Lots to report on... where to begin?

We'll work backwards. This morning, scheduled a surgery for Anya in Los Angeles with Dr Magee for a 'final' attempt at repairing her palate fistula, before the all important bone graft. That fistula repair is important because for the bone graft to be successful, the palate must be closed, and a fistula is a little opening- which we've been trying to close for several surgeries... Time is not on our side with Anya's mouth- last week she had her braces removed because her anchor teeth for those braces are coming out- she lost a tooth while in the orthodontist office, and another a couple of days later (baby teeth falling out). We're still in the race to get bone grafting done before her canines come in... Here's a cute memory photo from 2003, before she went in for surgery, playing with the OR crew. The changes in her face are very dramatic when you line the photos up next to each other.


We're hoping to be ready to leave by that time, when Kelly and Anya fly to LA for surgery. She'll be there for a week after surgery, and then we'll try to hit the road. We were planning on being in LA for a few bus things anyways, so this works OK with the plan- but it commits us to leaving on time!



Last Friday, we were rear-ended on I-25 in Denver. Everyone ended up OK, after a trip to the ER for 2 kids, and the rest of the family into the Chiropractor the next day.


The view from the front of the van...



...and the rear


The adjuster says its about 6,000 worth of damage. grrrrrr. Lots of work to do on the van before we hit the road to make it towable, and this isn't part of the plan!



Back to today- our second Costa Rica Venture Scout arrived yesterday, we're hosting 2 scouts for a week here. You may recall Trevor's trip to CR several weeks ago... The first scout arrived Wed, and speaks only Spanish- an entertaining flurry of hand gestures and guesses about what each of us meant to say to each other. Fortunately the second scout that arrived Thursday is fluently bilingual.