THE WEEK

This week has not stung like last year but I have still been mindful where we were exactly two years ago. We were living life and the terms Wilm's Tumor and port-a-caths were not in our vocabulary. We were taking leaf pictures, celebrating Ashley's birthday, and getting excited for the holidays.

This year we once again found ourselves a big leaf pile for jumping! We now jump thankful that we survived and that Momma can do these pictures without crying.

This year we once again celebrated Ashley's birthday with a cookie cake a special visit from Jason! We have not seen him in a while and David always loves a Jason visit.

These sweet little faces....

I cannot believe how little these kiddos were when life was getting ready to change drastically. This was literally the day before David first uttered the words "my belly hurts." Ashley and I both attest that we can see the bulge on the right side of his abdomen?!

What a difference in two little years! We are so thankful that David made it through the ordeal and that most of it is a blur to him now. I will never be thankful for cancer but I am thankful that two years later we are stronger in our faith despite the uncertainty of the future. We will may not remember every single card that came in but we will never forget that feeling of love and community you all showered over us. We are committed to living our lives for God, giving back to the organizations that have blessed us, and loving our neighbors.

We will celebrate the actual two year anniversary of David's diagnosis day this Saturday in Charlotte seeing David's favorite Miami Heat player-Lebron James!!!!!! We are so excited to get out of town for the weekend, watch David's reaction to seeing Lebron and company, and hopefully Christmas shopping a little.

Weekend Roundup

This weekend has been relaxing but fun. I am still looking over and reminiscing about our Disney trip. I hope to finish our digital scrapbook this week:) We did get our photopass picture CD this week and I shed a few more happy tears over seeing all the family pictures that were on that CD!

This is not the best picture of us, but how cool that fireworks are going off behind us from Cinderella's castle?! Wow!

Last week at our church after school program we talked about serving others and the big group of kids baked cookies for our local police force and the construction workers that are working hard to remodel our church. I LOVE service projects!

I also thoroughly enjoyed watching the kids create cards for the police. They were true from their heart and they were so sweet. One said "thank you police mans for helping me not be afraid of bad guys." I loved it so much.

Here is Hope and her sweet friend, Olivia at preschool Friday. It was pajama day and I thought the girls looked so cute snuggled under their blankets like grandmas:)

Here is another family picture in front of the Tree of Life at Animal Kingdom!

Yesterday we traveled to Radford to not only spend time with my parents and grandma, but we went to Virginia Tech to let Kyle play in his first ever tennis match. considering he has only been playing tennis about three months, he did awesome and he won! His local tennis coach, Ms. Bennie drove all the way to VT with her husband to watch Kyle. We were so touched and thankful to God that he brought Ms. Bennie into Kyle's life. He adores tennis!

My heart is also heavy for my sister-in-law Pam, in Shreveport. (She is married to Mike's brother, Daniel). Her mother died very suddenly and unexpectedly last week and tomorrow she will bury her mother. As Christians we know heaven is a wonderful place and that her Mom is rejoicing with Jesus, but it is so hard when things happen so suddenly.

This is also THE WEEK. This is the anniversary of David's diagnosis of cancer. Today we took fall leaf pictures just like we did the day before he has diagnosed two years ago. I cannot believe it has been two years! We praise God that David is still with us and that this year this anniversary does not sting as much as last year.

Hope your weekend was awesome!

Melancholy

This might be the longest I have gone without blogging in a long while.  After that magical trip to Disney we are digging out of all the paperwork that has piled up around here and still trying to find places for all those gifts:)  I have spent an inordinate amount of time looking through our pictures and working on a digital scrapbook, and I am also anxiously awaiting my CD in the mail from Disney photopass that was shipped yesterday!! 

When we returned home to Virginia the cool, crisp fall days that I typically love so much bring me right back to David's diagnosis two years ago.  I will never forget walking back and forth to the Ronald McDonald house crunching leaves under my feet and needing a jacket in the mornings.  I guess for me, Fall will always remind me of the day our lives forever changed. 

We also just received his scan date in the mail and it is set for December 5th.  I will always be anxious for those and we covet your prayers for this one.  This is the longest he will have gone between scans and of course my mind always goes there-what if his cancer is back?  His stamina is still really low and we wonder if that will ever get better? 

I have not talked about David's hands and feet on here, but over the last month they have been peeling.  Not like a little papercut, but big huge chunks of skin are falling off of his hands and feet. It is bizarre, really bizarre.  His oncologist was puzzled and referred us to our pediatrician.  The pediatrician gave us a steroid ointment that we have used that has helped some, but we all wonder if this is a side effect of chemo?  No one can say for sure but it cannot be ruled out.  It is really weird. 

So, we are digging out from Disney, still savoring the memories and fun in our hearts, and anticipating a scan in the next month.  We do not know what the future holds, but we know that God will be with us.  I have spent a lot of time in prayer lately begging God for his peace, for His will in our lives, and that all five of us will truly seek Him.