Jacksonville

We’ve loved getting to see Meggie & Bo and the triplets every morning before school this week. Emerson is the best big cousin, and absolutely loved seeing them and helping get them out and ready for school. And of course giving out all the hugs as well!

Emmie had a little more than a half-day at school, and had some fun with her friends.

Jeff and I both had crazy mornings work-wise, trying to tie up loose ends and make sure everything was taken care of before signing out for almost two straight weeks. (We will both have our laptops and do some work occasionally, but just for a few hours here & there to help off-set our leave time, and try to keep emails manageable.) But we both signed out at noon, and then spent a very chaotic couple of hours finishing up last-minute things around the house, and making sure we had everything packed in our many bags and carefully Tetris-ed in the car. We had soooo much stuff. Half of it was just snacks & gifts for the girl!

We also stopped to fill up the car (which was perfect timing because my gas light was on), and a huge thank you to Uncle Keith, Aunt Suzanne, Aaron & Mandy for this Shell gift card!

We met Grammy at at school, where she had already picked up Emmie and they were waiting in the Jeep. We were driving both her Jeep and our car (because there’s no way we could fit all the stuff & people in one car, plus it’ll just be helpful to have two cars here so no one gets stranded at the hospital or the Ronald McDonald House carless), so Emmie chose to ride in the Jeep, and wanted me in the backseat with her. We took a group selfie, said our safety prayer, and then hit the road!

Papa will be joining us in Jax next week for surgery day, but today we met up with him for a quick visit at the Busy Bee, on his way back to Tally from a work trip in South Florida. Emmie was surprised to see him, and he even brought her three tiny stuffed chicks, which she loves and he loves getting for her. She picked this giant lollipop as her gas station snack, and then licked it about 20 times and gave it back to me.

We had a quick video call with Meggie and the girls on our drive, so that Meg could show us the poster Emmie’s class made for her! (It wasn’t quite done when we left today, but Papa is going to bring it to us when he comes next week.) It was so sweet of them to make it for her, and I can’t wait to see it in person!

We made it to the Ronald McDonald House in Jax right on time at 5:30pm (they gave us a scheduled check-in for social distancing), and spent a little time signing forms and going through the little reception process. We then took two very full loads on a bell hop cart from the cars to our two rooms (oh yeah, huge praise that my mom got her own separate room here with us the entire time!), then dumped everything in our rooms.

We had just barely missed dinner here though, so we decided to go run and and get something. Jeff could smell BBQ in the air, so we Googled what was closest, and The Bearded Pig was only half a mile away! They had a nice outdoor seating area, and although it was super hot, we practically had the whole place to ourselves. We ordered one giant family platter (at the suggestion of the lady at the counter), and it was all very good! (Actually, we didn’t like the slaw, but the rest was delish!)

We filled our bellies with yummy BBQ, and even brought a box of leftovers back to the room with us. Grammy let Emmie open up a gift from her and Papa (playdough, new toothbrush, and “Frozen” notebook & pen), and a gift from Grandmommie (a beautiful little baby doll and handmade crocheted blanket).

We scrambled to get her crib all set up in the corner of the room, and then Grammy read her a bedtime book. Another of her gifts from her Sunday School teacher Ms. Shirley, was this “Franklin Goes to the Hospital” book, and it was perfect for the night before her first hospital visit in the morning.

Emmie “wasn’t tired and didn’t want to sleep” and she’s been putting up a good fight for at least 20-30 minutes now. She doesn’t want Grammy to leave her bedside, so she’s just sitting in a wooden dining chair, while Emmie tosses and turns and occasionally asks some random questions.

These rooms are actually really super sweet, and very open and spacious. They even have a little sitting room separate from the bedroom, with a couch and TV, so that’s where Jeff and I are hanging for a bit, before we turn in for an early bedtime.

We have to be at the hospital at 6:30am tomorrow, for the heart catheter procedure at 7am. Emmie can’t have any food or water prior to that, so none of us are going to have anything beforehand, so that’ll be interesting! Also, because of covid restrictions, only one adult is allowed to accompany her into the hospital during the procedure, so that really stinks too. So please be praying not only for the procedure tomorrow, but for us adults as we deal with it all too!