Booty Slammin

Sorry that I booty slammed you? Seriously? This cracked me up so much that I had to scan it and post it. Can you tell Grace is FINALLY feeling better after ending chemo five months ago? People have been so considerate to ask how Grace is doing after chemo. We really appreciate all of the love and concern, so we wanted to keep you posted.

One of my favorite quotes by Henry Kissinger says, "There can't be a crisis next week. My schedule is already full." In truth, emerging from the depths of Grace's fight with Cancer has felt almost as hard as living through it. I don't know if it's the constant worry that her Cancer could come back, the realization that we are utterly vunerable to any and every fraility of humanity, or just merely that we finally had a chance to sit back and breathe for a second. But, I will say this...the last five months has felt challenging. We have been trying to help Grace get back into school full time (which she has!) and prayed for her Platelet condition to clear up (which it has not, but is looking better), and have tried to readjust to "normal" life.

But, admist this we feel profoundly grateful that she is ok! Grace is just amazing, the way she gets through pain, fear, and hardship. Though the process of "feeling better" has been slow for her, it has been steady and for that we are thankful. Grace's platelets are still flagged as abnormally low, but they are steadily rising. The doctors have told us it may be something she lives with for her lifetime, but we have high hopes that as she regains strength, so will her platelets. Some of the chemotherapy drugs used to treat her Cancer are pretty toxic, so she has to have an Echocardiogram in April and some preemtive blood work, but if that all checks out, she will have surgery to remove her portacatheter in April. Once that is out, I think it will feel like closure and hopefully Grace will just get stronger and relish in every moment of her existence! So, she is well on her way to a full recovery! When that surgery is over, JR and I will prayerfully and thankfully take off our TEAM GRACE wristbands and tuck them away as a strangely fond memory of our encounter with Cancer.

T's great game and much much more...

Although there aren't any pictures because we were so involved in watching the game, T had a great game and pulled off a triple-double. Although I can't be sure since they don't keep stats, I am pretty sure he did. He played the whole game and had at least 20 points, 10 assists, and I think around 10 rebounds. His whole team played great and it was a great way to finish his season.

BED FORT...

The other day, Eva wanted to feed Ben some yogurt while he was in the bath. I ran to grab my cell phone that was ringing and this is what I came back to. At first I thought it was just Ben moving and Eva not really paying attention until I looked into Eva's big brown eyes and I could tell Ben was her new canvas....and what a willing canvas he was.

From Grace...

i got the flu a copel days ago oh and me grace is bloging my dad let me
and eva has bin verry funny! hope you enjoy our blog and i made it a full week at school and
full days so becuse i did that i got a sleep over it was fun have a fun week and week end
hope it snows! sinserly grace

Benjamin is getting old WAY too quickly...so quickly it was high time for his first haircut. He ended up with a cute little do, courtesy of JR.

When T was little, we called his teeth tick tacks because they were so small. Well, all his little tick tacks are making room for some serious teeth! His teeth are pleading with him to move over, even coming in over his baby ones.

Tanner's class has been studying the Roaring 20's and in conjunction held a speak easy. It was a blast to witness Tanner dancing the Charleston-kid has some moves! And, he's pretty easy on the eyes in his 20's get up!

Ready for church on the Sunday just before Valentine's Day. The girls always have to add a pinch of Diva flair with their leg pop!

Benny and Belles checking up on the neighbors. They are the eyes and ears of our neighborhood!

As you can see, life doesn't slow down. But, it is always full of fun, chaos, and momentum. Grace also went in for bloodwork on Friday and things are looking good. She is very steadily gaining strength. It looks as though her platelet condition still exists and perhaps will be something she lives with for the rest of her life, but it isn't getting worse right now and that's hopeful. So, it looks as though we can go forward with her Portacatheter removal as soon as we are comfortable with it. Grace is really nervous and doesn't want to just yet, but the doctor is concerned that leaving it in will now cause more risk than help, so we are trying to help her adjust to the idea of surgery again. We are feeling more and more comfortable letting go of living with Cancer and loving feeling more like a "normal" family....of course normal is very relative!

Happy Birthday Kim!

We were so excited to devote a weekend to our lovely Mother and Wife. She gives so much to us and we had so much fun pampering her. This year the kids wanted to really be involved and bought their own presents, wrapped them, and helped make kim's cake, breakfast, and dinner. I think it was great for them to put some sweat into her birthday and get a little taste of taking care of a family of 7 (yes Belles is included). We had a lot of fun this weekend and did what we love to do best, hang out, play games, and enjoy eachother's company. Thank you for all of your nice gifts and kind words. Here are some recent videos and pics of Ben. As you can see he reaped the benefits of Kim's birthday feasts...

Ben's new phrase..."Oh yeah." Guess where he learned that. I can tell you what his next phrase will be... Eva's new phrase is "Let's do this thing!"