Surprise!

I can't believe a whole week has acutally gone by since all this started!

Last Sunday night, after spending the weekend building a fence and a flower bed, Pete and I were sitting on the couch and chatting with Amanda and Nathan. My stomach started hurting a LOT... Having had a digestive disease before, I'm used to stomach pain, but this was like nothing I've felt before. I wanted to tear my skin off. Then the pain localized just a little left of my right hip. Pete told me I should go to the Stony hospital to get checked out, but I reeeeally didn't want to go. Then I finally broke (mostly because it hurt so much) and went. I didn't expect that they would keep me overnight with an IV and morphine and tests. On Monday afternoon, I got transferred to the Misercordia in Edmonton for a surgical consult - they were pretty sure I had appendicitis. Late Monday night I went into surgery and they took out my appendix, and they discharged me from the hospital on Tuesday. I don't remember too much of the rest of Tuesday... I was still pretty doped up!

God has a way of working things out, and people came to our rescue as we needed them. On Monday, Zack went to school and Amanda took Nathan with her into her class for the afternoon so that Pete could stay with me for my transfer. Amanda took the boys from school to her house and fed them supper and played with them until Pete came to get them. Then Pete dropped the boys off at our house with my parents, who brought supper for Pete and put the boys to bed while Pete checked on me after surgery on Monday night. Tuesday morning, Pete's parents drove up from Rocky and Pete's mom took the rest of the week off of work so that she could stay here and cook and take care of the house and Zack and Nathan while I recovered. She helped me so much; even helping me set up my PartyLite open house so that I didn't have to cancel. Even Bethany came to my rescue at the hospital by tracking down some breakfast for me because it didn't come.

I'm so thankful to our family and friends who were thinking of us and praying for us and helping out. What a blessing it was to know that even when bad things happen, God prepares all the right people who are willing and able to help out, even in the smallest ways.

Hardcore... And Adorable... And Scary...

As most of you know, the boys both start Motocross lessons (on an actual motorcycle with gears and power and everything - yikes!) on Sunday. They couldn't be more excited to ride, especially with their hero, the magnificent Kyle, as their teacher. We bought all of their gear and they are ready to go - helmet, gloves, riding pants, jersey, chest and shoulder protection, goggles - they've got it all. They're pretty proud of their new look and are SO excited to start riding! Zack and Nathan have both been on our motorcycle (a little one just for them) with Pete on the back, and they know how to work the throttle and the brake with ease - only Zack has the foot strength to shift the gears so far, but I'm sure Nathan will catch up right away.

Zack Is Rockin' It... School Style

A few weeks ago, Zack's class had "when I grow up" day. The kids were instructed to dress as what they wanted to be when they grew up. There were some parents that came in to talk about their jobs, too. I asked Zack what he wanted to be, and he said with conviction, "A rock star!" Okay! So I shredded a pair of Zack's old jeans that already had holes in them, spiked his hair, and put black eyeliner on him. (Side note: It's REALLY hard to put eyeliner on a five-year-old!) We gave him our non-working guitar hero guitar and sent him on his way. Here's Zack rockin' out before school.