Grateful....

Grateful doesn't begin to explain how I felt after Clark's surgery was completed. The mention of putting one of my children under general anesthesia sends my mommy stress level over the top. When they wheel your child away on a hospital bed, even for a routine minor surgery, there is always the possibility of complications. It is the constant balance of knowing that God loves our children even more than we can comprehend and just being a parent that loves them so deeply it hurts. I breathed a sigh of relief when Clark's doctor came into the waiting room to tell us we could go back to recovery and be with Clark. We walked into the recovery room and two kind nurses were taking care of him as he was waking up. I was so impressed that one nurse was even cradling him in her arms as she put it "so that he didn't have to wake up alone in a hospital bed." Isn't that great? I just loved that. She then placed him into my arms so that he would wake up with me. He was so sad waking up...whimpering in pain. His little body just doesn't handle anesthesia very well. He wakes up very slowly, and it really upsets his stomach. Unlike his prior surgery, he actually made it home before he got sick this time. Woohoo!! He had an upset stomach all afternoon, but felt better by the evening. The doctor said that surgery went well, and that his adenoids were quite enlarged and were into his nasal cavity. Please pray with us that this eliminates his need for speech therapy. Another prayer would be for his little stomach. He has had some issues for almost a week now with stomach aches, etc.

As I was able to cradle our son while he came out from under the anesthesia, I was so thankful for the gift God has given us in this little fellow. We waited a very long time, traveled half way around the world, and anticipated him more than just about anything...ever!! Ali and Clark are our treasures on earth and I am so proud to be their mother. God wants to cradle us also, doesn't he? To protect us and hold us so that we are not alone. The love I have for our children is just a sliver of the love God has for us, his children. That is incomprehensible to me...but comforting at the same time.

We are trying to post a picture everyday on the new link T.C. added over on the side. It has been fun capturing a photo that sums up our day. He even added a funny quote last night...pop over there and check it out. It really was hilarious. I will give a little background. I came downstairs yesterday and find Clark and Timmy happily in the dining room.....Clark with a big grin on his face. Ummm, not always a good sign..ha! Clark happily tells me that he fed Timmy out of Happy's bowl. Meaning, he fed Timmy the rest of Happy's food. Ok, we had to have the "Timmy only needs to eat the food that we give him in the morning and at night..ok...do you understand...that food is there for Happy..." Then last night we were coming home from our small group Bible study at church and Clark proudly admits that he, too, snacked on Happy's food. Ok, GROSS! Then that was followed up by the quote on our other site. Oh bother....God truly knew parents of boys needed a good sense of humor! Clark never ceases to keep us laughing.

However, laughing is NOT what I was doing at Old Navy yesterday morning. I was so excited...I received a postcard in the mail about a great sale that O.N. was having. I have been waiting for days for the sale to start. Since I am a stay at home mom, I try to watch for sales when buying the kids clothes. So great sales really make me happy!!! (some of you are probably thinking...this gal really needs to get our more..haha!!) However, none the less...we made our trip out to Old Navy. Clark needed some clothes for church, his pants from last year are getting a little short. Anyway, I grab a bag and start shoving in 2 sizes of each (didn't know if he could keep up a size 4 yet.....by the way, he can't) and made our way to the dressing room. Moms of young kids, can you feel my pain? Put it this way, Ali was waiting outside the dressing room when we finally emerged with these words "that took a LONG time." I wanted to respond with a big "you don't know the half of it..", but I didn't. It was like wrangling a wild animal on caffeine. We were given the large handicapped dressing room since I had his stroller, which was nice. However, every stitch of clothing I would finally get on him, he HAD to see in the mirror. So with every shirt or pants, he would hop off the bench and run over to the mirror...make his comments...until I convinced him to return to the bench. Wew! When all was said and done he got some new clothes at great prices (which I always love!). Today is Ali's day...we will hit an outlet store where we usually find her clothes. She didn't like anything at Old Navy. To say she is a picky clothes shopper is an understatement. Wish me luck. T.C. has guard duty this weekend...I am sure he is glad he is there and not shopping! Heehee!!

I will be posting Clark's first day of preschool pictures on Monday. (sniff, sniff) I am sure it will be way too quiet around here while he is gone! I hope he loves it and has a great time though. Have a good weekend.