Update from Houston

Good news! The open heart valve replacement surgery my dad had yesterday went well. He stayed in the cardiac ICU overnight, but was moved to the regular cardiac recovery floor this afternoon after they removed his central line, chest tube, and catheter. He is doing well and has been up moving around some on his own. He should be in the hospital about another week. Thanks for all your prayers.

Lee

Happy New Year!

We didn't do anything for New Years because Amy worked New Years Eve. I hope everyone had a great New Years.

By the way, can everyone please pray for my dad over the next few weeks. He is having open heart aortic valve replacement surgery on Tuesday. There aren't any blockages, so there wasn't any crazy emergency situations, but it is a big time surgery.

Thanks
Lee

Gaylord Texan Ice Exhibit

So, Amy and I had to come back to Dallas from Belton on Friday after Christmas because we had to pick up the dogs from the boarding place. Luke stayed in Belton with Mimi and Poppy since we would see them the next day in Cranfills Gap. Because of this, we had a baby free night out in Dallas. We went to dinner, which was much more relaxing without Luke, as much as we love being with him. After dinner, we headed to Grapevine to go see the Ice exhibit at the Gaylord Texan. This place was pretty cool. They keep the temperature at 9 degrees Fahrenheit to keep the ice from melting. Most of the structures in there are completely made of ice. The sculptures were impressive and they had an ice slide as part of Santa's sleigh with reindeer that we slid down. There was also some Coke bears, a house, and a nativity scene. I think we waited in line longer than we were inside. Anyway, we had a nice time there. After we got done, some friends from my EMBA class met us over there at a restaurant in the Gaylord to hang out a little. We had a nice night that reminded us of how things were before Luke. However, we wouldn't change anything that's happened since and we couldn't wait to see Luke the next afternoon.

Luke's First Christmas

We spent Christmas in Belton with Amy's family. Luke had a great time with his cousins Jacob and Madeline. He spent a lot of time playing with Jacob, as you can see in the picture. Luke didn't really know what was going on, but had a good time anyway. He was the only one opening presents at the time because he napped through the opening time for the rest of the family. We'd get the unwrapping started and then he'd help finish tearing the paper off. He'd get so excited when he got the toys that have parts you can demo. He would push buttons or look in a mirror and get so excited about his new toy. Then, it was time to open the next gift. So, we took the newly opened one away so he could focus on the new one, and he would throw a fit that we took his toy away. The fit lasted a few seconds until he realized that another great toy was inside the new box. This process was repeated over and over as we went through his gifts. It was pretty laughable. Eventually, we got through all the gifts and gave him access to everything. He enjoyed checking out his new toys more closely.

Saturday, we all headed out to Cranfills Gap to do Christmas with the rest of Amy's family at her aunt and uncle's house. We had lots of fun there too. There was no shortage of things for Luke to play with since there were 4 babies under a year old there. It was a good time with family to wrap up the week.

Graduation!

So, we're a little behind on posts here. A lot has happened since the last post. First of all, Lee graduated from his Executive MBA program on December 14, finally. We're so glad to be done with this 15 month program and hope it will help Lee find a great job in this tough job market.