Christmas celebrations
We had a great time celebrating Christmas with both sides of the family.
Friends & family
Free day at the zoo
Namine and her cousin had a great time at the zoo! 
A prayer request
I’d like to ask you all to keep a friend of ours in your prayers.
Mourning Grandma
Losing a loved one is never easy. Namine has endured the loss of pets before, and that’s hard enough. But the death of a grandma is much, much harder.
The most important thing
Thanksgiving Day held a surprise in store, but not for us.
Our ALS ice bucket challenge
It’s been more than the typical “24 hours to respond” since Jessica and I got our nominations to participate in the ice bucket challenge for ALS awareness, but here we are.
Heart surgery
Jessica, Namine, and I went to the hospital yesterday morning because Jessica’s mom Charlene was having heart surgery. We weren’t sure what precisely was being done — from what I understood, it wasn’t even clear yet to Charlene, either — but at the very least, the wiring in her pacemaker/defibrillator was being replaced. I am happy to say that the surgery went well, and she spent the night in the ICU for recovery.
In the hospital
Jessica’s mom Charlene is still in the hospital, with home nowhere in sight. While she was initially admitted for heart failure — and a malfunctioning pacemaker/defibrillator — she has recently suffered stage four kidney failure and is now undergoing dialysis. It’s all we can do now to be there for her as much as possible.
School comes with us
I’ve said it before, but I’ll say it again: this is where Namine’s virtual school shows its value. We’re in the hospital again — not for Namine this time, but Jessica’s mom. A day in the hospital doesn’t mean a day away from school, though. As long as we have Namine’s books and laptop, we can have school.
Cookie day 2013
Jessica and her sisters had been planning today for some time. Today was cookie day… or perhaps, as I think of it, Cookie Day. We estimate a number of greater than six hundred cookies were made in the course of six hours. That’s not bad for having a single oven.
