Wonderful Weekends!

I'm not even sure you'll believe how incredible our weekend was.  It's going to sound like we have a lot of friends that are nurses - this is not true.  The ones we do have, though, are simply fantastic and have been too kind to our family.

On Friday night, we were blessed with a nurse that came to watch Hope AND Sadie.  I'm not sure she realized what she was in for when she offered to take them both on her own.  She was still alive when we got home, but she sure did look tired and happy to have Sadie off in bed!  Shawn and I went downtown to the park and watched 'Shakespeare in the Park'.  We had always wanted to go, but never got around to it each summer.  We had an incredible time and felt like we were dating again, sitting on our blanket to watch the play and then walking around the park and eating ice cream when it finished.  Then, to top off our night...we had our lovely night nurse and got to sleep through the night!

On Saturday another nurse friend offered to come and watch the girls so we could go see a movie.  How can you turn down an offer like that?  We put Sadie to bed a bit early, handed over Hope's care and went to see the new Batman movie.  I felt eerie as we left the theatre and I thought about all the people who went to see the same movie in Colorado and never left.  I can't imagine the pain their families are going through and I do pray for them. (side note) After the movie we came back to the house and continued to talk about our weekend with two date nights!

On Sunday morning we had our Friday date night nurse back and we were able to take Sadie to church.  In the afternoon I was able to sneak away for a pedicure with a friend while Shawn and his parents managed the girls.  They even put together the new toy shelf and started some redecorating in the basement.  We also had our lovely night nurse back that evening.  Two nights of incredible sleep and two dates, I can't imagine a more lovely weekend!  Hope was so happy on Sunday and was all smiles for us.  It was a great time as a family and we truly cherish the time we get to spend together.

Today I took Hope for an audiology appointment at the hospital.  I am very happy to tell you that her hearing was perfect.  They didn't see any problems with it and her brain registered all the sounds exactly as it should.  We celebrate these victories as they come and know that there could be so many challenges in this journey that we have been spared from experiencing.

Tomorrow my sister and her kids arrive in Calgary to spend a few days with us.  I'm really excited for Sadie to have the company of her cousins and the luxury of going on adventures with them.  I know that I'll have to miss a lot of fun as Hope won't be able to go along, but I'll be happy to know that Sadie will be all smiles!  Please pray that everyone stays healthy, as I would hate for our visit to be cut short because someone gets sick and has to be isolated from Hope.  Pray also for some sunshine this weekend.  I always enjoy nice weather, but this weekend is Sadie's birthday party.  We wanted to have some people over to celebrate Sadie's birthday, but won't be able to have too many people in the house with Hope.  So, we've hired a nurse to be in the house with Hope and are hoping to have Sadie's party in the backyard.  If it rains, I'll have to cancel the party and rebook everything.  Please pray that it all works out and we can celebrate Sadie and the fact that she's TWO!

I also wanted to publicly thank everyone that made such an awesome weekend possible.  I walked around on cloud 9 and was amazed at how blessed we truly are.  The kindness of others has made me speechless at times  That's a big statement from a woman with a lot of words!  God has been so good to us and we believe that although this journey with Hope can be really tough, we do get breaks from the craziness.  During those breaks, we are reminded that God is looking out for us and is taking care of everything.