Angels watching over us

Just to let everyone know all the prayers sent up for Savannah must be working for us all!
Ryan was in an accident last night(Sunday 9/23), he had Liz's Victoria with him. By the grace of God they are both fine. They were taken to St. Marys and checked out, and Victoria isn't happy about her collar that she will wear for another day. I did not see the van that hit them, but was told when Roger got there, they were tipping it back up, it was on the roof. We don't know anything about how many or who was in the van. Ryans car was totaled, and I would think the van is too. Ryan's glasses were found in the southwest ditch, while the windshield was in the northwest ditch. Victoria's backpack was in the culvert. Ryan was glad to find his fishing pole on the highway in one piece! It was a true miracle that they are only sore today. Lets not forget to keep praying!!

Aloha 'ohana

Aloha 'ohana (family)
by the greeting most of you realize that Ken and I went to the state of Hawaii this past week, to the island of Oahu. We flew out Sat, Sept 15, and returned Sat, Sept 22. It was a fun week, and went by quickly. We didn't have a chance to see all the tourist attractions, but we did see some of them. We went for a convention thru the clinic, so did have to spend a little time at the Convention Center. We stayed at a hotel that was right on the beach, so really enjoyed spending time on the beach and walking the beach front. And there are tons of Waikiki shopping centers, and small shops along the streets of Waikiki Beach. We went to the Foster Botanical Garden on Mon, and to Chinatown to buy apple bananas (since we heard about them on the tours at the gardens) to Diamond Head on Tues morning, spent Wed on a bus tour of the island, and Thurs went to Hanauma Bay (which is great for snorkeling, but the weather wasn't the greatest for snorkeling, so we didn't do that), but the beach was really great there, and it was interesting to learn about the marine life. Writing it down doesn't seem like much, but we were busy all the days, did lots of walking, and of course we did spend some time by the ocean, and in it. When we did the bus tours of the island, the water color was fabulous along the North Shore, and the views were awesome! We put just a couple pictures up, and maybe we will add more in the next few days. The time in Hawaii is 5 hours behind Minnesota time, so Ken and I were always tired and feeling ready for bed by 7/8 every evening, and up early. But even when we got up early and headed out, the beaches and shops were already busy. It was amazing to see how many surfers were out at 6:30 AM. And now tomorrow we are both back to work, vacation was nice, just too short.

a hui hou (meaning until meeting again or see you later)

Ann's working vacation

I had a working vacation to Laughlin, Nevada! Elaine and I left Thursday, September 13 and came home today - Sunday, the 16th. We had a great time, except I'm to stingy to gamble much. I took $60 for gambling, lost 20 within the first 15 minutes of being there, so had to play it safe with the rest - lost 20 more the next day! Spent the next 10 on a pair of clearance pants (at least had something!) So, my last $10 went into a machine, when I had it up to $27, I cashed it out, then thought maybe I shouldn't have, so put in another 4 - gone!
So much for me being a big spender!! Anyway, it was work but had a nice time - all expenses paid and away from the office and home! Hot compared to home - 112 when we stepped off the plane in Laughlin, 68 when we stepped off in Rochester.

NEW HOME UPDATE

Update – as of 12:30pm today (8-29) Erick and I “officially” joined the ranks as new home owners. Yeah!! Closing went well – although my hand really hurts from all the signatures. There must have been 80 apiece. We will be moving some items over the next two weekends and will have the movers here for all the big furniture items and such on September 12th for our official move in day. It is our hope that we will be able to have a house warming/open house event by the end of the year. Please know that each and every one of you will be welcome to visit.
Kim

A fun week end in Chicage

Hello to all
just want to say Hi. Ken and I spent the week end in Chicago to see Brian and Sarah. We did lots of walking. Kim, we walked the magnificent mile, of course, we had to walk 3 miles to get to the mile. Brian was too tired to walk back, so we had to take the train back to his place. On Sat morning we went to the beach, always a necessity if the weather is nice. The dogs really enjoy running along the beach and getting their swim in. Hope everyone else had a great week end.

Savannah

Little Savannah had her surgery yesterday and everything went very well! It turned out to be a diaphragmatic hernia, so surgeons went through her belly, had to bring down the loop of small intestine and part of her liver that had crept through the hole in her diaphragm and squished her right lung. The hole was repaired, and Savannah's belly looks a bit distended due to swelling and the rearranging of her intestines to prevent further growth problems with them.
Both the doctor and the surgeons were confident that Savannah would be moving forward in no time at all, and the NICU doctor has been extremely impressed with Savannah for treading water so successfully all this time as she grew for surgery, and feels that she'll be very healthy when she comes home with us.
We're hopeful this will only be about another six weeks - but we'll have to wait and see, pray for no further problems, and keep our faith.

Bridge

Thanks Ann for all your good thoughts. Erick and I are fine and we have checked on all our friends who live in the area. All are ok. The scariest moment came when talking with Gretchen and knowing she takes the bridge twice a day. She had just been on the bridge ½ hour before the collapse.
Kimberly Hofer