On Sept 11th we landed in Houston, thrilled to be back in the United States!! We had a packed week visiting with Seth’s family. We ate our fill of Blue Bell ice cream and made sure to get to Lupe Tortilla!

We took Jackson to his first Astros game! He was so excited and actually payed attention more than we anticipated.

national anthem

Jackson had lots of fun time playing with his cousins.

We spent a day in Galveston….We thought Jackson might get his shorts wet but we never anticipated him wanting to dive in to the ocean! He loved it!

ready to feed the seagulls on the ferry

We visited with Seth’s grandmother, Mimi, at the nursing home.  After visiting Jackson said “Mimi, old lady”

One morning, out of the blue, Mia spotted a snake in the backyard.  Turns out it was a coral snake.  Check out the video if you don’t believe us.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_RBjptynLx4]

At the end of our time in Houston we made our 6 month stop at MD Anderson. Another all clear check up which was an answer to prayer! Jackson was a trooper when the IV took 3 attempts.

After the MRI Jackson was groggy for maybe 20 mins and then he was ready to get moving!

We lose internet in a matter of minutes.  We lose our U.S. phone at the same time.  We fly out from Bogota in a matter of hours.

Almost two years ago, we arrived in Bogota.  Married less than two years.  With a two-month old.  We leave Bogota having been married for almost four years, with a two-year old, and one on the way (around Christmas).

Due to the internet being cut off pronto, we won’t go into too many details and reflect too much.  But we’ve enjoyed our time, made a lot of memories, and met some very special people.  At the same time, we can’t wait to get back to the United States.  Where our home and family are.  Where we feel comfortable and understand the language.  And where the food is fantastic.

So with this post, we let everyone know that we’ve G.T.T. (Gone To Texas) and we’ll be posting more about our soon-to-be-born boy and the rest of our travels.

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.

Here are a few videos from our trip to Texas.

This one is of Jackson seeing a horse up-close.  He’d seen horses before, but never like this.  Notice his reaction when the horse finally appears in his window.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hy3oYxIuxQE]

The next one is of Jackson, Mia and Grandan out on the lake at the Farm.  It was quite cold that day, especially out on the lake with the wind.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ohMLkFYDGM]

The final one is Jackson with Nama at the Ft. Worth Zoo, checking out the monos.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wU996iLbzLU]