Steven Curtis Chapman, "All I Want for Christmas"

Tonsillectomy

Waiting to be called to surgery . . .

Ahn-Bao had the next step in his palate repair today when he had his tonsils and some adenoidal tissue surgically removed. This is necessary to make space for a later palate lengthening procedure. He is such a great patient and since this is his third surgery in 9 months, many of the nurses are remembering him, and most remember his book.

His ENT surgeon discovered that one of his ear tubes had become dislodged and he had suffered a tear in his eardrum. She "patched" the eardrum and she will look at it again in a few weeks and he'll have his hearing tested to see whether he has any new impairment.

Ahn-Bao was such a model patient. He was pretty owly and confused when he woke up in the recovery room, but once he got pain meds, he's been very mellow all day since then. We will stay overnight in the hospital tonight and will probably be home tomorrow late morning.

While Mom and Ahn-Bao were at Saint Marys Hospital (or as Ahn-Bao says, "May-Mare-Mee") early in the morning, Dad and Kia took Yasmin and Elias to school (a little late due to a late night of TaeKwonDo last night) and then Kia and Dad got donuts at Kwik Trip. Kia was very proud to say that she ate her donut, "IN THE VAN," a special treat.

Away in a Manger

Yasmin and Elias participated in the manger scene "chorus" at the People of Hope Christmas pageant on Sunday the 14th. They practiced and got costumed on Saturday and were ready to sing on Sunday morning.

Kia participated in the 3-year old preschool program on Monday night, December 15. Zejna, Ahn-Bao and Mommy were sitting proudly in the audience to watch.

Yasmin's Board Breaking

Our family had our first experience with multiple kid events on one night, and one had to be sacrificed. On Monday night, Kia had her preschool Christmas program, Elias had wrestling practice, and Yasmin had TaeKwonDo belt testing. There are only two adults in this family, so one event had to be sacrificed and this time it was Elias' wrestling. Kia was absolutely fabulous on the stage at her program. Elias was just fine with playing at the RAC while Yasmin was tested for her red belt.

Yasmin had worked really hard to get ready for testing this time and we were so proud of her effort. But the Board-breaking is always an unknown, even for very advanced students. But she did it and got her red belt! And she has her designs set on a black belt!

The Ultimate Snow Ramp

The weather turned just a little warmer yesterday and today (mid-30's) so it was an opportunity to build the ultimate snow ramp. Bob and Yasmin and Elias spent almost 4 hours on Saturday and our friend, Chris joined after church on Sunday to get the ramp ready for the deep freeze which blew in on Sunday afternoon. Now we just need a new blanket of white stuff to make it the perfect jumping off point for sledding down to the neighbor's driveway.

The Hubert Elves

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Wrestling Action

Elias started his second season of wrestling action last week. This along with Yasmin's need for TaeKwonDo sparring practice has resulted in a very violent household.

Elias is in the center of the wrestling mat in the green shirt. And Kia maintains her position as pound-for-pound, the fiercest Hubert of them all!

Snow Fun!

Two snow bunnies . . .

Ahn-Bao Update

Ahn-Bao experienced his first Christmas program at his preschool last week. He followed directions and took his place on the stage very dutifully, but it had to be very confusing for him to be experiencing such an odd phenomenon for the first time for such a fresh little mind! Ahn-Bao is scheduled for surgery on Tuesday, December 16 to have his tonsils and possibly adenoids removed. This has become necessary to prepare for his next palate re-repair and expansion which will likely be in January. The palate repair this time will be a pharyngeal-flap procedure (wikipedia has an explanation of the procedure at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pharyngeal_flap_surgery) to expand what his plastic surgeon says is a too-short palate. While he is under anesthesia for the tonsils they will also clean out his ears and check to make sure that the tubes that were surgically placed in April are still in place. The ENT surgeon expects to schedule his surgery for early in the morning and keep him overnight in the hospital just one night.

If all goes well for both procedures, this should help him be ready to learn to make more of the consonant sounds that he is now lacking. He is getting speech therapy through the school district every couple of weeks and we're working on homework in-between. He's very motivated and talks up a storm, but requires a family translater (often one of the other kids) to be understood. We are very hopeful that once the anatomy is repaired, that he can really have a chance to be more understood. It would be such a joy to hear the independent thoughts, feelings and observations that he trys so hard to express.

Ahn-Bao will also have an ultrasound of his kidneys on December 12. This is a precautionary measure to make sure his kidneys are not compromised by the melamine contamination of milk in China over the past few years. It has just been coming to light recently and it's likely that Ahn-Bao would have had some exposure. He's already had clear laboratory tests so the ultrasound is just to put his parents minds at ease.

Get Out the Vote!

The Hubert Family all joined in the "Get Out the Vote" campaign on election night tonight. Our polling place, Autumn Ridge Church had special ballots to allow the kids to vote too. Everyone got an, "I Voted" sticker (you can see Yasmin wearing hers on her cheek). You'll have to ask them how they voted and what they think of the results as they roll in.

The Cousin's Halloween Costumes!

Cousins Bailey, Caden, Connor and Olivia shared photos from a distance of their Halloween attire which we have taken the liberty of sharing with all of you!

Olivia is a Ducky!

Bailey is a vampire, Connor is Spiderman, Caden is a knight in “shining” armor, and Lisa is tired.

Halloween Traditions!

Our 10 year tradition for Halloween is to trick-or-treat in our good friend, Zejna's neighborhood. Since the very first holiday, when our Bosnian friends were experiencing it for the first time, this neighborhood is just the best for friendly, welcoming Halloween families. I can still remember Samir flabbergasted by the concept . . . "Let me get this straight, you walk up to the door, you ring the bell, say, 'Trick-or-Treat' and they give you candy?!" It really is a wonderful, uniquely American tradition and one which we will be doing for lots more years.

We always park at the Elementary School at the bottom of the street, hit all the houses with lights on the North side of the street on the way up the block-and-a-half to Zejna's house. We must always get early instructions from Bob: "Stay on the sidewalk and don't cut through the yard." "Only go to houses where the lights are on." And, "Don't forget to say, 'Thank You' loud enough for Dad to hear you at the sidewalk" Kia added a, "Happy Halloween" to her, "Thank You," which was a nice touch.

When we get to Zejna's, she always genuinely admires each and every costume and gives the kids too much candy and lots of hugs and kisses. We then make our way back to the school via the South side of the Street. Most years, when Halloween falls on school night, its hurried back home to put kids to bed. This year, with Halloween on Friday, we were able to visit a few special neighbors in our own neighborhood.

A fun time was had by all!

The Burning Bush Keeps Growing!

There is a burning bush in our backyard that turns a beautiful red in the Fall each year. It has now become a family tradition to take a photo of the family as it has grown in front of the bush when it hits its peak of color, usually in September or October of each year. We have attempted this year's photo a number of times to try to get all four kids, in the camera frame, looking at the camera and not crying or pouting and you can see our attempts from this year below.

You can look back over the years at how this special bush has really grown.