Halloween and Big News... Finally!!!

Finally the Halloween pictures! I know, I'm only over a week late, but better late than never! As you can see, Sarge was riding a chicken! Isn't he the cutest little chicken rider you've ever seen? And that costume never fails to crack me up! lol
Bub was a robot of his own design. We put a lot of time into that costume and were rewarded with extra candy from those who understood and recognized that! He was so proud of it and couldn't have looked cuter!
The Banana was a Spa Diva with her foil in her hair and her green face paint "mask." And as you can see, she had all the attitude that went with it! :)

The B Leader was a laundry basket (thanks for the ideas, Mom!). He had pictures taken of him by people he didn't even know! Everyone thought it was a really unique and creative costume idea (and so easy too!!!). He was really happy with it. It was really funny because as I was taking the younger kids around the Trunk-or-Treat, he was going around with friends. When we got to one couple, they exclaimed over The Bub's costume and how cool homemade costumes were. Then she says to me, "And have you seen the kid running around as a laundry basket? It is so cool!" I said, "Yup, he's mine too actually." She exclaimed again... and rewarded me with my own candy for the night! lol

Now for the big news that we finally found out! My mom had her doctor's consult on Thursday of last week. She had asked me to go down there to be one extra brain to think of questions and hear replies. I was planning on taking the kids so The B Leader could watch them at Mom's house. We also planned to stay the night in case the appointment went long. The Eedad didn't want me making that long, dark drive by myself after dark, and I didn't particularly want my mom pushing a gun on me as a "just in case." lol Well, as we were getting ready to leave (5 minutes late as usual *eye roll*), I realized I hadn't counted in The Beana's eating time! Ugh. So as we got ready to leave (now 15 minutes late), we all head outside with our arms overflowing with children and stuff, only to open the doors to the van and discover that I had forgotten to put the carseats back in after Young Women's the night before!!! So we all headed back in. The B Leader helped me put the carseats back in (what a help he can be!) which took awhile because one of the carseats is a bear to put in. Then, finally!, we had everyone loaded up. I went to go lock the door and make sure we had everything when I thought, I wonder if The Banana's heater is off. Then I thought, Of course it is. Just go; you're late. But a little voice whispered, What if this is a prompting? You need to go check just to make sure. And sure enough, when I went into Banana and Sarge's room, the heater was on and blasting away! What a blessing!!! Needless to say, our prayer before travelling was full of Thank Yous! So we made it there safe, but and hour after I wanted to! lol

Dad, Mom, The Beana and I all went to the appointment. There was a woman sitting next to mom who traveled all the way from Bahrain to be operated on by my mom's doctor. She had a meningioma (the same type of tumor as my mom) at the top of her brain stem. You could tell she was partially paralyzed on her left side. Very sad. Then, sitting across from us was a couple with their 16 month old granddaughter (who was so cute!). We all thought that they were there for their daughter (the baby's mom) because neither of them looked like they had any issues at all. But no, the grandmother had just undergone brain surgery to remove two aneurisms just four weeks before! She was lifting and playing with her granddaughter, and she told us that she had been at Target two weeks after surgery! This was amazing and so comforting for us! She had been operated on by my mom's doctor as well. They couldn't say enough good about him.

The actual appointment with the doctor took very little time. First a Fellow came in and examined my mom's vision and asked her a bunch of questions. The actual surgeon came in for maybe five minutes! But he showed us that he had a sense of humor and answered all our questions. We were impressed with him, especially his honesty. I felt at peace after the appointment. It feels like she's going to be under the care of a great doctor, and that her experience this time will be much different.

The next day we found out the actual surgery date. I had just gotten home actually. They were able to get her in much sooner than we had thought, but it turns out she may not be home for Thanksgiving. This put a few kinks in my sisters plans to begin with, but it has all turned out really well in the end. She will come down in time for the pre-op appointment, and then her family will all come down as well! My mom says she feels like she's involved in planning a party, not a brain surgery! lol This will be the first time we've spent any of Thanksgiving all together in forever! We're all really excited! I also think that having everyone there will help her get better faster. I know that sounds weird, but she loves her grandchildren so much that just having them there is going to help her. My cousin from Hawaii is living with my sister and coming down. We've never been together for Thanksgiving, so that makes it even more exciting!!! It seems to me that even though we have this big trial coming up, we've received equal (if not more) blessings.

Eedad was having some major back problems on Thursday when I left. I was so worried about him. When I talked to him to give him an update on my mom, I told him I felt like he needed a blessing. He called our home teachers (who are really wonderful) to give him a blessing. They willingly came and gave him a wonderful blessing. He was able to get in a full day's work the next day. He had a rough day Sunday, but he was able to go to work today as well. Have I said how thankful I am for the Priesthood???