How to Schedule Tardiness and an Update

8:00am-  Woke up/jumped in shower/Praised God that we no longer have to give Merrick round-the-clock antibiotics.  Last night we slept SO deeply and straight through...a first time in MONTHS.

8:30am-  Kids are fed and clothes are changed, though we have to look hard for a clean pair of pants for Merrick to wear.  He only has 3 pairs of sweats that will fit over his cast and one pair is always drying, another is dirty, and the clean one is usually hiding in a pile of clean laundry.  The sweats are retreived and we move onto brushing hair.

9:00am-  Jarrod is shaving and I'm doing Natalia's hair.  We discuss who will stay with Merrick while he's in his Sunday school class. 

9:15am- Broke up another fight over that darn Leapster...(who INVENTED these handheld video games?....SERENITY NOW!)

9:30am-   I remember to move a load of laundry to the dryer on my way out the door.

9:45am-  Bibles collected/shoes on/bags gathered/2 mobile kids in car & buckled
10:00am-  Merrick is buckled/wheelchair being loaded in back of van

10:10am-   3 blocks away from home we remember the 'bathroom' bag for Merrick and have to turn around

10:15am-  Off to church again, then Jarrod realizes that we are now too late to grab coffee at church, so he asks me what I'd like from Starbucks.  Merrick asks to go to class alone.  He SO wants things to be as normal as possible!

10:20am-  We realize that we will be going straight to AWANA after church and my parent's house, so it'd be easier if we had their vests and books with us now.......we turn around and head home for the second time.

10:30am-  AWANA gear in hand we head to Starbucks.

10:45am-  Feeling lame about missing worship AND being late, we vote against showing up at church.

10:50am-  We're driving aimlessly, longing to be at church, knowing that we can't just show up to any old church with our wheelchairbound boy....even IF they offer a later service.

10:55am-    We head out Deer Valley Road for a quick photog roadtrip.
11:15am-   We come upon Round Valley and park the van for some family pics.
11:20am-   We realize there is no where to wheel Merrick's chair except the parking lot. 

11:25am-  Jarrod picks up our boy and carries him to a short fence where I'm snapping pics of Ian and Natalia.

11:26am-  I think Jarrod is my hero.

11:30am-  We get manage to get one good picture of all of us and somehow the day seems to find it's purpose.  (Check out our family blog for the whole 'shoot.')

12:00pm-  We pull up to Marmar and Papi's to spend the day playing cards and loving on our two post-op patients.  Merrick and Marmar compared bandages and casts.

4:30pm-  Off to AWANA for the evening.  Merrick couldn't do much but he was SO glad to go and just 'be.'

7:00pm- On our way home I think of how we earned points for even getting out of the house today.  Next week, if this rain let's up, we just might make it!

**The biopsy results confirmed that the mass taken from Merrick's leg is indeed an Oteoid Osteoma.  A benign tumor that has no rhyme or reason.  The likelihood of this occuring in any young boy is like getting hit by lightning.  Our next appointment will be the first week in February.  At that time xrays will be taken and if Merrick's leg looks strong enough then his spica cast will be removed.  6 weeks of physical therapy will follow, and in the end, our boy should be just fine.

One thing is for certain, we will all come away from this experience, changed for the better.

And THAT needs no timeframe!