A Day in the Life of Kari and Malachi

Maintenance!

2012-02-22T14:21:00.000-08:00

Well, it's official! We have two weeks left in our current phase and then we will begin Maintenance! Lord willing, we will stay on this for the next year and a half of treatment. Maintenance brings many good things to our lives: clinic only once a month (yay!), spinals are only every 3 months, and the treatment is lighter and more gentle.

However, there are some scary things about Maintenance. Mainly the fear of relapsing. The treatment is lighter but with the light treatment comes a possibility of the leukemia returning. As with this whole journey, it's in God's hands and He is faithful!

So...Kari and I have been planning our spring and summer. On her list is the MAKE A WISH TRIP!! WOOHOO! We have been approved and we are waiting for an interview date where they will ask Kari what her wish is. Kari has said that she wants to go to the ocean to swim for a whole week and take her BFFs Macey and Kyndall with her. Chrissy, we have GOT to get you all there!! :)

A few more things on her list: fishing, riding a boat, picnics in the park, planting flowers outside, getting a new bike (she has one picked out at walmart that she is begging for), and a load of other things that I can't remember. Our summer was cut short last year since she was diagnosed July 8th. I'm praying that our spring and summer is all that she hopes it will be!

Kari is doing pretty good right now. Her counts are low but they seem to fluctuate pretty regularly lately. They may be 800 today and 5000 the next??! Malachi is doing very well...he is talking so much now (definitely my child) and it's hilarious to listen to him. He and Kari are getting to that stage where they like to "bicker" about who plays with what toy but, most of the time, they get along great. Malachi adores his big sister and usually lets her get by with whatever. As you can tell by this picture:

She got a new dress and has been wearing it around the house for days since it's too cold to wear it outside right now. She liked it so much she decided to share with her brother. :) Yes, I'm aware that he will NOT like me when he gets older and sees that picture. But it's hilarious.

I like this cartoon my friend, Kelli, sent me the other day:

So true. :)

Some Good News

2012-02-15T06:18:00.000-08:00

I apologize for not updating before now! As you can see from the comments on my last post...I'm being harassed to post something! Ha ha!

We've had an interesting couple of weeks. We had a hospital stay this past Sunday night for another fever. We got home late Monday night. Kari is better, just more tired than normal. Her counts are up as well! Thank God!

In my last post I mentioned that I needed prayer for some things I was facing this month. Those things have come and gone and, thank God, He helped me through it! The battle isn't over but He's faithful to see us through each step of the way.

So, Kari has adopted a new coping skill for Clinic visits. She started taking her favorite teddy bear, Cinderella, to Clinic for check ups along with her. Dr. Greenwood and the nurses at Clinic are very good to take care of Cinderella. They even access her port and give her medicine when they do Kari's stuff.

Malachi has also taken to a teddy bear that he helps go to the potty.

We've had a few fun days out with friends. While we were at the mall playing, Kari met her friend Katelynn again and they had a GREAT time. Katelynn (I'm probably spelling your name wrong), thanks for being Kari's friend! She loves you!

For Valentine's Day, the kids and I decided to go out for dinner. After being in the hospital Sunday night and Monday, we rested all day then went to Reno's to eat. The kids were so good and looked quite smashing if I do say so myself! After dinner, we headed to Go Go Gorillas where the kids played for about two hours. Then to Baskin Robbins for ice cream! What a fun night!

EXCITING NEWS!!! The Lymphoma and Leukemia Society has chosen Kari to be their honored hero for 2012! We are so excited and grateful that they chose her. I'll be talking to some of you about getting involved with us this year for the walk and various other events. I think Farmers National Bank will be a great asset to our team. What do you think? Here's a picture of Kari and Jacky Space, the campaign manager for LLS.

She's such a sweetheart and I enjoyed our talk so much! Thanks, Jacky, for choosing our Princess!

On another positive note, I was updated last night on our friend, Heidi, in Alabama! She is now cancer free!! Way to go, Heidi!!

So, here we are...7 months into our Leukemia journey. We've had a few bumps along the way but God has been so very faithful to us. Kari will start MAINTENANCE next month. That is amazing! Also, her hair is growing back so fast that it seems to grow daily. She is so excited and we're hoping for enough hair for Easter to do a small bow instead of a hat. Kari is already looking for her Easter outfit and is excited about the prospect of picking out a bow to match.

As always, thank you for your support and continued prayer for us. We love you so much!

Emotions

2012-01-30T10:59:00.000-08:00

They released us from the hospital Friday around 1:30. Kari and Malachi are still sick but heading towards the end I think! We are at clinic now and her counts are around 4,000 points lower than they were last week but they're still decent. Thank God and thank you for your prayers!

I had a long post typed out where I reflected on the past 7 months of our lives. However, it isn't good to publish a post that is produced amid about 100 emotions. So, I've decided to think on that post a while first.

I will say that this past week has been very emotional for several different reasons. God has been there to comfort and to uplift every step of the way...nevertheless, it has been an emotional roller coaster for me.

I usually don't get on here and ask for prayer for myself and I hope this doesn't sound selfish. Right now, I feel like I'm looking through a window at the month of February and dreading what's waiting inside that window. February will be a rough month for me for several different reasons and there are no words to describe how bad I wish I could skip the whole month altogether. I do have a few plans for the kids that will be fun and will hopefully help make the month go by faster.

I desire the prayers of those that have been through this journey with us from the beginning...I know it's what carries us through!

Update With Pictures

2012-01-26T14:22:00.000-08:00

Well, what a fun day we've had! Are we still in the hospital? Yep! But it's been a good day despite that fact.

Here's a look at our day:

Kari playing Pictionary with Pappy

Kari loves her nurses and nurse's aids. We've had some student nurses today who have played ALL DAY LONG with Kari and she has thoroughly enjoyed it. Kristin and Alisa let her play with their stethoscopes and name badges AND watches. She rewarded them and several nurses by singing a few songs for them.

Thank you, Kristin and Alisa, for the FANTASTIC time we had with you all! Kristin, Kari will be so excited to see that you left your smiley face watch for her. You two were awesome!

Kari had to have an antiobiotic that caused an allergic reaction of sorts so they gave her Benadryl to help with the itching. They gave it to her before they started the antibiotic this time and within 10 minutes, she was konked out! She's resting so good at this time so I think I'll join her and rest some myself! The doctor said if she has no fevers between now and in the morning, we can go home!

As always, thank you for your prayers and support!

A Hospital Visit!

2012-01-26T06:22:00.000-08:00

Kari has been battling a cold the past several days but we thought it was probably a routine cold and she would be past it before long.

However...around 3:00 this morning, I woke up to Kari burning up with a fever. Her temperature rose from 100.6 to 101.3 in about 20 minutes. I quickly got stuff packed as I was calling the on-call doctor because I knew it would be an overnight stay.

I dropped Malachi off to Gammy, picked up Pappy and we were off to Lexington! For those of you that know Kari personally...she had the expected reaction. She sang and talked all the way there and kept Pappy and I entertained. She was hilarious! She was burning up with fever and feeling horrible but kept her sense of humor the entire time. I love it!

After we were checked into our room, Kari got to see all of her favorite nurses that were working. She, of course, had to entertain them all before their shift change.

She stayed awake until around 8:30 and only fell asleep when they gave her Benadryl! She's a trooper!

Please keep our little princess in your prayers. Her counts are all good so we're hoping we won't have to stay the full 48 hours that they usually require with a fever. The doctor seems to think she will be fine after 24 hours. :)

Thanks for your prayers!

Thoughts

2012-01-18T17:49:00.000-08:00

Very profound title, I know. But that's all I have tonight are thoughts. Many of them. My kids are with Aunt Lacey and Uncle Chris and I had uninterrupted prayer time. Wonderful and blessed prayer time! Uninterrupted prayer time (which seems rare for me) often brings about a soul searching of sorts. It gives me time to think and pray about things that I tend to push to the back burner. Tonight, it brought to mind many things that I've not thought about in a while because cares of life have taken over the past few weeks. Here's a list:

1. Kari is doing so good and I've seen that little sparkle return to her eyes in the past week. I wasn't sure I would ever see that again. God is good.

2. Malachi is growing up and I have no babies anymore. Exciting and sad and fun all at the same time.

3. I have two children that the Lord has blessed me with. It's my responsibility to train them up in the right way...am I doing this? It scares me that leading and guiding their souls ultimately rests upon me. I can use all the excuses about single parenting that I want to, but then I have to consider Susanna Wesley who mothered the most influential preachers that were around in their time and she did it alone. She didn't have TWO kids, she had like 19??? I've been told that she took time each day to pray and read with each child and still took the time to do her own praying and reading daily. Makes any excuse that I have look pretty pitiful. Am I praying and reading my Bible like I should? Probably not because I think sleep is precious in the wee hours of the morning. Setting my alarm and getting up before the kids do so that I can pray and read UNINTERRUPTED DAILY hasn't been a goal of mine. Shouldn't I make it a point to have that time with the Lord daily so that things don't get pushed to the back burner? Shame on me. Am I taking the time that I should with my kids each day to pray with them and teach them? Not like I should. Am I doing other things and stuff and letting everything else get in the way? Yep. This has burdened me and I'm praying that with God's help, He will help me be a better parent...one that cares about her children's souls more than sleep or some frivolous activity.

4. I heard a song called Somebody Like Me (you can look it up on YouTube by Jason Crabb) and it made me cry tonight as I was praying. How many people are desperately searching for something/someone to help them find a better life? Alcoholics, drug addicts, prostitutes, etc...they only need somebody to tell them that Jesus loves them and that He died so that they can live a better life? But how many of us turn our heads thinking there's no use because those people can't change? Turn our heads because we don't want to be part of their problems because we have so many of our own? Are we so selfish and self-centered that we think that unless we take mission trips to foreign countries that we're not doing anything for God? Because we're not on the front line of the ministry so to speak we can't work for God? I'm so thankful for those that are on the front line of the ministry...pastors, evangelists, youth pastors, missionaries. Bless them for their dedication and committment! However, for me, there are people on my own street that need the Lord. In my own town, there are lonely, miserable, hopeless people because they have no idea what Jesus can do for them and how He longs to set them free. Am I searching for that person? Or am I finding ways I can be in the spotlight somewhere doing something that everybody can see? There are so many opportunities around me to work for Jesus and I can't see past what's happening in my life and in my family long enough to pray about it. Again, shame on me.

5. God has been so good to me and my children. How quickly I can forget that! I remember in the beginning of our leukemia journey, we had friends all around us. Friends calling, texting, visiting and, in general, surrounding us with support and love. But their lives moved on and ours seemingly didn't. I know people care and pray for us still; however, there comes a time when those people aren't around to dry our tears, to let me ramble because I need to let off steam after being in a hospital all day, to hug me and encourage me that things are going to be okay. It's just me and God and I've learned that it's truly HIM that gets us through. Friends and family are wonderful and I thank God for our support system! But I've found a great comfort in knowing that when our life seems to stop, He's at the stop sign waiting for us!

I have thoughts not brought about by my prayer time but after the things I just talked about, I'm ashamed to even mention those. That will be another post!
I hope you all have a great remainder of the week! We have clinic tomorrow and we will be up early so it's off to bed for me! :)

2012

2012-01-13T23:34:00.000-08:00

Well, I must say that 2012 hasn't been such a kind year so far. Not unless you count that we're still under God's mighty hand of protection! That's the biggest blessing of all. BUT. In reality, 2012 has been a ROUGH year in it's short 2 week span. I'm praying that this means the rest of 2012 will be better.

Day 1 of 2012 began with my mom, sister and I going to Ohio to visit my aunt Ellie who had taken a turn for the worse. Kari and Malachi were excited to spend the day and night with Gammy, Pappy, Chris, and Lacey since I didn't think it wise to take the children to a hospital where we would be spending the day.

(side note: it is currently 2:30 AM and I am still awake so pardon the rambling)

We had a great visit with family and my aunt Ellie was in such good spirits after seeing the family and being able to talk and laugh with everyone. When we left, she was worn out and ready to rest. The next morning, we got up to get ready to see her again and then head home....when I got a call from Pappy saying Malachi had been up all night with the stomach virus and Kari had woke up and passed out on them and was now throwing up.

Needless to say, we made a beeline for Kentucky. I called UK where the doctor told us to bring her in just so they could make sure she was only getting the virus. Pappy and Gammy were going to meet us there. Only....my mom, sister, and I got stuck in the big 40 car pileup on I75 and sat in traffic for two hours. Yes, two hours. What was most interesting in that two hour period of time were all the people heading up the hill on the side of the road to get behind trees and use the bathroom. Or all the people that walked around the interstate visiting with other traveling passengers like they didn't have a care in the world. Or all the people getting in coolers in the back of their vehicles to get snacks and drinks out like it was party time.

While I sat in the vehicle wondering WHEN IN THE WORLD WOULD THEY OPEN UP THE ROAD SO I COULD GET TO MY BABIES???

Kari ended up in the emergency room without me where she was babied and spoiled by the nurses and doctors. They sent her home diagnosed with what would become THE VIRUS.

Why did it become THE VIRUS??? Because when I finally got to the kids and we made it home safe and sound, I was blessed (or cursed) with THE VIRUS. Pappy and Gammy came to help with the kids and then Memaw came the next morning to help. Pappy and Gammy and Lacey also got THE VIRUS the next day. The next day also brought some very hard things for our family. Thus, the reason I asked for prayer last week. I don't really know what to say about that except we still desire your prayers concerning that situation!

To speed this up some, Kari had clinic Monday and all is GREAT! My baby girl is doing great with God's help and we are more than just grateful for that! We left Tuesday afternoon to stay with Memaw for the week.

Thursday morning, however, THE VIRUS visited Memaw. Oh, yes, it did.

She was beginning to get better today (yesterday?) and, since Aunt Brandi's birthday is tomorrow (today? not sure what day or time it is anymore), we had her a big dinner and the kids and I made cupcakes and a cake for her! We had plans of visiting the mall tomorrow on her actual birthday and to take her out to eat.

But what happened??? Aunt Brandi got THE VIRUS. Yes, friends, it's the plague of the new year. Thus, the reason I'm still awake at 2:30 AM. I've been taking care of the invalids.

So. While I've read everyone's blog about all their plans for 2012, my plans are simply to survive at this point. I've always been honest on this blog and tonight is no exception. It's been a tough year already. I didn't think it could be worse than last year but usually just when you think it couldn't get any worse?? Yep, it usually does!

I'm reminded of a scripture that the comedian Mark Lowry quoted once in one of his stories. Although he said it jokingly, I've always remembered it in the tough times and the good times. It's too late for me to look it up because my mind is obviously going 100 MPH, but somewhere in the Bible, it says...and it came to pass.

No matter what happens in life, the only sure thing is our salvation and the love of our Father! At some point in life, we're gonna go through rough things. Bad year? It will pass. Good year? Well, that will probably pass too. Because life isn't a tiptoe through the tulips just because we're children of God.

No, we're not exempt from the testing times of life. We're blessed, however, because of the fact that we have Someone helping us through it. How hard is this life and all its trials!!! But how much harder they would be if we didn't have the Saviour to walk hand in hand with?!

Whatever the rest of this year holds, I'm very thankful that God is faithful and with us every step of the way. :)

(and now I'm going to attempt to get some sleep since everyone else seems fine with the idea of sleeping, even the invalids)

One More Time

2012-01-04T13:54:00.000-08:00

I feel like all I ask you (you being my friends and family and people I don't even know who follow this blog)to do is pray for us. But I know that prayer changes things and prayer is the only answer to life's problems.

Kari, Malachi, and I are fine. All three of us are recovering from the stomach virus, as is the majority of our family, but other than that we're doing good. Kari's new phase of treatment has been put off until next Monday due to the stomach virus being so contagious. They didn't want us there around the others.

But right now, we have a desperate need in our family that we need God to move in. There's not a whole lot I can say at this point except we are in dire need of a miracle in our family.

Thank you for praying!

Would You Pray?

2011-12-30T21:45:00.000-08:00

I have an urgent prayer request! Most of you all that have followed my blog for a while have heard me mention my precious Aunt Ellie. She has been an important part of my life and I love her dearly. She was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in June 2010.

Long story short, she was given great hope by her doctors about 2 or 3 weeks ago that she was cancer free and should begin recovering and getting back to normal. Last week she went in the hospital with severe sickness and was given some pretty bad news. Today, however, they went in to do surgery on her and they discovered that not only was she NOT cancer free, she only has about 2 months to live.

Our family is devastated and I ask that you remember us in prayer. We will be traveling this weekend at some point to see her and spend time with her. Our prayer is that God will be merciful and not let her suffer if it isn't His will to give her a miracle.

Thank you for praying with us!

Christmas Continued

2011-12-27T06:28:00.000-08:00

I hope everyone had a Merry Christmas! We sure did and we're still at Memaw's house enjoying time with her while she's off work.

Yesterday, we met Pepaw and Wanda at Cracker Barrel to eat. The kids loved seeing them and were like leaches on Pepaw!

Thank you all for supper! We had a great time and we love you so much!

We take Kari back today to get counts checked. Judging from the way she's acting, I'm sure her counts have recovered even more since last week. We have no chemo until January 2nd and we get to start a new phase...Interim Maintenance II. That means only going back to clinic for treatment every 10 days!

I hope all of you are having a wonderful holiday. God sure has been good to my family!

Merry Christmas!

2011-12-25T08:45:00.000-08:00

Merry Christmas to all!! We love you and appreciate you!

I was told to post something that doesn't make people cry. So, here goes.

Friday night, we held a birthday party in honor of Jesus. Macey, Kendyll, and Trinity came to celebrate with us! Here are some pics of that fun time:

Saturday, we met Pappy, Gammy, Lacey, Chris, and Aunt Sharon at Guadalajara for lunch. Kari noticed somebody sitting at the table over from us drinking a "strawberry drink" and obviously wanted one. Aunt Sharon ordered Kari a strawberry daiquiri, virgin of course, and they thoroughly enjoyed it. I haven't decided if that's a good thing or not?!

After lunch, we headed to the church for a Christmas Eve service. After our service we all went to the street corner to sing Christmas carols. People enjoyed it!! They honked, they waved, they opened their windows. I hope it becomes a tradition. It was so special!

Last night we made cookies and played with a few toys the kids opened. The kids and I snuggled on the couch, drank hot chocolate out of their new Mickey and Minnie mugs and enjoyed the warmth of the fireplace and the lights on the tree.

Of course this morning...CHRISTMAS! The kids were so excited to see their gifts and I'm telling you, this is one of the "funnest" things about parenting! Love it!! We enjoyed bacon and heart, star, and circle shaped pancakes for breakfast. Now off to play and enjoy the day!

Merry Christmas to all!

A Deeper Meaning

2011-12-23T14:39:00.001-08:00

Good news!! Kari's counts are up from 69 to 710!! Praise the Lord! That means we can proceed cautiously during Christmas but we won't have to stay locked in the house either! We're so thankful that God worked it out for us to be home for Christmas. I was starting to worry at the beginning of the week.

So, like everyone else's Christmas, ours has always been so busy. When I worked, I had to find time between 4:30 and bed time to fit everything in and then cram stuff in during the weekends too. Our lives are obviously different this year and we've had a little more time to enjoy the reason for the season!

However, this year, I had a different reason to appreciate the DEEP meaning of Christ's birth. I'm not one to get on my blog and have a pity party although at times when I'm alone, I can throw a great party for myself!
But I do want to say a few things about what God has done for me in the past few weeks. This year it seems like I've had blow after bitter blow and I've shaken like a leaf thinking that I would go down under the load I was carrying. Not because Kari was sick. Not because of the changes in our family. Not because I had to resign my job.

No, it wasn't because of the SITUATIONS. It was the things that it did to my heart...the bitterness, the loneliness, the anger, the hatred, the "I really need to hit something" feeling. And it has torn at my heart so viciously that I've questioned whether I would ever be whole inside again. I was believing, trusting, and thanking God for helping us through the situations we've faced and are facing and my faith never wavered that He would take care of us. But inside, I was holding onto the hatred and the bitterness because, in my mind, it was easier to hate than to feel. It was easier to hate someone than to forgive them and therefore leave myself open to be hurt by them again?

At some point (I'm not sure when), I finally laid in the floor, face down before God, and begged him to take it away. The hurt that went back to my childhood. The bitterness that was a result of dreams turned nightmares. The hatred that had a hold on my heart. I told the Lord that I didn't care if it hurt more to love than to hate. I told the Lord I wanted a healing that reached every scar and every aching place that I had tucked away in my heart. I had learned to live with those feelings thinking they would always be a part of me.

And, somehow, God did it. God unlocked those secret bitter places in my heart and set those feelings free. He gave me a burden to pray for those that had hurt me and to have pity on them. He didn't change the situations. He changed me.

One of my favorite scriptures is Isaiah 9:6:

For unto us a child is born, unto us a Son is given...and his name shall be called WONDERFUL, COUNSELLER, THE MIGHTY GOD, THE EVERLASTING FATHER, THE PRINCE OF PEACE.

Christ came so that we could experience love, forgiveness, joy, peace...and so that we could have the hope of heaven. I'm amazed that God saw such worth in us that He would send His only Son to be born in a lowly manger just so He could grow up and die for all humanity.

Christmas is fun and the kids and I have enjoyed every minute of the festivities (of which I'll post pictures tomorrow). But I'm so thankful this year to know that the miracle that I experienced in my heart this Christmas is one of the reasons that Christ came!

A Tribute To My Brave Little Soul

2011-12-22T06:17:00.000-08:00

I am thoroughly enjoying reading all the comments left by my family yesterday. Doesn't it do your heart good to tell others what they mean to you? Especially when they return the affection!

For day 3 of Christmas posting, I want to do a tribute to my baby girl. My friend, Jess, sent this email to me last week and we were both crying because it sounds just like Kari.

However, I also realize there are so many people out there with kids just as brave as Kari. They have to live with this horrible thing called CANCER every single day. Little girls walk around with no hair gazing longingly at those who have it wondering if one day they might have hair again. Little boys watch as their friends play baseball and wonder if they'll ever feel like running again. There are those kids that are just hanging on by a thread right now and their families are aching for assurance that it's going to be okay.

And in the middle of the crisis...there's goodness. Because God uses these brave little souls like Kari to reach people. There's love pouring in from all sides to surround these kids and their families. There are parents who hold their children tighter and have a little more patience with them, for they know it could be their child with a life threatening disease. There are selfish people who suddenly see the need to give to those less fortunate than themselves.
I've heard many mothers say that Kari's diagnosis has changed the way they treat their children. I've heard others say that the little aggravating things of life aren't so aggravating anymore.

So...here's my tribute to the brave little soul that I've been blessed enough by God to call my daughter. I love you, Cinderella!

The Brave Little Soul
By: John Alessi

Not too long ago in Heaven there was a little soul who took wonder in observing the world. He especially enjoyed the love he saw there and often expressed this joy with God. One day however the little soul was sad, for on this day he saw suffering in the world. He approached God and sadly asked, "Why do bad things happen; why is there suffering in the world?"

God paused for a moment and replied, "Little soul, do not be sad, for the suffering you see, unlocks the love in people's hearts." The little soul was confused. "What do you mean," he asked. God replied, "Have you not noticed the goodness and love that is the offspring of that suffering? Look at how people come together, drop their differences and show their love and compassion for those who suffer. All their other motivations disappear and they become motivated by love alone."

The little soul began to understand and listened attentively as God continued, "The suffering soul unlocks the love in people's hearts much like the sun and the rain unlock the flower within the seed. I created everyone with endless love in their heart, but unfortunately most people keep it locked up and hardly share it with anyone. They are afraid to let their love shine freely, because they are afraid of being hurt. But a suffering soul unlocks that love. I tell you this - it is the greatest miracle of all. Many souls have bravely chosen to go into the world and suffer - to unlock this love - to create this miracle for the good of all humanity."

Just then the little soul got a wonderful idea and could hardly contain himself. With his wings fluttering, bouncing up and down, the little soul excitedly replied. "I am brave; let me go! I would like to go into the world and suffer so that I can unlock the goodness and love in people's hearts! I want to create that miracle!"

God smiled and said, "You are a brave soul I know, and thus I will grant your request. But even though you are very brave you will not be able to do this alone. I have known since the beginning of time that you would ask for this and so I have carefully selected many souls to care for you on your journey. Those souls will help you create your miracle; however they will also share in your suffering. Two of these souls are most special and will care for you, help you and suffer along with you, far beyond the others. They have already chosen a name for you". God and the brave soul shared a smile, and then embraced.

In parting, God said, "Do not forget little soul that I will be with you always. Although you have agreed to bear the pain, you will do so through my strength. And if the time should come when you feel that you have suffered enough, just say the word, think the thought, and you will be healed." Thus at that moment the brave little soul was born into the world, and through his suffering and God's strength, he unlocked the goodness and love in people's hearts. For so many people dropped their differences and came together to show their love.
Priorities became properly aligned.
People gave from their hearts.
Those that were always too busy found time.
Many began new spiritual journeys, some regained lost faith - many came back to God.
Parents hugged their children tighter.
Friends and family grew closer.
Old friends got together and new friendships were made.
Distant family reunited, and every family spent more time together.
Everyone prayed.
Peace and love reigned.
Lives changed forever.
It was good.
The world was a better place.
The miracle had happened.
God was pleased.

My Family

2011-12-20T21:12:00.000-08:00

For day number two, I would like to talk about my family!

First though, I want to add a little something to my post yesterday about FNB. I had NO IDEA what everyone had planned for the kids and I when I expressed my appreciation. I met Chrissy last night and she delivered all the goodies that everyone sent to us from the bank. Perryville branch...thanks so much for your thoughtfulness and for organizing this! Also, Lancaster...thank you for your very special gift last week. You all made me cry!! I was speechless last night and, as everyone knows, that doesn't happen very often. We loved each and every thing that was sent our way and we are grateful!

Now, moving on. My family. They are wonderful and I could tell all kinds of great stories on each person but I'll spare them. Ha ha!!

1. My MIL and FIL. They are amazing and I struggle sometimes calling them in-laws because they're more like Mommy #2 and Daddy #2. Our situation is very unique as my FIL and MIL also double as my Pastor/Pastor's Wife. Bless their hearts...God has blessed them with patience because He knew I would be in the family. I honestly don't know what I would do without them. Given the recent turn of events in our family, I would say that their light has shown a bit brighter as people have watched the way they've handled the situation. They are honest, loving, Godly people and I love them with all my heart. Thank you for being there no matter what...I thank God for you daily!

2. Lacey and Chris...aka, SIL and BIL. It's not only my kids that LOVE these two, but I do too! We've grown up together and been through so much together. Chris is like the brother I never had and I appreciate all of his help and for the man of God that he is. Lacey is like a sister to me as well and she's a wonderful aunt to my kids. The kids would rather be with them than me most of the time. Lacey and Chris, thank you for all of your help in the past 6 months. I'm still praying for your little miracle...I want to be an aunt! I love you all so much!

3. My sister, Brandi. Oh, boy. Where do I begin? In all reality you would have thought we despised each other's very existence on earth when we were younger. Somehow, we learned to love each other (lol) and have become best friends. My kids love their "Sissy Bran" and are glued to her side when we're with her. Sis, thanks for being there for me. Your daily phone calls/voicemails/texts are a highlight during my day even when you don't hear back from me! Ha ha!!! Thanks for the being a wonderful big sister even if I am still the family favorite! (that is totally an inside joke) I love you bunches!

4. Latasha and Lashei. Gee whiz. Where do I even start? I used to babysit you and now you're old enough to have kids of your own. You all mean so much to me and I'm so proud of the way you've let God use your lives. Kari and Malachi are wild about you all (as well as your hilarious husbands)! I love you all!

5. Dad. I'm not even sure if you read my blog, Dad, but here's my tribute to you anyway! LOL! About a month or so ago, God began to do a work of healing in my heart. He has brought you and I closer in the past little bit and I'm so thankful for that! My fondest memories of us is cleaning on your old '79 Fords and me begging you to give me the beautiful brown one when I turned 16. After you finally let me drive it once, I quickly changed my mind!! I couldn't even hold it on the road. I love you, Dad, and I'm thankful for what God is doing. Hoping that our sporadic visits with each other get closer together after things settle down a bit!

6. All of the other family that I'm not gonna name for fear I'll forget somebody. We love you all so much. Each and every one of you mean the world to us. I've heard people say so many times since July that the kids and I have the best support system they've ever seen. They're so right...you all are wonderful!

7. I saved the best (in my opinion) for last. My mom. In trying to type this out, I just sit here and cry and pray that God helps me to lead my children the way my mom lead me. I think of all the times I've taken her for granted and not expressed my appreciation to her the way I should have. I was taught to pray and read God's Word daily by watching my mom do it. If she didn't have time in the morning, she made time in the evening before bedtime. I find myself falling short in that area so often. She was always faithful in attending church and doing what she could to serve and work for God. There's one thing I remember my mom telling me when I was 19 years old and I hold it dear to my heart. I was laying on my bed, crying my eyes out because of a deep deep hurt caused by someone's words. My mom held me and simply said, "No matter what, God is good. We don't understand and we want to give up sometimes but God is good and that's what we have to remember in this life."
To me, that means that no matter what life throws our way, no matter what we may have to face today or tomorrow, NO MATTER WHAT...God is good. And if He is in control (and He is) whatever we're facing will work out for our good.
Mom, thank you for being the best mother in the world! One of the best things about you is your humility. You don't see how wonderful you really are! I love you so much and I appreciate all that you've taught me. Thanks for being there every step of the way.

As you can see, we have a wonderful family! They support us, they love us, they pray for us and they are heaven sent. Thank you, Lord for our family. May we never take them for granted!

Thank You, Farmers National Bank

2011-12-20T09:37:00.000-08:00

(UPDATE ON KARI: SHE HAD TO HAVE PLATELETS AND A BLOOD TRANSFUSION YESTERDAY. HER ANC IS DOWN TO 69 WHICH IS TERRIBLY LOW. SHE IS DOING GREAT THOUGH AND WE'RE GOING BACK FOR A COUNT CHECK TOMORROW MORNING. WE THOUGHT WE WOULD HAVE TO STAY OVERNIGHT IN THE HOSPITAL LAST NIGHT BUT GOD MOVED AND WE GOT HOME AROUND 11:30! THANKS FOR THE PRAYERS)

In the last few days before Christmas, I would like to take some time to thank some very special people. For those of you that read my blog, I'll be posting daily from now until Christmas. I have so many things I want to share and it will take several days to get it all in!

For the first day, I would like to attempt to express my appreciation to the employees (and my former co-workers) of Farmers National Bank. In the beginning of our battle, your monetary donations and paid time off donations were amazing. Your continued support, friendship, and prayers are a constant encouragement to me. Many of you send cards, texts, emails or call to check on us and it means so much! You have gone above and beyond and saying thanks doesn't seem like enough!

Kasey, Deb, & Angie...I know your days at work must be very quiet now that I'm gone! Ha ha!! I miss you girls!

Junction City crew...it's very different being a customer instead of an employee! You all have made that transition much easier on me! Thank you so much!

Connie and the CCC...I was two days shy of returning to work with you all. Thank you for all you do for me! Miss you!

Bill Pollom...praying for you daily!!!

I'm so thankful that God allowed me this time with my children. He has provided in amazing ways for the kids and I and I'm grateful! However, I will never forget all the fun times I had at FNB...some stressful times too! Ha ha! Not only was it a great place to earn a living, but I met some of the best people on earth!

My prayer is that God will bless you in a special way for your generosity and kindness to us. I love each and every one of you! Merry Christmas!

Christmas!!!

2011-12-07T10:26:00.000-08:00

The kids and I are totally loving this Christmas season! We've been discussing various plans for starting new traditions this year. Kari came up with throwing Baby Jesus a birthday party and inviting friends and family to be part. She also wants to invite "Jesus' friends and family" so that they can be healed while they're there.

She says we're making a cake but wonders how Jesus will blow out his candles? She said we may have to have the party in heaven. I told her that it wasn't an option unless the Lord came and got us!

So, anyway...we attended a Christmas parade in London last friday night with our buds Sarah, James, and "the boys" as Kari calls them. Kari and Malachi are in heaven with these boys. They have their undivided attention the whole time and they love it. Kari has also fallen in love with James. We were cracking up at him bowing to her every wish and command. They were quite smitten with one another.

We also went out to eat with them afterwards which was quite interesting with 4 boys and a girl. Of course, "the boys" are little angels and I could just squeeze them! Thanks, JamesSarahandBoys, for a wonderful evening!

We also attended the Danville parade with friends and family. We had a wonderful time and I would love to post pics but my sister hasn't sent them to me yet. (that was a hint, Sis) Pepaw got to join us for the evening and that was certainly a treat for the kids and I. We love you and miss you, Pepaw!

Kari is doing very well with her treatments. Currently, her port is accessed and I am giving her chemo daily at home plus she takes a chemo pill before bedtime. She did lose all of her hair again but she is the most beautiful bald headed princess I've ever seen!! Pictures will come whenever I have time to download them onto the computer. Time is limited right now for me on the computer.

Kari and I are working on school here at home during the day. She is doing fabulous and loves learning new things!! Malachi, on the other hand, struggles. LOL!! But he's finally learned the colors red, blue, and orange. Another milestone....MALACHI IS POTTY TRAINED!!! Honestly, I don't even know how it happened. I'm claiming a Christmas miracle! Ha ha!!

Congrats to Ryan and Brittany on their new baby boy, Micah! He is beautiful, y'all! Can't wait to see him in person.

As always, thank you for prayers, support, and friendship! We love you ALL dearly!

Fun Days!

2011-11-30T10:21:00.001-08:00

These days are filled with some sadness, yes they are. Like when we discovered yesterday that Kari's hair is falling out AGAIN. I've been told that this is the last time it should fall out unless something unforseen happens. Kari kinda shrugged it off like it was no big deal. I wonder though if inside she's very disappointed since we just tried putting a small bow in the side and it actually stayed there?? She was getting pretty excited about her hair! It will grow back in due time, thank God!

However, these days are also filled with FUN and LOTS OF LAUGHTER! I am truly enjoying being home with my babies despite the circumstances. Today we did arts and crafts for around 3 hours??? It was so much fun and the kids are learning a lot about arts and crafts...and how to be creative! And messy. :)

So, here's what we did today:

Fingerpaint (I love this better than my kids I think)

Stuffed our own pet

Paper Bag Puppets

Modeling Clay Critters

Tissue Paper Animals and Flowers

I love being with these kids! I thank God for our time together!

One funny thing that I have to share before ending this post. Jess and I went shopping Thanksgiving night and it was a hoot. We walked in Walmart and saw this:

After that madness we needed fuel. So we went to Waffle House for some food. Jess ordered smothered hashbrowns. When they brought the smothered hashbrowns out to her, we decided that Waffle House must be having it hard right now.

Love y'all!

Steroids...

2011-11-28T02:35:00.000-08:00

I haven't posted a whole lot lately. I claim that I don't have time which is partially true.

But this morning...we're sitting at the table at 5:00AM waiting on Kari to finish her 3rd bowl of Ramen noodles and also a bowl of Honeycombs. Bless her heart, she has acquired a taste for Ramen noodles and has hardly eaten a thing besides that the past couple of days. Only 3 more days on steroids. Hallelujah!!!

That's about all I have to post at this time in the morning. :)

Thanks With a Grateful Heart

2011-11-23T19:20:00.000-08:00

Yes, it's been two weeks since I've posted. Today, I stopped by the bank where I used to work and was reminded by several people (Lorie, Scott, Marlene, Linda) that I need to update my blog. I've honestly tried to but since Kari started the new phase it's been tough to find time!! It was so good to see all my bank friends today. You all make me cry every time I see you because you say such kind and encouraging things! I love you all!
Please pray for a friend I worked with, Amy, who lost her mother to cancer a few weeks ago. I know the holidays will be tough for them and my heart goes out to her and her family. If you read this...I'm praying for you, Amy!

I'll try to play catch up on the last few weeks as quickly as I can. The weekend of the 12th was Kari's benefit singing. The Holcomb family also held a mini-revival the two days before and we had an awesome time! The girls (all 4 of them) got to stay with Malachi, Kari, and I and we had a blast! We were very tired the next morning but it was worth it. Kari was able to sing at the benefit and there wasn't a dry eye in the church I don't think. It was priceless!

The next week the kids and I went with Pappy and Gammy to Alabama for a campmeeting there. We had a great time and stopped by a park called Noccalula Falls on our way out of Gadsden. It was so pretty and I was so mad at myself that I had my iPhone and not my camera. It would have been a perfect place for Christmas pictures.

One our way home we stopped in Knoxville to eat with the Holcombs. Kari was ecstatic to get to see her buddies two weekends in a row. I was thrilled as well...I love this family dearly.

So...as for Kari, she's doing pretty good at this point. The first week of treatment in our new phase was very rough as she had to have 2 days of chemo. She got very sick both times and the second time I didn't even have her nausea medicine with me.

Last week was better and this week she hasn't even had to have the nausea medicine. Her counts are staying up for now so we're thankful for that as well. Some of our clinic friends are really struggling right now. One little girl just relapsed and another boy has a cancer that is spreading rather quickly. Please pray for these families! We also received some fantastic news...our buddy Michael is in REMISSION!!! He's waiting to hear when he gets his PORT out and only has maintenance check ups. We are so happy for Michael and his family!! We love you all!

Malachi is doing well. We attempted potty training but after Resolve carpet cleaner became my best friend after one week...I scrapped the idea for the time being. My patience (and Malachi's) ran out rather quickly. Until I can get my mind and game plan together, we're not attempting it again.

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone! I am truly thankful for all that God has blessed us with. Despite the hard times we've faced and are facing, we have been so blessed. When we visited clinic this week, I was honestly almost depressed at all the bad news we heard from our friends there. However, it always makes me more thankful for Kari's health and all of the times that God has moved for us in the past four months.

I'm thankful for my precious babies and that I have an opportunity to teach them about Jesus.
I'm thankful for my family and friends that love us and support us. You are so special to us...each and every one of you!
I'm thankful for a warm home to live in, food on my table, shoes on my feet, clothes on my back. There are so many people without those basic things, more than I even realize I'm sure.
Most of all I'm thankful for my salvation and for my relationship with the Lord. I don't know why God listens to me whine day after day and still loves me and blesses me the way He does. But I'm thankful that His ways are higher than mine. His ways are good even when I don't understand them. Thanks, Lord, for all you are to me!

I can't end this post without saying...HAPPY BLACK FRIDAY SHOPPING TO EVERYONE! (hee hee hee)

Delayed Intensification

2011-11-08T08:33:00.000-08:00

Today we begin the Delayed Intensification phase of Kari's treatment. Along with new chemo, she also has to have a spinal. For some reason, clinic is absolutely CRAZY today and at almost noon, we still haven't had any treatments or received any results from her count check. Her spinal is scheduled at 1:00 so at least after that she can eat even if we have to wait on her chemo.

Kari and Adilynn (Adilynn's sister is here for treatment)

We have had the privilege of seeing so many of our clinic friends today! Kari has been in heaven playing with these kids who understand what she's going through. I have been so emotional watching them play that I can hardly talk at times.

Kari and Katelynn (she is Kari's age and has been through some tough treatments)

At last but certainly not least....the infamous MICHAEL!!! We were so surprised and pleased to see Michael and his mother, Kim today when we came to clinic. Michael was so sweet to Kari when she was in the hospital and she talks about him and prays for him all the time. He's the one that got Kari hooked on Cookies 'N Cream candy bars!!! She will love him forever for that. Thanks, Michael, for being so sweet to Kari. Kim, thank you for being a friend to me! We love you both BUNCHES!

This weekend is the benefit singing for Kari! She starts steroids again today so I'm not sure if she will be up to singing Saturday or not. For those of you interested in coming, look forward to some good singing and a good time in the Lord! I'm sure Gammy will be updating about that tomorrow or Thursday.

I want to thank you all again for everything you've done for us. We love you and we appreciate your friendship and support more than you know! The next few weeks will probably be tough if it goes the way they say it will. I hate that it's through the holidays but perhaps it will make us appreciate the true meaning of the holidays a little more! As you pray for God to strengthen us, we ask God to bless you as well!

27 Big Uns

2011-11-05T08:18:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was my 27th birthday. After 25 it seems that the birthdays get a little mundane??!

But thank you to everyone who sent birthday emails, texts or called to wish me happy birthday! It was nice to know people were thinking about me! :)

Thursday afternoon a good friend of mine, Sarah, called to ask if the kids and I wanted to meet her and her 3 boys in London to eat. And seriously...she has the most well-mannered, sweetest boys ever. They were so sweet to the kids and I and we really enjoyed our time with them. In fact, Kari cried when we had to leave. We stopped by McDonalds after we ate with them so the kids could play in the Play Place. Thank you all for a wonderful afternoon!

For my birthday, the kids and I had to go back to McDonalds for more play time. Ummmm....about 3 hours worth. LOL! The kids had a blast!

I also got to see my childhood besties Andrea and April! Andrea stopped by McDonalds while we were playing and we got to catch up while the kids played! Then later I got to spend some time with April catching up on things too!

It was a nice day altogether and, although so many life-changing things have happened since last year's birthday, God hasn't changed and I thank Him for letting me make it through another year!

Love you all!!

I Love These Kids!

2011-11-02T08:27:00.000-07:00

Kari had her last chemo treatment for the Interim Maintenance I phase last Monday. We got to clinic early which meant we got out of there fairly early. Kari and I always make these big plans to go to the mall and out to eat and all kinds of fun stuff after clinic but it never happens because she's usually worn out and not feeling well afterwards.

Monday, however, she felt great and Malachi was in a good mood too so after I let them nap in the van for an hour or so we went to Tony Roma's for supper. Why Tony Roma's when you're going out to eat with two kids? For one, I love their food. Two, we wanted to go to Joseph Beth to feed the ducks and Tony Roma's is inside Joseph Beth. Much easier on this mama to kill two birds with one stone.

Normally trips like this that I plan can turn out pretty disastrous. But since I played this outing by ear and let the kids decide what we did, it was seriously the best little outing we have ever had.

After feeding the ducks, we played inside Joseph Beth for about 2 hours. They have an awesome train set, doll house, and building blocks that kept the kids and I entertained and, yes, we rode the escalator about 5 times. :)

Then a trip to the mall for cookies and play time in the little play area in the middle of the mall. I was taking a picture of the kids and told Kari to kiss Malachi and this little girl who must have thought it was a free for all walked up to Malachi and laid a big smacker right on his cheek! His eyes were big as saucers! All the parents and I got a big laugh out of it!!!

Last for the evening was a trip to Bath and Body Works to get Kari some "hanitizer" as she calls it. LOL...cancer kids quickly learn to love it.

As I've mentioned before, the only thing on Kari's "Fun Things I Wanna Do" list that we hadn't crossed off yet was the zoo. But...the next day we went to the Cincinnati Zoo with our friends Jess and Chase. We were so excited that they invited us to go with them. We had such a good time and the kids were so good!

Two things happened here: while we were in line to ride the train, everybody around the stroller area was pointing and laughing....at my stroller. Come to find out, a huge squirrel was stealing all the snacks out of my snack bag. It would go inside the bag, take a snack out, run around a tree and hide it, then come back for more. It was so funny but I had to throw a whole bag of goodies away! Pesky thing.

Then when we got back to my van after we were finished at the zoo, we found this:

Van locked up tight as a wedge....with the door open. Seriously? Only me. Nothing was missing, thank the Lord.
I appreciate your friendship, Jess! Love you and Chase bunches!

Yesterday, Kari had to go to Clinic for an EKG and an echo of her heart. Next Tuesday when she starts the new phase of treatment, she will be receiving a medicine that can damage her heart. They needed a reading of everything so that they can monitor any changes. Thank God things were normal to begin with and her ANC is at 5580!! Pappy got to go with us yesterday and we had a blast with him!! We took him to the mall for lunch and then to play again in the play area there. I'm beginning to love that play area in the mall. My kids enjoy it so much and it's actually relaxing for me!
During this horrible battle we're facing, God is always there to give me the strength I need to face each trial. But there have been times when I feel like I'm at the end of my rope. Mainly when Kari seems at the end of hers. She is so strong and seems to bounce back pretty quickly. Only a few times has she let it show that this sickness not only wears on her body, but her little mind as well. Once was when her hair was falling out and she cried her little eyes out watching me put handfuls of her hair in the garbage can. Another time was when she had to face getting "magic milk" every week for her spinals. She has since came to terms with both of those things and I'm so proud of her.

But while we were at the mall yesterday, she had been playing with a little girl and was so happy and carefree for a while. She ran and played until she couldn't go anymore. When I finally made her stop because I was afraid she was going to overdo it, she was ready to drop. She looked up at me with sad eyes and said "mommy, will I always be like this?" I thought my heart would just break into a million pieces. Because all she sees is the here and now. The endless clinic visits and procedures, the restrictions that she has due to her condition, the fact that she has no hair and no longer looks like other little girls...it's hard to imagine what she must be thinking.

But I've also seen her grow in the Lord. That's been my prayer from the beginning and I'm so thankful to God that I can see the change in her. She prays so sincere when we do our prayers before bedtime. When she's in pain, she doesn't cry for Tylenol (I'm the weak one that wants to do that) but she cries for someone to pray for her. I'm so proud of who she's becoming! Malachi is also learning a lot. He says prayers every night and is learning to be sensitive to things that are going on around him. He worries about Kari when she doesn't feel good and will lay his little hands on her and pray when she cries. They are more precious than anything in this world and I'm thankful I was blessed enough to be their mommy!

The other night, mom and I took the kids to the park to feed the ducks. At the end of the day, Kari saw the sun setting and said "Mommy, will you take a picture of the sun? It's the perfect end to a perfect day."

I love these kids!

Prayer

2011-10-31T07:32:00.000-07:00

(QUICK UPDATE: KARIS EKG AND ECHO WERE NORMAL!!
ANC COUNTS ARE 5580!!! PRAISE THE LORD) MIL

Hello, all. I've been trying to post on here for a week, I promise. But my post wouldn't be complete without pics and I can't seem to get my pics off of my iPhone onto my computer for some reason. Anyway, when I have time I'll figure it out.

So, in place of a post with really cute pictures (until I figure it out)...I'd like to ask you all to pray for me and my kids. We're facing some things right now that I can't go into but we desperately need prayer for healing and strength.

Kari is great right now and we start the new aggressive phase next Tuesday the 8th. Tomorrow we have to go to Lexington for an EKG and an echo of her heart to get the normal readings before beginning the new treatment. One of the medicines can cause damage in their heart. We have to get a baseline reading so they can monitor any changes. I'm thanking God for his blessings this far on my baby girl and Malachi and I as well. He's been so good to us and I know He'll be faithful to see us through this new trial that we're facing.

We desire your prayers more than ever right now.
Love you ALL!

Love These Kids...iPhone Pic Overload

2011-10-26T22:32:00.000-07:00

Pictures, Pictures

2011-10-20T12:21:00.001-07:00

Here are some pictures from our Tennessee trip as well as others that are off my iPhone. I'm sorry they're not better quality...I'm afraid my iPhone has taken place of my camera 95% of the time!!!

Here's some pictures from our last clinic visit of Kari and Dr. Bayliff. Kari adores her and they had the best time!!!

Enjoy!! :)

Seasons

2011-10-13T07:43:00.000-07:00

It seems that I've started my last few blog posts with an apology. But this time, I'm not going to! You all know how crazy it is at our house and I know you understand. Thanks to Gammy for updating in my place the past few times!

A lot has gone on in the past month. I'll start with last week since the past 5 days have been a blast! Last Monday, Kari's counts were low but they did treatment anyway. With our impending Tennessee trip, we came back Friday to get counts checked again. Unfortunately they were even lower! Her ANC was 325 which should pretty much mean house arrest for Kari. However, we had everyone pray for her Friday night at campmeeting (all 500 people that were there) and I truly believe God moved for her. She was feeling so good Friday evening and slept well Friday night too.

There are several things that Kari has asked to do before her upcoming intense treatments that start in November. One was the aquarium which we visited in September; her list also included riding a boat on the lake, going to the zoo, and going to Tennessee for a few days.

So, Saturday, Pappy found us all a pontoon to take out on the lake and ohmygoodness. We had such a good time. It's one of those evenings where you take the memories and file them away to reflect on for weeks to come. No, her counts weren't great but she acted like she felt great and was so excited about going out on the boat. I made a mommy's judgment call and I feel like we need to make good memories with her while we can.

Since her counts were low, we decided against Tennessee. We were scheduled to be there Monday and her next clinic appointment wasn't until today, Thursday. I was afraid to take her without knowing if her counts were good. BUT...after she felt so good all weekend and I saw how bad she wanted to go, I made another judgment call and went with my instincts. We got to Tennessee Monday afternoon and that trip will be for another post!! We had so much fun and it was truly a good thing because today, Kari's counts are back up!!! God smiled on us! :)

Every fall, I seem to start thinking about the year and what it's meant to our family. For those of you that have been following my blog for a while, you remember that this time last year things were looking up for our family! God gave us a miracle and we're so thankful for God blessing us like he did! Even if things have changed now, God was still merciful and good to give us a miracle.

But this year, I'm struggling to get through the things that life has dealt us. I know that there are different seasons in life that we'll face...some good, some bad, some happy, some sad, some bitter, some sweet. I feel like we're in a season but I'm not sure which season it is. LOL! It's a rough one, that's all I know. I'm being honest because...well, I'm always honest on this blog! Ha ha!

Seriously, it seems that in the past month everything has gone crazy. But in the craziness, I've seen God work in so many ways that it blows my mind. It shouldn't, but it does. God never ceases to amaze me with his goodness and grace. He's taking care of me and my children and that means so much to me.

Ecclesiastes 3:1 says to every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven...(verse 4) A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance;

I'm so thankful that in those seasons of our life that are the weeping times or the mournful times that God is still in control and guiding our every step. We have good times for sure even in this season of weeping. I appreciate those times so much!

But I know that one day, whether in heaven or here in this life, God will have a time of laughter and a time to dance for our family again. One preacher said that if we could stand the pull, God would pull us through!!!

Thank you for your prayers, support and LOVE! We love you all!!

Quick update by Gammy!!!

2011-10-03T11:01:00.000-07:00

First, let us say "We are so sorry that it has been 3 weeks since we updated! I realize you follow Kari's progress through the blog so just let me say "no news is usually good news''. Life has been just flying by. You would think that with Ashley being a stay at home mom and my not babysitting anymore that we would be loaded with lots of extra time. NOT!!! All of you stay at home Moms know how much extra time you have. Lol! You have a hard time just having a chance to run to the bathroom alone! Ashley is with the babies all day then at quitting time when the husband should be coming home to give a hand, she has to just go on and work second and third shift, being a single parent. We all try to help out but when all is said and done the responsibility lies on her. Whew, I shudder to think, but a Mom is made up of the toughest stuff there is. Some man did not invent transformers, a mom (with Gods help) has been transforming in to whatever she needs to be for years!!! That is why I think that God compares the love of our Saviour to that of a Mothers. My hat is off to you Gals!

Kari is actually at clinic as I type. I have been under the weather so Ashley has Malachi too. And surprisingly, she has still been able to send updates and a couple pictures. Kari's counts are borderline today so in the beginning they didn't know if they could do chemo or not. They decided to go ahead with her treatment since her ANC is 740 and that is good enough that they feel safe to do it. She has reached the point again that if she is out in a crowd she will have to wear a mask. Bless her heart, she hates them. Well, if you see a group around town with masks on don't think we are bandits or anything. When her hair fell out, we all wore hats (until she decided they were too hot) so now I guess we'll all be running around with masks! "All for one and one for all!"

Kars4Kari had to be postponed due to weather. Father Winter whipped in over the weekend making us shiver and shake, so that will now be a spring fund raiser. The benefit is still planned for November 12 at 12. Hope you can come! Let me say this, we were kind of counting on Kars4Kari to help them through until the benefit. It would have been a scary time when we had to cancel but, don't you know that our "On Time God" had already moved upon His people and the need was met before we even knew we had one!!!! God is Awesome!! How can people go through this life, looking at all His miracles and doubt His existence??? I am so thankful that He cares for His children!

We all had a week in December planned to take Kari and Malachi to TN to see the Christmas lights (Kari loves TN and she was robbed of her carefree summer vacation this year :() but at Clinic they told Ash that the next phase of her chemo will be a rough one and she will not be able to go nor feel like going. (we are bombarding Heaven for His help) They said she could go in October, so we are hoping to get down there for a few days this month. Please continue sending prayers up for her.

Thank you for your continued prayers and support!!! I promise, Ashley will be back blogging soon and you won't have to listen to this old woman rattle! Oh, do you have time for one grandma story? Ok, I will try to keep it short. Kari and I had a 'first' experience yesterday! We went to Catos and shared a dressing room trying on clothes, lol! There is a little story behind this. I have changed my eating habits, trying to eat healthier and drop some weight. I am thrilled to say that from my heaviest weight I have lost 92 lbs so for the first time I can go to Catos and shop!!! Of course Kari is her Mommy's girl and can shop anytime. Anyway, she was running everywhere while Lacey and I looked around. Once I got to looking for her and couldn't find her anywhere. She's a master hider from playing hide and seek with Lacey and Ashlee so she won't say anything to reveal where she is. I couldn't find her anywhere!!! At about the point of hysterics I heard something . . . if there's one thing she likes better than hiding it is humming or singing. Lol. I began following the song, (He's Taking Care Of Me) and I looked up under the clothes racks. There she was, sitting on a bar under the clothes rack, swinging her feet and humming to beat ninety!! Bless her heart!! She is Gammy's Precious Princess and Pappy's SweetPea! And yes, we had a Gammy day Saturday - time will not permit me to tell of the mess she made then. LOL!!! This Gammy loves it! Have a blessed day!!!

Gammys and Blogs, LOL!

2011-09-16T07:13:00.000-07:00

Ok, second time blogging and I promise you this will be as bad as the last one! Haha! Uh, is there a "blogging for dummies" book out there anywhere? I need a link, quick!

Let me begin with a quick note on my thankfulness to my Saviour this morning! God has truly been good to this ole gal! I will not list my blessings because I would be here for days! But I want to continually let them run thru my mind with praises chasing them. I do not want to be "unthankful"!

Kari did great at chemo Tuesday. It is a different phase but she seems to be settling into the clinic routine very well. It is an all day affair and she was wiped out but everything went great! PTL! She doesn't go back until next Friday.

Ashlee does such a great job keeping us all informed. She is so honest, sharing her ups and downs and the wonderful pictures of the babies. She is one awesome girl! God is using her to touch so many people!

I am not sure if you know but she had to make a very hard decision and a step by faith concerning her job. Taking in consideration Kari's condition, her being the sole caregiver (since Matthew is gone trucking so much) and one worn out Gammy, she decided to resign her job until we see the end of this (high maintenance) journey. This was not an easy decision but one she invested a lot of prayer in and felt she needed to make. On the other hand, since making this choice, the babies have loved it! Ashley's dream to be a full time, stay at home mom is now in full swing! I am not complaining (I LOVE MY GRANDBABIES) (AND I WOULDN'T TAKE ANYTHING FOR OUR TIMES TOGETHER)but I am thoroughly enjoying being a Gammy instead of the babysitter!

Which brings me to the reason for this post. No, regardless of what you think, I am not blogging because I love it nor am I addicted to it!!! LOL!!! We are planning a benefit singing for Kari and I wanted to get the word out! So many people have helped (and we thank God for you) but others have said, "How can we help?" We are planning this fund raiser in order to help relieve the stress of finances through the end of the year. November 10 & 11 at our church, Olde Path Holiness Church in Danville, KY, Bro Jamie and Sis Jennifer Holcomb and family from Hollywood, AL will be ministering and then on Saturday, the 12th at 12.00 pm we will be hosting a benefit singing for Kari. The Holcombs, the Baldwins from IN, our very own choir and KARI will be singing! We will be taking a freewill love offering which will go to Kari. Also we will be selling concessions afterward with proceeds going to Kari. We plan to have a glorious time in the Lord with all our friends and family, basking in the beautiful anointed singing and presence of our Saviour. We hope you will make plans to attend!

Also, my sister's son-in-law has organized a car show called "Kars for Kari" at Wildcat Harley in London, KY on Saturday, October 1. I think it lasts from 12 - 7. Kari will be there awarding her favorite "hotrod"! Hope to see you there! We are so thankful to family and friends for all they have done on our behalf. God is so good and so many times He uses His people to bless and help others.

We have set up an account with Farmer's National Bank in Danville as
"Kari Kontributions". Donations may be sent straight to the bank at
Farmers National Bank, PO Box 28, Danville, KY 40422 or sent to our
home address at Karen Noe, 229 Highland Court, Danville, KY 40422.
Please make checks out to "Kari Kontributions". A great big THANKS to
all those who have given, called, prayed, sent cards and/or bought gifts!
We try to reply back to each individual and hope we have not missed anyone
in our efforts. If so, we have not overlooked you on purpose and please
accept our apologies. You are ALL important to us! We love you!!!

Ok, before I go, have you got time for one Gammy story? Since Kari has not been
staying with me, we have been having Gammy days where I get her for the day. She has it planned to the hilt, with trips to the Gorilla carwash, the library, Cracker Barrell, making chicken and dumplings etc. (there's no end to her imagination) Last night after church she decided to stay all night. She has this big Perdita dog that Pappy rescued when someone moving lost it on the road. We had to put a "Port" in Perdita and doctor her with "magic milk". lol It is amazing what this four year old knows. Anyway, last night, Malachi wanted to take Perdita home with him. Of all the crying and kissing and loving, Kari bestowed on Perdita, you'd have thought she was losing her best friend. Malachi finally caved and let Kari keep her! She lit up like she had swallowed the sun. lol! Yes, she is a mite spoiled and massively overdramatic!!! At midnight after not being able to go to sleep, she raised up in bed and said, "Gammy, I am just gong to have to go home". She called her Dad and told him to come get her. Then said, "Nevermind, I will just have Pappy bring me". She proceeded to ask Pappy in her sweetest voice, "Pappy, would you take me home"? Pappy said, "Why sure baby", and she grabbed him around the neck and in her Kari way said "Pappy I love you and I knew you would!" Now you can see why she might be a little spoiled! "OH WELL, LOVE THEM AND LIVE EACH DAY TO THE FULLEST BECAUSE YOUR WORLD CAN TURN UPSIDE DOWN OVERNIGHT."

Hey, I might get to liking this blogging! Seriously, maybe I will sneak on here
and share embarassing secrets or something about Ash!! (giggles) Just Kidding!
Thanks for stopping by!

In The Storm

2011-09-12T19:07:00.000-07:00

I had some quiet time today while the kids were napping and actually had time to read God's Word and pray without kids running around me. I was praying and honestly having a hard time getting words out. You know those times when you have so much to say and so much to pray about but you just can't get it out?

Right about that time, the song Praise You In This Storm came on the radio. It's one of my favorites and I've heard it a million times but it really spoke to me today.

When you're going through the great times in life when everything is good (bills are paid, everyone's healthy, you're standing on a mountain), it's so easy to just praise and praise the Lord for the blessings. But when you go through those hard times when EVERY SINGLE THING in your world is upside down...it's so hard to even lift your hands up.

Kari is doing so good right now and I'm so thankful for it. But it's like I've reached this point in this new journey where I'm struggling to accept the changes. I was looking at some old pictures of Kari, just 2 weeks before she was diagnosed, and I completely had a break down. My beautiful, innocent 4 year old is no longer innocent. She's still beautiful and always will be but she's changed so much emotionally and otherwise. It's heartbreaking to see it. Our lives have changed from normal (a crazy normal) to...well, I don't really know what it is now. And I've struggled to praise God the past few weeks. I've struggled to accept that He is God and what He does is right. In the beginning of our journey, it seems that I had an easier time accepting things but now, it's sinking in that this journey has and will forever change us.

But when that song came on today, I realized that even though life is hard to accept and it's hard to deal with at times, God truly is with us in our storm. The chorus of that song says this:

I'll praise you in this storm
And I will lift my hands
That you are who you are
No matter where I am
And every tear I cry
You hold in your hands
You've never left my side
And though my heart is torn
I will praise you in this storm

Sometimes I feel like God doesn't see all the tears in the middle of the night. That the all-knowing, all-seeing God doesn't hear the cries of this heart-broken mama. But to know that he holds our tears in His hands...wow! I was so encouraged by this song tonight. I was also a little rebuked. God is the God over the good times and the bad times. Should we not praise Him through both? Should we not trust Him enough to know that He is in control even when things are not the way we think they should be?

Yep. And I haven't been. God has been so faithful to us. To ME. I don't doubt His ability to take care of us but at the same time....can I trust Him enough to PRAISE Him through these hard times?

Whewee. That's a hard thing to do but I'm asking the Lord to help me to praise Him through it all. Because it's not MY will, but His. My mom sent me a text message the other morning from her daily devotions and it said this: The great thing is to suffer without being discouraged. Another rebuke. LOL!

So, anyway, that's my sermon for the day! We have clinic tomorrow and we will start a new phase of treatment. Please pray that this treatment goes as well as the others! My mother in law will probably be posting next. I'm sure you all will be glad not to have to read my ramblings! LOL!

Thank you for praying for our family! It carries us through! :)

We're Here!

2011-09-04T11:54:00.000-07:00

After getting a dozen texts and emails asking if we we're okay, I decided it was time to update the blog again. Honestly, sometimes I have trouble forming my thoughts into words and not sounding ridiculous. I have a lot of emotions running through my person day after day and this past week has been a doozie (doozy?). I don't have any pictures to post because I don't have time to load them but I promise to post them ASAP.

Last weekend, you can see what the kids and I did here. Thank you, Jess, for a wonderful evening! I had a blast and the kids obviously had fun too. It was so nice to have adult conversation and to look around in stores without kids running around everywhere! I definitely enjoyed the 4 hours we got to spend together!

Last week, we had Clinic and it was the best trip there yet. We still had some issues accessing Kari's port but it's getting better each time. Her counts are still good as are her other counts! We get a break this week from Clinic and Kari has been sure to tell everyone!

This past Friday, the kids, mom and I loaded up and headed to Ohio. We made a fun stop at the Newport Aquarium to meet Jess and Chase. We had so much fun although I must say that going to the Aquarium with kids is a whole different ball game than going as a teenager! LOL. Jess, mom and I all agreed that when we got back to our cars, we felt like we had been to work! Ha ha! The kids enjoyed snow cones, ice cream cones and a man on stilts that made them stuff out of balloons. I would like to visit Newport on the Levee again when it isn't 110 degrees outside. The whole area was awesome!

Currently, we are in Ohio visiting family. We wanted to come spend time with my aunt Ellie and my cousin is also getting married today. However, last night we had a scare with Kari and a fever that kept spiking and lowering every 30 minutes so I decided it was best to keep her in out of the weather today. It is rainy and muggy outside and the wedding/reception is outside??? We are sooo not up to that right now.

I want to say thank you AGAIN to Farmers National Bank. They have been so good to me through this whole ordeal and have gone above and beyond time after time! I miss you ALL so much! Cassie and Chrissy, thank you all for coming over last week to visit us. Kari had a great time with Macey and Kyndall and I loved catching up on everything. I got really emotional because I realized that it may be a while before I can return to work. It's a hard decision to make and an emotional one as well. I know God is in control and will work this whole situation out for our good but sometimes it's so hard knowing what choice to make when you can't see the future.

I know what everyone is thinking....that's where faith and trust come in. We can't see the future and have to put our faith and trust in the One who can. Trust doesn't come easy for me and maybe the Lord is trying to teach me a few things???
Anyway, God knows best and I do know that. Playing over and over in my mind, this song that Davy, Kelly and Odie sing reminds me to just leave it in God's hands and let go. I can't say that I'm there yet, but I'm working on it.

Faith gives you hope, hope gives you strength
Strength gives you courage to go on each day
When you're praying for answers to things you can't change
When it's out of your hands hold on to faith

I love you all and appreciate all you do for us! Kari wants to say to Macey and Kyndall that she loves and misses you all very much! Also to her cousins Cameron, Casey, Sammie and Brandon she says she loves you all too!
And to Gammy, Pappy, Uncle and Lacey she says she misses you and will be home to see you soon! :)

Blessings

2011-08-23T16:46:00.000-07:00

We had Clinic again today and, hallelujah, it went much better than last week. When we left home this morning, Kari was in the best little mood. She sang, she talked, she giggled, she played....until we got to the parking garage at Clinic. She got sooo mad at me because she thought we were "never coming back here, mommy." Seriously. I had to pretty much drag her in and drag her down the hallway to Clinic where Meiko (one of the nurses) took one look at her and said, "Oh, are we in the same mood as last week?" and a couple that we see there every week said, "Oh, no. Another bad morning?" After about 20 minutes, however, she was fine and dandy. She actually had a great conversation with Dr. Greenwood about bath fizzies and bubble bath.

Accessing the port was still very scary for Kari and almost as bad for me. They say this gets easier so I'm praying it gets easier quickly. In an earlier post, a cancer mom commented and told me to take snacks after spinals because her son always woke up hungry. I can't remember who it was but I took your advice!!! Definitely a good idea. :) Thank you!

Kari's counts are up to 6600!!! All of her triglycerides and cholesterol levels are back to normal as are her liver numbers that were so out the roof. God has definitely moved for us in the past few weeks. Kari is doing great and it's only because of the Lord! He is worthy of all the praise for this miracle. Although Kari has not been healed completely of leukemia, He has blessed us greatly so far.

I never want my blog to be a point of bad news and a depressing place for people to read. Cancer, especially in children, can be very depressing to those that have never been close to it. Many years before Kari was even diagnosed, I followed several blogs and Caring Bridge sites and prayed for those kids. At times, I remember almost dreading the news that I would find on those sites because cancer isn't easy to take nor does it give "breaks" to people, especially children. It's so unfair for children to have to go through this horrible disease!
HOWEVER...I also remember learning how to pray for those in need and being more thankful for my own family's health. I feel that it's needful for us to join in prayer together for those around us.

With that being said, we received bad news from several of our friends today. First of all, most of you that have followed my blog since last year remember my request for prayer for my Aunt Ellie. She had pancreatic cancer and had surgery last June. She's done very well since then but received bad news today: the cancer has come back as Stage 4. We are all devastated and we ask that you please hold her up in prayer. I know she begins treatment Thursday as there isn't a surgery that they can do at this point.
Also, an 18 month old boy that was adopted from Africa by a family in Lexington has leukemia and just found out he has to have a bone marrow transplant. As you can imagine, it's very hard to find a match for him. Please pray for a miracle for Baby "T". Another 11 year old boy is really struggling with his counts...he's receiving transfusions weekly and is so weak right now. Please pray for his strength!
A praise report....16 year old Michael that is so dear to our hearts is doing much better! His counts are staying up and he is being able to receive treatment as scheduled right now. We just asked for prayer for him last week and he is much better! Thank the Lord and thank you for praying!

On a lighter note, Matthew and I are hoping to take the kids on a little "trip" next week while Kari is feeling good enough to go. It's not a definite thing yet but we're already excited about it! Kari is already planning our day out. Praying that Matthew gets a small break in work to be able to go!

God is good and I'm thankful that He's my heavenly Father. I'm not really sure how people who don't have a personal friendship with Him get through life. He's my Rock, He's my peace, He's my comfort, but most of all...He's my friend.

Shopping!

2011-08-21T12:38:00.000-07:00

Last week, I asked Kari to tell me something fun she would like to do for a day. I figured since she was feeling good and her counts were good that we would go out for a day and have some fun.

Yes, she's my child--she picked shopping at the mall. Oh, how happy this made me. :) The pictures are from my phone again...I had no hands left to carry a camera!

Aunt Lacey, Lashei, the kids and I headed to the mall Friday morning after stopping at the bank for some blue suckers. Thanks, Junction City, for saving the blue suckers for my kids. They will love you forever and so will I because they work great as bribes for Malachi when we're into some serious shopping and need a distraction. His dentist hates my shopping trips!! Ha ha!!! I'm only kidding...he only had 2. The rest of the time I fed him cookies with M&Ms in them. (Oh, I kid! Malachi was actually terrific and we didn't need many distractions for this trip.)

We visited Build A Bear for the first time. I'm not sure how we missed this place all these years. It's fabulous and we spent quite a bit of time there! Malachi fell asleep right before we went in here so Kari was in heaven being able to shop to her little heart's content!

Lashei and Lacey had to have some relaxation. LOL! Kari and I almost didn't get them back up to finish shopping.

Kari and Malachi rode the Motion Master ride that Kari loves so good. Malachi is a silent participant and only does it because Kari asks him to. They both got off mid-ride and Lashei and Lacey finished it. :)

Lashei helped the kids play some kind game in the middle of the mall.

We had such a good time and it was so nice to almost feel normal again! Kari ran around the stores finding things she just had to have or she and Malachi played hide and seek in the racks of clothes. Malachi is a good sport when it comes to shopping and he got to pick out some goodies too!

Saturday, the kids and I spent the day attempting to put our house back together. Their rooms are now switched but Malachi's walls are still pink as is his bed! We didn't get to paint this weekend but that's in the plans for the next few weeks. I absolutely treasured the day we had yesterday. The kids played so well together and it was like old times for us. Kari has felt so good all weekend and I've actually had to make her lay down for a nap just because I knew she needed one.

I thank God for these days that are good. It's a welcome break from the rough times. God is in control and I'm continuously thankful for that. Kari sang at church last night and this morning. She sang this song today:

God knows best
God knows best
No matter if you cannot see the way
Still small voice will always bring joy
If you wanna pass the test
Remember God knows best

It makes me smile. :)

Clinic

2011-08-16T09:00:00.000-07:00

I haven't said a whole lot about our Clinic visits up to this point because they've been pretty uneventful for the most part.

That, however, changed yesterday. Kari was so tired when we got there because she hadn't slept good in several nights and she had to get up very early that morning to go to Clinic. She was so grouchy and grunted and made a face at anyone who said anything to her. By the time Dr. Greenwood came in to check her out, Kari covered her ears and stuck her tongue out at Dr. Greenwood. Seriously. I teach my children manners and I don't know if she just lost her mind momentarily or if she was just totally exhausted.

Yesterday was also the first day they accessed her port. I feel like I've done very well with the medical stuff up to this point. I've watched the IV being put in and taken out, I've watched them do stuff to her PICC line, I've watched the blood draws and all kinds of other stuff. Those of you who know me well, know that this is a big accomplishment for me!

BUT. The port is a whole different story and I'm hoping Kari and I get used to it soon. She also had to have a spinal with chemo which meant she had to be put to sleep again. Oh, the emotions that I feel during that time. They always let her lay in my arms while they push the "magic milk" through. After about 10-15 seconds, she is just out like a light. Totally lifeless. Then trying to wake her up can sometimes be scary???

So,anyway, we made it through all that and I'm sure there will be more stories concerning Clinic. I just hope Kari doesn't follow after Brooklyn and somehow forward all the Clinic phone calls to my cell phone! Yes, Brooklyn did that which I think is totally hilarious. :)

We've had a wonderful day today! Kari has felt so good and she and Malachi have played so well together. She has had little tolerance for Malachi most days so we've been working on that. She has also accumulated quite a bit of new toys and clothes and shoes and books and baby dolls...her room was starting to be wall to wall toys and everything. So, we've decided to move her to Malachi's room since it's the biggest and move Malachi to hers which involves painting over her pink walls with something boy-ish. Which means my house is upside down right now. So, if you mention coming to see us and I don't sound enthused, that's why. I've recruited some help this weekend so maybe we can get it all finished before too long.

I started walking again last night. It's a great stress reliever and I'm trying to keep myself going so that I can be healthy for Kari. Tonight, we walked with Lacey down to the park. It was so pretty outside that I couldn't resist snapping this picture of Lacey and Kari!

Matthew is still out working. The cattle business is moving fast right now so he's had to be out for a long time this go around. We love and miss you, daddy!

I ask that you all remember all of our friends that we've become so close to at the hospital and Clinic. Kari's 16 year old friend, Michael, is having a very rough time right now. Please pray for him that God would strengthen his body to be able to take the chemo treatments. Michael and Kim...Kari and I love you much! We're praying for you daily.

I just want to say thank you again to our friends and family and those of you that we don't even know for your support and your prayers! It means so much to know that prayers are going up for us so faithfully.

I'll leave you with this question that my friend, Jess, posted on her blog. What if you woke up tomorrow with only the things that you thanked God for yesterday?

We Made It

2011-08-13T14:25:00.000-07:00

Thank you all for praying about Kari being in Latasha's wedding. The day finally arrived and Kari was able to get through the whole wedding before she totally crashed! This day was special for us and I'm so thankful that Kari and I were here to be part of it.
I want to thank God for some more good news...Kari's body is responding to the chemo and, after her first month of treatment, the leukemia is less than 0.01% in her body! This is what the chemo was supposed to do and we're grateful that we can follow a standard treatment and not a more intense one. God has definitely answered prayers this week! Since we're worn out from the wedding and the weeekend, I'm only going to post pictures and leave it at that. God has been good to us and we're grateful to Him for bringing us this far! Any other emotions/news can wait. :) Daddy is wanting to see pictures of his baby girl all dressed up since he's been away working this weekend. Don't get upset, Daddy, when you see the pictures of Kari holding Justin's hand. She told us today that she IS NOT allowed to have a boyfriend because her daddy said she couldn't. LOL!

Also, word has it that on the Praying for Kari Facebook page, there's a really cute picture of her and I looking at each other during the wedding. I don't have Facebook but I appreciate all of you that follow Kari's page and pray for us. It means so much! Thank you, Jess, for starting the page and spreading the word about our need for prayer! Love you bunches!

:)

Let My Mother-In-Law Post?????

2011-08-09T20:08:00.001-07:00

Can you believe it? Ashlee has turned me, her mil, Karen lose with her blog???
Oh the things I could do and say!!!! do I want to amuse you or bore you or just update on Kari and go to bed??? First of all, any mistakes I make on this post Ashlee will have to correct for me. I am not a blogger. In fact, this is my first time.

Kari had a really rough weekend as many of you know since we have begged for prayers. Her swelling and weight gain together with the steroids nearly took our "precious princess" as we know her away! Her smiles rarely came. She just looked and acted miserable. Her cholesterol and triglycerides were way too high so they put her on a "LOWFAT" diet. (Do you know how sad it is to take a four year old grocery shopping and her ask, "Mommy can I have some of this or is it too high in fats"? She is way too old for her four years. Course I think we have all aged the past five weeks.) She was too weak to walk. Her breaths were coming in huffs and puffs. Her big beautiful blue eyes were mere slits. She didn't feel up to coming to church Sunday so via Iphone she and Ashlee were able to listen. Pastor David (aka Pappy preached a wonderful message taken for Psalms 23. At the end of the message, Kari looked to her Mom and said, "The Lord is my shepherd, I will not be afraid", Thank God for the little things. Oh for her to have that trust in her Jesus!

So, Monday, when Ash called the clinic they told her to come and let them check her and be prepared to stay. . . . She was feeling better by the time they got there. After a check up, the answer was "this is normal, just more side effects of chemo". Since they had to be at UK at 5.45 AM Tuesday for Kari's port, spinal chemo and a bone marrow procedure, they were allowed to stay at Hope Lodge. Kari just loved this place. From the pictures it looked very nice. Kari and Ashlee had a blast Monday night. Kari was more like her old self and they played and played and played!!! (you have to remember Kari's playing consists of sitting on the bed and playing, she's not very mobile, due to swelling, weight gain and feeling so bad) In fact they played so long they didn't want to get up for their appointment.

Now for the good news!!! Kari was admitted, taken back, the procedure finished, she was in recovery and then dismissed before 12.00 noon. Everything went smooth. She has a port now and Pluto is gone. Not sure what she will name the port. We won't know results until later this week. But... she came off steroids Sat and the swelling has already started to go down. Her levels were over 5000!!!!! And her cholesterol and triglyceride levels are coming down!!!!! Yes, Praise the Lord! For we know that He is in control.

There is so much more I could say but it is late and (tee-hee) I have the password now so I can sneak in and post again! :) Let me end with this, Kari loved the Hope Lodge so good that she talked them in to letting her stay another night. Can you believe it? The kid thinks she's on vacation! Lol!! So she and Ashlee are having another night out. Malachi is with his Daddy and they are having a Father/Son night. Matthew was able to be here for all of this, for this we are thankful.

Kari is very sore from all ahe's been through but doing good. I would like to ask that you pray for Ashlee. Her body is wearing down from the schedule and demands that is being placed on her. Her throat has really been bothering her. I have to say, she is a real trooper. I could never have picked a better daughter-in-law. In fact, I did pick her, lol, years ago! Thank God for our family and friends!

Through it all, GOD IS FAITHFUL!!!! Karen

Urgent Prayer

2011-08-06T10:03:00.000-07:00

UPDATE ON THIS POST: GOD MOVED FOR KARI AND SHE IS DOING MUCH BETTER! WE DIDN'T HAVE TO GO TO THE HOSPITAL AND WE'RE NOW GETTING READY TO TAKE HER TO EAT! THANK YOU FOR PRAYING!!!

We got home from the hospital last night but may be heading back in a little while.

We are waiting on a call from the doctor because Kari's breathing is labored and she isn't doing very good. Please pray for us!

Day 27

2011-08-04T08:35:00.000-07:00

We are still in the hospital but hoping to get out this afternoon. We're still waiting on some of the test results to come back. We've been in isolation for going on 36 hours. Kari is getting restless and I feel so bad for her not being able to get out and play.

Kari does have Pancreatitis but can be helped with medicine and special diet I think. I'm still not clear on it all but after we get the test results we will know more of what we're dealing with.

When we're in the hospital, I'm reminded of how blessed we are. Yes, Kari is sick and we have a long road ahead of us. But then I think about the others that are in here and have it much worse than we do. Some of these kids have cancers that will not be cured. They are taking treatments with high hopes but all the whileknowing that it may only prolong their life at the most. There are others in here who have to be at the hospital for days at a time for chemo instead of just going to the Clinic for treatments. There are more that have no support at all....they are here day after day by themselves with no one to help carry their load.

We are so blessed with friends and family who care, who help, who go out of their way to see that we're not going through this alone.

I know that weeks like this will happen. Weeks when I'm scared to death for my baby, weeks when I honestly can't see the good in this situation, weeks when I want to scream "WHY???"
But I know that at the end of our rope, God will be there holding out His hand for us to grab onto and that hand will carry us a little further down the road.

Pictures and Update

2011-08-03T06:47:00.000-07:00

We are back in the hospital. We were admitted yesterday. Kari's levels that have to do with her liver and pancreas were all extremely high but her ANC was good. However, they think that she has a touch of Pancreatitis. Also, they think she may have something that I don't even know how to spell but it sounds like it would be spelled C-Difficil. ??? It's contagious and at this time, any visitors have to be in gowns and gloves and all that. So, it might be best that we don't have any visitors at this time because it could be uncomfortable for you all and us.

Kari wasn't allowed to eat after 1:00 yesterday afternoon until this morning. She was up every hour last night begging for food and it was HORRIBLE! When they told her she could eat this morning, she ate 2 1/2 bowls of cereal, half of a banana and part of a granola bar! She is on a low fat diet at this time so we're learning to eat better! Since she's been on steroids, we've pretty much been giving her anything she craves. Not a good thing at this point.

I want to give God the praise for all of her levels coming down! The doctors were puzzled yesterday morning because all of her counts/levels were all weird and they were honestly not sure what to do. Now they are just saying that her body is bringing them down on its own which tells me that all the people we had praying yesterday morning must have got a prayer through! Her body is doing well and functioning properly and I thank God for that. BUT...after we asked people to start praying, she had no more pain! God is faithful. She still hasn't had any more of that horrible stomach pain even after she ate breakfast this morning. I am so thankful for that!

All of these pictures are from Kari's birthday party Saturday. Daddy and Travis walked the kids around on the horse and they loved it! I would say Malachi probably stayed on the horse for a good 2 hours. He looked like a natural up there. Unlike his mother who had a panic attack when they put me on that thing. I once thought I would like to be real cowgirl-ish but now I know otherwise. I'm also not going to post the pictures of me on the horse. :)

I will post more pictures over the next few days of the party and various others of Kari sporting her hats. She is adorable in them! She is excited about the rest of her hair falling out so that she can tie Pappy, Daddy, and Uncle Chris down to shave their heads. She is adapting well to all the changes she's going through and I'm so proud of her!!!

Prayer

2011-08-01T21:14:00.000-07:00

Thank you all for the prayers that you sent up to heaven for us the last time I posted. The end of the week was better and Kari had a good birthday. I hope to post some pictures tomorrow at some point.

Today we went to Clinic and it looked to be a 30 minute process and back home. HOWEVER...things didn't quite go that way. I don't want to go into detail because, honestly, I'm still not clear on it all. In her blood work, they check certain levels of enzymes and fluids from Kari's liver. If you're medically inclined and reading this, please don't laugh if I'm using the incorrect terminology!!! Kari's counts were about 20 times higher than what they needed to be. High levels are normal to some degree but Kari's were unusually high. Home health will be here Wednesday to do more blood work to check all the levels and things. We're praying for it to be lower and more "normal" so that things won't be as scary. Kari is on a special diet at this point and a child on steroids does not need a restricted diet!!! Life in our house may get a little hairy when I have to tell Kari that she has to eat vegetables instead of the Spaghetti O's with Meatballs that she craves. Only 4 days left on the steroids though! Woohoo!

Long story short, we had to wait about 4 hours on blood work results to come back. Then we had to wait on her chemo treatment. Then we had to go to the hospital for a plasma transfusion which turned into a 4 hour process. Then the pain that Kari's been having in her stomach came back full force and the nurses and I tried hard to calm her for 30 minutes to no avail. Finally, she was just begging to go home and my heart just broke for her. I told them to call the doctor and ask if we could just go home and rest. They called her doctor who gave us consent to go home to rest with a warning to come back tomorrow if the pain continues.

I'm going to be very honest in the next few paragraphs just because I need to vent for a few minutes. We parked in the Clinic parking garage when we went this morning which meant we had to walk FOREVER to get back when we left the hospital. It's a maze of hallways and doors and elevators to get there and I was so exhausted that I wasn't sure if I could even get there! On top of that, that side of the hospital is closed at night so it was like a funeral home going through there and I was, quite frankly, spooked. Finally, we got to the elevators to take us up to the floor where we were parked and the stupid thing wouldn't even work. It was either walk up 2 flights of stairs with Kari on one hip and my purse on the other or walk up the ramps in the parking garage. Neither appealed so I tried the phone in the hallway that is SUPPOSED to call someone for help. It did not do that. I decided to head back to the hospital to get someone to help me and found the doors locked because it was after visiting hours. Gee. Stinkin'. Whiz. I finally just yelled "Is anybody up here?" to which no one answered me. I seriously was about to fall apart because Kari was crying with her stomach, I was crying because she was in pain and I felt helpless and there was not a soul in sight to help us.

I finally just packed us all up the stairs, found our vehicle and we both collapsed inside.

Major breakdown on the way home. Major. Let me stress MAJOR. Thank God Kari slept peacefully on the way home because this mama was in bad shape. No one was with us today because we kept being told we were going home so I think it all crashed down on me at once. I was glad to get to see Matthew for a few minutes before he left back out for work. I know he was hating to leave us in the shape we were in but since he's the only one providing right now, he didn't have a choice.

I hate this disease. I hate that Kari is in pain. And we desire your prayers more than ever right now.

We Need Prayer Today

2011-07-29T10:15:00.000-07:00

Friends,
I have nothing to say today other than we desire your prayers more than ever right now. I'm not sure why, but last night at church it seemed like everything just came down on top of me at once. At times, I let it go and cry my eyes out but, the majority of the time, I have to hold it in because of the kids being with me. I'm trying to be strong for Kari but I desperately need peace and strength right now so that I can do that.

Kari's hair is bad enough to where we can no longer cover it. It's coming out by the trash can full and it's honestly making Kari and I sick to our stomachs. I hate it that my baby's beautiful long hair is almost gone but I'm to the point where I just want it gone so we can learn to deal with it.

Kari doesn't feel very good today and my heart is breaking. Poor little Malachi...he's just in the midst of the confusion.

I'm not sure when I'll be able to post again...Kari's birthday party is Saturday and her actual birthday is sunday. I'll do my best to post pictures of it all ASAP.

Please pray for our family.

Fun and Prayer

2011-07-27T20:08:00.000-07:00

We've been MIA for a few days on here. We escaped to Memaw's for a few days and I just now had time to post. Kari, Malachi and I ALL needed a break from our house. After being cooped up for a week it was time to get out. Besides that, Kari was acting depressed and I thought getting her out in the "normal" world would help. We're on the count down until Kari goes off steroids...8 more days. We're praying that she will return to her normal personality and things will be a little easier for everyone. We've experienced some "Roid Rages" (as I've heard they're called) and they aren't pleasant. Also, the late night eating sprees are making us all tired and cranky! LOL!

This morning we got up bright and early and went to Aunt Shelia's bakery and pie shop so that Kari could help make pies and cakes. She and Malachi had so much fun! They played in pie dough and flour and pie filling and ohmyword they made a mess but had a blast! I remembered my camera but left my memory card in the computer at home so you will have to suffer through cell phone pictures. A fun time was had by all and we ate some good homemade chocolate pie. About the chocolate pie...seriously. You all just missed out is all I can say.

This week is youth camp here at our home church where my mom goes. I wanted to take Kari so that she could see all the kids and so that we could have people pray for her. I know that some of you all aren't pentecostal like me (lol) but we believe in prayer and churchin'! Tonight we had everybody pray for Kari and she seems so much better. She is actually smiling willingly again and had a good time tonight with everyone.

I won't pretend that this isn't the hardest thing I've ever faced in my entire life and I hate every minute of seeing Kari in pain or crying her little eyes out because she simply just doesn't understand what's going on in her life right now. Her hair is to the point where she has bald spots that are hard to cover up. At the rate it's coming out, she will probably be in hats by the weekend. Of course, she did tell me today that she WAS NOT wearing a hat until I got some to wear with her. So, I'm searching for some cute hats to wear with Kari. I've found a few but we will probably need every color. Or maybe that's an excuse to go shopping?

Anyway, I realized something tonight while they were praying for Kari. Although I'd like for the Lord to work a miracle and completely heal Kari, I know that sometimes that isn't His will. I won't try to understand why He allowed this to happen or try to understand His ways.

But, I realized that my prayer for Kari is for her to KNOW the Lord. For Jesus to somehow make Himself real to her and that she would know the Lord as her personal Saviour and never stray from that as long as she lives. I remember growing up listening to my mommy pray to the Lord that she loves so much and watching her read her Bible faithfully everyday and that became my lifestyle too as I got older. I also grew up listening to my mother in law and father in law pray and, now that I'm grown, I love the Lord the same way they do and desire to serve Him with my life. I want her to have an even greater desire to serve the Lord and to love Him with all her heart.

And for some reason I'm rambling tonight and you all are probably like...really, can we move on? So I'm going to leave you with my new favorite picture!

Thanks for listening and for commenting to let us know you care! It means so much to us. Love you all! :)

My Brave Girl

2011-07-25T12:59:00.000-07:00

Today was our weekly visit to Clinic for treatment. The nurses there are so nice and I know we're going to just fall in love with the whole bunch. We got good reports all the way around so I won't bore you with the details!
I just want to post some cute pics of my brave girl. I'm so extremely proud of her! Dr. D and Kari became fast friends from the beginning of this journey. They really hammed it up for this picture:

Our nurse, Ann, was wonderful and she is so good with Kari.

I hope nobody thinks I'm odd but I just think this is neat so I'm going to share. Most of you all have heard me talk about Brooklyn. When Kari was having her bone marrow biopsy when she was first diagnosed, we had been trying to find a picture of her in the dozens of picture collages all over the clinic. Kari was real scared and nervous and when we saw Brooklyn it took her mind off of what they were doing to her. Then today, Kari was crying over the PICC line dressing being changed and we both looked over top of the table she was sitting on and saw this:

Sweet Brooklyn is our inspiration and I somehow feel like she is Kari's little guardian angel! Like I said, I hope you don't think I'm weird but, if you do, that's okay. :)

Our friend, Angel, sent Kari a package in the mail with a cool scarf and two diva hats! Kari was thrilled with them! She also tried on her wedding dress for Latasha's wedding. She looks like a princess!

Matthew is back on the road with work. He's working to provide for us during this time that I'm off work and I'm so thankful for that! He loves his job and does great at it but I know that he misses us and would like to be here if he could. He told me last night that I forgot to update on him when I was blogging! LOL. Sorry, honey! We love you!
Malachi went to Pappy and Gammy's to play today while Kari and I went to Clinic alone. I figure if we're going for the next two years that I needed to get used to the drive. Kari fell asleep on the way and I had me a good little talk with Jesus. I was thankful for the quiet time alone with my heavenly Father...He's so faithful to listen and so faithful to speak peace and comfort to my heart. I'm thankful that He is mindful of us and so loving to care about our every need and worry! Thank you for praying and for caring about us! :)

For The Glory

2011-07-24T19:01:00.000-07:00

First an update on Kari's ANC count: as of Friday, it was 1600!! It had gone up 1000 points since Wednesday. Lucky? Nope. God? Yes, sir.
Kari and I got up Friday (Malachi was at Gammy and Pappy's) and made french toast and eggs. We love cooking together and Kari especially loves all of my Pampered Chef stuff. She feels so grown up when she uses it!

Saturday was a rough day for Kari. She didn't feel good and was very tired. The steroids make her moody, hungry, and unable to sleep so I know that all works together to make her a big mass of emotions and fatigue. She's also pretty swelled in addition to the weight she's gained from eating so much. I'm beginning to wonder if her little belly can hold any more. Our favorite people came up for the weekend though: Memaw and Toshi Bug. Kari always finds this a treat. (yes, Malachi has a pink pacifier in this picture...he found it somewhere)

Kari's best buds also visited us along with Chrissy and Cassie. Cassie escaped before I could get a picture of her and Chrissy! I told her I was going to put it on my blog and I think it scared her. Chrissy and I tried to get a picture together but it just didn't work out with 4 kids running around! LOL!

After everyone left, Kari had a meltdown on us. She wouldn't take her medicine, didn't want to take a bath, didn't want her hair brushed out; then I got scared that maybe I wasn't doing something right with her medications.

So I called my pal, Tonya. She quickly calmed my fears and helped me understand a few things better. Thank you, thank you, Tonya!! You have no idea how much you help calm my fears. We all prayed for Kari and this morning things were better. I'm thankful that God renews us daily. We went to church and OMW. I just love how the Lord moves and helps at our church. I'm so thankful for His Spirit being there to encourage and uplift us in these hard times. I'm more convinced that I ever have been that God is in control and will work His perfect will to bring glory to His name.

My sister and her boyfriend, Jessi, came today to spend the evening with us. Kari and Malachi were like two leaches on them. By the time they left, the kids were konked out. They've had a fun filled day and for that, I'm grateful.

During the last 17 days, there have been times that I have only been able to whisper, "Lord, help us." Other times, not even able to whisper anything. I know that it's during those times that the prayers of friends and family have carried us through. Times when I'm trying to comfort Kari and can't pray for crying so hard...it's YOUR prayers that get us through. I can't say thank you enough for the encouraging texts, phone calls, cards and hugs that show you care.

Also, for all the donations, the gifts, the food...I will get around to sending out thank you cards eventually! I promise that I'm not an ungrateful brat! Honestly, I'm afraid I'm going to miss someone because I can't even remember all the people that have just shook my hand and left money there. Or the people that have sent money and gifts and cards by others. Please consider yourself thanked! LOL. I'm overwhelmed at the goodness of people. For the employees of Farmers National Bank that read this...you all are amazing! I love you and miss you! I can't promise that I'll be back real soon but hold the fort down for me until further notice.

Thank you, Lord, for your goodness to us! Thank you for loving my baby girl even more than I do. I know she's in good hands. :)

Everything Is Gonna Turn Out Right

2011-07-21T20:55:00.000-07:00

Church!! I love it, Kari loves it, Malachi loves it...we had a great time in the Lord tonight. For those of you who don't know us personally, we're old time Holiness and we like us some singin' and shoutin'!! From the start of the first song, it seemed that God was there with such a sweet presence and I'm so thankful that He allowed us to be there.

A little background first: about 2 weeks before Kari was diagnosed, the kids and I went with Pappy, Gammy, Uncle Chris, and Aunt Lacey to visit a church in London because Pappy was preaching there. Lacey and I sang Everything Is Gonna Turn Out Right to encourage the people there. As you put it, Sis. Amy....little did we know it would be us needing the encouragement of that song! This song has been with me through many a trial in the past 3 years and I guess I kinda think of it as "my song."

Anyway, tonight at church I sang it with all my heart and it was so good to feel the nearness of the Lord. Kari also decided she wanted to sing. She sang God's Little People and Glory Somebody Touched Me. LOL! It was precious and she sang with more sincerity than I've ever seen out of her before.

Bro. David (aka Pappy), our pastor, preached a wonderful, encouraging message about the Lord being with us even when it seems He's far away. Then at the end of the service, Kari wanted to testify and she said (in her own little accent) "I just want to thank the Lawd for bein' heah tonight."
Seriously? How sweet is that? She was so proud to be there and she was as sincere as she could be.

Kari is coming to terms with her hair. Gammy and Pappy told her today that when her hair was gone, she could shave Pappy's, Bubby's and maybe Uncle's hair so they would look like her. She giggled when she heard that...a giggle with a little meanness behind it, maybe? :)

I talked to my friend, Chrissy, tonight for a long time. I think I talked my way into being encouraged! I was already encouraged tonight at church and then after telling Chrissy what God has already done for us, it finished me off! Chrissy and I talked about the fact that God is GOD...He has all these things to do, all these people to listen to, to heal them, to encourage them, to protect them and yet He hears US too. No matter how dark the night, how hopeless the situation...God hears us because His love for us is that great.

I've found that God is teaching me something about His will. God will make a way for His will to be done even if it takes something like this. While I will be honest and say that I HATE it that my baby has to go through it, I know that God has a special plan for her life. I want God to be real to Kari and for her to know the awesome power of God. Above anything else for her life, I want her to know Jesus as a personal Savior and for her to grow up desiring to be in His perfect will. I can choose to be victorious through this (although I know there may be times when I will feel helpless and hopeless) and give God the praise through this storm, or I can be down and out and question God repeatedly.

I think I'll choose to let God perform His perfect will in this situation and see what awesome things He has in store for us. :)

Hard Times

2011-07-21T06:43:00.000-07:00

Thank you all for praying...one prayer has been answered!! Kari's counts are up from 360 to 610!! We get to go to church tonight. We are so excited!

Tuesday night Kari's PICC line started leaking so we had to make a quick trip to Clinic yesterday morning to get that taken care of. Before we left for Lexington, Home Health came to draw Kari's labs. She was all upset about that and even more upset to find out we had to get "Pluto" cleaned and re-dressed. It's painful for Kari because the tape that is over her PICC line is stuck on there so tight that it probably feels like it's pulling a layer of skin off!

Her appetite is hilarious still. When we were finished with Clinic, she ate a piece of pizza on the way to Cracker Barrel then gravy and biscuits, chicken tenders, and mac and cheese at Cracker Barrel. Already this morning she has eaten 3 pieces of french toast, bacon and 2 packs of oatmeal. It's really funny!
On another note, Malachi is adjusting well I think.

He seems to be the only one sleeping in our household at this point. LOL! Kari is up all night hungry and I'm up all night feeding her. Malachi has a hard time remembering that Kari has a "boo boo" on her arm and he has to be careful but he's learning.

Last night was probably the worst night we've had. When I gave Kari a bath last night after her already emotional day, she saw me getting hair off my hands to put in the trash. She asked if that was her hair falling out...??? My heart broke and apparently so did hers because she burst into tears again and said "Mommy, I don't want my hair to fall out!" We sat and cried together and then when she got out of the bathtub, we cried some more. I sat down with her and explained that Jesus is with us and even though we hate this sickness, He's going to make something awesome out of it! I'm not sure she was convinced. But my prayer for Kari is that Jesus would be real to her and she could understand that He is here with her to comfort and help her.

Just being honest...I don't understand this trial and I won't try to. But I HATE it. Anyone who has walked this road before us, you know where we're at right now. Kari doesn't understand and, really, there is no good way to help an almost-4-year-old understand why they're sick, losing hair, going to the hospital so much, taking so much medicine....it's a nightmare. The next few weeks will be rough and we desire your prayers. God is faithful and I know He will be here to comfort and get us through. This wouldn't have come our way had it not passed through His hand first. Because of that, He will surely get glory out of it.

Home!

2011-07-19T07:46:00.001-07:00

We are finally home!! Everyone is asking how this happened? I'm saying God granted us one more miracle because all the doctors said it would at least be this weekend but probably the first of next week before we were able to go home. God is so good!

On Sunday, they said Kari's counts were up around 1000 which is outstanding as the threshold is 500. However, Dr. Moscow came in yesterday morning and said that number was given in error. He said that Kari's counts were staying around 360 and that her body was slowly bringing the counts up on its own and that the only reason they are staying low is the leukemia. This is kinda confusing but I'm trying to explain it the way I understood it from Dr. Moscow. If Kari's body was not responding to the chemo, her counts would not be able to stay steady or climb at all. Since it's the leukemia and not Kari's body, he said she didn't need anymore fluids or antibiotics; therefore, there was no reason for us to stay in the hospital. They did give her a blood transfusion and sent us home with a bag full of medication (not fun for either of us). I also have to flush her PICC line twice a day myself. I was very nervous about coming home because while we're in the hospital, we have nurses and doctors that do this routine daily...for us normal people, it's hard to know what to do!!!

But they gave me a few lessons on flushing the PICC line and also gave me an instruction sheet on giving Kari her meds everyday. Unfortunately, until her counts are up, it's doctor's orders that we are not allowed any visitors outside of immediate family at this time. It's a dangerous time and being outside of the hospital....we can't risk anything. Kari isn't allowed out of the house at all unless her counts come up so we are praying for some fun days inside! We don't have to go to clinic until next Monday for chemo! Yay!!!

We have had so many good days with Kari since we were in the hospital. Over the weekend, she played and had a great time with friends and family just like she always has. It's been hard to remember at times that she has leukemia. But the lady that helped get us ready to go yesterday gave me a reality check: this is only the beginning. After her 28-day induction month, things are going to get rough. While I was thankful for the warning, my heart is also full of dread for the days to come. Especially Kari losing her hair. It's a very obvious reminder that Kari is suffering. Kari has heard us talking about her hair falling out and, while I've discussed it with her already, she doesn't really understand and is starting to ask "Mommy, are you talking about MY hair falling out?" Shewee....lots of tears here.

So, here are some things that I'd like for you all to pray for if you would:

Kari is supposed to be the miniature bride in Latasha's wedding on August 13th. I'm also a bridesmaid in the wedding. Kari will have a bone marrow biopsy, a spinal tap and the surgery to insert her PORT on August 9th. Recovering from those 3 things could take several days. Her counts also have to be above 500 before we can even THINK about going to the wedding and even at 500, she will have to wear a mask walking up and down the aisle. Please pray that things will turn out good for Kari and I to be in the wedding. She has looked forward to this for six months and I want her to be able to enjoy it.

Also, please pray that her counts can come up enough for us to be able to go to church. Church services are important to us and we hate missing them!

Honestly, today I'm trying my best to rally but I'm struggling. Being home is awesome but there are also lots of reminders that my baby is very sick. Malachi will be home today and we are going to try to adjust the best way we know how. I pray that God gives us a smooth transition.

I love each and every one of you! Thank you for praying, caring and all that you've done for us. We are grateful and ask that God blesses you!
Please listen to the words of this song...it's been a blessing to me since the first time I heard it. I'm thankful that as hard as this is, God will use it for His glory and for our good.

BIG NEWS!!!

2011-07-18T08:27:00.000-07:00

WE GET TO GO HOME!!

I will update later! :)

He Believes In Me

2011-07-15T20:16:00.000-07:00

Kari had her spinal tap and chemo today. Things went well! She had the "Magic Milk" as they call it here and was out in about 15 seconds. Magic Milk is the stuff they put in her IV to knock her out when they do procedures. I HATE seeing her put to sleep. Heavens to Betsy. It's even worse coming back in after the procedure and watching her come out of it. Kari couldn't eat all day and I didn't eat either so she wouldn't be alone. I'm so glad I didn't because, quite frankly, all that stuff puts me in the bathroom.

Kari did receive platelets before the procedure since her counts have to be at least 50 and hers were 20. She is beginning to help the nurses and techs do things like put her blood pressure cuff on and take her own temperature...they are loving it! The nurses and techs have really been good to Kari and tonight Kari and I made them cards and little bead thingies to attach to their badges.

We've also had a blast running around the hospital playing and letting Kari be a kid. Today, they actually took Kari back for her spinal a little sooner than planned and the doctor found us running around the lobby going in and out of the revolving glass doors. LOL!! He was pleased to see Kari so active though. They are slowly weaning Kari off of the antibiotics and fluids to make sure she holds her own without fevers and infections. We are praying that she does great with this because that means we get to go home for a while!!! We long for home but are honestly settling into a routine and I'm thankful for that. It's hard to settle into a hospital room but there are people in here that are in worse situations than us. Some have the same size room as we do and have the whole family staying. We are doing well in comparison!

I know I refer to songs a lot but various songs come to mind at different times when I need them I think. This one helped today during Kari's treatment: (I'll only do a brief part of it)

There's not a problem He doesn't know about
And before He allows me to go in
He's already made a way for me to come out
Everything that we go through has a purpose and a plan
And before I get discouraged I'll just place it in his hand
When I'm up on a mountain or through the world below
I must believe He's got it all in control

And if He thought it was too much
He would have never let me go through this trial
If He didn't think I could take it
He would have stopped me long before I walked this mile
But the thing that keeps me going while the wind and rain is blowing
He approved this long before it happened
He believes in me and that's enough for me to make it all the way

Thursday (Day 6)

2011-07-14T20:38:00.000-07:00

Friends, today is day 6 of our new journey. I will say that today has been the best day yet. Last night was so rough on both Kari and I. Kari had a little breakdown and so did I. We sat in bed and cried together until we got it all out. This morning Kari was very down and out and totally not like herself.

But we got some cheer when Aunt Lacey and Malachi showed up!! I was so excited to see my baby boy. Kari still seemed down though and I made her get up, put some clothes on and I fixed her hair. She resisted the entire time but after we stepped out of this room to go play, she was the little Kari we all know! She played from around 9:00 this morning until now. It's 11:45 and she's sitting on her bed eating macaroni and cheese and we have a bed full of crayons, markers and coloring books. Also a baby doll that needs doctored, and two princess card games to play. Shewee!! We will be up all night!

Tomorrow Kari will have a spinal tap and a more intense chemo treatment. Several of you have asked why she is having a spinal tap. This is a simple way that they explained it to me: leukemia cells are in her blood but they are not in her spinal fluid which is great! However, when the leukemia starts getting blasted out with the chemo treatments, they look for places to hide like the spine and around the brain. They give her chemo in her spinal fluid to prevent them from hiding in there. Tomorrow will be rough since after 8:00am she is on clear liquids only and after 12:00, nothing. The steroids make her very hungry (tonight she has already had 3 bowls of chicken noodle and a bowl of mac and cheese)so she will not be a happy camper tomorrow!!

We have the best nurses here EVER!! I'm so thankful for them. They never fail to ask if we need something and it means so much to me.
I'm also thankful to everyone that has done ANYTHING for us. I can't keep track of it all but I don't want to be unthankful!! Also, thank you for reading our blog and commenting. Your words mean so much to me. I check it when I can throughout the day just to read your kind and encouraging things you say....I'm grateful. A special thank you to my pal, Tonya! Thank you for explaining things to me, telling me what to expect, what to be careful and paranoid about and what not to be! You are truly a blessing and I love you dearly!

Thank God for a great day with Kari. He's continuing to just bless on every side. I know God has a plan through this though it's certainly hard to see it now. So I don't try to. I just want Him to get the glory from it! I don't say that trying to pretend that I'm all spiritual and strong because I'm far from either of those. But I want our lives to glorify God and if He will get the glory from this trial, I'll leave it in His hands. That doesn't mean I won't go kicking and screaming sometimes (lol!) but He will provide the strength to get through it all.

I do ask you to pray for all the others that are here. We've met some great people facing some awful things. One little boy has a rare type of cancer that is hard to treat, one 15 year old girl relapsed recently and is losing her hair again (a teenage girl losing her hair? how sad is that?), a 16 year old boy next to us has AML leukemia, and a little boy Kari's age has the same as Kari but has heart problems on top of it. There are so many more cases here that are heartbreaking but I've seen a strength in these people that amaze me. We lean on each other. The father of the 15 year old girl comforted me last night as I cried and I was able to comfort another mother as she cried about her son in pain. It makes you think outside of your own little world and I encourage each and every one of you to make it a matter of prayer the lives of these children. What if it was your child or your grandchild or your niece/nephew?

I want to encourage you to listen to this song.
I want to draw closer to the Lord through this and have a relationship with Him that goes so deep that I never draw away from it. My baby girl is sick and our world has forever changed and I hate it... but none of this has surprised God. He is in control and I pray that He uses it to make Himself more real than ever to myself, Kari and anyone who is part of our journey.

I apologize for all the rambling. Little Cinderella just fell asleep on my leg and I can't move so I kept typing. I will update as soon as I can tomorrow after Kari's procedure.
Love y'all!

God is Faithful

2011-07-13T05:17:00.000-07:00

\It's funny how prayer works sometimes. When we pray we want God to move like...yesterday. LOL! But sometimes He chooses not to move right then but He's still always on time. God brought it to my mind this morning that for the two weeks before this happened, the theme at church seemed to be that God is always on time even when we think He's four days late. Was He preparing us? I think so.

Yesterday, Kari had a lot of pain in her facial area. The doctors said that it was a side effect (affect?) from the chemo. She laid on me last night and wrapped her little arms around my neck and said, "Mommy, I just don't feel good and I just want you to hold me." Seriously? Talk about heartbreaking. So, I held her. She cried, I cried and we prayed together. I sent word out through text messaging which got everyone else facebooking and calling and texting people they knew to pray. Before we knew it, we made it through another night with no complaints of pain, no fevers, nothing but peaceful sleep. Except for the time Kari woke me up and said I was squishing her arm. LOL!! We're sleeping together for now because that's the way Kari likes it. Hospital beds were not made for two people, let me tell ya.

So, while we've been in the hospital, we've had lots of gifts that are so neat! We've been painting which is very interesting in a hospital, we've colored, played with Play-Doh, and had visits from the Kentucky Princesses to make little princess crowns for Kari. Kari's best buds, Macey and Kyndall, came to visit and Kari enjoyed that so much! We love you, Macey and Kyndall!

Some friends of ours also brought Kari a Baby Alive that has doctor's supplies with it. She got to listen to the heartbeat, give it shots, checks its ears and all that...she loves that doll!
We're still missing Malachi but he is in good hands with Uncle Chris and Aunt Lacey. Talk about a Godsend...Malachi will be spoiled rotten when he comes home but I don't even have to worry one minute about that boy. Chris and Lacey love him like their own and I trust them completely. Thank God for "Guncle" and "Yayee".

The above picture is Kari after painting with green paint apparently. Our cousin, Lashei, took this picture and I think she pretty much summed it up for Kari. This place stinks. By the way, if you're wondering why Kari doesn't have clothes on in some of these pictures, it's because she said she was tired of wearing jammies and wanted to be naked. LOL! That child is a hoot.

Honesty and Updates

2011-07-11T20:28:00.000-07:00

Just being honest, I had a slight melt down tonight after everyone left. It hit me that our "normal" life no longer exists. Yes, we can make a new "normal" but cancer affects EVERY single aspect of your life. It's been a huge eye opener for me. It's so common to hear that someone has cancer and when you hear it you say a prayer and move on. I pray I never do that again. People have gone out of their way for us and I'm so thankful and hope that one day I can return the blessings! People have started prayer chains left and right, taken up money for expenses for us, brought gifts for the princess (who is a little spoiled, ha ha!), brought us all food...seriously, it leaves me speechless! I'm so thankful.

Kari is still fever free, thank God! But it seems like today has been a rough day for her. She has been really tired and, of course, the steroids are making her moody as they told us they would. Even if the steroids weren't making her that way, what almost-4-year-old wouldn't be moody and hateful in this situation? Geez. We have more chemo tomorrow and we're prayerful that she will react to it well. Her blood counts are steady and the doctors say she is doing exactly as she should be doing. How good can God be??? :) Also, I know you would never guess that I would be talking to people (ha ha), but we've been meeting our fellow cancer families. Kari got to give some toys to a few other kids here and it was so precious! I'm loving talking to these people and learning about their families. I hate the circumstances but we're meeting some awesome people!

So, back to more honesty. Cancer...I hate it. I hate it that my baby has to lay in a hospital bed hooked up to medicine for days and days. I hate it that we can't be with Malachi right now because he has a bad cold. I hate it that Kari has to endure 2 years or more of treatment. I hate it that there is a hospital floor full of kids suffering from this horrible disease. I. Hate. Cancer.

HOWEVER. I love that I have wonderful friends and family who text or call or visit to let us know that they care. I know that some of you have sent text messages or emails and think that I'm just too busy to know or remember. But that's what I go back to when I'm here alone at night. I go back to those texts and emails and read them and remember that people are praying and thinking of us. I love that Beth came to do pictures of Kari tonight. I just saw two sneak peaks of them and they are breath taking. Our nurse tonight teared up just looking at them on my phone. I love that my baby is snuggled up beside me saying "Mommy, I love you."

But most of all, I love how the Lord loves us and gives us new strength for each day. The Lord has proved Himself to me time and time again but it still amazes me His love for us. I can't thank Him enough for His peace, His strength and for being my Father.

Thanks for praying and caring for us!

Ashley :)

Thankful

2011-07-10T05:05:00.000-07:00

I know that in the midst of battles or storms in our lives, God sometimes grants us a peaceful little reprieve to get us through another mile. I feel like in our nightmare, God is giving us a few days of sunshine with our baby girl.

Yesterday, Kari had her first chemo treatment. I guess when you think about cancer and chemo treatments you think of this horrible process but it was actually so simple that Kari didn't even realize she was getting anything. Kari has named her PIC line (not sure I'm spelling that right honestly) Pluto. :) Pluto gets all of her medicine and has to get drinks throughout the day and stuff like that. We had a really bad issue with the PIC line yesterday but we got through it and hopefully that won't happen very often.

We were very concerned yesterday about her fevers. They went down for about 5 hours but then kept spiking back up and would only go down with Tylenol. HOWEVER....we had people praying and she hasn't had a fever in about 18 hours. This is GREAT news and we are so thankful!

We were also, of course, concerned that she wouldn't take to the chemo or she that she would have bad side effects right away. But this very amazing thing happened. After her chemo treatment went into her body, she came alive. By that, I mean that our sweet, funny little baby girl was back! She played, she painted, she took a walk outside with us (with a mask on of course), she talked and sang to people, she opened TONS of gifts, she played Play-Doh, and then I had to make the child go to bed. She was going strong but I knew she was worn out. As soon as as we snuggled up together, she was out like a light! I say it with a thankful heart when I say that we slept ALL NIGHT, FEVER FREE AND PAIN FREE!!! Thank God!

When people come to visit it's such a shock to them to see Kari all hooked up to machines and knowing that her little body is filled with this evil thing called cancer. But I try to be quick to remind them of all the small miracles God's given us so far. It's going to be rough, it's going to be a long road but God is faithful and He's already proven Himself time after time to me before this.

I want to say thank you Farmers National Bank!! You all are amazing. The financial blessing, the gifts, the visits, the phone calls and texts...I don't even know how to thank you all. I guess you don't realize what you have until you're in situations like this. I didn't realize it before, but where I work I don't have co-workers; I have a family. Thank you all from the bottom of my heart!

I wish I could name each and every person that has blessed us prayerfully, financially or in other ways but I just say thank you to everyone! I'm a little overwhelmed at the goodness of my friends and family. Why was I surprised? You all are the best.

The doctor's are very pleased this morning with Kari. Her counts are good, her fevers are gone, she's resting...God is getting the glory. :)

Update and Thank You!

2011-07-08T20:59:00.001-07:00

First of all, I want to say THANK YOU to all of you that have been praying for us. Secondly, your sweet comments on my last post brought tears to my eyes. Friends I work with everyday, friends I see fairly often, and friends that I haven't seen in YEARS...it is so good to know that you're thinking of us and praying for us.

For an update on Kari:

The doctors had confirmed that it was leukemia but didn't know the type or anything else about the cancer until the biopsy was performed.

We did the bone marrow biopsy today but won't know the results until tomorrow or possibly Monday. At that time we will learn exactly the schedule of treatments. They put her to sleep while she was in my arms which was very scary and I kinda lost it when she went out. But it was very strange how, as soon as I thought I was totally in panic mode, that peace that passes all understanding filled me and all that nervousness and sick feeling went completely away. I think God knew I needed strength because I became the one reassuring everyone else as they found out about the confirmed leukemia.

I could reassure them because I've already counted two small blessings/miracles that God has done. One blessing is that when they put her to sleep, they not only got the bone marrow biopsy done, they put her PIC line in and did her spinal tap at the same time. They were able to do it all at once plus give her some chemo in her spine instead of three seperate times that they originally thought it would be. I also counted it as a miracle that the type of leukemia that Kari has (Pre B Cell ALL) is the lesser of the two evils. I thank God for that! The one thing that I will have to say is bothering me at this time is knowing that within 2-3 weeks, Kari will lose her hair. Anyone that has ever seen Kari could never forget her long blond beautiful hair. I haven't told Kari yet because she's been in quite a bit of pain tonight. At some point this weekend we will have to tell her as the chemo will start making it come out next week.

Our doctors/nurses are fabulous. I can't even begin to describe how awesome and knowledgeable they are. They are so willing to help and truly care about Kari and us. Some have even given us their cell numbers if we need them or have questions when they aren't here at the hospital.

At this time, Kari is in pain with her hips from the biopsy. She has a high fever that the doctors are working on but, overall, she's still being a trooper. We've had lots of visitors and we love that! It truly helps us to have company. At this point, there are no restrictions on visitors except that we ask that if you have any symptoms of being sick in any way, please do not expose us to that possibility.

I feel much better tonight than I did while updating last night. My dear friend, Tonya, is such a blessing to us too. Her daughter, Brooklyn, is leaving a legacy behind that Kari is doing her best to follow! LOL. Kari is as ornery as Brooklyn was and the doctors and nurses have been laughing their heads off at Kari. One doctor told her to put her mask on because she was out of her room and she made a face at him and turned her head away. We all got a good laugh at that! I think she was feeling much better after her transfusion.

Please continue to pray for my baby girl and for our family. Thanks also to those who have brought gifts and blessed us financially. You have no idea how much you've helped us!

(I'm editing this post at 1:25am. Thank God for another answered prayer...Kari's fever is down to 98.1!!! It hasn't been normal in two days. Thank God! She is now sleeping soundly.)

Prayer Is What We Need

2011-07-07T21:28:00.000-07:00

Well, friends....I'm honestly so in shock that I hardly know what to say. But I need your prayers so I'm going to tell everyone that I know will pray and then they can tell everyone they know so we'll have a wall of prayer going up to heaven.

Today we took my baby girl, Kari, to the emergency room because she was screaming with severe stomach pain and running a fever. The doctors there were disturbed with the blood count results and sent us on to the University of Kentucky Children's Hospital.

I'm going to make a long story short...after the tests here, Kari needs blood and platelets tonight and they are doing a bone marrow biopsy in the morning. They are suspecting leukemia and if not that, they said it will be something just as life threatening as leukemia.

I'm not going to pretend I'm all comforted and peaceful and all that. I'll be honest and say that I'm scared, sick, nervous and filled with dread.

Please pray for my little girl that God would protect her and shield her. I can't even describe all the feelings that I have right now. It's like my worse nightmare come true. Sitting here watching Kari sleep....it's like all I can think of is the pain she's in and how I want it to go away. I know God is able to give us a miracle. But I also know that sometimes He chooses not to and I'm struggling with that right now.

I know I'm being very honest right now but I'm scared and right now this is an outlet for me.

One thing that DOES comfort me is knowing that God will NEVER leave us. No matter what happens He will be here. My dear friend, Tonya, came to the hospital with us and she was a such a comfort when we got the news from the doctor. Knowing what she's been through....she was able to look me in the eye and say "God WILL help you. You may think you can't get through it but He WILL be there."

This song is hitting home for me right now. Along with this one.

Please pray for us.

Picnic at the Park

2011-06-13T19:09:00.001-07:00

The kids and I had a picnic at the park tonight for supper. Daddy is working so we decided to do something easy. Kari and I chose bologna and cheese and Malachi wanted PB&J. We're so healthy at our house. This was accompanied by Fritos, Pringles, and Nutty Bars. Love it! Monday night supper at its best.

(I received this Pampered Chef picnic basket just for holding two shows in May. I'm totally in love with it. It also came with plates, cutlery and tumblers. We were excited to use it tonight.)

Since it's going on 11:00pm and I have to work in the morning, I'm going to post all these pictures and leave it at that. Also, blogger has some issues. I can't log in to leave comments on y'all's blogs. I've been posting as anonymous I think...??? Anyway, have you all been having problems too? Love you all! :)

PICTURES!

2011-05-25T18:27:00.001-07:00

I'm going to update with pictures tonight! We're about to go to bed and pray for protection from the storms that are supposed to hit us tonight and for Matthew who is driving through the path of the storm right now. :)

Summing It All Up

2011-05-13T13:17:00.000-07:00

I've had trouble trying to post on my blog. This same little thing keeps hindering me every time I think I'll be able to post. This thing called TIME!! ARGH. Our life is a whirlwind right now. The only reason I have time to post now is because I've been sitting here with my sick daughter for two days. Yes, another sickness in our home. She has been running a very high temperature for 2 solid days now. Prayerfully, she's on the mend.

So, since my last post, Malachi turned two, we had Easter, we had Mother's Day. I'm a horrible mother because I'm not even dedicating an entire post to Malachi for his birthday like I did last year. Truthfully, the poor thing didn't even have the birthday party at Chuck E Cheese like I promised. But, it's coming for him. It just may be a month late. LOL! We did celebrate his birthday at Nanna's house on Easter. Lashei made him the cutest Elmo cake and he loved it!

Easter Sunday morning was quite the disaster. It POURED the rain....so bad that we couldn't even leave for church. We stood in the doorway in all of our Easter finery, waiting on a break in the rain so we could make a dead run to the vehicle. I was so excited about taking pictures of the kids that morning because they were GORGEOUS. But I took one pic and my batteries died. We got to church 20 minutes late and by the time church was over, the kids were not quite ready for pictures.

We also celebrated Mother's Day. I got to spend Mother's Day with my mommy and she has all the pictures on her camera. I will try to follow with those in another post which may be tomorrow or next month. Ha ha!!

Anyway, blogging friends, I hope all of you are doing great. I've slowly been getting updated on your lives. You should see a new comment on your posts from last week. LOL!
Love y'all and hope to post more pictures soon. :)

Oh, Boy.

2011-04-06T15:14:00.000-07:00

Well. I promised to do better about posting.

HOWEVER. Strep has decided, first of all, that it wants to become a permanent part of my being. Second of all, it decided it wanted to invite a friend named Mono. Gee wilikers. I had no sooner than got rid of it and two days later ended up with it again and then found out that the friend was also present.

Sick. That's all I can say about myself last Thursday through Sunday. I started getting excited when I was feeling better until I found out that Mono can live in your system for a few months and you can feel the side effects from it during that time as well. So, I'm not trying to give you a medical lesson but I am asking for your prayers that this will leave and be gone forever!

On another note....I do have some cool news to share! I am a brand new consultant for The Pampered Chef! *claps* *claps* *claps*
I thought long and hard about this for over a month before I finally decided to do it. I'm excited about it although I'm not sure how long I'll stay into it. My new consultant kit is awesome so even if I decide I don't like it, I have some AWESOME products! :)

So, if any of you out there would like to have a cooking show, please give me a holler! Davy, I know you and Kelly Jo would love to have a show in the Boggs Mobile. How fun would that be??? Hee hee hee....

:)

Blessings

2011-03-27T18:34:00.000-07:00

Well, blogging friends...we're still alive and kicking despite everything! Thank God for that. We've had so much happening the past four weeks that I didn't even realize it had been four weeks since I posted last! YIKES! My camera batteries have been dead for a while and I don't have any new pictures of anybody...including our newest family member!

Pappy and Gammy got the kids an Easter puppy. The first name Kari decided on was Bill. Then she decided it would be Pluto. But she finally listened to reason and we settled on Buddy. It's a beautiful Lassie Collie and Kari is in love with him and he is with her too! Buddy follows Kari around and watches her every move. I think we're actually going to have to buy a carseat for him since we can't go anywhere without him. He's getting a little stinky now since he's been in his little kennel so that will stop any traveling with him for a while! Malachi isn't too sure about him but I'm sure they'll warm up to each other eventually.

We've had several rounds of strep throat, stomach virus, and the flu go through our little family. While I was laying in the bed with strep throat and Matthew was laying beside me with the flu, I thought about how funny life is sometimes. When Matthew and I were dating and first married, romance seemed to include only flowers, romantic dates at nice restaurants, time alone with nobody else around staring into each other's eyes(ha ha)...now my view is just a tad bit different. Not that those romantic items aren't still part of our marriage because they are at times. But while we were laying side by side so sick, Matthew reached over and got my hand and said "I love you, baby. I'm sorry you're so sick."

I know, I know! You all are thinking that I'm getting mushy here but since most of you know our story, you can appreciate just how much of a blessing it is to be able to be sick TOGETHER. LOL!!! It seems that, physically and other ways, we have battled harder in the past month than we ever have. Our transmission is even going out in our family vehicle! But in the midst of it all, God has reminded me how blessed we really are.

Matthew and I talk sometimes about living on a farm with a few horses, a few head of cattle, some chickens and all kinds of land to raise our kids on. We talk about Matthew eventually having a good enough job that I could stay home with the kids and be an awesome homeschooling mommy. :) We talk about being able to take our kids on fun vacations and trips throughout the year to give them memories they'll never forget.

BUT. We have so much to be thankful for that none of that matters. Our kids may never know what it's like to live on a big farm and be country-fied farm kids, they may never see every state in the USA and have big vacations, they may never know what it's like to have their mommy at home everyday. But they'll know a mommy and daddy that are dedicated to the the Lord and His work, a mommy and a daddy that love each other and love them more than anything in the world, and a home that isn't fancy but filled with God's peace and love.

Tonight, I laid the kids in bed and laid down beside them to hold their hands for a few minutes. I started singing to them and it wasn't long before they were sound asleep. I had to cry at the thought of how God has blessed us! We're so undeserving of it but God, in his great mercy, took a mess and cleaned it up COMPLETELY. I know eventually you all may get tired of me bringing it up but it is such a testimony to the power of God that I can't help but share it!

That's about it for a catch up on our lives for the past four weeks. I will try my best to do better with updating and the next time I hope to have pictures. If I can have enough mind to remember to buy batteries.

Days 2, 3, & 4...Late!

2011-02-23T15:25:00.000-08:00

I'm a tad bit late posting the remainder of our trip. Here's a recap:

Friday we were still on working life schedules and woke up at 5 AM! YIKES!! Of course, no pancake houses are open at 5 am so we had to lolligag around until 7:00. That's pretty hard on two people who thrive on finding good food to eat. We may or may not have stopped at Krispy Kreme while the hot light was on to have a 'snack' while we waited.

We played a little miniature golf which I STINK at but we had a blast!

This is what I'm going to look like if I don't stop eating!! Ha ha!

We dressed up on our last night and went to a really nice restaurant and I felt like a princess. Matthew truly knows how to treat me like a lady!

I didn't get any real good pictures because self-timers only work well if you have somewhere good to set the camera. The toolbox in the back of a truck isn't the best place.

We ended the trip with a stop by Bass Pro Shop. I know most women think I'm crazy, but I LOVE that place. There's bookoodles of stuff to look at so I'm never bored!! Also, they have a really good women's clothing section. That, if nothing else, is a nice incentive for going!!!

And, seriously. Going back to work after having such a GREAT weekend is not fun. It just makes me look forward to the next time! :)

Romantic Getaway...Day 1

2011-02-17T20:44:00.000-08:00

I mentioned a few weeks ago that Matthew and I were celebrating our anniversary in Tennessee a few weeks after our anniversary. The trip has finally arrived!!! I left work early today, we dropped the kids off, and we headed out to Tennessee. We have been so excited about this trip, especially Matthew. He kept telling me I had a surprise waiting for me when we arrived.

Boy, was I surprised!!! I almost cried because of the sweetness of my husband. Just the fact that he thought of it by HIMSELF, was amazing to me. He definitely knows how to touch my heart.

I assure everyone that the bottle is grape juice only! LOL! I asked Matthew how he was able to have all this done before we got here. His answer: he talked to an old lady from the resort and told her he wanted to do something special for his wife. After describing what he wanted, that was all it took for her!

One funny thing today: you know the incident on Sunday that included me locking my keys in my car? Ahem...Hubs was apparently jealous that he had NEVER done that before and decided that Tennessee would be a good place to try it.
The good thing about the situation was that he had left his window down about an inch or so. He REMOVED THE ANTENNA from the truck and proceeded to try to reach the lock through the cracked window. I hurried to the other side of the truck to try to guide him to the lock. About the time he almost had it unlocked, the antenna slipped right out of his hand and onto the truck seat. An even better part of this story...the cell phone was in the truck. Although Hubs didn't find it as hilarious as I did, he did have an alternate plan. He suggested I go inside a store and try to call a locksmith or the police or whoever people in Tennessee use in situations like we were in. While I distracted the cashier in the store by using the phone and asking for locksmith numbers...

In the parking space next to us was a large van that was used for advertising only. Matthew decided to remove the antenna from the van to use as a replacement for the one he dropped. About the time I had a fairly cheap locksmith on the phone to come to our rescue, I saw the truck door swing open. I'm sure the locksmith thought I was a real dummy after the way I sputtered and laughed and told him "Nevermind! My husband just unlocked the door with another antenna!"
Of course, we put the antenna back on the van. I'm not real sure that I should be admitting that we actually took an antenna off another vehicle. If seen by the right people, we could have been arrested or something like that. Maybe??? I don't know.

So, anyway. Day 1 of our trip has proved fun and exciting already!! Stay tuned for more updates and pictures...
:)

Happy Valentine's Day!!!

2011-02-13T17:12:00.000-08:00

Happy Valentine's Day from the Noe family!

The kids and I went to Mr. Chase's birthday party today and had a blast!!! We had the perfect ending to the party...I locked my keys in my car along with my phone, purse, diapers, wipes and everything else. A HUGE thank you to Alesia and Bill for calling someone to come help and even PAYING for it! Y'all were lifesavers today.

The kids and I came home and decided to make some Valentine's Day cupcakes. Boy, did they enjoy themselves.

I promptly dipped them in the bathtub afterwards. LOL!!!
As of now, these munchkins are running around the living room singing Amazing Grace, shouting "Hallelujah!" and testifying. Kari just said "Okay, Sister Bubby come sing us a song" to which Malachi simply replied "NO!" These are great times!

Hubs is asleep since he is working such an odd shift and has to get up at 12:00 to get ready for work. Trying to keep these 'younguns' quiet is like trying to muzzle two rat terriers.

I have two pieces of news...a sad news and a happy news.

News #1: We had a death in our family. Hercules has finally gone on to hermit crab heaven. I succeeded in starving and thirsting him to death. I will admit that we had a scare with him a few months ago and I called the family and reported his death. Soon after I reported his death I thought I saw movement in the cage. I filled his sponge with water just in case he was just playing a prank on me. About 30 minutes later, Hercules rose from the dead, folks! But this time there was no doubt that he had given up the ghost for the final time. We mourned for ummm... about 20 seconds and then we were done. Aunt Lacey has promised something different this year. Yay.

News #2: Congratulations to Jon and Latasha!!!

They got engaged last night and I'm so happy for them! I'm sad too, though, because I honestly feel like my daughter is getting married! Kari did say that when Toshi and Jon get married that she was "marrying them too and we were all going to be married" so that could be interesting. I don't think Kari is any more ready to give her up than I am. But she will be in good hands! I love you guys and I couldn't be happier for anyone!!

Happy Valentine's Day, Matthew!! I love you bunches and I'm thankful for the day God decided to put it in His will for us to be together!

Just Some Pics

2011-02-08T17:15:00.000-08:00

We had an awesome anniversary!! Thanks for all the sweet comments...Matthew and I enjoyed them all!! I even got a dozen hot pink roses sent to work and picked up for lunch too! My hubs has a romantic streak a mile long and I like it.
I'm posting some pictures of my sweet babies for my mommy tonight. She's missing her grandbabies this week.
Hope the rest of you all enjoy!!!

:)

A Love Story

2011-02-05T21:14:00.001-08:00

I've spent most of the day today trying to remember what I was doing each hour on this day 7 years ago. I remember waking up on my wedding day so excited about marrying the man that I had wanted to marry since age 5 that I could hardly stand it. While my mom, sister, best friends and everybody else were nervous about everything going perfect....I was only anticipating the moment when the pastor pronounced us man and wife.

When I was 5 years old (which would be 21 years ago), I had a gigantic crush on Matthew Noe. The cool thing is that he had a crush on me too. My mother in law still has the first love letter he ever wrote me and that's a true story!!! It goes something like this:

Ashley,

Do you like me? I like you. Circle yes or no.

Love,

Matthew Noe

I'll be honest and say that me and Matthew probably set the record for break ups when we were teenagers. Every time we would break up we would go in search of finding God's will and sometimes made some "weird" choices. But when it was God's time, He put us together for the final time. On February 7th, 2004, Matthew Noe became my husband. I still remember the first time I introduced him as my "husband" and not merely my "boyfriend" and also the first time he introduced me as his wife. I was so proud that I probably didn't stop grinning for months!

I think the most exciting thing about this anniversary is celebrating the miracle that God gave us. I was reminded once again today just how far God has brought Matthew and I. Tomorrow is 4 months exactly that God saved Matthew's soul and 3 months since He put our home back together!

The weekend after Matthew got saved, my father in law preached a message about God making things brand new. Not patched up. Not merely mended. Not halfway put back together. But BRAND NEW. He gave an example of a mommy and daddy bird that have worked so hard to build a nest for themselves and their babies. A terrible storm comes along and destroys everything they've built and worked hard for. Unlike most of us humans, the birds don't stoop to the ground and pick up the pieces to rebuild the nest. Instead, they get BRAND NEW material to rebuild. They build a home stronger and better than it EVER WAS BEFORE.

How many people told me that even though God had saved Matthew that our marriage and home would never be like it was before??? They were SOOO right but not in the way they thought. Our home and marriage are nothing like they were before because God made it brand new. A brand new marriage, a brand new home....BETTER THAN IT HAS EVER BEEN.

Shouting ground there, friends!!! God is able to do ABOVE anything we could ask or even think and I'm living proof of that. I wish I could just stand with a megaphone to the world and tell them just how awesome and powerful God is!!! Just to be able to give them the hope that things can change, that their situations can be turned completely around with GOD'S help.

So, as Matthew and I celebrate 7 years of marriage on Monday, we have so much to be thankful for! I thank God that He gave me such a love for my husband. I think he's the best thing EVER and, of course, I think he's the most handsome man in the world. Not to mention the fact that he's such a good daddy! If he's been gone longer than an hour the kids are already asking where Daddy is. I've graduated to rank #2 in their eyes and I'm not complaining at all! Not to be mushy here, but I am so in love with this man that God has blessed me with!! The better part is that Hubs is in love with me too!! He tells me every single day that he's in love with me and that I'm the most beautiful woman in the world. That takes love, folks. Bless his heart, not only did God give him a wife but blinders on his eyes too! Ha ha!!

Please join us in thanking God for a unified home and another year to serve the Lord together! We are going on a small trip together the weekend after Valentine's Day so our actual anniversary day will probably be spent at home with the kids. Our babies...a whole other post in itself. We are two very blessed people! :)

Answered Prayer

2011-01-23T16:43:00.000-08:00

First, a little clarification:

When Matthew got saved in October he was driving a semi for a cattle hauling company. When we made the decision to get back together we also prayed about him quitting the trucking company because he was gone 5 days a week. When you're trying to put your home back together and get closer to God, that's not a good idea. So we prayed and told God that if we had to live on my income only that we would be willing to do it if He would only work a miracle in our lives. And that's exactly what God did for us. Matthew was making close to $1000 a week and it was a hard decision but it has been worth it to pinch pennies all this time.

So....all this time that Matthew's been back home we have been living off of my income only while we waited on God to send Matthew a job. When I've said we're praying for God to send Matthew a good job so that I can be home with the babies, it was a prayer for God to send him a job PERIOD. We're already living off of one income so we know it's possible for me to be at home if only God would send Matthew a job!

The good news is that Matthew got a job today!!! He had called about the job yesterday morning and the man told him that there was another guy that had taken the job but if something didn't work out he would call us. The same old story we have heard for almost 3 months. Then during Sunday school this morning the guy called and left a voice mail saying that the other guy didn't work out and would Matthew be interested in starting first thing Monday morning!

Uh, yeah??? Of course he was interested! The job isn't something we're sure we would want to depend on if I stayed home because part of the salary is commission-based. But the Lord is moving and I know He will continue to work everything out!

Thank you all for the encouraging words! God is faithful when we're in the center of God's will....and sometimes even when we veer off of the center, He's still faithful. He knows exactly what we need and when we need it!!

What Does God Say About It?

2011-01-22T08:25:00.000-08:00

So, I've been thinking about God's will in some areas of my life. Sometimes when I'm praying about God's will, I have to be sure it's HIS will and not MY will. It's so easy to be so set on something that you miss God's will entirely because your will gets in His way.

All of you know that Matthew and I have really been praying for God to send Matthew a good job so that I can stay home with the babies. It's been my greatest desire since I found out I was expecting Kari.

Matthew and I were talking a few nights ago about the situation and I asked the question "What if it's not God's will for me to stay at home?" To which Matthew replied "The Bible says it is." I put my nose in the bible for a while before bedtime and I found some interesting things concerning God's will for wives and mothers.

Titus 2:4-5
That they may teach the young women to be sober, to love their husbands, to love their children,
To be discreet, chaste, keepers at home, good, obedient to their own husbands, that the word of God be not blasphemed.

God's desire for a wife and mother is that her attention and devotion be focused on her family. Her relationship with the Lord, her home, husband and children should be the center of her affection and world.

Heavens!! How can your home, husband and children be the center of your world when you have to be concerned with a stressful job and a career-driven atmosphere? It's not possible. There are days when I come home that my mind is so boggled from work that I can't truly give my attention and affection to my family. Within 3 hours of being home from work I'm ready to drop in the bed. That's definitely not God's will!

My study also said this:
Mothers who desire to fulfill the plan of God but because of economic hardship must seek employment away from home should commit their circumstances to the Lord while praying for Him to make a way for her to fulfill her God-given responsibilities.

Here's what it said about a woman's God-given responsibilities:

1. Caring for the children God has entrusted to her as a service for the Lord
2. Being a helper and faithful companion to her husband
3. Helping the father train the children in godly character and practical life skills

Proverbs 10:24
...the desire of the righteous shall be granted.

I hate to be calling myself righteous but I am a saved, blood-bought child of God. Therefore in God's eyes, I am righteous. I'm believing that He will give our family the desires of our hearts!!! He's already peformed one GREAT and AWESOME miracle for us and I know that He can surely perform another.

I hope everyone has a great weekend! We are being lazy around the house today and enjoying every minute of it! :)

The Babies Are Back

2011-01-16T17:44:00.000-08:00

We had such a wonderful weekend! I'm sad that it's over but I was glad to have my babies home. Latasha came up for the week so I'm not sure if the kids were more excited to see her or me.

So, here's an update on some things in our life:

1. Matthew started school this past week. He's taking online classes to get a degree in Social and Criminal Justice. He's very excited and we're praying that God opens the door for a good job soon.

2. I've gained TEN STINKIN' POUNDS since Matthew has moved back home. He's such a good cook and I haven't been able to resist his cooking so far. HOWEVER.....we've both decided that it's time to get back on the ball. I started the week after Christmas back on the diet but haven't been able to lose very much due to lack of exercise. But I think Matthew has caught the fever for exercising and dieting as he's gained about 30 pounds since he got saved! He has agreed to start exercising and helping me cook healthy stuff. I'll certainly keep you updated on our progress.

3. Toshi Bug is here for a few days at least and I'm off work tomorrow! YEE HAW! I'm sooo glad to have the day at home. Actually, I'm praying that God opens the door soon for me to go part time at work or maybe even bless us enough so I can be at home full time. That's a frustrating subject right now so I'm not even going there.

4. This past week marked 2 months that our family has been back together. I can truly say that every week just gets better!! I know people in this world can't understand how something can be so hopeless and in only 2 months time be completely turned around. But, that's okay. They don't have to understand it. We're living proof that God does it!

:)

Our Weekend

2011-01-14T22:15:00.000-08:00

Well, just let me brag for a minute. Actually, first let me complain and it will make the bragging better. :)

For 3 weeks now, everybody in our household has been sick with something. Most of you all know that Kari had a little spell on us last week where she passed completely out and scared us half to death. We're not sure why it happened but all we know is that God moved for that baby girl. We all seem to be on the mend and we're very thankful for that!!!

Soooo....with all that being said, it has been a stressful couple of weeks. My day at work today was a TAD bit stressful too and I needed to come home to clean my house and all that fun stuff to get caught up from the work week. My mom invited the kids to her house for the weekend so me and Hubs could have a few days together.

Around 3:00 at work today I received about 5 text messages from Hubs. They were all pictures of a CLEAN house. He had even cleaned the toy room. We have not seen the floor in that room for approximately 3 weeks.

THEN....if that wasn't sweet enough, he brought roses home to me and a sweet card.

I'm going to bed to have a good sleep(that's real good grammar) so we can get up early in the morning and start our weekend together! Do I feel bad for letting the kids go to Memaw's for the weekend? I miss them but no. I'm totally excited about getting to use the Chili's gift card we received for Christmas and spending the whole weekend with Matthew.

How can a person be this blessed??? :)

Sweet Brooklyn

2011-01-07T18:59:00.000-08:00

Brooklyn Faith Durham October 12 1996-January 2 2009

Two years have passed since this precious princess made her way to heaven. I asked her mom, Tonya, if I could do a tribute to Brooklyn this week for the anniversary of her homecoming in heaven! It will be a pitiful one since nothing I can say can touch the sweetness of Brooklyn. She was precious to all who knew her and made an impact on so many lives. She has a legacy that will follow her from now on.

Her family.....Tonya, Kevin, Shawn and Hannah. I can't even fathom their loss but I know the peace that passes all understanding must visit their hearts daily.

Have you ever met a child who just captures your heart from the first word? When I first met Brooklyn, she was around 2 or 3 years old and the sweetest little thing you ever talked to!!! Even with all she went through, she was still one of the sweetest little girls and never lost her smile. And, boy, did she have a knack for fashion! She always had the cutest clothes and shoes and purses. Future holiness fashionista!

Have you ever seen a more radiant smile? This was her 12th birthday party and I think she was awfully proud to be the official princess for a day!

The last youth camp before she went to heaven, they named the youth camp choir "The Brooklyn Tabernacle Choir" and Brooklyn led a song that rang true for her just a few short months later:

I wanna know how it feels
To make my way down the streets of gold
I wanna know how it feels
To have a talk with the saints of old
I wanna know what it's like
To rest my feet by the river of life
I've heard of heaven and I know it's real
I wanna know how it feels

Tonya, Kevin, Shawn and Hannah: I pray for you ALL often and I love you dearly!

Happy Anniversary in heaven, Princess!!! You are loved and missed but I know heaven sure is sweeter with you there!!

Starting Fresh

2011-01-01T21:19:00.000-08:00

What a year 2010 was....shewweee!!! I'm so glad it's over with but I'm so thankful for how it ended. Matthew and I are so excited about what God has in store for 2011. We just came out of a mini-revival and the universal theme seemed to be victory for 2011. That makes me so excited!!

I feel like I have so much to share with everyone but I know that I would end up rambling so much that you all would grow weary of me quickly. So, I'll say a few things and then stop for tonight.

GOOD NEWS: We finally got the internet at home so now I can start blogging regularly. Well, as time will allow, of course. But instead of once a month, it will at least be once or twice a week hopefully.

On Christmas Eve Matthew read the Christmas story to me and the kids and prayed before we started opening gifts. By the time he got finished praying both of us were crying. He said this and I "amen-ed" it: "I have NEVER been so happy in my entire life." It's amazing what God has done for our little family in such a short period of time.

My camera is currently broken so you all will be getting all the pictures that I haven't posted for the past few months. Get ready because I have so much to talk about and update on. Before long, you all will be ready for my internet connection to be messed up for a few weeks! Ha ha!!

:)

Happy Thanksgiving from the Noe Family!

2010-11-25T14:43:00.000-08:00

Doesn't that sound awesome? The Noe family.....Matthew, Ashlee, Kari and Malachi. All 4 of us together for the holidays.

Honestly, I know all of you that read this aren't Pentecostal Holiness and won't understand this statement but it makes me wanna shout!!!

We're so thankful for what God has done for us this year. God has been so amazing to our family and me and Matthew sit and marvel that we're back together and happier than we've ever been. Ephesians 3:20 has never meant so much to us.

The laughter that's in our home, the Bible reading and praying that we do together everyday, the long talks and Scrabble games me and Matthew have each night after the kids go to bed...how blessed can we be? I know that doesn't sound very exciting to everyone but the love, the peace, the contentment, the joy...no words can describe how it makes me feel. God has truly done exceedingly and abundantly above anything I could have prayed for.

Lord, thank you that my family is back together. Thank you for the mercy and love that you freely pour out to us. Thank you for our family and friends that mean so much to us. Thank you for just being God....the one true God that is mighty to save.

:)

The Last Days of TN

2010-11-05T18:03:00.001-07:00

Well, I can't believe we go home tomorrow! But I'll be honest and say that I'm ready. I'm ready to go home and put all my stuff away and rest and relax the remainder of the weekend.

One more piece of good exciting news is that I'm putting my Christmas tree up next weekend!! The past two holiday seasons have been really tough and I'm starting early to be sure we all enjoy it to the fullest! 7 weeks until Christmas for those of you that haven't been keeping count.

Matthew has to leave around 6:00 in the morning for his job so the kids and I will probably leave out pretty early too. We may have to make a pit stop at Memaw and Sissy's to surprise them. (unless they read this tonight and then it won't be a surprise)

You all know how it works when I try to make promises to update my blog so I'm not making anymore of those. To be honest, I'm going to focus on my family for a while and I'll update here and there when I can. Obviously that's what I've been doing is just updating here and there. But you know what I mean.

Love y'all and please keep our family in your prayers!!!
:)

More Pictures (Day 4)

2010-11-04T18:08:00.000-07:00

I have one question: Why is it that we must go to Cade's Cove EVERY time we visit TN? I mean, seriously. If you've seen one deer, you've definitely seen them all. I'll admit that the last time I was at Cade's Cove we saw 3 bears but that's so rare that it's just not worth it to me.

So, THREE HOURS found us at Cade's Cove. It rained. It sleeted. But still, we trucked on to see the 10 deer that were out in the rain. We also saw about 10 turkeys which made me anxious for Thanksgiving.

And I just have to add this in here: why do people set up tripods and have all these fancy cameras to take pictures of a deer? I'm thinking: I have these things scampering across my yard and one of them destroyed my headlight and scarred my child for life. Why do you want so many pictures of the same animal? Oh, well. I guess I'm just different.

I also have to add this: in answer to some of the comments, no I didn't ride the helicopter or the sky lift. I don't pay $30 for 1 minute of being in the air and I don't relish the thoughts of being in the air anyway. The sky lift is something I have NEVER ridden (rode?) without Matthew and it was either somebody keep the kids and me and Matthew ride or him take each of the kids on a ride. I sacrificially gave up my ride for my babies. I know....I'm such a good mother. LOL. Actually, I'm just not very brave.

Daddy and Kari also rode the go-carts together and Kari commented when I asked her if it was fun "Well, it was sun (fun) but I pwayed (prayed)." HAHAHAHAHA!!! I thought that was hilarious. Bless her heart...she has a lot of her mommy in her. She makes herself be brave.

Thank y'all for all the sweet comments you left on my post from this morning. Matthew and I both read them and it just made the day all the more sweet because we know we have people praying for us and rooting us on!!!

Love y'all!
:)

THE BIG NEWS!!!

2010-11-04T06:18:00.001-07:00

Okay....the post you all have been waiting for. The big news. I'm not sure if this will be lengthy or not but here goes.

October 6, 2010 my husband got saved. I don't want to dip into the past and say things that I shouldn't but Matthew has been away from the Lord for two years and we've been separated for almost two. The Lord has gloriously saved Matthew and He's working miracles in our home, our marriage and in Matthew's life.

(Matthew asked me not to post these pictures because he hadn't had a haircut or shaved and he had a straw behind his ear but I wanted to post ASAP)

Matthew surprised me on Tuesday night by coming to Tennessee and knocking on the door. It was the best surprise.

But I'll have to say that the best surprise of all is God's mercy and grace. His forgiveness and his love towards us. And his willingness to answer our prayers when we least expect it.

I ask that you all please keep us in your prayers as God continues to move for our family. We all know that when God is doing something wonderful in our lives that the devil will fight with everything in him to destroy the child of God. Especially when God's doing something in the home. The devil hates a home being put back together. Please keep us in your prayers and pray for Matthew as God moves for him.
I'll try to post more pictures later today!

:)

Days I & II Tennessee Vacation!!!

2010-11-02T18:14:00.001-07:00

Well, I guess y'all think I'm the biggest liar EVER. It certainly appears that way, I know. I won't make any excuses except to say that our entire lives have been flip flopped this past month. I know I promised two big pieces of news but I would like to support the news with pictures so it will have to wait a few more days.

So, anyway. We're in Tennessee this week with Pappy, Gammy, Chris and Lacey. The kids are loving it! They've been on the helicopter:

The skylift:

We've walked through Gatlinburg:

But we're pretty much just taking it easy and relaxing. I heard a rumor of snow flurries at the end of the week!! Wow!!
Am I making you jealous yet? Before you get too jealous, just think of me in the Old Mill Restaurant with both kids. It was truly a disaster. There were some other people that met us for supper and when Kari started going backwards out of her chair, just about everybody at the table screamed. Yes, the entire restaurant turned to stare. That, among other disasters at supper, should keep you from being too jealous.

:)

Small Update

2010-10-19T10:10:00.000-07:00

Hi, everyone! I have missed y'all sooo much! I feel like I have a mouthful of stuff to update you on and to tell you about and about 3 dozen pictures to upload but there's no time right now.

So....I'm going to sign off today with a PROMISE (I'll keep it this time) to update either at the end of the week or this weekend. I have some news and a prayer request and then another piece of news.

Love y'all,

Ash :)

Confessions and Other Things

2010-10-05T10:21:00.000-07:00

Okay....let me first get the Confessions of a Mom Monday (on Tuesday) out of the way first because I have a goodun.

1. I did not let my kids sit outside on the grass while the baby kittens were eating scrambled eggs that I fixed them. The kids did not eat the eggs along with the baby kittens.
Oh, yes I did and oh, yes they did. Can you top that one for UGH??
The baby kittens were so hungry and I was out of cat food. I thought that the kids would enjoy watching the kittens eat. Wrong.

So, anyway. Moving on.
Sunday evening when I got home from church I was going to switch the laundry around and put another load on. When I opened the washer lid it was full of water and it was deader than 4:00. I immediately started praying that God would help me to figure out what was going on with it and that if it was something major that He would just heal my washer. Don't laugh at me. It works. I called my mom and told her to pray because we all know that a single parent living on a single income can't afford to go out and just buy a new washing machine. While we were STILL ON THE PHONE, the washing machine just started up and has worked fine ever since. How's that for answered prayer??? Thank ya, Jesus!
Bad news is that my laptop is messed up and I have to send it back to HP for them to fix the "motherboard." What in the devil?

Now that my laptop is gone for several weeks, who knows how it will go for me to update? It looks like I'll be able to update here at work sometimes so maybe that will work!!

Have a blessed day and we'll see you Friday for What I'm Loving! MameyJane, do you know how to do the linky thing? Cuz I like that idea but I have no idea how to do it!

:)

What I'm Loving Friday!!

2010-10-01T14:03:00.000-07:00

Happy Friday, everybody!!!
I think everyone should be proud of me that this is three days in a row that I've posted on my blog!! Yay for me!!

1. I'm loving that the weather is beautiful today! Perfect temperature although I'll admit that I wanted to wear my Farmers National Bank sweatshirt today and it was too hot. In March I'll be saying "I'm not wearing the stupid sweatshirt again!" but for now, I'm excited about fall/winter clothes!

2. Speaking of clothes...this is my current fashion that I'm loving to laugh at! I mean, really.

3. I'm loving this coat and this coat and this coat. Aren't they terrific?

4. I'm loving that tomorrow me and MIL are having a yard sale. Oh, I'm actually exaggerating because I despise having yard sales. Seriously. But we need vacation money so we're getting desperate.

5. I'm loving brown and pink giraffe print for Kari's room. Only one small problem...I can't find anything for little girls' bedrooms in brown and pink giraffe print. I'm so aggravated!! Any ideas?

6. I'm loving that in 5 weeks we're leaving for TN! I know some people think that TN is boring and that if you've been once you've seen it all but I beg to differ. It's all in personal preference. The beach really isn't my scene. Especially considering our last beach vacation adventure. Kari is so excited because her and Pappy are riding the helicopter. She even told Pappy this morning that it was 5 weeks until we leave for TN so we are all counting down. We are very excited about this trip and it is much needed, let me tell ya!

7. I'm loving that next week is Bond campmeeting. I'm praying for awesome services and getting to see some much loved friends that I only see once a year. Like Davy, Kelly and Odie!!! I just pray that Kelly leaves her "critters" in the BoggsMobile.

8. I love the Lord and my babies and my family and my home and my new car (which I've yet to post a picture of) and my job and everything that the Lord has blessed me with. I even thank Him for the tests and trials because I know that it's through the tests and trials that we're made perfect in Him. There's an awesome song by Mercy Me called Bring The Rain. One part of the song says:

And I know they'll be days
When this life brings me pain
But if that's what it takes to praise You
Jesus, bring the rain

Well, I think that's enough stuff that I'm loving. I really could go on and on because I love so many things. It is with a grateful heart that I sign off today. Not because I have 100's of dollars in the bank or live in the nicest house or neighborhood or drive a brand new car (although I'm THRILLED with my "new" car)or because everything in my life is so wonderful and neat and orderly. It's because I know that God is faithful to me. He's been faithful to bring me this far and He'll continue to be faithful. How can I say this with such assurance? Because the Bible say Jesus is the the same yesterday, today and forever.

That, my friends, is something we can surely count on in this life when the world around us is shifting sand!!! (How did I switch to preaching so fast? LOL)