A Lot Going On

So.....it's been a little over two weeks since I last blogged, but two major things happened in my absence:

1. My dad had open heart surgery.

A few months ago he found out he had a congenital heart defect that was creating an aneurysm in his aorta.  He had the surgery to repair the aneurysm and to replace the valve that was defective.  I'm not gonna lie, it was pretty scary.  My dad is young and healthy, so the risk of death from the surgery was only about 3 or 4 percent, but the fact that they had to cut his chest open, stop his heart, and then start it back up again had us more than a little nervous. 

Thankfully, the surgery was a success and although he has a long recovery ahead, he's doing so great!  My sister, grandparents, and aunt all flew in for the surgery and it was nice to be surrounded by family.  My mom spent every waking minute at the hospital with my dad (she probably would have slept there too if they let her). She has been a rock throughout this whole ordeal. She takes such good care of my dad and I know she's exhausted, but she would never admit it. She is amazing!

And speaking of amazing, take a look at this guy--the picture above was taken the day after surgery and the one below was taken one week after.  My dad is my hero.  He is so strong and has great faith. He never stops pushing himself to be the best he can be.  We are so thankful he is on the mend!

2. Paul was offered, accepted, and started a new job. 

He is now the defensive line coach for the CSU Pueblo (Colorado State University @ Pueblo) football team.  Yay Paul!!  As you can probably guess, this means some big changes for our little family (more on that later).

CSU Pueblo is a Division II school in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference (RMAC).  He started on Monday and is already loving it.  This is a great opportunity for Paul and I am so proud of him.  We are excited to see what this new journey brings!

These past few weeks have been some of the most stressful of my life and I'm so glad they're over..... 

But I have so much to be thankful for and I'm counting all of my many blessings tonight!