Mom gets her life back!

My mom is starting to get out and about a little more each week. She and Dad have been to church the last two weeks which I am so glad about because I know they will be blessed for doing so. Mom receives so many hugs from her church friends and everyone says they are surprised at how great she looks. I keep telling her that myself, but it's nice to hear it from others as well. She also accompanied me to our church's ladies dinner last Thursday. I was so proud of her for coming. I had asked her about it the week prior and she said she wasn't sure if she felt like she could sit through the two hour event. Next I asked my neighbor instead. I was really looking forward to having Rosalind join me, but unfortunately she got sick the night before the dinner. I called five friends on Thursday trying to find someone to use my extra ticket. No takers. Matthew suggested I try calling my mom again. I did at 4:20pm. The event began at 6:30pm! Those that know me and my mom know quickness is not our strongpoint! However, the Lord worked even there and she was ready by 6:05pm. We had a great time together and stayed for the entire dinner and dramatist.

Also, Mom has begun painting handmade wooden trays and birdhouses for her friend Becky (one of my mother-in-law Ruth Ann's closest friends). Becky's husband Gary makes the items and Becky will be selling them in her soon-to-open store, The Brown Oaks. I thank the Lord that He brought Mom and Becky together so that Mom could have these small painting projects with which to fill her days. It's also a small amount of money which helps as Dad's job is strictly commission. God is also watching over Dad these days as he has sold three $200,000 RVs recently (good commission!!).

Mom and Dad will meet with her surgeon on April 13. They will discuss her recover and a date for her second surgery. She hopes it will be around mid-May. We covet your continued prayers.

The Misadventures of Little Philip

* Philip has recently discovered that he LOVES to be outside. On Saturday, we got a truckbed load of mulch and began sprucing up our flowerbeds along the front of our house. Philip had a great time wondering around us as Matthew and I raked out old leaves and dug up old plants. He even touched a worm for the first time and tried to pet the neighbor's cat.

* Yesterday, I took Philip outside for a few hours around lunchtime. Again he played with the neighbor's cat and watched me do back-breaking work spreading mulch. Unfortunately he took a good tumble in the front yard and wound up with grass in his hair and on his face and lots of scratches. I also noticed some yellow mucus collecting in the corner of his left eye.

* This morning I took Philip to his pediatrician. He has pinkeye! Last night, his eyelid began swelling. This morning, I found Philip looking like he had a run in with Rocky last night. His poor left eye was swollen shut and crusted closed. A warm washcloth helped it open and then a cool one brought the swelling down. He did surprisingly well with his first drop of medicine at lunchtime today. We'll see how the 3 a day for the next 6 days go!

* I hate to say it, but my boy has my temper! He is rapidly entering the terrible two's early. When he gets frustrated he has an outburst; recent examples: scratching my neck, trying to bite me or his own hand, and today pulling several strands of hair from my head! My prayers need to pick up double-time!

* Not to end on a bad note, we are so excited to see examples of Philip's growing intelligence. He can now point out animals in his books (cat, dog, sheep), can do simple tasks when asked ("Philip, go put that DVD on the table.") and has begun trying to wash his own hair in the bathtub! So cute. Our next big milestone will be saying real words. That will change our world!

Flybaby... again!

Three years ago, my neighbor Tracy and I were talking about how we each disliked cleaning our houses. She mentioned a website that was set up to help in managing all the housework, www.flylady.net. I signed up and was excited that finally my house might look neat for a change. Well, I was working in Greenville at that time and not home during the day. The way Flylady works is that you sign up and receive emails all throughout the day which are supposed to keep you on track. For example, 7:30am "Get dressed to the shoes", 10:00am "What's for dinner?", 11:30am "Where is your laundry?", etc. Well, I'd come home from work and find 26 emails in my inbox! Not very motivating, very overwhelming. After a few weeks of mass deletions, I unsubscribed from Flylady.

Well, several months ago, I resubscribed and am now a struggling-to-succeed Flybaby (one of many catchy terms on the website; this one designates a new member of the Flylady system). I write this post for accountability purposes. Now I know that all of you (whoever "you" is) know I am trying to keep up my house, I will feel more compelled to complete each day's zone mission, the weekly "bless your home" hour, and go to bed each night with my sink shining, aka an empty kitchen sink at the end of each day (the first step in becoming a Flylady!). There are still 25-30 emails from Flylady each day but I delete as they come in (about half are just testimonials (letters of encouragement about how the system is helping others)). If you feel like you don't know where to start, I'd recommend you check out the website. Don't feel overwhelmed (which it can easily become), but just look for the zone missions which target a different room each week. Better go do today's mission before Matthew gets home!!

God directed Mom's decision

Yesterday, my mom had an appointment with her chemo doctor at 2:45pm. In an earlier post, I wrote that she had decided to begin taking chemo. Well, Tuesday night was really hard for her as she just didn't feel settled in her spirit about it. Chemo has many side effects one of which being numbness in the hands and feet which can be permanent. Last Tuesday evening she pulled out a book a friend of hers had given her several months ago. It is titled Beating Cancer Through Nutrition. It in she read that 40% of people with cancer actually die from malnutrition and not cancer. The treatments are so hard causing loss of appetite and lack of desire to eat. Mom is already fail from the past treatments and surgery recovery process. Honestly, I've been scared thinking about her starting more chemo and wondering how much her body could handle. She decided prior to going to the appointment that she would not be taking anymore treatments.

God had given her a peace in her decision, but He graciously gave her reinforcements through the words of her doctor and one of the nurses. They first met with a sweet nurse named Melissa. She openly and honestly said, "I don't tell patients this very often, but I don't think you should take more chemo." She said looking at my mom's chart that chemo would not be a wise move as Mom had such a hard time before and how sure her surgeon is that he removed all the cancer. Her chemo doctor then also agreed that he would not recommend any further treatments.

Mom's spirit is very good today and I'm so thankful that she will now Lord-willing be on her way to strength. Please continue to pray for her not to second guess her decision. It has to be scary from a logical point of view wondering if taking it would provide a longer life or not. That is where faith must step in. It's true to say any of us could be killed in a car accident tomorrow. We are not promised a set number of years. Her second surgery will be around the end of April, first of May. Thank you for praying.

Philip in the shower

I never thought I'd have photos from the shower on my blog, but these are just too precious to pass up. Last night, Matthew went out to chop our front bushes after dinner. He came in just around Philip's bathtime. Being sweaty himself, I asked Matthew if he would just want to take Philip in for a shower with him. We've been talking around it recently now that Philip can walk. Matthew said Philip wasn't sure about the whole thing (water constantly falling from the ceiling?). I peeked in once and little Philip was standing there looking uncomfortable. As you can see, he felt much more secure in his daddy's arms and up out of the way of the water. Too cute.

Little Reader

Like his cousin Hannah, Philip has also developed an early love of reading. Or at least an early love of looking at pictures and turning pages. Whenever he wanders off (the boy has MASTERED walking and is everywhere before I can even turn around), there's a good chance that he's made his way back to his book shelf in his room. I also wanted to write this post to brag on my wonderful hubby. When I was pregnant, Matthew said, "I want to make something for our son." We decided on a book shelf. We drove to Home Depot and bought raw lumber, nails, and some decorative trim. Matthew doubted his ability, but I reassured him that our book shelf was going to be great. And it is! This little shelf will be around for Philip's grandkids books.

Latest About Mom

Mom is no longer having to catheterize herself. Her bladder has gained some strength back and is now able to release urine on its own. However, the bladder's muscle tone is not exactly as it should be as she is still lacking some control upon getting up in the morning and after naps. She also developed a urinary tract infection, but that is being treated by antibiotics.

Tomorrow (Wed.) at 2:45pm, Mom and Dad will meet with Mom's chemo doctor to discuss further treatments. Mom has decided to take further chemo to help protect her from any more serious cancer should it arise again. She requests your prayers as she needs to decide whether to take chemo via a pill or a pump. The doctor will hopefully be able to tell her the side effects / benefits of each method. She and Dad will be visiting my aunt and uncle in GA the first weekend of April. Mom will probably begin taking chemo the following week.

Thank you for your continued prayers. Mom is a trooper through this even though every day is a struggle. Her ileostomy bag is operating well even though she has strange cramping feelings in her stomach now and then. The chemo will probably last four months if she is able to maintain her strength and weight. Mom's second surgery to reverse the ileostomy bag will be done after the chemo treatments are completed, possibly August.

First Haircut!!

Last week in Bible Study, we studied about Isaac giving his blessing to Esau, but it is in fact Jacob in disguise (read Genesis 27 for the full story). Upon returning home from Gatlinburg, I was expecting to see my "Jacob" and instead found "Esau". Philip's hair was longer and crazier than I remembered it and he smelled differently (a heavily-perfumed woman had held him in the church nursery). He just didn't seem like my baby. This made my decision easy: it was finally time to cut his hair. Matthew and I had to do it together; he kept Philip's attention and I snipped the back locks off. He is still just as cute but now much more refined looking. Funny to say a one-year-old can be refined, but the photos say it all.

Here are the crazy locks. I loved his beautiful blonde curls but this is just out of control!


Here's the new and improved Philip!


And here's what Philip thought about getting his hair cut. Thankfully we won't have to do it again for a while.

Trip Photos

Below is my post about our trip. Here are the photos to accompany the story. Enjoy!




This is our luxury cabin. Three bedroom, two bath, hot tub and pool table!!




Such silly girls!! We had a lot of fun just hanging around the cabin.

This bear statue is on a little side street in Gatlinburg. It's a self-made tradition I have to take your picture beside it.

Shopping, shopping, shopping! The outlet mall in Pigeon Forge is huge. We used walkie talkies to keep track of each other.

The girls found this mini-Merry Go Round and had to ride it.

Here we are having dinner at the Black Bear Jamboree dinner theatre. The food was great and they give you so much: chicken, ribs, corn on the cob, potatoes, green beans, rolls and chocolate pudding!

The show was great too. Here's a shot of the country section of the show.

Gatlinburg & Pigeon Forge

Friday afternoon, I left our church headed to Gatlinburg, TN with my co-Sunday School teacher Stacie and six of our 9th grade girls. I had been anxious about it all week (I'm more so a follower than a leader and this was the first trip of which I was in charge), but pulling out of the parking lot, I began getting really excited. Gatlinburg is one of my favorite places especially when staying in a cabin which we were. Matthew and I feel called to work with teenagers, but they are a tricky bunch. You don't want to preach all the time nor be too tolerant. You can't be their best friend, but you do want to build relationships so they will come to you with problems. I was just hoping that we would all have a fun, relaxing weekend in which we might get to know each other better and hopefully grow stronger spiritually.

Friday night, we started the weekend at an outlet mall in Pigeon Forge, then hit Walmart for groceries and finally made it to our cabin at 10:15pm. The cabin was located in a resort community but at the end of a windy road through the woods. I had been there before but it was a little nervewracking since there were only us girls on this trip. Once we got inside our cabin, we all felt much more comfortable and finally at home! The hot tub was calling our name. We all stayed up until 2:00am. Saturday morning came and I got out of bed at 9:30am. I was excited to head into Gatlinburg today. However, we didn't leave the cabin until 1:30pm!! I had literal cabin fever. These girls are SO busy during the week that they just took their time getting ready. It worked out fine as we still had plenty of time in Gatlinburg, headed back to the outlet mall late in the afternoon and made it to the Black Bear Jamboree by 7:15pm. Our dinner show lasted from 8:00-9:45pm. It was my second time there and all the girls seemed to enjoy it. Back in the cabin, we had Sunday School at 10:30pm. I taught our lesson about holding your Christian friends accountable when we see them sinning. This can apply to all of us, but a few of the girls had shared specific examples with me to which this will apply. Even if I had the knowledge I have now, I would not want to be back in high school today. It's a hard, hard world.

Anyway, after the hot tub broke, I told them all to be in bed by 1:00am as we had to be out of the cabin headed to breakfast by 10:00am the next morning. Sunday came, we cleaned up the cabin and drove up the road to the Applefarm Restaurant for breakfast. It was great and a nice way to finish our weekend. Back home by 3:30pm. Thank you Lord for our safety.

He's on the mend... we think!

We put Philip to bed at 9:00pm last night after giving him more Tylenol. When I went to bed at 11:15pm, I wanted to check on him. I entered his room and he heard me and sat up. This gave me a chance to change his diaper and take his temp -- down to 99.9F. Thank you Lord! He slept through the night (I checked him at 5:45am and he was sleeping peacefully). His temp this morning was 99.5F. I pray that he just had some sort of 24-hour bug. He is teething still though so he might still be having pain from that. I'll just have to watch and see. Thanks for your prayers.

Also, Mom and Dad are at her radiologist appointment now and will meet with her surgeon this afternoon. Please pray that everything will go well and God will give these doctors wisdom as to what is next in store for Mom.

Poor Baby Philip

Yesterday, Philip was a little more cranky than normal. Today I found out why. He either has the flu which I had last week or he has an ear infection. This morning he got up and was more clingy than usual. He's normally jumping in his crib, but not today. Matthew said he felt warm when he hugged Philip goodbye. I took him temp after breakfast and it was 102.0F!! I had never seen him thermometer go that high. Well, I gave him a dose of Tylenol and we watched The Doodlebops on the couch. Philip fell asleep right on my lap (he is a very active boy normally) and I put him back in bed around 8:45am. I heard him waking up a little before 11:00am. Hesistantly, I took him temp again -- 102.3F. More Tylenol. I called his doctor, but the nurse told me just to keep giving him Tylenol and watch him overnight. Philip was just so lethargic through lunchtime; exactly how I felt last Wednesday when my temp was 102.4F. He would settle in with me on the couch and seemed ok as long as we remained still. Well at 12:20pm, I took his temp again and it was up to 103.0F. More Tylenol and we napped on the couch. He ate some peaches and vegetable soup at 3:00pm before going back to bed. At 4:30pm, his temp was 103.6F and it made me scared. Again the nurse from his doctor's office said just to keep giving him Tylenol and try a tepid bath to bring the fever down. They said 103.6F was not that bad yet. Try telling that to a first time mom who's baby is miserable and not acting like himself at all. Well, Philip went to bed with a temp of 103.2F so it's coming down a little. I pray he will be getting better tomorrow and that we all sleep well tonight. He has an appointment at 8:20am tomorrow so we'll find out what's causing the fever.

Another verse for Philip

I came across this great verse while doing my Bible Study this morning.

"No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it." Hebrews 12:11

Everytime I read the Bible, God brings out something new just for me. People always say don't read just a verse and take it out of context. The very next verse could be taken as such.

"Therefore, strengthen your feeble arms and weak knees." Hebrews 12:12

Is that telling me that Philip is going to need a lot of spankings and I better get myself in shape for it? Just kidding. However, it doesn't mean I'll stop praying for him to be a good boy.

Mom's Journey

Mom is doing somewhat better these days. Her bladder seems to be getting better. She only catheterizes herself once or twice a day now. She is doing great taking care of her ileostomy bag although it's not the most pleasant thing to have attached to the side of your abdomen. The biggest challenge these days is deciding if she wants to take chemo treatments or not. A few posts back I laid out the percentages involved with taking or not taking it. By not taking chemo, she would have a 69% chance that the cancer would not come back (Lord-willing it is not in any lymph nodes) and she could have her second surgery to reverse her ostomy bag in April. By taking chemo, her chance for non-reoccurance would increase to 82%, but her second surgery would not be until after the four months of chemo. Every Monday, she would go to the cancer center. She would have a chemo pump via IV inserted in her arm (?) and come home. The pump would run for 24 hours before she went back on Tuesday to have it removed. This would be every week for four months. We're not sure how her body will react as last time she had chemo, she was receiving radiation at the same time. It's just scary that she is not even back to complete strength now and to introduce toxins which produce sickness might make her even weaker.

Please be in pray for my Mom and Dad during this time of decision. We pray that the Lord would give her a peace so she will know what would be best. Thank you.

Reality (TV) meets Reality (Life)

The other night I woke up around 2:00am and couldn't sleep. All the details of my upcoming Gatlinburg trip were swirling in my head along with visions of lots and lots of crackers (what's that mean?). Anyway, when I'm fighting getting back to sleep I usually try to pray. The faces of the other patients from the cancer center came to my mind. I suddenly really wanted to know how they were doing. These were people I spoke to for about 10-15 minutes a day for 10-15 days. They were waiting in the radiation waiting room with me while I was waiting for Mom while she received her treatments. We made small talk and they "babytalked" to Philip as he cruised around the chairs. I do pray Peggy, Doug, Cecil, Sam, and Carolyn are all doing well and their battles against cancer will soon be behind them.

My middle-of-the-night mind then randomly transitioned to Survivor. Those people didn't know each other from Adam one day and then two weeks later they are best friends. It seems odd to me until I remember Peggy, Doug, Cecil, Sam, and Carolyn. Sort of the same thing. We were all thrown into a world we were unfamiliar with and didn't know what was coming from one day to the next. I know they comforted me with the strength they exuded and I think Philip encouraged them with his cute, silly baby ways. I'm not sure if I will ever see them again, but maybe. There are cancer survivors' events held by the hospital. While watching the Survivor finale show, those people always say they hope to keep in touch too.

I think these reality shows are such a hit because people want to be a part of a group that cares about each other (as shallow as it might be). Yes, often they want to see who backstabs who just as much. Anyhow, God created us to love and be loved. Just like my 9th grade girls who desperately want to be liked (and the drama that ensues there!!), we all want to be included.

On a good day (especially after a crisis), Americans do a pretty good job of keeping the second greatest commandment, "Love your neighbor as yourself" (Matthew 22:39). How sad is it that we are oh so far from keeping the first and greatest commandment, "Love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your soul and with all your mind" (Matthew 22:37).

If this post didn't make much sense, try setting your clock to 2:00am. Come back and read it again then.

Philip's Busy Life

The life of this 13-month-old little guy is pretty good. I don't feel bad at all knowing Matthew and I are trying to let him get the most enjoyment out of life (within reason) now as soon enough he will be introduced to the real world of school, work, etc. Too bad he won't remember these carefree days!!


Playing with our pots is one of his favorite pasttimes. We installed cabinet latchs on all the doors except the pot cabinet. I had always been told that babies love the pots and pans. It's especially sweet when it's finally your baby.


Philip is a great eater. Here he is after finishing some enchilada casserole. He then proceeded to lick the plate!


One of Philip's favorite things is looking outside. Here he is one morning, still in his "big boy" pajamas watching squirrels run around in the woods behind our house. He's so inquisitive. I love to watch him soaking in this world around him. I want him to grow up thankful to God for His wonderful creation and not take it for granted.


Here he is in his "big boy" birthday clothes from Grandma. It was actually bedtime (hence the bottle) and he had just finished eating a chocolate chip cookie (hence the mess). Since I nursed him for the first year and didn't get to watch him drink from a bottle much at all, I don't mind letting him enjoy his before-bed milk from one. It will end in the next few months when we'll switch to sippy cups like he gets now throughout the rest of the day. Bottles equal babies and I suppose I'm trying to keep him little.


My sister-in-law Lori wrote a fantastic post about the blessing of sleep. I knew Philip was ready for his afternoon nap today, but he just wouldn't settle down when I put him in his crib. Then I remembered what was wrong. Lamby was missing! I retrieved his special buddy from the livingroom, handed it to Philip, and he promptly sat down in his crib and then rolled over with Lamby! So sweet.

Low-key Re-cap

Thought I'd give an overview of what's been going on. This shall be "low-key" as today I've come down with the flu! Yuck! Thankfully, my friend and Bible study leader is a nurse and she said children under 3 rarely contract the flu! Please, Lord, don't let little Philip feel like this (or his Daddy for that matter).

Anyway, last Thursday Matthew and I had a mid-day date with lunch at The Wild Wing Cafe. It was my first visit and I'd say 4 out of 5 stars! They have 30+ flavors of wings and I recommend the Wild Wasabi Plum -- little spicy, but little fruity too. After he went back to work, I headed over to The Heights at Converse Salon and Spa. On our honeymoon, Matthew and I had one-hour massages (thanks to gift certificates from coworkers), and I've been hinting about wanting one again ever since. My loving hubby gave me a gift certificate for Christmas so I was finally redeeming it. Well, I was so excited to get there, but unfortunately the masseuse and I talked through the entire hour!! I don't even remember her touching my feet which is the best part although I know she did. She was a very friendly woman in her late 40's who had just become a Christian three years ago. We had a really wonderful conversation and it would have been a great time over lunch, but Matthew didn't spend his hard-earned money for me to make a new friend. After I got redressed, she said, "If you come back I don't have to talk the whole time, if you'd rather." Maybe I'll take her up on that. Unfortunately, I felt really sore the next day.

Saturday night, Matthew and I finally went out for our normal Valentine's dinner and a movie. Again, my sweet hubby planned ahead and redeemed some of our Discover cash back points for a Red Lobster gift card. Dinner was great. I ordered the Ultimate Feast so I could have a lobster tail. I didn't want to waste money again (i.e. massage) so I was ordering my favorite on the menu. We next headed to the movies where we saw "Firewall" starring Harrison Ford. Any "24" watchers should definitely see it. It was surprisingly good although my sin nature reared its ugly head. I leaned over to Matthew halfway through it and said, "That guy better die before the movie's over." How awful and desensitized we are within the walls of the cinema. Grandma Ruth Ann and Philip had a fun night together too while we were out.

This week has been a little hectic as I'm planning an out-of-town weekend trip for my 9th grade Sunday School girls. They won a youth-wide attendance challenge back in November which awarded them a weekend in Gatlinburg, TN. I booked a cabin on Monday and now am still trying to nail down transportation and if another adult should go. Currently Stacie, my co-teacher who's 25, and I are taking 9 girls. At least I think that's how many are going. I sent a letter home to their parents on Tuesday saying please let me know by this Friday if your daughter is or is not going as I need to purchase tickets for the dinner theatre. I'm praying that I'll hear back from them. My hat is off to youth ministers, school trip coordinators, etc. because I am not a detail person. I'll definitely blog about that trip. Let's just pray I get over the flu first!! With that, I'm going to bed.