Soon

It's hard to believe that we are getting very close to Mia's final surgery. I was changing her colostomy bag today thinking, wow, I might not be doing this very much longer. Life will definitely be different without a colostomy bag. I can't even imagine what it will be like. So, some things you can pray for as we prepare for her next surgery.

1. Health, we are all recovering from a cold, so pray that Mia especially would be healthy and ready for surgery in a week and a half.

2. The doctors and surgery team, wisdom and preparedness for the day.

3. Peace, I get a bit anxious when I think about it, but then I remember how God has taken care of us through everything and it settles my nerves, but I am human, so pray that myself and Brad would be reminded of God's truths when we start to feel anxious or nervous.

On a different note, Mia has come so far in her eating, she's doing great...we are eating more new foods and more difficult foods and her chewing is getting stronger and better, so Praise God! Also, she's saying a few more sounds, every now and then we get a hi in the middle of a he and a ha, so Praise God for that also, please keep praying for more sounds and speech!

Wedding Photos

I would have put these photos on yesterday, but the thumb drive they were on mysteriously went to work, so here they are today!

Mommy & Mia, Aunt Rachel & Cousin Joy!

These are the birds that Mia almost pulled onto the floor as we were waiting for the ceremony to start. Brad was walking his mother in, so I was holding Mia until he came back and she grabbed the cage and started pulling...thankfully I was able to stop her in time and the crisis was diverted. The birds say thank you.

Joy, Aunt Rachel, and Beautiful Bride Aunt Goose (also known as Laura)

At the end of the night, Mia in her pajamas, us dancing one last song before I take her into the stairwell (far enough away from the loud music) so she can sleep.

At the hotel, not at the wedding, but what a cute family!

Home

We got home last night from our lovely vacation to Portland! It was great, we got to enjoy Jared and Laura's wedding while spending time with family on our vacation. Mia had quite a few "firsts" on this trip, which were very exciting. It was her first airplane trip, which she did super on. We had no problems with ears or anything, thank you God! It was her first time being a flowergirl, of which will forever be a sweet memory for me. Did she throw petals...not really, until after she was done going down the aisle, then she decided she knew exactly what too do, oh well. It was very precious regardless. It was also her first time holding a dove and letting it go! Jared's family has about 60 doves that they maintain and people use at weddings and funerals for release. Well, Jared's dad let each of the kids release a dove the Sunday after the wedding at their home. I can't even describe how excited Mia was and how much she enjoyed watching those birds fly away. It was too cute! And lastly, it was Mia's first "official" time in a swimming pool with a suit and swimmer diapers. :) She loved the water, so I am very excited for us to start water physical therapy in the new year.

Here are a few photos from our trip away.

Mia and her cousin Joy from Italy!

Holding the dove...

A dove being released...

Swimming!

Having a great time in Portland!

First Plane Trip!

Last night we drove up to Sacramento where my (Lisa's) brother lives. We spent the night there and some time with them this morning before we flew out of Sacramento to Portland. Mia did pretty well in the car until it was 8pm and she was ready for bed, but we still had another hour and a half to go. At that point she was too tired, so we ended up pulling off the freeway and I held her for about 10 minutes until she fell asleep, then back in the carseat and asleep for the rest of the trip.

I didn't know how she was going to do on the plane today with the changes in air pressure, but she did great! Praise God! Thanks for praying. I kept having her munch on Lucky Charms and take sips from her sippy cup and she did great. We ended up using her carseat on the plane, which was great because she's so used to being strapped into it anyway. She did so well, I was so pleased with her first plane trip. The flight was only 1 hour and 45 minutes, so I think it was a good flight to break us in, I know that something longer might be a bit more difficult, but so far so good. It gives me hope for future plane trips.

Once in Portland we met Grampa at the airport and were taken to our hotel and then finally, Mia got to meet Joy. Joy is Tim & Rachel's little girl, the two girls have actually met a summer ago, but they were too young to remember, probably still are, but it was so neat to see them in the same location together. Mia is definitely more shy than Joy who warmed up pretty quickly and began to say "Mia" quite a bit (she's been practicing...), but I will give the girls another day or two together and I imagine they will be fast friends.

We are loving the Portland weather, nice and cool, just like fall should be and trees...so pretty, Mia kept pointing at them as we were driving...there just aren't trees like that in lovely bako-land. We'll post more pictures as we get them. :)

School Pictures and more...

Today Mia had her very first school pictures taken. I was rather amused with the whole process, you try to get a bunch of little kids to look at you and smile nicely for the camera. There was one little boy in Mia's class who was such a ham, he stood nicely, tilted his head a bit and gave this super cute smile. He would be perfect as the next Baby Gap model. Mia did pretty well, it only took them 4 shots to get a "good" picture...we'll see how it turns out. :)

Tomorrow we leave on our vacation for Brad's little sister's wedding. We are flying on Wednesday, so pray for safe travel and for Mia's ears with the air pressure, I'm not exactly sure how she's going to do. Pray for a restful vacation amidst all the wedding stuff. Mia is going to be a flowergirl, along with her cousin Joy, so we should get plenty of cute pictures of the two of them together.

And we now have a surgery date for Mia's final intestinal surgery (and hopefully final surgery ever...), it will be on November 25th, the day before Thanksgiving. I just realized that is only 23 days away, a little more than 3 weeks, that is going to go quick, so please pray for us as we prepare for that.