Dilemmas

Tonight Dave and I sit on the phone going back and forth trying to figure out some type of plan for the upcoming holiday. We go back and forth about flights, work schedules, money, and the like. It truly is one of the hardest things we have to work out. When and where and how will our family be spending the holiday. When and where and how will we pull it off and make it happen so that our children's holiday memories aren't centered around a hospital bed in Omaha, Nebraska. After days of discussion and hours on the phone tonight we still remain without a definite plan. We have no idea who is going where and how they are getting there. How many flights we will need and how we will be able to stretch the money that it takes to make all of those flights. Dave desperately wants to come this weekend and I would love to see him, but is it foolish to spend money on this flight when we have the holiday approaching and know we are going to have to purchase several of them? Ugh! I truly think we will have to stop celebrating Thanksgiving. It just doesn't work out for us anymore. Dave talked with Allison tonight about the possibility of being in Omaha for Thanksgiving and eating frozen burritos for dinner and she said, "Hmmm, I kinda like frozen burritos. I really don't even like that fancy thanksgiving chicken and stuff we always have. I do like the stuffing, but thats about all. Thanksgiving food doesn't taste that good to me anyway." Nice to know that after feeding it to her for the last 10 years! She doesn't even like "fancy thanksgiving chickens". That part really cracks me up.

How I wish we didn't seem to have this dilemma. Four years in a row is really a little much if you ask me. Problem is that nobody did ask me so my vote doesn't count. This is the situation we are in and we are trying to figure out how to make the best of it. The kids will be out of school for 10 days. Dave will be working and we will have no one available to stay with them during the day. We need to figure out how to get them here to us for a couple of days(since it will have been 7 weeks since I laid eyes on them) and also how to get them to OKC for the rest of their vacation days. We continue to throw this date and that date around and this scenario and that in an attempt to figure it all out. So far we have both just become frustrated with the whole thing and have made no decisions.

My hope and my prayer would be that Ash and I be home for the holiday. Perhaps even be transferred closer to home for the holiday. That would make this a lot easier. I dare not plan on that happening for fear of the hurt I will feel if it actually doesn't take place.

How wonderful it would be if Ashley Kate is truly healing. If her bowel is recovering and is healing I type. She had her best day of the last several today. She did not seem uncomfortable at any time and we spent the majority of the day on the rug. She sat in her chair and "played" for quite a while. I am truly grateful for the change in her. She is feeling much better than she had over the last couple of weeks. I still struggle to find our baby gherkin, but I know she is inside of there. I think she almost smiled today as she began to pull tissue paper out of a gift she was brought by visitors this afternoon. We were so grateful to meet them and to know of "fellow" Texans residing here at the transplant center.

It's been a good day. I am very tired for some reason and look forward to resting tonight. Ash is almost asleep and I think she may sleep through the night. She refused to nap this afternoon and is now paying the price for giving it up. I love this sweet girl and I would love nothing more than to see her eyes light back up. Perhaps if her daddy does decided to fly in this weekend we may see some of that sparkle we are missing so much. As the days of our hospital stay continue to add up we are quickly approaching the 1 month mark. I can't believe it has been almost a month since I have seen the children. I am missing them so very much tonight.