Ramblings from the waiting room...

We're sitting in the parents' waiting room here at Primary Children's Hospital.  Xander is in surgery right now to "debulk" his leg.   He will have an incision down the entire length of his calf, and the surgeons will be removing as much as the lymphatic tissue as possible, with a goal to make his right leg approximately the same size as his left.  We scheduled this surgery months ago, trying to pick the perfect time between vacations and school starting.  His surgeon estimates he will be here for 3-5 days, with an at-home recovery time of about a month.

Cute Xander is such a trooper.  He is so easy going and has been looking forward to this surgery for months so he "won't have to do any chores and can eat whatever he wants."  (:    Last night, he said, "I'm really going to miss my big leg!"  I told him that I would, too!  (And it's honestly hard for me that it's going to look different!)  Then I asked him why he would miss it, and he said, "Because everyone likes my big leg!"  I can't tell you how happy that made me!  Though he has been teased a few times, apparently the "cool" factor has prevailed, and I am so glad that his perception is that people like him exactly how he is.

Of course, we would love prayers in his behalf.  It will be a tough week for him, I'm sure.  We'll keep you posted on his recovery.  They are going to attempt an epidural to help him with his pain, and I'm really hoping that it works!  Graci had an epidural after her spinal cord surgery and it helped tremendously...

Speaking of Graci, she was off bright and early this morning to go to Oakcrest.  It's a special church camp for girls entering 8th and 9th grades, and it is supposedly just "awesome!"  I'm really excited for her, and really sad for me!  She is such a great help at home, and the younger kids are kind of lost when she is gone.  She'll get home on Friday, then is off two days later for a two-week long Chinese Immersion camp.  We are thrilled for her!  It will be held in Idaho, and they accepted 20 students, including Graci and her cousin, Alissa.  I don't know that I've ever seen Graci so excited about an event before.  Ok, maybe her Disney Cruise from Make-a-Wish, but this is a close second!!!

Taylor just came home from a week at scout camp.  Parker and Jeremy were able to join him for the last couple of days.  They had such a good time.  Taylor is really growing up lately.  Like, literally.  He is now taller than me.  I thought that was pretty cool until Jeremy decided that having Taylor taller than me made me seem short!  (;  Taylor was asked to give a talk in church yesterday about how the Scout Oath helps boys prepare to serve missions.  He put his talk together that morning before church and did such a good job.  I'm so proud of the young man he is and is becoming.  I really, truly couldn't ask for better young men than our Taylor and Parker.

Our community put on the play "Annie" a couple of weeks ago.  It was AMAZING.  I have never seen a more professional community play.  Such great talent!!  Our cute little neighbor, Kara, was in it and was easily the cutest orphan there!  We took most of the kids to see it.  Lexi loved it.  There's only one problem.  She has fallen in love with the song, "It's a Hard-Knock Life."  Cute song, until you hear your former-orphan daaughter singing it (think, "no one cares for you a smidge when you're in an orphanage.")  Luckily, Lexi doesn't know all of the words, so she just sings, "It's a hard-knock life for us" over and over and then just makes up the words to fit the rest of the melody.  Elli's starting to sing it now, too!  I've been trying as hard as I can to switch over to "The Sun Will Come Out Tomorrow," but it's just not sticking.   LOL

Jesi has turned into quite the mother lately.  Her new thing is getting breakfast every morning for Sophi and Lexi, often while I'm getting a bit of extra sleep!   Sometimes she even bathes and dresses them and does their hair.  She is also known to clean quite a bit without being asked.  After a couple weeks of doing this, she came up to Jeremy and said, "So, aren't you going to pay me for all this help?!"  We laughed and decided that she is indeed worth some money, and we have since been paying her a dollar a day for all of her morning help. She has earned $35 since this began.  Last night she told me, "Mom, so you know my birthday is coming in about a week, right?  So you better start shopping!"  I asked her what she wanted, and she reminded me that she wanted a car for her doll.  Then she said, "And if you don't want to spend your own money on me, I do have $35 that I can give you to buy the car!"  (:  

Well... X-Man's been in surgery for overtwo hours now.  Hoping to hear an update soon.  I'll try to post again tonight and let you know how it all went...

--Christianne