Larry’s Surgery Update-2

Dad looks good this afternoon.  The nurses are slowly removing more and more of his attachments and monitors.  <Hyperbole alert!> I was even able to peer through the spaghetti-string-like jungle of tubes and cords to see most of his face today.  </Hyperbole>  He’s been able to stand up several times.  The ICU is readying to get rid of him and put him in the Cardiac Surveillance Unit to make room for people who are in far worse shape.  We expect that to happen today, sometime after 5 p.m.

Keep your prayers a-flowin’, though.  God’s grace is evident in Dad’s countenance, and it’s needed every minute.  The recovery process is and will be difficult and painful.  I’m continually amazed that humans are able to do something as audacious as ripping out the core human muscle, repairing it, sticking it back in, and expecting it to go back to work immediately.

Larry’s Surgery Update-1

Larry’s surgery on Wednesday, April 18th went well. The repair of his mitral valve was successful and the doctors were pleased with the outcome. He has spent two nights in ICU, immediate post-op recovery then letting his body balance fluids, blood loss, drainage from tubes etc. The pain has been present, manageable by oral pain medicine, the first day more in the back and shoulders, today more in the incisional area. The chest tube, internal blood monitoring system, catheter are coming out today and he will be moved to a cardiac step down unit.

Transport people, nursing staff, physician’s assistants, nurses, anesthesiologists and surgeons have delivered their care with an exellent standard. Mostly, we have felt God’s care and your prayers. It has carried us through and Larry has felt them every step of the way. Keep the prayers coming, we believe in a sovereign God that has this under control. We’ll update soon……thanks

New Liam pictures by Lisa!

As part of Little Ones by Lisa, Shinn Photo’s new product line, we took Liam to the studio and took pictures of him and two sets of clients! Here are some of Lisa’s pictures. (I took a few of momma with baby, too.) I’m proud of Lisa.  If you like the picture, let her know in the comments to this post.  Enjoy!

What am I reading?

So glad you asked! Here’s a little list of stuff I’m reading or have read recently. These include audio books. Let me know in the comments if you’d like a review of any of these books.

New print series

Text for me, photos for you.  That’s the deal here at andrewandlisa.org.  Here’s a photo from a series I made the other day.  If you’re a clever little web surfer, you can figure out where I’ve posted the rest of these.

Enjoy,

Andrew

Book Report: The Joy Luck Club

I’m one of those people who hasn’t read many of the interesting books that pass for high school required reading.  The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan is one such book.  Someone gave me a copy a few years ago and I put it on my shelf, thinking that someday I’d return to it.  Someday came a month or two ago.

The Joy Luck Club is a fascinating series of intertwining stories told by Chinese women who emigrated to the U.S. and their daughters.  The book asks the question, “What does it mean to be Chinese?” I think it’s a question that many second-generation immigrant children ask regarding their roots.  Though the answers vary widely, when asked together by many different people at the same time, it sounds like this: “What does it mean to be American?”

Joy Luck is a mind-bending view into the perspective of the Chinese mind.  Even having spent a summer in China, it was a glimpse that was totally unexpected.  I wish I would have read it before going to China to better understand the radical difference in worldview.

A recommended read.  4 out of 5 stars.

Liam’s first words

Liam just said his first words.  Or at least they sounded like words.  His first one was (almost) as clear as a bell: “Google.”  He then went on to say something about “onion” and “Ralph.”  Three 2-syllable words!  What a marvelously intelligent child!  Not bad for 9 and a half weeks old!

Blogging like it’s 1999

Just for kicks this morning I checked to see if my first web site is still up. It is.  Complete with cheesy graphics, music on many pages, egregious amounts of advertising, and <blink> tags, this testament to my history on the web still stands.  It’s where I first started learning to write <html> and how to post photos online.  But it’s also where I started blogging, before the word had been created.  I called my blog posts updates, and put together a few of them.  I posted on politics, spirituality, and what was going on in my life.  I also posted writings in stilted, overly descriptive language.  I thought I was such a good writer. :-)  I also posted some photos there.  They’re photos of a chunk of my life I haven’t thought about for a long time.  Most of the photos are poor quality, but now they’re meaningful because that was my life.  I guess the old site is like an old snapshot of me.  Out there for all to see.  I thought about logging in and editing it, but can’t bring myself to do that.  Sometimes it’s just best to leave history as it was.

Liam on my desktop

I’m assuming that everyone wants the same desktop background that I’m using – an obnoxiously crowded, loud grouping of Liam pictures.
So here it is for all to see – my current desktop background. 🙂 Use it and enjoy it.

– Andrew