Griff’s Surgery Schedule
For those of you keeping track of Griff’s surgery, here’s our schedule for the next couple of days.
Tomorrow, Mike will go to campus and give his May term class their final. Then, we’ll all gather together to take Eliza to Chuck and Stacy’s. They have been kind enough to offer to keep her through the surgery. We’ll get her back either Friday or Saturday, depending upon how Griff’s doing. I already feel guilty about being gone from Eliza last weekend and then again for the rest of this week, but I know it’s what we have to do in order to get through this initial time with Griff.
When we get back to town, we’ll pack up again and head out. The surgery is being done at a children’s hospital about an hour or so from here. Mike got a dirt cheap hotel thanks to Priceline so we won’t have to be up quite so early Thursday morning. We’ll have dinner down there and stay the night. If the therapist can work us in, we’ll also have some pre-op crutch training before dinner.
We have to be at the hospital at 6 Thursday morning, and his surgery is scheduled for 7:15. Our pediatric orthopaedic surgeon told us the surgery and casting should take about an hour. In total, we’ve been told to expect to be there another five to six hours after the surgery before bringing Griff home.
Griff’s asking good questions about the procedure and doesn’t seem worried or frightened, which is good. If I’m not reading articles about the surgery online (which makes my stomach hurt), I’m not worried either. I really feel quite content that this is something we need to do for him. It’s going to be hard, no doubt, and most likely more painful than I want to consider right now. But I do believe it will allow him to walk better, and it’s going to improve his balance and will lessen the general pain in his legs. All of which is going to give him more strength and confidence.
I’ll be sure to post updates here. If I can figure out how, I can post from my phone on Thursday.
In advance, we appreciate the prayers.
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Wordless Wednesday
My great, great, great, great-grandmother. I think. There may be one more great in there. 
Tagged with: Family • Wordless Wednesday
Wordless Wednesday
My Bud… my late grandfather.
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Welcome to a New Chel
It’s probably less of a new Chel than a new Chel era, but still. I think I can finally say that I’m comfortable here in Florida. There are still things I want here (a good church, Christian friends), but to have finally found my contentment here… that’s a huge thing.
We’ve been here 22 months now, and the contentment was hard earned. You can read about the journey to this place in the archives (but I wouldn’t recommend it if you’re having a melancholy day). I’ve had days where I sobbed all the way to and from work… where I wanted to crawl into bed and never come out again… where I thought we’d never find a sense of peace. I’ve been angry with God… wondered why He was angry with me… felt distanced from Him.
And now… here we are. It really was like I woke up one day and thought, “hey…this life isn’t so bad.” I knew it would be that way. I just never dreamed it would take this long.
It’s nothing like working with Linda and Aleece and being really good at my job. And it’s nothing like living two doors down from Mandy and Josh. And we don’t have a favorite pizza place, but we did find a favorite Italian ice place.
I kept thinking that I wanted to get back to when I felt like this or that. I wanted to get back to where I felt alive with God. But the truth is, I can’t go back there. It’ll never be like any of those times because I can’t go back. And in a whole lot of ways, I wouldn’t want to go back. All I can do is move forward.
Tuesday, when we celebrated my birthday, I remember looking at the kids and at Mike as we ate dinner at one of my favorite restaurants and thinking, “this is a good life. I am so grateful.”
So that’s my theme for this next year of my life. Gratitude.
And it seems appropriate that, just as I realized a new way of looking at this life, my unbelievably talented friend, Aleece, offered to completely redesign my blog and to pull me into WordPress as a birthday present.
(Isn’t it amazing?! She also designed my previous look with the sunflower. Look around… she’s just a phenominal artist. There are days when I’m pretty sure she’s pretty sure that her web design work isn’t art, but I’m pretty sure it is.)
And now, I’m not quite sure my life is as pretty as the blog yet. But I’m content now. And I’m more open to the possibilities surrounding me. And that’s a good thing. So, welcome… to a new Chel.
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