Mom's Next Challenge

Mom and Dad had appointments today with her urologist and chemo doctors. The urologist said from her numbers (she is recording how many cc's of urine she is voiding (peeing) and how many she is catheterizing throughout the day and night), it looks like her bladder is recovering. He said to only catheterize twice a day and just before going to bed. When the catheter number is below a total of 200 for two days in a row, she can stop using the catheter. We pray that will be soon. The chemo doctor said that for people who've had her type of cancer with pre-surgery chemo/radiation and surgery, there is a 69% chance that the cancer will not return. That leaves a 31% chance that it might and if it did, it might be in the lymph nodes and could appear in the liver (much harder to fight). If Mom did decide to take more chemo, her chances of non-reoccurance would increase to 86% (not 100% but I suppose no doctor can promise those odds). Her doctor did say he was worried how her body would react to the chemo since she had such a horrible time after her first week of chemo back in October. He had to be honest and say he would not want this chemo to harm her even more with possibly hospitalization or worse as the side effects.
I ask that you please keep my Mom and Dad in your prayers for the Lord to give them clear wisdom and guidance during the next month. They have another appointment with her chemo doctor at that time at which they will give him their decision about more chemo or not. At first when she told me, I thought 31% of reoccurance was about a 1 in 3 chance which seems high to me. However, she could be one of the 2 not to get cancer again. To go through the torture that she felt after taking chemo last time for no reason would be horrible. Not often do we face truly life-changing decisions, but this is when we should rely on God the most. I quoted Mom my favorite Scripture verse while on the phone, "Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways, acknowledge Him, and He will direct your path," Proverbs 3:5-6. As Christians, we are to CLAIM the promises God has given us in His word. This is our chance.

My Precious Baby Boy

The theme of Disciple Now (read my next post first) was "True Love Waits: Living Pure Inside Out". All teenagers should go through a Bible study like this. We live in such a sex-driven culture that most teenagers (or people in general) are buying into it without much resistance. We as Christian adults MUST show them that there is another way to live, a way that God requires of us and will lead to abundant blessings. The Bible study was good in that it not only emphasized sexual abstinence before marriage, but living a life of purity in ALL areas of your life so that we can be pleasing to God. Christians are the worst for thinking if we just maintain purity in one or two areas that is good enough. It's not. God wants our all.

Any way, this weekend hit me especially hard after Jason, our youth minister, came over Saturday night to talk with the girls about what goes on in a guy's mind. He told them that guys are wired to be visually-stimulated. That's not a bad thing because that's how God made them. However this world (controlled by Satan) knows that and it taking extreme advantage of it by plastering the TV and internet with sexually explicit or at least suggestive images. Jason warned them that guys are being influenced by these things and unfortunately are hoping to act upon these thoughts with the girls they know. The girls really needed to hear this as hard as it was. I tried to stress to them to also remember that there are guys still out there trying to live for God but to just not let their guards down and try not to be stumbling blocks.

I said this was hard for me. Here's why. At the same time I'm listening to Jason talk about the moral depravity of a lot of teenage guys, I have a beautiful, innocent, precious one-year-old sleeping soundly in his crib who is going to become a teenage guy one day. It threw me into an emotional tailspin. My always-comforting God stepped in at that moment. I don't know what lies ahead, but God brought me peace reassuring me with the thought that Matthew and I have the honor of raising up Philip to be a god-fearing man who we pray will serve Him throughout his life. I have a bad character trait that if I don't know if I can accomplish something, I'd rather not try. That can't be applied to Philip. We have to raise him. Thankfully, we don't have to do it alone.

"These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up." Deut. 6:6-7

"Train a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not turn from it." Proverbs 22:6

"Do not withhold disciple from a child; if you punish him with the rod, he will not die." Proverbs 23:13

"The rod of correction imparts wisdom, but a child left to himself disgraces his mother." Proverbs 29:15

"Fathers, do not exasperate your children; instead, bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord." Ephesians 6:4

Disciple Now weekend

This weekend was Disciple Now for our church youth group. If you're not familiar with this, it's a weekend long Bible study / fellowship time in which the teenagers are split by grade and gender to stay in different homes. Matthew and I were excited to welcome my 9th Grade Girls Sunday School class to stay with us both Friday and Saturday nights. There were eight girls and our college-aged leader Kim. Friday night, my co-teacher Stacie also stayed over to hang out with the girls. It was a great weekend beginning with a concert Friday evening (NewsBoys, Toby Mac, and ZOEgirl), an excellent Bible study throughout the weekend (Kim kept those girls flipping through their Bibles!!), a crazy scavenger hunt through town (Matthew drove 60+ plus miles in 2.5 hours -- we felt like we were on The Amazing Race with frustrating arguments and all!!), and just a great time of getting to know these girls better and build relationships with them.



A blurry shot of the concert stage. Great concert especially since there was a message given and 204 people believed in the Lord Jesus for salvation for the first time. Praise God!


Philip just sat looking around at all the unfamiliar faces in his house. By the end of the weekend, he had several new buddies. The girls had fun carrying him around and watching him laugh.

For the scavenger hunt, our group was split into two cars. These were the girls with us: Brittany, Erin, Haley and Kacie. We started out the race with Philip in the car, but since it was his nap time, he began crying the second time the girls jumped out to retrieve a clue (yes, they were all screaming!). We made a pit stop by my parents' house which worked out well as my brother Mike and sister-in-law Andrea were visiting for the day.


I joked with one of the girls saying, "We enjoy having you guys here. It lets me see how my house would be if we had eight kids!" We do love being a DNow host home, but it's not something I can see myself doing all the time.




Here's a group shot just before leaving for church Sunday morning. Back row: Erin, Haley, Philip, Lauren, Brittany; front row: Kacie, Meredith, Cassie, Courtney. It's a great weekend too because we all get to wear sweatshirts and jeans to church!

Additional Prayer Requests

My mom is doing somewhat better, but since my last blog post about her somehow disappeared from my site let me update you. She had her catheter removed about two weeks ago now. Her body seemed to respond well, but then the urologist realized that her bladder was not emptying all the way. This was highly upsetting to hear, but we all helped Mom get through the following week. Dad, Mom's two sisters and I all helped to catheterize her at different times. Her sister Cindy who stayed all last week with her, lovingly encouraged Mom to try catheterizing herself so she wouldn't feel so dependent on all of us. She is now able to handle it herself and has to drain her bladder every four hours so as to keep it from being overextended again (as was the original problem in the hospital). Her bladder muscles are slowly contracting back into place and will soon be able to function as normal. Please continue to keep Mom in your prayers for her bladder to fully recover and also for her spirits as she continues to fight bouts of depression.
Secondly, I ask for you to remember my sister-in-law Lori and brother-in-law Jonathan. If you've been reading my blog for sometime, you know these are Philip's precious cousin Hannah's parents. Lori suffered a miscarriage last Thursday. As they have been praying for a second child, it was upsetting to all of us and emotionally and physically hard for Lori. God has covered this family in His grace and love in an almighty way. His glory is clearly seen by reading Lori's words about the experience. Lori, you have inspired me so much to continue growing in my own relationship with our Lord. Thank you.

Our Busy Weekend

This past weekend was pretty busy and held many first's for our little Philip. Friday night we attended a Boiling Springs High School basketball game. It was pretty fun although the Bulldogs lost by one point! Philip had a good time watching the game, looking around at the students around us and even giving some of them his new face. Best caption for the face is "I'm not sure if I like you or not!" He didn't fuss much for being out until 10:15pm.

Saturday, we attended our friend Ben's 7th birthday party at McDonald's. Ben is the son of our good friends Melanie and Ron. I was planning to hold out until Philip was 2 before feeding him McDonald's food (you know, trying to be so healthy as we were with the B.B.F.F. and all), but through some friendly persuasion, Philip enjoyed his first Happy Meal. I was sad to see they've done away with the box and now just give you a bag. He also ate some of Ben's cake and ice cream before heading to the playground.

This is where it gets interesting. I entered the spiral staircase with Philip and we're doing great. We got to the top at which time you enter a yellow tube which curves to the left. I began feeling claustrophobic and just wanted out (kids don't have these fears I assume). Melanie's older son Clay was coming through at that time. I had asked him earlier if he would take Philip down the slide so he was glad to take over at this point as chaperone through the playarea. I felt safe with Philip being with Clay and scrambled back down the spiral staircase where I was greeted by Melanie and Matthew laughing at me. A few seconds later we begin hearing crying from inside playground. My maternal instincts were in high gear. I rushed back in and up the spiral staircase -- I was finding my son! Well, I wiggled myself through this thing and out down the spiral slide as fast as I could. Matthew was holding Philip who had tears on his cheeks. I had abandoned my baby and he got scared without me! I felt horrible. Clay had done a great job getting him through, but I guess that's why the age limit is 3-12 and not younger. To tell you the truthful end of this story, I went back through the playarea so I could enjoy the slide without being so worried about Philip!

We left the party at 2:30, Philip caught a 45 minute nap at home, and then we headed to USC Upstate's afternoon basketball game. A friend and coworker of Matthew's was being inducted into their Athletic Hall of Fame during halftime. I was not that interested in watching the game (basketball overload) so when Philip began fidgetting, we went out to the lobby to play.

Sunday evening, we attended a True Love Waits rally with our youth group. Philip was great throughout the praise band's time of leading worship and even clapped when everyone else was. He was content for part of the speaker's talk, but after books and a snack could not keep his attention, he and I headed out to the lobby for some serious wall-cruising. (In a past post, I mentioned that he's walking. Well, he won't come away from the wall, and plus he has now mastered crawling too. It might be a few more weeks before real walking begins!). After the rally, we made a quick stop at Krispy Kreme across the street. It was Philip's first taste of a glazed doughnut. Not sure how much he actually tasted though because his jacket was heavily covered with glaze flakes!

Prayers for My Dad

My Dad is under a lot of stress these days. Not only does he worry about my Mom's health, he is also the sole breadwinner these days. That's scary being a commission-based RV salesman. If you are looking for an RV or boat, I have someone for you to talk to! On top of that, his parents who live in Maine are in poor health. My grandpa has rapidly developed Alzheimer's Disease and my grandma, who was in pretty bad shape already, fell and broke her hip yesterday. Dad has a sister and brother in Maine and two sisters in Massachusetts. Nevertheless, it's still hard on him to be this far away from his family. Please remember him and my grandparents in your prayers. I love you, Dad, and I'm here for you and Mom if you need anything.

Barber Shop

Although I was blessed with a boy and not a girl, I'm still a girl and did play dress up as a child. For the time being Philip is my subject. I know the time is fleeting as to how long he will let me style his hair, so I'm using every available opportunity.




The slick look is kind of cute. This is his professional look.

Here's a photo I posted a while back. Philip has perfect mohawk hair. I did fix it up with a little mousse when we attended a friend's Fourth of July party, but normally it's combed through before going to bed. Hopefully we won't be seeing this again in the distant future.

Philip does have a lot of beautiful blonde hair. I am getting sad thinking the day to cut it is probably not that far off.




Here's God's own creation. Another great look!

Spring Is In The Air

Well, not exactly. We've hit another cold spell with highs in the low 50's, but Saturday was nice in the mid 60's. Matthew and I decided to take Philip for a walk since none of us had spent much time outside in a while. It was nice to just be together enjoying the scenery of our own neighborhood for a change. Here are a few photos.


Philip loves to be outside. Today he was looking extra cool in this fleece and sweatpant combo. His tennis shoes and USC cap finished the look. He's ready to ride!! My song for him while we walk is "Riding along in my stroller-mobile!"


Our neighborhood has a few good size hills. Matthew would let go of the stroller for a few seconds going downhill which would scare me to death. Philip on the otherhand is our little daredevil. He's going to love rollercoasters. I can already tell.



Here's a great shot of our sweetie Philip. He's a beauty!

Philip's Big Day

Yesterday, I took Philip to his pediatrician for his 12-month check-up. His stats are as follows: Height: 28.5 inches (17%); Weight: 19 lbs. 2 oz.(7%); Head: 95% (not sure of inches). Dr. Shelly said he looks great and is just built like her daughters were: big head, little body! It amazes me that most kids of his same age are bigger than him as I think he is getting so big. She said 7% is actually a good jump up from where he was last time; he had dropped below the curve and was charting his own path then. God always gives us what we can handle and Philip is just the right size for me. He's quite hefty in my mind and my back can attest to that. She said although he's not hit the 20 pound mark, we can turn his car seat front-facing as he is plenty strong enough to hold his head steady (Mommy will just have to remember to not make any sudden stops!). Also, his menu is wide-open, just have to look out for choking hazard type foods.

That brings us to the next part of our day: new foods. After the check-up, we met Daddy and his co-worker Mike on their lunch break at Holmes Hot Dogs. Philip enjoyed his first hotdog cut into little pieces with melted American cheese on it. He also ate pieces of the bun separately. Not sure if more hotdog ended up in his stomach or the floor, but we all seemed to leave full. For dinner, Matthew cooked Chicken Fried Rice in the wok. It's a great pre-made mix from Sam's that includes rice, chicken, pieces of egg and carrots, and peas. It's Philip's new favorite! I did have to spend about 10 minutes picking up pieces of rice from the carpet around his chair so next time we'll put a garbage bag under him. Not to go into detail, but I don't think he chewed all the peas!!

Finally, Matthew and I sat on the livingroom floor with Philip after dinner and he WALKED!! We sat about four feet apart and faced Philip toward whomever was not holding him. He took several good face-forward falls into our arms, but slowly but surely, he began to take one step then fall, two steps then fall, and then four steps without falling! It was great. Thankfully we did videotape it. Matthew then went to the office to save it on the computer. Philip was standing at the coffee table when I brought his evening bottle into the livingroom. I held it out and he took probably six steps to get to it! We've got a walker on our hands. He's been plenty strong enough for a while. I knew it was just a courage issue, and we may have broken through that. I'll let you know how things progress.