P.S.

I would just like to add (for the schroer family)...did you notice in the picture below that Fern was reading - she's "so advanced!"

New Fernicus Pics!!!

ok just one picture, blogger is not cooperating with me today.

this is what cari from the agency had to say:

"These were taken last week during our trip. I wish that we had a photo of the grin that she gave us when we put the camera
down, but you will just have to take my word that her smile is contagious!"

A little sigh of relief

Just learned today that our case was re-submitted back into PGN on Feb 14th. Now we wait some more...

Fern's room is finally taking shape after several different coats of paint. It took a few tries to get the right color - and honestly, I still don't think its right, but I'm not painting that room a third time!

Oh..and thank goodness..Jer can finally dress himself and he actually helped cook dinner tonight. He owes me BIG!

The Bees Knees

So I'm back up and running, well not running, in fact not really walking, but if i hang on to my crutches I can "pretend" to walk, hopefully be off the wobbly sticks here in a few days, I can stand on my own and even manage to take a few steps here and there but I don't want to push it, so right now I'm still using the crutches just for safety sake.

I'm a lot more stable, and the rehab is really starting to build up some strength in my leg and around my knee. After the surgery all my muscles basically quit on me, so its a long road back to full recovery, but I'll get there. Biggest news, I actually put on my own shoes yesterday. WOOHOO!!!!!

I had my staples taken out yesterday, how do they do that? Well with a big ole staple remover, pretty much just like that one you have in your desk drawer, but you know its all "medical" so it probably cost around 100 bucks for that thing, man i could've done that myself at home, I did get to see the physical therapist though and he gave me a couple of new exercises to work on, I can already tell that I'm getting more flexibility and strength. So far so good, i've been doing some partial days back at work, and next week I'll be back in full swing.

In my down time on the couch (my new girlfriend, we'll call her Sophia, but she's no threat to Selina) I've been wielding the old pencil and paper, trying some new drawings that will eventually be taken into the computer for manipulation and then output for screen printing on either chipboard or stained wood planks. I think the most positive outcome of all this is that I got to get away from the computer and get back to the basics of drawing. Thousands of dollars of computers and software will never replace pencil and paper, its hands on, brain to hand to pencil to paper. Simplicity at its best, its good to get away from the box every now and then. There's probably enough eraser rubber in our couch now to make a set of tires. Draw, erase, draw, erase.

I'll post up some of the drawings soon.

The other saving grace of couch life is The History Channel, they had a continuous running of a show called The States, all about the 50 states in the Union. It was like an instant trip back to social studies class, man I do love the History Channel. If you haven't seen any of this series, you should watch it, very interesting stuff, but then again I'm a nerd. The series on presidents was really intriguing as well.

Selina has been nothing short of a divine angel for the past week and half, I really don't think I could have done any of this without her help, thus securing her title of "best wife ever" for a lifetime. Anybody that will put up with me on the couch for that long has got to have some kind of angelic gift. Rex has also been a source of utter joy, they say laughter is the best medicine, seeing him chase after that fish has got to be one of the funniest things ever, thanks Dr. Rex. (aka: SHOW CAT!!)


Thats the knews on knees for today, stay tuned and maybe I'll do a little dance for ya'll.

Sharing new pictures...she is getting so big.

The nurse report - day 1

Well folks - Jer made it through the surgery like a champ and is now the new six-million dollar man! (Steve Austin was so hot) Here is a picture of him two hours after surgery. So far he has been a pretty easy going patient - not too much bitching & complaining. Although the smart ass did say when I first got him into bed, that maybe it would be a good idea if I got him a bell so he could "ring" for me when my services were needed! NOT.



BTW..while I'm here writing - update from Guatemala..things are finally moving along and I think some cases have been able to register with the new Central Authority and have actually been re-submitted back to PGN.


pps. Jon & Kate: I haven't had time to investigate..but there is a for sale sign in front of your old house - WTF???

meet rex

meet rex. click rex he gets larger.

THE KNEWS ON KNEES

OK, so no i don't think I'm 12 again, lord knows I really don't think I'd like to be 12 again. I fully realize that I'm 34 years old. This doesn't change the fact that I do really love skating and a busted knee isn't going to change that. 

So all those folks out there rolling there eyes and saying "He should really grow up" well, I am a grown up. I have a wonderful wife, a good job, a house, and a beautiful little girl on the way. However I do like to roll around on this so called "useless wooden toy". Skating gets me off my fat butt and makes me sweat a little bit, is that really all that bad? Just cause I nearly cut off a finger back in the day doesn't mean that I'm never going to cook again. 

Its hard to describe the feeling I get from skating, granted I know there are things that I will NEVER do on a skateboard, but the feeling of just going fast and defying gravity for that split second is pure bliss. All the problems of the world melt away, when I leave the skate park I always have a smile on my face and day to day stress just doesn't seem as problematic. I can't say the same thing about the "relaxing" sports like golf, thats so frustrating it makes me want to smash little white balls into oblivion, how anyone can get relaxation from that is beyond my comprehension.

I'm actually surprised that this whole knee thing happens now, I spent over ten years of my life slippin and slidin all over those kitchen floors, pivoting back and forth from the ticket line, to the grill, to the saute' line. Run, stop, pivot, kneel, stand up, stand on one foot, stand on one toe, reach, grab, slip, fall, get back up and do it all over again.

Life is all about risk. If you fall off that horse, well you better dust yourself off and get your ass back up there. Otherwise you live in fear of that horse, and you may never take that risk again. If you don't take that risk, will you take ANY risks? Or will you dig a safe hole and hunker down? Doesn't sound like any kind of life to me. If you're not feeling a little pain every now and then, well then you're not living.

Speaking of pain, well I think I'm about to go through quite a bit of it, basically they're going to drill a hole in my knee, and rethread it with a piece of my patella. I've had a ton of help from my friends Ross and Scott, both of which have had this done within the past month, and they've both been great sources of information. With their help I think I'm going into this pretty well prepared. Thanks guys.

I'm just happy that I have someone there to help me out in my down time, to give me support. Honestly I think i would be scared out of my mind if it weren't for Selina. I know a lot of wives would have already had a big skateboard bon fire in the backyard. 

Thank you Selina for being the best wife ever. 

Updates

howdy folks..

so we are still waiting to get registered with the new Central Authority - at least things seem to be slowly moving in the right direction. Below is a link to a news article about guatemalan adoptions - finally the media tells it like it is.
click here
Next Tuesday - I get to drive Jer to the hospital at 5:45am and then for three days be his nurse maid. He's going in for knee surgery. Somebody thinks he's still 12 years old riding around on that skateboard!

Thanks for checking in...