A Cardboard Christmas

Greetings, friends and family--
Another Sunday afternoon. . . aaahhh, how I love them. Matt and Noah on the couch, sleeping once again. I am even more greatful that they are taking their nap and that I have this break today because Noah some how managed to come down with the (violent) vomiting-flu thing in the last 24 hours. I won't linger long on this, but THE POOR KID! He has been sick the ENTIRE month of Nov., first with "just a cold", then a trip to Urgent Care on a Sund. with his first ear infection, then another strong case of "just a cold" (aka coughing like the croup) during Thanksgiving, which led to finally a diagnosis last wed. of "possibly a sinus infection... ...let's do an antibiotic for this one"....at last, some real drugs(the 4th dr. apptment in as many weeks) ...and then only 3 days into his antibiotic, he seemed to get the flu/diarrrrrrr...bug. This is the first time he's EVER thrown up outside of his carseat, and WOW, it is crazy. He can't even keep a sip of water down at the moment. So we're thrilled that he's sleeping. What a month this has been!

Needless to say, after staying at home for the 3RD SUNDAY in 4 weeks with a sick kiddo, I am enjoying a few moments of rest. Matt has the 2nd night of our church Christmas program tonight, which it looks like I will also be missing this year, so he'll be heading over in an hour or so to get miked up. I wanted to throw a few things online while I have the chance.

First, one of those dr. apptments Noah had, last week, was with the pediatric blood specialist we started seeing this fall for his all-over-the-charts blood counts. We have been tracking his low white blood cell count (neutrophils) for the past year with our reg. pediatrician and were recently referred to the clinic in Orlando. Well, we reviewed the genetic tests results we had been waiting on for 8 WEEKS, which came back NEGATIVE (the good result) so it doesn't appear to be a genetic disposition at this point...and then we took further blood work to see where his levels are at now...and then the following day we got the word that he has NORMAL or above normal levels for the 2nd time in a row, and that we don't need to go any further with testing at this point.
Let me say that again: WE DON'T need to do any FURTHER TESTING AT THIS POINT! Which is AMAZING, because we were getting ourselves prepared to go and do a bone marrow test next. Which would be a pretty big deal and could possibly render serious results. We don't know what has changed in his neutrophil levels--we don't know if he's been completely healed or if God is just choosing to heal him for the time being until we are more settled in TX and can deal with it better, but for whatever reason, the anxiety concerning his unknown health concerns has been greatly lifted from us! And there's a strong chance he-we-may be completely over this...So Praise the Lord!

Second, things are in full gear on this move thang. It has been an interesting 3 weeks but the next TWO weeks will be CRAZY. I have a fairly good START on packing, but the more I do of course the more I realize I have to do, and it's rather easy to feel overwhelemed by it all. But of course I have my checklist, and MATT's checklist (he doesn't know I have this yet, but he will, very soon!) and so starting tomorrow we are getting CRACKING. I have spent a HUGE amount of time looking into housing lately, and so we will (hopefully) get that nailed down this week, as well as flights for Noah and I, (&Matt's dad), rental truck secured, yard sale in the paper, etc...health insurance and change of address forms begun...anybody want a cat?....etc. etc. there is a lot to do. A.L.O.T. And THEN, there are all the holiday parties/families who want to take us out or have us over for dinner stuff. Which is all well and wonderful and things we WANT to do, but it's just TOO much at this point in time. So WE'LL SEE what happens and what doesn't!

Then, there's CHRISTMAS to be celebrated! One of my biggest frustrations over this move is the time of year it is! I know God knows exactly what he is doing with this, and we already see several positives because of it.....but....during the Christmas season?!?!? Exactly WHEN am I supposed to shop for gifts??? (And celebrate the Savior's birth) And we have NOAH! He has loved looking at the lights and trees in other's houses....so...I decided to go ahead and decorate just a bit because I just couldn't enjoy the season with my house all covered in cardboard. As I pulled down boxes and tubs from the attic last Sunday, I opened one up, took out the Christmas decor, and then filled the same box with flower vases and a waffle maker. That's why packing has literally been 2 boxes forward, 1 box back. I'm hoping this week will be easier, because only reeeally important things get left unpacked from this point on.
So wish me luck as I embark on the seemingly never ending job of packing/explaining to people "why" we're moving.
Here's a bit of what my living room looks like!

Update: actually I'll post that pic in a few days because it's not loading right now.