does put a few things on hold for us. First and foremost, I had previously been contemplating going back to school for my Master's degree. This door was firmly shut prior to learning about the pregnancy. I didn't not qualify for any of the programs I wanted to apply for due to lack of experience, training, or certifications. Go figure.

Secondly, vacation plans are changing. While in Hawaii this past June, we bought another week to be used this coming summer. Obviously that won't be a viable option with a newborn, so we are tweaking those plans to utilize that trip prior to the point where I will be too pregnant to go.

Our current plan at this point is to continue living in the basement, finish paying off the last bit of debt we owe on our cars, reconfigure our budget to include diapers and figure out how to fit a crib into our bedroom. I will most likely cut back on my hours at work after the baby is born, so it will take us a little longer than expected to get into a house of our own. Not to mention the many (gulp) medical bills heading our way.

This is absolutely surreal for us. Jim took the news and immediately started working on our budget. I, on the other hand, have been too shocked to do anything except be clumsy. Which in turn made Jim research the safety ratings on my car.

My estimated due date (by my own estimations, mind you) is June 7, 2010. Other than the overwhelming clumsiness, general soreness, inability to sleep, mood swings and the incessant nausea and vomiting, I have yet to experience the majority of the symptoms of pregnancy, including weight gain. This makes me very happy, as I just bought three new pairs of smaller-sized jeans since I haven't been able to gain the weight back that I lost in Haiti and I was hoping to get some use out of them. Go figure!

I plan on using this blog to chronicle my pregnancy (since I've been assured soon enough I will no longer have the brain cells left to remember all these details) so stay tuned for periodic updates and the occasional "baby bump" picture!

Updates... finally!

It's mid-September here in the Tri-Cities which means we are firmly on our way to fall. This is my favorite time of year. I love everything about fall: the crisp fall air, pot roast, the cooler temperatures, pie, the fabulous clothes, apples, back-to-school, Thanksgiving, football, sweaters... I could go on and on!

Fall also signifies the end of summer, which means Jim and I are getting back to a more normal routine. Jim has started practices for this year's Christmas program, which is tentatively set for the first weekend in December. He also already has most of the year's youth events planned, and is working through "Systematic Theology" with the youth group. We've both been pleased to see our youth grow closer to God and desire to know Him more these days. What an awesome group of youth we get to serve!

Jim and I have started the search for our next home. We've been actively looking with a realtor for some time now, and have pretty much made up our minds as to the type of house and location we want. We're still going back and forth between buying a resale versus building new construction, but we hope to make our final decision before next spring. It's been a wonderful blessing to be able to live with Jim's parents as we paid off our debt and built our savings, but we are looking forward to having our own home again.

We are in week 2 of the 2009-2010 Fantasy Football season. My team, the "Winning Wives", is returning as the defending champions while Jim is hoping to make a comeback after finishing second-to-last last year. Fantasy Football season is a wonderful time for Jim and I, as we spend hours watching football and reading up on commentaries. We also get to playfully "trash talk" our fellow friends in the league and enjoy watching games with them. Jim and I love football season!

Speaking of sports, my sister Teea is starting out her senior year of Varsity Soccer with a bang! In her game last Saturday versus Kamiakin High School, she scored 2 of the 4 goals and assisted on 1. Jim and I are looking forward to watching Teea finish out an awesome senior season and graduate next spring.

Mainly, Jim and I are enjoying a lot of quality time together after our long summer. We've been growing closer and enjoying each other more. I am so blessed to be married to such an amazing man! We are very much looking forward to celebrating three wonderful years together this December.

I hope that suffices for enough updating for now. This season has started out with much joy in our household, as we are amazed at how awesome our God is and the many blessings He has bestowed on us. We are so undeserving of His mercy!

I'll leave you with a picture of Jim's new 'do. He's growing his hair out... I have to admit it doesn't look that bad now, but there is a bet going on around church that he won't cut it until February. I believe the pool is up to $55. Now I just need to figure out how to get in on that action!

And He's Finally Coming Home!

It is very late, and I have to get up in only four short hours for work, but I can not sleep. Jim is coming home tomorrow after a very LONG couple of weeks away and I am ecstatic! I have missed him so much this past month. He is my best friend and better half, and without him here I have felt very incomplete. And lonely, especially as I have not been able to communicate with him for the majority of the time he's been away. In fact, over the course of this past year we have spent over a month apart from each other. I'm pretty certain one of the reasons the idea of marriage was so appealing to me because I thought I wouldn't have to be alone, but here I am.

I've been thinking a lot over the past several weeks about where Jim and I have come in our time together. We met four years ago, in May of 2005. I had just wrapped up my first year at WSU Pullman, and Jim was living and working here. Looking back, it's amazing to us to remember where God had taken us in the six months prior to that first meeting. His plan in working in each of our hearts to prepare us for each other is so evident now. At the beginning of that summer we were both in love with our Savior, growing closer to Him every day, and completely content to be single.

Jim and I met at a Bible study for young adults. He and his friend Jason had been attending previously, but I showed up that night having just moved back from school. Jim and I did not speak much that night. Jason, however, talked my ear off as Jim sat awkwardly beside him. One week later, I arrived home from a trip to Portland to find a strange car parked across the street from my house. It turned out to be Jim and Jason, who were returning a book I had lent a mutual friend. What a lame excuse to sit outside my house for who knows how long! Once again, Jason monopolized the conversation and Jim said almost nothing. I remember thinking both encounters were odd, but thought nothing more about it.

A week later, I found myself alone at church as my family had been out of town for a soccer tournament. Jim came up to me after service and asked me to have lunch with his family. I had grown up with his sister, and knew his parents, so I agreed to go (although I have to admit the motivating factor was a free meal). He forgot to mention to me that it was his mother's 50th birthday until we were walking into Tony Roma's and he asked me to hide his mother's present in my purse. Oops! Thankfully his parents are very gracious people, and I had a great time at lunch.

After lunch, Jim and I went back to church. We ended up spending that afternoon talking about God... what He had been doing in our lives, where we were spiritually. I remember thinking that I had never met a man who loved God as earnestly and knew Him as intimately as this man did. At the end of our conversation, Jim asked for my phone number to use for "carpooling to Bible study". I was gullible enough to believe that line, and I gave him my number.

Not even 12 hours later, Jim called me. And kept calling me. And texting me. I did not have unlimited text messaging that first month, and I remember getting a $250 phone bill for all the text messages he sent! Five days later, he ended up inviting me to a BBQ with his parents, and we had the great "Defining the Relationship" talk afterwards, which began with my very blunt question: "Why do you keep calling me?" And the rest is history.

For me, our relationship did not begin with the big, romantic, falling-head-over-heels-in-love, emotional whirlwind that so many other relationships in the past had. More than anything, I loved sharing my relationship with God with Jim. He not only understood, but shared my passion and zeal for our Savior. I had very precious few people in my life at that point I could share with, especially at home, and I appreciated that I could share openly with Jim about what God was doing in my heart. Over time, I began to understand and appreciate why God had shaped and molded this man's heart and brought it into my life at that exact moment.

So here I am, four years later, having grown to love, appreciate, and respect this wonderful man. During the first month of our relationship, God gave me Colossians 2:2-3 "...that their hearts may be encouraged, being knit together in love, to reach all the riches of full assurance of understanding and the knowledge of God's mystery, which is Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge" I believe with all my heart this is God's purpose for our relationship, and it is amazing to me to look back over the past four years and see clear examples of how this has been achieved in our life together so far. What amazing grace God has shown me, to raise me up of the many messes I made for myself and give me such a beautiful gift!

I love sharing our story with the young women in my life as a testimony to how amazing and wonderful our God is, and my hope for each of them is that they would allow God to refine their hearts and lives so He can prepare the perfect grounding on which to build a solid relationship born of a mutual desire to know Him more fully with the one He has prepared for them.

Jim, I am so privileged to be your wife! I am amazed and awed at what God has accomplished in our hearts and lives so far, and I look forward to where He is taking us. You are an amazing, selfless man who desires everyday to know and serve your Savior more fully. Thank you for listening and responding to the call of God in your life - you make it easy to follow your leadership! God has been far better than I deserve to prepare you for me, and I grow to love and respect you more with each day.

"Hawaii - Part 2"

As I mentioned in my previous post about our fabulous trip to Hawaii, July is a rough month for us. Jim is gone all but 5 days of the month between mission trips and youth camp, and I am working a lot of extra days in between there. You might ask, how has it been going so far? Somebody told me the other day that "absence makes the heart grow fonder"... but it's making me skinny and exhausted! Yes, my husband is the one who is responsible for making sure I eat and sleep, thus why I've lost five pounds since he left and I'm up blogging at 2:00 AM. I am so thankful for my Jim!

OK, enough with the "downer" part of this blog entry... here's what you really wanted: the rest of our Hawaii pictures. Enjoy!

We visited Waimea Valley, which is a nature preserve you can hike in. I was able to capture a shot of a fascinating creature in his "natural habitat"! Isn't he cute?

We hiked Diamond Head Crater on perhaps the most humid day in Hawaii. Between that, the hot sun, and the billion other sweaty people on the narrow steep trail, it wasn't the most fun time I ever had. The view was spectacular though!

I found another house for Jim and I to live in... we wish! The next pictures are from our trip to Lanakai, rated one of the top 10 beaches in the world. I wish we could have stayed there forever! The water was perfect, the sand felt like powdered sugar beneath our feet, and it was surprisingly not crowded (unlike Waikiki).

I was trying to capture how magnificent the sand was at Lanakai. Instead, I got a great shot of how torn up my feet were from wearing $4.00 sandals from Target the whole trip. Ouch!

I just had to get a picture of these two on the water. Hilarious!

One of the last things we did was head out to Kualoa Ranch for a day of adventure. This ranch is 250-acres of beautiful scenery used as the backdrop for many movies and television shows.

There was a fake horse on the property... which was funny because it was located 50 feet from the real horses you could ride. The Japanese tourists LOVED the fake horse! Jim must have snapped a dozen pictures for people in front of the fake horse. I figured I need a picture in front of the fake horse as well!

Here's us on a catamaran ride around the beach that "Lost" is filmed on. We loved the catamaran ride! The ocean was very choppy that morning, and Jim and I held on to the front of the boat and let the ocean waves spray in our face.

This is a shot of that famous beach! We also couldn't resist getting a picture in front of the catamaran.

We also took an ATV ride around the property. It was beautiful and we had so much fun!

Here's a list of the movies and television shows filmed at the ranch. We thought it was neat to see this setting in person!

We loved our trip to Hawaii, but most of all, we loved the time spent together. Each year we've been together seems to be busier than the last, and we have learned to treasure those uninterrupted times together because they have become fewer and father between. Our time in Hawaii allowed us to reconnect and refresh, and we've decided to continue this tradition in years to come.

Jim and I have experienced a lot in our first 2.5 years. We've been through nursing school, unemployment, financial difficulties, disappointments and heartache. Not only have we survived, we have grown closer and more in love. I could not imagine a better beginning to our marriage. Here's to the rest of our life together!

June 2009 (+ 1 day in May)

It's been a long time since I have posted any updates, and I apologize for that. Jim and I have both been swamped at work, and there hasn't been much to post. As you know from the last few posts, my job has been particularly eventful. Fortunately, every situation has ended well and I have learned a lot.

Three months ago, Jim and I were comparing our calendars through September and we realized we are REALLY busy. How busy? Let's take July, for example. Not only is it my least favorite month (see previous years' posts), but this one in particular requires Jim to be out of town all except five days. Which means I will see my husband for five days in the whole month of July. If you remember my posts from Jim's trip in January, you'll know I'm not looking forward to it!

Every year since we've been together we have taken a big trip in the summer-time. Jim took me to Lake Chelan right after we started dating, and last year we went to Florida and the Oregon Coast. I'm not sure where the idea for this year's vacation began, but somehow we ended up at our Hawaii trip. Jim's been to Hawaii twice before, but I have never been and have always wanted to go. I'm certain we looked at our busy schedules, looked at our bank account, realized we have no kids and no mortgage currently, and decided to go to Hawaii. After all, why not?

We planned a trip to Hawaii for nine days. We chose to go to the island of O'ahu, even though Jim had already been there twice, because it is the island with the most activities and Jim already knew what to do and what to avoid.

June is a big month for us. We began dating four years ago in June. Both mine and my mother-in-law's birthdays are in June. Jim and I scheduled our Hawaii trip to coincide with both the anniversary of when we began dating and my birthday, and we found creative ways to celebrate those occasions there.

Our vacation in Hawaii was a wonderful, relaxing time for us. We enjoyed the beautiful weather and scenery, experienced many things, and ate delicious food. Most of all, we LOVED having nine uninterrupted days with each other, something Jim and I have not done since our honeymoon. This trip reminded us how important that time together is. With our busy schedules, we've allowed our marriage to take the back burner often, and this vacation confirmed to us the importance of taking time for just us, a tradition we plan to continue for the rest of our marriage.

I have to admit I was not a good photographer on this trip, and I apologize if you are disappointed. Jim and I were too busy enjoying each other and Hawaii apparently! Here are a few pictures from our trip, plus one day in May.

This first picture is us at Ryan and Melany's gorgeous (and HOT!) wedding on May 30.

Here starts our pictures from Hawaii! We stayed at the Hilton Hawaiian Village at Waikiki. This is a picture of the tower we stayed in, the famous "Rainbow Tower". The mural on the side is the world's largest mural coming in at 226 feet tall and using over 8,000 hand-painted tiles.

This was the view from our room. When we arrived, we found out the room we had booked was unavailable, so they upgraded us to this "Deluxe Ocean view" room.

Here's us on the beach, right outside our hotel!

Jim LOVES the ocean! The next picture I snapped is of a wedding on the beach. We learned that the Hilton averages 2-3 weddings a day.

Here are some pictures from Pearl Harbor. This first picture is of an aircraft carrier docked in the harbor. Here's the memorial, which lays directly over the sunken USS Arizona.

Here is one of the gun turrets of the USS Arizona.

The USS Arizona was sunk with an estimated 150,000 tons of oil on board, and today they believe there is still 40,000 tons of oil on the ship. It is constantly slowly leaking out. The Navy has been ordered to deal with the oil issue, but refuses to touch the ship. The locals say the oil is the blood of the 1,500 who died when the USS Arizona sank.

This is us in front of the old courthouse building in Honolulu. The statue in front is of King Kamehameha the Great, who conquered and unified each of the Hawaiian islands. His birthday is celebrated every year in June across each of the Hawaiian islands. We were able to see a parade through Waikiki in his honor on June 13.


This is us in front of our new house! (OK, so maybe not... it's actually the last and only royal palace in the United States)


That night we took a sunset dinner cruise. We had such a great time!

This is a view of the sunset we saw on the cruise. I have to admit, Hawaiian sunsets are nice but do not hold a candle to Tri-City sunsets!

Look Ron Burgundy, we found diversity! (Note: this will only make sense to you if you've watched Anchorman)Here is a picture from the Luau we went to. The entertainment was good, but the food was awful.We took a day and went to the North Shore. On our way, we stopped at the Dole Plantation for some Pineapple ice cream!

Do you recognize these pineapples?

That's it for now! We have ~360 pictures from Hawaii that I am still trying to wade through while working and catching up at home. I will get "Hawaii Part 2" up soon!

They just keep getting bigger and better...

I have to brag: I'm going to Hawaii for my 23rd birthday!

Jim just booked the tickets today for 9 days in Oahu at the Hilton Hawaiian Village in Waikiki. We are so excited! Although, secretly I think Jim is just feeling guilty over all the sad posts that have been cropping up on my blog lately...

This will be the fifth birthday Jim and I have spent together. Here's a quick recap of how I've celebrated:

19th - Jim took me out for a romantic dinner at Cedars complete with flowers, eloquent card, and watching the sunset on the river. He was still trying to win me over at this point.

20th - I can't remember how we celebrated this birthday. Jim proposed four days before this birthday, so I'm sure we were still celebrating both occasions!

21st - Jim and I (and my parents) toured the Columbia Basin stopping at various places to taste aged grape juice.

22nd - Jim forgot to plan anything special for my birthday but made it up to me by taking me out to lunch and surprising me with a delicious fruit torte from my favorite bakery.

23rd - Going to Hawaii! 9 uninterrupted days with my husband!

I honestly don't know how next year's birthday could get any better.

Small disclaimer - The only part of this trip that is Dave Ramsey-approved is the fact that we are paying for it in cash. If it was Dave Ramsey-approved, we would have paid off our debt and completed our Emergency Fund first before budgeting to save for this trip. Shh, don't tell Dave!

Jim's "De-gallbladderisation"

For those of you who haven't heard, Jim had a laparoscopic cholecystectomy yesterday morning. For the past three years, Jim has been suffering gallbladder attacks and pains after eating. Jim had a HIDA scan done on his gallbladder last month, and the results were that his gallbladder was functioning only at 30%. After much thought, prayer and council of doctors and friends, Jim chose to have his gallbladder removed.

Here's a timeline of how our day went yesterday:

0600 - Jim and I arrive at the hospital and are checked into Pre-Op

0630 - Jim is examined by a nurse, get his IV and super-attractive leggings, and meets with the anesthesiologist.




0730 - Jim is wheeled back to the OR for his surgery. I go for some much-needed breakfast and wait to hear back from Dr. Trotta.


0820 - Dr. Trotta comes out and tells me the surgery went well. Jim didn't lose any blood, and Dr. Trotta was able to remove his gallbladder without any difficulty or complication. Jim's gallbladder had a lot of scar tissue and lesions on it, and Dr. Trotta told me he was confident Jim's gallbladder was very diseased and it needed to be removed.

0930 - Jim is finally out of recovery. He does not metabolize narcotic medication very well, and his trip out of anesthesia was rough for him. He is moved to his Post-Op room and is very incoherent.

1030 - Jim wakes up and is restless. He tells me he wants to get out of bed and stretch his legs, so the nurse and I help get him up. He makes it to standing, is hit with overwhelming nausea, and has to get right back into bed. The nurse and I both encourage him to rest and relax, something Jim is not very good at doing!

1130 - Jason and Sarah came to visit. Sarah's mother had the same surgery as Jim did by the same doctor immediately following Jim's surgery and was also recovering a few rooms down from us. What a coincidence! Jim is still very much out of it and still suffering some nausea from the narcotics. Jason and Sarah take me out to lunch while Jim goes back to sleep.

1230 - I come back from lunch. Jim had been getting some much-needed rest during this time so I left him alone to sit in the waiting room and return phone calls from family and friends.

1300 - Jim's father comes to visit. Jim is still very out of it, so we don't stay long to talk to him.

1530 - The drugs are wearing off and Jim is more alert. The nurses are concerned that Jim has not been able to walk or urinate yet, so we get him out of bed and take the first of many laps around the halls. Jim is still experiencing some nausea, but is able to walk successfully around the unit. That one lap was more than enough for him at the time, and he went straight back to bed, exhausted.



1630 - Jim gets up for lap #2. This time he is able to use the bathroom, and is walking much better. He is also starting to pass the gas from the surgery, and is no longer experiencing much nausea. He is able to eat a Popsicle without any problems.

1700 - I leave the hospital to run a quick errand and take a nap. While I am gone, Dr. Trotta comes to see Jim and clears him to go home that night. Jim's parents also stop by the hospital to visit and bring him a few movies. Jim orders some soup and pudding, and is able to eat almost the whole bowl of soup and a few bites of the pudding without any trouble.

1900 - I come back to the hospital, and find Jim much better than when I left him. We take a few more laps around the unit. The nurse takes out his IV and helps Jim get ready to leave.

2000 - Jim finally is ready to leave and refuses the wheelchair. He walks all the way to the car without any trouble! We leave the hospital and stop by a pharmacy to pick up his prescriptions.

2100 - Jim and I are finally home. Jim has some pain from the sitting in our car for an hour, but is doing well. Once he gets out of the car, he is able to relieve the gas pain by walking around.

Today - Jim slept almost 12 hours last night and has not taken any pain medication since the last dose of narcotic he had in his IV yesterday morning. He is able to sit on the couch and work on his computer. He will be on a liquid diet for the next five days, and is keeping water and a slushie down just fine. Jim tells me he definitely notices something has been removed from his body, and his stomach feels different than it did before the surgery, but the horrible gas pains he used to get from eating before the surgery are gone. He also is still very tired from surgery, and although he was planning on returning back to his normal schedule starting tonight, I think he will not be able to do everything he has planned.

Thank you for your prayers and support! We have been blessed by all the calls, text messages, and visits from friends and family. Jim and I are so thankful that his surgery went well and he has had a reasonably easy recovery so far!