Holiday Cheer!

All-around, it was a very special Christmas season! I'm always sad when it's over, but I guess we couldn't handle such festivities for too long. Now it's time to start thinking about the new year!

Christmas with my family

The boys "helping" Poppy open her tea set

Poppy loving her little tea cups at first sight 

The kids not sharing

Poppy in the hat Andria made

The happy couple, just an hour or so before Sam leaves for three months in Japan 

We opened a lot of fun gifts this year, like these furry gloves from Jenny

...and a plush Angry Bird for the iphone gamer 

We're more thankful than ever for Dad this year

And we had lots of good times with Luke and Jen while they were home

Christmas Eve with Bry's family

Turkish delight from Taye and Taryn's trip to Turkey

The doting aunt and uncle

Grandpa and Grandma looking very sweet

Poppy getting lots of attention from her Nana

Singing a few Christmas carols around the piano

The Queen in her fur cape, reigning over her pile of gifts

The three of us

And Christmas Day? Unfortunately, Poppy was just a little grumpy and woke up looking like this. We assumed it was a reaction to her Chicken Pox vaccine, but her Dr. thinks it's a virus. Poor thing. She shouldn't have to look (and act) like a teenager quite yet. At least she has her new bunny slippers for comfort.

A song to celebrate Jesus...

Merry Christmas 2011

We love you!

Bry*Ash*Poppy

The Things I Don't Want to Forget...

• God loves and blesses us through the good and the "bad"
• God teaches and grows us through the good and the "bad," but mostly through the "bad"
• People need other people
• Pray and pray some more (and mean it!)
• God is a God of unexplainable grace and peace, especially in the middle of chaos
• Show our friends and family every day how much we love them
• Most things don't matter as much as we think they do, but some things matter a lot more
• Be where we are and put 100% into every moment God gives us here, because life really is short
• No matter what, our purpose is to glorify the only one that deserves glory
• God really does do miracles...and it's humbling when he chooses to

Best Day of My Life

My Dad doesn't have cancer anymore.

I'm still trying to get used to the sound of this.

The surgeon called today with the pathology report, and he gave us the best Christmas gift possible. Against all odds, my dad's tumor was a low-grade neuroendocrine tumor, and it doesn't appear to have spread. Which means that there's a 90% chance that our fight is over forever, before it had barely begun. And no chemo.

My dad has been given back to us. The surgeon, and everyone else, was shocked. It looks like God performed a miracle.

Yesterday, before I heard the news, I read this quote by C.S. Lewis...

"Miracles are a retelling in small letters of the very same story which is written across the whole world in letters too large for some of us to see."

This is God's love.

And the rest of the miracle is all of the people who instantly rallied around my dad, lifting him up in prayer and in love. We have learned so much from all of those we are blessed to call friends. Thank you for your part in this.

Glory to God in the highest.

The Patient

My dad has never been very good at being sick. He wants a game plan and a solution, and he doesn't know how to rest. After having his spleen and 30% of his pancreas taken out on Tuesday, he had ditched the hospital gown and was up walking the halls the next day. If anyone has the will to beat Pancreatic Cancer, it's him.

The surgery went well, and Dad will be going home today. But there are still dark moments, and it's easy to lose track of hope. We are waiting on test results now to see if the cancer has spread to his lymph nodes.

We've been through so many emotions in the past week. It's scary, but we don't want to be scared. We want to glorify God through this. We're trying to remember that it doesn't really matter what we find out, because if God wants to heal my dad then He will, regardless of what statistics say. And we have to fight our hardest against whatever odds we face.

Please pray for strength and grace. Pray for faith. Pray for God to take away fear and give our family peace. Pray for healing. Pray that God would be glorified. And pray for my mom, who will be on the front lines with my dad every day. Please pray hard.

Thank you to everyone for your support! We really need you all.

Friends in Town

Our good friends Brett, Liv, and Obie came for a visit over the weekend. We packed in a lot of fun (good talks, Children's Museum, lunch with Luke and Ann, basketball, dinner with Chad and Heather, more good talks) and had such an amazing time reconnecting with them. All of my pictures are from our trip to the Children's Museum, and as always, there is a shocking underrepresentation of adults. Prepare for baby picture overload...

On our way! Doesn't Obie look like a cute little Dr. Seuss Who?

Just chillin' in the car with a (huge) drink

They went crazy in the little kid room...so much playing to do.

Racing to the end of the bridge

The fearless Miss Amelia Earhart

Obie went to town in the water and drenched them both

Of course I had to snap a picture of the carousel...they're just so pretty

Kissing herself in the maze of mirrors. Yes, she's a little vain.

The cool kaleidoscope room

The only picture I have of Brett and Liv...lame, I know.

And our best efforts at a self family portrait in the mirror

A Golden Tea Party

A golden birthday for Kait meant a golden tea party for us all. So nice. Candles, china tea cups, coffee cake and tiramisu, twinkly lights, ribbons and bows, and lots of gold...some of the things that make me happy that I'm a girl.

The table loaded with all things gold

The birthday girl tips her crown

Katelyn and Kaitlin

Two cool people...

...are getting married!

 Hooray! This is so perfect. I love this girl, and I love this boy. And I love the way God works everything out...sometimes the way we least expect, and better than we could have imagined. Welcome to the family Sam!

Sigh

And in other Kaitlin news...she also had surgery on her ankle a couple of weeks ago. She was on bedrest for a week and will have that boot on for a few months.

But she had plenty of visitors to comfort her

This is her makeshift recovery room, where there was always a party going on

And the get well rose from Sam, who also made quite a few appearances that week to cheer up the invalid

Happy Halloween!

Cutest little polar bear around 

Halloween isn't my favorite holiday, but I'm liking it a little more this year for some reason.

She wasn't so thrilled about the hat. This is her typical whiny face.

And this is the face she made when I told her to growl like a bear. Not very fierce.

These two little guys are the only fall decorating we have around here. No real pumpkins this year. These are artificial ones that you can carve and put a little light under. It was a fun Couples Night project that Ben and Suzanne planned (the tree won first prize, by the way).

 Hope you're having a Beautiful fall!

Eek!

So...I cut all my hair off!

It's something I've always wanted to try, and I'm loving it. It's a rather big change. My hairdresser said that Locks of Love would be able to make TWO wigs with what I gave them.

Before:

 After:
(but it gets a lot crazier than this when I sleep on it!)

Bry caught me coming in the door

And I caught Poppy by surprise!
I didn't warn her about this, and she stared and stared when I came home. This was her unsure half smile.