Christmas comes, leaves RSV in stocking

Well, we've got a lot to talk about so set your DVR, grab your favorite snack and saddle in for the end of the year Christmas update hosted by A Christmas Carol's ghosts of Christmas Past, Present and Future.

Ghost of Christmas Past:

Where to begin, where to begin. First off, if you haven't seen Jakob's latest movie, its been uploaded to his YouTube Channel at www.youtube.com/watch?v=e7M48Vn4MGY. We had a great time at our Christmas Eve service at Vineyard, and each service was packed with people. We passed the Christ candle at the end of the service and lit our individual candles with the house lights down. It was very moving to see all the lights as we sang "Silent Night" and "O Holy Night." After the service, we went to Marc's parents' house to spend the rest of the evening with Marc's parents' (duh) and his brother Nic and Nic's wife Lindsey. While Jakob is still too young to fully grasp the idea of opening presents, it was fun to get him interested in the concept. Later, we came home. put Jakob to bed (because Santa's watching!) and exchanged gifts by the fireplace. We reread the Christmas story from Luke and just enjoyed the evening.

The next morning, we woke Jakob up and filmed his first Christmas. We had breakfast together and opened his presents with him. Later, Marc's parents came over and spent the afternoon with Jakob while we went to see "Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem" and "Sweeney Todd."

The rest of the week was spent hanging out with Jakob and getting Kim's SUV ready to go into the shop. A few weeks ago, someone hit her vehicle in the parking lot of one of the local department stores and decided to spread some Christmas cheer by not sticking around to provide their insurance information. Merry Christmas guys, have fun paying your deductible, right? So, it went into the shop and we received a Dodge Avenger to tool around in until its ready this week.

Last weekend, we headed up to Iowa to spend time with Kim's family and the day we were leaving we noticed Jakob was slightly wheezing. We figured he was still just not completely over his cold and proceeded on to Kim's parents' house. The weekend was fun as we got to see a lot of Kim's relatives, including Jakob's great grandmas, and he progressively became more ill and was up most of both Friday and Saturday nights. We came home early Sunday and tried to soothe him as best as we could, but he had a tough night that night too.

We made an appointment with his doctor first thing Monday morning and after an examination, breathing treatment and chest x-ray, it was determined Jakob has RSV or Respiratory Syncytial Virus (www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dvrd/revb/respiratory/rsvfeat.htm). Obviously, this is especially hard on him because he has no idea why he feels the way he does or how to tell us what hurts and on us because soothing him is difficult. He takes a breathing treatment every six hours (sometimes every three) and we're hoping he begins to show improvement. We especially excited because treating this is not cheap at all so Kim's flex plan is about to get a workout. (See photo below of Jakob's first at home treatment.)

We were scheduled to have our small group over for the main course portion of a New Year's progressive dinner; however, we ended up making the meal and delivering it to another house so we could tend to Jakob. Marc went to the final house to make an appearance and give an update about Jakob and then came home to watch the ball drop and usher in the new year with Kim over a glass of champagne. We looked back on 2007 and reflected on what a whirlwind it was and how we can move forward in 2008 learning from mistakes and capitalizing on successes.

Ghost of Christmas Present:

Today marks the official end of Marc's vacation and he will be back to work tomorrow. Exciting! We spent the day taking care of Jakob, shoe shopping, getting the house in order (as best we could) and taking in the Sci Fi Channel's full day of Twilight Zone marathon.

Ghost of Christmas Future (a.k.a. "Yet to Come"):

Tomorrow, Kim will take Jakob in for a follow up examination and hope that he's gotten better and not worse. We're afraid that since he's not eating regularly that the doctor might choose to put him in the hospital. While that's not ideal, with Kim being off this week still from school, she's able to take care of him at home without having to spend vacation days.

We're hoping he gets well soon as Marc heads to Chicago next weekend and Orlando the following weekend for two work events. While he's looking forward to seeing his friend Jeff in Chicago and the warm weather in Orlando, he's not looking forward to being away so much in one month. Weather permitting, Kim's mother will be coming for a visit while Marc is in Orlando.

We hope this post finds you all with good memories of the recent Christmas season and on your way to an amazing new year. This year we celebrate 10 years of marriage and are looking forward to the great things God has planned for us, our family and our friends. As always, thanks for visiting. Knowing we have support not just for us, but for this amazing little boy in our lives means so much.

More soon.