Grandma Kay's Visit

This week we had a special treat... Grandma Kay came to town (all the way from Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso)!

Our disappointment was that Victor was still potentially contagious with his RSV for another week, so we couldn't share the time with Nathan and Laura's crew (especially with little Caleb)... but we still had such a great time with Grandma!

Saturday we met her at the airport and got to spend the morning and early afternoon with her.  We showed her our cups and blocks and favorite books.  Then she and Ben headed up to Nathan and Laura's for dinner.

Sunday Grandma Kay came to the South Site for church, so we got to introduce her to a couple friends and share that part of our life.  Then she came and joined us for vegetable soup for supper.

Ben started feeling sick Sunday afternoon and ended up throwing up that night, so he hunkered down at home on Monday.  It was a really snowy day, so it was a good one for everyone to stay put.

Tuesday, Victor and I got to meet Grandma Kay at Ikea for lunch, and we had lots of fun exploring and playing with toys there.  Then Grandma Kay joined us again for supper!  We had a little "Christmas," with some African attire for the whole family (Victor and Baby Brother got some terrific new bibs).

We had chicken and beans and dinner rolls (which Victor helped make) and then enjoyed a little angel food cake with berry sauce.  Victor thought that we should sing Happy Birthday, so we decided it was time to celebrate Grandma Kay's birthday, since she isn't normally here for a party.

It was really sweet to have bathtime and bedtime with Grandma.

On Wednesday, Grandma Kay had a terrific adventure with the other Katterson clan at Good Times Park.

Thursday turned into a winter storm day, so we hunkered down again.

Friday was Grandma Kay's last day here, so Victor and I headed to the Mall of America to meet her for lunch.  The roads were really still quite treacherous, so we were glad it wasn't too far.  Just after we met Grandma Kay, we found out that Nathan and Laura and the crew wanted an outing, so they were headed down to join us!  It was great enjoying a lunch in the food court together before we headed home for Victor's nap.

Since he was doing so much better and not coughing too much, we thought we'd see if everyone wanted to come to our place for dinner.  The drive wasn't pleasant, but what a special treat it was to have everyone together for the last night!

[Cooking Note: Yes, you can cook a frozen ham.  However, if you decide to do so, it is extremely unwise to add a cup of water to the glass dish after it has been in the oven for 10 min.  No more Pyrex 9x13...]

Thanks to our upstairs neighbor's available oven (and a nice nonstick aluminum pan to move the ham to), we were still able to eat.

And read books, play with toys, look at pictures, and enjoy a very lovely family night together!

Didn't think about taking the "grandma with grandkids" picture until Victor was already in bed...

 

This morning Grandma Kay headed off early, and Victor has been asking about her many times through the day.  We will miss her, but we're so thankful for this good visit and pray it won't be too long before the next one!

Kind of Catching Up

I've gotten so far behind I have begun subtly procrastinating about ever catching up on here.

But, here is a little window, so I'll try a bit anyway.

Back at the last weekend of January, Grammy and Grandad came up for a short but fabulous celebration of Victor's birthday.

At last, he even got birthday cupcakes!

He loves his new book, truck, cars, backpack, and letter cards from Grammy and Grandad and the fun blocks from Uncle Brian and Auntie Betsy.

We enjoyed supper at Pizza Ranch and played and played with Grammy and Grandad most of the rest of the time.  It was less than 24 hours, but it was wonderful to see them!

The next week (last week of January) was rough.  Victor was sick, and I started getting pukish again (at 32 weeks) in the evenings, Ben was totally swamped with school and work responsibilities, and my "go-to" help for Victor were all gone, sick, or busy.  Friday Ben headed off for a weekend retreat with the young adults, and I was really hanging on to hope with my fingernails that it was going to go okay.

But, God showed Himself faithful again, and I didn't puke while I was on "lone ranger" duty.  It was a hard weekend.  But we had what we needed, grace for the day.

The next week was just a beautiful gift of healthy people all at home together.  And then Saturday night Victor started coughing.  That was the start of a horrible stretch, kind of (to me) a throwback to last April when he ended up in the ER.  He was okay when he was up and around, but lying down for naps or nighttime he would just cough and cough and cough.  I would hold him in the lazyboy for long stretches, which helped him somewhat, but it felt like a test of endurance that I wasn't sure I could win.

We found he had RSV, and we got some extra meds for the cough, but he still couldn't sleep as it transitioned to more head cold symptoms, with lots of phlegm and mucus choking him when he laid down. 

But the real evidence of grace to me in the whole grueling affair was that my heart was in a far better place than when we walked through the same kind of thing last year.  There was a little more grit to trust that God was for us and not ignoring us, that He would supply our needs, that He had something good for us in the middle of the struggle.  And He did meet our needs.

The most amazing gift was having Dad drive Mom up on Wednesday afternoon (he stayed and chatted for 10 minutes and then headed back on the road to get to meetings back in Iowa that afternoon and evening).  Grammy, amazing as she always is, was the very best medicine for us all!  Victor was so delighted to have someone (besides an exhausted Mom) to play with, and she shooed me off to take naps whenever I didn't have to do something else. 

On Friday, Grandad drove up again to retrieve Grammy, and by that time we were definitely coping better, albeit Victor still didn't sleep great for another day or two. 

Saturday morning, Grandma K came to town!  The great disappointment was having Victor still contagious, so we aren't able to spend time all together with the other Kattersons (especially with their baby Caleb).  But we're having special times nonetheless and enjoying this rare treat of time with Ben's mom.

Well, in rambling fashion, I think that's the big stuff.  Here we are in the middle of February, and heading down the home stretch til Baby Brother makes his appearance.

Praying and praying that God will give us all a strong, healthful month so we are ready to welcome him in our peak condition.