Christmas, Birthday, Christmas, and More Christmas

This year our church had a Christmas Cantata and they did a really good job.  They did a performance on Sat nt and then during morning worship on Sunday.  This was taken after the Sat nt performance. 

Each year the 1st grade presents a Christmas Musical.  It was precious and they had as many songs about Jesus as they did Rudolph!  It was really sweet! 

 

Lizzie and her friendWith her teacherThe girls dance class danced at the Nursing Home again.  They did a GREAT job!Posing with their Seymour Buddies.  They take dance in another town and there are girls from several different towns.

When they finished dancing their teacher asked them to hug the residents.  I was SO proud of Lizzie and Millie.  They looked at me for just a second like, “do we have to?”  I nodded yes and they began hugging and hugged every resident in the room. 

Next up was class Christmas Parties.  Notice the girls have on the same outfits over and over!  These were their Christmas outfits and they wore them A LOT in 2 weeks!

We celebrated A’s Birthday with a PINK cake!  He loved it!Our original plan was to travel to AL the day after Christmas.  However, our plans changed once the weather forecasts predicted snow for us on Christmas Eve/Day so we headed out on Christmas Eve to avoid being stuck and not able to travel.  We avoided the snow but AL was full of tornadoes on Christmas Day.  There was one after another.

The kids found their safe place!Sallie was NOT concerned!  I love this pic of her!Ell with our oldest nephewLove this of Ell and Sallie!

We took a few pics.  Not nearly enough!  I just never take enough pics when we are there anymore.  I have to do better!  My family was supposed to do family pics but the weather did not cooperate so we are going to do that our next trip home. 

My sisters and I.  This one is not great quality but I do like it!SMILE Mama!Mama smiling but the rest of us are tickled about something!  There really is no telling what!  Our family!  By this time I was on fire from the fire behind us!I do not have one pic with my Daddy in it and this is the ONLY pic I have from our time with A’s family!  Once again, I have to do better! 

A and Adam canoeing down the river!  We all feared for their lives.  They made it down and called us to come get them, thankfully!On our way home we stopped by the Duck Commander warehouse!!!  WE LOVE DUCK DYNASTY!!!  It is the one show we all LOVE!  It is wholesome and funny and we just love it!  The warehouse is not far off the interstate at all.  It was freezing and Millie does not have enough meat on her bones SO she was not happy because she was COLD!There were lots of other people there doing the same thing as us and one family had a dog SO with Mill being cold and Sallie not liking the dog they got back in the van.  THE RV!Lizzie looking into the store inside the warehouseWe are definitely stopping again during the week when they are open!  It was neat and fun but maybe next time we can see somebody!  All the partying left the Hall’s TIRED!!! 

We had a WONDERFUL break!  It went by really fast as usual but it was good and now we are getting back to our routine. 

Life Lately

Last week the girls had Movie Night at school.  They wore their PJs and watched the Polar Express.  A took them so I could finish watching Brantley win the State Championship!  He is good like that and I appreciate it!  He wanted to watch too and had a funeral and then offered to take the girls to this so I could watch the rest of the game so he was only able to see about 15 min of the game. 

These are terrible quality pics but here they are.  It is neat to watch Millie with Lizzie’s friends.  Of course they are only a yr apart but they all love Millie (I think everyone loves Millie!).  I think they love that she is so tiny and they seem to be protective of her.  Lizzie does not seem to mind at all that they love Millie and is sweet to Mill even when her friends are around.  It is sweet!  Sallie got to hang out with Hannah so all was good in her world!As I was uploading the pics above I saw these pics.  No idea but this is real life at the Hall House…Yep…Last week flip flops, this week snow flurries!  This is all we got, a slight dusting.  However in town which is only 9 miles they got enough to play in.  School was delayed until 10 because of the roads.  We could not figure out why school would be delayed based on what we were seeing at our house but turns out there was more and the roads were cold so it made them a mess.  Apparently there were some wrecks.  Sallie got this sweatshirt from Nonnie for her bday and I had put it away for Christmas/Winter.  She went and got it out when she saw the dusting!  She is so funny! 

Funny Millie story:  Wednesday when I picked her up from school she says, “I invited Irene to church tonight and I told her the name of our church.”  I said, “Millie, you are so sweet to invite people to church”  which she and Lizzie both do frequently.  She said, “What?  I want a pixie stick tonight!”  Honesty!  They get a giant pixie stick at AWANA if they bring a friend.  The incentive works apparently! 

Had our post op/pre op with Dr. Bauer yesterday.  All was good from last surgery and we are good to go for implant.  He was very apologetic about the mix up with getting the process started and apparently the responsible party is no longer employed by him.  Not that she was let go over this particular instance just wasn’t working out he said.  He said he would clean out the other ear again which we totally expected.  Of course this will make the equilibrium issue worse because he will be doing something to both ears.  He said everything else should be basically the same as last implant surgery except he will have to make an additional incision this time.  Last time there were incisions for the implant as well as to take muscle to place inside the ear to place the electrodes.  This time he is also going to make another incision behind the ear to pull some fat to put in that ear.  The reason for this is that the area he built to implant in the other ear has shrunk more than it needed to so he is going to add fat in there to hopefully prevent some of that shrinking.  Yes it is another incision but that is nothing compared to what could happen if those electrodes are not covered well so we will take the extra incision.  We see our cochlear audiologist on Monday. So 6 more hours in the car with a Dr’s appt in the middle.  As much as I miss the metroplex I was reminded yesterday that I do not miss the traffic, especially during the holidays!  It was terrible!  Thank you for the continued prayers!  

NYC!!!

Elleigh had an amazing trip to New York! They packed a lot in a few days. What an experience for a 15 yr old!

A Date

We have a date for Sallie's surgery to implant the second device. It will be January 7th. I discussed the delay in my last post. Well things all of a sudden moved really quickly yesterday. It would not be my preference to do this so quickly after the holidays. I just don't want to be consumed by this during the holidays and be so rushed trying to prepare that we do not enjoy Christmas. But for various reasons this was the day so it is what it is! I have been asked some about the differences this surgery, concerns, etc. We are also often asked about specific prayer concerns so here it all is:

Same risks as before. Having 1 implant already does not change that. No more, no less.

This will be the left ear. The right ear was chosen first because of the history of the tumors in the left ear. Yes she has had them in both ears but historically the left ear has always been worse. Dr Bauer does feel better about that left ear since doing some reconstruction in there to try and prevent this. However, though the risk of surgery itself is not any greater, there is the possibility that implanting this particular ear is more risky for the future.

We will now have 2 implanted devices which further complicates the MRI issue if needed in the future as well as all the risks associated with having a foreign object placed in your body.

We ask that you pray specifically for the balance and nausea issues following surgery. This was our biggest challenge last time. After we were over that hurdle she recovered really well and we pray that is the case this time as well.

I hope this does not sound selfish but please pray we have the help we need to take care of her as well as the other girls and their needs. This will be complicated by the fact that it is during the school year. Sometimes after you have already been through something once people think you can just handle it. We need help!!!

The week of surgery also is stock show week so not only will Elleigh be busy getting ready the events will start that Thurs through that weekend. The other girls often take the backseat when it comes to Sallie. They do it very well but they are important too.

We think that Sallie will receive some home bound school instruction while recovering so pray that once she feels up to that we will be able to work that out until she is able to return to school.

Pray for all of us to be healthy before surgery and during recovery. Pray for our stamina.

We ask that you pray for this to be a success. With the 1st implant there were so many praying knowing this was her only hope to hear. Please do the same this time! Deciding to implant this 2nd ear was not a black and white issue at all. Sure it helped that she has had so much success from the 1st implant but there are still pros and cons but we do feel this is the right decision.

We have an activation day of January 31st. Pray that she responds well and does not have major issues adjusting to the second device.

We know God has used Sallie over and over to display His power. Pray that this will be just another piece of the story to glorify Him!

Thank You!