In February as I was busy with my book launch, my doctor found a cyst. We were unsure based on my bloodwork if the results would be benign or ovarian cancer so I had a great team of doctors in place at Cancer Centers of America and had a full hysterectomy and an appendectomy on April 6th. Gratefully, the cyst was benign and the surgery went smoothly. Our three furry animals have helped me with my recovery.
Easter was very different this year since I had just had my surgery and was still on the sofa most of the time. Ingrid has now moved out and is living in an apartment with her older sister Sandra. Juan works as a cook at an assisted living facility on the weekends so he was busy at work all day. I still made Easter baskets for both kids. We were sad we were unable to attend church in person but so grateful for technology and the ability to watch online. Although it is not the same, at least we get the message.
In the adoption world, gotcha day is the day that you get your kids. For us, that day is April 12th. With Angie and Ingrid both out of the house and me recovering from surgery, this celebration wasn't as grand as all of our others. In the past I would have a cake, jello in the flavors of the Colombian colors, juice in the flavors of the Colombia colors, decorations, photo albums, and more. We did a big celebration last year with it being our tenth and gave them the last gifts we had purchased for them when we were in Colombia. I bought the kids each a Colombian keychain since they are all now driving, which is crazy to think about! We adopted them at ages 6,8, and 10 and they are now 17, 19, and 21!
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Juan decided to go to prom this year as a junior. Unfortunately, the timing was not ideal as it was the weekend after my surgery, but he took pictures and shared them with me later. These were with his best friend and his date. They went to dinner before prom and had a nice time he said. Juan is not very communicative so we are glad he went and had a good time. These are great experiences to have.
