The next 10 days...

Are going to be PACKED!

Today my aunt flies in from Colorado to stay with my parents but I know we'll spend some time with her this next week that she's here. My sister flew in from Minnesota last night as well. Both of those trips and a lot of this week's meet-ups were planned before the surgery was moved up!

Sat (today) church tonight, Mike's got hospital visitation for church (he and K are there now).

Sun Elizabeth comes to T'ville and in the afternoon we have a playdate with our friend and daughter (remember AB that I used to do homecare for while her mom taught? Her mom was my sister's friend before we met.. this is them LOL) and then at 5 we have a big family picnic with about 15 people at my parents' house.

Mon my sister will still be here with us and in the evening I'm planning to join in on a birthday celebration for my sister and S (above) and some of their "crew" for dinner and Mike's parents are together keeping the 4 muskateers for the evening. One last little get-away for Mom before I spend who-knows-how-long at the hospital.

Tuesday morning we have PT for Brianna and Micah at the house, during the day my sister will be here still until 3 or so when she flies home, and my aunt is also planning to come spend the day with my crew (so long as we don't wear her out too bad on Sunday!) In the evening Mike's grandmother (the kids' great-gram) and his aunt are coming over to visit and see the kids before we leave. They both live in the Orlando area.

Wednesday is my sister's actual birthday but she will be home. We have ST in the evening for Brianna and Micah but I THINK that's all we have going on. That will be a packing/cleaning/sheets/catch up day and probably a big grocery trip to stock up the house for Mike while I'm gone.

Thursday we don't have any plans either but around 5 I'll head over to St. Pete with Emma so that we don't have to do 6 hours of driving AND pre-op all in one day. That would be a bit rough I think (though we did the 4.5 hr round trip drive for the ENT appt. not too long ago...)

Friday we'll get up and go to pre-op at the hospital in St. Pete- just Emma and I. The kids will be here split between grandparents and Mike will be at work. I'll drive home after pre-op.

Saturday a friend of mine and her family are driving up from Ft. Lauderdale to spend the day with us and together the 10 of us plan to invade on another family that is at their "Make-a-Wish" trip and staying in Orlando at Give Kids The World. It's a WONDERFUL place where Kristopher, Brianna, and I visited with another family last year. Christina and Heather both have daughters with Down syndrome and we all chat on an online parent support group together. It's always neat meeting people "in real life!" Though Christina and I have met up 3 times before this :)

Sunday morning we'll go to church and I believe that Emma will be prayed over during the church service. Then it's lunch, hugs, naps, and Mike and I and Emma will leave for St. Pete. Brianna will be staying with my parents until Mike comes back home and Mike's parents will stay with the boys at our house. I understand that for any length of time more than 2 of my kids can be a bit MUCH for any one person... and the grandpas will both be working during the days.

Monday morning (no time yet) is Emma's surgery. Kristopher will be going to VBS with a friend at their church during the mornings this week. Tuesday night Mike plans to come back to T'ville, and then Thursday and Friday the kids will go to 'playdates' (still working on this) while Mike's at work and then be at the house in the evenings/overnight. The next week the kids will be at a mixture of grandparents' houses and friends' houses (still working on all this too). After that we'll plan it out once we know a better guess as to how long I'll be gone with Emma.

So... you'll either hear from me a lot because there's lots to tell or not much at all because we're BUSY! Thank you all for the continued prayers for our family!