{Saturday, August 18th - Monday, August 20th}
- Randi and Erica (Chris' mom and sister) fly to Nashville to spend a long weekend with Chris and Erica's Uncle Gary and Aunt Karen, and their daughter and granddaughter, Briana and Bella. Erica started orientation for her master's degree at Vanderbilt University on Monday, August 20th, and Randi went with her to spend some time with her sister and brother-in-law.
- Terry (Chris' dad) flies to Atlanta an hour after Randi and Erica departed Orlando, we (all 4 Evens) pick him up at the airport and head straight to Nashville to surprise Chris' mom and throw her a 60th birthday party. We arrived early on Saturday evening, surprised Randi by showing up at Karen and Gary's door, and spent the rest of the evening celebrating and spending time with family.
- Chris, Terry, the babies and I were planning to leave Nashville Sunday afternoon because Terry was flying home to Orlando on Monday morning ... however, while booking his flight, there was an error in the flight times and Terry ended up getting a flight out of Atlanta at 11PM on Monday instead of 11AM. So Chris and I decided that we would all stay another night in Nashville to get as much time as possible with his mom, sister, aunt and uncle, and just drive home Monday afternoon.
So we did this, and we spent all day Sunday at his aunt and uncle's house, we all visited Vanderbilt University and Uncle Gary helped Erica figure out where to go on Monday morning for orientation and to find the ever-elusive college parking spots. We had an easy and relaxed dinner of take-out pizza on Sunday evening, put the babies to bed, and spent the entire night talking and catching up with Chris' aunt and uncle. After breakfast on Monday morning, we packed up and departed Nashville to head back to Atlanta. It was really a wonderful trip; Randi was still completely surprised that we all made it to Nashville to throw her a birthday party, and we were all surprised we were able to keep our mouths shut!
Chris, Terry, the babies and I arrived to our house around 5:30pm on Monday, we fed the kids, bathed them and put them to bed. Chris, Terry and I then ate dinner and Chris took Terry to the MARTA to send him on his way home to Orlando.
Dinner napkins.
Happy 60th, Randi!
{Cupcake toppers from here; cupcakes from Publix}
{Cupcake toppers from here; cupcakes from Publix}
Reagan leading Randi around the house.
Sweet Bella, Parker & Reagan's 2nd cousin.
Parks and his daddy.
Erica and Bella playing in the kitchen.
Parker "helping" his Grams open her birthday gifts.
The morning was rough since we were all sleep-deprived from a fun weekend, but we made it through the morning alright, ran some errands, and I was on the hunt for a thank-you gift to send to Chris' aunt and uncle for having us stay at their house this weekend. I never did find the perfect thing, but I thought I would try again later this week. Around 4:30pm, Scott (Erica's husband) called me, and I could tell immediately that something was wrong. "Gary's gone ..."
I just couldn't believe it. Uncle Gary, who we had just seen the day before and spent the entire weekend with, was gone. Scott told me as much as he knew, but was at work and had to go pretty quickly. I waited for Chris to get home ... what felt like a very long wait ... but he finally did and I could tell that he must have talked to one of his parents on his way home.
The phone calls and correspondence that I assume accompany any family during a loss like this ensued. I talked to Erica (who was driving home from her first day of orientation at Vanderbilt) for most of her drive home so that I could make sure she arrived safely to her aunt and uncle's house. Please understand that I am in no way saying this was orchestrated or willed by God, but I do believe He helps us to be where we need to be and when. Randi wasn't scheduled to fly out of Nashville until Wednesday, so she was thankfully there with her sister during this amazingly difficult time and immediately cancelled her flight to stay as long as she needed to.
The evening was hard - but as hard it was it was for us, we couldn't stop thinking about Chris' aunt Karen, and his cousins, Ryan and Briana. Our hearts are still breaking for them.
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{Wednesday, August 22nd}
We had Parker's spine xray and appointment with the Orthopaedic Surgeon in the morning. After not sleeping very well and generally not functioning very well, we got up and got ourselves and the kids ready to go to Children's Orthopaedics of Atlanta. Upon our arrival, and while still in the parking garage, I proceeded to trip over a curb and fall onto the concrete ... with Reagan in my arms. I am bumped up and scraped and bruised a little, and Reagan bumped her head on the ground, but I broke most of her fall. The triage nurse at the Orthopaedic clinic looked both of us over and said we were lucky we were ok. Thank you, Jesus, for taking care of us!
After the long-awaited xray, the doctor came into the exam room to tell us some good news. He said the curvature in his spine looks the exact same as it did 4 months ago - not better, but more importantly, not worse. So, he said we are not going to do anything right now, but we are not out of the woods yet. He wants to do another xray in 6 months to see if his spine changes at all. We will be in the same shoes at that point if it does - discussing a possible spinal fusion. But we feel so relieved that nothing has changed for the worse in his spine. It was some good news amidst a very hard 24 hours - and in the grand scheme of things, another surgery would just be a small bump in the road of life.
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Last night, Chris started his first class as a Professional MBA student at Georgia State University. He will be in class Thursday evenings and all day on Saturdays, every other week.
We are not sure of the service plans for Chris' uncle just yet, but we will try as hard as we can to be with Chris' immediate and extended family during this difficult time. Please keep them in your prayers, as they are still grieving the loss of Terry's brother, Randy, who passed away in January of this year.
The good news we received on Wednesday mixed in with all of the overwhelmingly sad news from the week has been weighing on us ... but we are so thankful to have our friends, families and most importantly, our God to comfort us.
We love you, Uncle Gary, and will miss you dearly.
{The Brukardts & Evens at Erica & Scott's Wedding
October 9, 2010}
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