A few newsy post-Christmas tidbits.....

John Paul is doing really well.  Right now the biggest challenge for me (and him, I guess) is the liquid diet.  Gee whiz this one is really throwing me for a loop!  Getting enough calories into John Paul (he's a big eater) and keeping him happy while the other kids munch Christmas cookies and he dines on (yet another) peanut-butter-banana-yogurt shake is not easy.  It's not like our meal times needed another complicating factor. 

The roof of his mouth is an amazing thing to behold!  The surgeon gave him a palate!  It's incredible.  For almost two years the top of his mouth cavity had a huge long gaping hole.  Now it looks just like any normal mouth (well, you can still see stitches but it's not nearly as red or swollen as you might imagine).  The first six weeks are critical for healing.  He goes to the hospital again next Monday for a quick check up, just to make sure everything is looking good.

Day-after-Christmas we hosted precious local friends for dinner and White Elephant gift exchange.  It was awesome.  These folks are like family, our kids bask in the glow of all the extra-lovin'!  11 adults plus our five kiddos makes for a full house, but such sweet times.

And then today.  Susan Ayi gave our big four fishing nets for Christmas and they were so eager to get outside and "fish".  Isaac woke up this morning talking about packing his net for America (11 months til take-off, it's good to know he's planning ahead!)

So after rest time I geared up and headed out with my crew of fishermen.  I was laughing so hard I could barely take the photos (just old phone quality photos, I was busy enough juggling the fishermen!)

Our apartment complex is full of water features: little interconnecting streams, a few larger ponds, stocked with plenty of fish.  Typically I steer clear of the water and try to stay near dry ground, but today we were looking for fish.  The kids were hoping for a big catch.  I was just hoping everyone stayed dry.

I loaded Luke on my back and we were all set.  It wasn't long before kids and fishing nets were teetering precariously close to the water's edge.

 

After about 45 minutes of scenes like these we had no fish.  

And I thought it was high time to take a little break and let my blood pressure return to normal.  So we ended our afternoon at the playground, the big three still confused as to why our nets were empty and determined to figure out what needs to change so we come home with fish next go-round.  

It was a highlight of my day, watching these four traipse around our complex, fishing nets in hand, scheming about the next big catch.  They were hilariously awesome.  I laughed harder than I have in weeks. 

A Merry post-Christmas week for our little family!