This and That

While I was cleaning up tonight, I found what Samuel had been doing all afternoon. He is very organized with his toys. I love this. I always say "organized play is fun play" :)

These are pictures of the whole battle. Look how he has everything lined up.




It's really fun to listen to him play...all the sounds he makes for the action figures and animals...

This week has been hard. We are really anxious about the doctor visit. Dave has not felt great either. Each round of chemotherapy wears him down a little more. This week he just has blood work two days and of course the scan is on Saturday. We hope to get alot of school done this week. School is going very well. We have lots of time during the day, so we are trying to make the most of it. We are reading the through The Chronicles of Narnia series. We are in the first book now The Magicians nephew. I think I am enjoying this more than the kids. We took Lori to the airport after church. We loved having her here. She was such a big help to me. She kept laundry going and the kitchen cleaned. She was my workout partner every night. She kept the kids while Dave had chemo. She took the kids ice skating and shopping and for pizza.....they also got really lost, but we won't talk about that :) I really miss my sisters! We are really missing home right now. We know why we are here. It is important for us to be near MDA for treatment. I have realized something about myself this week. In everything I do I have the attitude of "let's get this done". I like to make a list and check things off. So....that is how I have been looking at this situation. I think it hit me this week that I can't look at cancer like that. I can't put a big check mark by chemo and not ever think of it again. I realize for now this is our life. So I have been dealing with that this week. It's hard because I really want things to be normal...and sometime they are....even if just for an hour or two. I guess for now I just have to know this is our new normal, at least for today. I have said before, the emotional roller coaster is the worst thing. Many people have asked how the kids are. They are great. They are happy. They sing alot. They love us and are just happy as long as they are with us. They miss their friends, but they don't complain about wanting to go home. Their home is where their Mama and Daddy are....I love that.

Psalm 121

These are the verses that seem to comfort me right now.

They are always on my mind.

Psalm 121

1 I lift up my eyes to the hills.
From where does my help come?

2 My help comes from the Lord,
who made heaven and earth.
3 He will not let your foot be moved;
he who keeps you will not slumber.
4 Behold, he who keeps Israel
will neither slumber nor sleep.
5 The Lord is your keeper;
the Lord is your shade on your right hand.
6 The sun shall not strike you by day,
nor the moon by night.
7 The Lord will keep you from all evil;
he will keep your life.
8 The Lord will keep
your going out and your coming in
from this time forth and forevermore.

Chemotherapy Day

Today Dave is having his gem/tax. He will be done soon. He has taken the steroid so hopefully he will have a better experience with this medicine than he did last time. I find myself getting very anxious as we wait for the 25th. We see Dr.Ravi that day and find out the results of the scan. I could write so much more about the emotions we are having this week. I'll do that later. Now I will leave you with a couple of pictures from the hospital this morning. Oh....and did I say how thankful I am that Lori is here this week. What a help having her here to be with the kids....and they love it!!

Monday Monday

Yes, I am blogging during the National Championship game. We are all pulling for the SEC tonight. Samuel has become an obnoxious Crimson Tide fan. He has been struggling all day on whether or not he could pull for Auburn tonight. With some persuasion from his loving parents, he decided he would pull for the SEC. I will be so glad when football season is over this year. He is obsessed with football and like I said before, he is obnoxious!!

Dave is still running a low fever. He has a cough and feels yucky. We may run to see the doctor tomorrow. It's hard to know when to go to the doctor unless he starts running a high fever, then we know we need to go.

So here's a picture of what our house looks like today. Thanks to our neighbors for sending us these pictures. Wish we could have played in that snow today :(



Look at that driveway....no way we could have driven down that....but we could have slid down it.

contentment

The days are long. Really long. Dave has not been feeling all that well today. He has a low fever tonight. He will go on Thursday for his next chemo. It is going to be a cold week in Houston. Our coldest weather so far. Nothing like the weather back home. Everyone is gearing up for a big snow. All the milk and bread are bound to be off the shelves at every grocery store. James Spann (our favorite Alabama weather man) said once and I'll never forget it that everyone must be going to have milk sandwiches. But that's what we do in Alabama when it snows....we stock up on food and play in the snow. We are sad we are not home for the snow. I have been dealing with not being content. I never dreamed we would be doing this...living in Houston and facing cancer head on!! But this is where we find ourselves. So, we press on.

A friend gave us this book while we were home. It is a collection of Puritan Devotional Readings. Every page I read seems to hit me just where I am. I thought I would share some of what I read today.

..... Many times we must be content, not only to be active instruments but passive objects of His glory. If God will glory himself in our poverty, or our disgrace, our pain and sickness, we must be content. We need to deal with God seriously about this matter that we may submit to the Lord's will as Jesus: "Save me from this hour but for this cause came I unto this hour: Father, glorify thy name" (John 12:27-28). This was the humble submission of Christ Jesus and it should be in us.
......We need to deal with God that we may have the end, and leave the means to his own choosing: that God may be glorified in our condition whatever it is. If he wills for us to be rich and full, that he might be glorified in our bounty; if he wills for us to be poor and low, that he may be glorified in our patience; if he will have us healthy, that he may be glorified in our labour; if he will have us sick, that he may be glorified in our pain; if he will have us live, that he may be glorified in our lives; if he will have us die, that he may be glorified in our deaths (Romans 14:8). Thomas Manton

I really want to be content where I am. If you pray for us, add this to your list.

round 4

Dave had his chemo treatment this morning. I was able to be with him for part of it. The kids can only stay in the children's room for 2 hours, so I had to go get them. We ate lunch and waited on Dave in the lobby. He has not felt great today. He is very tired and battling a headache. I have also been feeling bad today. I think I had a bit of a stomach bug and was simply exhausted. I stayed up really late every night while we were home and just kept saying I would rest when I got back to Texas. The kids started back to school today. Dave did their History, Science, and Latin with them today. He is planning to do these subjects with them this semester. We are all settled back into our apartment. We are glad to have my sister Lori coming out Saturday to help us a little next week. It's always best when we don't have to take the kids to the hospital. Thanks for the continued prayer and encouragement. Now.... I am going to get in bed early tonight!!

We are sitting in the airport in Atlanta as I type tonight. Our flight is a little delayed so I had some time and thought I would share some thoughts from the past week. We have enjoyed being at home so much. We got to sit and chat with so many of you. Our house was full for 8 days and we loved every minute of it. I cleaned out closets and organized rooms at night after everyone else went to bed........I can't even tell you how good it made me feel to do that. Dave got to go to the church some and he got to spend a little time at the school. He cleaned the band room and organized it really well. Dave is funny about how his classroom looks. He likes it very neat. Every day before each class he straightens the chairs. He also did this at Hill Crest in the choir room. I would not dare to try to help him because he would just come behind me and do it over. He is very OCD about things being in order.....now you know something about Dave you may not have. :) But I digress. I wish I could have spent more time with some of you. I would love to have had coffee with you and talked about your plans for the new year. But there wasn’t enough time. We got to go to Grace Fellowship Sunday morning. What a sweet church family we have. It was a perfect morning. We got to see most of our family except for those that were sick :) Samuel got to play with his swords and run in the woods. Erin and Abby played with their baby dolls and Barbie’s. We danced with the Wii. We laughed a lot. Coming home was good medicine for all of us.



Now as I sit here on the plane with Samuel talking to me non stop, as I drink my ginger ale and eat my pretzels, I find myself ready to be back in Houston. Ready to get this done. Ready for the results of the scan on January 25th. Ready for this tumor to be gone. Ready to come home for good.