Day 1 - Post Bypass Surgery

Happy Valentine's Day!

Here's a picture of my beautiful Valentine! He kinda looks like he partied all night like a rock star, doesn't he? Or maybe more like Rocky Balboa after a big fight. Either way, I think he's beautiful!

As you can see, he's got amazing coordination with his right hand. He's using a swab to wet his mouth because he hasn't yet had a swallow test to determine whether he can have anything to drink yet -- he's very parched! He has also been quite active with his left arm, although he doesn't have the strength to quite get things up to his face. He keeps reaching up with his right hand to touch his goatee and his swollen left eye. The eye is swollen because of removing the artery from that left temple. He can still move his legs around a bit, although his right side again seems considerably stronger. For now, his arms are moving with much more ease than his legs, but at least everything is moving! It's surprising that the right side is stronger than the left because when you mess with the brain, it is usually the opposite side that is more affected ... maybe because that thrombosis is still causing trouble on that right side ??? Another question for Dr. Spetzler. Jimmy hasn't been able to mouth any words for me today, so I'm giving him a rain check on his Valentine's gift to me ... I wanted him to sing "Brown Eyed Girl" to me. I think I'm getting pretty good at this patience thing! He was able to pucker up and give me some kisses though, so I am satisfied. They plan to do a swallow evaluation on him tomorrow. I did see him take a couple of swallows when he was swabbing his mouth, and he did give a slight cough once, so I am hopeful that he hasn't regressed too terribly far. Overall, his strength and coordination are a little weaker than right after surgery, but I expected the first few days to be that way, and the doctors don't seem at all concerned.

Jim did get taken off the ventilator this afternoon, and he's doing great on his breathing. Once he looks like he's trying to speak, they will put his speaking valve in and give it a go. I'm hoping that he's a little more wakeful tomorrow, and we can encourage him to give that a try. He also had a CT angiogram this evening. Depending on how the bypass looks on that scan, they plan to do his coil on either Monday or Thursday -- not sure what's wrong with Tuesday or Wednesday, but maybe they figure that if he's not ready for it on Monday it would be a good idea to give it a few more days. Another question for Dr. Spetzler!

My Jimmy did get a little rambunctious today. He likes to pull at tubes, as we found out five years ago, so they decided to put him in restraints when he is unattended. I thought it was cute that the nurse described them to Jim as "reminders" to leave everything alone. He hates them already! I have a feeling that he's not going to be the perfect patient -- oh well, I can be just as bullheaded as him if I need to be!

Overall, it was a very good day. Jim seems pretty relaxed and not in too much pain. He did point to his left wrist to ask what time it was late this afternoon, so I think he's starting to get more aware of his surroundings. He definitely recognizes all of us and points at the kids and gives them the 'thumbs up' when they come in. He also waves good-bye to us when we leave or he wants us to leave him alone. He's pretty amazing, if you ask me!

I wasn't able to read him all your emails, texts, blog comments, or facebook walls yet as he didn't seem overly interested today. I will save them for when he's feeling better though, because I know how much they all mean to him; and he's definitely going to need more encouragement in the days ahead! So keep him in your prayers, and pray that he doesn't run into any major complications. I haven't heard how our 'pipeline gentleman' is doing lately, but I will let you all know if I hear anything more. I am continuing to pray for his recovery and hope you are too. I hope to have good news on the CT angio tomorrow -- it would be great to keep the ball rolling and have the coil put in on Monday. I'm a little nervous about getting too optimistic too soon, but I am pleased with how well he appears to be doing so far. Thank you so much for the continued support. I know it's been a long time, and it's bound to be longer yet, but I hope you can all stay with us. It really does help!

It's been very nice having the kids here. The boys did drag me and Sandy out to celebrate for a little while -- it felt really good to do something normal ... even if we did spend the whole night talking about Jimmy!! Jenna chose to catch up on some homework and ordered pizza in -- what a good girl! We are staying in at the hotel tonight and ordering takeout from somewhere to be determined. The boys want to watch the NBA slam dunk contest on TV. They dragged me to the diner across the street for lunch -- I can't believe I'm going to go a whole day without hospital food! I figure that the kids need a little quality time from their mom, and Jim will probably be sacking out pretty early again tonight. He can have my undivided attention again starting tomorrow. Speaking of which, we're all heading back to join Ricky who's with him while I'm writing this -- he just called to let us know that he's awake. So, "good-bye" for now. Enjoy your special evening with your sweethearts!

Love,
Krissy

P.S. If you're a procrastinator and haven't made plans for this evening yet, the MLC Band is playing at the Lookout in Maple Grove tonight. They promised to dedicate "Brown Eyed Girl" to Jimmy -- so all the girls on the dance floor!!!

Bypass Surgery Day!

Jim is a rock star!!!

After only 7 hours of surgery, Dr. Spetzler greeted us with a big smile on his face. He said that they were able to harvest a relatively decent artery from Jim's left temple, which was a surprise considering his poor arterial system. He said the bypass was beautiful! He did not choose to clip the basilar artery because he said that there were some scar tissue issues that made it not a good option. So, he is planning to have the artery coiled later this week by Dr. Fiorella. Jim will be awake to make sure that he tolerates the coil, but he expects that he will be able to do so. This is the best Friday the 13th ever! I've found my new lucky number!

Jim was pretty cute this morning. He was very serious and had his game face on. He found us extremely annoying and was very anxious for the whole thing to get going. We had quite a fan club and were busy taking pictures -- much to his chagrin. As you can see,
he wasn't smiling a whole lot. Oh well, I can be stubborn too! The bottom picture is of Jimmy with his Brown Eyed Girls!

When we brought him down to surgery, one of the previous doctors from five years ago greeted us, Dr. Chang. He asked if we remembered him, which we definitely did as he was the one who talked to us after that surgery. He told us that Jim was kind of family and that they were going to take very good care of him. Very comforting words for us! It was easier to leave him this time -- like I said, I just had an underlying feeling of peace and comfort. God was definitely with us, and he didn't let me down!

It was so exciting to see Jim! He was amazingly responsive and was able to move all his arms and legs and was even able to mouth words to us. He mouthed, "I love you" to me, which of course made my night, and he told us to "go out". When Michael promised to take me out on the town, he gave a big smile. Some things never change! He even waved at us as we left the room! So, as soon as I finish this, I am going out for the first time since we got here with a very happy heart! I'm sure that he will likely be in worse shape tomorrow and over the next days, as Dr. Spetzler reminded me that the next few days were very crucial, but today was a nice big step in the right direction of this long and torturous journey. I apologize for being brief, but I wanted to get the news out to all of you as quickly as I could, and I really want to go celebrate with my family. I promise to probably have more to tell tomorrow. Thank you SO much for your prayers -- they worked! Please keep up the good work as we're going to need you. I'm sure the road isn't likely to be nice and smooth, so be prepared for some road bumps, but I'm still optimistic that we're all going to come through this with a new and improved Jimmy!

Praise God!
Krissy

Day 13 - Pre-Surgery #2/Bypass Surgery

Hi all!

Tomorrow's the big day! I almost lost it this morning... our son, Rick, hadn't been feeling well this weekend, and I had urged him to go in for a strep check. Being a typical guy, he kept telling me that he was going to wait it out because he was sure that it was just a cold coming on. As the week wore on, I again encouraged him to go to the doctor because I didn't want him to be contagious for Jim. Low and behold, I received a phone call from him Wednesday morning at 5:30am near tears because his throat hurt so bad. I talked him into going to urgent care right away in the morning where he, of course, tested positive for strep. Everything was still okay at this point because he still had more than a 24 hour window to get on his antibiotic and not be contagious when he got out here. The complication was that, because he had let the strep get so advanced, he had developed an abscess in the back of his throat -- hence the excrutiating pain. The doctor told him that if he wasn't feeling better in 24 hours to go to the hospital. Great! So, at 7:00am, I received a phone call from Rick telling me he was on his way to the emergency room at the Denver hospital. That was where I started to feel total panic! How was I going to deal with having my baby in a Denver hospital, while I was sending my husband off for major brain surgery! I prayed to God immediately to let him know that this WAS more than I could handle. Well, by God's grace, Rick was able to get seen right away in the emergency room and hooked up by IV to some major antibiotics. The abscess responded right away, so they were able to let him go with a warning to keep an eye on it over the weekend, and he was able to make his evening flight out here! I was so glad that all of this took place before I got to Jimmy's room this morning. I feel so much better having him here with me and conveniently being within a hospital the whole time he will be with me. You can bet he won't stand a chance of putting me off again this weekend! So, two things happened: I received confirmation from God that he is right here with me, and all of the excitement helped to create a distraction for Jimmy and me to keep our minds off tomorrow a little bit and focus on something else. God does work in mysterious ways!

Jim and I did a pretty good job of keeping things normal, but I could tell he was on edge -- who could blame him? He's feeling a little better, so he's finding more things to complain about. Again, another distraction. At least we were able to laugh a little at his kibitzing! We received many more encouraging messages throughout the day, which helped to pass the time until the kids and my sister showed up. Dr. Spetzler popped in and told us that he was all set and ready to go ahead with the plan. Jimmy also got to take a shower today while sitting on a commode with wheels. Even sitting, it was pretty exhausting for him, but he liked it better than the bed baths that he's been receiving for the last couple of weeks. I wanted to take a picture of this new baby step for the blog, but thought better of it. After all, he's going to be able to read this himself someday, and I would probably get in big trouble for that one!!!

Larry Rawn visited Jim for a little while again this afternoon, and all the kids and my sister, Sandy, showed up this evening. He was really pleased to have them all there, even though he told them that they didn't need to come. We have two rooms this time, so we're not as on top of each other for the two nights that my sister will be here. Sandy generously offered to let the boys have the extra bed in her room rather than the lumpy pullout sofa in mine. It's helpful to have the 'mom' distraction for a few days when the stress level is so high. I am planning to go right to bed as I have to get up really early again -- I want to make sure to have some quality time with Jim and the kids before he has to go to surgery.

I have been totally honest throughout this blog, and I can tell you that, although I understandably am scared, I have this underlying calm that I can't even explain. I just know that God is already working in me and giving me his peace. This is so big that I have no choice but to turn it over to God, and he is here for me. So, I know that we all are going to be feeling very apprehensive until we get the official word from Dr. Spetzler on how Jimmy did, but I already have confidence in a positive outcome. I know that there will probably be difficult days ahead and even some setbacks, but I just feel that when we finally get to the end of our marathon journey, we will be fine. So please, remember Jimmy in prayer all day tomorrow, but try to find that inner peace that has filled my heart with strength and hope.

I love you all and look forward to having some really good news to tell at the end of the day tomorrow. Don't expect an early message -- his last bypass surgery went 10 hours! But I promise to let you all know the outcome as soon as Jimmy is tucked in for the night. Love and blessings to you all!

Krissy

Day 12 - Post Surgery

Hello!

Well, today was a pretty quiet day without any visitors, but it was a good day for Jim to get stronger. He did his best day of eating so far, as he hasn't had much appetite. This picture is from a couple of days ago, but it hadn't made the blog yet, so I wanted to share it with you. Can you see how excited he is with his pureed meal? Yummy! You can't really blame the guy for not having much appetite, but I keep encouraging him to eat to keep his strength up; and he's definitely getting stronger. The next picture is of Jimmy showing off while sitting on the side of the bed. He's giving the camera the 'thumbs up'. It's actually a pretty big deal that he was able to sit so straight and tall without needing to use his arms for support. Way to go, Jimmy! The last picture is Jim standing up. You can see how tiny his Occupational Therapist is, and she's able to assist him all by herself, which means that Jim is able to do most of the work himself. It's so good to see him progressing as well as he is. Everyday, his motor skills get a little stronger and more finely tuned. The body's healing process is pretty amazing!

We're very excited that the kids are coming out to visit through the weekend tomorrow. They all wanted to see their daddy before his surgery on Friday. Even though it cost me a small fortune in airfare because of the NBA Jam going on in Phoenix this weekend, I'm glad they'll be with me. Jenna was planning to fly home to Minneapolis to watch the State Girl's Dance Team competition,
as were we, but she insisted in changing her flight plans. So, we will be cheering on the Totino-Grace E'gals and the Maple Grove Crimson from afar! Hopefully, the E'gal coaches were able to implement Coach Jim's suggestions into their choreography so that they 'kick butt'! We plan to have our own personal celebration when we get back.

My sister, Sandy, is coming out to visit us also. The hotel staff at the Hampton Inn has been so wonderful, and they were able to arrange a room for her and kept it to the same price that they are charging me, even though they were booking the rooms for $150 more a night because of the big NBA Jam weekend. Everyone has been so incredibly nice to us! I really appreciate her taking the time away from her family to be with me and the kids -- she was very insistent that she come and that her family wants her here. So...thank you Tom, Paige, and Max! Paige and Max even gave up their birthday celebration that was scheduled for Friday as well. I promise we'll make it up to you guys later!!!

So, tell me...has anyone noticed that Jim's surgery is scheduled for Friday the 13th? I'm thinking that it's a good thing that I'm not ,
overly superstitious! I'm sure that Jimmy did not plan ahead and bring me something for Valentine's Day (I, of course, brought his gift along), so I told him today what I would like. I want him to sing "Brown-Eyed Girl" to me on Saturday, even if he's on the respirator and has to mouth the words. That will be the best Valentine's gift ever!!!!

I think that Jim and I are still feeling fairly relaxed at this time. I'm sure there's going to be some nerves tomorrow as the day wears on, and definitely on Friday morning when we get to the hospital early to give him our 'good luck' hugs and kisses, but I'm hoping to still feel that underlying calm that I'm feeling right now that we're going to get through this and that everything's going to be all right. I'm sure that it's all the messages of prayer, support, and encouragement that are being sent our way, together with my confidence in God's love that are putting my heart at peace. You have all been wonderful and are loved and appreciated SO much. I know it's going to be a very rough road ahead, and it's probably going to be a very long one, but Jimmy and I will persevere! So, don't forget about us, we ARE coming home -- eventually!

I'm going to try to get to bed a little early tonight in anticipation of some restless nights ahead. I know it's a very special weekend, and you should all take the opportunity to tell your Valentines how much they are loved, but please be sure to squeeze in a few prayers for us as well!

Lots of love!
Krissy

Day 11 - Surprise Visitors from MN

Good Evening (or morning for most of you reading this)!

Jimmy had surprise visitors from Minnesota this morning. Our dear friends, Dan Hill and Pastor Peter flew in just for the day to come visit our boy. As you can probably figure out from the first picture, they helped to entertain and cheer him up quite a bit. Pastor Peter even gave us communion. I still can't believe they took the time and expense to come all the way out for a visit. They probably spent the same amount of time flying as they did chatting with us -- pretty special guys! As you can see from the second picture, we got to take Jimmy outside for the first time. It was a little chilly, but the rain has subsided for now and the sun was shining. The picture is taken in the hospital healing garden. The change of scenery was so nice -- I hope the weather cooperates enough to try it again tomorrow.

The boys also got to meet Dr. Spetzler. They were very impressed! They both agree that he has an amazing presence and feel confident that we are in great hands. So, here's the scoop! Surgery is scheduled for this Friday morning at 9:00am (remember, we are one hour behind those of you back in Minnesota!). He is planning on going in on the left side of Jim's head as the tissue has been less disturbed there. He will take an artery from either his left forehead or one of his wrists -- he will make that decision when he takes a look at them. It sounded like he would prefer the forehead, so we'll have to see what he chooses. He then plans to use this artery to create a bypass that will redirect the blood flow to all the necessary parts of his brain stem and apply a clip to totally occlude (clog) the aneurysm in the basilar artery. He told us that he will need to be absolutely sure that Jimmy is getting adequate flow and that the bypass is going to hold before doing this. If he is the least bit hesitant, he will close him up and give the bypass more time to stabalize; if he thinks that everything is working correctly, he will then plan to go back later and have Dr. Fiorella insert a coil into the artery through his groin. This could be done a few days to a week after this surgery. We are hopeful that he will be able to do the clip right away so that poor Jimmy doesn't have to endure another procedure/surgery. Dr. Spetzler also likes the clip better than the coil because sometimes you can get thrombosing (clotting) above or below the coil -- and we definitely don't want anymore thrombosing! He also informed us that he might want to go back in on the right side (where he just had the last surgery) and remove more of the thrombosing (and cotton) to give him more immediate results. This surgery would be much less risky this time around because of the artery being clipped/coiled off and, therefore, having no more bleeding issues to deal with. If he decides that Jim is not strong enough to withstand yet another surgery, and I do worry about that, then we will just have to wait for the thrombosis around his aneurysm to dissolve on its own over time. I have mixed feelings about this, but I will defer to Dr. Spetzler to not take any unnecessary risks. I know how hard he is working to come up with a way to fix my Jimmy and send him home feeling better and able to enjoy life again. So, we continue to watch the game as Dr. Spetzler calls out audibles while Jimmy does his best to run for a touchdown in the biggest game of his life. This one is going to be the Super Bowl of the century! Sorry ... I guess I'm still in football season.

All in all, we could be out here for a very long time yet. It's all very scary as none of these procedures are easy or without great risk. Dr. Spetzler just feels that we have no other choice, and I am in agreement. He feels that Jim is on the cusp of someplace we really don't want to go and where there's no coming back -- death or worse. All the risks of stroke, hemorraging, paralysis continue to stare us in the face, but we have the faith that Jim will work his way around and continue to avoid all these issues. He just HAS to!!! We know that God is with us, and feel without a doubt that he has maneuvered us back around to this time and place once again for a reason. And I just won't believe that it was for anything less than another opportunity to show us and all of you a miracle!

Quoting again from Jim's Bible study book by David Armistead, "Those who have heart have hope. Those who have hope have everything." Well, Jimmy has the heart and I have the hope, and together we have EVERYTHING! So please stay with us, and keep giving us the strength to endure this very long journey with your prayers and words of encouragement and support. We are so incredibly blessed to have you all in our lives, and you have touched our hearts forever. God bless you all, and God bless our Jimmy!

Love always,
Krissy

P.S. On a lighter note, I hope you have noticed and are able to enjoy the audio portion that has been added to our blog. Jerrett Praske figured out how to do this for me, and I think it's a really nice touch. So turn up your speakers and enjoy! Thanks, Jerrett!

Day 10 - Occupational Therapy

Hi again!

As you can see, it was a less boring day for our Jimmy. These pictures are with the Occupational Therapist, Leana. She really worked him today! You can see how high he is now able to lift his left arm, and he is able to help himself roll and swing his legs off the side of the bed (with a little help). He sat for about 20 minutes by himself on the edge of the bed and was even able to stand for a little while. He also shuffled more steps to get back in bed. The guy to the left of the bottom picture cheering him on is Larry Rawn. I was SO proud of him, and he was SO exhausted! Jimmy is definitely getting stronger every day, and his motor skills are getting much more refined and controlled. I am so pleased to see this progress. The doctors did confirm that he did not have any vein occlusions, so he is expected to have no adverse effects from this surgery. Yay!!!

He also did his x-ray swallow evaluation this morning. He had to swallow different consistencies of barium -- yuck! He did surprisingly well. He only aspirated one time on the thin liquids, but did okay the other times. They want to take it slow, so they have him back on his thickened liquids and pureed foods. This means that he had his feeding tube
removed, so you will notice that he no longer has anything coming out of his nose. He was so happy to lose that annoying thing! He was able to have a 'real' lunch and dinner today. He didn't eat a lot because it takes so much effort, and he doesn't have much appetite yet. Besides, he's still trying to lose a few more pounds! I just want to make sure that he gets enough nutrition to keep his strength up, so I'll be watching him closely. I'm sure that before long he'll be complaining about the hospital food, but right now he's thinking it's not so bad. He had beef and cheddar (pureed) for dinner tonight ... he said it tasted just like Arby's!

Jim also got to have his catheter removed. Another biggie for him! Although, he didn't complain about it nearly as much as he did the last time he had surgery. I think he finally figured out that it was pretty convenient. It's always a nice feeling when they start removing tubes, so a pretty big day for our Jimmy!

Jim was pretty down today. I actually left him on his own for a couple of hours this morning because I didn't want to join his pity party. He apologized, but I could tell that he wasn't feeling his usual self. I talked to the nurse and found out that they were only giving him a third of his normal dosage of his anti-depressant, so they will correct that and, hopefully, get him back on track soon. He certainly had reason to be upbeat today, so it was easy to see that something wasn't quite right. That is a new project for me -- to get him fired up! Maybe if I borrow Lori Money's Dallas Cowboy Cheerleader
costume it would help, although I'm not sure I would fill it out as well as she does!

We did get a decision from the doctors tonight. They have decided to do the bypass and clip surgery. They feel that the pipeline stent is just too risky. I guess our 'pipeline gentleman' has suffered a pretty major stroke, and they just don't have enough confidence to go that route with Jim. I hope that you will all continue to pray for this brave gentleman, and that he can have a decent recovery over time. I would still like to meet him someday and be able to thank him for being a pioneer. I'll admit that I'm a little disappointed as I was really hoping that this option would work, but I definitely want the doctors to go with the option that they feel the most comfortable with. They are planning to take an artery out of Jim's forearm to use to create the bypass. They hope to create enough blood flow to the places where he needs it so that they can totally occlude the basilar artery where the aneurysm is with a clip. They may replace the partial clip that is already there, or they may just add another one right below it. This will cut off blood flow through that artery, and eventually the thrombosis (clotting) around the aneurysm should dissolve. That would take care of the pressure on the brainstem and, hopefully, permanently alleviate his symptoms.

Jim was really quiet and scared when he sent me home tonight. We both knew that more surgery was imminent and were anxious to know the what and when, but now that it is near, it's pretty unnerving. It feels a little bit futile to be celebrating removing all these tubes and upgrading from ICU when we know that he's going to have to go back and do it all over again -- but this is what we came here for. He needs to be fixed, and we have to trust that God will take care of us and help the doctors to do so. Dr. Spetzler will be doing the surgery, and he's the best! That's why we are here. We don't have the exact surgery date yet, but they are thinking either this week or the first part of next. I am expecting that we will be here another two to three weeks. This is going to be a very big and scary surgery (again), but Jim came through the first two really well, so I have every reason to believe he will continue to do so. There are risks of stroke and hemorraging, but they feel they are less than the risks would have been with using the pipeline stent. Based on Jim's amazing track record and the dream/near death experience he recently had, I have to believe that God is just not wanting to take him yet ... and that is what I am counting on!

We will deal with anything that God has in store for us, I just choose to believe for now that God knows what is in my heart and is on the same page with me -- he's had plenty of opportunity to take him away, so there's got to be a reason that Jim is still here with me and the kids. I truly do expect to come out of this with a new and improved Jimmy! Another quote from the men's Bible study book by Marlo Javidando (no idea who that is) that I am holding on to is, "Be strong, go with your heart, and believe in miracles because anything ... anything can happen." I said after the first surgery that it was a miracle that Jim survived; well, here we go getting ready for another one. Nobody can tell me that God doesn't do miracles anymore -- keep watching, and you will see!

So, we need to rejuvenate all the prayer chains. Please pass the word that we have a new route planned for this marathon, and we are hoping for a strong finish! Hope you can all keep up!

Prayerfully and with God's Blessings,
Krissy

Day 9 - Post Surgery

Me again!

As predicted, it was another day of relative boredom for our Jimmy. It did help that he had a visitor this morning. His old childhood next door neighbor, Larry Rawn, came to see Jim. It was a very nice surprise to see him when I came into Jim's room. Jimmy was sitting up in his chair already and chatting away. He is definitely getting stronger. He is able to pull himself forward some and can straighten himself when he starts to lean to one side. It's still difficult for him to 'scoot' himself back, but I think a lot of that is just being able to get his feet braced correctly. He is now able to touch his forehead with his left hand and the top of his head with his right. I know that these are such simple things that we take for granted; you should see the look of determination on his face when he struggles to do them -- I am very proud of how hard he works! We are both very anxious to get him into rehab therapy.

Again, I did not receive any updates on our 'pipeline gentleman'. Wouldn't it be nice to hear that he had a good weekend?! Hopefully, we'll hear something about him and also maybe get some news on the plans for Jimmy tomorrow. We're feeling very much in limbo right now, which is just the way it needs to be for now. Dr. Spetzler gets back tomorrow, so I'm really hoping that we might get to see him.

Jim did get a little excitement at the end of the day. They moved him out of ICU and up to the fifth floor. Larry is planning to visit him again in the morning, so I hope he can find him. The speech therapist came up to let us know that they were putting Jim on the list to have an x-ray swallow test tomorrow. I'm not sure that he will be ready to pass enough to switch from his tube feedings to real food, but you never know. He definitely seems to be on a slow and steady track of improving. Baby steps, as long as they are moving in the right direction, are just fine!

Well, that's about all for excitement today. I'm expecting that there will be a lot more going on this upcoming week, so please stay tuned! I'll also try to get more pictures taken for you. Take care and continued blessings to you all. Please continue to stay with us on our journey!

Love,
Kris