The Happy Halloween that almost wasn't.

The last couple weeks has been a little crazy... let's begin with the wee hours of Halloween. Adam woke up in extreme pain in his abdomen. He's had the pain a few times before and even had a doctor's appoint. scheduled to talk about it with his physician but there was no way he could wait until afternoon. We put the girls in the car with their jammies still on and drove Adam to the ER. Once his blood was taken and he was given a IV full of morphine, they told us they suspected the cause of the pain was his gallbladder and he'd need surgery that day. We had to wait for a few more test to be done before we'd know for sure. I took that opportunity to take the girls home and get them bathed, dressed, fed and off to the neighbors (which I miraculously managed in one hour!) Adam and I spent the rest of the day in the ER waiting to talk with the doctor while a couple of wonderful friends took turns watching our girls. In the end, we got to come home from the hospital with a dr's appoint. scheduled the following morning to make arrangements for surgery to have his gallbladder removed. We picked the girls up at 4:30pm and I got them ready just in time to head to the church for the chili cook-off and trunk-or-treat. The girls had SO much fun there and trick-or-treating around our neighborhood. They walked into every house we stopped at and I had to excuse myself and go in and get them. I guess the concept of waiting at the door for a treat is a little odd. When we got home, the girls dumped out their bags and loaded up a bowl to hand out their treats to everyone who rang our doorbell. Actually, even to those who didn't, Lexi was so excited to pass out candy that she chased a few kids down the street hollering "I have candy for you!" What a fun night it turned out to be. We never did get to carve our pumpkins, but the girls did draw some pictures on them and our sweet friends helped them make halloween cards and do other fun activities to make the day fun for them while we were at the hospital. The next few days were spent going from doctor, to surgeon, to hospital pre-op and finally surgery on Saturday. Again we had great neighbors who spent the day with the girls and more who brought dinner the next couple nights. This last week has been spent helping Adam through his recovery and we've enjoyed his company at home while he did so. This is how people survive without being near family; with a great ward to look after us. We had a blessing for Adam and many, many calls of concern. How grateful we are for the help we received. Life is meant to be shared ...in good times and bad.