Bone Marrow Transplant

For those of you who don't know, Steve had surgery today to donate bone marrow to his brother Tom. The surgery was at City of Hope Hospital in Duarte, CA (the LA area)this morning at 7:30. Everything went great. Steve was in surgery for about 1 1/2 to 2 hours and will be discharged from the hospital within the hour most likely. He is feeling good, although the pain really started to set in when he stood up for the first time! I already picked up his pain medication from the pharmacy here in the hospital, so hopefully we should be good to go. Steve's brother, Tom, is currently receiving his bone marrow cells up on the 6th floor (Steve is on the 1st floor). The doctor said they really won't know until about 3 weeks out if the bone marrow is growing...but Steve is pretty sure his bone marrow is full of all kinds of good stuff and will mesh nicely with Tom =) Thank you for all of your prayers. After a visit to see Tom tonight once Steve is discharged, we will rest at Jeff & Diane's house (Steve's oldest brother & wife) at least for tomorrow and then head back up to Santa Maria on Sat. or Sunday. Here are a couple of pics of Steve in his hospital bed that Barb, Tom's wife, took on her phone...a little blurry, but I had to include them (especially the one with Steve's favorite new contraption...the stockings that inflate that they put on you so that you don't develop any blood clots...Steve is plotting ways to take them home!!)

holy guacamole...

Lily discovered her love for guacamole at her cousin Kale's birthday party!!

11 months old!

Fun with the Ventura DuBranskys

Mike, Bev, Corryn, Jadon and Kiana came down for a visit on Valentine's Day. Mike, Bev, Steve and I all went out on a Valentine's date while grandma and pop pop watched all the kiddos for us. We made dinner at our house and then went to see "A MidSummer Night's Dream" at the Santa Maria PCPA. We had lots of fun hanging out with the kids...and it was nice to have some grown-up time too!

lovin' lily

We love our precious little girl...she is so much fun!

10 months old...past due

Lily is now 10 1/2 months old...where has the time gone? In a month and a half our little newborn baby is going to be 1 year old! I have decided that all parents must say statements like "they're growing up so fast!" about a thousand times over the course of their kids' lives...and I am no different. I find myself continually thinking, when did she get so big? Lily is growing into a little toddler right before our eyes. She continues to be hilarious with her loud voice and unique and bold hand gestures. Just a few days ago she really started crawling! She's been crawling since about six months or so, but she has always done a really fast "military" crawl, but just in the last few days, for whatever reason, she decided it was time to get up on her hands and knees and go for it! We had decided that she was probably content with the military crawl because she was so efficient at it, but she surprised us again. She loves to stand now and walk all around while holding onto the furniture...she's even been standing on her own for 20-30 seconds at a time! Lily has also decided that she loves to dance! Any time she hears music her little behind will start bouncing, it is so funny! She especially likes to dance to this music play table that her Auntie Barb & Uncle Tom got her for Christmas (thanks guys!).



Needless to say, we are so blessed to have this beautiful girl in our lives. Steve and I are continually amazed at the hand of God in our lives. We just started a Bible study and it goes along with the book, "Sheparding a Child's Heart" by Tedd Tripp. We have only read the first chapter, but in it he talks about a verse in Psalms that is the foundation for his book: "Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life." (Psalm 4:23) He reminds us that the heart is the well from which all issues of life gush forth. Through this study we pray that we can become parents to Lily that focus on sheparding her heart and becoming a disciple of Christ.
On a separate note, we would just like to ask for prayers for Steve's brother Tom, his wife Barb and their son Gabriel. Tom will, most likely, be undergoing a bone marrow transplant in the next couple of months (once they, hopefully, find a match from one of his brothers...good thing he has 6 to choose from!). Tom has been through quite the ordeal over the past 6 months or so and could definitely use our prayers. For an update on his health, you can check out the link to their blog, The Highland Park DuBranskys, on the right hand side of the page. Thanks for your prayers for Tom, Barb and Gabriel, and thanks for the love you bring to our lives!

Disneyland!!

Yes, Lily is only 10 months old and she has already been to Disneyland twice! She doesn't even know how spoiled she is =) Actually, we went to Disneyland a second time (we went back in September as well) because our brother, Dave, scored some reservations to the "exclusive" Club 33 inside of Disneyland. Club 33 is a fancy, membership-only, restaurant in New Orleans Square (you can look out from the restaurant and see Tom Sawyer Island) and Dave knows a lady...well, Dave knows everybody...and he was able to get us and our friends, the Elwells, reservations. So, Steve, Lily, me, Brian, Renee, Sydney, Rylee and Dave enjoyed a wonderful day at Disneyland just before the end of my Christmas vacation from work. Lily went on quite a few rides and loved all of them. All three of the girls were so good the whole day.


Lily on the Finding Nemo Submarine ride.




Steve and Sydney on Syd's favorite ride....Dumbo!


Me and Lily cruising on Dumbo


Brian, Renee, and Rylee - on her first Dumbo ride


The highlight of Sydney's day...meeting Cinderella!


Lily saying hi to Fro-Zone


Inside Club 33