New Friends, Meet the Surgeon and Overpriced Seafood!

Chris and I have enjoyed meeting new people at the Ronald McDonald house. Our appointments are not usually too early in the morning so we mozy down to the kitchen area and have breakfast and make a new friend. Today we met a couple with a heart baby - and they are Christians! They miss their church terribly. We lamented right along with them! Then we met a dad who is here with his son for kidney treatments. I only have one conclusion about our conversations this morning - no matter what you are going through there is ALWAYS someone going through something more challenging. And in general, people go through really hard things! While we aren't at all excited about what we are going through and wouldn't wish it on anyone, we feel a tinge of excitement that we can relate to a whole spectrum of people that not everyone can relate to. This is a gift especially since these people tend to be more open when they find out that you are a fellow human with an insurmountable challenge on your hands. How people go through hard things without Jesus still baffles me. We hope to meet some of those people while we are here. :)

One thing today that started out as a big OOPS and ended up a big blessing was meeting the surgeon. We came to Stanford to have Dr. Frank Hanley do Evelyn's surgeries. He really is the "best in the west" - he's a legend down here. Our appointment today was with another surgeon, who I am sure is fabulous too. Stanford doesn't seem to employ second rate anything. But I was a little bummed to not get the legend. Well, we get up this morning, have breakfast, make friends, and head over to the hospital to meet the "other" surgeon. I look at the clock - ok, its 11.45 - then I think to double check my Blackberry to be sure we are on time and...the appointmemt was at 10 am! Tomorrows first appointment is at noon and pregnant brain got confused! Argh. Amazingly I didn't cry. I must be getting too pregnant to cry because I hold it in really well these days. :) So we decide to go anyway and see if they have anytime today where we can see the surgeon. We actually said a quick prayer and then went to beg. The receptionist said, "well I think Dr. Hanley (the legend)may have a minute to meet with you. My heart starts racing - sure enough not only do we get to meet with Dr. Hanley but he said he would do her surgery pending anything unforeseen! Amazing that God even works it out when I'm scatterbrained and miss appointments! Oh and for the record Dr. Hanley said the "other" surgeon is fabulous and he'd trust him to operate on his own baby. So really either one will be great. Especially since ultimately we put our trust in the Lord and not in a legend. ;)

Nothing new came from the meeting except that Dr. Hanley prefers that I go full term so Evie is as big as possible - which will help her in the long run. So Shannon and Copper will probably both give birth before I do but its ok because I'm on vacation! :) we had a window of time today before 5 o'clock traffic hit so we went to SF and ate at the fisherman's wharf. It was delicious but WAY overpriced. Oh well, you only deliver your baby in Northern California once, right? :)

Other than that we have been resting and trying to think of something low key to do. We missed Bingo night at the House last night. Too bad no bingo tonight! Tomorrow I'm supposed to get a delivery date and my mom arrives! So I'll post with that update tomorrow. Thanks again for your prayers. Would you add to the list a little prayer that Chris and I don't get sick? I'm still fighting a tiny cold and Chris has had a stomach thing ever since we arrived. Usually no big deal but we can't go into the NICU and the CVICU if we have anything at all.

All our love!