Another Milestone

I had hopes to keep Gabriel facing backwards in his car seat until he was 2. And if we couldn't make it until August 18, 2011, I wanted to make it through the winter. But, alas, my little bear won't slow down growing and today, while the weather was nice (60 degrees on New Years Eve! Wow Ohio!) Matt turned Gabe around.




And this evening Gabe took his maiden voyage facing forward. And I've found that we must lead a very boring life, because Gabriel smiled, squealed and cheered the whole time. He loves his new perspective while driving, er.. riding!

Please, sweet boy, don't keep growing up so quickly!

Laundry Basket Cuteness

Have way too many thoughts and feelings swirling around in my little head so I figured I'd share some pictures of the adorableness we call Gabe [smile]!

No matter what's going on, this little guy's smile can always bring a smile to anyone's face :)

Birthday Cake

One of our family's Christmas traditions is to have a birthday cake for Jesus at Christmas dinner. This is one of my favorite traditions because it's something tangible the little ones can understand.

Birthday Cake = Birthday

Christmas = Jesus' Birthday

Last year at just 4 months Gabe was way too little to even taste the cake and even four months ago at his first birthday Gabe had no interest in cake. But Gabe decided birthday cake was a good thing this time and he really enjoyed muching on Jesus' birthday cake.

And a frosting covered, smiling face reveals just how good Jesus' birthday cake tasted!

Unspeakable

*****UPDATED*****

A visitation and memorial will be held for Jim on Sunday January 2, 2011 from 1:00 - 3:00 at the Bauer Funeral Home in Valley City Ohio
****************************************************************************

Yesterday our family suffered an unspeakable loss. It's unbearable to even have to write this, but by writing this I'm honoring a loving father and all the while processing some of my pain. Sometime in the early morning, Matt's father passed away. While we don't know the reasons why yet; the reasons matter little to the pain felt by all that knew, loved and cared for Jim. The suddenness of the situation, the questions why coupled with the Christmas season has made the pain for Matt and his brothers almost unspeakable.

Knowing Jim had a relationship with Jesus lessens my pain but my heart is utterly broken as I process the loss Matt and his brothers are going through. While I loved Jim; my pain is nothing compared to Matt's; Matt who is the oldest son and now doing another unspeakable act. At just 28, he's planning the funeral of his 52 year old father. It just seems so unfair. Matt's inner strength is phenomenal and I truly think that it's only the prayers surrounding him and his faith that are holding him up.

My heart also breaks when I think that Gabriel isn't going to know his Gramps. Sure, he'll here stories from his dad and uncles but that's not the same as knowing someone; not the same as having your own memories of the person. It's unspeakable to think of all those memories stolen from Gabe and his grandpa.

Somehow though, time moves forward. Christmas Eve turned to Christmas Day and while I laid awake early this morning praying for Matt and his brothers, a song we sing at church popped into my head and has been going through my mind all day:

Joy unspeakable that won't go away

With just enough strength

To live for day

So I never have to worry

What tomorrow will bring

Cause my faith is on solid rock

I'm counting on God

And through the pain of losing Matt's dad we can find joy; knowing that Jim is now with Jesus and knowing that the same Jesus that Jim is now with, is here with us too.

Unspeakable. That's it.

Because of the Lord's great love we are not consumed, for his compassion's never fail. They are new every morning; great is His faithfulness. -Lamentations 3:22-23

Gabe meeting Gramps for the first time.

Merry Christmas

An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, "Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord." Luke 2: 9-11

From our family to yours, we wish you a very Happy Christmas!

T'was the Night Before Christmas

'Twas the night before Christmas and all through the church,

The chosen were singing out His Son's birth.

The Bibles were open to Matthew that night,

and praises were sung to a heavenly height.

The pastor spoke boldly the Word we all love,

About our sweet Jesus who came from above.

He spoke of salvation to those who were lost,

For whom Christ had died upon Calvary's cross.

He knew through the years we'd been bound up by sin,

But we could be free if we'd just let Him in.

So open your hearts all you people who know,

And let Jesus make your soul white as snow.

Heed the gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John

About his great work that they've carried on.

THe Epistles of Paul will show us the way,

Revelation tells us of the glorious day.

At the sound of the trumpet and the blink of an eye

We'll be caught up with Jesus to a cloud in the sky.

We'll sit down with Jesus to a wonderful feast,

Then come back with Him to bind up the beast.

There'll be no dying, no sickness, no tears,

We'll reign in His glory for one thousand years.

And after these things a new heaven and earth,

And all because of our dear Savior's birth

So "Follow Me children" we hear Jesus say,

That He is the Truth, the Life, and the Way.

-Rick Semos

Favorite Christmas Song

My favorite song this Christmas season is How Many Kings from DownHere. Of course I was tempted to post a YouTube video of it, but for me it's more about the lyrics than the instruments, tempo or beat.

How Many Kings

Follow the start to a place unexpected

Would you believe after all we've projected

A child in a manger

Lowly and small, the weakest of all

Unlikeliness hero, wrapped in his mothers shawl

Just a child

Is this who we've waited for?

Cause how many kings, stepped down from their thrones?

How many lords have abandoned their homes?
How many greats have become the least for me?

How many Gods have poured out their hearts

To romance a world that has torn all apart?

How many fathers gave up their sons for me?

Bringing our gifts for the newborn savior

All that we have whether costly or meek

Because we believe

Gold for his honor and frankincense for his pleasure

And myrrh for the cross he'll suffer

Do you believe, is this who we've waited for?

It's who we've waited for

How many kings, stepped down from their thrones?

How many lords have abandoned their homes?

How many greats have become the least for me?

How many Gods have poured out their hearts

To romance a world that has torn all apart?

How many fathers gave up their sons for me?

Only one did that for me

All for me

All for you

All for me

All for you....

Every time I hear that song I'm astounded, humbled and awed by the amount of love required for Christ to take human form, come to earth, be persecuted for me and then die on a cross. For me, and for you. Most of the time though, I just can't wrap my mind around that kind of love.

In the past 2,000 years have we heard of a king leaving his throne to help a peasant or a lord to forgo living in luxury to live in poverty? We haven't. Nor have we seen a great person (rich, powerful, successful or popular) give that all up. Sure, you have the celebrities that are altruistic but has anyone ever given up EVERYTHING for an orphan in Africa, a woman dying of HIV in South America?

No one has and no one ever will. But the greatest thing ever is that they don't need too because Jesus already did it for us. He gave us the ultimate gift.

So in this season of gift giving and gift receiving, I'm going to remember the ultimate gift, the ultimate sacrifice..... the birth of Jesus Christ.

Anonymous

No one has ever become poor by giving. Anne Frank

Dear Anonymous,

A few weeks ago we were notified by our adoption agency that you gave a donation to them to be put towards our adoption fund. Quickly we emailed them back asking who donated it and waited for their response. The response we received was that the giver wanted to remain anonymous.

While I respect your desire to remain anonymous I hate the fact that we can't thank you; that I can't send you a thank you card or wrap my arms around you in a heartfelt hug. So, I will thank you the only way I know how, on our blog; the blog about our journey through adoption and our life.

Your generosity was so kind and we are so grateful. Your sacrificial giving brought us that much closer to our little one 7,333 miles away. I have found that among its other benefits, giving liberates the soul of the giver - Maya Angelou

Although we don't know who you are, God does and I'm sure He'll find a way to let you know just how grateful we are.

Do not forget to do good and to share with others, for with such sacrifices God is pleased. 1 John 3:17

With immense gratitude,

Matt & Meredith

Sharp Dressed Man

What all the cool babies are wearing this winter; polos, button-up sweaters and peacoats! It's tough to be this cute, but I'm thinking Gabe can handle it [smile].

Tonight I wanted to post pictures from Matt's graduation this morning. Yes, my faithful readers after just 2 1/2 short years Matt graduated with his MBA. Going part or full time all the while working full-time, adopting and raising a son and dealing with me :) He's pretty spectacular, if I do say so myself :)

But I can't find my camera. I'm hoping it's in the car but since it's about 10 degrees outside I'll just wait until tomorrow to check.

Instead, you get this:

Lately, I've been freaking out! I've been feeling overwhelmes, stressed and exhausted. All for no good reason... well the exhaustion is partly because of Gabe, so I suppose that is for good reason [smile].


I haven't mailed out all of my Christmas cards yet. Actually, I usually mail them out right after Thanksgiving but this year, only yesterday I mailed the first batch out and Monday I'll mail the rest.


None of my presents are wrapped, I still have one to buy and are waiting for a few to come in the mail. Usually I'm bought, wrapped and ready to go by now.


I've only made 2 types of cookies and the 2nd type haven't even been decorated yet. The decorating part will be rectified tomorrow when my lovelies come over so we can try to reenact what I say on the Pioneer Woman's blog. But the fact that I've only made 2 of the usual 6 - 8 kinds of cookies I normally make means I've fallen behind in that area too.

I've lost too many things in the past few days to count (gloves, hats, socks, cloth diaper, cell phones, butter - yes butter) and fallen behind in filling out all of our adoption paperwork.

My house isn't as clean as I'd like for it to be, my laundry not finished and mass disorganization seems to be my representative for this Christmas season.

But tonight, as I sit with Gabe on my lap (who'd want to sleep comfy in his bed? Not Gabe, that's for sure) I've realized none of this really matters.

Jesus' birthday will still be celebrated whether my house is clean, the cookies are made or each present wrapped perfectly. For the rest of this season these two things will matter:

The manger and the cross. Without both, their significance would be lacking. The baby in the manger, would be just that if Christ hadn't died on the cross and rose three days later.

For the rest of this advent season I will work to remember the important things: celebrating Christmas, enjoying friends and family and relishing in this season of love.

Kringle's Inventionasium

Last Saturday while Matt wrote his last paper before graduating with him MBA (more on that later) Gabe and I ventured to Tower City with his Nonny to meet up with my brother and his family. The reason for leaving the warmth of our home in this cold weather? To go to Kris Kringle's Inventionasium. And while Gabe was a bit too young to fully appreciate this experience, from an adult (he,he) stand point; hands-down this is a must do activity during the Christmas season. Especially if your children believe in Santa Clause.

We're not introducing Gabriel into the Santa Clause culture and no that doesn't make us anti-Santa Christmas Grinches though [smile]. But this place is truly magical (to steal my SIL's words).

Upon entering Kris Kringles Inventionasium, you meet your Elf tour, don a white lab coat and get to work creating new and different toys for Santa. There are lots of different activities to do, extraordinarily creative things to see (Gabe's eyes were wide open!) and tons of fun to behold.

After learning that snow is the item children ask Santa for the most, the little scientists engage in a science experiment and create snow. And now, even children in Africa (the elf's words not mine, but slightly ironic all the same) will have snow.

Lastly, you get to take one of your inventions to Santa Clause and tell him about it. And this was probably the best Santa I've ever seen. He took a real interest in what my nephews were telling him, was kind and had sparkly eyes. This gentleman was the perfect person to play Santa Clause. Honestly, meeting him caused me to rethink not getting Gabe's picture taken with him. Just for a second, but a second all the same!

It truly was a fabulously fun family friendly festival (love the alliteration, do you?) And I recommend anyone with little children to go!

But of course no family activity is not wrought with a little chaos and our chaos this time was wet pants!!! After an initial incident with wet pants took us to Children's Place to buy pants for one of the boys, right as we started at Kris Kringle's Gabriel's diaper leaked. And of course, this always prepared Mama didn't have spare pants so he went pants-free through the event and we ended up back in Children's Place to buy another pair of pants!! But that is why you see his chubby little legs. In the words of my Meg, it's a good thing he's a cd baby!

And now for your visual enjoyment (and my documentation):

Gabe and his Uncle Bucko

Jake writing down his idea for a new toy.

Building a tower taller than himself while waiting to talk to Santa Clause.

Sam making a puppet.

Gabe exploring the snow.

Note his cute chunky leg next to the bucket.

Ethan constructing with his JawBones.

This is the toy that he brought into show Santa Clause.

Ethan, Gabe, Jake and Sam at Public Square

Ethan, Gabe with his pin wheel and Me

My brother and his sweet little family at Public Square.

This Baby

I had all intentions on sharing our fabulous Saturday afternoon spent at Kris Kringle's Inventionasium but you'll have to wait another day to see a cloth diapered Gabe traipsing around Tower City. I know, I know, if he can't walk, he can't traipse but you get the picture [smile].

As evidence to my play list I obviously like the song Mary, Did You Know but today I heard a different song, one I'm sure I've heard before and either never paid attention to or changed the station on, but today I heard it and actually listened to it.

This Baby by Steven Curtis Chapman (and you know I love me some SCC - any adopting family does!) really made me think about Jesus as a baby and a young child. And how it would feel to be raising and watching the son of God grow up.

Did Jesus cry when He was tired, or was He so full of God's peace that He would just drift off to sleep? Jesus was the only sinless person to ever walk this earth, does that mean he was never disobedient? And how would it be to parent a perfect child? If you never have to redirect or guide them, did Mary and Joseph feel like they were doing their job well?

I smiled when I thought of a baby Jesus looking like a sweet, little juicy cherub like Gabriel. But I wonder if Jesus ever shot his Mama a mischievous look when he did something He knew He wasn't supposed too. But then, since He was a sinless man, He probably had no reason to be mischievous.

Gabe's found his mischievous look and it's generally when he's doing something disobedient like trying to move the floor lamp or play with the television cabinet doors. And when he does this, Matt and I use this opportunity to teach him; that what he's doing isn't safe or appropriate. These opportunities allow me to feel like I'm parenting Gabe, teaching him. Did Joseph and Mary ever have these opportunities?

Even when Jesus stayed at the Temple and didn't start towards home with his parents, He was unrepentant when they found Him because He knew where He was supposed to be.

Oh, how I love thinking of Jesus as a baby, small boy or teenager.


Don't forget to pause the music at the bottom :)

A Slow Chew

"That was a slow chew" were the words my friend Akane used to describe my first bite of the homemade, spongy Injeri bread used in Ethiopia in lieu of silverware. But lets start at the beginning of the evening, because every great adventure has a prelude.

And our prelude included setting up this dinner at Empress Taytu's numerous other times and having to cancel for one reason or another. Then on Thursday night as Sondra and I were only minutes from the restaurant Akane called and said it was closed, the electricity was out throughout the neighborhood. Unsure of what to do but knowing we wanted to still spend time together, we told Akane to stay put and we'd find her. After driving aimlessly down Superior looking for Empress Taytu in the darkened neighborhood we spoke with Akane again and told her to meet us at Wendy's (Wendy's will play an integral part of the story later). After Sondra and I turn around to head back to Wendy's, the lights flickered and then went on, just as we were driving by Empress Taytu!!! Akane was called and drove over to meet us there!

Me, Sondra and Akane

There was traditional Ethiopian music playing (great rhythm!) and the restaurant was gorgeously decorated with authentic Ethiopian art, maps and just superb 'Ethiopian' decor.

We chose to sit at a messob, low basket-style table, to keep with Ethiopian tradition. And after perusing the menu for a beyond acceptable time friend we chose appetizers and main courses.

Our appetizer of Sambusa was delicious. Sambusa is a meat or lentil (we tried both) filled pastry. It was served with a spiced red dip and was divine. Our hopes were high before our main courses were served.

beef and lentil sambusa

After finishing the sambusa our main entrees were served:

Sondra and Akane both ordered the beef t'ibs which were delicious. And, well I don't remember the name of what I ordered but it looked a bit like Sloppy Joe's! It was not quite as good as the t'ibs but I was not disappointed by the unique flavor of spices and meat.

The caveat of the whole dinner was the injeri. Our 'injeri' surprise was two-fold. First it when we touched it we were expecting it to be warm, and it was not. Second, and I think the bigger surprise was the fact that it wasn't tortilla like I (all of us) were expecting. It was very spongy and a little sticky. Honestly, it was probably the most unusually textured food I've ever had and since I'm definitely a texture eater, it was my biggest challenge.e

Injeri for me, will certainly be an acquired taste.

Our plate of injeri. Sadly that's how much was left when we finished; the people at a table near ours finished their plate of injeri and the injeri their food was placed on. We certainly made a poor showing.

Akane and Sondra's demonstration of the sponginess of the injeri.

Our "Americana" shined through as we stopped at the aforementioned Wendy's on the way home to pick up the traditional dessert of Frosties!

While the injeri was a surprise, the atmosphere was fabulous, the casseroles good, the spices divine and the experience memorable.

Honestly, I can't wait to go back and embrace our future babies culture a little bit more. And I feel quite fortunate that there is such an authentic and traditional Ethiopian restaurant so close to home.

Welcome to Holland?

Remember here when I gave you the analogy of going to Australia in regards to infertility and adoption. Well recently I found myself answering questions about adopting and raising a special needs baby. And they always take me by surprise because 1.) a lot of the time I forget Gabriel is considered special needs and 2.) I forget that we could potentially adopt a special needs baby this time... the special needs just doesn't seem to be like a big deal to me.

But to other's it is. And then I remembered reading a different analogy by Emily Pearl Kingsley; a mama of a special needs child. So I thought I'd share it with you :)

Welcome to Holland!

It's like this... When you're going to have a baby (or planning to adopt), it's like planning a fabulous vacation trip - to Italy. you buy a bunch of guidebooks and make your wonderful plans. The Coliseum, the Michelangelo David, the gondolas in Venice. You may learn some handy phrases in Italian. It's all very exciting. After months of eager anticipation the day finally arrives. You pack your bags and off you go. Several hours later, the plane lands. The stewardess comes and says, "Welcome to Holland." "Holland?" you say. "What do you mean Holland? I signed up for Italy! I'm supposed to be in Italy. All my life I've dreamed of going to Italy." But there's been a change in the flight plan. They've landed in Holland and there you must stay.

The important thing is that they haven't taken you to a horrible, disgusting, filthy place full of pestilence, famine and disease. It's just a different place. So you go out and buy new guide books. And you must learn a whole new language. And you will meet a whole new group of people you would never have met. It's just a different place. It's slower paced than Italy, less flashy than Italy. But you've been there for a while and you catch your breath, you look around, and you begin to notice that Holland has windmills, Holland has tulips, Holland even has Rembrandt's. But everyone you know is busy coming and going from Italy, and they're all bragging about what a wonderful time they had there. And for the rest of your life, you will say, "Yes, that's where I was supposed to go. That's what I had planned." The pain of that will never go away, because the loss of that dream is a very significant loss. But if you spend your life mourning the fact that you didn't get to Italy, you will never be free to enjoy the very special, very lovely things about Holland.

And that's kind of the story... while I may not have envisioned being the mother to a special needs child, I was meant to be. And while it may take Gabriel a little longer to learn to crawl, walk or throw a ball with his left hand, he's exactly what God wanted him to be. And we are so happy to be where we are today.

Eye update & Garden Soxx

Four days after surgery and Gabriel is doing fabulous. His eye looks remarkably well; the swelling is almost gone and he's already blinking some very deliberate blinks. The incredible thing is that Dr. R said the swelling should last about 6 weeks and it's about 85% gone now.

And I was a little nervous about how different Gabe would look after the surgery as I was accustomed to seeing his perpetual wink every time I looked at him. Somehow, and I'm not even sure this is possible but he got even cuter!! See!!!

a little blurry, but a close up of Gabe's open eye!

our boy with both his beautiful eyes open wide

Gabe, his surgery marks and a toy!

And now an abrupt change of subject. This past Spring our church handed out 300 Garden Soxx to needy families in our city. A Garden Soxx provides all the vegetables a family will need for the year in a small, above ground garden-esque tube.

The Garden Soxx were sponsored by the Filtrexx Foundation where a friend's (and church members) husband works. And now the Filtrexx Foundation has applied for a grant from the Pepsi Refresh Project for $25,000. For $25,000 1,000 Garden Soxx will be handed out, feeding thousands of people from horribly depressed areas in Elyria, Lorain and Oberlin Ohio!

The top 10 ideas get $25,000 and right now 9 out of the 10 are to save animals. And while I love animals as much as the next person (maybe), I think ensuring children and families don't go hungry is a bit more important.

So click below and vote!

Doppelgangers

One of my favorite television shows is How I Met Your Mother. I know it's a little off the wall and some of the story lines are not very classy but I'm an adult and I think the show is it's hilarious. And since we don't have cable, it's one of the few shows we get. And since we don't have cable we have started investing in buying TV on DVD sets when they go on sale.

When I saw HIMYM on sale at Target a while back I knew I had to pick it up. Each episode has a snazzy name and the last episode of last season was entitled "Doppelgangers" In common vernacular a doppelganger is refers to a double or look-alike of a person.

***spoiler alert coming in case you want to watch and have not yet seen the last episode last season's HIMYM***

HIMYM has 5 main cast members and all but one (Barney) has had a doppelganger seen by the group. In this episode Lily thinks she sees a doppelganger of Barney, thus providing confirmation that she and her husband Marshall should start trying for a family. Through twists and turns, it comes out that she didn't see a Barney-doppelganger but Barney himself.

And Lily is disappointed; disappointed because she thought that the confirmation of the 5th doppelganger was natures way of saying it was okay to begin a family and also disappointed that she's become a person she never thought she'd be - waiting for someone else to tell her it was okay to do something and not being the artist she's dreamed of but a kindergarten teacher wanting a baby.

Robin (my least favorite character) wisely tells her that each of us are our own doppelganger. That 5 or 10 years ago you probably never pictured were you would be now.... and probably not recognize yourself either.

And while I'm not sure I have a doppelganger out there [smile], Robin's comments really stuck with me. 10 years ago I was approaching high school graduation (eek!), deciding between colleges, majors and prom dates. I thought I would go to a prestigious college, major in engineering (ugh), achieve a fabulous job making lots of money and maybe start thinking about marriage around the age of 28.

10 years later I'm a college graduate not from a prestigious college but a wonderful state school all the same. I gave up engineering because of the torture they called Linear Algebra and never even found a job in my field. Instead I worked at a child development center where I formed the deepest, most intrinsic and valuable friendships I could imagine.

Rather than getting married at 28, I got married as a fresh-faces 23 year old and dreamed of having a family almost immediately.

And while I always wanted to be a mom (I remember answering that to the "what do you want to be when you grow-up question in grade school), I figured I'd have time to be a mother when I was ready. I was just ready long before I had initially planned.

5 years ago I would have never envisioned that I would be a SAHM to a 'special needs' child or that I would have chosen that path either. I also never would have envisioned that I could have the love for a child burn so deeply that I haven't seen, touched or even know if they've been born yet. Oh, how people change.

So I am my own doppelganger. As a soon-to-be high school graduate I am 100% positive that I would not recognize myself today. But somehow I managed to be right where I'm supposed to be.

Are you your own doppelganger, or have you perhaps seen your doppelganger? [smile]

Our Tiny Soldier

Yesterday morning we headed out at the early hour of 5 o'clock. Fortunately, at 5 AM there is little traffic on the road; unfortunately we were heading downtown for Gabe's 2nd eye surgery.

Two eye surgeries in less than 8 months and 3 bouts with anesthesia in just under 11 months. That seems like way too many procedures to me, but Gabe took it like the little champ that he has become.

Gabe was super in a really good mood all morning while we signed consent forms, waited in the waiting room and then waited some more in the hospital.

Gabe with Daddy making a silly face

Another silly face while showing off his hospital gear.

And then it was time for a little Versed, a drug that made Gabe a little silly and unable to remember being put under. Last time Gabriel became quite a bit frightened when they had to hold the gas mask over his face, the Versed makes it so that he was more relaxed and even if he did fight the gas mask (he did a tiny bit) he wouldn't remember.

Gabe feeling a little silly from his medicine.

Then Dr. R. came in to make a black mark above Gabe's right eye to ensure there were no misunderstandings, and then off Gabe and I went to the operating room. One of the nurses remembered our sweet boy from last time and couldn't believe how he was talking as we waited for everything to start.

Gabe was put to sleep and I went to join Matt and my mom in the waiting room. 55 minutes later Dr. R. came out to say that Gabe was done, that the surgery took a little bit longer than expected because they were about 10 minutes in when they realized Gabe's lid wouldn't be straight so they had to start again :( The extra waiting was horrible but knowing that they already corrected a potential problem was quite relieving. Dr. R left telling us we could see Gabe in about 15 minutes.

Well about 15 minutes later Matt went off for a little walk, heard Gabe crying and went back to the room himself. Shortly after a nurse came and got me and I walked back to Gabriel's recovery room while hearing the most heart wrenching sound ever. Evidently Gabe woke up before they came to get us and the nurse picked him up and tried to help him. We obviously didn't make it clear enough that he would not do well if he didn't see us right when he woke up (I thought we had) and Gabe woke up alone and scared, without his Mama and Daddy. Seeing him cry, sob and cling to us in confusion for an hour broke my heart. Eventually his sobs subsided, he had a couple of sips of water and milk and we were on our way home.

Matt navigated the icy roads and we were soon at home. And while Gabe was a bit fussier and more clingy than usual, he was still quite happy. Especially when he was finally able to have some breakfast!

It's pretty remarkable to see both of his blue eyes. Although in this picture his left eye is a little scrunched up from trying to cheese it up for his picture!

Gabe's resiliency astounds me and although he fights the 2 different types of eye ointments that have to be applied 7 times a day, he is soldiering through and in the back room playing with his Daddy right now!

Thanks for all your prayers for our boy!

Just a few cute pictures of Gabe doing what he does best... playing!!!