Better late than never!

Well, this is old news but I thought I should post it anyway so as to keep you all up to date! Like I said in my last post things have been happening SO quickly on the house that my time has been spent at the house or packing, cooking, cleaning and being a big sister here. Time is just flying! We simply can't wait to move in not only because we love our house but because we can't wait to open it up to all of our friends and family! It will be so delightful to hear many voices ringing out in laughter and glee! 'Twill be a grand day!

Here is Grandpa's newest contraption and by the look on his face he isn't too pleased with it! LOL!

His thumb has a sling! LOL! He has to exercise it 10 times an hour to keep his muscle working. I think it really is great! He just mumbles and says it is the most ridiculous thing he has ever seen! It is healing and doesn't hurt him anymore and we are thankful and pray it will be healed quicker than normal. He has been quite the trooper as he continues to work.

The stairs are underway! (There is more done now but you have to wait till my next installment to see it! hehe!)

The landing.

Grandpa working on the pantry shelves!

The wood for the shelves and closets! Yippy!

Now we are at New Years Eve. David decided to add some drama to the evening by getting a huge splinter in his foot (from the kitchen cabinets). It took quite some time to dig it out! Yuck!

The flooring nailer needs an air hose and since the compressor is so loud dad put it outside and wala the cord goes through the door handle slot!

Me helping dad with flooring from the dinning room through the entry and into the library!

The nailer (I keep wanting to write Naylor, our friends' last name!) was so loud since it has to be pounded with a hammer. I love those silly red ear muffs!

Making sure dad is doing it right! LOL! No, he was showing me how he was going to cut something.

Someone is trying to get the cookies!

David has been so gracious to come and help several times!

See?!?! It's almost done! LOL! We have the cardboard down to protect the wood since there is so much dust and things that will scratch the floor. The wood really is very pretty even though you can't see it!

Among the Dutch there is a tradition to make Ollie Bollen for evening of Janurary the 1st. Since we really didn't do anything extra fun this year for New Years, Heather decided to make some! They are kind of like donuts but not sweet. They have raisins in them and when you eat them you dip them in powdered sugar. They are yummy!

They are the best when still hot and crispy!

Back to the house! Mom and Dad's room is painted and has the trim up! The wood you see is for the stairs!

Dad laid so much tile! 4 full bathrooms, laundry room, mud room, and powder room! Whew! He did a great job!

Benjamin helping Grandpa. Grandpa is telling Ben where to put the nail since Grandpa can't hold it!

The cabinets that are in!

The master bath sinks!

Grandpa and Grandma's bathroom cupboards and the tile.

Keslie being cute!

All the tile dad laid, well, it needed to be grouted. So I did it! I had never done grout before so this was all new to me, but I really enjoyed it and love the finished work!

Knee pads are a life saver or shall I say a "knee" saver!

All three brothers and Keslie working on the girls floor!

Yeeha!

Done!

Now for the closet!

Do check back soon! I shall have many more pictures coming! Blessings to you all!

Taylor's Surgery

Monday, Taylor once again had surgery on his arm. I know some of you don’t know the reason why he has had 4 surgeries on his left arm, so I’ll give you a “short” account of the problem.

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When Taylor was just a young wiper-snapper at the age of 7 he was playing tag at church, tripped and fell into a post and broke his arm. After a frustrating ER experience we discovered he had a cyst in his left humerus bone that had hollowed out about a third of his bone. Naturally, since the bone was so weak he broke it a couple of other times so consequently the Dr. referred us to Shriners. Since then he has had 4 surgeries and many other check ups. After his last procedure in 2002 we continued to watch it to see if the bone marrow that is taken from his hip and injected into the cyst would begin to grow and fill the cyst area. Well, it didn’t, but we opted out of more surgeries until now since it has been so long and has not healed.

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Monday, mom started her day at 2:40am to get to Salem to pick up Mrs. A, who was so gracious to offer to go with them, and then get to Portland before 6am. The biggest thing about the surgeries for Taylor is the fact that he can’t eat from 2am that morning till after procedure is done. For a growing boy that can be pure torture! They did say he could have clear liquids such as juice. Basically, they sat and waited most of the morning, had 3 different nurses check his vitals, and answered the same questions several times. The people at Shriners are exceptionally nice, so it was a pleasant day.

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Taylor had to take a shower with special soap and the nurse was kind enough to give him scrubs to put on instead of the revealing gown, since he still had 1 ½ hrs to wait. Well, when the orderly, a little tiny gal, came in with the gurney to take him to surgery, she looked several times around the room, not seeing her patient. She thought he was one of them!! Then, she gave him one of those “special” gowns to put on. About 10 min. later he came out of the bathroom looking rather catty wampus. The gown had snaps all over the place and he couldn’t figure out how to put the thing on!! Like a guy, he didn’t ask directions!

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Taylor didn’t get prepped for surgery till about 11:30am. He came out of surgery about an hour later. Like normal, it took him a while to wake up and when he did he was feeling okay and ready to eat! But this time, since people were praying for this, he wasn’t TOO hungry but that doesn’t mean he didn’t eat a lot! They didn’t get out of Shriners till 5 pm and then there was the 1 hour and 45 minute drive home. Needless to say it was a very long day for all three of them.

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Taylor is hurting today. This last surgery they went in through his muscle, which we think is causing most of the pain. The other three he hardly felt anything after but this time it was done in a different spot. Poor guy. He has either been lying down on the couch or sleeping all day.

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We are still praying that this procedure will be effective and the bone marrow will grow and fill in his hollow bone. It hasn’t been a huge issue to deal with this the last 7 1/2 years but it would be good to be able to not worry about him breaking his arm.

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Thank you all for your prayers! They were and are much appreciated!

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(Thank you Mrs. Anderson for taking the picture!)