Scans Are Good!

Wow! I am so happy. The day went smoothly yesterday and at the doctor appointment at the end of the day, she said the "scans look great." We can rest easy for awhile. I was so nervous. Those scans just do that to me. She thought Kelby's extra tiredness is likely still from the radiation. We'll have to go back down for flushing the port next month and another appointment with the doctor in two months. This will be the way things go unless we find something that concerns us. No more scans for awhile!

Gramma DeeDee is safetly in town too, so we're sure to pack some fun into this week. Thank you for all those prayers!

What A Whirlwind Weekend

We managed to exhaust the children and ourselves with a wonderful weekend. Mike took Thursday and Friday off to treat our family to some fun. On Thursday we went to Lynden (about an hour north) to enjoy their fair. We looked at cows, cats, bunnies, goats, and pigs until those girls were all exhausted. One of the highlight was the seeing-eye-dogs. Their trainers gave out little pictures of the dogs...which Kelby treasured. Grampa George and Gramma Debbie came with us, so the girls were in heaven.

On Friday, Gramma Debbie watched Anika all day so we could take Kelby and Tegan down to Seattle's Wild Waves theme park. They say there are amusement park rides there, but I wouldn't know because the girls never let us stray far from the wave pool that whole day. We did venture a few trips down water slides and floating if the "river" loop, but only saw the carousel just before we left. I've never seen joy on Kelby's face like I did that day...especially when she was in the wave pool. The girls wore their lifevests and let the waves take them where they may. We were in there so much that I often felt like I was still in the waves when I was out walking on the pavement. Kelby kept putting her head down in the water to swim. She started sticking one finger up out of the water when she was down. I asked her what she was doing and she said, as though it were obvious, "I'm being a shark!" Finally she put her whole hand up to make a better fin. If one was good, two hands were up evenually. "Look! I'm two sharks!"

I decided the other day that it was long overdue for me to watch the Barbie movies with the girls. I listened to "Barbie Fairytopia" in the car so many times, but I never watched it until last week. Mike is playing softball now, so when he was gone we had a girl movie night. The show is really quite delightful and had an amazingly sweet message. It is about a fairy with no wings that ultimately saves everyone. She was tempted by the bad fairy with wings, but she chose to do what was right and not to get those wings. In the end she got even better wings from the good fairy. I told Kelby that she was like that wingless fairy. "You've had a hard life, but it makes you special." I can't remember if it was my idea or hers, but she decided she would get wings in heaven. She prays at night now, "And God, if you have some wings, I would really like some wings." I've been reading fantasy books lately and I've found that I am enamored with the other worlds created in fairytales. God created our imagination. It is a small picture of Him and how he created us. Our imagination is a gift from God. Heaven must be wonderful that way...like a child's imaginary world come to life. Bye the way, Kelby also wants to be a talking dog when she goes to heaven. It's funny because it isn't as though we talk about her going to heaven all the time. She just brings these things up on her own.

On Saturday, Mike had some guys over to play their networked computer games, so I asked Debbie and George if I could hang out at their place until bedtime. Grampa set up their tent trailer as our base station and the girls played in the pool and with their cousins all day.

It was a terrific weekend, but with skipping naps three days in a row, those older girls were exhausted! We are caught up now by going to bed early and taking long naps. Those girls still need their naps...especially Kelby. I can't tell if that is just her personality or if it is from health issues. She's always needed more sleep. Maybe that extra sleep has helped her to fight off cancer cells setting up shop.

On Sunday we had a relaxing day. I watched "Never Ending Story" with the girls which was a little scary, but had a flying, talking dog in it. He was my favorite character when I was a kid and needless to say, Kelby was in love with him.

Today was "do the laundry & clean the house day". I didn't get the house cleaned, but we made it to the library and park for awhile this afternoon. I better get to at least the guest bathroom tomorrow before my mom comes on Wednesday.

I'll be taking Kelby down for scans that morning, getting her an injection and some oral contrast to drink. Then we'll head out to the airport to pick up Gramma DeeDee. We should make it back to the hospital just in time for the scans and an appointment with the oncologist. I'm obsessed and worried all the time, so I'm hoping these scans will put me at ease for awhile. The scans have never revealed anything that we didn't already expect (except the very first time), so hopefully it will be that way again.

Please keep praying.

Time Flies!

It's only been one and a half weeks since treatment and I can't even remember much from it. Time seems to be moving so slowly now. We haven't found our new routine yet and we'll have to find another one in just a couple weeks when school starts.

Kelby finished up her treatment with flying colors. She was playing in the pool everyday until she got an ear infection last week. The days that she didn't get to swim were cloudy anyway, so it worked out.

Mike's cousin got married last weekend, so the girls dressed up in the beautiful dresses that Gigi and Papa got them for their birthdays. They turned heads! Mike took video and has been working on making them a DVD of their wedding. He is really very talented!

We went camping again this weekend, but it was just too hot which made me grumpy. Ain't nobody happy when Mama ain't happy, so it was a little overwhelming. Actually, the girls seemed to have a good time even though I was too hot and tired. They played at the park and tried fishing a bit. They are happy with camping as long as there are marshmellows (shmarshsmellows) before bed.

It is so hard on me when Kelby gets sick...even when it is an ear infection and I know it is an ear infection, my mind starts to wander and worry. She was so exhausted and crying because of the pain. I guess it just makes it harder for me to pretend that everything is okay with her. Am I pretending? I am living on in hope and not exactly pretending, but that is still harder to do when she is sick. When I ask her how she is feeling and she's feeling well, she gets so annoyed with me. Her head falls back and she rolls her eyes; it's so funny.

We don't have any huge plans for the next week and a half. Staying home this weekend will be a nice change. Next Wednesday are Kelby's scans and my mom gets to come to town. I'm looking forward to her visit and so are the girls. We'll definitely have to get to some school shopping.

It's time again for me to get busy on the playground stuff. I understandably put it off over the summer. I've also tried to start writing a book, but haven't gotten very far yet. It will come in time. The ideas are percolating and will eventually pour out on to the paper, but it will take time (and I don't have much extra of that.) I always seem to find something to fill it with, though I need to take more time to visit with friends.

Keep praying for us as we approach those scans. They always make me nervous. I'll update again as soon as we know anything.

		Summer Fun VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

Already August

Driving up and down the freeway has occupied us for the last two weeks, but it hasn't been as bad as I'd anticipated. I've listened to a lot of books on tape and the girls have watched a lot of "Barbie Fairytopia" on the portable DVD player.

Kelby has flown through her treatment like a breeze. She has no fear and impressed her Daddy and Gramma with her courage when they came along for the ride. She changes into a gown, hops up on the table, and holds still as I leave the room. She's in that room alone with the machines for about five minutes and then she comes out smiling.

Because the treatments are so easy, Tegan and Anika have come down with us about half the time. On both Fridays we made it a family thing and Mike came down too. The first Friday we went to the zoo after the appointment and last Friday we drove out of town to camp at the beach afterwards.

The zoo trip was really fun. Everyone had fun and got dirty jumping around the boulders and statues. Yes, they like the inanimate better than the real thing. They would like the animals better if they could climb all over them, but nobody will let them.

Our camping trip started out with the realization that someone had stolen the portable DVD player out of our van out of our garage in broad daylight. The garage door was open and closed a number of times during the day. The DVD player was there when I drove home on Thursday, but that evening when Mike and I were rearranging seats in the van it wasn't there. That was disappointing and the girls had to drive 4 hours to the beach with no movies. I was impressed that they never complained, although there were a few "when are we going to get theres?" It turns out that this garage thief struck again on Saturday. I called the police and made the report. They also stole my cell phone. I looked up the calls online and found they had made several, at least until the battery died. I hope the police call the numbers and find out who had the gall. We are a little disturbed that someone would be that brazen. At least my purse wasn't in the car.

The beach trip was good, but a little rocky. When we got out to the Washington coast there weren't any camp sites available for both Friday and Saturday...except one and we now know why...because it right by the highway. All night we heard sirens, cars, trucks and even a chainsaw at one point. Needless to say, we didn't sleep well. Before bed we visited the beach and the girls loved it. We could barely get them back to the site for dinner and the "smarshing of smarshsmellows" as Tegan calls it. The next morning we packed up our stuff and spent all day on Saturday at the beach until the girls were exhausted. We came home one night early, but we had plenty of beach and it was ultimately a nice family time.

Wednesday is already the last day of Kelby's treatment. It has gone by so fast. I'm going to be thankful to have my mornings back. We've made the most of it though. Last week as we were walking into the hospital, Kelby and I were discussing how special she is. I said, "When you were born, God looked down and said, 'Now there's a girl that could change the world.'" We talked about how just loving others can make a difference, and that she could change the world with just one smile at a time. I didn't think much of it, but that night she went in to Michael's office and said to her dad, "Guess what. I can change the world!" The next day I was noticing all the other people in the waiting room for radiation treatments. I suggested that we make muffins and bring them in the next day. Kelby and Tegan made cards that night and helped me to make muffins. When they delivered them the next day, they were rewarded with smiles and kind words from everyone. It was our way to "change the world".

We are all looking forward to normal life. I can't believe school starts in a month. Kelby will probably be in the little pool in the backyard every day until then.