News you can use...maybe

Hello again. Thanks for taking the time to check in on us. Yesterday, Avery had one of her best days (probably THE best day) since the first surgery. She had actually slept fairly decent the night before (I actually got 5 hours of straight sleep). I woke up at one point, about 4 hours into may sleep, and was so shocked at the time I saw when I looked at my watcht that I literaly was checking her to make sure she was breathing...it was that unusual for her, as of late, to sleep that lone without crying out at all. Even after she woke up at about 6:30 AM, she really did not scream and arch all that much during the day yesterday, and no more than maybe once for any length of time. When my friend Kristin Shaw called to see what time I would like her to come over to give me a nap break, I actually got to say that I didn't think I would need one...that I felt pretty rested and that Avery was doing pretty well so far! She and Eli still came over to visit and help me out by watching Avery while I did some things around the house. She was so shocked as well by how well Avery was doing. We even actually felt comfortable taking her with us to the 20s and 30s group meeting at church. She really did great while we were there. It was so nice...and we started to think maybe we had finally turned a corner. But, alas, today was back to not-so-good. I can't explain it. I do not know why she had such a good day yesterday to then turn around and have such a bad day today. We changed nothing today! I guess we will see what tomorrow brings...one day at a time right now (and one hour at a time when a whole day seems to long). We (Avery and I) did have a great visit today with cousins Tara and Kristin and Brady (Tara's son). They brought over lunch (Thanks so much ladies!) and visited with us. It was great to see them and catch up on their lives. Kristin is deep into her semester and looking forward to the end of it and the break it will bring. She is excited about getting to study abroad in Australia next fall. Tara is finishing up her teaching degree class requirements and looking at getting the student teaching completed in the spring. It's obvious that she is going to make a great teacher. And Mr. Brady...what a little doll! He had the biggest, sweet smile for us. Babies sure have a way of just making you fall in love with them in an instant. Such a happy little guy, sitting up all by himslef and "army crawling" across our floor. Can't wait to spend more time with them all at Thanksgiving. Thank you all (Tara, Brad, Brady, Sara, Alex, Brenna, and Kristin) so much for the early Christmas gift too. It was so very thoughtful of you all. Jon was just as overwhelmed by it as I was. Really, I wish I could better express what it means to us. We are constantly amazed at the generosity and thoughtfulness of people. Rest assured, we will do something nice for each other. Caiden has a bit of a cold again. I'm not sure where this one came from...but we all know that schools are a great place to spread a lot of germs and it 'tis the season for all that. He got off the bus today and just looked to exhausted walking down the sidewalk to the house. He wouldn't dare admit it of course, even though her was pretty much swaggering the way a drunk would. He played outside for a while with some of the neighbor kids and then came inside wanting hot chocolate (which we obliged him with). We then got online and found the Webkinz site. Dad and Linda had brought him a Webkinz god when they visited last weekend. There things are pretty cool. They come with a code and you sign up to the site and register them by code and next thing you know, you have a virtual pet of sorts (maybe all he will have considering that he appears to be allergic to dogs as well as cats...much like Jon and I are). Anyway, you have to feed the dog, excercise the day, give it shelter, etc. You get so much money at sign-up and then can earn more doing various things on the website. You then use the money to buy food, items for the house and outside (beds, toys, pools, BBQ, etc...all kinds of things), clothes, etc. You then use the food you purchase to feed the dog, the toys and outside environment to excercise the dog, the clothes to dress the pet, etc. These site keeps track of how well you take care of the dog and shows how the dog is doing overall by these little meters on your pets page showing there percetage of healthiness, happiness, and hungriness. If you fail to feed the dog or take care of it, it can fall ill and have to visit the virtual dog clinic. Pretty cool. He seems to like it and so do we. His dog is a Pug he named Nowey. I guess you can interact with other pets on the site if you have friends who have a Webkinz and you invite each other to your site. I think he said one of the neighbor girls behind us on the other side of the alley has one...so maybe we'll get to see what that is all about. By the time we had dinner, he was so tired he could hardly eat. I took him to lay down early and he is sleeping away now. I am exited about a mission project we are doing this weekend. The 20s and 30s group we belong to at church is working with the youth group this Saturday to prepare for and then distribute sandwiches, socks and water to the homeless in Downtown Indy on Saturday. Jon and I are going to participate and we hope to have Caiden involved also. For Jon and I it is a chance to give back just a small portion of the generosity and caring we have received since Avery was born, especially over the past months. Moreover, it is a chance to do something pleasing to God. We want Caiden to participate too for many reasons. One, we want him to see that there are people out there who have very little and that it should make us sad because it makes God sad. Two, we want him to "see" a group of people giving of themselves to help others in need (as so many have helped us) and the difference it makes to those who are receiving as well as to those doing the giving. We so desperately want him to learn very early on the responsibility of giving back and sharing your resources with those who have less, as well as understand and recognize the common humanity of us all...recognizing that as we are all children of God, God is sad to see any of us suffer or do without the basic necessities and so should we be so sad to see this that we are thus moved to action instead of acceptance. What better way to teach him these things than to involve him right in the throws of it. When you are 5, it is so easy to just take things for granted and to assume that all kids have what you have and that all adults have what your parents have. I hope that it has a profound effect on him. Anyway, we are excited about the project, but saddened that there is such a need for projects of this sort. We may only make a small little dent in the problem this weekend, but starting somehwere is what matters. Doing matters, no matter how small the doing. Action is most certainly always better than inaction in such matters. Well, enough of my musings and ramblings on. Hope all of you are doing well. You all are in our prayers daily. Much love, Holly