December 2017

Christmas at the Zoo

Our Christmas Tree 2017

Although there was much to celebrate and many fun memories, very unexpectedly, the month of December took a very hard turn. 
On Dec. 11th my Dad (Earl) had an aneurism in his brain hemorrhage and it nearly took his life.  So, through 2018, there will be pictures posting my Dad's progress and recovery.
In December 2017 - we got to experience the Hand of God.

He was given a 10% chance of surviving the night.  The blood loss was extreme.  We stayed by his side, and through the use of Facebook - we communicated our need for Prayer over my Dad.
He survived the night.

And days turned into weeks at ICU, the entire month of December, my Mom, Brother Ryan or myself were at the hospital with him, nearly 24 -7.
There was limited time for minors (his grandchildren) to be allowed to come visit.  And, because of all the cords, tubes, sounds and scary things happening, we were hesitant to bring our kids - even though they very much longed to see their Bubba.

 These are gifts from my Cathedral Basketball Family.

 

We tried to keep going in our day to day life as best we could, even with our Dad being in the hospital.  Joe coached Jameson and Jackson in their basketball league. 

 

We visited Santa at the Children's Museum

This was a book given to me about stroke recovery - I read it to my Dad every time I was in the room with him (he was deeply sedated for a good portion of December)

The Oaks Middle School had their Christmas performance.

Mo got everyone silly Christmas ear muffs.

But Bubba was still in the hospital.  (being intubated was stressful for all of us - we couldn't wait to have him strong enough, and his mind recovered enough, for him to breath on his own)

The Oaks Fall Creek also had a Christmas Performance

The Cathedral girls basketball team had a Christmas Party

Then, it was the last day of school for winter break...

They performed again at Christmas Chapel.

We sent letters to Santa downtown.

Although there were a few bumps in the process, finally, the breathing machine was turned off and my Dad was breathing on his own.

 

 He was a little rambunctious with trying to remove the cords, so they had to restrain his hands.

 

Christmas Morning 2017

Cousins at Christmas Dinner and Bammy and Bampy's

Waiting to visit Bubba on Christmas Day at the hospital.

In the chaos of everything going on, Dec. 29th came very quickly and unexpectedly.  Juggling kids, basketball games/practices, being at the hospital during the day with my dad, and the overwhelming stress of it all - we nearly forgot to celebrate Morgan on her birthday.  She was given gifts and had breakfast in bed, like always, but I totally forgot about a cake.
The nurses taking care of my Dad heard about this and when we went to visit my Dad that evening with the kids - they surprised us all, but ESPECIALLY Morgan - with CAKE, a card and a balloon.
We were CARRIED by so many people during this time.

An annual tradition is to go as a whole family to watch the Villanova vs Butler game - Butler won! (Nova was ranked #1 in the nation at the time)

A New Years Eve tradition - at the Mills Cabin.