Wonderful Weekend

The days seem to go by so fast, and yet so slow. Friday night I got to do a Stampin' Up! Party for a friend. (By the way...if anyone wants me to do a Stampin' Up! party...I am ready and willing to do it!) I just love doing parties. It gives me a reason to stamp some cards and to get out of the house. We got to hang out with friends later that night...until all hours of the evening. Tegan and Kelby will go to sleep at our friend's house, so that makes it really easy.

The weather has been absolutely beautiful. That means we were outside a lot on Saturday. Trooper likes us to hang outside with him! Kelby keeps saying, "I love you Trooper." I built a picnic table, so now we can have people over for a BBQ! Anyone interested? I have a lot more work to do in the yard, so that's where the girl's and I will be this week.

I have to get thinking about a birthday party for Tegan. She will be one year on May 8th! I can't believe that she is that old already. She still isn't taking steps, but she likes to stand all the time. She'll be walking in no time.

Kelby's next scans are scheduled for May 28th. Then, we'll see how everything is doing inside her little body. She seems to be doing great. I am very thankful for every moment that she is feeling good. She has done well all a long compared to other children with the same disease. There is always something to be thankful for!

As I mention thankfulness, I have to mention some of the wonderful people around us that have been such a blessing! We have been so blessed by our neighbors. What a wonderful little neighborhood we have. One neighbor across the street also goes to our church. She sent a letter around to everyone on the block that had some pictures of Kelby and told a little of our story. She had people light a candle in the window while Kelby was getting her treatments. She also collected some money for our expenses. Another neighbor, that is a dear friend, had a garage sale with her mom in honor of Kelby. They collected so much money for us, it was unbelievable. She brought the money and gifts on Friday. A MOPS group in Concrete sent us a check for $100. A wonderful Anesthesiologist from the University of Washington sent a check to go towards expenses for our new puppy. Many have been blessing us anonymously. Everyone has been so kind and generous. We do have extra expenses, and will have even more after today. Our insurance changes next month and will be considerably more expensive (though we should be fine) when we need to do treatments. Our insurance before was really something to be thankful for and had to be a God thing. Mike switched jobs just about 2 months before Kelby was diagnosed. His new employer didn't have insurance set up yet because it was a brand new company that he was starting. He offered to pay the Cobra on our insurance from the Anacortes School District which was wonderful coverage because it was from the state. Up until tomorrow, all we had to pay was five to ten dollar copays on everything that we went through! Can you believe that even Kelby's radiation treatments were done before that insurance switched over? I know that is more than a coincidence. I think that God is using others to provide for us, and we thank them dearly for being used. I am learning that I want to be thoughtful and giving too. Someday I will be doing my best to give to others in the same way that we have been blessed.

Hey something else to be thankful for...our car sold this weekend. It has been for sale since September, so that was pretty exciting. I'm so glad to have that finally done. Now Mike will be driving a little Ford Festiva, but it gets really good gas mileage. Someday he'll get something a little nicer, but it is good enough for now.

So far, there's still no word on the contest. I am pretty sure that we will be the winners after eveyone has rallied together and voted so often. What a wonderful thing...to go to Disneyland again! Now that's another thing for which to be thankful. There's always something good in the midst of hard times. Thank you to God for all those blessings and for using all of you in those blessings too! Kelby thinks about Disneyland all the time, so she'll be pretty excited when she gets to go. It will be hard to decide when to go. The summer will be really busy and hot, so September would be the best, but who knows what Kelby's health will be like in four months.

I just wanted to get an update up, so I'll wait to put some pictures up later. Thanks for checking in! God bless.