Adoption book, and other exciting/scary things going on...

So I was visiting our agency about a week ago and was spying, er, looking at all of the other waiting family albums and I was getting really down hearted because they are all so cool and I just couldn't get happy about ours.
I am missing that essential female gene for scrapbooking. This is odd because I am an elementary school teacher and construction paper, glue and stickers are my life! C'est la vie... nothing I can do about it.
Just when I was about to give up hope on ever attracting a birthmom to our family through my photo album wiles, I was introduced to an amazing, FREE, downloadable software from www.blurb.com . It is a way to make you own books with very easy templates that can be manipulated in just about any way you can imagine. I am now proud to say that we have one of the spiffiest waiting family albums out there. My zero-talent album making will no longer hinder our ability to find offspring. *sigh of relief*

As I was imagining what I might blog about this week, this seemed like it would be the highlight of the week, surely nothing more interesting than free album making software could appear in my suburban environment!
Well, as I have learned again and again, never underestimate the power of a Ravenstahl to "shake things up" Typically these shake ups are in the form of surprise head injuries, stitches and broken bones. Most often it is Matt, a danger magnet, but sometimes it is the boys. Still a general rule is that the more catastrophic injuries will be acquired by Matt...
Just goes to show where generalizations will get you.
Seth decided to take first prize as the most seriously injured Ravenstahl ever (a difficult mantle to get, especially if you consider my beloved and very accident prone mother in law)
He was running through the woods and an evil stick jumped out from behind a tree and shanked him... or he tripped and fell on a stick... whichever version you like best...
Anyway, our youngest boy was the new proud owner of a large and horrible abdominal stab wound. Braver than any 11 year old has the right to be, he gets his buddies to walk him home and collapses on his moma's stairs.
Whisked off to the emergency room by Matt and Laura (and met there by every other family member in the tri-state area), Seth spends the next five hours at Reston Hospital undergoing various tests and needle jabs to ensure that nothing life threatening has been punctured, before he is ambulanced to Farifax Hospital at 10:00 pm for a consult with the pediatric trauma surgeon.
After hours of tests and exams, it is determined that he managed to avoid all major organs and that this is just a really nasty, ugly, non-life threatening stab wound and he is stitched up and sent home by 2:00am. The most amazing thing about the entire night was that he consistently turned down the offer of pain medication... I cannot imagine!
So he began a marathon of sleep, donuts and video games that ensure a rapid recovery for a wounded little boy.
I am not sure I ever want to see the inside of a hospital again after this week, but if I had to go to one with a child, I would say that Fairfax Hospital is the most amazing place for an injured child. We are very lucky to live near such a good hospital!
For now I am just very grateful that everything turned out the way it did. Tough stuff, those Ravenstahls! All the same, Seth is only going to be running through open fields from now on... trees are scary.