Promising Updates

After my last post, it has been hard to see the light of day. Yesterday was a more promising day. I thought I would share with anyone who is curious.

I found out some more information on Carson, the little boy from Maddox's class. He seems to be responding to his treatment very well. He will not be returning to school this year, not because he is doing poorly, but because they now have a more definite plan for his treatment. He will go through one more round of chemo. After that, they will do some testing to see if his body is in remission from the cancer. If it is, they will plan to do a bone marrow transplant in March. They hope that his brother is a match. He will be in the hospital in KC for 3 weeks to 3 months while healing from the transplant. But if all goes well, he will be ready to go for Kindergarten in the Fall!

Brent's Aunt seems to be responding well to her treatment also. She is on her 'good' week of her first month of chemo. Her pain has been alleviated considerably (I hope that isn't an overstatement, but she had NO relief before. She is still wearing a pain patch, but has limited her medication intake by quite a bit. And has been able to do some things around the house). Hopefully she will get a new grandchild this week while she is still feeling good (her daughter is due any day). This is a huge difference from two weeks ago and we are all very thankful.

My grandma...what can I say, she's got more lives than a cat. She suffered from another stroke on Wednesday and was unresponsive. The doctor told them she would not ever leave the hospital and the nurse told my aunt that if she wanted to see her, she better come now. So, my dad and his sister drove up on Thursday morning to join their other sister, in what they thought, was saying good-bye(without her being aware of it). When they arrived at the hospital, my grandma was sitting up in her bed eating lunch! She had given my grandpa a kiss on the cheek that morning! She was doing so well, they decided to move her back to rehab by late afternoon. My dad said they had such a good day yesterday. My grandma was so happy to have all her kids and husband surrounding her! What a blessing. Only God knows where we go from here, but we are all thankful that she has had this time with her family, if for one last time.

And lastly, Cora. I went to the hospital to visit her parents yesterday. It was good to give them a big hug and tell that how much we are praying for them. It was even better to hear what a better day they were having. After their last few days, they were struggling to find hope. But she is a fighter. She seems to be responding well to the chemo, even in these early stages. She is resting more peacefully now and seems to be more comfortable. To read from their own words, you can go to their blog We continue to pray for strength for this family and for Cora as she continues to fight for her life.

Faces

I was playing with the camera. Funny how I can get this close to Kade's face and he doesn't even blink.

Building blocks

Daddy and Ava built this big tower. When it was all finished, Ava got to knock it down! I'm not sure Brent thought this last part through, but thankfully no blocks hit her on their way down. Yikes!

Painting lessons

For days when you just don't want to deal with the mess, there's nothing better than 'paint with water'.

Pray

My heart is so heavy today. There have been so many things happening lately...so many hard things.

Thanksgiving of last year, a little boy in Maddox's preschool class was diagnosed with leukemia. He was able to visit the class a couple weeks ago for a short time, but I think that may have been the last time. Their goal is to get him healthy for Kindergarten. Maddox came home with a new student roster yesterday and Carson was not on it.

Sometime around Christmas, Brent's aunt was diagnosed with an aggressive cancer. She is undergoing chemo to help keep the pain down, and is going through so much. It all happened so fast and is so sad to hear of the pain she has been experiencing.

My Grandma is in the hospital with two broken hips and suffered a stroke on Sunday. She has lost her speech and some feeling in one arm. But she never ceases to amaze us with her strength. At the moment she seems to be doing as well as can be expected.

And now, a sweet baby girl, Cora, in our sunday school class has just been diagnosed with cancer. She is 11 months old and far too young for this. It has only been two days! She underwent surgery yesterday to remove the tumor, but they found spots on her liver. She starts chemo on Monday for 10 days. This innocent little girl, not even a year old, and she has something so horribly disgusting growing in her little body. It breaks my heart. Please pray for her and her parents.

Kade too?

Wow. I know it is just water and a paint brush, but seriously. They are all three old enough to paint. Where is the time going?

My 'new'/old dresser

Last fall, Brent and I found a dresser at an auction that I was very excited to find. It was beautiful, but needed to be refinished. The before shot isn't that great. I think Brent forgot to take it until after the drawers were out and didn't feel like putting them all back just to take the picture.

So, this is before

And this is after

He did such a great job on it. I love it and look at all the drawers!

Fresh Air

After the excitement from the morning, we headed outside for some fresh air.

Mean mom

Am I a mean mom? Don't answer that, Grandmas! Today I was at the end of my rope with all of these toys being thrown around and destroyed and cluttering my life. I went downstairs to see the doll house on its side, toys thrown all over the room...total chaos. I was done. I took all of their toys away, except what they got for Christmas. They will get to retrieve one a week if they learn to take care of what they have. We'll see how it goes. For now, I'm just happy to have a clean room. And they are playing better already!


I even took the kitchen away!

Hanging around

Weekend Visitors

Joel and Kate came for the weekend, just for fun. The weather allowed us to enjoy the great outdoors. The boys did some wood shopping on Saturday morning. They got back so the girls did some fabric shopping (and yes, it was lots of fun...who wouldn't love being in a room full of fabric?) Just to warn you, there are a ton of pictures. Joel got a new camera for Christmas and it is just way too much fun to take pictures. Enjoy!

Of all the places

Who knew we could have so much fun in a McDonald's booth. The kids were being extra goofy today while waiting for their friends to arrive. I hope these shots capture their pure silliness.

The 'sick' boy and his painting sister

Maddox came home from school on Monday with a fever, sore throat and tummy ache. I called the doc and they did a strep test on him. I sent him to bed with some tylenol and when he woke up, he felt fine. The initial strep test came back negative, so I thought it must have just been a fluke. Well he still felt fine the next morning, so I really didn't think he was sick anymore. Then I get a call from the nurse after lunch and she tells me the secondary test came back positive. He in fact had strep. Crazy, so even though he felt fine, they still wanted to treat him. It was a little difficult explaining to a 5-year-old that he had to start taking medicine and couldn't go to school despite feeling completely well.


He looks really sick, doesn't he!!

All Ava wants to do is paint anymore. She has so much fun doing it. It is funny to see her face while she paints, so serious.


Doesn't this look like one of those ink blots they use on tv?

Here she is after she painted...in her pj's. Her masterpiece.

I told her to go get dressed so we could take a proper picture, but she then didn't really want to pose. Funny girl.