The Adventures of Holas~ Part Tres

Here is the third installment of  The Adventures of Holas, our Advent Elf.  As all things that go so well in my head, execution is ANOTHER thing.  Our sweet Sawyer had to have surgery on December 17th, to have his tonsils and adenoids removed and his ear tubes replaced.  Because he is younger, just turned 3, Dr. said it would be an overnight stay, possibly more.  With that in mind, Holas was in our thoughts, but not at the forefront of our concerns.  

Also, if you recall, during their last "mission" there was some arguing so Holas had to stay away.  When the kiddos awoke on the morning of the 17th, he was back with a note that read:

"I am soooo happy to be back home with you guys! Thanks for apologizing to each other and to your parents and for forgiving one another.  There is plenty of God's love that we do not need to fight over it! Keep up being kind."

MISSION #11

 "These are some magic beans.  Plant them in this pan before you go to school and see what happens. "

My mom was with the kiddos when they woke up because we had to check in at the hospital at 5:30 am.  She said they thought the beans were really cool, but their main concern was little brother.  

After she picked them up from school, they ran home to get a "get well " present for Sawyer.  When they went inside, they saw that their magic beans had turned into cookies!! With the cookies, was a new note that read "I miss Sawyer too.  Please take these special cookies up to the hospital for all the nurses that are taking care of our little brother."

They brought the cookies up to the hospital and apparently had a few on the way, because the pan WAS full at one point:) They also brought Holas up to see Sawyer, but Sawyer was not the happiest to see Holas...

The nurses LOVED the cookies, well the ones that got them.  One of the nurses even recognized our little elf and told the kids all about how her kiddos had an elf when they were little...40 some years ago!!! 

We also finished our novena for Sawyer on this day.  There is so much comfort in Christ, we are blessed to know of His love. 

 Here are a few pics of Sawyer too.  The top left is after the surgery, then he was slowly getting better (first smile in 36 hours!)...then we were trying anything and everything to get him to drink by himself so he didn't need the IV ( 7pm night #2), then we got the ok to be dismissed and he was out of there!!!

MISSION ACCOMPLISHED!

MISSION #12

"Hanging around is not always fun.  Say a special prayer for the souls in Purgatory that are "hanging around" hoping to get into Heaven soon!"

I stayed at the hospital with Sawyer overnight, and Cody came home to take care of the other three kiddos and let my mom finally go home.  I told him to hang Holas from something....he chose the light.  

I informed him that Holas had already hung from the light but it was too late...The kiddos had found him and he said they seemed fine with the fact that Holas had chose the light again.  

Before they went to school, they all three prayed for the souls in purgatory!

MISSION ACCOMPLISHED!

MISSION #13

 "YOU HAVE THE NICEST NEIGHBORS! I went for a walk and got lost and ended up on Patsy! I got to hang out with your neighbors and had fun! Make something nice for all your neighbors.!"

A HUGE thanks to my amazing neighbor Dawn for helping with Holas! They were such good sports about hosting Holas and the kiddos thought it was hilarious that Holas got lost.  The top picture is of Patsy and Holas.  Dawn sent me a text in the morning asking the kids if they recognized this elf that ended up at their house?! Then she sent the picture of Holas sleeping with Ben.  What I love even more than the gracious heart Dawn has, is the fact that above Ben's bed (in the corner of the picture) is a picture of our Diocesean seminarians, such a great family!

 Here are the kiddos making neighbor treats and getting ready to deliver them. Holas helped deliver them too:)

 Here are a FEW of the treats we also received from our wonderful neighbors! Some had already been enjoyed when I took this picture:)

MISSION ACCOMPLISHED!

MISSION #14

 "Come follow me and I will make you fishers of men. ~ Say a Rosary for all the seminarians, priests, and retired priests."

Holas was just fishing for goldfish, but when Jesus was on earth, He fished for great men to continue his work.  Originally it was my intention to make some goodies up and go visit the retired priests.  But at this point in the week, I was spent and decided the treats would have to wait.  Either way, the kids and I talk about vocations a lot and Cohen talks about being a priest, although I know he has YEARS to change his mind.  I love that they think highly of any religious life and see it as an honor.  It was kind of ironic because on the day of this mission, December 20th, at school they were visited by one of their "adopted" seminarians.  I had no idea Issac was going to visit them at school when the mission was chose, but Miayla was so excited to tell me how cool it was to pray for him in the morning and see him at school later that day! There are many things I love about them going to a Catholic school, one of them being the presence of visitors like seminarians and priests.  It warms my heart to have them have these positive influences interact with them. 

We prayed the rosary later that night for all religious life.

MISSION ACCOMPLISHED!

MISSION #15

"It's ok, I'm a doctor.....JUST KIDDING! But lucky for you, you do have an amazing doctor and he has an amazing team! Please take a special treat up to Dr. Sanchez and thank him for all he does!"

Every year we take treats up to Dr.Sanchez's office and every year he is soooooo thankful.  He always takes pictures of the kids with said goodies and is very humble about his skill.  We adore all of his nurses as well and are so grateful that when we get sick, those are the arms that help heal us.  And since Sawyer was feeling better, he helped in the making of the treats!!

However, because like many things, it played out much better in my head:) The morning we were taking the treats, we were waiting for Kaia to wake up.  She rarely gets up before 9:30 am (yes she sleeps from 8pm-9:30am every night), but I noticed it was getting later and later.  Since I also go by the rule you never wake a sleeping baby, I let her sleep....but then it got a little too late (she had been asleep for 15 hrs straight)  and I freaked out.  When I went in to wake her, you could tell she was sick immediately.  I took her temp and it was 103.2 :(  I called the doctor ASAP and two things happened, 1. They said they were booked for the day and I would have to take her to immediate care and 2. Dr. Sanchez had taken the day off :)

So with this information, I decided that we shouldn't spread Christmas cheer since he was gone and she was sick.  I loaded her up and went to immediate care where we waited for a few hours and found out she had a double ear infection.  We went ahead and sent our Christmas thank yous and decided we would make treats again for them soon. 

MISSION ACCOMPLISHED...SORT OF:)