Well, all is going pretty well for the Bosch clan. Andy recently suggested we should no longer call ourselves the "Bosch family" or "Bosch clan," but the "Bosch pack." We adopted a third dog over the weekend which prompted him to say that. Bella is an adorable beagle pup. She's 6 months old, sweet as can be, and very good. She only had 2 accidents in the house all weekend. Yay! We're working on crate-training and teaching her to ring the bells attached to our patio door to let us know she needs out. The older dogs are good at teaching her too. 

The reason we got Bella is because Holly, our 5 y/o dog has cancer. She had a tumor removed from under her eye, but the cancer unfortunately had spread to her lymphatic system. Our 4 y/o dog is such a love, such a caretaker dog, that he can't be alone. He was so depressed when my sister left and took her dog, and he had Holly to keep him company still. So we got Bella for Ivan. So far so good. They're getting along fine and playing together too, which takes some of the roughhousing off Holly, who's a bit tired and lethargic these days. We don't know how long she'll be with us, but we're treasuring every moment and spoiling her rotten. Once she seems to be on pain and not doing well, we'll take her and have her put down. :( 

We've still not heard anything about the baby. I'm sure we won't until we get "the call," if we do get "the call."  Jordan's birth-mom is due some time before mid January based on when she was incarcerated, so it could be any time. Jordan was a few weeks early. We've got a bag of newborn essentials ready just in case we have to run to the hospital to pick one up. :D We'd not be able to even think about taking on this baby if my health hadn't improved so much. I'm still in a lot of pain a few days a week, but doing much better. As I adjust to the medication I'm on, it will be more effective over longer periods of time.

I feel like we're Grinches this year. All down our street are houses decked to the nines with Christmas lights and such. We've got a few lights on our ivy climbing up a stone pillar out front and that's it. Andy didn't want to climb the ladder to put up the lights since his leg still hurts from his clot(he's doing MUCH better though), and my back surgery and resulting nerve damage down one leg and foot has led to some balance issues for me. Better safe than sorry, so we get to look like Grinches I guess.

The kids are all great! Allaura made the Superintendent's Honor Roll list this past semester. If she keep up her grades, she'll automatically be enrolled in all Honors classes in Middle School next year. Xander is keeping up with the class and doing great with his special ed services in place. He's still not quite reading(other than sight words he's memorized), but he's getting there. Desi is doing great in Kindergarten too and is reading on her own a bit now. She wants to know how everything is spelled and it's no longer "safe" to spell things out in front of her to keep it secret. LOL!  

We had a great time at Connie's for Thanksgiving. Thank you Connie and everyone! It was wonderful to spend time with you all!  

We are hoping we'll get a little dusting of snow tonight. It's supposed to snow at pretty low elevations. I bet Allan and Delcia have a good bunch. We are looking forward to the kids' "Winter Wonderland" assembly this Friday. Allan and Delcia will be coming, then we're going off to celebrate Allan and my birthdays. Fun! We can't wait! Christmas is coming up way to fast and we keep finding we're not as prepared as we thought. LOL! Getting Bella kind of threw a loop into some of our plans, but the right dog became available and we jumped at the chance. 

We hope everyone has a wonderful Holiday season full of merriment and lots of love! 

Update on Jenn's dad

Well, it's over and done with. Jenn's dad had his lower calf and foot amputated on Monday. His options were to spend 3 months hooked up to IV antibiotics, unable to walk at all, then go through another joint replacement surgery with a very high risk of infection again and having to go through it all again and ultimately ending up with an amputation anyway. He's home now and glad to be there, doing well he says. He'll be fitted for a prosthetic in 3-4 weeks depending on how he heals.  

When it rains, it.....

pours.  You know that saying?  Well, I think it's hurricane season. 

In addition to what's been going on with Jenn's health and her Dad's, now Andy is in the ER with a deep vein clot in one leg that goes ankle to groin and one in the other leg behind his knee. Thank goodness he listened to Jenn and went to the ER. They will be letting him go tonight, but he'll be put on heparin injections and blood thinners. He'll most likely be on blood thinners the rest of his life now. They're prescribed a week of strict bedrest.  We'll keep you updated.  

Finally an answer!

Ok, so some of you already know that I(Jenn) have not been in very good health for the past few years. I was diagnosed with diabetes, was doing well, but would get ill often and suffered from bouts of  chronic fatigue. At the time we were placed with Jordan, I was doing great, then I developed severely painful arthritis in my hands and wrists. I was in the middle of seeing specialists to address that when I herniated and ruptured a lumbar disc requiring back surgery and a month spent mostly in bed. 

The back episode may have been a blessing in disguise. The MRI revealed that I have arthritis damage in most of my back and neck. Further imaging diagnostics revealed damage in my hands, knees, ankles, and sacroilliac joint(where hips connect to sacrum). It turns out that I have an autoimmune arthritis disease, a spondyloarthropathy. It is much like Rheumatoid Arthritis, but affects my back, knees, ankles, etc- more joints. The joint damage my father has is most likely related to the same condition(it is genetic). I am now on immuno-suppression therapy to quiet my immune system so it stops attacking my own body and hopefully halts the progression of joint damage.

We've not been very open about just how sick I have been. We had to hide it from social workers at first due to the looming threat from the Indian tribe(we didn't want to give them any more reason to remove Jordan if his birth-father did come forward and paternity test), but now that is no longer an issue. It's been a hard six months or so and we're hopeful that this new therapy will work within a month or two and I'll be back to my busy, crazy, healthy self. 

Jenn's Dad

Jenn's dad had an ankle joint replacement surgery about 8 weeks ago. It did not heal well. His ankle, foot, and leg have a massive infection that goes down to the bone and to the appliance. He may be looking at losing his leg below the knee if they can not get the infection under control. Please join our family in sending out positive thoughts and vibes that he will recover and not require an amputation. Thanks.

        

After much anticipation, worry, stress, and fear, Jordan Russell Bosch was officially adopted into the Bosch family on September 16, 2008.  A few months after he was placed in our home, his birth-mother came forward with his birth-father's name.  He is 1/2 Native American and the Indian tribe wanted Jordan placed with an Indian family once paternity was established.  Thankfully his birth-father refused to come forward for testing which guaranteed Jordan's place in our family forever. 

These pictures are to commemorate his first birthday which we'll be celebrating on October 29th.

We finally have a picture of the whole family. Thank you for taking it Allan.