"Talking teror"

Today Jason and I decided to tackle the boys' room--this is a job that we really have to do while Levi's at school. He's good at "picking up" his room most days, but he never really tackles his "collections". This kid has more collections than you can imagine--piles of old Valentines, piles of dum dum wrappers, piles of cards, piles of legos, piles of papers, and papers, and papers, torn out pictures from magazines, ... and EVERY SINGLE ONE OF THEM IS A TREASURE TO HIM!! We actually play a game regularly at our home called, "trash or treasure?" I show him different things and have him tell me if they're worth collecting. Sounds mean, but the kid would have his treasures up to the ceiling if I didn't go in and clean it out every once in a while...and always while he's at school. I did find some real treasures, though, as I was cleaning stuff out from under his bed. This picture and what he wrote made me smile...
I love Levi's drawings and his creativity...and some day--many, many years from now, I'll miss his collections!

Our week...

This past week has been LONG! Poor Levi is on day 9 of having a pretty high fever and feeling miserable--I've never had a kid with a fever for that long, and I'm so sad for the poor guy. They didn't test him for influenza but assume that's what he's had--then he got a secondary infection (bronchitis) on top of that, so hopefully with the antibiotics in his system, he'll start feeling better soon! Jason got it next, but seems to be on the tail end of it already, after just a few days, and now Sarah's home sick with it. I'm kicking myself for not getting them flu shots, but just never got around to it.

I always thought I had way too many medicine dispensers/syringes, but I'm seriously going through each of these and needing more each day!
Oh...and the paint--I decided it'd be a good week to repaint the bathroom, and touch up all the nicks on our walls...at least I can say SOMETHING got done this week!
Next week we get to have 3 sweet nieces stay with us as their parents are going on a trip to Mexico. Can't wait--hope we're all healthy by then! (Also--Mom starts chemo next Friday, the 11th--please be praying for her body to be able to handle the chemo--it's some very potent stuff that they're giving her, and she seems to be so sensitive to any meds. She's finally starting to feel a little better after surgery, and I hate to think of her being miserable again!)

A sweet valentine from a super sweet boy

I was going through a stack of papers the other day and found this valentine that my oldest made for his little sister. I chuckled and of course filed it away in her box of special papers to keep. I love my big boy's heart so much, and when he's not fighting with his sister, I think he really does adore her!!

Mom

Mom has had an amazing day, considering that she just got out of surgery 24 hours ago. (Did I mention that they did NOT have to take the entire right lung?!? We were thrilled!) We're amazed at how well she's progressing. She's been working so hard on the goals the nurse has written up in her room. She hasn't gotten much uninterrupted sleep yet, but that's to be expected in a hospital. This hospital is AMAZING--the surgeon was phenomenal, the nurses are wonderful, and we are loving getting to know so many other families and patients here. We met a really special 21 year old guy today who had a heart transplant 5 years ago and has had a million medical problems since he was 8 years old. We love him and want to adopt him into our family!

The big day

About a month ago, my mom was diagnosed with lung cancer. This past month has seemed like a lifetime, but today is the day of surgery to remove the tumor--possibly the whole right lung. As I type, we're in the waiting room, waiting for Mom to go into surgery. The first surgery of the day took 4 or 5 hours longer than they anticipated, so Mom's was bumped back. It should begin today around 5:00. Please be praying that they'll be able to get all of the cancer, that Mom's body will respond well to the surgery, that her heart and left lung would be strong, ... It's been a LONG day already! I am sooo thankful that we know the Great Physician, the Prince of Peace, and that we have such a wonderful, supportive family!

Snapshots of Christmas

A special weekend

I spent last weekend at my parents' house with all 5 of my siblings and my mom and dad. Here's me with 3 of my 4 sisters watching our amazing niece and nephew play basketball. I could get used to watching them every weekend--they were sooo good!!
Our very loved Mom was just diagnosed with lung cancer last week, and we all just had to be together for the weekend. We were soo grateful to hear today that it hasn't spread anywhere outside of the lung and are hopeful that with surgery it could be treatable. My mom and dad are still very much in love...had to capture this sweet moment... Here's my niece Jacquie doing Mom's hair. We all wait our turn for her to beautify us! I'm sure she gets rather tired of it, but she's a good sport about it.And the star of the weekend was my brother's son, James. He was the only little one to make it home with us, and he got a LOT of attention! We kinda think he's a genius...and just a bundle of fun! Here he is checking out some of the first big snowflakes of the year.