New stuff about Hannah

It's been far too long since the last time we wrote anything down here. We returned from New York in January from Hannah's surgery and life has gone full tilt ever since. She recovered really well from the surgery. It's amazing to look at the pictures of her in the days after her surgery and realize how swollen her face was. She was incredibly self-conscious about how she looked when we returned home and very reluctantly returned to school on the Tuesday. John and I were very aware that if she didn't go right back to school that she would carry on wanting to hide her face and we have always lived with her 'face' first. This was a tough one for her though. She was so worried that her friends would see her bandages and point at them and say mean things to her. I was amazed that after going to school for 10 weeks with a pin sticking out of her jaw she was now worried about going to school with a bandage on. Such a funny little duck. But she did it. And the swelling eventually went down. One of our big worries, post-surgery, was that her facial nerve was affected by all the tugging that the surgeons did to remove her distraction device. Her smile was very lopsided and quite droppy on the leftside for a number of weeks and we were praying that it would return to normal. Her surgeon in NY had told us that when a facial nerve has been handled that they can go to sleep for up to six or more months so we just needed to be patient to see what was going to happen. Very slowly it has returned to normal and her lovely big smile is back as it was.
So Hannah's new thing now is the world of orthodontics. She spent 3 hours at our orthodontists yesterday and Dr. Pocock put brackets on a number of her teeth and has fitted her with a new appliance to replace the one she came home from New York with. Now what we are doing is, one by one, her top back teeth on the left side are being pulled down using elastics. There is a little bracket with a tiny hook on the top tooth and one on the bottom tooth and she has to wear an elastic on those teeth all the time. Big sister Becky, who is nearly 15, wears them as well as part of her orthodontic reality - so they are elastic buddies. It's great because Becky is so great at putting the elastics in her own mouth that she can put them in Hannah's mouth at school when they break and come out. Or when she accidentally eats them like she did last night. Becky has worn them for over a year now and I find them all over the bloody house. Barbie shoes and teeny-tiny elastics - they drive me mad! We go back to see Dr. Pocock intwo weeks to see how her tooth is coming along. As the teeth move down bone will just naturally just fill in and the ultimately the gap that is there between her back teeth on the left side will disappear when all of her teeth have been pulled down using elastics - amazing. The other step will be her appliance, which is also a rapid maxillary expander (Keziah and Zach both wore these so we're old pro's at these!) also called an RME, that will begin to get the screw turned and the appliance therefore will begin to expand her upper jaw soon. That will be good as she has teeth every which way up there.
If you are interested in some more information about who Dr. Pocock is in our lives here's the link from the news story that CTV news did about Hannah last June and it features Dr. Pocock in it. Hannah's moment of stardom! http://www.ctvbc.ctv.ca/servlet/an/local/CTVNews/20080620/BC_hannah_davies_080620/20080620/?hub=BritishColumbiaHome
The other piece of new about Hannah is that we had a consultation with a team of plastic surgeons at BC Children's Hospital in early March. One of the primary things that we wanted to discuss was ear reconstruction. We wanted to know about time line for when it could be done and who is the best in Canada. It was very nice that they did not try to sell us anyone in BC. They were very clear that the best doctor is in Edmonton - a guy named Dr. Wilkes - and the other was a guy in Toronto. He said they can do them in Vancouver but they are by no means the best. We had already done quite a lot of research and had found out that Edmonton was the place to go in Canada so we told them that we would like to be referred on the Edmonton clinic so now we wait for that to go through. She has to be a certain size before it can happen as her chest circumference has to be at least a certain number and she is below that number right now. The doctor thought that it would be about a year before she would hit the number that we would need to see. The reason her chest needs to be a certain size is that they harvest bone from her ribs to make the ear. I explained to the doctors that she really needs a ear as her eye sight is not 100%. She has a stigmatism in her left eye and it is only a matter of time before she is going to need to wear glasses and she will definitely need a second ear for that. Otherwise I would wait on the reconstruction until she says she's ready to do it. With the eye issue though we really can't wait. I tell you there is a good reason we have two ears! It's funny, when we were in New York in October she was talking about getting her big ear pierced when she got home and I was so excited about it but she's chickened out since then. Believe it or not she thinks it will hurt too much. I think really, compared to having your jaw stretched 29mm you think an ear piercing will hurt too much. So I'm bummed. Keziah is 10 and still no earrings. At least Becky got hers done when she was 5. Fearless child.
Last but not least in Hannah news. When John and Hannah were at the Ronald McDonald house in New York one of the Dad's at the house that John is friends with asked John one day if we had ever made a wish for Hannah with Make a Wish. John said no, because she doesn't have an illness. The Dad told him that that doesn't matter and that we should contact them when they arrived home. So in December we applied on her behalf to the local chapter of Make a Wish and after a loooonnnngggg wait they got back in touch with us to tell us that Hannah was having a wish granted! Her wish is to go to Disney World in Florida. So on April 25th - May 2 we are all (yes all 6 of us) are flying to Disney World for a week. Yeah!!! She is so excited. She tells people "I've had a hard life and Make a Wish helps kids who have a hard life have a easier time." She's so funny. So we are taking poor Hannah and her hard life to Disney World. God Bless our beautiful amazing little girl. She is truly a blessing and a treasure to us.
If anyone has actually read this - Thanks for caring about us and joining us on our journey. Many blessings,
Judy

 

Keziah seriously whooping Danny at foosball. He says its because she stole his crazy dance from him.

 

Hannah and "Big Rich", as she call him, Rich to everyone else, who works at the house - another one of her favourite people in the world.

 

Hannah and Danny, who works in the playroom at Ronald McDonald House on the weekends - he's one of her favourite people in the world.

 

At Rockerfeller Center in front of the big tree.

 
Keziah and Khalid and their amazing light up glasses - getting closer to midnight.

 
Keziah at the New Years Eve party - hanging with her shadow Khalid. The sweetest three year old you've ever met. To learn about him and his condition check out his website at www.caringbridge.org/visit/khalidamos.

We saw Dr Greig today. She confirmed that Hannah's facial nerve was injured during her surgery but the outcome will take up to several months to really know what is happening. We just have to pray that it starts working correctly.

After our appointment with Dr Greig, we all went up to Toys R Us. Keziah won a $20 gift card from her awesome Karoke performance on New Year's Eve and she had a blouse to return for a different size. From there we walked up to Rockerfeller Plaza to see the skating rink there. It was really cold out today. The air temp was around freezing but the wind was blowing and we really felt it. We walked on to Central Park to see the skating rink there. It was just getting dark when we got to the park but the rink had lights and it was really great. We watched the Zamboni clean the huge ice surface and waited until skaters got back onto the ice before we headed for home.

Back at the house, we had a easy dinner, pizza, mac and cheese and shrimp for Judy. The girls then went down to the play room and played with their friends. Keziah has being amazing. She has found so many kids to befriend and pour into. The response has being great.

Judy and I hung out tonight, did some laundry and started to get ready to go home. We hope to get back to Central Park on Saturday for at least a short play, then back to Vancouver on Saturday night.

TTFN
JJK and H

Amazing what a good nights sleep will do. Hannah is feeling so much better today. She actually went and played in the playroom today and was not whiny and clingy all day. She is still really swollen and when she smiles it is only on her right side. We are going to see Dr. Grieg tomorrow, Dr. McCarthy’s ‘fellow’, and she is going to assess whether she thinks its from all the swelling and the trauma of the surgery or if there is the possibility that there was some nerve damage. She said, though that it can take up to several months for the swelling to completely come down and the nerves to return to normal. So we’ll find out more tomorrow.

Last night was the new years eve party at the house. Hannah really wasn’t up to being at it. She was pretty upset at that. She wanted to put on her pretty dress that she brought and go to the party but I knew that I was too much for her. She had blood all over her neck and wasn’t letting us wash it off, she was just exhausted and had spent the previous several hours lying on the pullout bed on top of of me watching movies. So we went downstairs in her pjs and she lasted for about a half an hour - it was during ‘Who let the Dogs Out’ that she finally needed to go back upstairs.

Keziah however was the party animal last night. As she said to Auntie Al today she ‘partied hard’ last night. She was singing karoake, dancing, blowing noise makers, and playing with the little kids. And she rang in the new year with Daddy for the first time.
I had been asleep for awhile when they came in the room and woke up when they came in - wow was it every load outside. It was like bombs going off out there. Vancouver is loud but this was unbelievable.

We headed to H&M today for Keziah to spend her money today and buy herself some clothes. Hannah of course needed to get somethings too - she can never be left out when clothing is involved. It was all going well until she saw herself in the mirror and got very emotional at the way she looks right now - that put an end to clothes shopping for her. Kez got some awesome clothes and cannot wait to go home and do a fashion show for Becky. It was a good day. Hopefully little Miss Hannah will be even better tomorrow and we can walk to Central Park tomorrow. Her friend Mattie from the house told her she needs to go see the ice skaters at the park. That’s the plan for now.

Happy New Year

Hi there
Hannah just wants everyone to know that she has had a quiet afternoon in bed watching movies, eating pudding, ice cream and having a nap. We've watched Wall E, Barbie's Princess and the Pauper and Sky High. We went downstairs for the party for a little while and watched karaoke and listened to Who let the dogs out (one of Hannah's favourite songs) and now we're back upstairs in bed together watching Sky High. Hannah is eating a bowl of vanilla ice cream after having her antibiotic. She also want to say that she loves all of her Aunts and Uncles - so pass on the message!
Lots of love Judy and Hannah

It’s been a long day and a half. Poor little Hannah is sound asleep in bed right now. She and John got back to the house just before 1pm. They spent the morning in Dr. Grayson’s office as Hannah was fitted with her new removable orthodontic appliance. This new device replaces her splints and her wedge that we had so many problems with over the past 8 weeks. It was amazing to watch how they build the new appliance. The used an acrylic powder mixed with some chemical solution that makes the acrylic malleable and they spread it like puddy on the base appliance. The acrylic hardens with time and warm water. Once the soft acrylic is shaped correctly and the fit between her teeth and the appliance is perfect the technician grinds the excess acrylic away and leaves a smooth surface perfect fitted to Hannah's lower teeth. As There is nothing on her lower teeth - she just wears this device on her her upper teeth. It’s quite amazing what Dr. Grayson and Dr. Pocock have planned out for the long term for her mouth. This device is a temporary appliance and a new one will be built by Dr Pocock when sometime in early 2009. The new device will have the same basic structure but will have many other features that allow it to act as the anchor for the next stage of treatment. The next step in this procedure will be to systematically pull each adult down to meet the lower teeth. It will take a long time for this procedure to be completed and will require Hannah to endure a significant amount of discomfort.

So yesterday did not go at all as we planned. Dr. McCarthy spoke to us for awhile before Hannah went in to surgery and he felt it was going to take an hour and half for the whole thing. So when the three hour mark came and went we began to wonder what was taking so long. Then when we went past the four and half hour mark, John went in search of someone at the nurses’ station to see if they could find something out for us. On the way there, he ran into Dr. McCarthy on his way to speak to us. He explained that he had a difficult time getting at the distraction device on the top end of the distracted bone. He had to make a second incision just below her hair line to be able to remove the device at the upper end. It turns out, she began to bleed quite heavily at that point and it took quite a while to get the bleeding under control. The scare tissue that formed from her last surgery was the culprit for the bleeding complications. Due to the length of time she was in surgery, the lateness of the day and the fact that she bled quite a lot during surgery the doctors decided to keep her in the hospital for the night.

I was taken to see Hannah while she was in recovery, about a half hour after the surgery was over. It was so different compared to going to recovery in BC Children’s hospital, where there are only little one’s in the recovery room. This time, she was the only child in there - the rest were adults. Lots of moaning and weird sounds coming from all the beds. Very unpleasant place to be. There she was, so tiny, in her big bed - she looked terrible. Lips were translucent and she was so puffy - whether from all the fluids they were putting into her or from the trauma of the surgery, who knows. She was asleep when I walked up to the bed but as soon as I said her name she woke up and wanted a hug and then through a very croaky voice asked me to ask her nurse for a popsicle. This is standard procedure at BC Children’s - as soon as they are awake they have a popsicle in their hands. No such luck in grown-up recovery. Ice chips and water. So she made do with water but came very close to having a cry about the no popsicle. I was in recovery with her for an hour before they moved her up the pediatric ward. Her doctors and nurses were amazingly nice and kind to her. One of Dr. McCarthy 5th year residents came to see us before Kez and I left the hospital - he found out that Hannah really wanted a popsicle so he said he would see what he could do about it. Ten minutes later he arrived back with two huge Lifesaver popsicles - more than likely he went and bought them for her. So nice and sweet of him.

Last night was a challenge for both Hannah and John, neither were prepared for an overnight at the hospital. They shared a room with a very young baby who spent most of the night crying. It must of have being so hard for the mother as she tried with little success to get the baby settled and comfortable. Hannah watched TV and videos throughout the night and napped between. John on the other hand, rested until about 3 am when Hannah finally feel asleep. By 4 am Hannah was so full from the constant IV that her bladder was on overload. She peed almost 5oo ml. She peed again at 5 and again at 6, but only 200 ml each time. (It is hard to imagine how uncomfortable she was with that much urine in her bladder) At some point in the midst of a pee break, John remembered when Hannah was in the hospital in September and the fact that she was not allowed to leave the hospital until she walked to the bathroom and went pee on her own. A light went on at that moment, Hannah must have remembered that she had to pee before she was allowed to go home but held it as long as she could.

John did manage a couple of hours of sleep and according to Hannah he snored rather loudly!

Yesterday was all very hard on Keziah. She told me over dinner that when she saw Hannah in her room that she almost started crying because didn’t expect her look like that. Poor old Kez. Such a tender heart.

Tonight is New Year’s Eve. We will not attempt to go to Time Square. It is cold and snowing and they expect to have about a million people there - Crazy! So we’ll stay home and join the House’s New Year’s eve celebration. They are having a dinner and a dance. Don’t think Hannah will be dancing tonight. We bought Wall E and Peter Pan
(the one with real people) and are going to eat ice cream, chip, chocolate pudding and watch movies.

Hope everyone is well - happy new year!
Judy

Waiting, waiting, waiting....

So here we sit in the waiting room at the hospital. Hannah has been in surgery since around 12:15 and its nearly 3pm. Keziah is being a super-trooper at the waiting game. It can try the patience of the best of us. Hannah was pretty nervous today about surgery. As much as she wants that pin out and to no longer have the area around it cleaned she really does not want to have surgery to get it done. I was explainging to her last night that the last time she had surgery she woke up to the distraction device and the splints on her teeth and this time she’s not having this happen. She’ll wake up with the splints out of her mouth, the pin no longer there and just a few stitches on her neck which will be covered up by a bandage. Yeah...she wasn’t buying it. So we’re waiting and I can’t give you an update on how she’s doing yet.
But I can tell you about our day yesterday. We had a good night’s sleep on Sunday night - got to bed around 10pm - which isn’t bad when you think that its 7pm in Vancouver. We all slept well and even all slept in until after 9am. We were very lazy and took our time getting ready to get going and were nearly late arriving at the hospital for Hannah’s 1:30 appointment with Dr. McCarthy. We briefly met with him and went over what he was going to do today and then we straightened out the details of where we were going to be going today (even with all that straightening we were still sent to the wrong place today). Afterwards we had a quick meeting with Dr. Grayson about Hannah’s wedge that fell completely out of her mouth on Christmas Eve. He explained that today he is removing her splints from her teeth and then, while she is under they will take molds of her teeth to send to the lab, they will clean her teeth and repair any damage to her teeth from decay while wearing the splints. Then she will go back and see him after she is out of recovery later today to get fitted for a retainer-like device that will be removable that will have a built up side on the left so her bite will meet.
Once we were done at the hospital we decided to head over to Fifth Avenue to grab a late lunch at TGI Friday’s and then walk up Fifth Avenue to H&M’s and then to FAO Schwarz. Well, the cab couldn’t get to Fifth Avenue due to the crowds so we got out and walked the last block - the crowd at TGI Fridays was crazy - thankfully its a big restaurant and we were seated 25 minutes later. By then bloodsugar had really plummeted and Hannah was just delightful to be with. After eating we started ‘walking’ up Fifth Ave. - I have never seen such a crowd of people as this. After the 4 blocks to H&M we made the very sad discovery that this H&M does not have a children’s section. Keziah was so upset. This was the one thing that she really wanted to do that day. So back out into the crazy crowd we went - each holding onto our assigned child’s hand for dear life. 6 blocks to FAO Schwarz and there was a line up to get in to the store. Initially both girls said they didn’t want to go in - but we decided to go in anyways as the line up was moving really quickly and we aren’t planning on going back there before heading home. What a zoo!! We were all so happy to get in our cab to get back to the house. We got ice cream and cones from the grocery store and after we had a snack at 8pm we watched 2 episodes of Reba and had our ice cream. And then....bed. What a day. We never quite got done what we really wanted to do. And finished the day exhausted and spent.
We’ll update once we know more about how her surgery has gone.
Hope you’re all well
Judy

Our first full day here

Evil, evil red eye. Amazing how crappy you feel when you remove a nights sleep from your life and then add some jet lag to the mix. We got to bed before 10pm last night - we were all really tired. Hannah was the only one with some gas in her tank still. Kez was just getting paler as the night wore on. It took along time to get Hannah's neck cleaned, her mouth done and medicine in her. Bedtime couldn't come quick enough for John and I. Keziah had a great sleep last night - nearly 12 hours. Hannah slept well too but she woke up after 8am to a pee in her pull-up which Daddy dealt with. Bed stripped, Hannah washed down, clean clothes, sheets in the wash and he tried to come back to bed but she discovered that she was 'starving' and wanted him to get up and feed her.
We made it to John and Hannah's New York church this morning - late but we made it there. It was too bad that the Tyson kids, Hayley and Nathan, Hannah's friends, were away for the week. After church we took the subway to Times Square and hit Toys R Us to ride the ferris wheel. We couldn't get tickets until 2:20pm so we had to hang out for over an hour. However, they do have a girls section with everything girlie where Kez got some cool dress up things and they both got blinged out microphones! We then went to the Barbie section which is in a Barbie house - wow. Keziah was really excited about that. Hannah bought herself a Barbie pool - she had a tough decision to make - pool or wedding Barbie. Tough decision. The pool won out.
The ferris wheel was awesome. Its quite something to see a full size ferris wheel inside of a store. We didn't get the Barbie car - but we were in the little tikes fire truck. We had a choice between the fire truck or a Scooby Doo car - they choose the fire truck. We probably went around 9 times - lots of fun.
After Toys R Us we went to Ellen’s Stardust Diner in Times Square. Such a fun restaurant. All the waiters and waitresses are singers and trying to make it on Broadway so constantly while eating there is someone singing. And this is not some sort of amateurish show - they are amazing singers. We were entertained with "I'm a Believer", "Mama Mia", "My Favourite Things", "Man in the Mirror", and "Seasons of Love". Lots of fun.
We're planning a quiet night at the house tonight - maybe we'll watch a movie. Tomorrow we're off to the hospital for a 1:30 appointment. We hope to get Hannah doing some things. Keziah really wants to get back to the American Museum of Natural History. And we have yet to get up the Empire State Building. Wish us luck!

At the airport, we went through the deaths long line up at the check-in, then we went through the deaths long line up at Vancouver airport security. After we went through security we had to wait at the gate, Hannah was playing on the moving sidewalk. I did a super man on the moving handrail. On the plane we had wait for 2 hours on the airplane in Vancouver to be de-iced before we could takeoff. My favorite part on the flight was watching tv and doing crafts. Since arriving at the Ronald McDonald House was taking a shower and playing in the playroom.

By Keziah Davies

So we arrived safe and sound here in New York. It was a bit of a wait, as Keziah said, at the airport and it took alot out of Hannah waiting in the two long line ups to get checked in and then through security. Then she ran like crazy on the moving sidewalk for half an hour. So almost as soon as she was on the plane she was sound asleep. She briefly woke up during the flight but was back asleep again quickly. Keziah loves to fly. She gets all set up in her little space with her pillows and blanket, ipod, books, pencils, and art pad. As soon as the TV's were on she was watching Hannah Montana and drawing in her new art pad. At around 3am Vancouver time her TV suddenly quit working - divine intervention I think- as she was saying that she didn't want to go sleep before this. Now there was nothing to keep her occupied and when I suggested she get some sleep she was fast asleep two minutes later and slept for the next 3 and half or four hours. However, that was her sleep for the night! I snoozed a bit but never was really asleep and John was awake all night. Needless to say we feel less than marvelous today. We had a nap this afternoon for a couple of hours but are really looking forward to going to bed tonight.
Hannah is right at home again. She announced on the way here in the limo that she wanted to stay for two months again. I think she will be very sad at the end of the week. Especially there is no plan of coming back to New York in the future. Poor Hannah - this is her second home now. She is so social and the house meets all of her needs so beautifully. So many places she goes she doesn’t get noticed due to her facial difference but here at the house they have made her so special and to her this house is here just for her.
We're off for dinner now.

Getting ready to go

Well, its snowing again. We've had a shocking amount of snow in Vancouver over the past 10 days and it is snowing once again. Which would be find if we weren't off to the airport tonight at 7pm to catch our flight to New York. Or flight is at 9:25 so we are really hopeful that it is going to have either stopped snowing by then or the warmer weather that is in the forecast may be here by this evening. That is our hope at least. We've been watching the news all week as they've reported on all the headaches and heartaches at the airport this week as people have tried to get places for Christmas - all the while knowing that we were getting on a plane on Boxing Day.
So Hannah got up this morning at 7 am and came down the hall, bleary eyed, hair askew and barely awake - but doing a conga line dance. I think its fair to say she is really excited about going to New York tonight! The excitement does not lie in surgery on Tuesday, getting her pin removed, the end of having the awful thing cleaned twice a day, etc - no - the excitement lies in that we are going to go stay for a week at the Ronald McDonald House again. As she and John were saying goodnight last night she said to him - "are you really excited Daddy". She has missed the house so much since she has come home. And this time she gets to have Keziah and I there too for the whole week too. We can't wait. As long as we get on our plane tonight - its all good.

An uplifting reflection

John emailed this to me today. I'm not sure where he got it from but wow does it ever speak to me right now. We're living a lot of stuff right now with our oldest child Zach who is 16 and really struggling with life right now. So I just thought maybe someone might read our blog and need to be uplifted as well. Here you go.

Charles Spurgeon reading

"The trial of your faith."—1 Peter 1:7.

FAITH untried may be true faith, but it is sure to be little faith, and it is likely to remain dwarfish so long as it is without trials. Faith never prospers so well as when all things are against her: tempests are her trainers, and lightnings are her illuminators. When a calm reigns on the sea, spread the sails as you will, the ship moves not to its harbour; for on a slumbering ocean the keel sleeps too. Let the winds rush howling forth, and let the waters lift up themselves, then, though the vessel may rock, and her deck may be washed with waves, and her mast may creak under the pressure of the full and swelling sail, it is then that she makes headway towards her desired haven. No flowers wear so lovely a blue as those which grow at the foot of the frozen glacier; no stars gleam so brightly as those which glisten in the polar sky; no water tastes so sweet as that which springs amid the desert sand; and no faith is so precious as that which lives and triumphs in adversity. Tried faith brings experience. You could not have believed your own weakness had you not been compelled to pass through the rivers; and you would never have known God's strength had you not been supported amid the water-floods. Faith increases in solidity, assurance, and intensity, the more it is exercised with tribulation. Faith is precious, and its trial is precious too.

Let not this, however, discourage those who are young in faith. You will have trials enough without seeking them: the full portion will be measured out to you in due season. Meanwhile, if you cannot yet claim the result of long experience, thank God for what grace you have; praise Him for that degree of holy confidence whereunto you have attained: walk according to that rule, and you shall yet have more and more of the blessing of God, till your faith shall remove mountains and conquer impossibilities

Friday Night

We have come to the end of our first full week at home. We have found a routine so there is a little predictability now for everyone. Hannah has made three trips to the orthodontis since we got home. Her "wedge" has broken twice but we found a very nice ortho who has been able to make a modification that seems to have solved the design limitations of the customization that was done to the wedge in NYC. It seems that you start with the ideal and then grind away until it fits. The challenge is then managing the mechanical limitations that arise from the initial design. We hope that the wedge will last until the end of December when it will be replaced with a different appliance post distractor removal. We continue to clean the site where the pin for the appliace comes out of her skin. It is an amazing process the body goes through when there is a foreign body implanted. It oozes "gunk" that turns into a scab like substance when it to the skin. We have to remove most of the stuff and keep the pin site open so that no infection can take root. So far everything is staying clean and we are infection free. Of course Hannah hates the cleaning. I honestly think it hurts to have this stuff removed, but what can I do? It has to be continously attended to and she is having to put on a brave face. Which of course she does to the nines. Hannah is so resilient.

We heard today that the provincial government is negotiating with the hospital so there don't appear to be any barriers to us returning to NYC in Dec. Yeah, we will have New Years in the Big Apple.

Hannah is pressed at school these days as she is behind and having to work hard to catch up. She is thrilled to be back and hanging out with her Vancouver friends. She got to go to our churches "pastorate" last night. Pastorate is a home group where 20 or so people get together, share a meal, praise God and for us move through a study of a book called "Renovation of the Heart" by Dallas Willard and Randy Frazee. While the grown ups talk Hannah and the other kids play and have a great time together. Unfortunately, I have not being able to attend since I got home as work has consumed a lot of my time while I get back into the swing of things. Hannah loves school and pastorate but by Friday night she is totally fagged. OMG is she tired. Oh well, she can sleep in tomorrow as we have a free day.

We are now solidly into the rainy season in Vancouver. The sky is overcast most days and we are having rain almost daily right now. Tonight the forcast calls for 40 mm of rain. That is almost 2 inches for those who measure life in miles, gallons and feet. We should have this kind of weather for weeks/months to come. The cost of living on the West Coast of Canada. Let's hope we'll see more the the sun and have fewer weather changes so Judy has fewer headaches.

I hope you're well and thanks for visiting.

John

Fall is Such a Great Season

We have been home for 4 days and life looks like it's getting back to a regular routine. Wednesday and Thursday were a total blur for both Hannah and I. Hannah stayed home from school and I went to work on Wednesday. We both managed the day okay, tired but on an even keel. Thursday came with the edge of jet lag cutting deep. On top of both of us feeling terribly, Hannah's "wedge" (the piece of acrylic that fills in the gap between her teeth on the left side) broke. One of the anchors that hold the wedge in place snapped off at school and left Hannah with her wedge hanging in her mouth attached to one side only. Hannah's orthodontist is currently on vacation so we had to find another orthodontist with an on site lab who would be willing to take the wedge out and try and fix it. I talked to 3 different offices and finally ended up locating one really close to home. So I picked Hannah up and we went and got the wedge fixed, albeit a short term fix, until our Dr Pocock is back from vacation and he can make the necessary alterations to ensure this problem does not happen again.

Hannah said to me just before we got on the plane Tuesday afternoon, that she didn't want to leave New York. She and I both came to really love living there. The city is a great place and living at Ronald McDonald House was the best. The place was great but the people were what made it home. We are both community minded people so it is no wonder why it was so hard to leave. Hannah has had a hard time adjusting to coming back to the family and not being the total centre of attention. There have being a few situations where she has lost her mind because life would not give her exactly what she wanted and in the way she decided it needed to be delivered. This is more than the ego centric 6 year old personality. It will take her a while to adjust to life with two parents and three siblings.

Work was full on the moment I walked through the door. I certainly arrived back with a fresh perspective on my work and those people who I work with. With Hannah's surgery now behind us and our next trip to NYC in December only a week long, I can now really focus and prepare to lead my team into a major change that is expected in the early spring of next year. It should make for an exciting winter.

I have spent time reading on other blogs the progress of our friends, but to be honest I really miss them. I met some of the world's best kids and parents at the house in NYC and hope and pray for each of them that God would bring healing to each child. I pray that as the healing comes, God would grant peace and patience to everyone.

We will have our first Sunday back to our church and will have lots to share with our friends and family there about our time in New York. We saw Judy's brother and sister in law today and will see my mom after church tomorrow. So we are almost reconnected to our network in Vancouver. Next, we have to reconnect to our peeps (friends) in Victoria.

TTFN
Hannah and John

Homecomings

They're home!! Yeah!! It was so good to see their tired but happy faces come through the doors last night at the airport. Daddy was loaded down with all the bags and Miss Hannah was strolling along. I swear she's grown taller in the two weeks since I last saw her. Daddy's hair has definitely grown bigger. One things for sure, besides her losing a lot of weight (scary on a already skinny little 6 year old), she sure looks different. John's been great about sending me pictures along the way so there was no great shock about the change. The change actually is quite subtle in many ways. But as a mother here's how you notice some of the changes when your child goes through facial reconstruction - the way her skin looks has changed, just the way its pulling across her face is different. The slight angles of chin, her jaw, her little ear, all have shifted and changed. And the big one for me last night was, as she laid on the couch last night with her head in my lap as John cleaned the area around her distraction device, how different her face feels as I ran my hand over her face. There are changes that can't be seen but can be felt when you know someone's face "like the back of your hand". I wasn't prepared for this difference or the effect in my heart when I was feeling these changes. I was so surprised that I could feel them. That I just knew that the terrain of the my child's forehead was now completely changed. And I didn't know that my hands would find and feel this change. Once again a surprising side of motherhood that I wasn't expecting. It never ceases to amazes me.