I love having everyone living in the same house again. Watching shows together and eating popcorn, me going to work in coffee shops while the girls do a morning of school -yes, they still are catching up on school this summer and they aren't super happy about it ;)
We are trying to plan for next year: what they will all do for school, what limitation we will still need to take into account and, what I will be doing for work (I've applied for a couple part-time jobs and am trying to get more clients for my educational consulting business). Tiffany and I now sit on the porch and talk fact to face instead of over Skype/FaceTime and I get to physically pray with each girl while I tuck them in.
Yet this normal-ness has really heightened the realization for both Tiffany and I of how not normal the last year has been.
If I had to sum it up, I'd say that we feel like we just woke up from a dream (in the last 2 weeks) and now we are wondering why everything that was normal is now "suddenly" different.
- We don't live/work in Japan any more, but at the same time I don't have my old job either.
- The kids are going to do homeschool again... but it's not the same... they are changed (for good) from their educational experiences at ASIJ.
- Tiffany is going back, from being a working mom, to a homeschool mom again... but she's changed too.
- We have our same house but it, like everything else, is just a bit different.
So, yes, it's great to finally be all back... but this may take a bit of time for us all to get used to what the old/new life is going to look like again. ;)
How's Abby doing?
Well, I'm glad you asked. She's doing well. She is on a targeted steroid still and will probably be on it for another month or more.
- Abby has all of her 2nd baseline test again tomorrow: EKG, Lung function, labs, eyes, and more.
- On Tuesday next week she'll have her Day 100 bone marrow cancer test (a few days early). Please join us in praying that all of the tests, especially the bone marrow tests, come back great.
- Near Day 120 Abby will have her Broviac tube taken out but they will keep her other central line (med-o-port) in so that they can continue to take blood and give medicines if needed.
- Abby will still be limited, can't be around large groups (especially groups of kids) so that she doesn't get sick. She will have to be especially cautious around people who haven't been vaccinated since she has most likely lost all of her antibodies to those diseases. -So, if you've never had the Chicken Pox or vaccine please visit us in the off-season or next year;)
Otherwise, she is doing pretty well. We get her moving around as much as possible and I'm going to start to take her on short bike rides in the morning when it's cooler to help build back up her muscles.
Have a great day and I'll add more info as we have it about Abby's test results and surgery results.