From Christmas Cookies to Emergency Rooms

Preston and I decided today was the day for Christmas cookies. I had Grandmother's recipe for sugar cookies, but was a little nervous that I just wasn't going to be able to make it work. So, it was just our practice batch, but it turned out great. We will be making more to give to our neighbors this weekend. So, let the baking begin! One funny note about the cookies was that we don't have cookie cutters, which is fine so don't send us any. What we did was cut out shapes out of paper like a snowman, candy cane and gingerbread man just to start with. We laid the paper shapes on the dough and used a knife to cut around it. (see picture of Preston in action below) It worked rather nicely. Once we figured out that it would work, we then did a cross, a manger, smiley faces and bells. We had a lot of fun. In addition to the cookies, we made a Brazilian sweet treat, brigadeiros, and a new found recipe from Susan Clements, cake balls. All of these turned out great and Preston was so excited that he was the only one that helped me. He is always excited about Mama/Preston time. Kati wants me to explain however that she had a friend from Campinas here spending the night and that is why she wasn't helping us......The flour all over everything and us was Preston's doing. He thought we needed it for the pictures.

We barely got the sweets finished when Kati came in the kitchen and said she was starting to itch all over her body. I gave her a benadryl and told her to go take a shower. Well, nothing seemed to help and it was getting worse. It started out as just red places but they were everywhere on her body. Then those red places began to swell and developed welts. She said her clothes touching her skin only made everything sting and it was obvious that she was very uncomfortable. She then thought she was having trouble breathing and that is when I got nervous. I went ahead and called for a taxi to take us to the ER. Paul and I didn't want to take a chance on her throat swelling shut. So, Kati and I were off to the ER with my Portuguese dictionary in hand. And just for the record that dictionary was never needed!!! Woo-Hoo!!! I was nervous though being by ourselves and having to rely on our language skills, but we did it. I got the paperwork filled out and she was checked in. That was task number 1. It may not be a big deal, but we are counting it as a major accomplishment. Then we were called back and the doctor spoke no English whatsoever. She had to examine Kati and explain to us what she was going to do; she did, and we understood! Accomplishment #2! So, she told us that they were going to give her medication to stop the itching and hopefully it would in turn stop the swelling. By this time, Kati's eyes, lips and ears were all swollen, but her breathing was okay. After they gave her the medication, they just wanted us to sit and wait to make sure that it was doing what they hoped it would do. It worked and Kati was feeling much better within 15 minutes. The swelling went down and the redness was gone, so Kati and I had a little time just to sit and talk. Once we knew she was going to be alright, it was a nice time together. So, it may have come about in a strange way, but I was able to spend some good one on one time with both Kati and Preston today. And on top of all that really felt like we had a major victory in the language being able to manage the ER with no help. I have already said many little prayers of thanksgiving to the Lord for seeing us through this and giving us this victory.