Monday, March 24, 2008
















We are home!!!! And The Easter Bunny Made It!!!

Saturday, March 22, 2008

Home Sweet Home....Maybe, Maybe Not

Can you believe that it has taken 3 days to get home? We are not home yet!!!! Friday we went to the airport and found out that the crew had timed out and they could not find a new crew. The next available flight would have separated us and we still would have had to spend the night in Ohio because there were not have been any collecting flights. So we chose to stay in Colorado Springs and had a wonderful night with our friends and cousins swimming. Delta provided us with 2 rooms at the doubletree and meal vouchers. So today we flew to Atlanta. Our flight was overbooked by 21 people. Technically we didn't have seats so when they offered $400 flight vouchers plus hotel and food vouchers we took it. Of course we planned on renting a car and driving home- but there are no one way rentals available. So here we are on Easter eve in the middle of no where! I was going to go to a store and get Easter stuff but there is nothing around. so we will see what happens...thank God for good traveling children and that Jon has done half way good this time. We are supposed to leave Atlanta at 8 pm tomorrow...we will miss Easter service and dinner at my parents...I guess we will have Easter at the airport courtesy of Delta!!!! I am sure this one will be an event my children will not quickly forget.

Friday, March 21, 2008


More pics of our new home

Thursday, March 20, 2008










Our New House



We have a house!!!!!

I will post pics tonight but just had to tell you that God has worked out a huge miracle and we have a contract on a gorgeous house here. It is as though God handpicked it out for us.

Also, Jon went to Denver today. I am so excited...this new hospital is so wonderful. The dr is so wonderful. Everything is great.

More tonight...

Wednesday, March 19, 2008






Real Snow!!!! This is what we arrived to see...

Tuesday, March 18, 2008

Please Pray for Jon....

I will write more details soon...but I need your prayers for Jon. He is not doing well at all. He could not walk at all without assistance on Sunday during our whole trip here to Colorado. Since we got here he has been very sick. He is in pain, is feeling very nauseous, and is quite out of sorts. He has an appointment on Thursday in Denver. Please pray for him...this makes me feel so sad.

Sunday, March 16, 2008

Pikes Peak or Bust!!!!

In four hours we will be leaving for the airport. We should arrive in Colorado Springs around noon. Everyone is very excited, very wound up, and very emotional. I hope that this will be an easier day than the past two days have been.

Please pray for safety, a smooth trip with no unexpected surprises, and for the hearts of everyone in my family to be bound together in unity, love, and peace. Please pray God leads us to exactly the right house in the right neighborhood. I know he has a plan.

I will post again after we get there. I am going to try and sleep for a couple of hours before we leave.

Thursday, March 13, 2008






A Sad Attempt At A Moving Announcement...



Needless to say Brittney has had a rough day! Pray for us to have wisdom and compassion in helping them accept and adjust to moving. Poor Shawn! He cried right along with her. He feels like he is pulling their hearts right out!

Saturday, March 08, 2008

List of "TO-DO" that weighs heavily upon me this morning....

There is so little time left and that time is flying by so fast. I gauge time by weekly chemo visits...it seems like by the time we finish one it is time again for another. I can't believe how fast this whole year has gone by! Of course, Jonathan helps speed this along....we hardly make it to the parking lot and he is already counting down the days to when we come back. He loves clinic!!!! He really loves the stickers and all the hugs, kisses, and individual attention. It is "his" special place.

Besides the obvious things of packing and cleaning, there is so much left to do. Just for fun (and to help me organize and prioritize my thoughts)I am going to list most of these here. So you may just want to tune out now but if you are interested in the way my brain works as it contemplates the last few weeks of life as we have known it than stay connected!

1. Scrapbooking. Ok, I know I am crazy but I desperately want to scrapbook. A month ago I had very ambitious goals. I was going to complete our whole family album from my childhood. I was going to make albums for each of my siblings...I packed all of my personal pictures and left the boxes of these pictures unpacked. But I have not yet gotten to that...so it may have to wait for a snowy day in Colorado. But it feels unfinished so it stays on my mind. I also really want to make each of the kids a moving scrapbook with pictures of their closest friends, favorite places, our house etc. Most of all, I want to have one last scrapbook party with my sister and friends. Too much to accomplish, huh?

2. A going away party to plan. I envision a huge party...with everyone who has been a part of our lives here. I am a dreamer. I know it. But I can't help it. I want the kids to have a going away party with their classes. I want to Jon to have a special time with his friends and all the people who have taken care of him. I have no idea where to start in planning this...I need to find a location that will work in any weather and could hold a lot of people. I need to figure out how to do it...I thought an open house type thing could be good...staggering the classes and then ending with a bbq or something with our closest friends and Shawn's coworkers. But I don't know how to pull it all together. Any of you have any good ideas?????

3. A million letters to write. Once I have an idea of where we are going to live I need to let everyone know. I am already planning how to stage a picture for a photo announcement. The other letters are the ones that press on my heart more than anything else. There are those special people who I want to thank. There are the relationships that need mending. One group of those I really want to write are the drs and nurses who have cared for my Jon and have worked hard to keep him alive. They have empowered me to be his mom. And I want to thank them. There is the endocrinologist who has held his ground from the beginning but has listened to me and has shown real concern and has given me answers every time I have questioned him. I know without a doubt that he cares about Jonathan. There is the oncologist in Atlanta who has taught me so much about how a doctor should be. She has been the one advocate for Jonathan who has gone beyond the simple goal of surviving to actual living- the best life that can be achieved. She doesn't settle for just ok. She has been my special blessing of God. Without this woman I am not sure we would have survived. And there is the current team who takes care of Jon. If you remember a year ago I dreaded going back to clinic. I was willing to drive 4 hours every week just to avoid it. But I am so glad this was not an option. The team that I was convinced didn't care has proven the total opposite. Then there is the man who gives us our parking ticket every week in the clinic parking lot. He and Jon have grown so attached. They have a secret handshake. He gave Jonathan tickets to a UT basket ball game for tomorrow. He brought Jon a christmas present. He waits for us to get there each week. They make each others days. There are so many more people. So many things I want to say.

4. This one weighs the heaviest on my heart...I guess because I know in reality it is the one thing on my list that will never be checked off. I hate not being able to do anything about it. There are several relationships that have become damaged or strained over the past year or two. It is hard for me to leave knowing that they are going to remain this way. It feels so unfinished. It feels so much like defeat. Sometimes the hardest thing for me is to just pray and not say anything.

5. There have been so many missed opportunities. I desperately want to pause time and be able to spend time with all the people who we have meant to over the past year. There isn't time now to have dinner with each one, coffee with each person on my heart. But again not to do it feels so unfinished. I dream about it. My mind is so preoccupied by it that I can't rest. But in some of the cases I am not brave enough to pick up the phone and say..." I know we haven't talked to each other in the past year but can we have dinner?" I desperately want to hang onto these relationships. I want to will them to be something more than they are. But I feel like we will move and what was will be a distant memory of the past. And it will be forever unfinished in my heart.

6. On top of all these things I have to pack, prepare to transfer all of Jon's care to new drs, take a househunting trip, find and buy a house, clean, and still do all the normal daily life. That stuff keeps getting in my way- I just wanted to focus on the important things!!!!

So I have a lot to do. Honestly, I am scared. I am scared of what the future holds. I am excited. I am ready to go but so very nervous. I don't want to dream of what will be...I just want to trust God knows what we need and he will provide down to every detail.

Thursday, March 06, 2008

The Night Sky Calls Out His Majesty....
Ok so this has been an absolutely crazy week. I need to go to bed but my night time coffee habit has taken on a whole new touch....dark chocolate coconut decaf coffee! Yummy!!! Coffee is more important than sleep for me some times! Those of you who personally know me will laugh when you read this... we are going to look at a house on Coffee Drive! That sounds like a perfect house for me. Oh yeah...there is another house that I just have to see...it has an actual "hot tub room"! Can you believe it? It makes me laugh because that is so a fantasy of mine!!!! (Oops...don't let that secret out!)
Anyway, my plan to not have to show my house backfired on me. I guess until the inspections are done we have to keep showing it so we can have a back up plan. Well, Tuesday night we had 4 showings. Then on Wednesday we had one...this one surprised me by showing up 2 hours early. Not only were we all still here, I was teaching my sister how to sew for her home ec class. The house was not clean and the kids were fighting horribly. These people really want the house and they actual made the back up offer this afternoon. So I am excited that there is so much action but it is slightly stressful.
Jon had 3 appts this morning. The first was with the surgeon. They replaced his temporary g-tube this morning with a mickey button. I don't have the time or energy to share the details but I was quite unhappy with them. Thank God for the nurses in clinic who have become great advocates. Then we had our last psych. appt until we get to Colorado. Then we went to clinic for chemo. We had a great time with Jon's friend Sydney and her mom. Jon's white count is elevated... his sinuses are going crazy.
All the kids were home sick today. Mya has some kind of respitory infection. Josh is coughing and wheezing. Britt has a sore throat. And Jason...well he is Jason.
So all of this is just rambling...what I want to say is that tonight in the midst of the chaos I went outside to get something. I looked up and the stars shone so brightly. In that moment I was reminded that the God who holds all that in place loves me. He knows my name. He knows what is best for me and he will work it out. It was just peaceful to know at that moment I was in the presence of God.

Sunday, March 02, 2008

I Just Have To Tell You About The BIG God I Serve...

So let me tell you about the latest miracle the Lord has done for us. He has confirmed to us that he is in control, that he has plans for us, and that he cares about every little detail. Our house was listed and had a contract on it within 12 hours of listing! Actually, we had a buyer before it was listed and they had first dibs on the offer so it looks like it will be theirs!!! In this economically crazy world of today with home values dropping the situation looked slightly bleak for us...but we knew we are supposed to move to Colorado and we knew God would work it out. So the miracle- an offer and a full price offer to top it off!!!!!

So here are some of the little details that God cared about this week:

* I couldn't imagine having to keep my house in showing condition until we moved. Those of you who have kids know how hard it is to keep things constantly clean. And those of you who know my kids...well you now how it is! So God heard my cry on this one!

* Our moving date has been pushed ahead another week. It looks like we will be leaving around April 7th. This could be a huge thing for Brittney because she is a stage director for a play at school and the play is more than likely in April. I don't have the heart to make her miss that.

We will be going to Colorado to house hunt on the March 16th and will return on the 21st. This way we will be able to have Easter with my family before we move. We are taking all the kids with us. This is their Spring Break so it worked out great. They need to be a part of the house buying process.

So please continue to pray with us for all the details to work out and the rest of the process to be smooth. Thanks friends!