7:55am Update .....

Chandler went in to surgery right at 7:30am. We arrived here at 6:00am and she was a little anxious waiting in the pre-op room, so they gave her a little drink that helped her get over that pretty quickly. :-) I asked if I could have one too. The nurse wasn't amused.

We should get an update every hour or so. Will post again as soon as I do.

Thanks everyone for your thoughts and your prayers.

Chandler's Surgery....

Here we are ... less than 24 hours pre-surgery for Chandler. She will be going in for back surgery at 7:30am tomorrow morning, Wednesday, July 7th at Egleston.

Quick, nutshell version that got us here: Oddly enough, we discovered that she had scoliosis 2 years ago this month. I believe the night time bracing since October 2008, the physical therapy and her active, athletic life-style helped hold the top curve of 39 degrees and bottom curve of 25 degrees. We also went in for dr's visits to get updated xrays every 6 months. Everything had held, and there were no changes on the xrays until the last 6 month check up in May, at which time we found the top curve had progressed to 60 degrees and the bottom curve to 46. With this progressive scoliosis, we really were only left with only one choice ... to have corrective surgery.

Dr. Timothy Oswald and his world-class team of dr's and nurses will be performing her surgery. For them tomorrow, I pray for clear minds and steady hands as they take on this monumental task! The surgery will take approx 4 hours. She will then move into recovery and then into a room. The first 24 hours, she will be groggy at best. They don't want her to really remember much, if anything, about that first day. Soon after the 24 hour post-surgery mark, they will have her up to take a few steps!

Chandler makes no bones about the fact that she has a strong desire to be back on the basketball court, kicking the soccer ball, and running cross country and track when she is able. The dr told her that as long as she abides by his guidelines, she will get there. Albeit a "new normal" when she does ... she will get there. And I'm pretty sure she will have the best posture of all. :-)

I am thankful that we don't have to shoulder this burden alone. We have made peace with the decision / situation, we're trusting God's plan, and now we're moving on to the next step. As difficult as the idea is to imagine, I know that God loves Chandler even more than I do and I know that he is going to take good care of her. He has a plan for her and this is part of it.

We have challenging days ahead and we covet your prayers.

My Pleasure....

Have you been to Chic-Fil-A lately? Whether recently or if it's been a while, I'm sure that you've noticed a difference in the way you are greeted, responded to, etc. at CFA as opposed to some other restaurants. (I'm not knocking any other restaurants, just sayin'.) Our family has always talked about the "my pleasure" response and how good it feels to hear that as opposed to "no problem" or "sure", for example. Well .... Austin Bragg officially began employment with CFA in Commerce earlier this month. He almost can't help himself at home or when he's out and uses the "my pleasure" response. We sort of like that. :-) Not that he wasn't already a polite young man - that, his good looks (hehe) and great personality apparently helped land him the job. Grown up world reality is setting in little by little for our 18 year old. (fist pump and yes!!) The value of dollar has gone up significantly in his mind. He's really good at dealing with people and enjoys (for the most part) his dealings with the public.

There is one other part to this story. When Austin was 5 or 6, he had this joke that he would tell and seriously, I can't even remember it, but the punch line was "you want a chicken sandwich?". It wasn't just saying the words, it was the accent and delivery of the punch line. He would laugh, we would laugh and once he even recorded himself saying the punch line on one of those small hand-held recorders. Would it surprise you to know that I still have the tape with his cute little voice on it? Anyway, after he started work at CFA, we told him that when he graduated to cashier, he should ask his customers "you want a chicken sandwich?" (I realize that might be a location - "you had to be there" kind of joke. Sorry.)

Anyway ... If you get by the Chic-Fil-A in Commerce and you want a chicken sandwich, be sure to look Austin up. :-)

Been A Long Time ....

So, it seems like it was just yesterday that I wrote that last blog and when I looked at the date of it today .... it was back in January!!! My how time flies!! I have so many updates and I'll get right on that tomorrow. Ha. Just kidding. Couple of quick updates I'll do for now:

1) we have a high school graduate (yay) and an 8th grader (drama). School was out on May 21st and we're all enjoying not having a hectic schedule for now, and

2) Andy started a new job. He's back at Dawson Associates where he is Vice President. He is very happy with the move and we're happy for him to be back home and off the road.

More later!!

WANTED....

This picture was taken in Gatlinburg in April 2005. I had decided I wanted to use it as our Christmas card picture that year. Thought it would be cute and different. I had mentioned this and my plan to stick the pic in a store bought Christmas card, to a friend. A few days later I received a call that helped me come up with DIY Christmas cards that year. Amy Anderson gets credit for the witty verbage, I did the rest. :-)

The Bragg Family: WANTED ..... (front of the card)

....to wish you a Merry Christmas!! (inside of the card)

...(back of the card)

I uploaded the digital picture to Walgreen's online photo center, ordered lots of copies, and had them delivered to my house (it's cheaper that way). I then created the card in Publisher (love that program and I don't even have the latest and greatest version!!). Purchased beige cardstock and printed the cards at home. I also purchased greeting card envelopes at the local supply store (pull & seal, of course).

We received lots of comments on our Christmas cards that year.

Boy Jesus....

This memory pops into my mind randomly throughout the year, but at Christmastime, I think of it often.

In December 1995, Austin was asked to play boy Jesus in our church Christmas musical. Austin's wasn't a speaking part, only a visual during a song where the wisemen and shepherds had finally arrived in Bethlehem to honor Jesus. How excited we were for Austin to have a part in the musical. I play in the orchestra, so I had a front row seat to watch him at rehearsals and he understood well what was expected and most importantly, he understood who he was portraying.

The first big night arrived. My call time was earlier than Austin's, so I went on ahead and Andy would bring him later. Ready to go, Andy buckled Austin into his car seat and off they went to the church. Austin was being very quiet and said he didn't feel good and that he didn't want to be boy Jesus anymore. Have you ever had to bribe your child into doing something? If you say you haven't .... I'm not sure I believe you :-), if you have - you know where this went next. It's the night of and ditching the boy Jesus gig is not an option. Good thing it was Andy with him and not me. I'm not very merciful, patience is not one of my virtues and I'm afraid boy Jesus might have gotten a little attitude adjustment. Andy begins the bribery, sugar pouring from his mouth - nothing but sweetness for our little boy Jesus actor. This was a whatever it takes situation here. Suddenly ... Austin threw up (in the car). Is there anything worse? Well, this might change things just a bit. Maybe he really was sick.

What happened next still, to this day, brings a tear to my eye. Austin was quite familiar with his Bible stories and knew who God was and who Jesus was. He knew that Jesus belonged in Heaven right beside God. In his innocent little mind, he thought that being boy Jesus in the musical meant that he would have to leave us and go to Heaven to be with God and he didn't want to leave his mommy and daddy. He had agonized over being boy Jesus and all that he thought went with it to the point of making himself sick.

We assured Austin that we would never leave him and that he would never have to leave us. Some days I'm ready to send his all-knowing 17 year old self out the door and on to college, but then there are those days that this story comes to mind and I'm reminded how cute and innocent he once was.

Pictures of boy Jesus below ... :-)

Bragg .... Party of 30

Thanksgiving was at our house again this year. This time, however, Thanksgiving was for both sides of our family!! Yes, there were 30!! Lots of people in one place at one time, but we had fun and everything went very smoothly. Everyone was well behaved (children and adults) and there was PLENTY of food for everyone to eat.

Our bonus room is a fun place for a kid to hang out. And since there were 10 children ranging in age from 4 to 11 (someone pass me a drink, please) .... there was a fair amount of time spent by them in the bonus room. There are dress up clothes galore, barbies too many to count, you could start a zoo with all the stuffed animals and of course there's the Wii, the electric keyboard, puzzles, games ... the list goes on and on. Lots of fun pics resulted from the wizards, fairies, powder puff girls, cowboys, lady bugs, etc etc that would emerge down the stairs awaiting approval of their outfit of choice. With that many kids, you'd think that clean up would be a cinch. Really? Why do kids dislike clean up so much? Of course, I think it was mostly the adults who got things back in order. Don't care who done it, just glad it got done. :-)

I am thankful for every single person that was there and I am thankful for having a home to provide for our gathering. I am so blessed. Hope you had a Happy Thanksgiving!!

Here's a picture from last year's pre-Thanksgiving feast. Fewer seats last year, but basically the same set up. (I forgot to take any pics this year.) We use real china, silver and crystal. Andy's mom provides all that stuff for me. Just have to run downstairs and pick it up. :-) I do name tags for each seat so people don't have to wander about and worry where to sit and I whip up a cute placemat in Publisher with a Happy Thanksgiving note and a Thanksgiving poem, print it out on white paper, back it with colorful construction paper to add a little color and flare to the table. :-) This year I also added a small amount of colorful confetti on the table.