Vacation 2007, Part II

It's a Sunday night, and we've have been in Colorado for 9 days. The cool part is that our time in Colorado is not even half over! After all of the unexpected delays in getting here, we decided to extend our trip longer than originally planned. Our first week has been eventful (in a good way) and enjoyable as is evidenced by the pictures below. I was surprised at how hot the weather has been out here. The temperature has been pushing 100 almost everyday so far! I had forgotten how warm Colorado summers can be. Yesterday, we drove into the mountains for a picnic. The cool air was a welcome reprieve. Of course, we had to go to nearly 10,000 feet in elevation to feel it! Other than an occasional shopping or swimming trip at my brother's house (for the swimming that is), our basic itinerary primarily involves sleeping in, reading, watching "Matlock," and playing Scrabble with my parents. (Did you know that the word "qat" is in the dictionary?)

I am excited to report that Eldansdad Family Films has secured its first two clients! I just finished a Scrapbook video for my brother Kip's church, and I am just about finished with a Scrapbook project for another church in Ohio. I almost got my first wedding job, but there was a date conflict. I am hopeful that this business (if you can call it that) will eventually blossom into a regular source of income and work for the summers. Anyway, you have to start somewhere so...I am!


If you are reading this...I hope your summer is and has been an enjoyable one.
If you are not reading this...I hope your summer has been rotten!


In the meantime, the Doans will continue to vacation these lazy summer days away...

Vacation 2007, Resumed

If everything had gone the way we had originally planned, we would right now be on our way back from Colorado and our vacation would be over. Yet, things have not gone as we had planned and the second part of our vacation remains to be taken. Danielle's appointment went fairly well yesterday, and the doctor said that we were free to fly to Colorado. (I wish he would have said that we could fly to Colorado for free!) His only stipulation was that she not do any water skiing. (I guess we will have to cancel that part of our trip! :-) We have purchased new reservations with my favorite of all the big airlines--United (especially their customer service), and we will be flying stop to Colorado early Friday morning...Lord-willing. The positive result of this medically-induced delay is that we will spend more time in Colorado than we had originally planned. My parents are eagerly awaiting our arrival, and we...well, we are just glad to be moving forward once again. All is well, and I will post some pictures of us in the wonderful state of Colorado very soon!

Milestones

This past spring found us experiencing several "firsts" in Eldan's life. As always, I was there with the camcorder to capture these moments on tape. The result is the latest offering from "The Doan Family Videos" series. (I am trying out a new way of posting my videos, so please let me know how easily or not easily you are able to view it.)

PS - I take complete responsibility for the opening sequence. Danielle and Eldan were only somewhat willing participants.

Vacation 2007, Interrupted

Where do I begin? I must say, God has certainly chosen an interesting path for us over the last several weeks of our vacation. Last fall, when Danielle went through her kidney stone experience, I thought we had logged enough time with hospitals and doctors to last for several years. Apparently...I was wrong. Let me fill you in on some of the details.

One day before we left for Part I of our summer vacation (the NH part), Danielle informed me that the pregnancy test she had taken was positive. Of course, both of us were very excited at the thought of having a second child. Two days later (after we had already arrived in NH), Danielle started experiencing some difficulties with the pregnancy. The next several days involved numerous trips to hospitals and doctors' offices. (We almost didn't make it to Beauty and the Beast.) We were informed about a week and a half ago that the pregnancy would be a miscarriage.

After returning home to Ohio, Danielle had more blood work done and made an appointment to see her regular doctor on Monday morning...7 hours before we were scheduled to fly to Denver. Her doctor informed us that it would be very unwise for us to continue with our travel plans. In fact, he told us that Danielle would need to check into the hospital Monday afternoon so that he could perform surgery to remove a tubal pregnancy. That is precisely what occured yesterday afternoon. The surgery was successful, and Danielle and I spent the night in the hospital while she was recovering. (A friend has been taking care of Eldan for us.)

Here is what we know at this point (Tuesday morning):
1. Danielle should be released from the hospital by this afternoon,
2. She will be rather sore for a few days, but her recovery should be fairly quick,
3. In the meantime, I (Andrew) will be acting as nurse, mother, and housewife,
4. We cancelled our flight reservations yesterday, and we will purchase new tickets as soon as we get approval from the doctor for Danielle to travel,
5. God is good. His providential oversight in the timing of everything is very obvious to us. It could have been disastrous for Danielle had we continued with our travel plans. We thank Him for His protection, and are seeking to learn what we need to from this situation.

I will provide further updates about our progress as I am able...