Alex's Sunburst

Alex made this at school this week. It is a painted on white paper, then cut out and pasted to blue construction paper. It is a little larger than would fit on the scanner but this gives you the idea.

Alex's Week Ending Feb. 3, 2006

At school I made a headband and a bracelet out of connecting plastic pieces that I got to bring home. I got enough Play Points to open a new mini-game in Super Monkey Ball 2 on our GameCube. We played a new game in Music class called Cut The Cake. Grammy came to see us today. We picked her up at the airport during a snowstorm. We might make a snowman tomorrow if we have enough "snowman snow".

[This is the first of what I hope to be a weekly feature on the Evans Family Blog, similar to a Newsletter that his class does for school each week. I'm transcribing, but eventually he may type these in. -JE]

Alex's MidTerm Report Card

Ok, he really doesn't get a report card. We sat down with his teacher and reviewed his progress so far. Becky had to do the last one by herself in October because I was in Louisiana. Overall he's doing very well. He's one of the best readers in his class and had strong academic strengths all around. His biggest areas of concern were mostly with behavior issues. At times he is a follower when other kids are misbehaving. He also will do anything for a laugh and doesn't know when enough goes to too much. I'd say we've seen a general improvent in this since last year as he has gotten older and is in a smaller class. By the end of the conversation we were quite pleased overall with what we heard. The areas of improvement he has to work on were about what we expected.

This week we met with the Head of the Lower School to find out what 1st grade would be like. They actually spend 2 years in the Primary level of Lower School, correspoinding to 1st and 2nd grade. So, he'll be joining some kids who've already been there a year, many of them he'll be rejoining from when they advanced out of Kindergarten last year. This pattern continues through Middle School ("8th grade") so he'll get to know the kids in his grade level and one year in either direction. This allows older kids to help him when he needs it and for him to reinforce what he knows by helping kids younger than him. We think it's a great system. We were very satisfied after talking to the Lower School Head about what next year holds for him. We're going to start doing "homework" now several nights a week - having Alex read to us or doing a workbook page - to prepare him for what he will be doing next year.

Comings and Goings

What a day! The President gave his State of the Union address today and the state of our union is...wait for it...strong. The Oscar nominees were named and were populated by a bunch of movies we haven't seen. Samuel Alito was confirmed as Supreme Court Justice, likely tipping the Court to the right. Coretta Scott King died today at 78. Alan Greenspan stepped down after 18 years as Chairman of the Federal Reserve. Twins were born in my practice today and my oldest patient died a peaceful but sudden death at 103. She was on virtually no medicine and got out of the house everyday. She always had a smile on her face and made my day every time I saw her. All of this will take a few days to sink in.

Our New Nephew

Manning Bryce Evans was born to my brother Mark and his wife Melinda today. He was 8# 2 oz. and 19 inches long. Mom, baby, and the rest of the family are doing well. Welcome, Manning!

Aaron's New Words

Aaron has been saying several new words lately after a drought that seemed at times intentional. Including today's "toe", his latest are "no", "yoyo", "home", and "two".

Will Rogers Follies

Last Sunday Becky and I saw The Will Rogers Follies as a part of the Broadway series at the local Stranahan theater. It was a musical Ziegfield Follies-style production of Will Rogers' life. Growing up in Oklahoma, I had learned a lot about Will Rogers growing up. I went to Will Rogers Elementary through the 4th grade. We went on field trips to the Will Rogers Museum in Claremore. I didn't really realize until the musical what a big radio, movie and newspaper columnist star he was. I linked him in my head to Mark Twain, I guess because of all the wonderful quotes that they produced, though they really worked in different media. It wasn't the best show we've seen this season, but it was fun and had several memorable tunes. A must see for any Will Rogers fans, this won the Tony for Best Musical over Miss Saigon in 1991. It looks like its playing in Oklahoma with Larry Gatlin (a different cast than the one we saw) for a couple of weeks if you're interested.

Sitting at the Big Table

I'd like to take a moment to bid adieu to the high chair that has been a part of our lives for 6 years. There was about 1 year in between the boy where it took a hiatus. But both boys are sitting at the big table now and the high chair is in a children's resale shop. We will not miss tripping over it, but Aaron will miss using it as a jungle gym.

Halloween 2005 - Buzz & Rex - Take 2

We went to Portrait Innovations at the end of the year last year and took some more pictures in the kids Halloween costumes. They were too cute to wear just once I guess. Alex would wear his every day if we let him.

A Pirate Adventure

Last night we went to see Dora Live! A Pirate Adventure - a live action stage show of one of the kids favorite shows. We tugged in booster seats to make it easier for them to see, but Aaron still spent much of the show in my lap. There were chances to yell back at the performers and dance in front of our seats. Alex enjoyed it but didn't participate much. Aaron was amazed to see the performers singing his favorite Dora the Explorer and Go, Diego, Go! songs. They got Dora lights and fun memories for souvenirs.

Embracing Paper

I love paper. I never thought I’d be saying something like this. It seems I have always been trying to go more and more digital. My 1st handheld computer was a Velo 1 which I upgraded to an HP Jornada 680 until I realized that I kept advising everyone who asked me to get a Palm PDA, which of course I did too. In addition I digitally record TV, listen to digital music on my iPod, get weather maps on my digital phone and read email from Becky on my digital pager. With all this, I was baffled as to how I could be so digitally enhanced and so disorganized. My latest handheld Palm OS PDA, a Sony Clie TJ-35, has a calendar, address book, and to do list, so why wasn’t I getting anything done? The Palm OS is the simplest, most intuitive handheld platform on the market, but to enter a To Do item I still had to pull it out, turn it on, pull out the stylus, navigate to the To Do section, pick New To Do Item from a menu, and then either type it in on a tiny onscreen keyboard or use Grafiti – special 1-2 stroke gestures I learned to write on the screen for it to recognize them as letters – to enter the item. It took a minute or two, but often I was so busy that I wouldn’t do it. I’d either try to juggle it in my head or I’d jot it on a scrap of paper and shove it in my pocket to either remind me about the To Do item or enter into my Clie when I had time.

A few months ago I stumbled onto a reference online to the Hipster PDA. I built my own from scratch at home for less than $1 and it changed my life. The Hipster is a stack of 3x5” note cards and a binder clip. That, plus a pen, has helped me get more things done in the last few months than all of my digital sources combined. I have one card with a To Do list (write it down, cross it off), one card that just list the next action I need to take to complete something on my To Do list, Project cards for items that have multiple steps, monthly calendar cards where I can jot events down quickly and retrieve them at a glance, a shopping cards for things I want to get for myself or others, a Someday/Maybe card for bigger ideas that I want to ruminate on, and a few blank cards for whatever else I need. I still use my PDA all the time. It is great for storing and searching databases like my Epocrates medication reference or my address book (though I do keep a card in the Hipster with frequently called numbers on it).

My latest paper acquisition is a Moleskine pocket journal. It is slightly larger than my Hipster, with creamy pages bound beautifully in a hard cover that closes with an integrated elastic band. It has a woven ribbon to mark what page I was on. Its almost too beautiful to write in...almost. I’m using it for more permanent thoughts – short term goals, a journal entry, a record of Aaron’s first words so far. I have a larger journal I have been filling for 3 years now, but it is too big to carry around routinely, so I hope to do more writing because I can carry it easier. Think about adding a little bit of useful paper to your life, too.

Happy New Year 2006

We hope your New Year is full of Joy and Peace.

Alex's 6 Year Checkup

We took Alex to his yearly checkup today and he is doing just fine. He's over his ear infection except for a little bit of fluid behind the eardrum. For those keeping score, he was 48.5 lbs. and 45.5 in. tall - just at the 50th %ile for his age. He's growing up to fast - but at least he's healthy. He was just happy to have a checkup with no shots.

Castaway Bay

We just got back from Castaway Bay in Sandusky, OH. It is a hotel with an indoor waterpark attached. We got their yesterday, checked in and went straight to the waterpark. We broke for dinner and spent some time in the arcade where we won enough tickets to get a toy crab. We crashed in our room and got up the next day, checked out, and did the waterpark again until this evening. We're tired, but we had a lot of fun. For the record, someone else bagged the shark.

Our Year in Pictures 2005

This is a video I made using Photostory 3 for WindowsXP. It is a journey in pictures through 2005. It is about 11.5 minutes long but a lot of fun if you are a fan of our children, which of course are featured prominently throughout as they are what we most often take pictures of. I intentionally did not include pictures from my relief effort in Louisiana in October - I wanted this to be about everything our family did together this year. I may make a separate photostory with those. This video player is courtesy of youtube.com. If you have trouble playing it, make sure you have the latest version of Macromedia Flash Player installed on your computer. It is free, safe and easy to download from here. If it won't play, follow this link.

Decluttering for 2006

I've recently set some short term goals for myself that I try to look at everyday. A couple of them are centered around decluttering our house and my office. One problem that I have is that I never seem to have enough time. Time spent at the office decluttering is more time away from my family, for example. The problem with this logic trap is that clutter takes time anyway. It takes time on a regular basis to put it away, store it, move it, think about it, etc. not to mention the time it takes to recover after tripping over it. I think about it this time of year as we are giving and receiving presents to/from loved ones. We try not to give people things that would just clutter up their lives. We also try to integrate our new gifts with our current lifestyle and small house. Let me be clear, clutter is not necesarily trash (though trash most assuredly is clutter). Clutter can be old things that you've been packratting for years or a shiny new gift that you have no use for. Decluttering is not an event but an ongoing process. There will be events - like decluttering a particular room or cabinet - but it also involves planning places and uses for the things you do have and thinking about non-cluttering - avoiding clutter before it enters your life. An excellent source for learning about clutter and decluttering is just about any book by Don Aslett.
Starting this week and moving into 2006, I'm going to try to systematically declutter my life. I want my life, home and office filled with things that make me happy, productive, and at peace, that let me interact with my family and friends, that help me remove stress and not add stress. I want to share pictures and videos with those that care to see them, instead of just store them on a hard drive or on a shelf. That's one of the reasons I started this blog. Home decluttering will require planning and compromise with Becky. She and I have different perspectives on this sometimes, but we've made it work before. I may describe some of the process here if I think it would be useful. Decluttering pays dividends everyday. Time to get started.

The Wardrobe Beckons

Becky and I went to see The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe last night and we would strongly recommend this to all. I have always been a fan of the Narnia books. Becky has read this one and seen the animated version as well. This movie version was absolutely the way it should have been done as a live action movie. The performances were excellent by all, especially the children. The digital animation was great. Since several of the characters are animals, they could blend shots of a real pack of wolves running with animated shots of them talking without us being able to tell the difference. This effect was done nicely with horses too. There are some intense scenes and swordfighting violence, but virtually no gore. We didn't feel like we could let our kids see it yet, but at the same time we were eager for the day when we could show it to them because it was a great movie from a great book. I got Alex the book set for Chrstimas and I plan on reading them to him over the next year.

Children's Wonderland

We took this kids back to the Children's Wonderland at the Lucas County Rec Center. It is a large collection of displays of winter and holiday dioramas animated with animatronic figures. The highlights were the Christmas train and the talking tree that enticed us to sing "Rudolph" with him. Alex is still amazed at how the tree knew he was there and would talk to him. Aaron loved a large globe spinning from the ceiling above the Holiday Traditions of the World display.

Alex's Winter Concert 2005

Today was Alex's winter concert at school. THe entire preschool/kindergarten class performed songs they had been working on all semester so there was a mix of general song and rhythm exercises and Halloween, Thanksgiving, and of course several winter holiday tunes. The biggest hit (and kid favorite) was "All I Want For Chrithmuth Ith My Two Front Teeth". Alex was just getting over a cold but he did a great job. We were all there to see it and Aaron was very tickled to se "Bubba" up on stage. He even danced to many of the songs in front of his auditorium chair when the kids on stage were dancing and clapped when everyone else did. We can't wait for the spring concert.

Putting up the tree

We put up our new artificial tree last week and let the boys put some balls on it. It is 7 1/2 feet tall with lights already attached. The ends of the branches are shaped like spruce leaves which overall makes for a very nice effect. The lights have an attached foot pedal for easy on and off. The kids loved decorating it, though Alex tend to pick a favorite spot and cluster his ornaments. We redistributed them after they went to bed.

Alex's 6th Birthday

We spent Alex's 6th birthday in Oklahoma at Nana and Papa's house. It was also Thanksgiving. He got to have the party with his cousins Marli and Marcus. We had pizza and had a moon rock scavenger hunt to go with his Buzz Lightyear party. Then he opened some presents and had cake and ice cream. Later that evening we had Thanksgiving dinner.

Becky's Jewelry

Becky was introduced to making jewelry several months ago by her mom. She loves putting together earrings, bracelets, and necklaces and her pieces are looking great. She's even been taking some classes at a local college. Here's a few of her recent ones.

Paella

I tried a new recipe for paella last night that was very tasty. I modified it slightly from a recipe in Parade magazine by Paul Angelucci. It is a modification of a traditional Spanish dish. It even came out a little sweet. This recipe serves 8 - the next time I'm going to cut it in half. Prepare as much ahead of time as you can.

For the rice:
2 Tbs olive oil, 2 cups converted rice, 1 large onion - chopped, 2 Tbs chopped garlic, 1 c. salsa, 4 c. hot chicken broth

For the rest:
2 Tbs olive oil, 1 large onion - chopped, 1 lb. smoked sausage - sliced 1/2 in. thick, 2 tsp paprika, 1 lb. chicken breast cut into 1 1/2 in. pieces, 2 carrots - cut into 1/2 inch dice, 1 red bell pepper - seeded and cut into 1/2 in. dice, 2 Tbs. chopped garlic, salt and pepper to taste, 1 lb large peeled shrimp, 2 c. frozen peas - thawed

For the Rice: Heat the oil in a large pot over medium heat. Add the rice and onion: cook, stirring occasionally, until the rice begins to brown lightly - about 12 minutes. Add the garlic and cook for 1 minute longer. Add the salsa and stir until liquid is absorbed. Stir in the hot chicken broth and bring to a boil, then reduce the heat to a simmer, cover and cook for 20 minutes. Remove from the heat and let it rest, covered, for 20 minutes.

For the rest: Heat the oil in a large pan over medium-high heat. Add the onion and smoked sausage and cook, stirring, until the onion softens. Sprinkle in the paprika and cook for 1 minute. Add the chicken, carrots, bell pepper, garlic and salt/pepper to taste. Cook, stirring frequently until the chicken is cooked through. Add the shrimp and peas and cook until the shrimp turns pink. Mix it with the rice and serve.

Hairspray the Musical

On Sunday we saw the matinee showing of Hairspray the Musical. Neither of us had seen it before, nor the John Waters movie on which it was based. This was a great show - one of the best we have ever seen. The music was very catchy and varied. We really loved the message in the show - you can't always judge a book by its cover. Please try to see this whenever you can. You'll love it.

Alex's Kid Party

Alex's birthday is in less than 2 weeks, but since it is so close to Thanksgiving every year (actually on it this year), it is hard to have a "kid" party without everyone being out of town. So, we had it today at Chuck E. Cheese's. Alex had about 17 of his friends there. They played games, rode rides, ate pizza, danced with Chucky and ate a little cake. Alex had a blast and it seemed like everyone else did too.

Sesame Street Live 2005

Last night we went to the 2005 production of Sesame Street Live when it came to the Seagate Convention Center. The theme was "Super Grover: Ready For Action!" and it was great. The kids got to see their favorite Sesame Street characters dance and sing about getting your superness by getting plenty of sleep, eating good food, keeping clean with good hygiene, and exercising your muscles. Both of them loved it.

Our Sweet Boys

Becky wanted a picture of the boys together for a special project she has planned. We couldn't have asked for sweeter smiles, and a nice hand hold from Aaron.

Alex's Kindergarten Picture

This is Alex's 2005-06 Kindergarten picture. What a great smile!

Surgery in the mobile clinic

On our first day in New Orleans, we set up a clinic from 9 to 5 in an empty hospital parking lot in a part of town that had been flooded. The first day started a little slow, but we got busier as word of our presence spread. Some New Orleans police officers came by and got immunizations that they hadn't had a chance to get yet. A few hours later one of the cops we helped brought in a fellow officer who had been injured in his own home. He had been using a carpet knife to cut out rotted carpet from his own home and had sliced right across his index finger. It missed major vessels and tendons, but needed to be sewn up. The nurses on our team cleaned it out and we quickly assembled a suture kit, sterile gloves, and suture. I was able to close the wound right there in the mobile VA truck that had come down from NY for us to use. He would have to follow up at an area hospital that had re-opened - the closest was 30-45 minutes away - to get the stitches out in a few days. I did 2 other laceration repairs in that location.

Katrina mission pictures are online

I've put pictures from my trip to Louisiana online at http://jevansfp.photosite.com/Katrina/. If you click on a picture on the bottom of the filmstrip, it will pop up to the center picture spot. If you click on the center picture, it will blow up to a larger one with captions and you can then use the arrow keys to move through one at a time. There is also a slideshow button which takes them fullscreen. On each of the single photo pages there is a "Save to my computer" link. If you need a higher quality copy to print, let me know and I'll email it to you. There were several pictures that didn't come out well on the disposable cameras I had - either too dark or out focus. You can use or share these however you wish. Also, please email me with any questions about any of the pictures. I am getting pictures from other people I was there with and will put some of the more interesting ones up on this blog with some more details.

Jason

Primary Care Strike Team 4

This picture was taken after we visited the Baton Rouge warehouse for the 1st time. The warehouse manager came out and took this with each of our cameras - what a great sport.

Top: Jason (me), Rich, Cliff, Rueben, Pam
Bottom: Cindy, Jen, Tracy, Jim, Mehrdad

Halloween 2005 - Buzz & Rex

Alex dressed up as Buzz Lightyear for Halloween this year - costume that he has been talking about for about 11 months now. He's already planning next year's. The goggle have headlamps on either side that turn on by clicking the goggles down over his eyes. This "Buzz pose" shows up so often in our un-costumed family pictures that it has banned from serious photos - this however was the perfect occasion for it. Aaron was about the cutest dinosaur we have ever seen. He even practiced a cute dinosaur stomp and roar.

Halloween Pumpkins 2005

This year Alex designed his own pumpkin with a scary face, complete with moustache, and Grammy carved it. Becky did a dragon in front of a castle and Jason did a werewolf. Happy Halloween!

Back in Toledo

I'm not sure how many have been following along with this blog, but I arrived in last night to the wonderful arms of my family. I ate, played with the kids and unpacked a little. I slept for 11 hours and I'm glad I've got today to gather myself before plunging back into my life. I am working at the residency tomorrow morning and I'm on call for the weekend which includes Saturday AM office hours. I'll have more stories to tell, but I am going to get some pictures back and illustrate them.

Another Team 4 Blog

I don't know how long this link will last, but to read a little more from one of my teammates, go to this link and look for the entries from Jennifer Holmes. As of now they are right on top. There are some pictures of her and Camp Allen.

Into New Orleans

I am back at Camp phoenix housed in the Louisiana School for the Visually Impaired (where they have a computer lab) after 2 days in New Orleans. Our team met a mobile truck from a VA hospital in New York that has 2 exam rooms, vaccine fridges and some medical equipment attached to the walls. On the 1st day I sewed up a police officer's finger and a 17 yr old Hispanic laborer's head. We gave out a lot of vaccines, especially tetanus shots. The team stationed there today was short 2 doctors and I volunteered to go with them while the rest of my team served shelters in the surrounding area. I am going back with my team to New Orleans tomorrow (Monday). We have felt very safe and all the people are grateful we are there. I only brought disposable cameras, but I will be posting pictures as the weeks go by once I get back. I plan to annotate them and give more detail. I'll likely never do anything like this again. I have been changed in ways that I am only beginning to sense - most of them positive. I am already more flexible - our team motto is "Semper Gumby" - Always Be Flexible. I realized with absolute clarity that I have a good life that won't ever be taken for granted. I can organize myself and other people quickly when the need is there. Give me a cot, a sleeping bag, and ear plugs and I can sleep anywhere (tonight is a school gym). I can eat MRE's and enjoy them. I can be pulled out of my element and make new friends. I can take to patients in Spanish and not totally embarrass myself. I only cried once, in a police station bathroom at Port Fourchon where everything hit me all at once while listening to Pink's "18 Wheeler" on my iPod - the devastation I had seen, the patients who are try to simultaneously survive in shelters and rebuild their lives in a ruined city, missing my family and friends. I'm back in N'Awlins tomorrow with my team. I'll be home soon. Thanks for all your support that you've shown Becky and I during this time.

Port Fourchon/Grand Isle - Part 2

Port Fourchon/Grand Isle - Part 1

Down on the Bayou

Becky's update from Jason

Jason just called and his team of 10 is off to another mission. They have a caravan of a RV, minibus, minivan and a Range Rover. As Jason mentioned in his audio blog, they are going to rural Louisiana that hasn't seen any health professionals since Katrina. That makes my heart hurt. They are heading to Tribido, LA and plan to stay at least one night. He took all of his camp gear except the cot. He said they had a place to stay and will let me know where that is when he calls me tonight. It sounds like they will be doing some incredible and desperately needed work. I am so proud of him. There are times like this when I am convinced this is why Jason was meant to be a physician. What an amazing experience!

Recording Becky's e-mail update

I just wanted to have my e-mail from today to have on hand to look back on in the future.

Jason has been very busy the last 3 days. Some of you know that he has been working in a mobile unit (mini van) going around to shelters and churches. He was instrumental in getting the mobile units started. They hadn't had any, just makeshift clinics. The demand is greater in the evening since victims are looking for work and FEMA aide during the day. His team has now expanded to 10 with Docs, nurses, first response firemen (which Jason says has come in handy) and a Dept. of Public Health civil engineer (his normal work is to design and build new water facilities after a disaster). Jason's team is the 4th team out of 4 so far. They are seeing people who have had no health care since Katrina occurred. People have been off their regular meds this whole time. If a victim is living in a shelter then Jason writes a script from a special FEMA pad and that person can go to a local pharmacy and get it filled for free. I know we have heard so much bad press about FEMA and they could and should do more. There definitely should have had more preparedness, but Jason is seeing first hand the bureaucracy between local and federal governments and how difficult it seems to get things organized. Jason is seeing and working with a lot of good people trying to help our fellow Americans. The head nurse on Jason's team (she is also in that capacity in a hospital in Ann Arbor) just got word that her 18 year old son who is a quarterback had to be rushed to the hospital with probably a torn ACL. As far as I know she plans to stay with the team for now. I mention this just to illustrate that there are so many who are sacrificing to help.
In Jason's "tent city" there are 150 residents in his tent and there are about 20 of those tents. There is laundromat like tent,mess tent, showers and port-a-potties.
Jason told me last night that 3 real medical mobile unit bus like vehicles were parked outside and they were hoping to get one of those today.
Yesterday was a big day for Jason, his team, the shelter residents and FEMA relief efforts. You will hear a lot about this on the news. Jason is treating patients at the very first victim relief trailer park. Jason said it is awesome. It sounds like the President may even visit down in their area today or tomorrow. This is the first time something of this magnitude was built for disaster victims. It is in Baker, LA if you want to Google some articles. There are 580 trailers with a/c, water and sewer and they have designed it to look like a neighbor hood. Jason said once the government has acquired the land it takes 2 weeks to lay down power, establish water and sewer and move in the trailers that are equipped with government contracted supplies (sheets, dishes etc.) They can have them totally free for 18 months. There will be more of these trailer communities once they get the land. Jason has talked to many people that have been so distraught for 6 weeks and yesterday they were so happy when they saw their trailer. So many were so happy to have a regular bed. One lady offered to give Jason her air mattress when she heard he was sleeping on a cot. He declined. I sent Jason down there with a big bag of goodies to hand out to the kids. He said they are a big hit. I can imagine the sweet smiles.
The team has taken one of the trailers and using it as a vaccination clinic. The Head of the Department of Health came by and saw the work Jason's team was doing and was so thrilled. He said this is how the relief effort should work. Jason is working with people from all over the country.
Ok, I think that is all I have for now. Jason and I are so excited about the work he doing, so I wanted to pass it along.

Love to all,
Becky

FEMA trailer park in Baker, LA

Serving Shelters in Mobile Team 4

Federalization at the JFO

Arrived in Baton Rouge

Calling Baton Rouge

As many of you already know, my offer to assist medical relief efforts for Hurricane Katrina victims was accepted by the Department of Health and Human Services. I am leaving today for 2 weeks to work as a primary care physician for those stranded away from their homes and their doctors in the southern Louisiana area. For now, I expect to be in Baton Rouge, but I don't know if that's where I'll end up. The Government is flying me down and providing lodging (might be a cot in a tent) and meals. I'll be "federalized" which will make me a temporary, non-paid federal employee. I wanted to help this way because it is an organized response where they can put me to use right away, though my first impulse was to drive down and look for a place I could help. They saved me a spot, which also means another physician is going to get to go home and be with his or her family, just like someone will come and relieve me in two weeks so I can be with mine. Thank you in advance for all the support you are going to give Becky during these times. Anything you do for her makes it easier for me to be down there to help out. I'm so grateful for her support, your support, and the support of my colleagues, staff, and patients at my office. Depending on cell phone coverage, I'm going to try to leave audioblog comments here about how I'm doing and what I'm seeing, since I seriously doubt I'll be near a computer for 2 weeks. Just press the play button when you see it. -Jason

Aaron saying "Daddy" & "Mama"

MacQueen's Apple Butter Festival

Every year, on the 1st weekend in October we try to make it to the MacQueen's Orchard Apple Butter Festival in Holland, Ohio. This year we were able to go along with some of Alex's friends from school. We got to ride some rides, eat some treats, watch cider and apple butter being made, and of course pick some apples. Aaron tried to pick up a pumpkin about his size. Alex rode on a pony; he swears his name was "Bandam", but I suspect it was something more like "Bandana". This is one of our favorite community events that we look forward to months in advance. We came home with a half bushel of assorted apples, some apple butter, a gallon of cider, and a lot of fun memories. We can't wait until next year!