Runny Nose

I just wanted to tell you all that Kelby slept through the last night. She is doing much better today. She only has a bit of a runny nose today. We wanted to take her to the zoo this weekend, but she isn't quite up to it yet. Tegan hasn't gotten the cold yet, so I sure hope she doesn't get it. I am also feeling much happier today. I am glad to know that Kelby is just feeling yucky from a cold and nothing else. We didn't have any blood counts taken this week because they were so good last week. So, there is a guestbook online now...but don't write anything in it until my mom gets a chance...she wanted to be the first one.

Hello there everyone. I am still so sorry that we don't have a guestbook yet. We have had a pretty busy week I guess. Mike said he'd get to it tonight. I thought that I had better get some pictures up here. It has been a hard week on me. I am not sure why. I have been feeling sad...and I'm not sure why. The last few nights Kelby hasn't been feeling too great. She has gone to bed at about 6:30 pm. She just gets so upset and she wants to go to bed. Last night she wanted to go to bed at 6:00, so I layed her down. We woke her up at 8:00 and she was only up for a half hour before she really wanted to go back to sleep. She was crying uncontrolably. At 11:30, Mike cracked her door open and she got up. She pointed in her mouth (on the side opposite where the tumor was) and cried. I was hoping that this was all from teething, but I didn't see any tooth coming up and she is way more upset than she was with the last tooth she got. I gave her some tylenol and she went back to sleep. She woke up crying again at 4:30 this morning and I gave her some more tylenol. She seems to be fine this morning though. She has a little runny nose and is sometimes sneezing, so maybe it is just a cold. I hear that there is a cold going around that starts out with a headache and a sore throat, so that would make sense. Of course, all of this doesn't help that sad feeling that I feel. I am nervous about the cancer coming back. Please pray that this is only a cold! I am anxious to get those scans done now. Tegan is just as happy as can be. I don't really know what to put in here about her. I have to go talk to a oral surgeon today about getting my wisdom teeth pulled. Oh yeah! I don't want to have it done. I am going to get a chance to be out by myself a while today though because Gramma Debbie is going to watch the girls the whole afternoon. I need some time by myself I think.

Spoiled Mommy

I don't really have much to update about, but I wanted to write something since I had this great site to do it on. We had a good weekend. We didn't do too much though. I did a ton of work on my front yard, so I was pretty proud of myself. Next on my "To Do" list is to work on my scrapbooking. I am six months behind already...wow these days have gone by fast! Kelby got to go to Sunday School yesterday and she really loved it. I am excited that she can play with other kids. She needs to work on her "people" skills. She has a big problems with saying, "NO! That's Mine!" Tegan is just as easy as ever. She has really started playing with toys that hang from her little play chair. I just love these beautiful girls. They are really good girls. I am a spoiled mommy!

New Site

We are all doing so great. Kelby and Tegan just got a bath. I had a Stampin' Up! party last night and had a really great time. Next, I just have to get this website up and running. I sure am learning a lot about it as I do it! Of course I am getting all my tips from my husband...and stealing some of his ideas. It isn't too bad once you get started...just time consuming. Kelby has been really into watching movies lately. All of a sudden, she has enough attention span to watch almost a whole movie. Tegan has been rolling back and forth from tummy to back. I can't believe how cute she is...in fact I hear her calling me...time to

The Lesson Learned

God is Faithful. Last month Michael got to give a "welcome" to our church. The church does this every Sunday by having one person get up and tell what God is doing in their lives. Mike impressed me greatly by what he said, not to mention what it took for him to get up in front of all those people. He told a story of something he learned and I want to share that lesson with all of you. Last December when we found out that Kelby indeed had cancer and a type of cancer that only gave her a 20-30% chance of survival, we found it very easy to start asking God "why me?" It is an easy question to start asking when things don't go the easy way. Why would God let this happen to us? What did we do wrong? Why my little girl? During the stem cell transplant process, Michael had to stay with Kelby every evening because Tegan and I couldn't stay in the hospital at night. I know those long sleepless nights were hard on him. One night when I had changed Kelby's dressing over her catheter site, we noticed that the tube was very loose. They decided to put in a stitch to keep it from coming out. I knew that I couldn't handle watching them put the stitch in, so Mike went with her into the treatment room. What he told everyone at church was the experience he had in that room. He said...They layed Kelby down and gave her one medication after the other to try to sedate her, but she was extremely strong willed and nothing would calm her down. They needed her to hold still. Finally they got to the point where they decided it wasn't safe to give her any more medication and Michael was going to have to hold her down. They asked him to pin her arms down tight so she wouldn't be injured by the needle. In his words, "As I pinned her down she looked straight up into my eyes with tears running down her face, a terror I'll never forget, and she just screamed, terrified and pleading for help, 'Daaaaaddy, Daaaady!' She desparately wanted me to help her but all I could do was to keep myself from crying with her and try to reassure her, 'It's okay Honey, it's okay. Daddy's here. I know it's no fun, but it's for a reason." At that time, Kelby didn't say "Daddy" very often yet, so it was very heart wrenching to hear her call out to him that way. He said that about a week or so after that, he was driving down the street by himself. Tegan had just been born and it was so hard to enjoy because Kelby was in the hospital going through this life-threatening process. He wished we could all be together. He found it easy once again to say, "Why me, God." All of a sudden he realized that he was doing the exact same thing that Kelby was doing the night he had pinned her down. His answer to Kelby was the same one that God had for him. "It's okay Mike, I'm right here. Don't be scared. I know you don't understand, but there are reasons. I'm still here." During times like these, even if God would stand over us and try to explain the reasons, just as he had tried to explain to Kelby, the explanation would probably be so complex and we are so narrow-sighted that we could never understand it. All we can do is accept God's comforting. He is our "Daddy". We have seen a number of wonderful things happen in the lives of others because of what our family went through. That makes so much difference to us...it makes some of the hard times seem worth it. These are the things that God knows of, but we don't understand in the midst of our pain. People have told us that they have reevaluated what was important in their lives. People told us that what they considered great obstacles in life seemed more insignificant now. People that never prayed, started. With her strong will and her fight combined with ther willingness to cooperate and her sweet spirit, she won the hearts of many. There are probably lives out there that Kelby touched that we will never know about. Hopefully others will come to know God's love in a personal way because of the trials that Kelby went through. God did not cause this to happen to Kelby, but He has used it in so many positive ways and we thank Him for that. From the very beginning our faith lead us to put everything in God's hands knowing that whatever future He had for Kelby, it was best. He gave us great peace and strength. Good can come from any circumstance if we put it in God's hands. In light of what happened on September 11, 2001...America Under Attack...I want to apply what we learned from Kelby's experience. The terrorist attacks were so horrible. Our world has been shaken. How could something so terrible be allowed to happen? "Why God?" Only God knows the grand scope of what is to come and we can only accept His comforting in this time, knowing that these things are in His hands. We can't blame God for these attacks, but we can run to Him for comfort and strength... and that is what the nation has done. There is a peace in knowing that we are in God's hands. None of us knows when our last day will be, so we should be ready. We are ready when we have faith in God and know Christ died for us. When we ask Jesus to come into our hearts, we begin a personal relationship with God...one that is a real part of our everyday lives. That personal relationship with our Lord was what got us through this time without going into a deep depression; every day we could turn to God to ask for miracles, strength, and peace. That is how I know that God is real and God is good and God is faithful. God bless you all. Thank you again for your continued prayers. Please feel free to leave messages in our guestbook. We still love to hear from anyone out there that may have been touched by Kelby's story.

A Day in American History

I was planning yesterday to put a simple update on the website this morning, but little did I know that today would be an unforgettable day in American history. Kelby's health seems like a small concern. We just lift prayers for everyone in those buildings in New York and Washington DC and for the security of our entire nation. This website has become somewhat of a journal of our life, so I can't avoid talking about how we feel about the terrorist attacks today. I looked at the girls this morning and said, "This day will be remembered." We never know what is in store and all that any of us can do is be thankful for each day that we do have. On the lighter side, I will give an update of Kelby. She is doing great. Her appointment on Friday was pretty uneventful. She is just doing so good. I was hoping that Kelby's scans would be coming soon, but it sounds like we won't be doing them until October 11. I think that the doctor feels that Kelby is doing so well and he's not really concerned about the scans yet. He feels that we would notice a difference in her health before we would see anything on the scans. I guess we'll have to wait a bit longer for the scans. They were very happy with her high counts for the last 3 weeks, although they went down again this week. It was the first week of her Accutane again, and that is when the counts went down last time. They said that we wouldn't have to take her blood every week anymore since she is doing so well. I asked about putting Kelby in the church nursery and they said it would be okay, but the main concern is getting her exposed to Chicken Pox. If she were exposed, they would give her a shot...which would help her to not get them as bad. If she got them, they would admit her to the hospital to give her an IV anti-viral. Of course she is already taking that same anti-viral everyday by mouth. Anyways, they gave me the go-ahead to let her go to the children's church...but to be on alert if Chicken Pox starts going around. I already talked to some people at church and they said they would let me know if anyone came down with it that was at children's church. So, if her counts are good and high again this coming Sunday, Kelby may just get to go to church! We got to go camping this weekend! I was so excited. We actually found a Minivan to buy last week on Tuesday. It was a 1995 with low miles in our price range. I am so excited to have all that room now. So, since we had a vehicle that could fit all our stuff, we packed up and headed out for a one night camping trip. The girls did great. Kelby absolutely loved it. We were by a beautiful river and she LOVED throwing rocks in the water. Both the girls slept through the night. It was a little chilly, but they didn't complain at all. I think we have two campin' girls on our hands! We're ready for next summer now. Here are some pictures from our trip. We are all doing great right now. Hopefully this all cheers you up from the horrible things that are going on across the country right now. God Bless you all. Keep praying, because as we all know...it works!

"Mouth Hurts!"

I just had to tell you all about our discovery today. Kelby was being a little cranky today. I wasn't sure what the problem was, but in the evening, she came to me pointing in her mouth saying, "Mouth hurts." Well, I was worried and I took a look. Guess what!! Kelby is getting a new tooth. And guess where it is! It is the molar on the same side of the jaw that her tumor was! To me it was so exciting to see a tooth coming in there. What a miracle that the tumor didn't destroy it; that the chemotherapy didn't destroy it! Can you believe it? It was so encouraging. I just wanted to share this special landmark with all of you. Give all the glory to God!

Blood Counts Are Great!!!

Kelby's blood counts are finally in and they are great! I am really excited about being above 2000! That means she is just about normal! Hopefully those counts will hang on. She started her Accutane again on Monday. We had a wonderful weekend with Gramma, Grampa and Uncle Brad from Billings! Kelby really enjoyed all the attention. We went to the beach, so you just couldn't stop her. That is all that she wants to do now..."Go toda beach, See da water!" So here are some pictures of our adventure this weekend.

One Day Late

Hey there everybody! I am sorry that I didn't update yesterday. They didn't call and tell me the blood counts. I can't find out what they are until Monday I guess. If they were anything to worry about though, the doctor would call me I think. We are all happy and healthy otherwise. This last week went by pretty fast. I had a fun stamping day on Saturday and Mike took Kelby to the zoo down in Seattle. We got to have a fun afternoon fishing on Sunday. Mike's brother and family, and his Mom & Dad were all there. It was a fun afternoon and Kelby LOVED running around in the woods with her cousin Riley. They enjoyed looking at bugs. Mike got some more fishing in this week too. He seems to be really good at it because he never comes back empty handed. He is sharing his yummy salmon with family and friends. All has been great these days. We are just enjoying every minute of our summer. I can't believe it is September already! Kelby is having a really good time right now because Gramma and Grampa from Billings are here visiting! We went to the beach today. I'll catch everyone up on our fun time later on.

This is a shot of Kelby while is intently watching a TV show.