Aorta Valve Replacement

Lyn is the third child of his siblings that needed a new aorta valve.  It has been about 2 yrs. since Lyn knew he was going to have to have this procedure done sometime, and he has been going in every 6 months for an echocardiogram.  When the results came back from his test in Feb., the Dr. felt that it was time and a heart catherization in March confirmed that.  A normal aorta valve opens 2.5 cm and the stenosis in his valve was causing his to open less then 1 cm.  His heart is otherwise healthy and they wanted to have the valve replaced before something bad happened to damage the heart.

April 3rd was the big day.  The surgery lasted about 4 hrs. and he was on the bypass machine for about half of that time.  It was nice having Lyn's brother Joe, sisters Erma & Ida, and dad Joe in the waiting room with us.

He had many tubes, wires and machines hooked up after surgery.  He was off of the ventilater by early evening and was up for his first walk by the next evening.

Lyn was in the hospital for 5 days after the surgery.  Having never even been through minor surgery, this has been quite the experience for him.  He came home with restrictions; the 2 main ones were no driving for 4 wks. and no lifting, pushing or pulling anything over 5-10 lbs. for 6 wks.

We are so thankful to the family for their support and to our church family as well.  It was different for us to be on the receiving end of things.  Thanks for all of you who brought meals, sent cards, stopped in for visits, and prayed with us.

We feel like we are finally over the hump.  Every week things seem to get a bitter better.  We are currently at 4 1/2 wks since surgery and are waiting for that 6 wk. mark.  Plans are that Lyn can start cardiac rehab at that point.  This picture was taken at the hospital about 4 days after.  It is healing nicely and looking much better now.

Battle scars

Fun with cousins

What is there to do on a rainy day at the end of March?  I know.....let's play soccer!

Before the game

After the game

Dwight, Devan, Renae, Jewel, Melanie, Philip, Ericka, Daniel

These two were the crazy ones who jumped in the pond afterwards.

March birthdays

March 23, Darryn & Dwight's birthday.

 Where's Darryn?

Dwight - 14 years

 Darryn - 19 years

March 30, Ericka's 17th birthday

Enjoying hanging out with her friends Brianna, Meghan, & Mary

Ericka's Nicaragua Trip

I had the opportunity to go on a missions trip to Nicaragua with my church in the beginning of February. The week I was there, we worked at CICRIN Orphanage on the Island of Ometepe in Lake Nicaragua. A lot of our time was spent getting to know the kids. We did Bible stories, crafts, and games with them. One of the highlights was being able to give each kid a gift that was prepared especially for them. They included socks, underwear, clothes, school supplies, and of course some toys.

Acting out the good samaritan

Gifts

On two of the days, we went to two local churches and did women's and children's ministry. This included songs, a story, crafts, and presents for everyone that came. 

Some of the fun things I got to do....

Hike to a beautiful waterfall

Go swimming in it!

Go to the beach and kayak with all the kids from the orphanage.

Eat DELICIOUS ice cream.

Get to know the kids really well and to be able to play with them.

Eat a whole fish

This & That

....Calves # 2 & #3 were born on Valentines Day.  Unfortunately calf #2 didn't make it.  It died a few hrs. after it was born which we discovered later was due to a birth defect.  So sad.  Calf # 3 was born late afternoon.  We knew the mom was in labor, but it was too cold to just stand outside and watch so we missed the actual birth.  We were there minutes after the birth and all stood by the fence watching the calf try to get up.  Pretty amazing.

....Ericka spent 10 days in Nicuaragua with a group from our church that went down with Lyn's sister Maryann & Kirk.  I am hoping she will do a post about that.

....We spent time at our Pastor's Conf. which was in southern IN this year.  We flew to Louisville for that and then we flew from there to another conf. in St. Petersburg, FL which began the day after the first conf.  Kinda crazy, but nice to get away.  The second conf. was held at a hotel right on the beach and it had some free time mixed in so we were able to enjoy the beach and the warm weather too.  The kids were all still alive when we returned so I guess they made out ok in our absence.  It's nice to be able to do that, although the mom still wonders and worries.

....It was also the month for science fair projects.  Not the most favorite event in our house.  We were all pleasantly surprised to see that Dwight's project took 1st place, Renae's got 2nd and Devan got a 100%!  Maybe all these years of helping kids with projects is starting to pay off.

Unfortunately, not one picture of these events.  :(

Byler Family Addition

Friday morning, February 7, we received the call from Grandpa Byler that there were 4 cows in the pasture. The kids jumped from the breakfast table to run out and see our first calf before they left for school.  Lyn's dream of having cows was fulfilled this past fall with the purchase of 3 pregnant Black Angus; looking forward to 4 becoming 6.  Grandma can watch the cows from her sewing room window and periodically calls with "concerns" or updates on what they are doing; since the calf has been born it's been calls of "the calf's been laying down all afternoon" to "I think there's another one in labor."  I think both of them are enjoying their neighbors as much as we are.

Happy Birthday, Renae

Renae always shares her birthday with Mr. Groundhog (Feb. 2).  This year she got to share it with the Super Bowl as well.  She wasn't very thrilled about that, but I think it turned out ok after all.  Her friend Mary was able to be here for lunch and the evening so that made it fun.

12 years old