My sister and I just recently had the opportunity to capture the adoption homecoming of our friend, Jessica, with her daughter, Cleo. I took video but managed to grab a couple photos. I just her husband’s expression of love outpouring toward Jessica and his daughter. To find out more about the adoption story and see a video of the session, visit Jessica’s blog.
And, to see beautiful photo entries of love, head on over to I Heart Faces!
Last Monday, I got a call that dad had headed to the emergency room with chest pains. This is actually a pretty common occurrence as dad experiences chest pains whenever his blood levels gets low. Once my dentist appointment was finished, I headed up to Medina to find dad in considerable pain. Blood tests indicated that dad’s blood levels were not low. They took him by ambulance to Fairview to have an emergency heart catheterization. Heart caths are also a fairly common occurrence for my dad, so we still were kind of business as usual. When the doctor gave us the results, that’s when we felt the sinking feeling. Two major areas were 100% blocked…dad was having a heart attack only months after his first major heart attack…the doctor had no idea how dad had made it.
A Skype session to get a peek at my adorable nephew and niece
This week has been quite a few ups and downs with dad having further angina, dropping blood levels, and failing kidneys. Nathan saw me leave the house almost every day to head up to see his grandpa, and I finally did have a serious talk with him to give him heads-up about what was going on with grandpa.
No one has gotten to see the twins in person yet, so Skyping is the next best thing.
One day last week, I got home from the hospital fairly late. Mark assured me that all the kids were fast asleep. As I always do, I peeked into each of the kids’ rooms to check on them. My last check was Nathan, and I turned on the light to find my boy lying there sobbing. He had a pile of papers and a pen and had been busy drawing grandpa pictures and writing a letter. (A letter from Nathan is a rare thing as Nathan hates writing.) I crawled into bed with Nathan, and we talked about grandpa and cuddled. He asked me to promise to give grandpa his letter the next time I saw him.
The only problem was that this was the get well letter:
From Nathan
To Grandpa
______________
I hope you survive that heart attack. If you do, I will be surprised and feel good. I have faith in you. You might survive.
(A few grammar corrections added.)
Not exactly a stirring pep talk there, but it certainly was heartfelt. I showed Mark and asked him whether it would be appropriate to show dad. He thought it might be a bit of a downer. My sisters agreed. Janine said that it was a good thing Nathan wasn’t a coach. His speech might go something like this. I hope you survive the clobbering from the other team. If you do, I will be surprised and feel good. I have faith in you. You might win!
Jon and Kathy were able to come from Michigan to visit Dad.
Once dad’s health started to improve, I told him that I had a letter from Nathan that I would give him when he got home from the hospital. Dad assured me that there couldn’t be anything in that letter that would be that bad. I ended up giving dad the letter in the hospital, and he thought it was sweet and funny. In fact, I think he has shown everyone who has come to visit him as well as all the nurses. I had two nurses come in when we were visiting today, and both asked if one of the kids in the room had written “the letter”.
My brother Jeff being very “reflective”.
I think Nathan’s get well card must have done the trick because dad is showing progress and should be leaving the hospital soon. In all seriousness, we are so fortunate to have the dad we do and the gift of him still being with us. I know many people have been praying for him!
The kids got to visit grandpa today. They made sure that he had received all of his cards. 
This blog has been so neglected for the last couple of years. I think when Facebook entered the picture, it became so easy to just post snippets of news there. The only problem is, those snippets move down the timeline quickly, and they’re certainly not as easy to access as on a blog. So, even though I posted these same pictures over on FB, I’m going to post them here for memory’s sake.
This is Jenna and Jordyn enjoying an impromptu dance session at the Riley July 4th celebration. My kids LOVE Jenna, and it’s no wonder. She is so much fun and so sweet to the kids. Nathan just told me today he wants to be a scientist who works with chemicals…all because of a talk he had with Jenna. As that seems a much more realistic and lucrative goal then being a train engineer, I’ve decided that Jenna should keep providing all future career counseling.
Oh, and do you notice Jordyn’s adorable braided hair that isn’t covering her eyes for once? That’s another Jenna miracle!
The kids went swimming today. I took pictures. :) Still trying to get the hang of my new camera.
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