Almost New Year!

I can hardly believe Christmas has come and gone. We had an exausting couple of days and even though it was fun I'm kinda glad it's all over.
On the 24th we spent the day at my inlaws, went to midnight mass and then went to my parents for a cup of hot cocoa, and presents, of course. Then on the 25th we had lunch at my uncle's (my Mom's brother) and then dinner at my aunt's (my Dad's sister). So as you can imagine, R had tons of gifts and we were all exausted by the time we got home on the 25th.
And then at 3.30 am, my sister inlaw calls me to tell us she's engaged to be married! I was thrilled, but she didn't have to wake us up in the middle of the night.

New Year's Eve should be much calmer. We have a small party at a friends house but my sister has no plans yet, so we've decided that we'll go to her house if they don't have plans by then. Either way, it will be a small party, nothing fancy.

We're also preparing for the surgery. My sister inlaw (the bride to be) will stay with me and the kids while Zé Maria is at the hospital, which should be about 4 or 5 days. Manel is sleeping through the night already but I still feel better knowing someone will be here at night.

That's it for now. If I don't write before, I wish a very happy new year to everyone who still reads this!

Transplant scheduled

That's right, we have a date. The transplant will be on the 11th of January, almost 3 weeks from now.
For those of you who started reading recently (as if anyone reads me at all), or for those who don't remember, my husband is donating a kidney to his older brother. The transplant had been scheduled for September but it was postponed and it is now scheduled for January. Lets hope this is it.
My BIL will start imuno-supression right after Christmas and they will both have the last blood tests ran a couple of days before the surgery. Then Zé Maria will be in the hospital for about 3 or 4 days.
And then we pray. We pray that this works out for my BIL because he is 30 and his been on dialisys for over 12 years, his had one transplant and one rejection 8 years ago and he absolutely needs this to work. It's not only a question of quality of life, it's a question of how much longer he can live. This just has to work out.
So please, say a prayer for him, if you can. The rest of us will be just fine.

Big girl

Today is R's birthday. She is 3 years old, can you believe that?
Yesterday we had a party at our house with a few of her friends and today I am bringing a cake to her school. She is so excited about it!

Here is a picture of her and the babies















And one of her and her friends

Godfather

Diogo was baptised today and Zé Maria is his Godfather.




















And here is a picture of the kids, my dad and me

The Baptism

Manel was baptised yesterday. We had a very simple and beautiful ceremony in a small chapel in a garden close to our house and then we had an afternoon tea for 50 of our closest family and friends. It all went according to plan, people had a good time and, most important of all, Manel is now a new member of the Church. It was a big day for our small family.