A couple of weeks ago my parents flew in for a quick visit the day that Seth flew out for his Amazon trip. I will let him post about his adventures. But we had our fair share. Jackson, myself and my parents along with a friend and her baby flew to the coast to spend 4 days in the sun and warmth!

I had done tons of research on where to stay and since hotels at the coast are so expensive we decided to look into a business here owned by an American that rents out people’s apt’s for them during seasons when they aren’t using it. We found a good place in our price range, asked tons of questions and then signed the paperwork. When we arrived in Cartagena it was HOT. We got out of the airport quickly and made it to our apt smoothly. The only problem was that the A/C in 2 out of the 3 rooms didn’t work….there was no hot water…one of the rooms had a toilet that didn’t work…and it was scortching hot. We had paid good money to have at least A/C.  It was hot enough that cold showers might not have been too bad. In addition we were told it was on the first floor and right in front of the pool and beach. turns out it was all false advertizing!  So, after going back and forth with our agent we got her to agree to move us to another of her properties. The second was amazing! It had a view of the bay and working A/C and hot water! It was a place that cost far more than the one we originally rented but we got the original price because of all of the problems. So, we re-packed and moved across town. Luckily, we were all too overwhelmed to take pictures of the first disaster place so years from now we might be able to just remember the good stuff!

Once we were settled in it was great! We enjoyed our view and each other’s company. Jackson was a bit too excited to have his grandparents along so woke up at 5 or before each morning looking for his friends. Naps were sparse because of all of the fun to be had!  Here are some pictures…

Jackson’s early morning “attempting to stay quiet at 5AM” activity

Jackson loved it when Ben out “get him”

Ben just chillin’

The pigoen whisperer

The toucan at the Santa Clara hotel where we stopped in to cool off with some lemonade. This was the absolute highlight of Jackson’s trip! If only he could have brought the toucan home with him!

We arrived back home Wed afternoon a few hours before Seth was going to land. I felt kind of quesy on the ride home but figured I was just reacclamating to the altitude. Within a few hours I was the sickest I have ever been in my whole life. By the time Seth walked in from the airport he was home for about an hour before he had to take me to the hospital. We called the doctor and he recommended taking an anti-vomiting med but when I couldn’t keep that down or even water we were on our way. We spent the night there for me to get an IV as I was so dehydrated. They had a hard time getting in the IV. I have bruising all over my arms from them pressing! By the middle of the night they decided they would have to keep me and would not be able to put me in a private room because I was needing nursing care every 5-10 mins. I was so sick I didn’t care where I was! I got to come home mid-day the next day.

My dad felt under the weather as well but luckily we think his was altitude sickness and his never progressed like mine. We spent another day and half together before they had to head back to Texas.  The night they flew out we made a fancy dinner. Beef is so good and  reasonably priced that we went to the butcher and bought a huge beef tenderloin. We had it with melted blue cheese on top! After our feast they headed to the airport! It was so nice to have them around! And such a blessing to have them here when I was in the hospital!

So, our getaway was more of an adventure than I anticipated and it will be a LONG time before I travel without Seth along but it was good to get out of Bogota for a few days and have a nice view!

I haven’t gotten to post in a while. I have been so busy being a boy. Learning to burp, getting dirty in the mud, and trying to stand and jump off anything that looks exciting. Today my mommy took off my slippers and my feet were SO stinky! I felt kind of proud. I know you girls don’t understand this because you like to smell nice and be clean but for some reason I kind of didn’t mind the smell. I kept wanting to smell them. Mommy kept looking at me like I was crazy!! I don’t know why she doesn’t appreciate the great things in life!

Here it is…one of my stinky feet!

“I’m just a boy, mommy. You don’t have to look at me like I am crazy! This is fun stuff!”

This is another picture of me that mommy thinks is cute. To be honest I don’t actually pose for pictures anymore. I prefer to run at the camera and scream “Look, picture, look” because I just discovered to amazing technology of digital cameras and getting to see myself on the screen!! It’s weird though that when mommy shows me the screen they are always action shots in which it looks like I am charging her! Maybe every once in a while I will stop and smile so she will get some good pictures for my scrapbook! I know that would make her happy!

Oh yes, and before I forget…Happy Birthday to my buddy Jonas in Texas! Jonas, the 2nd year is even better than the first my man! The freedom is amazing!!! You can’t imagine the things you will accomplish in this year!! Hope you get to eat lots of yummy birthday cake!

Seth and Jackson took me out to a nice breakfast before church for Mother’s Day. Jackson wasn’t too excited about it and gave us a hard time but overall we still had a nice time. I got to sleep in which was a huge treat!!! And Jackson gave me a book about Mommies!

May 1 in many countries is called May Day.  It is celebrated for a variety of reasons, but it is almost always a day of celebration.

For our family, May 1 will always be a day of celebration as well.  Because one year ago today, May 1, 2008, Jackson went in for surgery.  And when he came out, we were expecting to find out if he had the REALLY BAD kind of cancer or only the BAD kind of cancer.  If his leg muscles were going to be severely disfigured or if he was going to be able to walk just fine.  If we were going to be starting chemo and radiation immediately or if it could wait a week or two.

But when the doctor came out and told us it wasn’t cancer at all and only a vascular malformation, you can only imagine our relief and our excitement.  After the doctor told us, we told her to tell our parents, who were waiting with us.  There was more celebration.

Which is why May 1 will always be the Kolb’s personal holiday.  Always be a day of celebration.  Always be a day of giving thanks to our Great God, the Great Physician, who protected our baby.

I won’t speak for Kristen, but I’m pretty convinced, after reflecting for the last year, that God changed the mass in his leg from a malignant mass to something benign.  When a Colombian radiologist (at Colombia’s best hospital), a Colombian orthopedic surgeon (one of Colombia’s best), an MD Anderson radiologist (who had been reading scans for the last 25 years and works at the #1 cancer hospital in the US, if not the world), an MDA pediatric oncologist, an MDA pediatric surgeon, and an MDA pediatric orthopedic surgeon all agree that it’s cancer, it’s hard to imagine that it’s not cancer.  But praise God, literally, that they were wrong.

If you want to re-read our post from last year, here it is.