Family Updates

There is so much going on in my life these days, sometimes it is impossible to keep it all straight. However, here are a few of the things I am asked about these days.

Melody - She finished active Physical Therapy and made great progress. We'll have a visit in December, but won't start active PT again until January. This is actually a blessing right now. Getting there two mornings a week was a challenge. Melody is starting to push up on all fours (crawling position), move herself across the floor either backward or foreward, sits and rolls over regularly. She has unorthodox ways of doing things, but she's getting it done. I have lots of exercises to do with her each day and am figuring ways to fit them into our routine and not forget them.

If we can ever get insurance issues worked out, Melody will be seeing the Orthopedic doctor for a follow up on her hips and going to spina bifida clinic for her next checkup there in December.

A House - Still no house for us. We were in escrow on one, but fell out due to the bank's failure to get us a letter on time. It came a week late. We have another offer being sent to the bank, but we have yet to see that house. It is a "subject to interior inspection" so you can't see it unless they accept your offer. We hope to see it soon. So, we will see. The market can go weeks without a any homes that fit our needs go on the market. Renting a home for awhile may become a real possibility in the new year.

My Mom - My Mom does indeed have pancreatic cancer. We are all still trying to wrap our heads around this difficult news and it's implictions. We know that she will begin treatment, but as of now, we aren't sure what that will be or when. It was caught fairly early as the tumor is blocking the liver and pancreas ducts, so Mom was turning yellow and itching all over from the build up of bile in her body. They have placed a stent for the liver to drain and given her medication to replace pancreas enzymes. Unfortunately, it is inoperable due to the fact that is wrapped around a couple arteries. Right now the goal is to get Mom feeling better. A couple weeks without sleep due to constant itching have taken their toll and her liver needs to rebound. She also needs to figure out some diet and exercise issues. Right now the cancer is isolated to the pancreas and at least one duct adjacent to the pancreas.

Travels- I will be going to Idaho this week with Melody for just a few days to see my Mom and Dad. It is important for me to see them, even for a very short time. My brother, Steve, will be there for a couple days as well and Tim, if the weather allows him to travel. In just a few weeks, at Christmas time, all our families will return for Christmas. There will be 15 of us total, so we are praying Mom is up to that by then.

Lego League - David's Lego Robotics team won the Grand Champion at the qualifier a couple of weeks ago, so we are off to Legoland in early December to watch them compete there. It is great to watch the kids work together. The competition is judged not only on the performance of their robots, but the kids teamwork, attitudes, spirit, judges questions, presentation skills and how they interact with other teams. We are proud of their academic achievements, but most importantly we are proud of the character these 10 students are showing.

An Old Fashioned Christmas- On the 7th at 7pm Elizabeth will be performing with her school in An Old Fashioned Christmas. She is so excited to have a solo and has been practicing Christmas songs for months. I love to hear her singing loudly and proudly around the house. If you want to come see her, let me know as tickets are limited and I have to buy them next week.

Crafting - Hannah chose crafts as her elective in school this year, so she is having a blast. A huge box of crafts arrived recently and she would have them all done by now if I would let her. We are saving some of the smaller ones for the trip in the car to Idaho at Christmas. Now we just need a house so we have a place to display them all.

T-Ball- Joel has 2 more t-ball games left and the season will be over. I'm not sure how much he has enjoyed it, but he has been a hoot to watch. Of course, the snack after the game is the most exciting thing for him. We're trying to figure out if he is left or right handed, so that has been a challenge as he switches. If I can get it off my phone, I have a picture of him in all the catcher's gear. Very cute.

All the Days of Our Lives

There is a verse in Psalms that says, "Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever."

All the days.

Not just the good ones.

All the days.

The day when you sit in an ultrasound room and the doctors say "spina bifida."

All the days.

The day when you hear your mother has "pancreatic cancer."

All the days.

The day you learn the cancer is "inoperable."

All the days.

The day doctors say "3-4 years with treatment."

All the days.

It is in the midst of these life altering and heart breaking days when I sense the goodness and mercy of the Lord.

My heart still aches, the tears still flow, I still get angry and upset.

Yet, despite it all I feel His goodness and mercy following me even in these days. His peace in the midst of it all.

All the days.

"Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever." Psalm 23:6

Getting Away!

Kevin and I are getting away for a couple nights. 48 kid-free hours! We'll be staying close to home, but are looking forward to the time together. This is the first time we've been away since Melody's birth. We plan to do Disneyland tonight and go on a few rides the kids don't care for.

Pray for our kids while we are away as well as the caregivers who will be helping out for the next 48 hours. There are 6 people, including Grandma Allen that are helping to make this weekend possible. Words cannot express how thankful we are for these wonderful people in our lives.

Getting ready to leave for a couple days teaches you a few things, or maybe just reminds you what you already know. Either way, here are a few things I've discovered:

1) Writing a schedule of all that needs to be done in 24 hours makes a long list.
2) It is very hard to think of leaving my baby with all her special needs.
3) As hard as it is to leave Melody, I know this is one of the many steps toward independence that she and I will take over the years.
4) This is one of the many times I wish we lived closer to my family.
5) Our church family truly is an amazing family to us. The things they do for us are truly humbling.
6) You know you have true friends when they will learn to do a catheter for you.
7) Give your kids a chance to spend the day with Grandma or friends, and they won't care that you are going away.
8) Getting ready to leave is exhausting.
9) The thought of time alone with my wonderful Husband is wonderful.
10) You know you have 5 kids when the thing you're looking forward to most while you are away is uninterrupted sleep.

Trick or Treating

Halloween is such a fun time of year. As our costume box is in storage, we had to come up with all new costumes and try to do so fairly inexpensively. I think we spent under $20 for all 5 kids, so I think we did pretty well. We had a Winter Fairy A Sniper (against my better judgement) Oh, and this picture is taken AFTER I shrank his sniper hat to Melody size, so he looks less imposing than originally intended. That is the down side of having a youth group party a couple days before Halloween.

A pirate, though we have a pirate a lot of the time. He was making "pirate faces" for me and I rather like this one.

I still get to choose one costume, thus our adorable little Mermaid. I found the costume idea online and Elizabeth's keen eye for fashion located the fin fabric leotard at the thrift store. Melody even won 2nd place for her costume at Kevin's office Halloween party. She looks forward to spending her gift certificate.

Daddy and his little Mermaid

And to finish it off we had a Barbie. She created her own costume and originally was supposed to be a "Sparkle Princess." Then for school they had to dress as a book character AND bring the book. So... thus the Barbie Princess which we had the book for. I think the costume was really just an excuse to wear eye shadow loudly and proudly for a few days. One of the best Halloween choices we made was to attend the Halloween party at Daddy's office where there was a pumpkin carving contest. We didn't "win" any prizes, but the fact that our girls got to carve pumpkins and I didn't have to buy them or clean up the mess was a win! They boys had no desire to get creative or messy.

The worst Halloween decision we made was to try and go to The Grove church's Trunk n' Treat event. We live a stone's throw from there and the kids had been seeing the signs for a month, so they wanted to check it out. I have heard there was over 10,000 people there and I was underimpressed with the organization. It was basically mass chaos for very little candy. But, we have given the kids a very vivid demonstration of why we will avoid it in the future.

The other best decision we made was to go Trick or Treating with our friends in their neighborhood. Several other friends also joined in. The kids were hyped so we walked over there and Daddy met us there with the van so we didn't need to walk home. The kids had a great time with friends, brought home way too much candy and we all had a great time with our friends.