A couple of days ago Seth and I realized that it was exactly a year ago that we sat in a cold waiting room in MD Anderson and we were parents of a cancer patient. Our little boy had cancer. After 8 hours of consult we were told to go home and make a decision,  get the tumor out- risking a non-functioning leg in the end and continued need for radiation which would result in sterility, or attempt chemo and radiation and risk the mass matastesizing to his bone thus requiring an amputation. You all know the story. You all prayed for our baby and for us. As the year has progressed God reminds us of his faithfulness when we see Jackson’s scar and when we are reminded by those of you that prayed. It is surreal. We continue to process emotions.  It felt as though God took Jackson away for a little while (through our fears and the actual surgery time where we passed him over into the hands of the surgeons) and then graciously handed him back for us to care for him and enjoy him again. We love him so much.  Before I start sobbing…

On a much lighter note, I have been busy at work trying to find us a place to live for our 9 month time in DC. We have had a few great leads that have led to disappointment but we are now in the process of signing a lease on a place we are really excited about.  It happens to be only 10-15 mins from Ryan and Stephanie and a 3 min walk to the metro. We also have learned that thanks to Obama, Seth will qualify for a subsidy that will cover his metro costs. The townhouse has plenty of room, a small back yard and has a park just a hop and skip away. It has front steps  that are just begging for a big pumpkin and pot of mums in October!! Pray that all of the paperwork will go through quickly and that it will all be official soon!

And for the weekly “something funny” from Jackson: yesterday we ordered Chinese food and ordered beef and broccoli. This  morning Jackson was playing and somehow found the menu. He came to me and said “broccoli!” How on earth did he remember that that menu was from our dinner and he had had broccoli for dinner?!

Jackson is 21 months old today. He continues to surprise us with what he understands and says. Here are some of Jackson’s latest and greatest…

One of his latest acts has been pretending to be a baby wanting to be held like a baby and “talking” like a baby saying “goo goo gaa gaa”. He thinks this is so funny. He says he is being like Ben (our South African friend’s baby).

He discovered Mr. Potato Head in my work cabinet and is obsessing about getting the pieces in.  I am hearing a lot of “Oh no, it’s stuck”.

Jackson is doing lots of pretend play. His favorite is to make muffins or pizza. He often warns us when things are hot and uses a hot pad to get out the hot pretend food.  Last week we had guests for dinner and Jackson warned them that the dinner was hot just in case they couldn’t tell.

Jackson found a harmonica a few weeks ago that Seth bought when he was a baby. Jackson has gotten quite good at it.

He is officially out of his sleep sack, sniff, sniff. He loved that thing and now uses it to cuddle with in his bed. No worries about him being 5 and in a children’s size sleep sack.

Jackson is very interested in potty training but I have to admit I am not yet. I need a little while longer to gear myself up for the work of potty-training. We have out M&M bowl ready and training pants washed and folded in the drawer. I just don’t have the stamina or patience this week to dive in!!   He gets to go when he asks but no all out training in the Kolb house!

Jackson went to a birthday party this week for a 2 year old. There were 40 kids and a great puppet and music show. Jackson was the kid that laughed longer and louder.  I didn’t know if I should be embarassed for him or proud.  I don’t want him to be that obnoxious kid laughing so loud that everyone in the auditorium wonders if he has a problem! He loved it! Much to his disappointment when he realizes there will be no play at the 2 year birthday party. Maybe Seth can do some standup comedy for him.

At my mom’s house Jackson found some birthday hats (I may have mentioned this in the blog about our trip) and insisted that we all wear them and sing. He got the  “Happy Birthday” song in his head and frequently sings “birthday to youoooooooooooooo, YEA!!!!”

Playing the harmonica in his  SpiderMan shirt

Here are a few videos from our trip to Texas.

This one is of Jackson seeing a horse up-close.  He’d seen horses before, but never like this.  Notice his reaction when the horse finally appears in his window.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hy3oYxIuxQE]

The next one is of Jackson, Mia and Grandan out on the lake at the Farm.  It was quite cold that day, especially out on the lake with the wind.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ohMLkFYDGM]

The final one is Jackson with Nama at the Ft. Worth Zoo, checking out the monos.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wU996iLbzLU]

I have spent the last day unpacking and catching up on everyone else’s blogs. I am finally sitting down to sum up our last week. You might want to just read it in installments because it might be overwhelming!

We left for Ft Worth on Friday the 3rd. The flights went quite well with Jackson. We gave in to the temptation to buy a mini dvd player to take along. It was a life saver. Jackson actually sat back for a few minutes and watched Elmo! We arrived in Ft Worth, got to have dinner with my parents and Graham and Tina, and got to congratulate Graham and Tina on their engagement.

We woke up early Sat morning to drive to the farm where I spent Sat with the ladies of the Kolb family having a girls reunion and Jackson and Seth spent the day at the farm. That evening we met up with some of Seth’s aunts and uncles and cousins and their children for dinner.

(jackson with his second cousins once removed or whatever you call your cousins kids)

We spent the weekend at the farm where Jackson could not get enough of the cows and horses. Ever since we left the farm Jackson has a continuous stream of “Old MacDonald and E-I-E-I-O” in his head.  He mixes the lyrics with his Elmo songs which makes it hard for us to sing along.

The highlight of the weekend for Seth was shooting a wild pig. He cut off the ears to bring back to the lakehouse so that we would believe him. The next day we all treked out to see his victim!

We headed back to Ft Worth on Monday afternoon and spent the rest of the week there. We went to the Ft. Worth Zoo, ate at our favorite restaurants and had lots of fun times with Nama and PopPop Seckinger. Jackson loved Noah, my parents dog, and could not resist the urge to grab his tail whenever it was near.

On Friday we went to the Dallas area for a few hours where Jackson met my co-workers from the Infant and Toddler Intervention Program that I used to work at. It was so much fun for everyone to meet Jackson. After our visit there we met Jonathan, Meredith and Luke for lunch.  On our way back to Ft. Worth Seth started to get a bit green with some kind of stomach virus. He had a rough rest of the weekend with roadtrips and a flight.

On Saturday morning we got up, packed up and drove to Houston. We were in Houston less than 24 hours. We squeezed in a quick visit with Bo and Leigh who were visiting from Germany. And we were surprised to get to see Bonnie too who flew in from Florida. We had a family birthday for Lizzy’s 3rd birthday on Saturday evening.  Jackson enjoyed being around his cousins again. (we can’t wait to live in DC near cousins soon) After the party we drove across Houston to Friendswood where Seth’s parents live.

Sunday morning we enjoyed Easter in Friendswood with both sets of grandparents.  We went to church (leaving Seth at home on his death bed).  Jackson did an Easter egg hunt with Tommy and Ella which was a highlight.  After lunch we rushed off to the airport to catch our flight back to Bogota.

It was a fun getaway! We needed the fresh air and time to rest! We had so much fun seeing family and friends. We are officially on the countdown for our Sept 10th departure!!! We will have a month then to see people before diving in to German. We look forward to seeing friends and family that we haven’t gotten to see on our quick trips home!