The reason for my absence

Whew, finally a moment to sit and share.

I thought this week would be a cinch, but I have been going non stop.

Here are a few things that we did.

 I'll start with Dad's story since I teased you with a photo earlier.

He woke Monday with a stomach ache and in true Dad form, he exercised anyway. What a die hard!

The pain didn't go away.  Then he did something that really surprised me.  He asked to go to the doctors office.  He never does that!  So Joseph drove him to the emergency care office who then sent them to the emergency room.  I got the girls off to school then Sarah and I watched their school performance. We went straight to the hospital when it was done.  There we found Dad enjoying a morphine buzz.  We had a few laughs at what came out of his mouth.  He was lucid but the drugs tend to impair judgement so he was saying whatever he was thinking without an edit button. 

After a CT scan he was finally diagnosed with  an appendicitis.  All the kids

came to visit.  You'll notice in the picture that Abby brought her stuffed animals and a card that the kids made to help Dad feel better.

Finally he had the surgery at dinner time.  The doctor said that his appendix was about to burst so he was very fortunate that it didn't happen when he was exercising.

We truly feel that Heavenly Father was watching over him.

He knew the danger he was in, prompted him to go to the doctor, and gave him a doctor that really knew what he was doing.  We are so grateful that it all turned out.

Added blessing: Joseph now gets to have more "vacation" time. 

Our two hams.

Back peddling now, Sarah arrived on Friday night.  Saturday night we had a church party

If you want to figure out my pin, say it out loud.

The girls got to see Santa

 Then there are the many funny faces of Abby.  She was all excited about the Book of Mormon the missionaries gave her earlier that night.  She was telling everyone and even was trying to read it while they were waiting to sing.

Joseph came in on Sunday just in time to help out with Dad on Monday.

While Dad was at home recouping with Matthew and Esther, the rest of us went to the high schools Christmas choir concert.  What a phenomenal performance!!  I wish I had recorded the entrance they made from the back of the room with candles.  I must admit that I've never been to a high school concert that sounded so good (sorry Joseph).  I'm so glad that we went.

And as of today, I'm done shopping.  I mean really done.  I have been shopping every day this week (even while Joseph was in the hospital). I hope I don't have to go to the store for a long time (some of the clerks are probably wondering if they could call me by my first name).

I think we are finally caught up now.